G = German Shepherds and Gazpacho

RIP Margaret Thatcher. A wonderful woman, a fantastic Prime Minister of England.

This was Myrlin of Stanhope, better known to his friends as Zebedee. He was my very first German Shepherd, called Alsatians in England. He was very much my dog and would have defended me to the death if the occasion had risen. If he liked you, he really liked you, but if he took a dislike to you, he wouldn’t come near you. He adored my first husband, John, and when he met him, he similarly adored Matt but he did NOT like Matt’s dad although he did everything he could to attract him. As you can see, his ears never really stood up despite all the recommended things we tried, it got so he wasn’t too happy when anyone touched his ears. We took Zeb to training school and soon decided that we needed a dog each to handle in the training ring, so we bought Gypsy who became John’s dog. Later, I had fallen in love with a German Shepherd called Joll von Bemholt, Joll for short, he was a very valuable animal and was a Sieger in Germany when he was purchased for a lot of money and imported to the UK. So, when a puppy of his became available, I bought her. She became Brandy. Brandy is the only one who ended up in Canada, by that time the other two were no longer with us. German Shepherds are still my favourite dog and I am so sorry we don’t have one any more, however, living in an apartment we don’t think having any kind of pet is fair to the animal.

It appears that other countries have now copied the German show, I suspect, but don’t know, that their qualifications are not nearly as stringent. The breed was literally invented by Captain Max von Stephanitz – it is quite a fascinating story. I used to have the book written by his daughter, but sadly I lent it to someone but despite a fair amount of persistence on my part, I never got it back, nor another book I had lent to the same person written by Nem Elliott who was a top British breeder and whom I met when I bought Gypsy.

I have been making Gazpacho on and off for many long years. A cold salad soup, but absolutely delicious. The soup originated in Spain. I believe the traditional Gazpacho, as served in Spain, does not have garnishes, but I always enjoyed them.


Felicity’s Perfect Gazpacho
The Guardian
Source: Felicity Cloake Picture Felicity Cloake


Serves 4

100g slightly stale crusty white bread, soaked in cold water for 20 mins
1kg very ripe tomatoes, diced
1 ripe red pepper and 1 green pepper, deseeded and diced
1 medium cucumber, peeled and diced
2 cloves of garlic, peeled and crushed
150ml extra virgin olive oil
2tbsp sherry vinegar
Salt, to taste
Garnishes – see below

1. Mix the diced tomatoes, peppers and cucumber with the crushed garlic and olive oil in the bowl of a food processor or blender. Squeeze out the bread, tear it roughly into chunks, and add to the mixture.
2. Blend until smooth, then add the salt and vinegar to taste and stir well.
3. Pass the mixture through a fine sieve, then cover and refrigerate until well chilled.
4. Serve with garnishes of your choice: I liked diced black olives, hard-boiled egg and small pieces of cucumber and pepper; mint or parsley also works well, and many people add spring onion, cubes of Spanish ham and so on.

Have a great day

Mastectomies, Pancake Day, Alzheimer Hope, The Iron Lady.

News item on CBC at the moment, 9 women in Newfoundland and Labrador are suing because they had unnecessary mastectomies: their tests were misread!!! Eastern Health will not part with the tissue samples as they are the only ones they have, but have said a visiting pathologist is welcome to go to the labs where the testing was done. It turns out the samples showed pre-cancerous cells, NOT cancer cells. One woman, who had both breasts removed was told later that she wouldn’t get breast cancer ‘cos she’d never had it. As she hasn’t got breasts now either, I would say that was even more certain. I know I would be absolutely livid if it happened to me. I just looked at some pictures and there are some god-awful ones, I didn’t know that breast cancer could produce such dreadful symptoms. One tends to treat it much more lightly these days as there is so much they can do. After looking at those pictures, I have changed my mind. This picture is a fairly innocuous one. Having been converted myself after avoiding tests for years, ladies get you mammograms done.

We enjoyed our crêpes on Tuesday, Matt had his with Maple syrup and I went the butter, sugar and lemon juice route. I made 8 crêpes in all so we have enough for a second helping – probably tonight. Its quite a while since I last made them, I am always dieting on Shrove Tuesday. I quite like the frozen ones from the grocery store, but Matt doesn’t as they are slightly sweetened. The picture shows the top one of the stack of 8. They were very good by the way.

Just read about another possible treatment for Alzheimer’s from my CARP newsletter. What is great is that it is a drug  (Bexarotene) which is already approved for use in humans for skin cancer treatment, but in mice it appears to improve Alzheimer symptoms very quickly, and they are about to start clinical trials on humans. This is an illness which has always frightened me especially as some of my relatives had dementia in one form or another before they died. It really is a pretty dreadful disease, terrifying for both the patient and their family. 

I made it to see The Iron Lady last night and was surprised how many people were in the theatre. I was surprised the film started with her living with Alzheimer’s – I have since read she had several small strokes which could mean she has cerebral dementia – and proceeded with back flashes from her memories plus discussions with her husband who was actually no longer alive. It was very well done and I think Meryl Streep did a very good job, but I would like to have seen a lot more of her life, I have been reading that she was a chemist and then a barrister, none of which was mentioned in the movie. I would be hard put to say whether I enjoyed the movie or not. I certainly enjoyed most of it, but didn’t like the angle they used. On the other hand, maybe a portrayal of a great lady suffering from dementia was a good way of portraying her life. I recommend you see the movie and decide for yourself. I am glad I saw it. I just read that the film was focusing on the price she paid for power.

Today we have Travel League bowling with regular bowling tomorrow. Dunno if my legs can cope, we shall see.

I am planning this chicken dish within the next day or two.

Arroz con Pollo

From EatingWell: January/February 2011

Arroz con pollo, or chicken cooked with rice, is a common dish in Spain, Latin America and the Caribbean. We use quick-cooking brown rice here to help you get this on the table in just 40 minutes. Serve with a mixed green salad tossed with cilantro-lime vinaigrette.

4 servings

Ingredients

• 2 1/2 pounds bone-in chicken thighs and/or drumsticks (about 8 pieces), skin removed, trimmed
• 1/2 teaspoon salt, divided
• 2 tablespoons canola oil
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 cup tomato sauce
• 1 1/4 cups reduced-sodium chicken broth
• 1 cup instant brown rice
• 1 cup frozen mixed vegetables, thawed

Preparation

1. Sprinkle chicken with 1/4 teaspoon salt. Heat oil in a Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Reduce heat to medium and add half the chicken pieces, skinned-side down. Cook until browned on one side, 4 to 8 minutes. Transfer to a plate. Repeat with the remaining chicken; transfer to the plate.
2. Add onion, garlic and tomato sauce to the pot and cook, stirring, for 1 minute. Add broth and the remaining 1/4 teaspoon salt; bring to a boil. Stir in rice, return the chicken to the pot, cover and simmer until an instant-read thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the chicken registers 165°F, 8 minutes. Stir in vegetables, cover and cook until heated through, about 2 minutes. Serve the chicken over the rice.

Have a great day