Statues, Irene. Apron.

One of the things I enjoy doing is jigsaw puzzles on line. I like them because you don’t have to turn all the pieces the right side up (I’m a tad lazy) although there aren’t, generally, as many pieces as you would get in a normal puzzle. Yesterday there was a picture of some statuary portraying a couple of sitting old men. Usually once you have done the puzzle it tells something about the picture, but in this case it didn’t. I decided to Google and discovered the picture was of a park, Vigeland, in Oslo, Norway which is famous for its sculpture by one man. It seemed such an unusual subject for a sculpture. Not sure why. I have been to Norway, but was never in Oslo. We mostly stuck to the west coast and went to places like Bergen. A lot of my memory of Norway was of rain. Maybe it was just the wrong time of the year.

I nearly forgot to say that the apron which I won from Mushroom’s Canada arrived yesterday. I got Matt to take a picture – I do have rather a silly grin on my face - just to show you I received it. One thing I especially like, it has pockets which so many aprons don’t have any more. I also received a care and use book with a couple of recipes and a mushroom storage bag. I will share some of the recipes later, they look good. Thanks Mushroom’s Canada.

Today is the day Irene is supposed to make landfall, I wish all my friends in North Carolina the very  best. This time, I am not sure ‘riding it out’ is such a good idea although the point of impact is supposed to be Cape Hatteras, it is such a very big storm that a lot of places in its path will get pretty badly damaged. To everyone in the path of this storm I wish you the best and hope you will get through it safely. New York City will be shut down by midday today, they think lower Manhattan could well be flooded not to mention the tunnels of the subway system.

Yesterday I finished making some Pickled Red Cabbage, English style. Much as I love the sweeter pickled red cabbage made around here, I do love the sour kind we use as a condiment when making hot pot. It cuts the fat of the recipe. I love it as a condiment anyway although its not on Matt’s favourite list. Actually, I would just eat it on its own, delicious. It is very simple to make. You shred a red cabbage and put it in a big bowl then salt it liberally. Leave it for 24 hours. Meanwhile boil 1 quart (UK) 100 ml. vinegar (I used white wine vinegar) with half an ounce of whole allspice and half an ounce of peppercorns. Let that cool thoroughly. The next day drain the cabbage in a plastic colander and when it is well drained, feed it into jars and pour the vinegar over top. It takes about 3 days for it to be mature enough to use. This recipe came from my mother’s copy of Mrs. Beeton’s household management which was printed in 1936. It is falling to bits, but you can still get wonderful recipes from the book.

One recipe, of course, is for and old English dish called Hot Pot (she also calls it Hodge Podge, new one on me) which I give you below. As you will see the wording is a little old fashioned, the book is, after all, over 70 years old, but I leave it to you to interpret it. For mutton read lamb; who can get hold of mutton these days? In fact we used to use scrag end of lamb – these days I have to pay a fortune for the type of lamb I want to use. Maybe lamb chops would actually be cheaper.

Hot Pot or Hodge Podge
Mrs. Beeton’s Cookery
1 1/2 lb. neck or loin of mutton
1 lb. potatoes
1 good sized onion
1 oz. dripping
1/2 pt. good stock
chopped parsley
dried savoury herbs
salt and pepper

Wash, peel, and slice the potatoes, peel and cut into slices the onion, par-fry both potatoes and onion separately. Trim the mutton and cut into conveniently sized pieces, lightly fry them in a pan containing the dripping. Line a jot-pot jar with alternate layers of potatoes, meat and onion. Season each layer with salt and pepper and a pinch of dried savoury herbs. Moisten with the stock, cover the jar and place it to cook in a fairly hot oven for about 1 1/2 hours. The stew must cook slowly, and the fat must be carefully removed before the dish is sent to the table. When ready for serving, sprinkle a little chopped parsley on top.
Serves 4.

