Spam Comments. Alzheimer Group, Movie, Weather,

Sorry everyone, but it looks like I have to go back to Comment Moderation and stay there. I got even more Spam after I had put the Moderation back on. What do these idiots gain from this?

Had a good long chat with the Alzheimer Spouses group today. None of my original Alz. friends were there, I need to contact them to see if things are OK.

We, well I, just watched a movie called Sister Kenney with Rosalind Russell. It was absolutely fascinating. A true story about Sister Elizabeth Kenney who was an Australian Nurse and who, almost accidentally discovered how to treat Infant Paralysis or Polio as it was later known. Originally she was a "bush" nurse, i.e. working very much on her own in places without medical services. She was called to a child in severe pain, she cabled a doctor who said they knew little about it and told her to use her judgement. She did and ended up helping 6 children to become mobile once more. One doctor believed her, however, the head orthopedic doctor said the children hadn't had Polio. It eventually took her 35 years to convince the Australians, the English and the North Americans that her treatment was valid. Basically, they had to believe her because of all the children who were walking without braces or any kind of supports. Wonderful story. Wonderful woman.

Hopefully I will be able to get a few asparagus spears at the end of the week. The weather is slightly warmer and the little trees (see the picture above) outside my bedroom window are finally blossoming.

I finally got round to getting out the lamb's kidneys that I had in the freezer. Discovered I had enough for two meals in fact. I have been putting it off because I hate having to cut them in half and then remove the core. It is such a fiddly job. However, I did today and we both thoroughly enjoyed our Devilled Kidneys.

Devilled Kidneys

2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
1 Tbs prepared English mustard (Coleman's or Keen's in Canada)
1 Tbs lemon juice
1 Tbs tomato purée
pinch of cayenne pepper
salt and ground black pepper
2 Tbs butter
1 shallot, finely chopped
8 lamb's kidneys, skinned, halved and cored
1 Tbs chopped fresh parsley to garnish

1. Mix the first 6 ingredients together (including salt and pepper) to make a sauce.

2. Melt the butter in a frying pan, add the chopped shallot and cook stirring occasionally, until it is softened but not coloured.

3. Stir the kidney halves into the shallots in the pan and cook  over medium high heat for about 3 mins on each side.

4. Pour the sauce over the kidneys and quickly stir so that they become evenly coated. Serve immediately sprinkled with fresh parsley.

Servings: 4

Note: To remove the cores from the kidneys use sharp kitchen scissors rather than a knife. Much easier.

Source: The Ultimate Hot and Spicy Cookbook

Author Notes
"Devilled" dishes are always hot and spicy. If you have time, mix the spicy ingredients together in advance to give the flavours time to mingle.

Have a great day, stay well, stay safe.
 

Anniversary, Red Lobster, Lamb's Kidneys, Charcoal,

I was reminded that yesterday was ladydog's 47th wedding anniversary (same as ours). For some reason it was not on my calendar. It is now. We all went to lunch at Red Lobster to use my birthday dessert coupon. ladydog and I both had a new combo, Seafarers Feast. It was delicious although ladydog took the shrimp home with her. So did I, inside me!! Matt had his usual Yucatan Tilapia with Shrimp.

I ordered desserts to go but as our Chocolate Wave Cake comes with ice cream, I said we would eat it in house.- they brought me, what they call a Celebration Sundae which was ice cream covered with piped cream, chocolate ganache and a touch of fruit ganache too. Delicious. Matt was given just the ice cream and chocolate and they gave ladydog one as well. Nice of them. We also got a doggie bag with two chocolate waves which are now in the freezer for Saturday.

ladydog wasn't too happy, she has heard me rave about this ice cream and has been avoiding trying it in case she had to drive all the way to Peterborough. I don't think she was as nutty about it as I am though.

I had been talking about going to the Charcoal Steak House on Thursday as a birthday dinner because my actual birthday is Saturday and we never go out on Saturday evenings. ladydog suggested going there for lunch. Hadn't thought of that.

I finally got round to cooking some of the lamb's kidneys I bought weeks ago. For some reason I kept

forgetting about them. Anyway, this is the recipe I used for supper tonight. It wasn't quite as hot (spicy) as I expected although after I had mixed the ingredients it was supremely hot. It occurred to me, the Victorians were great ones for devilling foods, they would have loved all the spicy hot foods we get today.

