Port and Banquets.

So now our winter league is over for this season and doesn't start again until September. Some of the members will be bowling in the summer league but many won't. However we do get bowlers from other leagues bowling with us in the summer. A friend/bowler is off to Portugal for the summer again. She comes from northern Portugal quite close to where a friend lives with whom we stayed for a couple of days when we went there a few years ago. Also close to Oporto, the home of Port. I enjoy port so it was fun going to the home of the drink. They call them caves although they are no longer actually in caves. I've probably mentioned it, but the reason port came into being was one year the Portuguese wine was awful and two Scottish wine exporters didn't think it was good enough so they tried adding brandy to the wine and port was born. The brands of port still bear Scottish names like Graham's and Taylor Fladgate to name a couple. I forget, now, which cave we visited, but I had never realised there were so many qualities and varieties of port.

We had our bowling banquet Monday and the food was good as usual except for the beans which, I'm afraid were tough. I would love the caterer's recipe for her beef. It's delicious. She (the caterer) also served lots of pies for dessert including one a bit like a lemon meringue but with a lemon crumble on it instead of the meringue. It was delicious. I went back kind of hoping to get more, luckily for my waist line it had all gone. I actually won a couple of things this year. So did Matt. I got the high single with handicap and I also won a $25 voucher for our local grocery store. Our 50/50 each week has two sections, one you win money outright, the other you have to bowl a strike. It hadn't been won in a while so it had gone up to $70. Neither of us even got to try for the strike, boo hoo. Actually we are usually unlucky with the 50/50 so it was a surprise that the very last draw of the season was my gift voucher.

I enjoy Caprese and portabella mushrooms so this recipe is right up my street.

Caprese Portabella Mushrooms

Mushrooms Canada
Prep Time: 10 minutes | Cook Time: 30 minutes | Serves 4

Ingredients

8 portabella mushrooms
2 tbsp olive oil, divided
1 cup quinoa, cooked
2 cloves garlic, minced
4 tbsp balsamic vinegar, divided
½ tsp salt
¼ tsp pepper
16 mini buffala mozzarella balls
16 cherry tomatoes
¼ cup chopped fresh basil

Method
1. Preheat oven to 425 F.
2. Cook quinoa according to package directions. Meanwhile, gently wash away dirt from mushrooms, then carefully cut away stems and scrape out each mushroom. Set filling aside.
3. In a large bowl, toss quinoa with mushroom filling, minced garlic, balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper. Stuff each mushroom with filling, then top each with two mozzarella balls and two cherry tomatoes.
4. Cook in the oven for 15-20 minutes until cheese is completely melted. Remove from oven and top each mushroom with a bit of fresh basil. Enjoy!

Have a great day
 

Game of Thrones, Portuguese Confection.

Well, last night I watched episodes 3 and 4. What a waste of time. In the first place they had wiped out large chunks of the story between 2 and 3 which I think was a mistake. Having read the books I remembered some of what had happened in this period, but by no means all, if anyone hadn’t read the books, I have no idea how they would have kept up with the story. I found half the time I had no idea who people were and how they had got there in the first place. For instance, Daenerys Targaryen in the previous episodes had a husband and a brother, the series does not explain what happened to them. That is just one glaring example. I still like the actor playing Tyrian Lannister, but how he, the despised dwarf, suddenly becomes the King’s Hand is beyond me. Nor do I have a clue about what else is going on. So, I will not bother to watch any more. However, I still think the books were very good and would recommend them. Although I am not sure George R.R. Martin has yet finished the series. Checking it, he hasn’t. There are two more books planned and he says he doesn’t know when the sixth book will be finished. I am not even going to try reading them again until it’s all completed. He also says he plans to kill off a lot more characters!!! If you are enjoying it, good luck.