Have a great weekend

Family News, Books, Irene,

Yesterday we heard the news from family in England that Granddaughter, Beth, got 10 A*s and one A in her GCSE’s. What is particularly phenomenal about this is that she has taken them a year early. We are both thrilled to bits with these marks although with her it seems to be par for the course. I just felt I had to do some bragging about it in my blog. She is actually planning to go into the theatrical world which seems a little bit of a waste to me.
I finally finished A Dance with Dragons by George R.R. Martin yesterday, I did enjoy it but I didn’t like the continual switching of characters every time a new chapter started. Another thing I am not keen on, every time he introduces sympathetic characters, he ends up bumping them off. Someone pointed out that he has too many main characters, I guess this is the problem although when he kills them off, that deletes that segment. A chapter or two we won’t have to worry about in future books, however many he ends up writing in this series. His books are available on Kindle by the way.

I am now reading another book which was recommended to me by someone on line and I am damned if I can remember who that was. It is The Golden Key a collaboration by three authors, Melanie Rawn, Jennifer Roberson and Kate Elliott, not sure if I have read any of their work before. Its actually an old book (1996) although the copy I have looks absolutely new and is not a paperback. I haven’t yet got very far, but what I have read is good.

Irene is causing lots of worries along the east coast of both the States and Canada. During a golf game in New Jersey which Matt was watching, they were talking about plans for Saturday or Sunday when the hurricane would arrive. All our friends in NC are battening down the hatches, and the outer islands are being evacuated. It is being described as a monster storm, particularly as it is over 500 miles wide. If you are out that far, high winds and rain will be about it, for you, but closer to the eye it could be very nasty in some areas. It is being touted as a category 4 in the near future. On GMA yesterday they were advising people not to try and take hurricane pix in cities and towns because of the dangers from flying debris. Even taking pix on beaches you could get caught in storm surge. Matt nearly was once. The swirling water came up the beach and surrounded him, luckily there were steps he could hang on to til the water retreated and that wasn’t even a hurricane just a major wind storm. We are hoping the rental cottage will be OK of course.

This morning there was a report of a rogue wave in Florida which swept 8 people from a dock/pier area. This wave was tied in with Irene. As they pointed out on GMA, today the hurricane is off land so there won’t be a lot of pictures about it, but tomorrow it is expected to hit land at Cape Hatteras, North Carolina and the tides are morning and evening this weekend, just when the storm is expected to hit causing a surge. New York city is also evacuating low areas in the expectation of a storm surge too.
This looks like a good lunch.

Turkey, Corn and Sun-Dried Tomato Wraps

From Eating Well: July/August 2011
Fresh corn kernels, tomatoes and lettuce fill these hearty turkey wraps. This wrap is great for picnics or when you need to have dinner on the run. Add some crumbled feta or shredded Cheddar for another layer of flavour. Serve with carrot sticks, sliced bell pepper or other crunchy vegetables plus your favourite creamy dressing.
4 servings  Ingredients

• 1 cup corn kernels, fresh (see Tip) or frozen (thawed)
• 1/2 cup chopped fresh tomato
• 1/4 cup chopped soft sun-dried tomatoes (see Shopping Tip)
• 2 tablespoons canola oil
• 1 tablespoon red-wine vinegar or cider vinegar
• 8 thin slices low-sodium deli turkey (about 8 ounces)
• 4 8-inch whole-wheat tortillas
• 2 cups chopped romaine lettuce

Preparation

1. Combine corn, tomato, sun-dried tomatoes, oil and vinegar in a medium bowl.
2. Divide turkey among tortillas. Top with equal portions of the corn salad and lettuce. Roll up. Serve the wraps cut in half, if desired.

Nutrition

Per serving :321 Calories; 12 g Fat; 1 g Sat; 5 g Mono; 35 mg Cholesterol; 35 g Carbohydrates; 19 g Protein; 4 g Fiber; 682 mg Sodium; 325 mg Potassium
2 Carbohydrate Serving
Exchanges: 1 1/2 starch, 1 vegetable, 3 lean meat, 2 fat

Tips & Notes

• Tip: To remove corn kernels from the cob, stand an ear of corn on one end and slice the kernels off with a sharp knife. One ear will yield about 1/2 cup kernels.
• Shopping Tip: Look for soft sun-dried tomatoes (not oil-packed) in the produce section of most supermarkets. If you can only find dry (and hard) sun-dried tomatoes, soak them in boiling water for about 20 minutes before using.

Have a great day.