Power Outage, Snow, Those Expensive Bananas, Hair Cut, Jonathan Antoine,

I started a  blog this morning (Friday) and the power went out. I therefore lost what I had written which hadn't yet been saved. Grrrr. Power went off during the night too so I had to reset clocks and radio station twice this morning, more growls. Dunno if it's our building or outside.

When I awoke this morning, somewhat late, I thought it was foggy, I had thought the same once during the night. I looked out of the window and damn me, snow, lots of it, the trees look wonderful and the park is all freshly covered. Of course ladydog was due to visit, said she might still make it but don't want her to put herself at risk. Snowed up country roads between her home and ours. She, sensibly, decided not to come.

After lunch we went to get our hair cut, mine is, once again very short, bit shorter than I like but everybody but me liked it last time she cut it this short. She really is the most amazing person, when she sees us (if she isn't busy) she comes out and helps Matt into the salon. Then into the chair and once finished, out of the chair once more and later into the car again. Makes it easy on me. I really am very grateful to her.

We also went to Victoria St. Market for bananas, I actually wanted three things there, bananas, sausages and a sauce they make which I have been using on my burritos. Unfortunately my hands couldn't stop picking things up. What an idiot I am.

This evening, we more or less accidentally turned on a programme called Going the Distance with Jonathan Antoine. Never heard of him. My first reaction was, what a size, but then we heard him sing and Matt went absolutely nutty about his voice. Well so did I. Turns out he won Britain Has Talent when he was 17 (in 2012) and has been doing pretty well since. He is giving a concert in Toronto in October. Oh if only, we would both love to go. Although, don't know how Matt would be by then. I guess it won't happen. I tried to buy the DVD away from the PBS show, but it isn't available and I sure can't afford to contribute to PBS in order to get it. Checking him out online, it turns out he was in Toronto before but we have never heard of him. I hope you enjoy this as much as we did. He sings popular songs as well as classical. Wonderful voice.


I have never eaten fried pickles and when I saw this picture I could have grabbed them off the plate. I now have to consider whether I can make them in the air fryer. If I did fry them in oil I would haul out my Fry Granddaddy which I haven't used in a looooong time.

Fried Pickles

vegetable oil for frying
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt or to taste
1/2 tsp pepper or to taste
1 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp Italian seasoning
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 large egg
2 cups dill pickles sliced, drained

1. Fill a Dutch oven with 2 to 3 inches of vegetable oil for frying and heat to 375 F degrees. Should take about 10 minutes.

2. In a bowl, combine the flour, salt, pepper, paprika, Italian seasoning and cayenne pepper. In another bowl whisk together the buttermilk and egg.

3. Dredge pickle slices through the flour mixture, then buttermilk mixture and finally flour mixture again. Carefully transfer to the hot oil. Fry about 5 pickle slices at a time until golden brown. Repeat with remaining ingredients.

4. Serve warm fried pickles with ranch dressing.

Servings: 4

Author: Joanna Cismaru

Author Notes: Leftovers will keep for 2-3 days stored in the fridge in an airtight container.

Have a great weekend.
 

Sunday Afternoon, Weather,

Unusual, we had another power outage. Asked the super if he knew anything about it. He said he had heard that a pole was down, 3,000 houses without power but that they estimated the power would be back on by 6 and damn me if it didn't come on at 5.55. In the middle of this we had quite a rain storm so I felt sorry for the guys working on the power. We had decided to have supper early just in case. Basically a picnic of Brie and crackers with grape tomatoes followed by the remains of the Pavlova I made for Saturday. I mad it with strawberries. Not a good idea. The strawberries at this time are huge and quite tough as strawberries go. I will use raspberries instead if and when I make another until summertime fruit is available. Oh well, I have two lots of leftovers for supper on Monday and Tuesday. Can't complain. Of course I was concerned because Poldark is on tonight and I don't want to miss it!! I didn't.

