SPAM, Mandarin, Doctor's, Phone, Soup,

Lots of SPAM this morning. I had to go back quite a long way, in the end I got fed up with it and will maybe delete more later. Why do people do this? It really is a waste of time. Looks like I am being singled out at the moment. Oh well, maybe some of you men will appreciate the information and maybe we ladies can be amused by it!!!

We joined ladydog at Mandarin for lunch today and, as it is the last time I am likely to be able to eat dumplings this year, well such a large variety anyway, I ate rather a lot. I will no doubt cry when I look at the scales. We were reading our characters from the table mats, I am a Tiger and it said various things including that I was patient. When I read that out, ladydog laughed. I wonder why?

Our doctor's office had phoned for me to go see them this afternoon, but I told them I probably wouldn't be done eating in time so now I am gong to see them next Wednesday to discuss my blood test from December. Also I booked for Matt to discuss his more recent tests on his hips/legs.

This afternoon I checked all the numbers in my new phone. Several were wrong, I was pretty careful about altering them.

ladydog directed me to this recipe, she says it is delicious. There is a stove top version which I didn't bother to copy but if you need it I have linked it at the bottom. In fact as we were pretty full from eating Chinese, I decided to make it for supper this evening, Wednesday, and it was delicious. I thought it might make a good sauce for shrimp too. By the way, I used canned tomatoes and honey.

Tomato Coconut Soup

A warming, comforting, spicy, & tasty pressure cooker Tomato Coconut Soup made in your instant pot or pressure cooker. Taste Indian food like never before!

1 can Full-Fat Coconut Milk, full fat
1 Red Onion, diced
6 Tomatoes, chopped in quarters
1/4 cup Cilantro, chopped
1 tsp Garlic, minced
1 tsp minced ginger, minced
1 tsp Salt
1/2 tsp Cayenne
1 tsp Turmeric
1 Tbs agave nectar, (see list of subs in Notes)

1. Put all ingredients into the Instant Pot and cook on High for 5 minutes. Allow the pot to sit undisturbed for 10 minutes. After that, release pressure. If you start to see sputtering and spewing from the valve, close the valve and try again in 5 minutes.

2. Remove from the pot and use an immersion blender to mix all the ingredients together and get a smooth soup.

Servings: 4

Author: Urvashi Pitre
Source: Twosleevers

Author Notes
You can use a 14-oz can of tomatoes instead of fresh tomatoes if you prefer.

Agave can be replaced by your sweetener of choice including honey, maple syrup, Splenda, xylitol, stevia, Truvia, etc.

Have a great day
 

Cassa Star, Mail, Dermatologist, Birthday, Loblaws,

Alex J. Cavenaugh's publisher is having a promotion on Alex's book Cassa Star. An excellent story by the way. I have read all the books in this series and enjoyed every one. I highly recommend you get Cassa Star at this excellent price.

Amazon best-seller CassaStar by Alex J. Cavanaugh on sale for .99 ¢ -
You can download it here: Amazon, iTunes, Barnes and Noble, and Amazon UK

I went down for the mail late on Thursday. I had one letter, addressed to me, from Prostate Cancer, Canada. We thought that was funny. Yes, I know, they want money.

Today we have to get up before the crack of dawn to go to the Dermatologist as Matt has more skin cancers which have to be treated. Trouble is, he is in the next town. My fault we go to him as his office is over the Scottish store where I buy Cornish Pasties and we haven't had any for a looooong time.

Sunday Matt becomes 83 so we are going with a couple of friends to the Red Lobster. Better for Matt, he won't have to hobble around with a plate as he would have (or I would have) had to at Mandarin.

I have talked about PC Points at our grocery store. They have changed this to PC Optimum and we were all requested to change our cards. I dropped in on the way back from bowling and got my new card. I was told to register it on line. Ever since I got home, the site has been crashed. I guess everyone and his mother wanted to register today. It doesn't really matter I suppose, I don't normally shop til Tuesday.

We had our last Pea and Lovage Soup on Thursday night. Delicious. Lovage isn't available until about the same time as asparagus. Pity.

I love Cannoli and I thought this recipe looked pretty good.

Almond Cannoli with Lemon-Basil Ricotta Cream Filling

Homemade cannoli shells are filled with a creamy lemon and ricotta cheese filling with a hint of fresh basil for a gourmet dessert. For a shortcut, you can substitute purchased cannoli shells (8 full-size or 16 mini).

