Poor Mouse, Dinner Party, Asparagus.

I am ashamed to say I totally forgot that I was being featured at Tina's blog Life is Good this morning, I am one of Tina's minions for the A to Z Challenge, a member of Tina's Terrific Team.

Because I have to keep my feet elevated, I keep my laptop by my easy chair and I have a Wireless Mouse. I might also say my Kindle, my Android tablet and my Glucose meter are all on this table. Bit crowded you might be pardoned for saying, hubby says it all the time. Saturday morning I had a glass of water on the table to take with my myriad pills and later, surprise, surprise, I caught it with my fingers and spilled water all over my poor little mouse. Luckily all the other electronic items were fine, but my mouse has given up the ghost. I have been reduced to using the built in mouse on my laptop, which I hate and usually have turned off. Whilst using it, it has a tendency to erase things I have typed. It does this at the speed of lightening so I am unable to stop it. Does lots of other unpredictable things too. It’s because I have a tendency to rest my fingers on the pad or brush it when I am typing. So I guess I have to go buy me a new mouse. Have you seen some of the prices they charge for these things? Luckily there are some inexpensive ones out there. I was going to order one on line but the shipping costs almost more than the mouse itself.

Saturday night we had a friend over for dinner and I decided to do a snow pea dish I found as a vegetable, not something I cook very often and these turned out pretty well, as a starter we had Asparagus Pesto Toasts, followed by Chicken Breasts with Lemon and Capers accompanied by Spanish Rice and the snow peas. For dessert I had bought some Cannelloni from Vincenzo’s. Our friend requested recipes for everything which is always a good sign. I only have a little Asparagus Pesto left so I will need to make some more once the season arrives. Another month at least if I am lucky.The earliest they ever opened was April 20 and the latest May 26. I hope it won’t be that late, I would have chewed my fingers to the bone. Matt already told Tim Barrie, the asparagus farmer, that I painted my fingers green and started chewing on them before the asparagus was ready. I am out of asparagus soup too and have one Asparagus/Almond soup left. Dire straits indeed. I could always go to the farm and get some pickled asparagus I guess.

As a prelude to the season and because I served it the other night, here is the recipe for Asparagus Pesto Toasts which came from the LCBO’s Food and Drink magazine. Hmm, it appears I posted this recipe last May, it is one I post every year however. If you haven’t tried it, when the fresh asparagus comes in, I highly recommend it.


Asparagus Pesto Toasts


1 lb trimmed green asparagus (farm fresh doesn’t need trimming)
1 cup toasted walnut halves (I used pecans)
4 cloves garlic, peeled
2 1/2 tsp salt
3/4 cup olive oil
2/3 cup freshly grated Parmesan
Freshly ground pepper

1. Cook asparagus until just tender. Refresh in cold water, then drain and dry well. Place asparagus, walnuts, garlic and salt in food  processor. Process until blended.
2. With motor running, gradually add olive oil, then add cheese and pepper. Blend together and check seasoning. Place in covered bowl.
3. It shows the recipe served on crunchy toasted French or Italian bread with a curl or two of parmesan on top and some asparagus at the side.
4. We freeze this in ice cube trays, then wrap the cubes in pairs (separated by Saran, and put in a bag in the freezer until we need them. Lasts forever.

Have a great day

Dinner, Santa,

So the menu for last night was English style Shrimp cocktail, oven barbecued pork chops with runner beans and goat cheese potato purée followed by mincemeat tart and a dollop of cream. I have previously posted the recipes for all of these except the dessert and the beans which were just plain. I gave my new pant suit a trial run too. It is now a dirty pant suit, well the top anyway. The food went down well and our guests apparently enjoyed everything. I ate too much potato. Oh well, tomorrow is another day. The picture shows the shrimp with a North American style sauce which is predominantly tomato ketchup and horseradish. Our sauce is not the same but of course I forgot to take pictures. It’s made with ketchup, mayonnaise, Worcester sauce, lemon juice, onion and celery. We also add lettuce to the bottom of the dish.

I just discovered Santa is a Canadian. We all know he lives at the North Pole and at the current time the North Pole is in the northern reaches of Canada. Canadian air forces currently have the job of escorting his sleigh on Christmas Eve having had the responsibility passed on to them by Norad. The Department of Immigration apparently awarded Santa full Canadian citizenship although, as stated, he is really a citizen of the world.

Here’s a nice goodie of a recipe from Cooking.com, just right for a chocoholic.

Pecan-Chocolate Chip Pie

Source: Cooking at a Glance - Pies and Pastries


Makes 10 servings
There's only one way to improve on a pecan pie: Add chocolate! The resulting pie is rich and filling, so cut the pieces small.

INGREDIENTS
For the Pie:
3 eggs
1 cup light corn syrup
1/2 cup sugar
1/3 cup margarine or butter, melted
one 6-ounce package semisweet chocolate pieces (1 cup) or 1 cup chopped semisweet chocolate
1 cup pecan halves
Pastry for Single-Crust Pie
For the Topping:
10 pecan halves
1 cup whipping cream, whipped

DIRECTIONS
FOR THE PIE:
In a medium mixing bowl use a rotary beater or wire whisk to lightly beat eggs just till mixed. Stir in corn syrup, sugar, and melted margarine or butter. Mix well. Reserve 2 tablespoons of the chocolate pieces; stir remaining chocolate pieces and 1 cup pecan halves into filling. Set filling aside.
Prepare and roll out pastry as directed. Line a 9-inch pie plate with pastry. Trim and crimp edge of pastry. Pour filling into pastry shell. To prevent overbrowning, cover the edge of the pie with foil. Bake in a preheated 350 degrees F oven for 25 minutes. Remove foil and bake for 20-25 minutes more, or till center appears nearly set when shaken. Cool on a rack.
FOR THE TOPPING:
Meanwhile, in a small saucepan melt reserved chocolate pieces over low heat. Dip one end of each of the 10 pecan halves into melted chocolate. Place on a waxed paper-lined baking sheet and refrigerate about 15 minutes, or till chocolate is firm.
TO SERVE:
Dollop whipped cream on each slice. Insert a chocolate-dipped pecan half in each dollop of whipped cream. Store in the refrigerator.

Have a great day