Health, Montenegro, Books,

Having shot off to the therapists yesterday for Matt, and yes I sat in the car, much comfier and although a beautiful day, not too warm with the windows open, I then went to our family doc for my regular diabetes check which is all lovely with lots of good numbers. I am now told I have to have a pneumonia shot once every 10 years and to see an opthalmologist periodically, just because I have diabetes which isn’t, I am glad to say, a very major problem in my life, whether because I am pretty careful or because I really don’t have a serious diabetic condition, I don’t know. At the moment I pop pills and watch what I eat.

Lying in bed last night I thought about something I wanted to write today; now I cannot for the life of me think what it was. A friend reminded me of Bette Davis’ quote, “Growing Old Ain’t for Sissies”, that is so very true, memory is something which suffers a big hit. One of these days I will remember to have a pad and pencil by the bed. Of course, the minute I post this blog, I will recall what it was.

On Sunday Matt told me the treadmill wasn’t working properly and he couldn’t fix it. After spending an age on the phone with Tempo, we ended up getting in a repair man who sorted it all out for us. Here again, a lot of the problem is old age, we can’t bend and go down on our knees with ease like this young man could. Turned out he was born the year we came to Canada and I assure you that makes us feel old. He was born in Montenegro so we talked a bit about my visit to the area in the late 60’s. He wasn’t even a twinkle in anyone’s eye in those years. He did say the communists killed his grandfather. I wonder if that was in recent years or not, we didn’t ask at the time. They have had so much strife in that part of the world. When I was there it was all relatively peaceful with Tito in charge. It, Yugoslavia to me, is a beautiful country with lots of wonderful castles built by the Franks. However, the power kept going out at all kinds of odd times of the day, and the service at that time was likely to be pretty poor although this young man told me the service situation hadn’t changed a lot in some areas. I said I had been to Budva on the Adriatic coast and he told us that was a place for singles these days, very crowded and certainly not a place to take your family. I do remember the beach there and the snake we saw on it. Kind of sticks in your memory. My cousin trod on a sea urchin too but that can happen anywhere in the world. So, I suppose, can the snake, just I have never seen one on a beach before. It was a lovely beach though.

By the way, no sign of those missing animals. I think I would be talking to the truck driver if I were the cops.

I have been reading some Katharine Kerr books lately, I have read most of her Deverry series before and in fact I have also read the four I have got now (I am not certain about the last one) but I am enjoying them. I have finished The Gold Falcon and have nearly finished The Spirit Stone, with two more to go. If you like fantasy, I can recommend the Deverry series, especially now its all finished so you don’t have to hang around for the next book.

In an email from Cooking.com they had several shrimp recipes – the following one came from Eating Well and looks delicious. Shrimp being one of my favourites. Apologies if you live on the Gulf coast where shrimp is now expensive and in short supply.

Grilled Shrimp with Melon & Pineapple Salsa Eating Well Yield: 4 servings Grilled shrimp is perfectly accented by this light, summery pineapple-melon salsa. The flavors are bright and fresh, just right for a hot day. Use just one melon or any combination of melons—including watermelon—for the versatile salsa. For best flavor marinate the shrimp overnight.

Make Ahead Tip: Marinate the shrimp (Step 1) for up to 24 hours. Cover and refrigerate the salsa (Step 2) for up to 4 hours. | Equipment: Four 8- to 10-inch skewers

RECIPE INGREDIENTS

1 pound raw shrimp (16-20 per pound), peeled and deveined (see Note)

2 tablespoons canola oil, divided

2 teaspoons finely grated fresh ginger, divided

2 teaspoons minced seeded jalapeño, divided 2 cups finely diced firm ripe melon 1 cup finely diced fresh pineapple 1/4 cup finely diced red bell pepper 1/4 cup finely diced green bell pepper 1/4 cup finely diced red wine vinegar 2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh mint, plus 4 sprigs for garnish 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt 4 large lettuce leaves, such as Boston, romaine or iceberg 4 lime wedges

Note: To devein shrimp, use a paring knife to make a slit along the length of the shrimp. Under running water, remove the tract with the knife tip.

DIRECTIONS

Combine shrimp, 1 tablespoon oil, 1 teaspoon ginger and 1 teaspoon jalapeño in a medium bowl. Cover and refrigerate for 4 hours or up to 24 hours.

Combine melon, pineapple, red and green bell pepper, onion, vinegar, chopped mint and salt in a large bowl with the remaining 1 tablespoon oil, 1 teaspoon ginger and 1 teaspoon jalapeño. Refrigerate until cold, about 30 minutes or up to 4 hours.

About 20 minutes before serving, preheat grill to high.

Thread the shrimp onto skewers, piercing each twice, once through the tail end and once near the head end. Grill the shrimp until pink and just cooked through, 2 to 3 minutes per side. When cool enough to handle, slide the shrimp off the skewers.

To serve, arrange one large lettuce leaf on each dinner plate. Spoon salsa onto the lettuce and top with shrimp. Garnish each serving with a lime wedge and a mint sprig, if using.

Have a great day.