Almond Cannoli
2 egg whites
1/3 cup sugar (see Tips)
3 Tbs all-purpose flour
3 Tbs ground almonds
? tsp salt
2 Tbs olive oil or almond oil
½ tsp vanilla

Lemon-Basil Ricotta Cream Filling
3 oz reduced-fat cream cheese (Neufchatel), softened
2 Tbs honey
2 tsp finely shredded lemon peel
1 ¼ cups light or part-skim ricotta cheese
2 Tbs snipped fresh basil

Garnish
Lemon peel strips (optional)
Small fresh basil

1. To prepare cannoli: Preheat oven to 375°F. Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper. In a medium mixing bowl use a rotary beater to beat egg whites until foamy. Add sugar and beat for 1 minute. Sprinkle with flour, almonds and salt. Fold together gently. Drizzle with oil and vanilla. Fold together gently. Drop batter evenly into 8 mounds, putting 4 mounds on each cookie sheet and separating the mounds by about 4 inches. Spread each mound to a 6-inch circle. Bake one cookie sheet for 5 to 6 minutes or until bottoms of cookies are lightly browned. Immediately loosen cookies from cookie sheet. Turn over and wrap around metal cannoli cones or the straight metal handle of a whisk. Cool slightly and remove from cones or whisk handle while still slightly warm. Cool on a wire rack, seam side down. (If cookies become too stiff to roll, return briefly to the oven to soften.) Repeat with remaining cookie sheet. To prepare filling: In a medium bowl beat cream cheese with an electric mixer on medium speed until smooth. Beat in honey and lemon peel until smooth. Stir in ricotta cheese and basil. To serve, pipe or spoon cheese mixture into cooled cannoli shells. Garnish tops of shells with lemon peel strips and/or basil leaves if desired. Serve immediately.

2. Test Kitchen Tip: We do not recommend using a sugar substitute for this recipe.

3. Make Ahead Tip: Prepare cannoli shells and filling as directed. Place shells in an airtight container and store at room temperature up to 3 days. Place filling in an airtight container and chill up to 3 days. To serve, let filling stand at room temperature for 30 minutes to soften slightly. Fill and garnish shells as directed.

Source: Diabetic Living Magazine

Have a great day
 

Mandarin, Sesquintennial, Soup,

Well that was a pity, whilst at the Mandarin, got a call from our friend that she had a flat batter and wouldn't be able to make it as CAA would take another half hour. Nothing loath we went on into the restaurant and ate without her. Shame though. However, we have arranged another lunch on July 4th. July being the month of Canadian sesquintennial celebration, July 1 being Canada Day, the Mandarin are doing all kinds of Canadian specials, a lot of which I wouldn't touch, but they will be offering my favourite, chocolate dipped bacon, yay. Plus I can celebrate Independence Day at the same time.

After lunch we went shopping and I bought enough peas to make Pea and Lovage Soup which we ended up having for supper, I see that in fact last time I used some Philly cheese instead of Crème Fraîche this time I used cream and lemon juice, I didn`t like it as much, Matt thought it was OK. Must make a note on the recipe for next time, if there is one.

Just realised, I haven`t had any asparagus today, that`s serious, I eat it every day whilst in season. But not today, will have to have double tomorrow LOL.

So, a non asparagus recipe for you today. A very non Chinese ingredient too.

Mama Chang's Stir-Fried Shrimp and Scallions

Joanne Chang's mother used to make this sweet-and-spicy shrimp stir-fry all the time. When she was old enough to cook, Chang asked her mom for the recipe. "She hemmed and hawed until she finally

gave it to me, revealing her secret ingredient: ketchup

1 1/2 lbs shelled and deveined large shrimp
3 garlic cloves, sliced
One 1-inch piece of fresh ginger, peeled and minced
1 1/2 tsp crushed red pepper
1 large egg white
2 tsp cornstarch
3/4 cup ketchup
1/2 cup low-sodium chicken broth
1 Tbs sugar
1 1/2 tsp freshly ground pepper
1 1/2 tsp kosher salt
1/4 cup canola oil
3 scallions, thinly sliced
1/2 cup coarsely chopped cilantro

1. In a large bowl, toss the shrimp with the garlic, ginger, red pepper, egg white and 1 teaspoon of the cornstarch until well-coated.

2. In a medium bowl, whisk the ketchup with the broth, sugar, pepper, salt and the remaining 1 teaspoon of cornstarch.

3. In a very large skillet, heat the oil until shimmering. Add the shrimp and stir-fry over high heat until they begin to turn pink. Add the ketchup mixture and simmer until the shrimp are cooked, about 2 minutes. Stir in the scallions and cilantro and serve.

4. In a large bowl, toss the shrimp with the garlic, ginger, red pepper, egg white and 1 teaspoon of the cornstarch until well-coated.

