Plants, Herbs. ISWG.

Tuesday was the birthday of our class exercise instructor. A really nice woman so one of the class decided to get her a card and we both decided to buy her a plant (some may contribute or not). Matt drove us to a local nursery and we found a delightful pot of miniature roses which was lavender in colour. We then found a lavender ceramic pot to put the plant into. We wandered around a bit and Matt and I saw some geraniums which really appealed to us so we bought a couple. They were two for $30 so not a bad deal. We hang them at either end of our balcony. Usually the only other thing we buy is herbs. We already have some Basil indoors which will be transferred outside. But I also saw pots of small tomatoes which would be ideal for a balcony. We will be going back. I love going into nurseries at this time of year, they are full of acres of the most gorgeous flowers and the colour is stupendous.  Hm, the picture makes them pinker than they are. More like a salmon colour in fact.

I mentioned having a basil plant in the apartment which will soon be planted outside. It is beginning to get rather large. I love to use basil in my tomato soup, I think it goes so well with tomato in particular. I also keep basil pesto in the freezer for whenever I need it. We will probably be getting the rest of the herbs we grow soon. I love sage and rosemary when they are fresh. Fresh thyme I prefer only for soups and stews because the leaves are so fiddly to have to use them on their own. 

I normally don’t go to the ISWG blogs but I did visit a few yesterday. Not everyone though. There were so many blogs coming out in the last few days, it was almost like being back in April. So sorry if I didn’t visit you.

I love risotto but haven’t eaten it in years, not since I went on a diet. Today I found this skinny recipe which I might try. It is from Gina’s Skinny Recipes. The recipe calls for the tough ends trimmed, but of course if you are lucky enough to get your asparagus fresh from the farm, that part isn’t necessary.

Spring Asparagus Risotto

Skinnytaste.com

Servings: 4 • Size: 1 generous cup as a main

Ingredients:

4 1/2 cups low-sodium chicken or vegetable broth
2 tsp olive oil
1/3 cup shallots, chopped
1 cup arborio rice
2 oz dry white wine
3/4 lb thin asparagus spears, tough ends trimmed, cut 2-inches long
1-2 tsp fresh lemon juice
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
1/4 cup freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano, plus more for serving
salt and fresh cracked pepper, to taste
1 tsp grated lemon zest for garnish

Directions:
In a large saucepan, heat broth over medium-high heat. When it boils, reduce heat to a simmer and maintain over low heat, taste for salt and adjust as needed.
In a large heavy saucepan over medium heat, heat the oil and add the shallots; sauté 3-4 minute. 
Add the rice; mix well so the rice is coated throughout and saute until the rice is slightly translucent, about 2-3 minutes.
Add the wine and stir until it is absorbed. 
Add a ladleful of the simmering stock; stir and wait until it is absorbed before adding another ladleful stirring gently and almost constantly. 
Continue this process until the rice is creamy, tender to the bite, but slightly firm in the center. Add the asparagus along with the last ladle of broth and continue cooking 5 minutes, total time should be about 25-30 minutes from the time you started. When all the liquid is absorbed, remove from heat and stir in the lemon juice, parsley and Parmigiano-Reggiano.
Serve immediately and top with fresh cracked pepper, lemon zest, and extra grated cheese if desired.

• Old Points: 5 pts • Points+: 7 pts
Calories: 255 • Fat: 4 g • Protein: 9 g • Carb: 43 g • Fiber: 2 g • Sugar: 0 g
Sodium: 630 mg

Have a great day

Malware, Maple Sap, Herbs and Spices, European Snow, Queen's Jubilee

I said on Saturday that my computer was sending out emails. It turned out that I had Malware on my laptop, luckily I did a virus scan and Avira picked it up straight away. I find that a very good programme.

