MRI, Il Volo, Books, St. Patrick’s

I’m delighted to report that when I went for my MRI yesterday I discovered that I am definitely not claustrophobic. The most difficult part was getting my shoulder positioned exactly where she wanted it, under a kind of clamp although it didn’t clamp down. Slide up, move here, turn sideways a bit, now move your shoulder again, and on and on. Eventually she got me where she wanted me. I had ear plugs in, told to shut my eyes and was fed into the machine. Of course I had a way of stopping the machine if needed. However, I was fine. I started with my eyes closed and thought about books, I know a fair bit about them after all. I was particularly thinking about the Wheel of Time series and although I could remember the names of the three young men, damned if I could recall all the females. She kept asking if I was OK which I assured her I was. I eventually opened my eyes and looked around, not much to see, but one is pretty closed in. It is also pretty noisy, cannot imagine what it would be like without ear plugs. By the end, it was my back that was giving me problems. I was in there about half an hour I guess. Dunno, didn’t have a watch on. I just found a picture of a much larger MRI machine. I think it is a bit more futuristic than what is available today.

Last night we watched a TV special on PBS of Il Volo which was wonderful. I have raved about Il Volo before, three young Italians, Giancarlo, Piero and Ignazio who were in a talent competition which Giancarlo won, but the producer combined the three of them which worked brilliantly and Il Volo was born. Piero certainly has the makings of an opera singer and it was posited that they would not be together very long but would split to follow their own career paths. They are appearing at the Sony Centre in Toronto at the end of August, and I would love to go, but sadly that is unlikely to happen. I think I will have to content myself buying CDs etc. 

I just got hold of Patricia Cornwell’s latest Kay Scarpetta book, Red Mist. I have been waiting for this for some time. Now I am not quite sure if I read the previous book, reading the first chapter or so, it doesn’t ring any bells with me. The last book I remember reading I thought the whole Scarpetta series was finished, done and dusted, but here she is again. I checked out some of the information about Cornwall’s books on Amazon.com and a paperback is cheaper than a Kindle version, I’m thinking “why would anyone buy the Kindle version then?” I still don’t know if there is a book I didn’t read or not. Maybe I should start at the beginning and read them all again.

I am already being sent recipes for St. Patrick’s Day, I used to have an Irish friend who got so mad every year because of all the recipes which came out specially for St. Patrick’s Day. As she pointed out, the Irish themselves do NOT cook anything particular that day so these are not genuine St. Paddy’s day recipes at all. Nevertheless north Americans cook corned beef and cabbage, the Chicagoans continue to pour green die into their waters and many of the pubs in this part of the world serve green beer. There is a huge parade in New York City and people all over North America tend to wear something green that day, especially when they go to work. My first wedding was on St. Paddy’s Day but not for any particular reason. One of Matt’s daughters and her husband were both born that day, both the same year which is unusual in a couple. I don’t remember we took a lot of notice of the day in the UK, maybe things have changed, as for St. George’s Day (Britain) and St. Andrew’s (Scotland) I haven’t a clue when they are. Of course having been so long away, one tends to forget anyway.

These are so pretty I just had to share them although I don’t think I would ever make them, dunno if any of you would.

Luck o' the Irish Cake Pops

Give the cake pop trend some St. Patrick's Day spirit with green food color and decorate with shamrock sprinkles for a festive dessert, inside and out.

Makes 4 dozen or 24 (2 cake pop) servings).

1 package (18 1/4 ounces) yellow cake mix

2 teaspoons McCormick® Green Food Color

3/4 cup marshmallow creme

1 bag (14 ounces) white confectionary coating wafers

Lollipop sticks

Green sprinkles (optional)

1. Prepare cake mix as directed on package, adding food color. Bake as directed on package for 13x9-inch baking pan. Cool completely on wire rack.
2. Crumble cake into large bowl. Add marshmallow creme; mix until well blended. Shape into 1-inch balls. Refrigerate 2 hours.
3. Melt coating wafers as directed on package. For each Cake Pop, dip 1/2 inch of lollipop stick into melted coating. Insert dipped end of lollipop stick halfway into cake ball. Let stand until coating is set. Dip each cake pop into melted coating. Shake gently to remove excess coating. Sprinkle or roll cake pops in green sprinkles, if desired. Place cake pops in styrofoam blocks. Let stand until coating is set.

