GMA, Sports,

Poor Matt, he watches Good Morning America regularly. Today the first part was about your current political situation with outtakes from what I assume was a debate last night. The second half was about the Super Bowl in which he has no interest either. Not a good start to his Sunday morning. We once went to a Super Bowl party when we lived in NC. Neither of us know anything about American Football but I kind of understood it when our host kindly tried to explain what was happening. I am not sure Matt even went near "the box" that day. Now English football, or what North Americans refer to as soccer, is a different matter although he doesn't think much of the way the players behave these days. They lay down on the field and die for the tiniest bump. When Matt played soccer they didn't have team replacements. If anyone was injured badly enough they were sent off and the team had to continue short handed. He once tried out for a professional soccer club - in those days they didn't pay players the fortunes they get now - unfortunately he tore the cartilage in his knee. When I first met Matt he still played soccer occasionally for the Borstal (YA) team. He will tell you, at the drop of a hat, how very active he was starting early with gymnastics where he ended up teaching others, he also swam, played water polo, soccer, Badminton, tennis with his ex wife etc. etc. When I first met him he was teaching SCUBA diving for the British Sub Aqua club where I had gone to learn. When we emigrated to Canada he took up golf which he played for many years until those many years caught up with him. Hey, even I played golf for a number of  years. I nearly forgot, he took up cross country skiing too, as did I. That, of course, ended when we went down to NC to live.

Updating our bed bug saga. It doesn't seem to me that the visit of the pest control did very much at

all. I am still getting eaten alive and dreading going to bed at night. Not that, I understand, bedtime is the only time they bite. If they are hungry, they eat. However, as they mostly stay close to beds that is where they get their munchies. I bought myself some Polysporin itch medication because the bites were driving me mad. It works pretty well I must say. I do wish there was something I could spray on myself to discourage them though. The exterminators are coming back on Thursday. Meanwhile I am quite sure that bugs are running from our neighbour into our apartment. We are spraying our door and the hall carpet in order to prevent this. We bought a bug spray from a local store. It's called Blaze Pro and seems to be working pretty well.

A friend of mine, from a cookery group, posted the following recipe the other day. She said everyone asked for the recipe when she made it for dinner guests. I haven't even tried to consider how many calories are in this dessert. I might say, I couldn't cut and paste the copy of the recipe so I patiently typed it all out switching back and forth only to discover, on looking for a picture, that there were a number of versions online. Only one trouble making it on this side of the pond, our cream is not nearly as thick as that of the UK, or as far as I know, Europe in general. It has a much higher fat content. I am not, as so many think, talking about clotted cream, but everyday cream which can be bought in stores or used to be delivered by the milkman - if there is such a thing any more. If one visited the Channel Islands, the cream there was quite yellow it was so thick. I remember visiting an aunt in Jersey and she produced trifle for dessert. I thought "how stingy, she hasn't topped the custard with cream". She had, it was virtually custard colour. Delicious.

Irish Coffee Trifle


Deep layers of bliss.

100 g Sponge Fingers
150 ml Bailey's Irish Cream
150 ml Espresso Coffee
100 g Hazelnuts, skinned
400 ml Double Cream
200 g Marscapone
Vanilla (a splash or a knife point of seeds)
25 g Dark Chocolate

1. Put 100 g sponge fingers into a serving bowl and pour over 150 ml Bailey's and 150 g strong espresso.Leave to soak.

2. Toast 100 g hazelnuts and chop them in half. Whip 200 ml cream to soft folds then fold in 200 g of marscapone and most of the chopped nuts. Spread this mixture over the sponge fingers and refrigerate.

3. Softly whip another 200 ml cream, flavour it with a little vanilla or a knifepoint of vanilla seeds then spread it over the marscapone mixture. Leave covered in the fridge for an hour (20 minutes will do in an emergency).

4. Scatter the remaining nuts over the trifle. Melt 35 g dark chocolate in a bowl set over simmering water then trickle and splash the chocolate over the cream layer. Refrigerate a few minutes, just long enough to let the chocolate go crisp and then bring to the table.

