Qur’an, Vitamin C, Big Fires, Vacation.

Phew, the pastor has finally agreed not to burn the Qur’an on Saturday after all. Thank goodness, I personally was pretty worried about that. Maybe it was the death threats, or maybe it was the fuss which had been stirred up worldwide. I have now heard another report that he is rethinking!!! Let’s all keep our fingers crossed otherwise 9/11 will spark a conflagration around the Muslim world. This morning he appeared on Good Morning America and stated he would definitely not burn the Qur’an and was therefore heard by thousands.

Big gas explosion near San Francisco has caused a huge fire. At least one person already killed and destroyed more than 50 homes. In Colorado they have a huge forest fire which has destroyed lots of homes too and is approaching the city.

Yesterday morning we went to the bank and got some US cash. The rate of exchange wasn’t bad, better than when we lived there when we were paying a small fortune for our Canadian dollars.

On the late news last night I caught a report about mega doses of Vitamin C being good for halting the progress of brain degeneration and Alzheimer’s. Because relatives in my family tree had senile dementia at least, this is always something I have been worried about, but apparently the dosage is so high they are worried about possible side effects.

One Day More, that was the title of a song in Les Misérables, one day more and we are off on vacation, whooppee. I will certainly be glad to get out of this joint, haven’t been anywhere at all lately. I will try and write a blog before I go, if not, I am not sure when I will blog in the next two weeks. Matt doesn’t really like me to spend lots of time on the computer when we go away, so we shall see, if not, see ya when I return.

We eat quite a few pork chops and I received an email with a whole bunch of recipes for them, this is one I liked the sound of.

Ginger Pork Chops

Source: Healthy Cooking Magazine

RECIPE INGREDIENTS

2 bone-in pork loin chops (3/4 inch thick)

1 teaspoon cornstarch

2 tablespoons soy sauce

1/4 cup honey

1 garlic clove, minced

Dash ground ginger or 3/4 teaspoon grated fresh gingerroot

1 tablespoon sliced green onion

DIRECTIONS

Broil pork chops 3-4 in. from the heat for 5-6 minutes on each side or until no longer pink.

Meanwhile, in a small saucepan, combine cornstarch and soy sauce until smooth. Stir in the honey, garlic and ginger. Bring to a boil; cook and stir for 1 minute or until thickened. Drizzle over the pork chops. Sprinkle with green onion.

Have a great day

Floods, Mud and Superbug. Superb Singer.

I haven’t mentioned any of the current disasters lately, there just see to be so many of them. In particular the flooding in Pakistan, what devastation, seeing all these poor people wading through water which is waist high and sometimes higher. I haven’t heard anything mentioned about the animals, I don’t know what has happened to them, particularly the cows which wander all over the place. I’m not quite sure if the holiness of cows as in India is the same in Pakistan, but they certainly have other animals which will have been affected by this flooding. matt saw a newspaper picture of a farmer wading neck deep in water with his cows swimming alongside him. Then of course the mud slides in China which are pretty terrible, I can’t imagine which is worse, mud or water, I think you maybe have more chance in water so long as it isn’t too violent. I don’t want to try either, thank you. Of course there are forest fires all over the place, the Muscovites are having a hard time of it, and now they are talking about the fires spreading to the Chernoble area and disturbing the irradiated ground in that area; a lot of people living in the Western States have lost their homes due to fires, doesn’t seem to be any end to it at the moment. Just to add to everything else, there is a tropical storm brewing in the Gulf of Mexico so they are going to have to abandon the work on the wellhead for a while. Then reports of more flooding in the States this morning.

On top of everything else, there are the more usual problems of heat and tornadoes in the Central States, the Eastern States are expecting a bit of cooling for the next few days, I am sure they will appreciate that. North Carolina, where we are heading next month, is suffering from high temps in the 100°F range.