Prior to Poldark I watched the programme The Durrells in Corfu. I used to love Gerald Durrell's books with one exception, My Family and Other Animals which was about Corfu. I felt the same about the TV show tonight.

Monday is bowling of course so please keep your fingers crossed for me and our team. If the weather continues as it has been in the last couple of days I will be wearing a jacket. It is quite chilly now. Bit of a shock after all the lovely weather we have been having.

I notice all the stores lately have been stocked up for Hallowe'en but now I notice Christmas stuff creeping in already.  It gets earlier every year I swear.

I found this recipe through Yummly and like the sound of it.

Korean Style Pork Chops

4 pork chops
1 Tbs olive oil
1/4 cup soy sauce low sodium
2 Tbs honey
4 cloves garlic minced
1 tsp sesame oil
1 tsp ginger minced
2 tsp sriracha sauce
black pepper to taste

1. Preheat oven to 400 F degrees.

2. In a medium size bowl whisk together the soy sauce, honey, garlic, ginger, sesame oil and sriracha sauce. Pour over pork chops and let marinade for about 20 minutes.

3. Heat the olive oil in a large skillet for medium high heat. Add pork chops, without marinade, and cook for about 5 minutes for the first side, or until it gets a nice brownish color. Flip the pork chops and pour the remaining marinade over them. Cook another 5 min on this side.

4. Place the skillet in the oven to finish cooking them. Roast for about 10 minutes, or until pork chops are completely cooked through.

Servings: 4

Author: Joanna Cismaru
Source: Jo Cooks

Author Notes
If your pork chops are not very thick, mine were about 1 inch in thickness, you might not need to finish cooking them in the oven.

Have a great day
 

Bowling,, Snow, CPAP Machine,

Woo hoo, for once bowling was good. For both of us and for the team generally - we were all there and everyone was doing pretty well. It was such a nice feeling.

The bowling alley was giving out calendars to everyone and I got my usual foodie one. There are some delicious looking recipes coming up for the year, I will, no doubt, be sharing  them in the future.

Although I am delighted we didn't get the snow received by many places, we certainly got a good dollop of the white stuff. Gives me a chance to post a snow rabbit.

I didn't mention before, we had a power outage at the weekend and when I
went to reset the clocks I discovered my CPAP machine was dead. Tried it in another outlet, still dead. I phoned the company I got it from and they are trying to find out if there is any warranty at this stage, I have had it 3 years. Our insurance don't cover me for a new one unless it is 5 years, so I might be SOL. I can't believe it happened. We have had plenty of power outages in the years I have owned it. Typical, of course, I haven't used it as much as I should lately and just when I had decided I really must start doing so again, this happens.

Here's a nice easy recipe for supper tonight.

Orange-Sauced Chicken

Orange-Sauced Chicken is a super-fast supper (think 10 minutes!) that’s rich with flavor, yet only has around 200 calories per serving—which means you don’t have to feel bad about going in for seconds.

Orange juice, chicken broth, orange marmalade, and fresh lemon juice combine to make a truly irresistible sauce for chicken breasts dredged in Italian-style breadcrumbs. Orange marmalade can be found near the jams and nut butters at your local grocery. Serve over sticky white rice with mixed vegetables on the side.

1/4 cup fresh orange juice
1/4 cup fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth
1 Tbs orange marmalade
1 tsp fresh lemon juice
3/4 tsp cornstarch
1/8 tsp dried crushed rosemary
1/8 tsp salt
1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper
2 (4-ounce) skinless, boneless, chicken breast halves
1 Tbs Italian-seasoned breadcrumbs
1 tsp olive oil
Cooking spray
1 tsp chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

1. Combine first 8 ingredients in a medium bowl, stirring with a whisk.

2. Dredge chicken in breadcrumbs.

3. Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet coated with cooking spray over medium-high heat. Add chicken, and cook 3 to 4 minutes on each side or just until lightly browned on both sides. Add broth mixture; cover, reduce heat, and simmer, stirring occasionally, 4 to 5 minutes or until chicken is done. Sprinkle with parsley

Servings: 2

Source: MyRecipes

Have a great day

Pant Suit, Table Coverings, Power, New Year.

