Advent Calendar, Courage.

Well I guess you didn’t cross your fingers for me, I certainly have a fully blown cold now, could hardly breathe during the night. Ah well!!!

I bought myself an Advent Calendar from Jacquie Lawson, I am enjoying opening it each day, something different going on all the time. It shows a village where sometimes it snows and where, at night, it goes dark and the stars and moon come out. Today a Christmas train arrived full of presents. I thought it would act as wallpaper, it does, but you have to shrink the picture to get at your icons.

Amazing story on the news last night about a young cross country runner, Holland Reynolds,  who was expected to win her race. Apparently she misjudged both the weather and her water ration so by the time she got to the finish line she was dehydrated and in pain and collapsed a few feet away. Her coach, who now has Lou Gehrig’s Disease, had taught her never to give up so finally, she crawls over the finish line which enabled her team to win. Nobody could help her otherwise she would have been disqualified. To read the story go here http://tinyurl.com/2fpb7da

I published this recipe in March 2009, I still haven’t got round to making it, however, I plan to do so this evening. I have the red cabbage and I have the pasta so I am well away. Its not Matt’s favourite, but it is one of mine so ….

Pasta with Onions and Red Cabbage
Source: Microwave Magic

Yield: 6 to 8 servings

1 large onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 cup butter
1 large heard red cabbage, cored and shredded
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp paprika
1 package (8 oz) wide egg noodles

Place onion, garlic and 1/4 cup of the butter in a 4-quart round casserole or bowl. Cook on high (600-700 watts) until onion is very tender, 6 to 7 minutes, stirring once. Stir in shredded cabbage, salt and paprika, tossing mixture to blend well. Dot mixture with remaining butter. Cover and return to the microwave for 10 minutes.
While cabbage is cooking, cook egg noodles according to package directions. Drain noodles and add to cooked cabbage, tossing to combine. Return to microwave for 3 to 5 minutes to heat through before serving, if necessary.

Have a great weekend

Today, Australia,

This morning I have to be at the hospital for 8:30 (well a bit earlier to register I think) - a horrible thing to have to get up before the crack of dawn and get to Cambridge which is in the next town. They will then give me an injection and ask me to disappear for roughly 2 hours - I then have to return and get a bone scan. This will show the medics whether arthritis is rampaging in my hip or not. Guess what, I am not writing this today as I am not here! We are supposed to be bowling this afternoon but I have no idea if we will make it in time. Last night we watched the video of Australia which we both found very slow at first. In the end it got to be very interesting, but there was a point where we nearly turned it off. There were a lot of places in the movie where Nicole Kidman spoke so softly you couldn't hear what she was saying, in other places the boy, Brandon Walters or Nullah spoke so quickly in his Australian accent we had trouble figuring out what he was saying. Eventually the story picked up and we enjoyed it. Although it wasn't really what I expected. A large part of the story was the background of how the white people were rounding up aboriginal children and taking them away to missions, this was just before the second world war. The Australian PM apologised for this just last year. I promised to share another favourite recipe from Microwave Magic with you. This used to be a great favourite. Again, I have not made it for a long time and I am not sure why. Pasta with Onions and Red Cabbage Source: Microwave Magic Yield: 6 to 8 servings 1 large onion, chopped 1 clove garlic, minced 1/2 cup butter 1 large heard red cabbage, cored and shredded 1 tsp salt 1/2 tsp paprika 1 package (8 oz) wide egg noodles Place onion, garlic and 1/4 cup of the butter in a 4-quart round casserole or bowl. Cook on high (600-700 watts) until onion is very tender, 6 to 7 minutes, stirring once. Stir in shredded cabbage, salt and paprika, tossing mixture to blend well. Dot mixture with remaining butter. Cover and return to the microwave for 10 minutes. While cabbage is cooking, cook egg noodles according to package directions. Drain noodles and add to cooked cabbage, tossing to combine. Return to microwave for 3 to 5 minutes to heat through before serving, if necessary. Have a great day.