The superbug (NDM1) I mentioned yesterday is causing a lot of problems and medical people are apparently working round the clock to find something to defeat it - http://tinyurl.com/3x475of – sounds a pretty scary bug to me when there is nothing out there to stop it. It has apparently started in India and Pakistan in 2008 and has already been found in Canada and many other parts of the world.

Jackie Evancho is the new and up and coming superstar – see this article with a video -http://tinyurl.com/26hg6ml – if her voice doesn’t send chills up and down your spine I will be very surprised. She is 10 years old and has the mature voice of a 30 yr. old. Absolutely incredible. She appeared on America’s Got Talent after submitting a YouTube clip. The winner of the show will receive $1 million. She already has a date at Carnegie Hall on December 2. Her voice is fantastic and just listening to this clip through my old PC speakers, I was in tears. She is a very mature young lady altogether.

We have a margarine in Canada called Becel, a very healthy product full of Omega 3 etc. I get a newsletter from them too. Here is a dessert from their latest issue which sounds great for the summer.

Molten Lemon Lime Pudding Cake

Makes: 8 servings

Ingredients:

Ingredients

2 omega-3 eggs

1 omega-3 egg white

1 lemon

1 lime

1 tbsp Becel margarine

2/3 cup granulated sugar

1/3 cup all-purpose flour

1 Pinch salt

1 cup 1% milk

1/2 cup Icing sugar and berries, (optional)

Preparation:

1. Preheat oven to 350F (180C) and spray an 8-inch (20 cm) round casserole or baking dish using non-stick cooking spray.
2. Separate eggs, placing yolks in large bowl and whites in a medium bowl. Whisk yolks with 1 tsp (5 mL) each lemon and lime peel, 2 tbsp (30 mL) each lemon and lime juice and Becel until blended. In a separate bowl, stir sugar with flour and salt until mixed. Whisk into lemon mixture alternatively with milk ending with flour mixture.
3. In a separate bowl, beat whites until soft peaks form. Fold into lemon mixture until no whites streaks remain. Turn into dish and gently smooth. Bake in preheated oven until golden and cake is set, 35-40 minutes. Let stand 5 to 10 minutes before serving. Best served warm, with fresh berries.

Have a great day

News, Cribbage, Cover Art.