Test Kitchen Tips:

• Substitute 1/2 cup canned vanilla frosting for the marshmallow creme.

• If styrofoam blocks are not available, use upside-down foam egg cartons or a cardboard box to hold the cake pops.

Have a great day

Black Holes, Snow, New Book, Recipe Discussion

Came across an article which really interests me, they have found black holes which are bigger than any black hole previously known, described as supermassive, one is 9.7 billion times larger than our sun, that is inconceivable to most of our brains, we just cannot fathom such a size. The second one is either the same or bigger. A fascinating article which I am sure many will enjoy reading. I won’t attempt to paraphrase it, I’m  no scientist. Black holes have always fascinated me though. They also tend to scare me somewhat although I won’t be around to see what does happen and nor, my dear readers, will you.

Tuesday morning everywhere was covered in a light snow, not the roads though. The trees looked absolutely beautiful in their white coatings, one of the best snowfalls I have seen for a while. We had to go out early to get blood work done and everywhere looked so fresh and Christmassy especially as it was still pretty dark. Sadly, it didn’t last very long and by the afternoon, the dusting everywhere was mostly gone, certainly amongst the trees.

I hear there is a new Kay Scarpetta book out, I thought that series was finished, silly me, why would Patricia Cornwell stop when she has a good thing going. There is now talk of movies with Angelina Jolie being cast as Kay Scarpetta. The new novel is called Red Mist (a title which appears to have been used by other authors, so if you click the link look for the author as well). I have enjoyed reading these novels over the years, think I might have to do a re-read to reorient myself. One tends to forget the details over a long period of time. I must agree I am surprised films haven’t been made of these books before.

This sounds a pretty easy recipe to do at this time of year when so much else is going on. Two things I would point out, if you use the prepared garlic, it will not have as good a flavour and if you use apple juice it will be quite sweet. I discovered that with a previous pork recipe, the sauce for which turned out way too sweet for me. I talked to someone recently who used ‘cooking’ wine, please don’t, this is pretty awful stuff and is full of salt. Use a reasonably good, drinkable, dry white wine, you don’t have to pay a fortune for it. If you don’t normally drink wine, ask at the store or ask a friend who does drink it. You may have to give the rest of the wine to your friend anyway, it won’t keep.

Drunken Pork Roast

Food.com
By Denise in NH on April 30, 2002
Photo by Cookin-jo

Servings: 4-6

About This Recipe

"This is one of the most tender and flavorful pork roast you will ever have eaten. The nice part is, it is all cooked in one casserole so you have a complete meal without a lot of extra pans to wash"

Ingredients

2 -3 lbs pork loin
1 cup white wine ( or 1/2 cup wine and 1/2 cup apple juice)
2 tablespoons minced garlic cloves ( I use the minced in the jar to save time)
1 teaspoon basil
1 teaspoon thyme
1 teaspoon marjoram
1 teaspoon oregano
2 bay leaves
10 small red potatoes, quartered
1 lb baby carrots
1 large green pepper, halved, seeded and cut into 1/2 inch strips
6 stalks celery, sliced thin
1 medium turnip, cut in small chunks
3 onions, sliced

Directions

1. Marinate pork loin in wine, garlic and herbs overnight.
2. Place pork in a a large covered roasting pan (I used a three quart casserole, but if you want to add a few extra veggies, you may want to go bigger).
3. Arrange vegetables around the roast.
4. Pour the marinade over roast and vegetables.
5. Cover and bake at 350°F for 1 1/2 - 2 hours.
6. Remove cover and continue baking for another 1/2 hour.

Have a great day