Servings: 6

Have a great day
 

Somali Pirates, Donald Trump, Marlee Matlin,

Donald Trump was interviewed on Good Morning America today and he also thought (as Matt and I have been saying for days) security guards should be posted on the ships which are vulnerable to Somali pirates. That is fine for commercial vessels, but as mentioned in yesterday's comments, what do yachts do? I thought piracy on the high seas was something which disappeared a couple of centuries ago, but obviously not. The Pirates are threatening revenge on those countries which have retaliated. Er, you can kill and capture us, but we must be nice to you?????? Its a pity we can't go the long way round for a while - I wonder if paying a ransom is more cost efficient than travelling right round Africa? If you would like to see what Donald Trump has to say about pirates and the economy click here for the video. He has some very good advice about buying real estate. He even said its maybe better to walk out of your current house and then go to your bank and buy another. He said don't go to a realtor or a private seller, go to the bank which has hundreds of homes to dispose of. That way they will lend you the money. Anyway, don't listen to me, watch the video for good advice and maybe also read his book "Think Like a Champion" where he offers sound strategies for money management. Lot of people writing books lately, Marlee Matlin has just published one called "I'll Scream Later" which is apparently a very revealing book about her life as a deaf actress. Who would ever think of Marlee Matlin having drug problems, I certainly wouldn't have. There is another video of the interview with Marlee at the same GMA page if you want to watch it. Her life is now on a good track she tells us. Last year, a lot of people were pretty stunned that she took part in Dancing With the Stars which is a very popular programme in this part of the world. Apparently she can hear the beat if not the actual music. There are a couple of people I know who have celiac disease and I came across this recipe which would be great for them. It is from the Eating Well website - we have always enjoyed Eating Well as both a magazine and these days an ezine too. Flourless Chocolate Torte

Makes 8 servings

Ingredients

½ cup matzo meal ⅓ cup walnuts 2 large eggs 1 ¼ cups sugar, divided 2 teaspoons vanilla extract 1 cup grated peeled apple, preferably Delicious 2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder 2 ounces bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, chopped 8 large egg whites, at room temperature ½ teaspoon salt Confectioners' sugar for dusting

Flourless Chocolate Torte Ingredients Cont.

Flourless Chocolate Torte Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. 2. Combine matzo meal and walnuts in a food processor; process until nuts are finely chopped. Spread on a baking sheet and toast until fragrant, 5 to 10 minutes. Let cool. 3. Whisk eggs, 3/4 cup sugar and vanilla in a large bowl until blended. Stir in the matzo mixture, apple, cocoa and chocolate. 4. Beat egg whites and salt in large, clean bowl, with an electric mixer on medium speed until frothy. Increase speed to high and beat until soft peaks form. Add remaining 1/2 cup sugar 1 Tbsp. at a time, beating until glossy and stiff peaks form. 5. Stir one-quarter of the beaten whites into the batter. Gently fold in remaining whites with a rubber spatula. Scrape the batter into an ungreased 9-inch springform pan, spreading evenly. Tap pan lightly on counter to release air bubbles. 6. Bake torte until top springs back when touched lightly and a skewer inserted in the center comes out clean, 40 to 45 minutes. With a knife, loosen edges of torte. Let cool in pan on a wire rack. (Torte will sink in center.) 7. Remove pan sides and place torte on a serving platter. Dust with confectioners' sugar and serve.

Have a great day.

Routers, Movies and Eggs in a Cup.

I had no internet connection this morning. Turned out it was my router which wasn't talking to my modem. Will have to check it out later, haven't time right now. At least my modem is still happily chatting to my computer and the internet. Its a bowling day again, so not sure when I will get round to fixing it. Problem is, although I do have an anti-virus system, routers are supposed to work even better. That apart, I was going to mention that one of the TV channels here, Turner Classic Movies, has been running Oscar films for a month. The film itself doesn't have to have had an Oscar, but someone has to have won something. Last night they showed The African Queen. Humphrey Bogart got the Oscar for his part. I haven't seen this movie in years and had forgotten what it was all about. The only scene I remembered was Humpty Gocart in the water, pulling the boat through the reeds and Katherine Hepburn looking over the bow at him. What a super movie it is. I really enjoyed it. Technically there were one or two small things, but the basic story was still excellent. I was hesitant to watch it again, but I am so glad I did. This morning on GMA, Emeril Lagasse, who is one of our well know TV cooks here, did breakfast for the crew - it was a promotion for the upcoming Mother's Day breakfast which they have been doing for a number of years - and made what he called "Eggs in a Cup". To me it almost looked the same as Convent Eggs which I have been making for years. He mentioned shirred eggs which is an old egg recipe that very few make any more. But I guess these recipes both stem from those. My Convent Eggs are served for hors d'oeuvres and are always very popular although no real reason they couldn't be served for breakfast. Just never thought of it before. I have actually published this recipe before, but having seen Emeril this morning, I thought I would publish it again. If you would like to see Emeril's recipe go to GMA to find it. Convent Eggs Cordon Bleu Cook Book Butter for greasing ramekins 2 eggs 2 Tbs heavy cream salt and pepper OPTIONAL ½ oz Brie ½ oz chopped ham Shu Chan's (friend) Options sautéed leeks Parmesan Cheese 1 Butter the ramekins then put in cheese and ham if using. Slide an egg into each ramekin, season and add 1 tbs of cream. Bake for 8 minutes at 350F 2 Alternatively add leeks to bottom of ramekin and sprinkle eggs with Parmesan Servings: 2 Have a great day.