Devilled Kidneys

2 tsp Worcestershire sauce (pronounced woostersheer)
1 Tbs prepared English mustard (Coleman's)
1 Tbs lemon juice
1 Tbs tomato purée
pinch of cayenne pepper
salt and ground black pepper
2 Tbs butter
1 shallot, finely chopped
8 lamb's kidneys, skinned, halved and cored
1 Tbs chopped fresh parsley to garnish

1. Mix the first 6 ingredients together (including salt and pepper) to make a sauce.

2. Melt the butter in a frying pan, add the chopped shallot and cook stirring occasionally, until it is softened but not coloured.

3. Stir the kidney halves into the shallots in the pan and cook  over medium high heat for about 3 mins on each side.

4. Pour the sauce over the kidneys and quickly stir so that they become evenly coated. Serve immediately sprinkled with fresh parsley.

Servings: 4

Tips
Note: To remove the cores from the kidneys use sharp kitchen scissors rather than a knife. Much easier.

Source: The Ultimate Hot and Spicy Cookbook

Author Notes
"Devilled" dishes are always hot and spicy. If you have time, mix the spicy ingredients together in advance to give the flavours time to mingle.

Have a great day
 

Mandarin, Car, Card

Went to Mandarin as I said, and had a great lunch. I indulged myself on chocolate bacon, delicious, and especially so today they seemed to have used much more chocolate. And no, I didn't make ladydog eat any. Matt had some and seemed to enjoy it. Because they are still celebrating Canada (all month long) they still had some maple glazed salmon which is delicious. They also had miniature tortières. which I make anyway, and Poutine which I wouldn't touch with a barge pole. I don't like gravy on fries in the first place and fries made soggy with anything turns me off.

On the way to the restaurant, the car was making the same noises as it had done before, basically it sounded like something rubbing against something else. After we had had lunch, it was even worse so we headed to the garage. They took it out for another drive and put it on the ramp lifting it up and down. They finally decided it was the right emergency brake cable rubbing against something. They replaced the left cable the other day. I just knew it wasn't cables slapping the bottom of the car. Anyway, taking it in on Friday afternoon - it will take 1 1/2 hrs, hopefully, and cost us another $240. I started singing the 16 tons story, St. Peter don't you call me 'cos I can't go, I owe my soul to Meineke. I later amended it to "You drive 16 miles and what do you get, another day older and deeper in debt. St. Peter don't you call me 'cos I can't go, I owe my soul to the Meineke store". Later on I did a card which I will take with me, the front picture is as follows:

I do wonder if this is an actual picture. They just might curl up in a warm engine. Anyway, inside the card is the changed song. Think they'll get a kick out of it. Really looking forward to sitting there for an hour and a half, that's three times this week. Boh, the office manager, said I knew I enjoyed hanging out with him drinking coffee. Riiiight. I told him to be careful his wife didn't find out.  He is a fun guy.

I had ordered some lamb's kidneys from the Victoria St. Market and Thursday they had arrived. After  leaving the restaurant  we went straight to the garage. ladydog was also going to the Market so I phoned her to tell her where we had gone so she wouldn't be concerned at us not turning up. She picked up the kidneys for me. 12 kidneys for $8 - not bad. So, the following recipe is mostly for her. And for anyone else who likes lamb's kidney of course. We also just fry them in butter or bacon grease to have for breakfast but although Devilled are traditionally a breakfast dish, Matt and I eat them for supper as do many people I am sure.

Devilled Kidneys

2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
1 Tbs prepared English mustard (Colemans)
1 Tbs lemon juice
1 Tbs tomato purée
pinch of cayenne pepper
salt and ground black pepper
2 Tbs butter
1 shallot, finely chopped
8 lamb's kidneys, skinned, halved and cored
1 Tbs chopped fresh parsley to garnish

1. Mix the first 6 ingredients together (including salt and pepper) to make a sauce.

2. Melt the butter in a frying pan, add the chopped shallot and cook stirring occasionally, until it is softened but not coloured.

3. Stir the kidney halves into the shallots in the pan and cook  over medium high heat for about 3 mins on each side.

4. Pour the sauce over the kidneys and quickly stir so that they become evenly coated. Serve immediately sprinkled with fresh parsley.

Servings: 4

Note: To remove the cores from the kidneys use sharp kitchen scissors rather than a knife. Much easier.

