Freezing Rain, Vascular Surgery,

If you wondered where I got to on Tuesday, I totally forgot. Sunday night I slept very badly with the result that Monday I was so tired I could hardly see straight. We still bowled on Monday afternoon quite well in fact, and when we got home I prepared supper then stretched out on my lounger for a bit. Didn't sleep but did kind of doze which allowed me to cope for the rest of the evening although, as I said, I completely forgot to blog.

It's now Tuesday morning and I can't figure out whether the freezing rain, which was forecast, happened or not. The big muddy area beneath our windows looks like a sheet of ice but it could also just be a large puddle. I was supposed to go see my doctor this morning but they changed the appointment to this afternoon by which time I am hoping the roads will be fine even if they are icy, which I can't tell from here.

Tuesday afternoon I had an appointment with my family doctor to review the results of my ultra sound a couple of weeks ago. I had to walk through fairly heavy rain to get there, I was wet and cold. Anyway, it turns out that, as I thought, my legs are not getting sufficient blood into them. Part of my femoral artery, is totally occluded (damn, can't remember which leg now) plus there are lots of other areas which are pretty bad apparently. The upshot of this of course, is another vascular operation sometime in the future.


Having been to an Indian restaurant the other day my thoughts have turned to Indian food.

Fried Tandoori Chicken

For extra-juicy--and flavorful--fried chicken, chef Rupam Bhagat of Dum in San Francisco marinates his meat using the traditional two-step tandoori process: He first lets the chicken sit in a blend of aromatic spices for 12 hours and then folds in yogurt that helps tenderize the meat and caramelize the

crust when it's fried.

6 garlic cloves, chopped
One 3-inch piece of fresh ginger, peeled and chopped
1/3 cup fresh lemon juice
2 Tbs ground coriander
1 1/2 Tbs ground cumin
1 Tbs ground turmeric
2 tsp cayenne
2 Tbs vegetable oil, plus more for frying
Kosher salt
Pepper
6 small chicken thighs
6 small chicken drumsticks
1 1/2 cups full-fat Greek yogurt
1 1/2 cups chickpea flour
Chaat masala, for sprinkling
Small cilantro sprigs and lime wedges, for garnish

1. How to make this recipe

2. In a food processor, puree the garlic with the ginger, lemon juice, coriander, cumin, turmeric, cayenne, the 2 tablespoons of oil, 2 teaspoons of salt and 1 teaspoon of pepper until smooth. Scrape the marinade into a large bowl, add the chicken and turn to coat. Cover and refrigerate for 12 hours.

3. Stir the yogurt into the marinade, re-cover the bowl and refrigerate for 12 more hours.

4. Preheat the oven to 250° and line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper. In a shallow bowl, mix the chickpea flour with 1 teaspoon of salt. Remove the chicken from the marinade, letting the excess drip back into the bowl. Dredge the chicken in the flour, then transfer to the prepared baking sheet.

5. In a large, heavy saucepan, heat 1 1/2 inches of oil to 325°. Set a rack over a rimmed baking sheet. Working in batches, fry the chicken until golden brown and an instant-read thermometer inserted in the thickest part of each piece registers 160°, about 10 minutes. Transfer to the rack, season with salt and keep warm in the oven while you fry the remaining chicken.

6. Sprinkle the chicken with chaat masala and transfer to a platter. Garnish with cilantro leaves and lime wedges; serve.

Servings: 4

Source: Food & Wine


Have a great day
 

Christmas 2013.

I cooked the Brussels Sprouts recipe I posted just before Christmas. It was delicious, I was very pleased with it. I also bought some purple Brussels too, never seen them before, Matt refused to try them but I thought they were good and slightly sweeter than the usual ones. I am planning to serve them today, Boxing Day (Dec 26) for our guest.