5. In a medium bowl, whisk the ketchup with the broth, sugar, pepper, salt and the remaining 1 teaspoon of cornstarch.

6. In a very large skillet, heat the oil until shimmering. Add the shrimp and stir-fry over high heat until they begin to turn pink. Add the ketchup mixture and simmer until the shrimp are cooked, about 2 minutes. Stir in the scallions and cilantro and serve.

Servings: 4



Have a great day
 

Helping Hand, Eyes, Baby Bear, Soup.

Alex J. Cavenaugh drew our attention to the following about a young girl who was badly injured and is fighting to get back her life. Do please go and read her story.

“PK Hrezo has been asked to write the story of an amazing young lady by the name of Queena. Six years ago, she was strangled, beaten, raped, and left for dead. She suffered multiple brain injuries and lost a lot of her mobility. PK has started a Kickstarter fund for this project. Help her by either donating or spreading the word. See her site for details.”

As you know, I got conjunctivitis. I went to the optometrist (didn’t know they could prescribe a drug for it) and he gave me some antibiotic drugs which have to be used three times a day, one drop at a time, for 7 days. Yesterday I could hardly see, today I can. The miracles of medical science.

Here’s something to give you a smile. A baby bear playing with the flag on the golf course then walking off with someone’s ball.



Yesterday I made the Cauliflower Chowder recipe which I posted about a week ago. It’s very good. I can highly recommend it.

The recipe came with a bunch of Indian dishes all of which are very popular in England. Today there are more Indian take-aways than fish and chip stores. Don’t forget cornflour is cornstarch. Caster sugar is the same grind as the sugar we get in North America, not sure about the golden part. I googled and it recommend using plain white sugar instead.

Pistachio and Rose Water Kulfi

BBC Good Food

By Anjum Anand

Serves 8

Ingredients

• 200g pistachios, plus extra to serve
• 250g golden caster sugar
• 2 tsp cornflour
• 600ml whole milk
• 600ml evaporated milk
• 4-5 tbsp rosewater
• handful cherries, or any berries that are in season, to serve

 

Method

1. Pulse the pistachios and sugar in a mixer until fine – be careful not to overmix or the pistachios will become oily. Mix the cornflour with 1 tbsp of the whole milk to make a smooth paste.
2. Pour the remaining milk and the evaporated milk into a saucepan and bring to the boil. Add the pistachio powder, rose water and cornflour paste, and simmer for 5 mins until the mixture has thickened and coats the back of a spoon (it will continue to thicken as it cools).
3. Pour into a bowl and cover the surface with cling film so a skin doesn’t form. Leave to cool, then chill in the fridge until cold before churning in your ice cream machine following the manufacturer’s instructions. If you don’t have an ice cream machine, transfer to a freezer- proof container, pop in the freezer for 4 hrs or until frozen and stir every hour to break up any ice crystals.
4. Take out of the freezer 20 mins before slicing or scooping to serve. Sprinkle with crushed pistachios and scatter over the cherries or berries.

Have a great day

Friday, Cooking, Oktoberfest.

I decided to make some soup for this evening. I ended up with beans (black and white) with spinach and tomatoes and chucked in a handful of basil. Obviously onions, garlic and chicken bouillon were in the mix. It tastes very good. Maybe not totally appropriate for the weather, but…. Matt says if it’s too warm we can turn on the air, true I guess. We certainly have been getting some lovely weather. Later: The soup was very good. Now have some in the freezer.

Whilst waiting for the soup to cook I looked at my email and found a flyer from Zehrs, our local grocery

store. Lo and behold, beef rib roasts at half price. I couldn’t go out so Matt went down and got a couple of nice looking roasts which we double wrapped and put in the freezer. Just what I need for my new horseradish. Won't be eating either of them for a while though, turkey first.

The dicky bird (turkey breast) is out and defrosting  I always cook it in an oven bag - so much easier. I have never cooked a whole turkey in an oven bag, but done a few turkey breasts and they turn out very well. Maybe not as brown as if cooked the regular way. I guess I could unbag it and brown it off in the oven for a while, but I have never bothered. Under normal circumstances we would have roast potatoes, but I don’t really want to bust my diet that much and Matt is just as happy with a baked potato with butter in it. We make our roast potatoes by parboiling peeled potatoes, draining them, and then cooking them in the oven in hot fat. If you scratch the potatoes with a fork before roasting, they come out extra crispy.
For those of you seriously thinking about making bread sauce, there is a better description of how to make it in this blog.
Our radio is blaring out polkas today, it’s the beginning of Oktoberfest and they “tapped the keg” in downtown Kitchener this afternoon. This music will be played a lot during the next week and Matt hates it so he is going to be out of luck. Something we have always avoided. Neither of us is good with crowds. I have mentioned before that this is the biggest Oktoberfest celebration outside of Munich. Many Germans settled in this area which gave impetus to the occasion at the beginning.