Source: The Ultimate Hot and Spicy Cookbook

Author Notes
"Devilled" dishes are always hot and spicy. If you have time, mix the spicy ingrendients together in advance to give the flavours time to mingle.

Have a great day
 

K is for Kidney

K is for Kidney

 Lamb's Kidney

Kidney is another thing which used to be eaten a lot in England and is certainly used in Europe. I personally have used beef (or ox as it is called in the UK) kidney and lamb's kidneys off and on all my life. The beef kidney is best for Steak and Kidney pie or pudding

Beef Kidney

although people do use lamb's kidneys for it too. In my mind lamb's kidneys are best for frying for breakfast or making into Devilled Kidneys which used to be a very popular Victorian breakfast dish. My father wasn't quite a Victorian but when he was born people were still eating that way so he imbibed these kinds of dishes with his mother's milk as it were. We always had wonderful breakfasts at home

and kidneys appeared on the menu many times, along with kippers, smoked haddock, herrings fried in oatmeal, salt beef, belly of pork and many other things which are difficult to obtain these days. None of these boring old cereals for my father thank you. I am making myself hungry. I will have to go to the local market for some lamb's Kidneys. I have included a picture of Steak and Kidney Pudding which I used to make quite a lot at one time. Unfortunately, the suet pudding, which is delicious, tends to include way too many calories for me these days so I just make the steak and kidney, without the pudding part. No, this is not a sweet pudding, it is quite savoury and delicious.

By trimming, this recipe means cutting the kidney in half and then removing all the white part which I do with scissors.

Devilled kidneys on toast



By James Martin
From Saturday Kitchen

Ingredients

1 tbsp butter
4 lambs' kidneys, trimmed and cut into chunks
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
2 tsp tomato purée
2 tsp lemon juice
1 tsp English mustard powder
pinch cayenne pepper
salt and freshly ground black pepper
To serve
2 slices white bread, toasted
1 tbsp chopped fresh flatleaf parsley


Method



Heat a frying pan until hot, then add the butter and kidneys and fry for 2-3 minutes, until golden-brown all over.


Place the Worcestershire sauce, tomato purée, lemon juice, mustard powder and cayenne powder into a bowl and whisk together well.


Pour the dressing onto the kidneys and stir well to combine. Cook for a further minute or two, until the kidneys are completely cooked through. Season, to taste, with salt and freshly ground black pepper.


To serve, place the toast onto two plates and top each slice with the kidneys and pan juices. Garnish with flatleaf parsley.


Have a great day

Alzheimer’s Drug, Breakfasts of Yore.

I just read an article about Alzheimer’s and the possibility of reversing it. They are still only at the stage of testing on mice but have some encouraging results. Quite frankly I think they should be testing it on humans anyway if there is the slightest hope of reversing this devastating disease. It is something which has scared me for years as at least a couple of people in my family have ended up with dementia or something similar, certainly a loss of cognition. There is absolutely nothing (in my opinion) more depressing and upsetting than a close relative who is basically fit in every way but is unable to remember things and eventually not even able to remember their loved ones. For the loved ones it is also very difficult to cope.

The other morning Matt commented because I was having cheese (on toast) for breakfast. It made me start thinking about when I lived at home with my parents. We used to have wonderful breakfasts mainly because of my father because he certainly didn’t want cereal every day, nor anything else constantly. With the result we might have salt belly of pork then herrings rolled in oatmeal and fried. Could be salt brisket or smoked ham. Smoked haddock with a poached egg on top or kippers. Devilled lamb’s kidneys or fried lamb’s kidneys with bacon and egg. So many different things – of course we had porridge (oatmeal) sometimes too. My father ate his with salt, not sugar. I tried it once, no thank you. There was also kedgeree I remember.  Of course we had sausages, eggs, bacon, mushrooms and fried bread in various combinations with other items. I used to like fried crumpets too. One thing we never had, and in my day never heard of for breakfast, was Heinz Baked Beans. Thinking of these things makes me feel very nostalgic for such breakfasts bearing in mind that I mostly eat cereal these days. I’ve just had supper and now I’m hungry.

I find green beans can get boring so I was particularly interested in this recipe from Kraft.

Bacon and Balsamic Green Beans  

There's only one thing that could make this fresh green bean and pepper salad with balsamic dressing better. That's right: bacon!