I posted a picture of myself in my new pant suit and was absolutely staggered by all the comments and compliments I received. I only wanted to show everyone what my pant suit looked like, I was very pleased with it. It is very comfortable to wear and the material feels soft and floaty, if you know what I mean. I am posting it here too, no, not because I want more compliments, I just want you to see what a nice pant suit it is. This pic was actually taken on Boxing Day (Dec 26) shortly before our dinner guest came. I was actually wearing heels, albeit not very high ones. Something I don't do very much these days. It's amazing what a difference losing weight makes to such things though. Not that I would want to stagger walk very far in them. I have never figured out how people do walk in the excessively high heels of today, I thought the ones I used to wear were high enough, they were not a patch on those people wear now.


This was the table before we sat down. For some reason the gold table cloth wouldn’t stay flat and our friend suggested putting a rug or blanket underneath which made me think of chenille table cloths which were used in England at one time. They were left on the table more or less permanently and then another cloth was laid across them when the table was to be  used. I googled and you can still buy them in England but at an exhorbitant price and that’s without the shipping costs. The only things I could fine on this continent were not really the same thing at all.

In Ontario we still have lots of people without power, I am so sorry for them. I don’t know how they are keeping warm and what is happening with babies and old people in this situation. They are so vulnerable at times like this.

I hope you all have a fantastic New Year. We are not doing anything special and I am not even sure I will bother to stay up long enough to drink a toast in champagne. I am not positive when I will post again this week. Today, of course, we are going bowling. We missed not being able to bowl on Thursday last week.

This dish from Cooking Light was posted on My Recipes this week and as we love halibut I thought it would be a good one to include, particularly after the excesses of Christmas. I don’t know of refrigerated potato wedges, but obviously one can substitute. Personally I would probably forget the potatoes for me, don’t eat them much anyway.

One-Dish Poached Halibut and Vegetables

Light and healthy, this no-fuss fish supper takes just 20 minutes to make. Be sure to serve with lots of crusty bread for dipping in the anise-scented vegetable broth.

Cooking Light OCTOBER 2005

• Yield: 4 servings (serving size: 1 fillet, about 1 1/2 cups vegetable mixture, and 1 lemon wedge)

Ingredients

• 2 cups thinly sliced fennel bulb (about 6 ounces)
• 2 cups organic vegetable broth (such as Swanson Certified Organic)
• 1 (20-ounce) package refrigerated red potato wedges (such as Simply Potatoes)
• 8 ounces baby carrots
• 4 (6-ounce) halibut fillets
• 1/2 teaspoon paprika
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme
• 4 lemon wedges

Preparation

Combine first 4 ingredients in a large nonstick skillet; bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 4 minutes.
Sprinkle one side of fish with paprika, salt, and pepper. Add fish, seasoning side up, and thyme to pan; bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 6 minutes or until fish flakes easily when tested with a fork or until desired degree of doneness. Serve with lemon wedges.

Have a great day and a Happy New Year. See you next year.

Power Cut, Bacon, Proms in UK, T’ai Chi.

Sunday morning when I got up, I realised we had had a power cut. Only problem was, nothing in the main bedroom was now working. For some reason all the power to everything was now out. Alarm clock, answering machine, lights, etc. etc. We tried changing fuses but that didn’t alter anything. Called the super – assistant was on this weekend, he came up and looked at it and couldn’t figure anything out so he will have to report it and eventually they will have to call in an electrician. Meanwhile, we have to go to bed in the dark. Bloody nuisance. I guess we could use candles. Monday morning the super came up to check things out. he unplugged a few things and put in a tester, he changed fuses, every one was changed round, nothing except for resetting clocks etc. etc. He went away to call the landlords and half an hour later Matt went into the bedroom and everything was working again. We have NO idea why nor does the super.