What a Christmas, the headline on the news page of CBC on Christmas Day was “Tens of Thousands of Canadians Without Power” as a result of the ice storm of course. Then Christmas Eve night, Matt went into the bedroom to retire and the heating system was making one hell of a noise. It is a hot water system and what we could hear was like rushing water. That stopped eventually, I had called the Super who said he couldn’t do much about it, especially at Christmas!!! Then it started making some really weird noises, with my CPAP machine I could drop off, but Matt couldn’t. Just about then there was a loud knocking on our door, Super’s wife wanting to know if we had any flooding as a pipe had broken in the heating system and in the floors above us people were quite badly flooded. Lucky for us, we were OK. Of course the heat was off now too, however, whoever they called to fix it, this morning the heat was OK again. There was at least one more place flooded on our floor but we escaped. That doesn’t take into account all the poor people in disaster areas who are in even more trouble.

However, on Christmas morning everything seemed to be OK so we had breakfast, cleaned up, and started cooking moves. Around 11 Matt poured me a Kir Royale which is Cassis and sparkling wine. Cassis is a French liqueur made from blackcurrents and in champagne, absolutely delicious. The Cassis was a presie today too. Then as has been traditional in my family for as long as I can remember, we had slices of ham and Coleman’s Mustard (very hot). Unfortunately the ham was a bit dry and Matt figured tasteless. I didn’t think it was too bad and ate mine. We buy a fully cooked ham and eat it without heating it in any way. If I want to cook ham I buy it uncooked. However, I do prefer ham with fat round the edges but sadly those kinds of hams are usually way too big for just the pair of us. We would be eating it for a month.

We actually got a white Christmas and it snowed a bit during the day too which made everywhere look really pretty. Yesterday there were some wonderful sights with trees covered with ice sparkling in the sunshine – I wanted to take pix but the sun was wrong for me. This is one I copied from CBC News although with the sun it looked great. There are more ice pix there if you want to check them out. This picture is one I took from one of the bedroom windows. Shows the white street too. I was going to edit out the windows, but I wanted to point out how clean they are and we have had them for quite a few months now. Those trees were covered in ice yesterday (24th)

Here’s something to counteract all that rich food we have been eating lately.

Veggistrone

From EatingWell:  January/February 2013
This vegetable-packed minestrone soup recipe is inspired by a popular Weight Watchers vegetable soup recipe. It makes a big pot of soup, so keep some in the refrigerator for up to 5 days and freeze the rest of the vegetable minestrone soup in single-serve portions. That way you always have an easy, delicious vegetable soup to start your meal or to eat for lunch. Think of this vegetable minestrone recipe as a starting point for other healthy soup variations, too: toss in leftover chopped cooked chicken or whole-wheat pasta or brown rice to make it more satisfying.
10 servings

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 2 cups chopped onions (2 medium)
• 2 cups chopped celery (4 medium stalks)
• 1 cup chopped green bell pepper (1 medium)
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 3 cups chopped cabbage
• 3 cups chopped cauliflower (about 1/2 medium)
• 2 cups chopped carrots (4 medium)
• 2 cups green beans, cut into 1-inch pieces, or frozen, thawed
• 8 cups low-sodium vegetable broth or chicken broth
• 2 cups water
• 1 15-ounce can tomato sauce
• 1 14-ounce can diced tomatoes
• 1 15-ounce can kidney or pinto beans, rinsed
• 1 bay leaf
• 4 cups chopped fresh spinach or one 10-ounce package frozen chopped spinach, thawed
• 1/2 cup thinly sliced fresh basil
• 10 tablespoons freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Preparation

1. Heat oil in a large soup pot or Dutch oven (8-quart or larger) over medium heat. Add onions, celery, bell pepper and garlic; cook, stirring frequently, until softened, 13 to 15 minutes. Add cabbage, cauliflower, carrots and green beans; cook, stirring occasionally, until slightly softened, about 10 minutes more.
2. Add broth, water, tomato sauce, tomatoes, beans and bay leaf; cover and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer, partially covered, until the vegetables are tender, 20 to 25 minutes. Stir in spinach and simmer for 10 minutes more.
3. Discard the bay leaf. Stir in basil. Top each portion with 1 tablespoon cheese.