Pacific Garbage Dump, Titanoboa

Good Morning America are doing a series about garbage, trash, rubbish, whatever you like to call it for the whole of this week. There are some horrifying videos on their web site click here showing a garbage dump in the Pacific ocean which is equivalent to the size of America. It is due to the swirling of currents that this area has formed, but apart from the fact that this terrible dump is there, the fish and birds are eating from it in the mistaken belief that it is food and now it is beginning to get into the fish we might select for our own dinners. I had never heard of this 'trash island' before and I am absolutely horrified to hear about it. GMA have several videos about the whole subject and I do hope you will watch them. One segment is called Are You Eating Garbage? Last night we saw a news report which is also in our newspaper this morning, but nowhere on the internet, (maybe I am the first) about a giant snake, the fossils of which have been discovered in Colombia, South America. They are calling it Titanoboa Cerrejonensis. They figure it would have rivalled the T-Rex in length and would have eaten crocodiles for lunch. It would have weighed in at about 1 tonne and was estimated to be about 13 metres in length. Apparently they have recovered the fossilised vertabrae of at least 28 individual snakes. On TV they showed a vertebrae from a large anaconda which is the biggest known snake today and compared it to that of Titanoboa - it was like a pebble to a large rock. A pin head to a penny. Because this snake has been found, it has enabled scientists to revise previously known information on the temperatures of tropical rainforests in Colombia. When the creature lived, scientists have now figured the mean temperatures would have been 30° and 34° C which is much hotter than temperatures in modern rainforests. The fossils, by the way, are about 58 to 60 million years old. The picture is an artist's rendition of what the snake would have been like. In the picture there is a croc and a turtle, fossils of which were also found and which they reckon the snake would have snacked on. It was a Boa Constrictor and I would NOT like to have met it anywhere. Having posted the recipe for Steak au Poivre yesterday, a friend called, partly to wish Matt Happy Birthday and partly to express horror that I was going to be killing him by feeding him raw beef *g*. Our friend is well known for his intense dislike of rare meat. However, we ate our steak very rare and it was absolutely delicious. The peppery sauce really complemented the steak and the mushrooms were great. We drank a Chilean Errazuriz Max Reserva Cabernet Sauvignon which we hadn't tried before and very much enjoyed. Today I am giving you another recipe from Food and Drink. This recipe includes Peanut Butter so as there have been some health problems with this lately, be very careful about buying it. However, it looked so good, especially with the chocolate, I couldn't resist sharing it. Chocolate Peanut Butter Tart Pat-in pastry and stir together filling make this elegant tart easy - and chocolate and peanut butter make it divine. Serves 8 to 10 1 1/4 C all purpose flour 3 tbs granulated sugar 1/4 tsp salt 1/2 c cold unsalted butter, cut in cubes 1 egg yolk 2 tsp white vinegar Filling 8 oz bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped 1/2 c whipping cream 1/4 cup creamy peanut butter 1 tbs liquid honey 1 tsp vanilla Chocolate curls and/or chopped peanuts for garnish (optional) Whipped cream (optional) Place flour, sugar and salt in a food processor. Whirl until blended. Add butter and pulse until coarse crumbs form. Whisk yolk with vinegar. Add to processor and pulse just until dough comes together. Gather into a ball, then flatten into a disc. Using the palm of your hands press into and up the sides of a 9 to 9 1/2 inch fluted tart pan with removable bottom. Prick bottom all over with a fork. Place in freezer for 30 minutes. Preheat oven to 375 °F (190°C) Lay a piece of parchment paper that is slightly larger than tart pan onto the pastry. Fill with dried beans or rice, making sure to push up against sides. Bake on lower shelf of oven 19 to 20 minutes, until edges are golden brown. Discard parchment and beans. Continue to bake until crust is golden brown. About 5 minutes. Cool completely before filling. Place chocolate in a medium bowl. Bring whipping cream just to the boil. Pour over chocolate. Let stand 5 minutes. Stir chocolate until melted. Stir in peanut butter, honey and vanilla. Pour into tart shell and smooth as best you can. Refrigerate until firm, about 1 hour. Garnish with chocolate and/or peanuts. Serve in small wedges with whipped cream. Have a great day.