8 servings, 3/4 cup each

Ingredients
1lb. fresh green beans, trimmed
1/4 cup  water
1/2 cup  halved yellow pepper strips
2 Tbsp.  KRAFT Balsamic Vinaigrette Dressing
10 slices  OSCAR MAYER Fully Cooked Bacon, cut into 1-inch pieces
1/3 cup  chopped red onions

Make It
COOK beans and water in large skillet on medium-high heat 4 min. or until beans are crisp-tender and water is absorbed, stirring occasionally.
ADD peppers and dressing; cook and stir 2 min.
STIR in bacon and onions; cook 2 min. or until heated through, stirring occasionally.
Kraft Kitchens Tips
Variation
Prepare as directed, using frozen green beans and covering the skillet while cooking the beans just until heated through. Drain beans if necessary, then return to skillet and continue as directed.
Variation
Prepare using red or orange pepper strips, and/or KRAFT House Italian Dressing.

Have a great day

The Theatre, RIP Celeste Holm, Spicy or Bland.

For some reason on Saturday I started thinking about the theatre. What I was mainly thinking about was the time when I went to see the production of Turandot by Puccini on film presented by Live at the Met. During the intervals, we were taken back stage and watched interviews with the various opera stars who were in the show. I enjoyed the production very much, but…. when I was involved with theatre, many years ago, part of our job as actors was to maintain the mystery and magic of the theatre. This is destroyed by going back stage during a performance or by talking to the performers who revert from fabulous characters,  be it heroes or villains, to ordinary people. Nor, when I see some of these performances, do I want to see close ups of the singer’s mouth, or the actor’s sweat, or even in less expensive performances, the odd problems with the props or wardrobe. All of that should stay their side of the footlights and should never intrude on the audience. In my opinion, the way many shows are staged on TV and film, destroys the magic and mystery which we used to be at such pains to create. When I see a show of any kind, I want to suspend disbelief and to see the characters being portrayed as those characters only. I used to enjoy leaving a performance in which I had completely forgotten the actor and just remembered the character. Sadly, it doesn’t happen much any more. As an illustration, I hold up the example of Peter O’Toole who was Lawrence of Arabia, or was definitely Henry II in Beckett. The same can be said of any part he has played. Many times I haven’t even realised it was him, he is so good; a brilliant actor. It is NOT the job of an actor to portray him/herself but to make you believe wholeheartedly in the character, and only the character. He has now retired as he has lost the heart for acting, but I understand he has  written two volumes of an autobiography Loitering with Intent: The Child and Loitering with Intent: The Apprentice which I hear are great reads. I have requested the first one from the library.

Talking of the stage and actors, RIP Celeste Holm, she left us on Sunday after having a great career. I especially remember her singing Who Wants to be a Millionaire with Sinatra in High Society. She was a very successful actress and had a long run although apparently the last year or two of her life were not so happy, she had fallen out with her children. So sad. Last night I happened to see a movie with Jessica Tandy called Camilla. Marvellous actress, so sorry she left us some time ago now.

OK, I admit it, I am a bit slow. I was talking to another English woman about the accusation that English food is bland, then I saw a recipe for gazpacho which added a jalapeño pepper – gazpacho does NOT need jalapeño. Then it suddenly hit me, no wonder Brits are accused of bland food, we don’t add chilies, jalapeños, etc. etc. to practically everything we eat which is beginning to be what happens on this side of the pond. Personally I get sick of all the spiced up recipes I see. If you want to eat Thai or Mexican, do so, but don’t just spice up things for the sake of it. These days, if it doesn’t burn your mouth off, food is considered bland. Never thought of it before, sorry for my dinner guests, they must find my food boring!!! Gazpacho is a delicious soup of blended summer vegetables the subtle tastes of which would be totally lost once you started adding hot and fiery peppers to it. If English food is bland, North American food is becoming over spiced. A language difference here, in England food with lots of chilies is/was called ‘hot’, over here its called ‘spicy’. The Brits do eat spicy things, witness the amount of Indian takeaways that have sprung up all over the country. Curry is almost a national dish and a good Vindaloo can knock your socks off. Not sure why, Indian food hasn’t caught on round here for some reason. There is one Indian restaurant I know of which my doctor, who’s background is Indian, says is not much good, other than their breads. Having written all this, we decided to have Devilled Kidneys for supper last night, they are hot or spicy enough. When I think about it, Devilling is a very old English method of preparing foods and usually involves hot mustards. We always have our Devilled Kidneys over rice although as you can see it is shown over toast here. It is made with lamb’s kidneys.