Heard on the news at the weekend that the sap is rising, the maple sap that is, its about 4 weeks early because of the mild winter we have been having. To tap the maple sap you need warm days and freezing nights. I wonder if that means they will be opening the farms early as well, you can often go there and get pancakes and syrup – we took Matt’s oldest daughter to a maple syrup farm many years ago and I went and tasted the sap itself, doesn’t taste of anything. It takes a heck of a lot of sap to make the syrup, they boil it in a sugar shack for a long time to reduce it for syrup and of course even longer to make maple candies and butter. Deelicious. A lot of people don’t like the candies as they are very sweet, but I love them. Don’t get to eat them very often though. In fact maple candies are supposed not to be too harmful for a diabetic. Here’s some more pictures:











Its incredible that the clear water like sap shown in the bags above turns into a deep golden syrup.

I’m pleased to report our Saturday night dinner party went very well and the birthday boy was well and truly feted. We started with marinated gingered shrimp, for a main course we had Chicken Chasseur, shown in the picture, butter braised endives and twice cooked potatoes. For dessert one of my favourites, Almond Rice Pudding. I was a bit disappointed in the butter braised endives, they were OK but that’s about it. Just about everything got eaten and all the plates were clean, always a good sign. We consumed quite a bit of wine with the meal too. We figured several bottles weren’t breathing so needed mouth to mouth. (See Saturday’s blog).

I was thinking, over the weekend, about the herbs Matt had to buy for the Chicken Chasseur. He needed rosemary, tarragon and thyme which obviously are not available from Canadian sources at this time of year and have to be imported. It occurred to me that as kids, in the UK during war years, herbs were not available to us for various reasons and I have no actual remembrance of when we were able to get such things in the stores after the war. Gradually over the years, we have come to accept that whatever time of year, we can get things out of season, including our herbs. Only trouble is, today we are supposed to not buy imported foods, the 100 mile rule, and to put up with what is available in our neck of the woods. Its sort of come full circle. OK we’re bad, we do buy fresh herbs grown, oddly enough, in Colombia, along with things like coffee and chocolate which isn’t grown anywhere in Canada as far as I am aware. We do keep tea although we don’t drink it ourselves and of course that too isn’t locally grown. In the summer we grow herbs on our balcony, and really don’t want to go without them in the winter.

We’ve been hearing reports all weekend about the snow in Europe. Paris, London, and Rome for a start, have all had snow. Our grandson has been posting snow pictures on Facebook from his home in the UK. In the central States they had as much as 55 inches of snow, which is a lot of the white stuff. Meanwhile, here in our part of Ontario, not a drop of snow in sight.

Today, February 6, is the 60th anniversary of the day King George VI died and Elizabeth II ascended to the throne. I remember it very well, I was 14 at the time and was a weekly boarder at a school in Herne Bay, Kent. I was very annoyed at the time because I had a non uniform dress in George VI’s tartan and I wanted to wear it but was told I had to wear school uniform. Elizabeth and Philip were on a visit to Kenya when the King died so had to come screaming home. This year is, therefore, the Queen’s Jubilee and there are lots of celebrations taking place. There are lots of commemorative pictures on the web showing pictures of when she was a child with her mother and father, pictures of various occasions during her reign and now the official jubilee pictures. I keep wanting to spell jubilee with two l’s. In a way I would love to be there for some of the celebrations. Even Prince William isn’t there right now, he is in the Falklands for a tour of duty.

On Sunday I read it was National Chocolate Fondue Day which naturally made me sit up and take notice, I always enjoy fondues although funnily enough I have never made a chocolate one. Makes me think of Matt’s daughter’s chocolate fountain which we all enjoyed last time we were in the UK.