I thought this pudding looked delicious and it will certainly be on my menu in the near future. I found it at Cooking.com

Buttermilk Puddings with Mango Sauce

Source: Dessert - The Grand Finale
Serves 2

INGREDIENTS
Puddings
1/4 cup plus 3 tablespoons heavy cream
1/2 cup sugar
1/6 oz gelatine
1 tablespoon water
1/2 vanilla bean
1 cup buttermilk
Mango Sauce
1 mango, peeled and pitted
1 tablespoon confectioners' sugar

DIRECTIONS
Puddings:
Combine 1/4 cup of the cream with the sugar in a saucepan and bring to the boiling point. Remove from heat.
Dissolve the gelatine in the water. Stir into the cream mixture and mix well. Transfer to a bowl and stir in the buttermilk. Split the vanilla bean and scrape the seeds into the pudding. Refrigerate for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Whip the remaining 3 tablespoons of the cream and fold into the mixture. Pour into 2 lightly oiled 1-cup metal moulds. Fill each mould right to the top. Wrap with plastic; refrigerate for 2 hours.
Mango Sauce:
Place the mango flesh and sugar in a food processor. Puree. Strain through a sieve. Unmould each pudding and serve with Mango Sauce.

Have a great holiday weekend – well it is for Canadians. I should say Gemütlichkeit.

Aging, Cooking, Tiger Spa,

Hopefully we are going out to dinner tonight; last week our friends had to cancel as one of them was unwell, I do hope he will be OK this week. I guess its part of the trials and tribulations of aging. We are living so much longer, parts give out more and its not that easy to replace some of them or to do enough maintenance to keep them working efficiently as long as required. I was looking at people in motorised wheelchairs yesterday – you see them driving down the street, even in winter and that must be bloody cold, I then started wondering why they were like this, what was it that was causing them to be unable to walk. I mean, I have problems with walking but I know why and, with luck it can be cured eventually, I shouldn’t have to end up in a mobile chair of any kind so why are they I wonder? In this age of modern science and medicine, surely they can be enabled to walk normally.

It was a beautiful day yesterday, lots of sunshine, but not warm enough to sit out. Our weather seems to be very varied at the moment and won’t settle down to anything particular. A few days ago it was very hot and humid enough to swim in. The next day it was blowing a gale although still lots of sunshine. The temperatures are bouncing around like a yoyo. In the end I decided to make a large pot of tomato soup, one of my favourites, so I could put some in the freezer as I am just about out. I now have lots of fresh basil on hand which, in my opinion, really makes tomato soup. Especially if you swirl the soup with a dab of pesto when serving it. Gives it that extra little something. I use canned tomatoes as these days getting hold of enough really good flavoured tomatoes seems to be impossible. I could buy them by the bucket load when I lived in North Carolina.

Saw a funny clip on TV this morning, in Florida tigers jump willingly into a bubble bath. Apparently it cools them off and if it is lavender scented it helps keep the flies away. Keeps the tigers smelling good too.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Looking for this video clip, it appears lots of places give tigers bubble baths, who knew?

Another funny story in the news, MI6 hacked into an Al Qaeda web site superimposed a recipe for bomb making with a page of recipes for making cup cakes. Great, I’m all for it.

Cauliflower is a very versatile vegetable and can be used like mashed potato to reduce calories when you eat, or even for thickening in soups. This following recipe sounds interesting and may well appear on our table very shortly. Matt is not a big fan of blue cheeses, but I think this would appeal to him too.

Roasted Cauliflower with Blue Cheese Vinaigrette

By A Nutritionist Eats
WebMD Recipe from Foodily.com

Some vegetables are just plain better when they are roasted. Cauliflower is one of them for me. Don’t get me wrong, I’ll eat some raw cauliflower with hummus any day, but I devour it roasted. Adding a vinaigrette with blue cheese just takes it to the next level. I’ve been thinking of the leftovers ever since I placed them in the fridge.

Ingredients

1 head cauliflower, sliced into 1″ thick pieces
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 Tbsp white wine vinegar
2 green onions, chopped
1 Tbsp blue cheese crumbles
Salt & pepper

Instructions

Roast cauliflower in a 375° oven, about 20 minutes, or until edges start turning brown. Mix remaining ingredients and drizzle over warm cauliflower.