The news lately has been filled with murder and mayhem. You can see why people start predicting the end of the world. As you know we watch Good Morning America a lot and it comes to us through Channel 7 Buffalo so we get their news as well as national news. Every day it seems someone has been shot or something has been burning. Matt used to say he would never go to Detroit, seems to me Buffalo is getting just as bad. Then there's the woman I mentioned the other day who had driven the wrong way on a street and ended up killing herself, her child, her three nieces and three guys in the other vehicle. The toxicology reports said she had twice the legal limit of alcohol plus having marijuana in her system. Now her husband is saying it can't possibly be true, she didn't drink. The relatives of the three guys who died are talking of suing - who for goodness sakes? Click here for the latest reports. It seems to be a very strange story as witnesses are saying she was not drunk when she left the camp where she had collected the children - mind you, sometimes you can't tell. A phone call later, from one of the kids in the car, said her aunt was having trouble talking. We had an enjoyable afternoon playing cribbage yesterday although I regret to say Matt won LOL. The woman we were playing with seems to be a very nice person and we enjoyed her company. Its the first time we have been in the social room, rec room or whatever you call it, for some time and it has been improved considerably. For many years it wasn't even open and the super of the time used it for storage. There is a sauna which was once in use but he closed it because young people were having sex in there! The sauna is still closed, but the rest of the unit is quite pleasant. People are spending time doing jigsaws there too, one excessively complicated one was in progress on one of the tables. These days I prefer to do my jigsaws on line, then I don't have to turn over the pieces. Lazy? Me? Naaaah. People also put a lot of books there for others to read. I checked them out but couldn't see anything which appealed, not that I looked thoroughly I must admit. One thing, we opened the sliding doors which lead directly onto the lawn and park, then forgot to close them again, I had to go back down. Good spot for illegal entry and I had left an open invitation! I have just about finished The Last of the Herald Mage Trilogy by Mercedes Lackey, I remembered some of the story, but I was surprised how much I had forgotten. The Valdemar books are very good. I am awaiting more from the library. Because they are an old series, they aren't readily available any more. During these re-reads I have been looking at the cover art. It is something that always tees me off because it seems to me the artists have never read the story. This particular trilogy covers a period of something like 15-20 years, the main protagonist is getting silver streaks in his hair because of working node magic and yet he looks the same on the first cover aged 16, as he does on the last cover, in his 30s. I really think authors should be given more input into such things, after all, who knows the story better than they. I know with Karen Miller's books, most of them end up with someone hidden in a blowing cloak. Come on, lets have some imagination please. I am sure you all know how good salmon is for your health, luckily I love it. In fact I like most fish, not sure I have a favourite, but Matt loves swordfish. Fresh tuna is good too. However, today its salmon and here is a recipe from Eating Well which we will probably try this weekend as we have just picked up some salmon fillets. Honey-Soy Broiled Salmon Makes 4 servings 1 scallion, minced 2 tablespoons reduced-sodium soy sauce 1 tablespoon rice vinegar 1 tablespoon honey 1 teaspoon minced fresh ginger 1 pound center-cut salmon fillet, skinned (see Tip) and cut into 4 portions 1 teaspoon toasted sesame seeds (see Tip) 1. Whisk scallion, soy sauce, vinegar, honey and ginger in a medium bowl until the honey is dissolved. Place salmon in a sealable plastic bag, add 3 tablespoons of the sauce and refrigerate; let marinate for 15 minutes. Reserve the remaining sauce. 2. Preheat broiler. Line a small baking pan with foil and coat with cooking spray. 3. Transfer the salmon to the pan, skinned-side down. (Discard the marinade.) Broil the salmon 4 to 6 inches from the heat source until cooked through, 6 to 10 minutes. Drizzle with the reserved sauce and garnish with sesame seeds. Tips: How to skin a salmon fillet: Place skin-side down. Starting at the tail end, slip a long knife between the fish flesh and the skin, holding down firmly with your other hand. Gently push the blade along at a 30° angle, separating the fillet from the skin without cutting through either. To toast sesame seeds, heat a small dry skillet over low heat. Add seeds and stir constantly, until golden and fragrant, about 2 minutes. Transfer to a small bowl and let cool. Have a great day.

