If you read the comments, you will see a friend told me I can buy samosa wrappers locally. I was thinking about them after I had blogged yesterday, I think it would be a good thing to make a batch with different fillings and then freeze them so that you could take out one or two of each flavour at a time. Buying wrappers would certainly make it easier if not as authentic. However, not being the best pastry maker in the world, that is probably the way I would go.
I nearly forgot to mention, went to Barrie's Asparagus farm yesterday and
he had strawberries for sale. I bought some and last night we had a feast of berries and cream for dessert, delicious. They were pretty sweet but still needed sugar/Splenda added. This is another thing we have lost, really sweet berries. When I was a young woman in the UK we never needed to add sweetening to strawberries or raspberries. How sad.
Diane Sawyer of GMA was talking to President Obama this morning about
health care and smoking. He is still a smoker and struggling with it apparently.
click here. Tonight Dianne and Charles Gibson of Night Line are having a meeting with the President and a lot of medical people and I believe you can call in and ask questions, about the proposals for improving medical services in the U.S. This is an article by the New York Post
click here if you wish to read it. The Americans want to achieve a balance between the kind of health system they already have and a socialised scheme such as is available in both Canada and the UK. Certainly socialised medicine leaves a lot to be desired when you have to sit in an emergency room for hours on end. A lot of that is because people just don't have their own doctor, there are not enough doctors to go round. Having to go to Emergency just for medical treatment is ridiculous, although I believe they do sort out those who are really there for emergencies, but the systems get swamped.
This morning there was a report on GMA about the Mediterranean Diet which is a very popular diet. They are now saying, having studied the foods and people of Greece, that certain foods on the diet are excellent for promoting longevity. Basically, a plant based diet is better for your chances of a long life.
Check here to read all about it. One of the things was red wine with less than a glass of red wine for women and less than two glasses for men (I have never seen people drinking less than a glass of any wine). Although fish and grains are good for you, they are apparently not instruments for promoting longevity. Longevity is all very well if you have the health to go with it.
One of the foods mentioned in the Mediterranean Diet was beans. Matt and I enjoy bean based foods but don't eat them as often as we maybe should. Here is a pasta salad from Eating Well which includes beans.
Southern Pasta Salad with Black-Eyed Peas
Makes 6 servings, 1 1/3 cup each
1 cup sun-dried tomatoes (not packed in oil)
8 ounces whole-wheat small elbows or other small pasta shape
8 ounces Swiss chard (not the red variety), washed and cut crosswise into thin strips
8 ounces smoked turkey, chopped
2 14-ounce cans black-eyed peas, drained and rinsed
½ cup chopped sweet onions, such as Vidalia
¼ cup brewed coffee or tea, such as Lapsang-Souchong
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons lime juice
2 tablespoons cider vinegar
1 ½ teaspoons molasses
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1 ½ teaspoons chili powder
½ teaspoon ground cumin
Salt & freshly ground pepper to taste
1. Place sun-dried tomatoes in a small bowl, cover with boiling water and let stand until soft, about 10 minutes. Drain and let cool. Cut into slivers and set aside.
2. Cook pasta in a large saucepan of boiling salted water until al dente, about 5 minutes; add chard during the last minute of cooking. Drain in a colander and rinse under cold water until cool. Press to remove excess water and transfer to a large bowl. Add turkey, black-eyed peas, onions and the reserved tomatoes.
3. Whisk together the remaining ingredients in a small bowl. Add to the pasta and chard; toss until well-combined.
Have a great day.
Alzheimer's or senile dementia has always been a big worry of mine because at least two relatives in my father's family were apparently senile when they died. Dr. Oz was talking about Alzheimer's on Good Morning America today and describing some of the differences between loss of memory caused by old age or by Alzheimer's. It is OK to forget where you left your glasses, but if you end up finding them in the fridge, that is not OK! If you start to go somewhere and forget where you are going (as in heading for the store or for the doctor's) that is a bad sign. Struggling with words is another bad sign. Read the article http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/HealthyLiving/dr-ozs-warning-signs-alzheimers-disease/story?id=9618672 here. If you can't bring the word 'key' to mind, for instance, and have to invent ways to describe it, like "the thing that opens the door" that could be the onset of a problem. I have to say that does happen to me now and again. I like to think its because I have so many things buzzing around in my brain at the time, but I guess it coould be a bad sign. However, when you look at the reams of stuff I write in my blog, I don't think I am there yet. The disease is getting more and more prevalent in the States with some 5.3 Americans having it and a new diagnosis every 70 seconds. Dr. Oz talked about prevention and considers what you eat to be very important, in other words, the Mediterranean diet - the percentage of Alzheimer's in the Mediterranean countries is far less. Turmeric, which is present in curries, is a good thing to eat too. One assumes India also has a low incidence although he didn't specifically say.
When we were living in North Carolina, John Edwards won the governership. He is such a 
handsome man and he seemed to have a wonderful family. Then we heard about his extra marital affair and now they say he has a Love Child from this affair. Then there is lots of speculation about Tiger Woods and where he is. The rumours say he has signed into a sex addiction clinic. What nonsense, you can't stop men being addicted to sex its in the genes. They are designed by nature to procreate the species and,. to quote The King and I, to go "from flower, to flower, to flower". As a wife one just hopes that they won't want to.
They were talking yesterday about how many women were now earning more than their husbands and how it was now beneficial for men to get married to such high earning women (it used to be the other way round after all). Of course it was not unusual once upon a time for men to marry heiresses. Frequently men with an impoverished title would marry into a moneyed family.
I am always looking for different ways of preparing vegetables and whilst perusing the GMA website, I noticed this one for carrots.
Roasted Carrots with Fresh Thyme
Emeril Lagasse
Healthy Side Dish
Servings: 4
Carrots are an inexpensive, all-purpose root vegetable that is often overlooked. This delicious dish is a cinch to prepare."
Ingredients
2 tablespoons olive oil 
1 1/2 pounds carrots, cut diagonally into 1 1/2-inch lengths
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
4 sprigs fresh thyme
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 tablespoon honey
Directions
Preheat the oven to 450°F.
Place a medium oven-proof saute pan over high heat and add the olive oil. When the oil is hot, add the carrots, salt and pepper and cook for 2 minutes on each side. Add the thyme sprigs and
butter, and drizzle with the honey.
Transfer the pan to the oven and roast for 6 to 8 minutes, or until the carrots are golden and crisp-tender.
Serve immediately.
Have a great day
