Snow, Bowling, Errands, Gas, Palacsinta

Busy day, morning not too bad but had to have lunch fairly early to be sure to get "our" parking spot at the bowling alley. Still a lot of snow on the ground and nobody has cleaned the parking lots yet. Our front of building lot was still very snowy. In fact they had a big plow to do it  when we got home, we have a small plow in the garage, wonder why the super doesn't do it? Odd.

Anyway, off to the bowling alley. For the first game, both Matt and I bowled up a storm, I got 179 and Matt 173. Only trouble was we couldn't keep it up. Matt's next two games were lousy and mine were almost as bad. However, my average stayed the same, phew. However, I want it to go up again. It was announced that our Christmas lunch will be on the 23rd.

After bowling, went up to the little liquor store we like. I had ordered some booze and it was ready to be collected. Great, other store doesn't do that. I then dropped  my wallet out of which several cards fell on the floor a) embarrassing, b) damned annoying - so much for saving time by ordering. We then went on to the place which had repaired my gold chain. I was wearing my aquamarine which, when last appraised some 30 years ago, was valued at $2,000 USD. I asked them how much they would give me for it. After examination, they said $350. Bloody joking. In fact, they were valuing the gold and didn't give a damn about the store which is an unusually large aquamarine. I was mostly just interested, but .... trouble is I can't really leave it to kids in England, how would anyone get it there and I rarely if ever wear it.

From there the gas station, standing pumping gas I was flipping freezing to death. However, we have to go to the doctor's tomorrow in the next town and I had about a quarter tank. I planned to go on to Victoria St. Market to get some bananas (I eat one a day for cramps) but by then I had had it and only needed 2 bananas anyway and you know how much they cost  me at Victoria St. Market!!! One of our team is from Croatia and I was telling him what good fish they have there. I believe he and his partner went after bowling. Be interested to find out next week.

By the time I got home and sorted out, I was knackered. So had a drink and then got on with supper. Last of the sirloin steak. I could drink the sauce I made forever, it is so delicious.

So now I need a recipe. A man on another team is from Hungary and his wife is Canadian. They had brought something fora team member which they called Palacsinta. They uncovered the plate and showed me. I now realise that name actually covers Hungarian Pancakes and not necessarily the filling. However, for what it's worth, here is a recipe. You can fill them with all kinds of things such as cream cheese and sugar or the ideas from the recipe below. There seem to be lots of different recipes for these Palacsinta as well as multiple fillings. I  suggest you google for yourself if you are interested.

Hungarian Crêpes: Palacsinta

3 eggs
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup milk
1 tsp sugar
pinch salt
1 cup carbonated water
Butter, for cooking pancakes

1. Mix eggs, flour, milk, sugar and salt to make a smooth pancake dough. Let the dough rest for 1 to 2 hours.

2. Stir in the carbonated water at the last moment, just before cooking the pancakes.

3. Heat an 8-inch frying pan. When the pan is hot, add 1/4 teaspoon of the butter. Let butter melt and swirl to cover the bottom of the pan.

4. Pour a ladle of the batter into the pan and gently tip and twist the pan so that the batter covers the entire bottom of the pan. When the top of the batter bubbles, turn the pancake over and cook for 4 or 5 seconds longer. Remove the pancake. Continue until the batter is all cooked; add butter before cooking each pancake.

5. Serve by spreading raspberry jam, cocoa mix, or your favorite filling and roll up the pancake, serve with fresh berries.

Yield: 12 to 14 servings

 Source: Food Network

Author Notes
These pancakes can be served hot or cold.

Have a great day

New Year’s Eve, TV Remote, Snow, Supper.

If you are partying tonight, I hope you have a good one, if you are staying at home, enjoy the evening. As I mentioned before, we are staying in. I wish you all a wonderful 2013 and especially good health.

I had a very frustrating morning yesterday, having had a complete breakdown on our TV, Internet and Home Phone services, on Saturday night we decided to watch a DVD which we had done very successfully on Friday without any services. Nothing I did allowed me to switch over to enable us to watch a DVD. I phoned with no joy, they told me it was the DVD player. Having thought about that overnight, I phoned again on Sunday morning, this time I am told its our TV that’s wrong. Then I phoned yet again and finally got someone to whom I explained the situation really carefully and who then told me what to do to get the TV to talk to the DVD player. Finally. OK I am not an electronic genius, I had tried pressing all kinds of buttons but I guess I had just not pressed the right ones. But boy was I frustrated. Especially when the provider kept telling me it was my machines when all I had to do was press the correct combination of buttons on their remote, which, I might say, is NOT what I used to do. Every time they have to come and do something, something else changes.

It certainly looks like winter now. We had some more snow Saturday night so everywhere in the park looks lovely. Of course the people with driveways have all been shovelling like mad, or snow blowing in some cases. I am so glad we don’t have to do that, we would have to probably pay someone to do it for us these days. I saw a snow plow in our grounds the other day so it looks as though our new super is not using the tractor which was bought for a previous super. We had so many this year. So I guess the snow plow will sit there rotting although it was wet the other day so maybe he is just plowing at the front and clearing the large parking lot at the back is being hired out. Every so often they have to get people to move out so they can clear the whole lot, by that time though, a lot of the snow has packed down and become icy. In a shopping mall parking lot they can do it before the customers come, but in an apartment building lot, there are cars there all day.

We are having roast beef and Yorkshire pudding for our New Year’s Eve dinner which will give us a couple more suppers in the New Year.  After all this rich food we have been having, maybe a fish soup would be an excellent idea. I was thinking about a fish pie too, haven’t made one in a long time, you really need a strong flavour like smoked haddock and that’s not easy to obtain here. Will have to put my thinking cap on.

This struck me as a somewhat unusual recipe and one I certainly would try myself.

Fragrant Fish Soup

WebMD Recipe from EatingWell.com

Lemony rice, delicately flavored broth and gently poached tilapia are topped with a colorful blend of vegetables and herbs. The aromatic mint provides fresh and complex flavor.

Serves 4

Ingredients

• 1 cup jasmine rice
• 2 cups water
• 1 zest and juice of lemon
• 4 cups reduced-sodium chicken broth or vegetable broth
• 1 pound tilapia fillets or other firm white fish
• 4 cups bite-size pieces arugula or watercress, tough stems removed (about 1 bunch)
• 1 cup finely shredded carrots
• 1/4 cup very thinly sliced fresh mint
• 2  scallions, finely chopped

Instructions

1. Combine rice and water in a medium saucepan. Bring to a simmer over medium heat; cover and cook until the water is absorbed, about 20 minutes. Stir in lemon zest and juice.
2. Meanwhile, bring broth to a simmer in another medium saucepan over medium-high heat. Reduce the heat so the broth remains steaming, but not simmering. Add fish and cook until just tender, about 5 minutes. Remove and break into bite-size chunks.
3. Divide the lemony rice among 4 bowls. Top with equal portions of the fish, arugula (or watercress), carrot, mint and scallions. Ladle 1 cup of the warm broth into each bowl and serve

My very best wishes for a Happy New Year.