Diabetes Study, Weight Loss, Egypt, Ball Cutter Fish.

Not bad, just earned myself a hundred bucks for participating in a diabetes study. I had to fill out a diary every day, and an extra diary once a week, for two weeks. Talking of which, I read an article talking about diabetes and weight loss. It said how much 15 to 20% weight loss will affect one’s blood sugars positively. I figured it out, I have a bit of a way to go yet. I’m gettin’ there though. My biggest problem at the moment is my shorts, they are all too big for me and flap around, but I sure don’t want to buy any new ones  yet awhile, in fact, probably not this summer. Trouble is I don’t sew and anyway, don’t have a sewing machine. I could borrow one, but I don’t know what I’m doing even if I do borrow one. I used to have a very old machine many years ago in the UK, made curtains and such, but basically those are just straight seams. The good fairy didn’t wish me domesticity, other than cooking, I’m afraid.

What a mess in Egypt. At the time of writing this, 278 people have been killed in all the clashes and rioting. Is it worth it? Such a pity – apart from anything else their revenues from will obviously go down.

Just realised, my mother would have been 100 today. Just mentioned in passing.
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A joke plus some unverified reports have Scandinavian men terrified to swim because the Pacu, seen on the left of the picture, has a pretty strong bite and it was rumoured they were “ball cutters”. You should read the article, it is quite funny, especially the reference to the fish driving men out of the water quicker than the theme music of Jaws. Part of the fish’s diet is nuts which has added to the nervousness of the males in the area.

Here's a recipe from Cooking.com which I got the other day and which makes me drool. I won't be making it, way too many calories even in a tiny piece, but I thought some of you might like to.

Mississippi Chocolate and Coffee Cake Source: Close-up on Cakes
Active Time:  15 Minutes Total Time:  1 Hour 50 Minutes Serves 10
Coffee, bourbon, chocolate, and butter make this cake one decadent dessert. INGREDIENTS For the Cake: 2 cups all-purpose flour 1 teaspoon baking soda Pinch salt 1 3/4 cups strong brewed coffee 1/4 cup bourbon 5 oz unsweetened chocolate 1 cup butter 2 cups sugar 2 large eggs, lightly beaten 1 teaspoon vanilla extract For the Chocolate Icing: 6 1/2 ounces semisweet chocolate 4 1/2 tablespoons butter
DIRECTIONS FOR THE CAKE: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Oil a 9-inch round cake pan. Line pan with parchment paper. In a mixing bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda, and salt. In the top of a double boiler set over simmering water, heat the coffee, bourbon, chocolate, and butter, stirring until the chocolate and butter are melted and the mixture is smooth. Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the sugar. Let the mixture cool for 3 minutes and transfer to an electric mixer. Add the flour mixture to the chocolate mixture, half a cup at a time, and beat medium speed for 1 minute. Add the eggs and vanilla and beat until smooth. Pour into the prepared pan and bake for 1 1/2 hours, or until a skewer inserted in the center comes out clean. Let the cake cool completely in the pan. When cooled, turn out onto a serving plate. FOR CHOCOLATE ICING: Combine the chocolate and butter in the top of a double boiler and stir over low heat until they are melted and combined. Cool slightly and then ice cake.

Have a great day

Yarn Bombs, Drought and Water,

Until this weekend I had never heard of yarn bombing. This is the Charging Bull near Wall Street. Apparently women all over have decided graffiti was a male dominated activity so they decided to knit cosies for all kinds of items to make life more colourful. If you look at the article, there are trees, phone booths, statues, buses, you name it, which have been yarn bombed. Apparently it is designated as vandalism or littering but according to the article, the police don’t seem to bother about it too much. Apparently some knitters have been paid lots of money to knit cosies for their products, Toyota for one. Knitting is not my bag, apart from cooking, anything domestic is not my bag mind you, however, even I could knit some of the squares they use for these yarn bombs. By the way, my knitting achievement include one, and one only, sweater knitted many, many, years ago.

Ontario hit a record yesterday for heat, it was 30.2°C but today we got to 33°C. All I know is, it was bloody hot. I couldn’t believe it this morning when I heard them mowing the grass around the apartment. Predominantly there is nothing but crispy yellow stuff all round the building, certainly where we look out, also the park is in the same condition. So what on earth was there to mow? There are patches of weeds in the front which I agree needed doing, but certainly not round this side. Obviously the company that takes care of our grass must be suffering along with many other such companies. Driving around yesterday, the corn is brown from the bottom to a couple of feet up the stem, I’m surprised the top still survives. Prices are already going up and I suspect we may encounter some shortages soon. The situation is very serious. Discussing it with friends over the weekend they said they had heard that it is considered the next wars will be about water. Glenda Larke, the author, has said much the same thing. In this part of the world, we are very careless with water. I read in a book I have about the Great Lakes that if it weren’t for them humans couldn’t survive here, but they too are losing water and not as deep as they once were. Ontario has something like 1,000 lakes and they are all getting lower too.