From Snow to Fire

It's white, it's white, its very, very white. When I got up this morning the roads were white too, however, I am glad to say an hour or so later they are already beginning to clear on their own. I don't mind the snow (we garage our car in our underground parking lot) but I am not keen on driving in the stuff if I don't have to. When we had to go to work and spend an age cleaning off the car before we could drive it used to be a pain, but now we are spoilt and can just get in the car and go. We don't often get cars covered like the picture, although I remember one occasion close to 30 years ago when my car ended up like that because conditions were so bad Matt collected me from work and we left my car in the parking lot there. Even Matt's car, which was our 'main' vehicle and a big 8 cylinder, had trouble travelling the short distance home, it was a bit silly of him to come and get me. At work we were ready to hunker down for the night. The car conked out a few times but luckily re-started. When we got home, we lifted the hood and the engine was packed solid with snow. Incredible that it ran at all. What I don't understand and am sure I have said before, is how people forget every year (some of them may never have known) how to drive in snow. They end up spinning their wheels and getting nowhere instead of letting the engine do the work on its own. One of my pet peeves. We have a TV programme here called Mythbusters where they take a statement that everyone makes and test out whether there is any truth in it. Last night one of the things they tested was whether it was true that cockroaches would survive radiation after atomic blasts. I have certainly heard that they would be the only critters left. I didn't watch the whole thing as I have a strong aversion to cockroaches. They decided to test roaches, fruit flies and flour beetles (unfamiliar with those) the ones that survived the irradiation were the flour beetles - I googled them and they called them grain beetles. Apparently they can infest stored grain. Never heard of them before. Not sure I want to hear of them again. Cockroaches are, to me, the most revolting things. They are supposed to live everywhere but I personally never came across them in England and have never done so in Canada which doesn't mean to say they are not here. However, I came across them in the Mediterranean when my parents took their boat there to live and we certainly came across them in the States. We had to spray for them regularly to keep them out of the house. A friend of mine once ate fried cockroach when he was touring an Asian country, I forget where. I would have starved to death rather than eat one. Just saw a young man on TV who had lost 248 lbs by changing his diet and walking around the office. His company had to buy him two tickets to fly somewhere because he wouldn't fit into one airline seat. Not that I am very surprised about that, some of them are really small seats. Matt has just lost 15 lbs (not sure in what time period) which worried us as he hasn't been trying to lose. Turns out everything OK. I, on the other hand, have been trying to lose and its taken me all year to lose 18 lbs where I have stayed for ages. Men can lose so much more easily than women. Discrimination!!! The wildfires are still raging in California although last night they said the Santa Ana winds, which had been making them so much worse, had died down so there was more hope they could be controlled. I believe the tally was something like 800 homes at last count. A mobile home park was totally wiped out. That could have happened to us so easily when we lived in the States, we were surrounded by trees, lots of which were pine trees which burn so easily. Watched The Godfather on Saturday, hadn't seen it in years. Matt swears he still has the bruises from when we saw it the first time in a movie theatre in England over 30 years ago and I clutched his arm at the horse scene. We then saw a documentary last night about the 10 commandments of the Mafia. Apparently the Mafia today is not the "secret society" it was in the old days, family doesn't mean as much and there is no loyalty to families, now it is all about money and nothing else. I gave you an egg dish from Food and Drink last week, here is another which I think sounds good and will try in the near future. Baked Eggs with Mushroom Sauce I (the author)had this dish in Paris at L'Atelier de Joel Robuchon, one of the best restaurants in Paris. L'Atelier has since become a mini chain with outposts in London, New York, Las Vegas, Hong Kong, Tokyo and soon Tel Aviv. Robuchon served this appetizer in a Martini glass but he cooked it sous vide which is not available to home cooks. We used ramekins. Be sure to measure the size of your ramekins. You will need a 1 cup capacity to hold both the egg and the sauce. Timing is important here. You can make the sauce well ahead and bring back to a boil just before pouring over the hot eggs. This will cook the yolk slightly more. When you eat it, the egg breaks and mixes with the rich sauce. Serve as a luxurious first course. 2 Tbs butter 4 eggs 8 oz sliced mixed mushrooms, including shiitake and oyster 4 packed cups baby spinach 3/4 cup whipping cream salt and freshly ground pepper 4 drops truffle oil or to taste (there are no substitutes and I suspect most of us would have to omit this ingredient) Preheat oven to 300°F. Butter four 1-cup ramekins or glass dishes. Break an egg into each one and top each egg with a tiny knob of butter Place ramekins into a baking dish and fill dish with boiling water halfway up the sides of the ramekins. Place in oven and bake for 10 to 12 minutes or until egg whites are opaque and yolk is just set but still runny. It will continue to cook once the sauce is spooned over it. Remove ramekins from water bath. While the eggs are cooking, heat the remaining butter in a skillet over high heat and add mushrooms. Sauté for 2 minutes or until mushrooms are just cooked. Add spinach and cook 1 minute longer or until spinach wilts. Add cream and bring to boil and boil for 2 minutes or until slightly thickened. Season with salt and pepper and add truffle oil. Divide sauce between ramekins and spoon over eggs. Serve at once with some crusty bread to sop up the sauce. Serves 4. My note: Obviously if you have truffle oil (which you make yourself) it is supposed to enrich the sauce, but, Philistine that I am, I personally have never found truffles to do anything much for me. However if you really feel the need for truffle oil, you slice up a dry fresh truffle in olive oil and let it sit for a while to infuse then keep it in the fridge. Have a great day.