Saturday night I decided to try out a new recipe for Brussels Sprouts. I have mentioned before that I get tired of plain ol’ veg so am always on the lookout for something different. This is a recipe from Kraft and I have altered it a bit as the original had healthy options such as low fat or low salt. I thought it was delicious but a little too crunchy, needed either a bit more cooking or a bit more root cut off the sprout, not sure which. I also added just a sprinkle of salt. You can see in the picture that some of it hasn’t been cooked at all but it still comes out attractively. The serving size is for 6 half cups, not nearly enough. Matt and I split it between us.

Pan-Fried Brussels Sprouts with Bacon

2 slices bacon
1 small onion, chopped
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup Kraft Zesty Italian Dressing
2 tsp. Dijon mustard
20 Brussels sprouts (1 lb./450 g), trimmed, halved and thinly sliced

1. COOK bacon in large skillet until crisp. Remove bacon from skillet; drain on paper towels. Discard drippings from skillet.

2. ADD onions to skillet; cook on medium-high heat 3 min. or until crisp-tender, stirring occasionally. Add next 3 ingredients; stir.

3. STIR in Brussels sprouts; cook 6 min. or until crisp-tender, stirring frequently. Crumble bacon; sprinkle over Brussels sprouts.

Kraft kitchens tips

For added flavour, stir in 1 Tbsp. cider vinegar before topping with the crumbled bacon

Servings: 6 (1/2 cup each)

Have a great day

RIP Jack, Gold Prices,

I was sorry to hear NDP leader Jack Layton died  of cancer early yesterday morning. I hadn’t realised he was that ill, the publicity certainly didn’t give us that impression. I don’t know what kind of cancer he had, originally he had prostate cancer which was treated then he announced he had a new bout of cancer and had to step down from the party leadership. At our last election he made a big killing in Quebec. His politics were not mine, but I liked him just the same, he certainly had charisma. The party and the country will miss him. I learned later he was 61, not very old, but then as Matt said, cancer doesn’t care how old you are.

As most of you will know, gold prices have been reaching the moon, its just short of $2,000 an ounce right now. I remember when America came off the gold standard it was $35 an ounce. That being said, Matt was telling me tonight that thieves are ripping bracelets and necklaces, etc. off people in the streets as well as breaking into jewellery stores and stealing gold from them. They then melt it all down so no one can tell where it came from, presumably they then sell it – to buy drugs perhaps. I sold a lot of gold a couple of years ago, I should have waited, but who knew? I still have some pieces I wear but now I am scared to, not that I walk in the streets very often.

I promised Devilled Kidneys and here they are. I was glad to hear at least one of my readers eats the things I talked about yesterday, including kidneys.

Devilled Kidneys

2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
1 Tbs prepared English mustard (Colmans)
1 Tbs lemon juice
1 Tbs tomato purée
pinch of cayenne pepper
salt and ground black pepper
2 Tbs butter
1 shallot, finely chopped
8 lamb's kidneys, skinned, halved and cored
1 Tbs chopped fresh parsley to garnish

1. Mix the first 6 ingredients together (including salt and pepper) to make a sauce.

2. Melt the butter in a frying pan, add the chopped shallot and cook stirring occasionally, until it is softened but not coloured.

3. Stir the kidney halves into the shallots in the pan and cook over medium high heat for about 3 mins on each side.

4. Pour the sauce over the kidneys and quickly stir so that they become evenly coated. Serve immediately sprinkled with fresh parsley.

Servings: 4

Note: To remove the cores from the kidneys use sharp kitchen scissors rather than a knife. Much easier.

Source: The Ultimate Hot and Spicy Cookbook

Author Notes
"Devilled" dishes are always hot and spicy. If you have time, mix the spicy ingredients together in advance to give the flavours time to mingle.

