Affairs, Cordless Phones, Supper Out

Is it because they are film stars or politicians, but now Arnold Schwarzenegger has admitted to a mistress and an illegitimate child. Silly man, especially as his wife is a member of the Kennedy family and therefore well connected. Why are these men such fools and end up ruining their careers whether it be political or otherwise? I suppose they think they will never be found out. Look what happened to John Edwards, he has faded into nothingness although I guess Arnold always has his film career to fall back on. Hollywood makes capital out of such publicity. They listed a whole bunch more well known men on GA this morning.

We had an irritating day yesterday, when I tried to dial 911 the other night our cordless phone wouldn’t dial it. I ended up using another phone. However, I phoned GE and it turned out that every number I pressed had to be pressed twice before it registered. Heaven knows why. I had always used speed dial on that phone so never noticed. GE no longer make cordless phones. So then we go to Staples and pick up an inexpensive phone which, it turned out, didn’t allow speed dial. No good, Matt would never figure out how to get at the address book on the phone. Took it back and discovered that none of the cordless phones had a speed dial feature. Got our money back. Decided to go to Zellers and asked them about speed dial there, they assured me none of the phones had it. We ended up buying one anyway. Guess what, I was browsing the manual later and there is a speed dial feature for 10 numbers. Now how come the assistants don’t know that? We ended up with a Vtech which has quite a few other features – it can be expanded to take extra phones or something,  but obviously we don’t need more than one. So,  now it is charged I spent some more frustrating time trying to figure out the instructions in the manual to enter speed dials. Whoever writes these instructions is insufficiently explicit.

We both felt too lazy to cook last night after so much running around with the phones so we went down the road to Howl at the Moon and had supper there. Not a bad deal, not gourmet cuisine you understand, but good food, plenty of it. I had soup (potato and bacon) and then we both ended up with Chicken Caesar Salads, a small one for me, a full size for Matt. There was a lot of chicken on the salad.

I thought this cake looked easy and rather interesting. You can’t really go wrong with lemon flavours.

Lemonade Layer Cake

For the Cake:
2 1/2 cups cake flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons (1 1/4 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 1/3 cups sugar
3 Tbs frozen lemonade concentrate, thawed
1 Tbs lemon zest
1 tsp vanilla extract
4 large eggs
1 cup whole milk
For the Frosting:
Two 8-ounce packages cream cheese, room temperature
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
3 cups powdered sugar, sifted
2 tsp minced lemon zest
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp lemon oil
Lemon zest for garnish

1. FOR THE CAKE:

2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Butter two 9-inch-square nonstick cake pans with 2-inch-high sides; line bottoms with parchment paper; butter paper. Sift flour, baking powder and salt into medium bowl; set aside. Using an electric stand mixer and paddle attachment, beat butter in large bowl until fluffy. Gradually add sugar, scraping down sides of bowl occasionally and beating until light. Beat in lemonade concentrate, zest and vanilla. Beat in eggs one at a time, scraping down sides occasionally. Continue to beat until mixture is smooth. On low speed beat in dry ingredients alternately with milk in 3 batches, beginning and ending with dry ingredients, until just blended. Divide batter equally between prepared pans.

3. Bake cakes until tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 25 minutes. Cool cakes in pans on racks.

4. FOR THE FROSTING:

5. Using electric stand mixer and whisk attachment, beat cream cheese and butter in large bowl until light and fluffy. Gradually beat in sugar, scraping down sides of bowl occasionally. Beat in zest, vanilla and lemon oil until mixture is smooth and fluffy, about 4 minutes.

6. TO ASSEMBLE:

7. Turn cakes out onto work surface. Peel off parchment paper. Place one cake layer, flat side up, on platter. Spread with 1 cup frosting. Top with second cake layer, flat side down. Spread remaining frosting over top and sides of cake.

8. DO-AHEAD TIP:

9. Cake can be made 1 day ahead. Cover with cake dome; refrigerate. Let stand at room temperature 2 hours before serving.

10. OPTIONAL GARNISH:

11. Peel off long strips of lemon zest using zester. Sprinkle zest around edges of cake.

Servings: 12

Source: Cooking.com

Author Notes
This cake is lemony inside and out. The combination of frozen lemonade concentrate and fresh lemon zest give this cake a zingy flavor.

Have a great day

Bowling, Girl’s Night Out, Barrie’s,

Yesterday saw the final fling of our winter bowling league. We played three games a couple of which were basically fun games like the last one which is bingo. We have a sheet listing various pin combinations and the team has to try and get them. We were so close again this year but we just couldn’t get the last one no matter how we tried. Very frustrating. We then had our prize giving and Matt and I picked up quite a bit of moolah between us. The caterers were somewhat late but eventually they arrived and we had been told in which order we could go up. The people who were last decided to go and help themselves to desserts, I am not sure what part of last they couldn’t understand. By the time we got there, there was no longer much choice. Next Monday we start our summer league which lasts for 10 weeks and then there is a break. There usually aren’t very many in the summer league, people go away of course and a lot of the bowlers are also golfers. Matt is not sure if he will be able to golf this year and I gave up the game quite a few years ago.