Chocolate Fondue

Joy of Baking.com
6 ounces (170 grams) semisweet or bittersweet chocolate, cut into small pieces
1/2 cup (120 ml) heavy whipping cream (contains 35-40% butterfat)
1/4 cup (60 ml) milk
2 1/2 tablespoons (35 grams) granulated white sugar
2 tablespoons light corn syrup
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/4 cup Nutella (optional)
1 tablespoon liqueur (such as Frangelico, Grand Marnier, Kahlua, Tia Maria, Amaretto, or a brandy) (optional)

Chocolate Fondue: Place the chopped chocolate in a medium sized stainless steel bowl and set aside.
Combine the cream, milk, sugar, and corn syrup in a saucepan and place over medium heat. Bring to a boil, stirring often.
Remove from heat and pour immediately over the chocolate. Let stand until the chocolate has melted, then whisk until smooth.
Whisk in vanilla extract, Nutella (if using), and the liqueur (if using).
Place the chocolate sauce in a fondue pot and serve with fresh fruits, chunks of pound, butter, sponge, or angel food cake and cookies (amaretti, ladyfingers, rolled wafer cookies, or biscotti). Reheat the sauce if it becomes too thick.
Makes about 1 1/2 cups. Preparation time 15 minutes.

Have a great day

Fantastic Machine, Cost of Food, Herbs, Prince Caspian

This is quite an incredible piece of musical apparatus all built from farm machinery and which took 13,029 hours to set up. The pictures come from a company called Animusic and you can see more of their animations here. A friend sent me this today and I was very impressed. I just got Matt to look at this and he figured it was boring. Amazing the difference between us.

This morning GMA were talking about the rising costs of food and what people are doing about it. Some are going to considerable lengths to decrease their grocery bills. A lot of people are growing their own food so they don't have to go to the store at all. There was one couple who had filled in their swimming pool with dirt in order to grow food instead. I thought this was rather extreme, it must have cost a fortune for all that dirt anyway. If you are an apartment dweller, it isn't possible to grow very much, at least we have a balcony which a lot of apartments don't. We haven't yet been to get our herbs for the summer, we like to have basil, thyme, sage and rosemary. I particularly need to make some basil pesto to put in the freezer. I ran out a couple of months ago. Plus I like basil for my homemade tomato soup. It is so nice to have fresh herbs available when you are cooking. I would also like to grow cilantro, but for some reason we have never had any success with it. We tried several times when we lived in North Carolina. We could grow all kinds of herbs, but the cilantro went to seed almost immediately.

Talking of food costs, we popped into our local store yesterday for a rotisserie chicken for supper as we hadn't done anything about supper earlier. They were selling local asaparagus quite cheaply, but when we looked at it, it had stems which needed the ends removed - if it's local, why is that do you suppose? The asparagus I buy, every bit can be used. Tough ends are supposed to indicate how long the asparagus has been picked, but if its local, it can't have been that long surely? We will be heading out to Barrie's Asparagus today, I still had some asparagus left on Sunday and no time yesterday because of bowling. I will be suffering from withdrawal symptoms soon *g*. Can you imagine what I go through once the season has ended? I live til next Mother's Day when the season begins once more.

Tomorrow night I am going to see Prince Caspian with a friend. I have heard some good reports of the movie so am looking forward to it. I will probably end up buying the DVD. I want to get the Spiderwyck Chronicles too, haven't seen that movie, but will rent it when the DVD comes out. I have somewhat forgotten the story of Prince Caspian, but I understand there are bits in it which didn't happen in the book, so I had better not re-read it before I see the movie. I see its rated PG as well which, considering its a children's story, seems a bit stupid.

Having talked about Basil Pesto, here is an original Italian recipe that I use. There are hundreds of versions out there, but I like this one very much.

Pesto

Source: Great Italian Cooking

1 Cup fresh basil leaves, washed and thoroughly dried
6 sprigs parsley
3 sprigs marjoram
1/2 cup pine nuts
3 cloves garlic, crushed in the press
1/3 cup Parmesan, grated
1/3 cup Romano
3 tbs olive oil
2 tbs softened butter
1/4 tsp salt

Blend everything in blender briefly. Makes 1 cup. By leaving out cheese and adding another 1/4 cup pignole makes a good sauce for hot boiled fish. Use the regular recipe and add to hot consommé or tomato soup.

Have a great day.