Have a great Boxing Day to my English, Canadian and Australian friends. To everyone else, have a great day.

Rain and Lightning, Ice Calves.

Wednesday night we had one hell of a storm with quite a bit of rain. How much rain I have no idea and haven’t heard it mentioned anywhere. Suffice to say this morning everywhere looked as though it had had a good soaking. We so need this rain, at the time of writing we are supposed to get more on Thursday afternoon. I don’t know how much will be enough, but we sure ain’t had it yet. However, hopefully what we have had will do the grass and trees some good. I must say, the storm kept me awake for a while, the lightning flashes on their own were lighting up the bedroom constantly apart from the terrific crashes of thunder which, in both cases, seemed almost continuous. I had to include this spectacular picture by Justin Cormier which was taken a few miles away from us in Guelph, and published on the Weather Network. I know we had similar lightning here, I couldn’t even look towards the window it was so bright.

This is a scary piece of video which has been seen on TV and I thought I would share in case you didn’t get to see it. I think it was a fairly small vessel visiting this iceberg which decided to calve down whilst they were filming it. Glad I wasn’t there I would have had to change my underwear.

There are more videos you can access from this clip which shows an iceberg calving and then rolling. The guide ends up holding a piece of crystal clear ice which has air trapped inside from thousands of years ago. Guess I always knew people were nuts LOL. I like watching the film, but I wouldn’t want to be there.

Although asparagus season is over, I still liked the look of this recipe from Web MD and thought I would share it with you. I never think of Gruyère without thinking of Matt who went on a trip to Switzerland with his first wife and apparently scarfed down a pound of the stuff all on his own. He assures me that the cheese, when bought in the village of Gruyère and absolutely fresh, is much better than the cheese that we can buy.

Chicken and Asparagus with Melted Gruyère

WebMD Recipe from EatingWell.com

For this elegant dish, boneless chicken breast and asparagus are smothered in a luxurious white-wine sauce with just the right amount of melted Gruyère cheese. Tarragon and lemon add a delicious light flavor that is perfect with asparagus.

Servings: 4

Recipe Ingredients:

1. 8 ounces asparagus, trimmed and cut into 1-inch pieces
2. 2/3 cup reduced-sodium chicken broth
3. 2 teaspoons plus 1/4 cup all-purpose flour, divided
4. 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (1-1 1/4 pounds), trimmed
5. 1/4 teaspoon salt
6. 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
7. 1 tablespoon canola oil
8. 1 shallot, thinly sliced
9. 1/2 cup white wine
10. 1/3 cup reduced-fat sour cream
11. 1 tablespoon chopped fresh tarragon or 1 teaspoon dried
12. 2 teaspoons lemon juice
13. 2/3 cup shredded Gruyère cheese

Recipe Steps:

1. Place a steamer basket in a large saucepan, add 1 inch of water and bring to a boil. Add asparagus; cover and steam for 3 minutes. Uncover, remove from the heat and set aside.
2. Whisk broth and 2 teaspoons flour in a small bowl until smooth. Set aside.
3. Place the remaining 1/4 cup flour in a shallow dish. Sprinkle chicken with salt and pepper and dredge both sides in the flour, shaking off any excess.
4. Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the chicken and cook until golden brown, 3 to 4 minutes per side, adjusting heat as needed to prevent scorching. Transfer to a plate and cover to keep warm.
5. Add shallot, wine and the reserved broth mixture to the pan; cook over medium heat, stirring, until thickened, about 2 minutes. Reduce heat to medium-low; stir in sour cream, tarragon, lemon juice and the reserved asparagus until combined. Return the chicken to the pan and turn to coat with the sauce. Sprinkle cheese on top of each piece of chicken, cover and continue cooking until the cheese is melted, about 2 minutes.

Have a great day