Just about got home and had a call from a girlfriend – she is going to be in town tomorrow and suggested an early dinner. Also suggested I call another friend to join us. I did and she is coming, Matt is not joining us. I was agonising about where we were going to eat and then this morning Matt said “why not go down the road” meaning Howl at the Moon. Clever man. They serve pretty good food there and it is not overly pricey. Actually they make some very good soups and much as I tried, I could NOT get the recipe for one I particularly liked. They gave me a second bowlful to compensate.

I didn’t mention, we were given a couple of items from Barrie Bros. farm on Saturday, some asparagus pasta and a Mason Jar of their soup. Its actually the soup base and you add to it. It is actually the same soup I have already in the freezer, different storage. We tried the pasta, plain except for a bit of butter. I’m afraid neither of us could taste the asparagus in it. I was quite disappointed. We also got to try the wheat crackers they sell and I thought they tasted good. No they are not asparagus flavoured. One thing I really want to try is pickled asparagus, too much involved in doing it oneself and I don’t have all the gear to do any canning (bottling) any more. Its not the cheapest thing they sell, but maybe I will treat myself from my winnings.

A new recipe site for Asparagus, but no pictures so I found this one from Tasteofhome.com The recipe seems pretty simple though. Getting good crab might be a problem depending where you live. If you buy canned crab, be sure to pick it over well to check for bits of shell.

Asparagus and Crab Quiche

Asparagus Recipes.net

1 cup of chopped cooked crab meat 1 x 8" pastry case. 4 oz Parmesan cheese. 1 ¾ cup of Milk. 3 x beaten Eggs. 10 x Asparagus spears. Nutmeg, salt and cayenne pepper to taste.

Instructions for Asparagus and Crab Quiche:

Sprinkle the crab meat in bottom of pastry case. Cut asparagus spears into half-inch slices and scatter over top of the crab. Sprinkle the parmesan cheese over asparagus and crab. Beat eggs and mix with the milk, season to taste with nutmeg, cayenne pepper and salt. Pour the mixture into the pastry case. Bake in preheated hot oven for about 45 minutes or until set. Leave to sit for around 15 minutes before serving.

Have a great day.

Howl at the Moon, St. Jacobs, Tigers

Last night we decided to go out for supper so went down the road to Howl at the Moon - we both had a Caesar Salad and Mediterranean Stuffed Chicken which was good. The vegetables were a sautéed mix of snow peas, cauliflower, peppers and broccoli, not the usual overdone mush either, but very edible. The cook/chef knows what he is doing. They serve you a small loaf which is soaked in garlic butter. My main complaint is they give you way too much food. But that is a common complaint in North America. They actually have a neon sign of a wolf howling. Since we have lived in this apartment building, the restaurant has had three names, Whisky Jack's, Brubachers and now Howl at the Moon. One time we went there for lunch and I had the most delicious soup. I tried to get the recipe, but they wouldn't part with it. Thursday is our usual grocery shopping day and I was disappointed to find only American strawberries in the stores. I guess the local ones have more or less finished although we had bought some the day before. I am planning to go to the market in St. Jacobs on Saturday morning so maybe I will find some more there - a kind of last gasp. The blueberries were also from the US and when we went to the farm the day before they had lots of local blueberries. Although they were a lot more expensive than in the stores. I specially want to go to the market as there is a stall selling socks which my diabetic foot nurse has recommended. I have some long ones, but they have ankle socks and apparently much cheaper. They are more or less seamless on the toes. I find I have a lot of problems with seams. I get a regular newsletter from World Wildlife Fund; this morning there was an interesting article about relocating tigers to an area where the animals had been wiped out click here to read how it was done. Apparently tigers are dwindling at an alarming rate and if we are not careful there won't be any for our children or theirs. Of course, in some areas tigers pose an extreme hazard for the native population but this is not always the case. It will be interesting to find out if the relocation of a tiger and tigress will help to repopulate the Sariska area in India. Another segment in the newsletter is about the pressure on drilling for oil in the Arctic which according to WWF will not alleviate oil prices in the long run but will help to destroy "The Polar Bear Seas". They are advocating support of an act to close the loopholes which would possibly allow drilling in these seas. The polar bear habitat is disappearing fast enough on its own without encouraging it by drilling for oil. We have the ability to use alternate means of powering our vehicles, its time we knuckled down to using such means. These days I read a lot on the internet about improving one's carbon footprint, OK, I am doing what I can, but what about nations. I have said it before, the idea of taking til 2050 to reduce emissions by half is ridiculous. Do it NOW. We don't have time to muck about. The world is deteriorating around us and its our fault. The following is a recipe I got from World Wide Recipes some time ago. Its very good and worth giving a go. Chicken Breasts stuffed with Caramelized Onions, Roasted Red Peppers, Ham, & Herbed Cheese Serves: 4 4 chicken breasts, pounded very, very thin 4 slices of ham (Black Forest works well) 1 large onion 4 pieces roasted red pepper 1 tub (8 oz.) vegetable cream cheese black pepper your favorite herbs-for instance white pepper, thyme, basil, and rosemary olive oil margarine or butter chicken stock (around 1/4 cup) white wine (around 1/4 cup) Finely slice the onion and sauté in margarine until caramelized, about ten minutes. Finely chop the roasted red peppers, and add to the cream cheese, along with the herbs, caramelized onions, and lots of freshly ground black pepper (the more the better). Mix well. Place a slice of ham on top of a chicken breast; place a big spoonful of the cheese mixture in the middle of that, and starting with one end of the chicken, roll it and secure with wooden toothpicks. In the same pan in which the onions were sautéed heat some olive oil (a tbs. or two). Brown the rolled chicken a few minutes on each side. Once the chicken is golden all over, transfer to a shallow baking dish; add some more olive oil to the pan and scrape the bottom. Add the white wine and chicken stock, let boil and then simmer; add the remainder of the cheese mixture and stir until a smooth consistency is reached. Pour the sauce over the chicken and bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for 20 minutes. Serves four. This entrée goes really well with risotto and a salad. 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.