Spa Treatments, Last of the Summer League, Chi-Cheemaun

Today, Diane Sawyer of Good Morning America's team, sat with her feet in a bath of water whilst some tiny fish (carp) nibbled at her feet and ate all the dead skin. Apparently afterwards your feet feel wonderfully smooth like a baby's skin. I decided to look at this report on line and discovered a series of pictures of the most unlikely spa treatments around the world. click here and go to Unusual Spa Treatments to read the rest. It really is most interesting. Chocolate, Wine, Beer, Snakes, Gold, all feature in some of these treatments. Don't delay as I think they change some of these stories daily. I must admit if I was going to spend $250 I would rather spend it on a piece of jewellery than on a gold pack for my face. In the States the miniature fish treatment costs about $50 for 15 minutes apparently. My foot nurse absolutely loves my feet, so I don't need any expensive treatments luckily. Talk about coincidence, Matt was reading the paper and there is an article on fish spa treatment - the Japanese call them Dr. Fish. We had our lunch at the bowling alley yesterday, sandwiches, pickles and brownies. It was quite enjoyable and included lots of chat and laughter. We then bowled two games only, one in which I won $5 for the secret score. Matt got $5 for a high triple for the season, so now we are rich!! The other game was bowling bingo and we just couldn't get any strikes between us, last season we couldn't get spares - I hope you know what I'm talking about. My thumb held up OK, but now I will try and remember to ice it regularly and rest it until we start again in September. I have strained something just where the thumb joins the rest of the hand. Mostly it doesn't hurt until I pick up something heavy. We are hoping to spend some time away in September which will mean we will miss some of the new bowling season, but we like to go away when the kids are back in school. Less crowded. We are thinking of visiting Manitoulin Island which is north of here and which we have never visited. You can get there by taking the Chi Cheemaun ferry from Tobermory. Above this blog you will see a film from YouTube about the launching of the ferry. It fascinates me to see the bows lift up to disgorge the vehicles, like some kind of sea monster. It also interested me to see that the ferry was launched during the winter when there was snow all over her. I am surprised the water wasn't solid ice. This recipe comes from Giada di Laurentis at Everyday Italian. One of our favourite TV cookery shows. I have copied a lot of her recipes over the years. The picture is not the actual recipe, but it does have a Mascarpone Cream frosting. In fact you could use the frosting on any pre-made cake. Angel Food Cake with Espresso Mascarpone Cream Serves 8-10 Ingredients: 2 tablespoons boiling water 2 tablespoons instant espresso powder 3/4 cup mascarpone cheese, at room temperature 1 cup whipping cream 1/2 cup confectioners' sugar 1 (12-ounce) purchased angel food cake 1/2 cup coffee liqueur Unsweetened cocoa powder, for dusting Instructions: Stir the water and espresso powder in a large bowl to blend. Stir in the mascarpone. Using an electric mixer, beat the cream in another large bowl, while slowly adding powdered sugar, until soft peaks form. Using a large rubber spatula, fold 1/4 of the whipped cream into the mascarpone mixture to lighten. Then fold the remaining whipped cream into the mascarpone mixture. Cut the angel food cake into 16 (1-inch thick) wedges. Reserve any remaining cake for another use. Brush 1 side of each wedge of cake with the liqueur. Arrange 2 wedges of cake on each plate. Dollop the espresso cream atop each wedge of cake. Dust with the cocoa powder and serve. Have a great day.

