Flower Gardens, Hedy Lamarr, Asparagus

I have just read Liz Seckman's post on The Really Real Housewives talking about her garden and the wonderful memories she has of her plant's origins. One thing she grows is peonies. I am jealous, I could never grow them in North Carolina. People all around had peony bushes flowering beautifully, but not me. Azaleas no problem, they did really well. But I love peonies.

We just watched an interesting documentary which was part of a series about clever women. This one was about Hedy Lamarr whom I certainly remember from when I was a kid, particularly in Samson and Delilah. She was known for her great beauty but turns out she wasn't a very happy woman and ended up having six husbands and then being pretty impoverished for a while. However, she and a pianist invented a brilliant system for guiding torpedoes intended to sink U-boats. I quote from Wikipedia At the beginning of World War II, she and composer George Antheil developed a radio guidance system for Allied torpedoes that used spread spectrum and frequency hopping technology to defeat the threat of jamming by the Axis powers.  Although the US Navy did not adopt the technology until the 1960s the principles of their work are incorporated into Bluetooth technology and are similar to methods used in legacy versions Wi-Fi.  This work led to their induction into the National Inventors Hall of Fame in 2014. They luckily had the sense to patent it but at the time it was dismissed by the American government. However, when they were inventing the beginning forms of cell phones, they were searching for a system of signals which they could use and Hedy Lamarr's patent was eventually used allowing her to become a very rich woman in her latter years. Making her the 'mother' of modern technology. So, as the saying goes, she was not just a pretty face. Not sure about the pianist, maybe he was no longer alive when this all came about. She died in her 80s at the beginning of this century and left a $3.3 million estate.

Not much going on at the moment. Did some shopping today and having used it up, bought some more frozen smoked haddock - third lot - we are enjoying it in Kedgeree now and again. I also tried it for breakfast one morning, used to have it with a poached egg when I was a child, but this smoked haddock is not as good as we used to get once upon a time in the UK.  They had some nice scallops which I considered but decided not to. Checked their asparagus, didn't look great and it was from Mexico. Sorry, no thank you, I will just have to possess my soul in patience a bit longer. Actually it was sunny and warm today which will be good for the local asparagus. Fingers crossed.

I have been eating a lot of salads lately, and really enjoying them, so I am really looking forward to making this one.

Asparagus Salad w/ Hearts of Palm and Cherry Tomatoes

1 bunch of asparagus, steamed
1 can of hearts of palm
1/2 pint of cherry tomatoes, cut in half
2 green onions, sliced
1 small shallot, diced
1/2 lemon, juiced
1.5 Tbs red wine vinegar
1.5 Tbs white wine vinegar
1 tsp gluten free dijon mustard
6 Tbs olive oil
salt & pepper to taste

1. Cook asparagus til al dente. Chil in ice bath or cold water. Chop into bite sized pieces cut diagonally. Place in large bowl. Cut each stalk of hearts of palm into 4 pieces and then each into 1 inch pieces at a diagonal.  Add to bowl.  Add your halved cherry tomatoes.  Add in sliced green onions.  Add in chopped shallots.

2. In a separate bowl, add in vinegars, mustard and a pinch of salt. Slowly pour in olive oil and whisk to emulsify.  Add in pepper and adjust ingredients to desired taste. Pour dressing over salad and mix.  Add lemon juice as desired.

3. Serve into bowls and enjoy!

4. This recipe would go great with some anchovies on top!  Also, if you can find jarred hearts of palm, please use those instead of canned!  Unless labeled, cans can be lined with BPA (toxic!!).  But some brands, like Native Forest, guarantee that their cans are BPA free so do some research before buying your canned foods.  Can also substitute hearts of palm with artichoke hearts!

Servings: 3

Source: Food for Rabbits


Have a great day
 

Bowling, Hedy Lamarr.

What a lousy day's bowling. Not just Matt and I but all four of us on our team today. One of our bowlers hasn't been here for two weeks and this also makes a difference to our team scores because we play with handicaps but don't get those if a player isn't there. I don't like to natter her, but at the same time, she is a team member and she needs to come play. I felt sorry for the younger of the two owners today. His mom went into hospital some distance away for back surgery. Obviously his dad, the other owner, was with her so he, the son, was working from 8 a.m. til 11 p.m. OK he is young (compared to us) and fit but it's still very tiring. We heard that the operation went fine too, so that was good news.

Some of you may have seen the Google Doodle today honouring Hedy Lamarr who would have been 101 today. I remember her from when I was a kid. The movie which stands out for me was Samson and Delilah but looking at the list of her credits, she made one heck of a lot of films. I thought she was a gorgeous looking woman too. I was not, of course, alone in that. What I did not know until today is that she was instrumental together with composer George Antheil, in the invention of a Frequency-hopping spread spectrum or a jam-proof radio guidance system for torpedoes and her work, which was not used at the time, is today used in computers. Their invention is the basis behind current spread-spectrum communication technology, such as GPS, Bluetooth, wireless and cell phones, and Wi-Fi networks. Her history is quite interesting to read at Wiki too.

OK, here's a recipe I dreamed up for pork chops. Very simple but tasty. As I mentioned yesterday, I cooked half a pound of mushrooms as I wanted to use them up. It was good. I would probably do that again. This picture is Matt's plate. You can't tell but that potato is smothered in butter. We do not use foil when baking potatoes as we like the potato skin to crisp up so that we can eat it so we wash and salt the potato before baking. Best part in my opinion. I am a sucker for the potato skins some restaurants do for starters.

Jo's Braised Pork Chops

1 Tbs olive oil
2 pork chops
1/3 onion sliced
4 to 5 mushrooms, sliced
1 glass of red wine or if you prefer, a good quality beef stock
salt and pepper

Sauté pork chops until browned on both sides. Remove from pan. Sauté onions in pan and when softening add mushrooms. Finally add glass of wine (or stock) then pork chops and seasoning. Cover and simmer for about half an hour or until the meat is cooked.

Servings: 2

Have a great day