Living to 150, Howl at the Moon

Well I was disappointed to discover that you would have to drink something like 3,000 bottles of wine a day to get the anti-aging benefits. Damn, even I couldn't do that, LOL. In fact, it turns out that red wine does have a property which retards aging, it is called resveratrol, so companies have found a way to concentrate the resveratrol into pill form which they are presently testing and hope to present to the American Food and Drug Administration within 5 years. I then decided to research the internet and find all kinds of people are selling resveratrol already, now I wonder????? There was some mention of it helping with diabetes amongst other things such as heart, brain (alzheimer's) and kidneys.

Several scientists and professors were interviewed during the programme and they see no problem in being able to extend life in the future to several hundred years and maybe even to 1,000. They have already worked on making a new heart in the laboratory from stem cells and say that eventually every part of the body will be replaceable allowing for longer, healthier lives. One problem I foresee is excessive overcrowding. In all the sci fi books, people can already live on the moon and various colonised planets which would help considerably, unfortunately we have not yet managed to do this so the thought of all the millions of people living to 1,000 years is absolutely horrifying, they couldn't allow many people to have children until some of the oldsters died off. We were also told that there are something like 50,000 centenarians in the US today some of whom were on the programme showing them leading healthy, active lives. Water skiing was one activity shown, driving their cars and caring for their homes on their own. They also partake of healthy sex lives and generally enjoy life so we were told. Nor do all of them live in senior's homes. The point being that it is no longer unusual for people to live beyond 100 years.

So, maybe there's hope for me yet.

Because we had a busy day, yesterday, we went out for supper at a restaurant literally just down the road from us, its called Howl at the Moon. Matt had Chicken Parmesan and I had a schnitzel, we both had a Caesar salad which was part of the deal. The salad was delicious, but huge, they also brought a garlic loaf for us, I made the mistake of eating a couple of slices, then our main course arrived and was big enough to feed a couple of armies. I had two pieces of schnitzel, some vegetables and a mound of rice, Matt had a large piece of chicken and an absolutely huge portion of fries, they were delicious fries mind you, I pinched a few of them. I ended up with a doggy bag, I very seldom have to do that. This, to me, was a typical example of the over large portions in North America. No wonder obesity is a problem. I did have a glass of red wine so that should help, well that's my excuse as well as giving me some resveratrol.

I always think of a schnitzel as veal, but mostly around here, which is nevertheless predominantly a German community, it is usually pork.

WIENER SCHNITZEL - BREADED VEAL CUTLET Cooks.com

4 6 oz. veal cutlets Flour 3 tbsp. Parmesan cheese, grated 1 egg, beaten 1 tsp. parsley, minced 1/4 tsp. nutmeg 1/2 c. milk 6 tbsp. butter Juice of 1 sm. lemon Salt and pepper to taste Pound meat very thin. Lightly dredge each cutlet with flour. Combine 2 tablespoons flour, cheese, egg, parsley, seasonings and milk. Beat smooth. Dip floured cutlets in batter. Cook over low heat in 4 tablespoons butter until golden and tender. Keep cutlets hot on warm serving platter. Heat remaining 2 tablespoons butter until darkened; add lemon juice, stir to blend and pour over cutlets. Garnish with parsley. Note: This dish becomes Schnitzel Holstein if a fried egg tops each cutlet before sauce is poured over all.

I copied this recipe directly hence the different colours.

Have a great day.