7 Wonders of America, China, Burma, Indian Ocean

Today it was the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco. I have actually been there and driven across it. I had been told that the painters finished painting the bridge and then started again at the other end, they definitely said that wasn't so when they were being interviewed. They paint the bits that need it with Industrial Orange. There were some very interesting facts on its construction and the part of the bay where it was built. Apparently there is a 375 ft. trench where the water sweeps into the sea. Read here and see all the pictures shown on the GMA site, the facts are absolutely fascinating. During construction they had a safety net which saved the lives of 19 people who became members of the Halfway to Hell Club. Unfortunately 11 others died. The bridge was built during the depression so hundreds of workers wanted to work on it because, of course, jobs were so hard to come by at the time. The bridge is considered a marvel of engineering, particularly for the time in which it was built. Remember they didn't have computers to help them; it spans a mile of San Francisco Bay which is a beautiful spot to visit anyway. I crossed the bridge being driven by my cousin who lives in Marin county on one side of the bay. I was in San Francisco on a conference at the time.

The city is pretty fantastic anyway, with the cable cars and the waterfront shops and piers. If you can't find what you want to eat there, you are very difficult to please. I never got to drive down Lombard Street although I did see it from the bottom but I did visit Alcatraz which, I was horrified to discover when I got there, is an 8 storey climb from the dock up to the prison. I made it, there are seats strategically placed up the hill. Phew what a climb. I found it a very interesting place and as I had the cassette tape playing in my ear telling me all about the riots and escapes, it became even more fascinating. In the harbour of San Francisco there are sea lions all over the place which the residents consider to be a damned nuisance, but which are fun for tourists to see. I was there for a week and would go back in a New York minute if I could.

The news from China gets worse and worse. The latest figures on my home page say 12,000. Every time I check it increases. At least there are hundreds of Chinese soldiers in the area doing rescue work which is more than can be said for Myanmar (Burma) where the ruling junta are still misappropriating the supplies while their people die horrifying deaths from starvation and disease. That is today. I wonder how many people are still supporting the tsunami disaster relief efforts - I see it is now being called the Great Sumatra-Andaman earthquake, unbelievably it is almost 4 years ago since it happened. That is a pretty horrifying picture I just found. Those people are about to be inundated.

I hope those of you who celebrated Mother's Day on Sunday had a good one. I am only a step-mother so don't get counted. I felt sorry for a friend of ours who's mother just died and the visitation was on Sunday, makes it particularly poignant. At least she was 98 so had a good long life.

Well, back to asparagus, here is one I got from Food TV.

ASPARAGUS ALLA MILANESE Serves 4

28 stalks of asparagus, medium size 4 Tbs unsalted butter plus 4 tablespoons 4 large eggs 1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan 1 Bring 4 quarts water to boil and set up ice bath. Trim asparagus of hard ends and drop into water. Cook 70 seconds. Remove with tongs and refresh in ice bath. Drain and set aside. 2 In a 10 inch to 12 inch saute pan, heat 4 tablespoons butter until very dark brown. Add asparagus and toss until warm. Remove asparagus and divide among 4 plates. Towel off saute pan and add remaining butter. Cook until foam subsides. Crack eggs in and cook sunnyside up, about 2 minutes. Place one egg over each plate, sprinkle with cheese and serve.

Have a great day.

Banquets and Artichokes

As I have mentioned in passing, we used to bowl on a senior's league in Hespeler, Cambridge. Unfortunately the alley in Hespeler is no longer there, however, several of the senior's league bowl on the Travel League and also we still have our bowling banquet with quite a few of the original league members. Tonight, is the night. We go to a golf club in Cambridge and eat dinner, drink a little and socialise. Of course we no longer have a prize giving, but it is fun to see everyone especially those we haven't seen since last year. On Monday the alley where we have been bowling recently has their banquet, in house. Not sure how this works, apparently we go at our normal time, 12:30 and then play games, not regular bowling, get prizes (we won't get any we haven't been there long enough to achieve anything) and then at 4:00 we eat. I have no idea what.

After all this, maybe I can get back to dieting, I didn't mention we also have dinner with friends on Saturday, so that's three occasions this week (my Weight Watcher week is Thursday to Thursday) where I am likely not to be too rigid with my diet. Oy vey. I will do my best. I have stayed at a loss of 13 lbs for several weeks now due to dinner parties, trips to restaurants and so on. I guess I should be happy I haven't gained.

I just saw a very sad story about two little girls with Niemann-Pick Disease which is very like Alzheimer's apparently and also, eventually, a killer. Because at least two of my relatives (maybe three) had senile dementia, it is always something I have been concerned about. However I had no idea that children could get a similar disease. I gather it is fairly rare, but it is pretty horrible. If you are interested read about it here it was yet another programme on Good Morning America.