Manitoulin - Last of the Trip

Today I cover the last bit of our trip to Manitoulin. I was disappointed not to see the quill museum. I saw some quill work (porcupine quills) in the store for sale, very expensive mind you, but absolutely beautful, so it would have been nice to see what they considered worth putting in the museum. The work I saw was full of wonderful pictures of wolves, birds, scenes, etc. but the one that most impressed me was a basket that looked as though it was covered with beautiful lace. It was also beautifully expensive. September 19, 2008 As the other visitors had an early breakfast, we missed them and had ours in peace. This morning, apart from a bowl of fruit, which seems traditional round here, we had bacon and sausages. We have been getting good breakfasts. Chatting to Ingrid and Trevor this morning and I asked about the almost white cows, they looked like Charolais to me, guess what, they were. I then asked about the beautiful horses I had seen a lot of which I thought were Palominos (gold coats, blond mains and tails) and I was right again. Doing well here. Trevor told us about walking to the bridge over the Mindemoya River, just a few steps away from the B & B. The salmon should be beginning to run. We had already seen a dead salmon in the stream leading to the Bridal Veil Falls. We wandered around to the bridge and then stood on the beach. Lo and behold we saw a salmon leaping, twice, or two salmon leaping once, who knows. All kinds of fishermen around but nobody doing much. I took a picture and am now using it for my desktop background. We encountered a woman walking a cute little dog, not sure exactly what breed, but he was quite small. He decided to kill a branch and would not leave it alone, she had to take it with her to get him to follow. It was quite funny. There is a very long boardwalk around the bay, we didn’t follow it, too much walking, but the bridge is part of the walkway. Could have been an interesting walk. I liked this picture I took of where we saw the salmon leaping, that I now have it as wallpaper on my desktop. Decided to check out Carter Bay which had been recommended by Ingrid, headed there and drove down a road which was like a washboard, shaking us to bits, we were not too happy. Decided to turn round, however before we did, saw a hawk flying in front of us and then it sat in a tree. Matt didn’t bother to try and take a picture as we figured it would fly away as Matt got out of the car. Matt thought it was a kestrel, I thought it was a Peregrine. Checked it out later, I was right, I am now batting 1,000. Having got out of the road to Carter Bay, we decided to check out the restaurant at Michael’s Bay. Another long unpaved road, but not a washboard this time. A beautiful spot right on the bay, nice looking building. Not that we saw it, but there was a golf course there too. Rental chalets as well according to notices. On Friday they do all you can eat perch, but Matt decided it was too far and he didn’t want perch anyway. I do agree, it was a log way from Providence Bay. Went to a deli store we had seen and got some gorgeous croissants and some cold pork slices for lunch then on to Providence Bay and sat at the picnic tables there. This time we finished our wine. Afterwards we took our chairs on the beach for a bit and sat in the sun, Matt was a bit overcooked from the other day, so he put a hat on and turned his back to the sun, it was bloody windy though, so we didn’t stay long. There was a guy out in the water with a kayak. He came back in and when trying to get out, fell in the water. It must have been bloody cold. He had a change of clothes with him in his car. We also saw a “rent a motor home” and took the phone number to make enquiries. (I’m sitting here typing and can hear the seagulls - lake gulls? – through the window which we have had open all night with the sound of the waves on the beach, weather has warmed up now we are going). Went back to the B & B and decided to do some reading, I have a book and there are lots of Reader’s Digests for Matt. We ended up chatting to Trevor and Ingrid in the garage, they are both smokers so spend a lot of time there. Their dog, Peter, is only 10 months old and was having a crazy half hour. Ingrid booked a table for us at the School House so we headed there just before 7, its only round the corner, tonight Matt wasn’t too hungry but I had a cauliflower and gorgonzola soup, delicious. Then their whitefish, which was very good, not breaded or anything but nicely seasoned. We had their house white with it. I finished off with an intense chocolate cake served with some ice cream, scrumptuously decadent. Back to the house, spoke to Ingrid who was waiting for guests arriving by the last ferry. We played some more crib in our room then crawled into bed. Funny, we don’t play crib at home much any more but enjoy playing it when we are travelling. September 20, 2008 I can’t believe this, I have been going to bed around 10 and sleeping solidly all night. This morning I woke early. 5:15 ish, but yesterday I must have had 9 hours. I never sleep that long. We had peameal bacon again which is very good. There was another young man at breakfast and I watched Trevor cook his egg “over easy” as they say in North America. I now know how to do it, I was never very successful and just cooked them the way I had always done so, splashing fat over the top of the frying egg. Trevor made it look so easy. Ingrid sent us to a store where we could buy the orange, carrot and ginger marmalade we had been eating. It is made on Manitoulin Island. The store had all kinds of fascinating things in it, I could have spent hours there, but we had to go. Headed off to South Baymouth to catch the ferry and went the shorter way. It was quite windy and the ferry was rocking around a bit. I felt a bit nauseous, not sure if I was seasick or if it was just low sugar. I had a candy and felt better. Had been going to have lunch on board but waited until we got to Tobermory. We headed for the same café where we ate on the way to Manitoulin. Not very hungry, but I have to have lunch. On the way home I had totally forgotten all the roadworks we encountered before. In Canada they say we have 7 month’s winter and 5 month’s roadworks. Got home and one of my Avon customers told me she had been trying to phone all week, sounds like the phone must have been off the hook or something. Not sure how that happened. Had a couple of belated birthday cards from daughters in England. The apartment was like a furnace, the weather has been a lot warmer here (of course) and the gas prices are a lot lower too. We threw a few things together for supper and I tried to get my desktop to start. In the end I gave it up as a bad job and carried on reading my current Katherine Kerr book. Finished it and have read two more of her books since. I now have three more to read and I have caught up with her whole Deverry series. Not sure if the last book I have is the last of the series or not, I will, no doubt, find out. I borrowed this picture from Amazon.com. Don't try clicking to look inside, it doesn't work here, it does at Amazon.com though. You will have seen what happened with the computer so now life is back to normal once again. I am still working on summer recipes here, but this is another one from Home Basics which I thought sounded good and will have a go at myself very soon. Satima started a list of followers. I joined her site, I would appreciate it if you would join my site. There is a segment at the top on the right. Grilled Shrimp on Summer Slaw 1 pouch sun-dried tomato parmesan pasta seasoning 1/2 C olive oil, divided 1 lb uncooked large shrimp, peeled and deveined 1 TBS lemon juice 1/2 tsp salt 4 C thinly sliced red cabbage 1 beet, peeled and grated 1/4 red onion, thinly sliced In a medium bowl, whisk together the pasta seasoning mix and 1/4 cup olive oil. Stir in the shrimp, cover the bowl and marinate in the fridge for 1 hour. Preheat the grill to medium high. Grill the shrimp, turning once, until cooked through. Set aside. In a medium bowl, whisk together the lemon juice, remaining olive oil and salt. Toss in the cabbage, beet and onion. Serve the srhimp alongside a bed of summer slaw. Serves 4.