We had a fun time on Saturday evening and we ate English Stuffed Peppers followed by London Broil. My friend brought the dessert which consisted of vanilla ice cream, blueberries and raspberries topped by home made truffles with Grand Marnier. It was absolutely delicious, particularly the truffles. She also brought Brie and crackers so we were all stuffed by the time we had finished..
This recipe from Cooking.com is just up my street, chocolatey, gooey, delicious looking.

Mississippi Chocolate and Coffee Cake

Source: Close-up on Cakes


Serves 10


INGREDIENTS
For the Cake:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
Pinch salt
1 3/4 cups strong brewed coffee
1/4 cup bourbon
5 oz unsweetened chocolate
1 cup butter
2 cups sugar
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

For the Chocolate Icing:
6 1/2 ounces semisweet chocolate
4 1/2 tablespoons butter

DIRECTIONS
FOR THE CAKE:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Oil a 9-inch round cake pan. Line pan with parchment paper.
In a mixing bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda, and salt.
In the top of a double boiler set over simmering water, heat the coffee, bourbon, chocolate, and butter, stirring until the chocolate and butter are melted and the mixture is smooth. Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the sugar. Let the mixture cool for 3 minutes and transfer to an electric mixer. Add the flour mixture to the chocolate mixture, half a cup at a time, and beat medium speed for 1 minute. Add the eggs and vanilla and beat until smooth.

Pour into the prepared pan and bake for 1 1/2 hours, or until a skewer inserted in the center comes out clean. Let the cake cool completely in the pan. When cooled, turn out onto a serving plate.

FOR CHOCOLATE ICING:
Combine the chocolate and butter in the top of a double boiler and stir over low heat until they are melted and combined. Cool slightly and then ice cake.

Have a great day

Elephant, Elder Abuse, Obesity, A Star is Gone.

How’s this for a frightening experience. This bull elephant eventually turned the car over having attacked it aggressively in a safari park. To see the rest of the pix, including the elephant sitting on the car, go to http://tinyurl.com/6bndmbu Luckily the passengers were not hurt, just terrified.

There seems to be an upsurge in reported elder abuse lately, two incidents have made the news, one man beating his aged father with a stick and starving him, another couple keeping a 68 yr. old woman in an unheated garage all through the winter where she had little or no facilities, and a bucket of water to wash. She is now in hospital where she was taken because of frostbite but once there she had a heart attack. One wonders why these kinds of things happen and what can be done to stop them happening elsewhere.

Having looked into joining South Beach Diet’s website, I get a regular email from them, today it was about healthy lifestyles and they said the American Dietetic Association (ADA) recognizes March as National Nutrition Month. In other words because of the high instance of obesity in the US (Canada and other countries too) they are promoting healthy eating and healthy living. There are many illnesses associated with obesity particularly Diabetes – a friend of mine was showing signs of onset diabetes, had a tummy tuck type of operation, lost a lot of weight and the diabetes symptoms have disappeared. It is NOT, of course, necessary for all overweight people to go through an operation, but it is necessary to follow a healthy diet and not to stuff oneself on junk food. There are several good groups out there which can help with weight loss. Weight Watchers is one of my favourites.

For those of you who remember her, Jane Russell died yesterday at 89. I remember seeing her in movies when I was a very young woman. Gentlemen Prefer Blondes was one of the well known ones where she and Marilyn Monroe performed together.

If you look at this picture, how could I possibly pass up on this recipe. Looks like a chocoholic’s dream. I found it on Cooking.com. It doesn’t really fit in with healthy nutrition, tomorrow perhaps…

Mississippi Chocolate & Coffee Cake

Source: Close-up on Cakes - Weldon Russell.

INGREDIENTS

For the Cake: 2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

Pinch salt

1 3/4 cups strong brewed coffee

1/4 cup bourbon

5 oz unsweetened chocolate

1 cup butter

2 cups sugar

2 large eggs, lightly beaten

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

For the Chocolate Icing:

6 1/2 ounces semisweet chocolate

4 1/2 tablespoons butter

DIRECTIONS

FOR THE CAKE: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Oil a 9-inch round cake pan. Line pan with parchment paper.

In a mixing bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda, and salt.

In the top of a double boiler set over simmering water, heat the coffee, bourbon, chocolate, and butter, stirring until the chocolate and butter are melted and the mixture is smooth. Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the sugar. Let the mixture cool for 3 minutes and transfer to an electric mixer. Add the flour mixture to the chocolate mixture, half a cup at a time, and beat medium speed for 1 minute. Add the eggs and vanilla and beat until smooth.

Pour into the prepared pan and bake for 1 1/2 hours, or until a skewer inserted in the center comes out clean. Let the cake cool completely in the pan. When cooled, turn out onto a serving plate.

FOR CHOCOLATE ICING: Combine the chocolate and butter in the top of a double boiler and stir over low heat until they are melted and combined. Cool slightly and then ice cake.

Have a great day