I have just cooked myself a couple of delicious looking artichokes which I shall have for lunch today. I always used to eat them with a vinaigrette sauce, but these days I either eat them plain or use a Kraft Italian dressing. I don't use a vinaigrette sauce very much any more so I don't bother to make it although for years I always had a jar of it in the fridge. I learned to make it when I stayed with a French family in Paris and Madame taught me her recipe. Simple enough, but one of the secrets is to refresh it with newly crushed garlic every couple of days or so, or just prior to using it.

Talking of artichokes, and it being almost into the asparagus season, here is a recipe which we love but is absolutely killing in the fat and calories line. The first time Matt made this for me it was part of a surprise dinner for my birthday. A glorious hors d'oeuvres. It came from Great Italian Cooking by Luigi Carnacina. Not a cookbook I enjoy as it gives recipes with references to other recipes, i.e. 1 cup of recipe 456 and 1/2 cup of recipe 2233 and so on, I find this very irritating although Matt doesn't seem to mind it. However, with this artichoke recipe, I figured it all out and made it into one, pretty long, recipe.

Artichokes Ricca
Serves: 4

BECHAMEL SAUCE
2 oz butter
1/2 tbs finely chopped onion
3 tbs sifted flour
2 cup hot milk
1/2 tsp salt
pinch pepper
pinch nutmeg
2 sprigs parsley
1/4 tsp dried thyme
bayleaf

MORNAY SAUCE
2/3 cup bechamel (as above)
1 cup heavy cream
9 tbs grated parmesan
4 1/2 tbs butter

DUXELLES
4 oz mushrooms, finely chopped
1/4 tsp salt (generous)
1/2 Tbs finely chopped onion
1 tsp butter
1 tsp oil
1/4 tsp minced parsley
pinch of pepper

ARTICHOKES RICCA
18 asparagus spears, cooked til tender
1/2 cup grated gruyere
1/4 cup melted butter
1 recipe mornay
1 recipe duxelles
1 can artichoke hearts

BECHAMEL SAUCE: Melt butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Cook onion til transparent. Add flour, stir for 1 min. Add milk stirring, season with salt, pepper, nutmeg and bouquet garni. Bring to boil over low heat for 15 mins. stirring occasionally. Strain sauce, stir whilst cooling to keep from skinning.

MORNAY SAUCE: Mix Bechamel and cream in heavy saucepan, boil over medium heat, reduce to two thirds. Add cheese stirring til melted and well blended. Remove from heat and beat in butter, bit by bit.

DUXELLES: Put mushrooms in a bowl, sprinkle with salt. Stand for 30 mins. Gather in cloth, squeeze out juice. Soften onion in butter/oil over moderate heat for 3 mins. Add mushrooms, cook very slowly til moisture evaporated. Add pepper, parsley, cool and store covered in fridge til needed.

ARTICHOKES RICCA: Combine Mornay and Duxelles in shallow oven proof dish. Arrange asparagus in centre, artichokes round edge. Sprinkle with cheese and melted butter. Cook at 500 F for 8 mins or until cheese is light gold.

Try it, you'll like it. Make it for a celebration.

Have a great day.

Weekend Trip

When we got back home, we straightened ourselves out, put everything away and went out for supper. We have a diner and nightclub at the bottom of the road, Howl at the Moon and their food isn't bad at all. I wasn't very hungry so I just had some chicken wings, Matt, despite having had no lunch, only had a Rueben Sandwich plus French Fries. Quite filling, not that he ate all the fries and when he had finished put the plate well out of my reach. They do make good French Fries and I can't leave them alone.

Some of the best French Fries ever, were at the bowling alley we used to go to in Cambridge (next town) they were cooked from frozen in a machine, but they were wonderful. I would almost have liked to buy that machine when the alley closed down. I believe they never did sell it. My favourite fries used to be MacDonald's until I tried the ones at the bowling alley. Not that we eat in burger joints much, haven't really done so in years.