Theatre, Books, Nova Science Now

Today I am off to Grand Bend again to the Huron County Playhouse. We (friend and I) are going to see 'I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change', which is, presumably a farce. We are hoping to have a picnic lunch outside the theatre, but at the moment it is threatening storms, so we may end up eating in the car. This is the same theatre I went to a few weeks ago to see My Fair Lady. I have one more theatre visit, next week, and that's it for the summer for me. We have booked for the Pantomime in December. They are endeavouring to emulate a British pantomime with some success, but I guess if you have seen London pantos with top comedians, etc. it is difficult to compete. I have been reading the Katherine Kerr Deverry series - have finished the first four and now awaiting two more from the library. The writing appears to be getting better as I read further along. The story is good, but some of the written speech at the beginning was terrible. Drove me bananas. I am presently reading an eBook which is one of the Witch World books by André Norton. I enjoy that series very much although I only discovered them in the last year or so. In fact lots of different authors have written episodes which took place in the Witch World. It's interesting to see the different aspects from another writer's point of view. I watched my favourite Nova Science NOW programme. They had an interesting segment on extinction which is worth watching at Nova Science NOW where they explained about mass extinctions which have happened on earth over the millenia and they have some new theories as to how it happened. If they are right, then it could happen again any time now. Another segment, a scientist has re-created the flu virus of 1918, which killed millions of people world wide, in order to study the possible changes to avian flu which might occur and allow it to pass from human to human which, at present, it cannot do. I see the point, but I worry about such viruses being in existence when they had been disposed of. The third section was to do with reading ancient papyrus remnants which had been stained or damaged. They showed a load of papyrii which came from a city dump in ancient Greece. One section turned out to have been from the New Testament and is therefore one of the earliest known copies. If you want to watch interesting video, you really should check these out. Once again, in keeping with the Olympics in Beijing, I am giving you a Chinese recipe. This one comes from The Joy of Wokking by Martin Yan. Matt has made this recipe many times as it is a prime favourite of ours. Moo Goo Gai Pan 3/4 lb skinless, boneless chicken breast 1 Cup button mushrooms 4-6 dry black mushrooms soaked til soft (optional) 1/4 Cup canned button mushrooms (optional) 1/3 Cup fresh snow peas (optional) 1 1/2 tsp dry sherry 1/2 tsp salt 1/2 tbs dark soy sauce 1 tbs oyster sauce 1/4 Cup broth (bouillon) 3 slices ginger, slivered 2/3 tbs cornstach in 3 tbs broth 3 tbs cooking oil. Slice chicken breast to thin bite-sized strips Preheat wok or skelet for 30 seconds, add oil and heat further 30 seconds. Stir-fry chicken with ginger over high heat for 2 mins. remove and set aside. Add softened black mushrooms into wok and cook for 3 minutes with chicken broth over medium high heat, add snow peas, fresh and canned mushrooms and cook for a further 1 1/2 minutes. Return cooked chicken to wok. Put in all the seasonings and thicken to serve hot. Other than the canned mushrooms I would certainly use any optional items. For extra mushrooms use some fresh wild mushrooms, whatever you can obtain. picture from http://www.asiangardengrassvalley.com/AGOurCuisine-OurMenu.html Have a great day.