Have a great day

The Weekend - Jamie's Ministry of Food

Matt was telling me that for a golf tournament this weekend, Jack Nicklaus hosted all the golfers and their wives to a lobster dinner. Can you imagine how much that must have cost. Bit extravagant for the current financial situation I thought. Mind you I wish Matt was a professional golfer, I would have made a nasty mess of that meal. As I have mentioned before, I sell Avon products and this last campaign I bought myself some corn on the cob holders. I never have much success with such things, the pins always break off or something. However, these may well be better, they screw in to the cobs. You do that before you cook them - I cook mine in the microwave anyway - otherwise you would burn yourself trying to screw them into the ends. I just checked the catalogue, they are OK in boiling water too. There is corn in the stores, but its not local yet, so I won't be bothering just yet. I enjoyed my visit to the theatre on Saturday. Turned out to be a lovely day, warm enough to be without coats for a change. The show was very well done, they usually are. I had a couple of criticisms: if you know the film or the show or saw the series on TV, Oscar was a total slob. In the theatre he wore bright, white, brand new sneakers. Struck an odd note. The other was that the two English sisters couldn't/didn't maintain their English accents very long. Neither item really detracted from the show though. If you don't know the movie and get a chance to see it, it really is funny. Of course if you live in Ontario, you should go see the show. Last night for supper we had lamb's kidneys in sherry sauce. Haven't had it for a long time, but a dish we are very fond of. I know lots of people hate offal or organ meats, but we are not amongst them. I posted the recipe on May 30th if anyone is remotely interested. Now we are out of kidneys so I will have to go to market again. Luckily, because so many people don't eat them, they are very inexpensive, so thank you. Last night we watched a programme by Jamie Oliver the English chef. It was called Jamie's Ministry of Food. I was horrified. I knew the English generally were not good cooks (some of them are wonderful cooks of course) but Jamie has started a campaign beginning in Rotherham in the Midlands of England to teach people to cook. Until we watched the programme I had no idea how bad things had become. Women who literally don't know what boiling water looks like. If you would like to read more about it, Jamie has a website Ministry of Food where you can watch video and get simple recipes. The idea he started with was to teach 8 people ten recipes and for them to teach two more people each and then those two to teach two more - kind of pyramid system. I gather there are problems - we shall try and remember to follow the programme for the next week or two. One of his pupils turned out to have the knack of food handling and Jamie was most impressed with her, unfortunately she also has no money and is at the stage of "food or housing". She says she has pawned all her jewellery (she was wearing a necklace and earrings) and is at her wits end how to pay the bills. I felt sorry for her until she lit up. We didn't see a husband, just kids, but we figured if there is one, he is probably a smoker too. She used to feed her kids on 'take-out', I know I can cook a meal cheaper than a take-out. Once upon a time mothers passed down cooking techniques to their daughters, I don't know what happened, but hundreds of people don't know how to cook in England. I think Jamie started this programme when he discovered what rubbish was being fed to kids for school dinners, stuff which he said he wouldn't give his dog. He began a campaign to teach both kids and school cooks how to prepare and enjoy decent meals - you cannot imagine the opposition he got - he did manage to get some backing for that, I don't know if he still does. It is, of course, affecting the health of these children, some of whom cannot identify the most ordinary vegetables. He said on the programme last night that he had been Soweto and found the poor ate better than English families. I wondered how bad it is over on this side of the pond and whether families cook here. I saw one kid cover his food with ketchup and I have definitely seen that done here. I know I have English readers - can't you bug your government to start cooking schools or something or at least to support Jamie. Looking for a recipe last night, I came across a reference to Monkey Dishes.I had never heard of them before. Googling this morning I find generally it is a restaurant term used for small dishes in which vegetables might be served. I have never worked in a restaurant which I guess accounts for the fact I have never heard the expression but I found it in an Ontario Asparagus leaflet in a recipe for Asparagus Butter. Asparagus Sukiyaki Ontario Asparagus Growers Marketing Board 1/2 lb round or sirloin steak 1/4 cup vegetable oil 1 clove garlic, smashed 1 tsp soy sauce 1/2 tsp salt 1/4 cup water 1 medium green pepper 1/4 cup celery 1 small onion 1 lb fresh asparagus Cut beef into diagonal strips with a sharp knife. Brown in hot oil with garlic for 10 minutes. Remove garlic. Add soy sauce, salt and water. Reduce heat to simmer and cook, covered for about 20 minutes. Meanwhile, cut green pepper into strips, cut celery in diagonal slices about 1/4 in. thick and chop onion. Add to meat and cook 10 minutes. Wash and break off woody ends of asparagus stalks. Cut asparagus in 2 inch diagonal pieces. Add, after the other vegetables have cooked 10 minutes and continue cooking 5 to 8 minutes, or until asparagus pieces are just tender. If the liquid is too thin, thicken with a teaspoon of cornstarch mixed with water. Cook until clear. Makes 4 to 5 servings. Serve with rice or Chinese noodles. Have a great day.