Talking of chicken, Gordon Ramsay was on Good Morning America today basically because he has written a coobook "Gordon Ramsay's Fast Food" which is about cooking really good food in a very short time. As he told Charlie Gibson, Gordon could cook the chicken dish he showed us in 15 minutes, it might take Charlie 25 minutes. It did look very good and as he said would have lots of child appeal. The segment wasn't long enough, but he had brought green beans which he said was essential and some mashed potatoes and finished off by making caramalised bananas by sprinkling them with sugar and then torching the sugar. If you want to read about it and get his recipe for quick Banana Split click here to read the article. I was disappointed he didn't give his lemon chicken recipe. As far as I recall, he put a little olive oil in a fry pan, chopped a bulb of garlic in half, skin and root included, then added seasoned chunks of chicken, still on the bone and sautéed them until they were golden brown. He then added some Soy sauce to the pan with quite a few thin slices of lemon and when that was fully absorbed and the lemon cooked, he added sherry vinegar to deglaze the pan then served it. But don't take my word for this, buy the book. If you don't know who he is; here he is known for his programme Hell's Kitchen. His language is foul, but from my experience with professional kitchens, language often is pretty raunchy. However, this morning he didn't use one cuss word, I was impressed. He apparently has 4 kids which I didn't know. He has several restaurants in England and used to be a soccer player. Matt doesn't have a lot of time for him, but I like him. He is a properly trained chef too which so many of the cooks we see today, are not.

I have just given you the source for one recipe and the information on another, so no more recipes today. Have a great one.

Earth Day

I do hope everyone realised it was Earth Day and planned to do something to celebrate it. Good Morning America had quite a lot of segments about greening the earth, apparently 50% of the water we use is for watering gardens and flowers and there were loads of suggestions about how we could change the plants we grow for something less thirsty. For tips click here where you will find how thirsty hydrangeas are, for instance, and how you can replace them with viburnums which, according to Sam Champion on GMA this morning, had a wonderful scent.

Apparently car companies are now producing cars which are run on hydrogen; much greener than a regular combustion engine. They showed one from General Motors this morning and the only by-product is a few drips of water. In the New York State area they are looking for people to test drive their vehicle. Not in my area unfortunately, I would be only too glad to help. The engine looks so much cleaner too and it doesn't have many parts. No oil either. Only trouble with this is the fuel companies won't be too happy, they have had us by the short and curlies for so long and with gas prices in North America climbing rapidly this summer, everything is going to get so expensive for us. I am complaining about $60 at the gas pumps, imagine what truckers are having to pay - in the region of $600 and then imagine what that does to the cost of food.

It is easy for people to say "follow the 100 mile rule" in other words don't eat anything which is produced more than 100 miles from where you live. During a Canadian winter, this would be impossible. Nothing grows in the snow. Now, when the weather is getting better, it will be possible to buy locally. The markets will be full of local produce. In lots of other countries which are not buried beneath a blanket of white stuff, this is an excellent rule and one which is being followed in a lot of European countries.

GMA have tips on making your life more green and busting some myths. They are promoting CFLs or compact fluorescent bulbs which are much better for the environment than regular light bulbs as they use a lot less electricity to run. They contain mercury and need to be disposed of properly, but they last forever, I know this from our own usage. One friend complained about the quality of the light they give, yes, when you switch them on the light is not too good, but after a short space of time, they give off perfectly normal light. We have been using these bulbs for over a year now. Matt bought some beer the other day and got a freebie CFL with the box. Another tip is to turn off your computer, these days, it doesn't hurt to switch your computer on and off. Modern computers are designed to be switched on and off about 40,000 times. A third tip, saving paper by banking on line. People are worried about security, but actually statistics show that banking on line with the encrypted software used by banks, is much more secure than regular banking. Plus any frauds are shown up very quickly. If you would like to read these tips click here so anything you can do to help improve your carbon footprint is good.

Another feature on GMA this morning was Walking with Dinosaurs which is a travelling show which comes to local arenas. These critters are a blend of art and science and are incredibly lifelike. They had a baby one wandering around the set this morning, I say baby meaning relatively of course, the majority of these are life size and absolutely huge. The Brachyosauras being the biggest at 36 ft. tall and 56 ft. long. The anchors on GMA said it was even a little frightening to have the one on the set. They are operated by actors inside them; their eyes blink and tear, their skin is very lifelike and took hours to create. Again if you want to read more about them click here, I found it fascinating I must say. Who said dragons didn't exist!!!

Well here's a salad we picked up from Chatelaine Magazine quite a few years ago and only made once for some reason. I didn't even know I still had the recipe, it was very good.

