Menopause, Dreams, Lost Pigeon

A Daft Scots Lass was talking about perimenopausal symptoms on her blog yesterday. I do so sympathise with her. These are not funny, neither for the woman experiencing them nor for the people living with them. I see there are all kinds of treatments offered these days which guarantee that you will sail through the whole experience with ease. I think if I were at that age I would be inclined to try them. Anything for help. These symptoms can come at any age, I have known people start menopause in their 30s, and some of the symptoms can carry on for many years. I still have hot flashes at my age. Some of the worst problems are the emotional ones and these varying emotions many husbands have trouble coping with. I think this is often when men start looking around elsewhere. Nature was not very kind to us females; in order to procreate the species we have to put up with a lot of hassle all our lives.

Back to my all consuming CPAP machine, I realised over the weekend that I don’t recall having had any dreams since I started using the machine. I hope that doesn’t mean I am not getting any REM sleep as that would be really serious. It may, of course, just be that I am not recalling them, but all my life I have had vivid dreams and have often thought, if I could remember enough when I wake, I probably could write a book.

In May I wrote about a racing pigeon fetching $400,000 now there is a story of a racing pigeon, from Nanaimo, Japan having ended up on Vancouver Island. At least it wasn’t the one which fetched so much money the other day as that one went to China. Somebody cracked that the pigeon must have been using Apple maps. Nevertheless, the pigeon had to have flown some 8,000 kilometers.

I have hesitated to use this recipe because of the quail eggs. I certainly have no idea if I can obtain them in my area, but I assume they are obtainable in some places in North America. Nor am I quite sure what British wasabi is, but see no reason why one can’t use regular wasabi. I then Googled it and have linked it in the recipe.

Asparagus with Peppered Soft Boiled Quails’ Eggs, Watercress and British Wasabi Dressing.
Marcus Bean – British Asparagus

"I love this as it’s one of the first asparagus dishes I put on the menu at the pub. We use wild asparagus from a local stream across the field from the pub, soft poached Shropshire quails’ eggs and some punchy wasabi. It’s a firm favourite on our menu during the season because it’s a great combination of flavours."

Serves: 2

You'll need:

8 stems of asparagus (4 per person)
2 quails’ eggs
2 tbsp of freshly cracked black pepper
1 tsp of freshly grated British wasabi
1 tsp honey
50ml of olive oil
1 tsp white wine vinegar
½ tsp of Dijon mustard
100g fresh watercress

What to do:

1
To cook the asparagus place in a steamer until just cooked then place in ice water to stop cooking and allow the asparagus to keep that lovely green colour. Put a small pan of water on the hob, bring to the boil then add your quails’ eggs and cook for 2 minutes 15 seconds then put into ice water for 5 minutes, After 5 minutes peel the eggs in the water for ease.
2
For the dressing mix the olive oil, white wine vinegar, honey, mustard and fresh wasabi until combined, then set aside.
3
Once the quail eggs are peeled, grab your freshly cracked black pepper and roll the eggs in it until the white is covered. Put your watercress in a bowl, slice your asparagus into 3 pieces per stem, now drizzle the watercress and asparagus with the wasabi dressing and then lightly season. Very carefully slice your quail eggs in half, then add them to the plate with the asparagus and watercress.

Have a great day

Making Soup, Racing Pigeons

I mentioned that yesterday we drove to Barrie’s Asparagus Farm and I bought some more asparagus. 4 lbs. actually.
I immediately chopped up two pounds of the fresh asparagus and added a little onion and some chicken stock to the pan in order to make the base for some more soup.

I cooked this until tender, not more than 3 minutes, I allowed it to cool somewhat and blended it. The picture looks grey, but I assure you the resulting purée is green.

This purée can now be frozen until I  want to do the rest of the soup, or I can go to the next steps of making a roux, turning it into a white sauce and then adding the remaining ingredients to make Barrie’s Asparagus Soup. I posted the recipe at the link. I actually ended up finishing it off and dividing it into meal portions and freezing.

I just found a headline about a record sale price for a racing pigeon, $400,000. For a bird?? I had no idea pigeon racing was such a big business. It was a bird bred in Belgium where, I read, the best racing birds are bred. It was sold to China where, apparently it will be used for breeding. The pigeon’s name was, appropriately, Bolt.  There is a headline on the same page about pigeon racing being Hamilton’s least known sport. Certainly news to me and Hamilton is only a few miles away. Come to think of it we used to see pigeons flying morning and night round here, presumably racing birds. I know there are lots of racing pigeons in England, didn’t realise there were any here. A lot of the top prices for Belgian birds are paid by China or Taiwan. If they buy a lot of the fastest birds, I would have thought they could have bred faster birds by now.

Last night we decided to finish off the Thai Chicken which I posted yesterday. This time, instead of using our indoor/outdoor grill we used the broiler and this time, the meat didn’t get scorched. Much better.

As you will see, I have posted a new badge which links to Stephen Tremp's blog, he is one of the hosts of the Get Healthy blog hop which takes place on May 29. If you would like to join in with any information about what you have been doing to improve your health or to maintain it, click on the badge and there is a Linky List where you can add your blog. Stephen explains it all as do all the other hosts on their websites.

This is a delightful salad and yet I cannot find a picture. Guess I should make it and photograph it, but home photos of food never look as good. Well mine don't at least.


Asparagus and Endive Salad

1 lb fresh asparagus , trimmed and cut into 2 inch pieces
1/2 tsp grated orange peel
1 Tbs Juice, orange, fresh
2 Tbs seasoned rice vinegar
1 Tbs olive oil
1 Tbs small shallots , minced
1/2 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp Dijon mustard
1/8 tsp black pepper
8 oz Belgian endive, fresh, head , cut lengthwise into 1/4 inch strips (2 heads)

1. Place 1/2 inch of water at the bottom of a 12 inch pan and bring to a boil over high heat. Add in asparagus and cook until tender yet crisp, about 2 minutes. Place in strainer, rinse under cold water, drain, and pat dry with paper towels.

2. In a large bowl, whisk together the orange peel, orange juice, vinegar, oil, shallots, sugar, salt, mustard, and pepper until well combined.

3. Add the asparagus and endive to the bowl with the dressing. Mix well to evenly coat and serve.

Servings: 4

Tips
Try using a sugar substitute instead of regular sugar.
Source
Source: dLife

Have a great day