Total Servings: 4

Have a great weekend

Diving in the Gulf, Viagra for Women, Soups,

I tried very hard to "share" a video clip with you this morning which came from Good Morning America but it wouldn't work properly.. It shows Sam Champion and Philippe Cousteau Jr., grandson of the well known Jacques Cousteau, diving in hazmat suits into the Gulf of Mexico. Phillipe describes what they found as a nightmare. They came up out of the water covered in oily, sticky substances and had to be washed off. Do go see the video, it is worth watching http://abcnews.go.com/gma- I didn't actually get up early enough this morning to see it on TV, but Matt told me about it and then I watched it on my laptop. BP are about to try a new effort which they don't give a very high chance it is called Top Kill and they will be pouring a mix of concrete and cement on top of the leak. You know the word leak isn't accurate, spill is certainly not correct, it is an oil gusher. If we weren't so dependent on oil, I guess this would never have happened. They were talking this morning about a "Viagara for Women" but according the the consulting doctor, Dr. Marie Savard, this has not been tested long enough and although not yet released, shouldn't be so for a while. The pill is designed to stimulate a woman's libido, but in tests it made a 2% difference. Not a lot. But they have no idea what the long term effects could be. It sure won't be on the market tomorrow anyway, they are only just starting to look at the pill. Yesterday I went on my weekly trip to Barrie Bros. Asparagus Farm. Tim Barrie was handing out tasters of both their crackers and their new salsa which I thought was delicious and promptly bought some. Quite a large jar for $5.50 - we actually made some bruschetta with it for supper last night along with some asparagus soup. It was good. Although the temps are a bit high at the moment for a warm soup. Talking of soup, I copied a chilled orange soup from World Wide Recipes this morning, I thought it sounded great. I love chilled soups, the first one I ever tried was Vichysoisse which is the definitive cold soup, and have never looked back. One thing I do is keep cans of consommé in the fridge so I can have jellied consommé whenever I wish, to me it is absolutely delicious although I served it to one friend who promptly took it to the microwave!!! One can also serve it as a warm soup too and improve it by adding a splash of sherry. But at this time of year when the temps are beginning to soar, I find a cold soup to be deliciously refreshing. Last year I tried Asparagus Vichysoisse which I'm afraid I found disappointing. Another favourite is Gazpacho which I had temporarily forgotten. Here is a recipe for Gazpacho which emphasises how cold it should be, in fact when the Spanish peasants made this, fridges and such were not available and it was left out under a tree whilst the people were working in the fields. If you serve this too cold, you will lose all the wonderful flavours. North Americans tend to refrigerate everything, including tomatoes, and the flavour of these ingredients completely disappears. The first time I ever ate this soup, in Malta oddly enough, we were served small chips of ice to add as a garnish if desired. Traditional Gazpacho Andaluz Spanish cold tomato soup which is the perfect starter to a Summer meal. Gazpacho is easy to make and although ingredients may vary according to region, this is the basic Andalusian Gazpacho recipe. Ingredients (for 4 people): 1 Kilo tomatoes (preferable plum tomatoes) 1/2 small onion (60 grams) 1 small green pepper 1 small cucumber (the small chubby Spanish type) 1 small cup of olive oil 2 desert spoons of vinager 200 grams of bread from the day before, soaked in water Small portions of diced tomatoes, red and green peppers, cucumber, onion and bread or croutons to sprinkle on top. Steps: 1: Put the tomatoes, onion, pepper, cucumber, vinager, oil and bread into a liquidizer. If you want to dilute it, add a glass of water. Tip: if you want to go for a tangy garlic taste, add a small amount of fresh garlic to the mixture before liquidizing. 2: Put the mixture into a bowl, add salt and pepper and leave the gazpacho to chill for at least an hour. If you want to eat it straight away, you can put some ice cubes in to cool it down. Gazpacho is a Summer dish which is meant to hydrate and cool down your body. So the colder the better!! 3: Serve the gazpacho en soup bowls, with the portions of diced tomatoes, pepper, cucumber, onion, croutons etc on the table, so that everyone can add them to their bowl as they prefer. Tip: you can also sprinkle diced serrano ham or hard boiled egg. Use quality ingredients: Spain produces excellent fruit, vegetables and salad foods, so try and buy good quality ones. Go to the local market instead of your nearest supermarket, where you can get the freshest (and cheapest) produce. If it isn't Summer and you can't get plum tomatoes, go for the ripest and juciest ones available. Tips/Secrets: Make sure you have enough time to put it in the fridge so that you can serve your gazpacho really chilled. Use quality produce. Vary the ingredients according to your personal taste. Gazpacho makes a delicious starter to a meal. Have a great day