Planning to make some more quiche and also talking to a Canadian friend who now lives in England, Canada wouldn’t let her husband move here!!! Anyway, we were talking food I miss even after 27 years. One which occurred to me was bacon. Here the regular bacon is what we call streaky bacon in the UK. That would be OK, but when you fry it, it produces a load of water, not fat, so you kind of end up boiling the rashers. Weird. It is very difficult to get crispy.

This weekend our UK family posted pix of granddaughter Bethany in a prom dress. Prom dress??? We don’t have Proms in England – wrong, apparently we now do. Been going on for about 3 years I am informed. Sarcastic comment from sinlaw that England was, after all, the 51st State. It is a fact that an incredible amount of US customs are eventually adopted by the UK. I had to phone and talk to her dad to find out all the details, especially, of course, who is the young man? Turns out he is an acting friend amongst other things, in fact he is playing Jesus Christ to Beth’s Mary Magdalen in Jesus Christ Superstar this week.

It was interesting yesterday to see the response to Sia’s guest post on my blog. She certainly sparked up some conversation with her discussion on gems for healing. Made me think I had better get all my stones out and carry them around with me. I certainly have some amethysts and some jade which are recommended as healing gems, then crystals, I have those. Of course, practicing T’ai Chi also helps – I have proof of its healing powers, for instance one instructor – before he learned T’ai chi - was told  he had only a short time to live. He took up T’ai Chi and became a devotee as well as one of the top instructors in the States, he lived to a healthy 80 years old (40 years after being told he was dying) and might still be with us if he hadn’t been killed in a car accident. There are many tales like this which have been verified. I have let my practice drop somewhat and have been trying to get back into it lately.

When I was looking for a suitable recipe to go with Sia’s post yesterday, I came across a new blog, to me that is, where I found a Jade Chicken recipe. I asked if I could borrow the recipe and was told that I could. The blog is called Island Vittles  and is written by Theresa. I love the blog name and it looks as though there are some interesting recipes. Theresa also goes into detail about preparation of a recipe and includes pictures. Theresa queries if one has ever had fried spinach, for me the answer is yes, some of you may remember I discovered it at Chinese New Year in our local Mandarin restaurant and loved it.

Jade Chicken

Yield: 2 servings

2 Chicken Breasts, boneless & skinless, in small cubes
3 Tbs Soya Sauce
1 Tbs. Chinese Cooking Wine or Sherry
2 Tbs. Sugar
1 bunch Spinach, washed, dried, stems trimmed
4-6 Cups Vegetable or Peanut Oil for deep frying
1 Tbs. Vegetable Oil
1 tsp. Sesame Seeds for garnish
Salt and Pepper to taste

Marinate the chicken in the soya sauce and cooking wine. Season lightly with pepper and refrigerate for 15 to 30 minutes.

In a small sauce pan, mix the sugar with 1 tablespoon of water and cook over high heat, stirring until the sugar is dissolved. Continue to cook, without stirring, until a deep amber caramel. Remove from the heat. Slowly and carefully stir in 2 tablespoons of water. Set aside.

In a wok or saucepan, heat the oil for deep frying to 350°F. Fry the spinach leaves in small batches that don’t overcrowd the pan. Cook until crisp and translucent, and still green. Do not allow to brown.

Remove the spinach with tongs and drain well on paper towels. When all batches are done, season lightly with s+p.

As the last batch of spinach cooks, heat 1 tablespoon veg oil in a frying pan or wok over med high heat until smoking. Add the chicken to the pan – do not overcrowd. Immediately pour the caramel over the chicken, and cook undisturbed for 2 minutes, until the chicken is browned. Turn chicken and cook another 2 minutes, or until cooked through and sauce is thickened.

Arrange spinach on top of rice, and pile chicken in the centre. Garnish with sesame seeds and serve.

Have a great day