Warm Tomato & Feta Salad
Serves: 2

8 med tomatoes
1 to 2 tbs olive oil
1 head romaine lettuce
2 whole grn onions thin sliced
1/3 c olive oil
2 tbs balsamic/red wine vinega
1 tsp dried oregano
generous pinches salt and
fresh ground black pepper
1 c crumbled feta cheese
1/2 c finely chopped fresh basil
or parsley (optional)

Preheat barbecue to medium-high and grease grill. Place whole tomatoes on grill over hot coals. Brush lightly with olive oil and turn frequently until tomatoes are well grilled and hot, about 10 to 12 mins. Tomato skins will break during barbecuing. Meanwhile, shred lettuce and place on a serving platter. Sprinkle with green onions. Then in a small bowl whisk 1/3 C olive oil with vinegar, garlic, oregano, salt and pepper. Set aside until ready to use. When tomatoes are hot, remove to a cutting board. Coarsely chop or wedge. Scatter over lettuce. Immediately sprinkle feta over warm tomatoes so it melts slightly. Drizzle with oil and sprinkle with basil. Toss and serve immediately.

Have a great day.

TV I have watched lately

Well boo hoo, one of my few favourites on TV has just ended until the BBC make some more, or Public TV in Canada buy some more, whichever is appropriate. I am talking about New Tricks which I told you about a day or two ago. This time they left us with a cliff hanger. Not necessary, its a good enough show without that.

I seem to be watching a lot more TV lately, this morning on Good Morning America the weatherman Sam Champion, went to beekeeping school and learned how to handle bees. He did get stung, once. They are trying to encourage people to keep bees at home - you can learn from the school and they they will mail you all you need including several thousand bees, through the mail????? Yes its true. As a dare, though, we were disappointed, we thought we would see him covered in bees as in the picture on the left.

To quote Good Morning America:

""I'm not real comfortable around a swarm of bees for some obvious reasons … but there's a major world crisis that I want to address. Millions of bees are dying because of a mysterious malady called Colony Collapse Disorder, and without bees many of our crops won't get pollinated. We're talking about $6 billion worth of crops here in America alone! And without that pollination, you can bet that the world's food supply is going to take a major hit," explained Sam Champion.

Some beekeepers in states reporting Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) have lost 50 to 90 percent of their colonies, often within a matter of weeks. This translates into thousands of dead colonies and millions of dead bees."

I would love to buy bees and have my own apiary, but it wouldn't work in an apartment. There appears to be a lot of interest in people buying their own bee colony, how about you if you have the space. Apparently you can get honey in about a month, great to have your own supply. Nothing nicer than a chunk of honeycomb. Yum. Did you know honey is the only food which doesn't spoil?

Another interesting segment on GMA this morning was about the ingestion of corn. They now consider it may be making us obese. Apparently corn is in practically everything we eat, even farm bred salmon is fed on corn. One of the few things which doesn't have corn in it is bananas. Animals are fed on corn, apples are polished with a wax substance containing corn, you name it, it probably has some connection with corn. Fast food is a particular culprit they said. There is a documentary film going the rounds right now. The National Corngrowers are saying the facts are already outdated because the film was made in 2005. If you want to read more about it click here and see what GMA has to say.

As for a recipe today, how about Cornish Hens? One of my favourites, so here is a good recipe.

Cornish Hens with Lime Spice Marinade

Servings: 4

Ingredients:
3 tablespoons lime juice
2 tablespoons olive oil
4 garlic cloves, chopped
2 whole scallions, finely chopped
Grated peel (no white attached) of 1 lime
1 tablespoon freshly ground black pepper
1/2 to 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon chili powder
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon dry mustard
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
4 Cornish hens,

Instructions:
Combine the lime juice, olive oil, garlic, scallions, lime peel, black pepper, cayenne, chili powder, cumin, dry mustard, salt, and coriander into a paste.
Flatten the hens by pressing heavily on the breast, cracking the bone. Spread the paste evenly over the hens. Cover with plastic wrap and then weigh them down, using cans on a plate for instance. Marinate in the refrigerator 24 hours if possible. (This flattening allows the hens to cook evenly.)
Place skin side next to heat and cook on a hot grill about 20 to 25 minutes per side, turning occasionally to prevent overbrowning, although a little dark flecking is pretty and tasty.
If roasting, preheat the oven to 400°F. Grease or spray a shallow roasting pan with nonstick spray. Place the hens side by side, but not touching, in the prepared pan. Cook the hens, uncovered, until a meat thermometer measures 170°F. and the juices run clear, about 45 minutes. If you are using two pans, rotate them periodically to allow even browning.
The hens may be cooked up to a day ahead and refrigerated. Reheat under the broiler or in a hot oven.
Split the hens completely and place them on a serving platter, piled up in a circular pattern at 15-degree angles. Note: I just served them whole, they look better to me.

Have a great day.