As usual we bowled Thursday afternoon, Matt had a good day, I had a mediocre day. A Portuguese friend was in bowling ahead as she is heading off to Portugal next week for a few weeks vacation, lucky her. She has promised to bring us some ovos moles again. They are a Portuguese specialty and absolutely delicious. They are made with a thin pastry filled with an egg concoction. If you are interested in the recipe, click on the link above. Not something I personally am ever likely to make despite my liking them so much. When we were in Portugal it staggered me the fantastic egg desserts they made.

I was never a particular friend of grits until I tried Shrimp and Grits which is a big favourite in the south. Here is a different take on that recipe.

Spicy Shrimp and Grits

Cooking Light

Crank up the heat (in your weeknight meal, that is!) and serve a spicy version of this Southern favourite.

Yield: 4 servings (serving size: 1 cup grits, about 1 1/2 cups shrimp mixture, and 1 tablespoon green onions)

Ingredients

 

• 3 cups 1% low-fat milk
• 1 cup water
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1/2 teaspoon salt, divided
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper, divided
• 1 cup uncooked quick-cooking grits
• 1/2 cup (2 ounces) grated fresh Parmesan cheese
• 4 slices applewood-smoked bacon
• 1 pound peeled, deveined large shrimp
• 1 cup thinly vertically sliced white onion
• 2 cups grape tomatoes, halved
• 1 teaspoon hot pepper sauce or chopped chipotle chile, canned in adobo sauce
• 1/8 teaspoon ground or crushed red pepper
• 1/4 cup green onion strips

Preparation

1. 1. Combine milk, water, butter, 1/4 teaspoon salt, and 1/8 teaspoon black pepper in a saucepan over medium-high heat. Bring to a simmer; gradually add grits, stirring constantly with a whisk. Reduce heat to medium; cook 4 minutes or until thick, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat; stir in cheese.
2. 2. While grits cook, cook bacon in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat until crisp. Remove bacon from pan, reserving 2 teaspoons drippings; crumble bacon. Add shrimp to drippings in pan; cook 2 minutes on each side or until done. Remove shrimp from pan. Add white onion to pan; sauté 1 minute. Stir in bacon, tomatoes, remaining 1/4 teaspoon salt, and remaining 1/8 teaspoon black pepper; sauté 2 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add shrimp, pepper sauce, and red pepper; cook 1 minute or until shrimp are heated. Serve over grits; sprinkle with green onions.

Have a great day

Books I Have Enjoyed Lately

I just finished reading four stories of The Lost Continent by Catherine Asaro. They were eBooks so I was reading them on my Palm Zire. Fire Opal was the last of the four. I really enjoyed them, so I went hunting on the net to see if she had written any more, she has, so I will have to do something about getting hold of them. I have been reading Catherine Asaro books for a while now, her Skolian Empire series is great, I know I have mentioned them before - I don't own any of the books in the series, but I think I should change that. Catherine Asaro herself is a scientist which always helps with science fiction I think. Isaac Asimov who, in my opinion, was one of the greatest sci fi writers of all time, was a scientist. At one time I owned everything he had written, but having carted a couple of thousand books from England to Canada, then from Canada to the States, I finally decided to thin down my library considerably before we moved back to Canada. It was a very hard decision for me but I figure if I want to re-read a lot of the books I got rid of, I have a very good library service available to me here.

Talking of the library, they have a book ready for me right now which we will pick up later today, it is The River God by Wilbur Smith. Not a new book by any manner of means. It is about ancient Egypt and I have a sneaking suspicion I might have read it years ago, but when a friend mentioned she had just read it I thought I would get hold of it. I have always been fascinated by Ancient Egypt and have certainly read a lot of stories, both fact and fiction, about the area. It might be long enough ago that even if this book has crossed my path in the past, it still may seem pretty fresh to me today.

The creation of this blog was severely interrupted by a Skype call from daughter #2 and family. Do you use Skype? Its a great programme which allows us to make calls to England (and anywhere else) with our vid cam on at both ends so we can see everyone whilst talking to them, also totally free. I occasionally talk to my cousin in Portugal on Skype as well. Our son-in-law (Mike of the wildlife art - see the link on this page) reads my blog so they were all teasing me about my love of asparagus and were horrified to hear I had only one serving left. We got progress reports on all the grandkids who are apparently doing extremely well in all their endeavours. Two are intending to teach and our 12 year old granddaughter seems to be headed for a theatrical career although she says she wants to be a veterinarian. We shall see.

OK, not asparagus or lobster or rhubarb today. I love omelettes too.

Apple & Brie Omelette Eggsite.com

2 tsp butter, divided 10 mL 1/4 Granny smith apple, peeled and thinly sliced 1/4" Ground nutmeg, to taste 1 tsp sugar 5 mL 2 eggs 2 1 Tbs water 15 mL 1 Tbs chopped pecans 15 mL 1 oz Brie cheese (cut into 6 small cubes) 25 g 1 Heat nonstick 8-inch (20 cm) ovenproof skillet* over medium heat. Melt 1 tsp (5 mL) butter in skillet. Sauté apple slices in butter until slightly transparent but not too soft, about 2 minutes. Sprinkle with nutmeg and sugar. Remove from pan and keep warm. 2 Beat together eggs and water. Heat same skillet over medium-high heat. Melt remaining 1 tsp (5 mL) butter in skillet. Pour in egg mixture. As mixture sets at edges, with spatula, gently push cooked portions towards the centre. Tilt and rotate the pan to allow uncooked egg to flow into the empty spaces. When egg is almost set on surface but still looks moist, cover half of the omelette with warm apple mixture and pecans. Slip spatula under the unfilled side and fold the omelette in half. Garnish with Brie cheese. Broil 1 to 2 minutes to melt cheese. Slide onto warm plate and serve immediately. Servings: 1

Have a great day.

Vacations

The subject of vacations is hovering around us at the moment, where do we want to go, how much will it cost, blah, blah, blah. One place we are contemplating is Portugal, we liked it so much the first time we went. We had one complaint which was smoking, we couldn't go into the lounge bar at night because of the smoke which you could see sitting in layers in the air. Portugal, along with France and I am sure other European countries, has now gone "no smoking". To us this means we won't have to sit in our room playing cribbage because it is too cold to be outside at night (in November) and too smokey to be inside. The picture on the left is the beach at Sagres which is in the Algarve or the very southern part of the country. Portugal is a wonderful place to eat fresh fish, you can go to a fish restaurant and get fresh fish of different kinds, served to you as long as you can eat it. Absolutely delicious. The food we had in any restaurant or in our hotel was fantastic and we enjoyed all of it. I have tried to duplicate some of the recipes but never quite "got it" with some of them. I remember a pork stew we had one time, the flavour was incredible, but despite trying all kinds of recipes, I cannot quite duplicate it, close, but not exact. Some of their wonderful egg desserts too - mmm, I could eat those right now. Yes, I think Portugal would be a good choice again. I have a cousin living in the Algarve these days too which should give us a good place to visit, I haven't seen her in years. At least 40 years I would think, we've been in Canada since 1975 so haven't seen her since then at least, and not for quite a few years before that. When we left, she was living in Natal, South Africa. I don't recall what year she moved there. The photo on the right shows something of the countryside beyond the Algarve, we were driving about 300 miles north to see a friend. The road was absolutely fantastic with hardly any vehicles on it. Great driving.

Below is an egg dessert from Portugal, its great to eat, but I have never tried to make it.

Charcada Alentejana
Serves: 6
Source: Lurdes Pereira

300 gr sugar
1.5 dl water
6 egg yolks
1 egg white
zest of lemon
cinnamon

Mix sugar with water and lemon zest. Take to stove and when boilling, add egg yolks previously beatten with the egg white, through a funnel. Let boil a litle until it gets thicker but not hard. Serve in small plates and dust with cinnamon.

This is the only picture I have of the dessert which I took in a restaurant in Portugal. It doesn't show you the lovely lemony yellow colour - in fact when I first saw it, I thought it was scrambled egg, but it is very different.

Have a great day.