Guess I owe Mercedes Lackey and Roberta Gellis an apology. Having persevered with the book And Less Than Kind, I actually found I quite enjoyed it after all. More for the parts involving Underhill and the Sidhe than to do with the history of Queen Elizabeth I. Although it did make me realise just what a rotten life Elizabeth lived and how very much on her own she was, particularly once Queen Mary came to the throne. She must have been a nervous wreck by the time she herself came to the throne. What a life.
Having finished it, I now have a new book to read which I am looking forward to doing. It has taken me forever to get hold of it as it is out of print, but I have finally got a copy of the first of the trilogy and have read the first few pages. This book is The Siege of Arrandin by Marcus Herniman, an English author with an extensive background in medieval history. I know that Glenda Larke of Tropic Temper (see link on this page) enjoyed the trilogy, so I am expecting to do so. You can't believe how much trouble I had getting this book. I went to Amazon.ca and it was ordered for me from England, it was apparently shipped to me, but never arrived. Finally my money was refunded and I went to Amazon.com and ordered it again from an American source. It was shipped to me on August 1. I finally got it yesterday, over a month from San Francisco which is 5 hours flying time away from me. I think they sent it round the Horn.
On Thursday we have a visitor coming for lunch, Matt's cousin from Toronto, whom we haven't seen for maybe 20 years. In fact she is a second cousin, her dad and Matt's dad were cousins. It will be so nice to see her again. I have decided to do a basic Quiche Lorraine with a Caesar Salad followed by a Crème Brulée for dessert. I hope she has a good appetite. I haven't made a quiche in a few years, don't know why not, I always enjoy them and they are not difficult to make.
Oh damn, I have just checked on the Weather Channel and they have named a tropical storm after me, Josephine. This is not the first time this has happened. The last one was 1996. I hope it stays as a tropical storm and also stays out to sea, last time I got blamed by friends for the mess I made. As you can see from this picture I got from the Weather Channel the three storms are well spread out across the Atlantic at the moment. Hanna looks like it could hit the Florida area at the moment, the other two could go floating off up north and not hit land at all, at least that's what I'm hoping. I am sure I am not alone in that wish. When we lived in the south and we got so many hurricanes, the biggest danger
we personally faced was falling trees and we sure had lots of those. In 12 years I think we lost around 26 trees. We were so lucky, never once did one actually fall on the house. The fence took a good bashing occasionally, but never the house. Once, in the same storm, we had one tree at the back and one tree at the front and they had both fallen away from the house, something to do with the circular winds I imagine.
I was thinking of a quiche recipe, but they are 10 a penny on the internet with all kinds of combinations and flavours. Instead I decided on a sorbet which is a delightful addition to any meal.
Cantaloupe Sorbet
Source: Cookbook Wizard
Picture maona.net
Servings: 6
Ingredients:
1 tbsp. honey
3 tbsp. fresh lemon juice
1 cup sugar
1 cup water
2 large or
3 medium cantaloupes
3 tbsp. brandy
Instructions:
Bring honey, lemon juice, sugar and water to a boil over medium heat. Cook for 5 minutes. Let cool.
Seed the cantaloupes. With a melon baller make 18 cantaloupe balls. Soak the melon balls in brandy. Set aside for garnish.
Cut the rest of the cantaloupe flesh into 1-inch pieces and puree in a food processor until there are 3 cups of purée. Combine the cooled honey-sugar syrup and the cantaloupe purée. Mix well and freeze in an ice cream machine according to manufacturer's instructions. Transfer to a plastic container and store in the freezer until needed, no more than 3 days.
Allow the frozen sorbet to thaw slightly before serving to enhance the flavor. Serve with brandied cantaloupe balls as a garnish.
Note: Honeydew melon may be substituted; then substitute lime juice for lemon juice.
Have a great day.
Here's an odd report, green polar bears in a Japanese Zoo. Apparently to conserve water, they haven't been changing the water as much as usual and it developed an algae which has turned the polar bear fur to green. They say it doesn't harm the bears who will return to their natural colour around about November. Read the article here and see another picture. They do look rather peculiar don't they? Picture from the Washington Post. As they point out, it is difficult to wash the colour out of the fur.
Something that fascinates me with blogging is the comments one does, or does not, receive. Not just mine but on the other blogs I read. Some can go on for ever and frequently end up talking about something which has nothing to do with the original blog. It is all part of the wonder of the internet and making friends with people from all over. Glenda Larke (see link this page) recently wrote about language and the words people knew. This eventually produced more words we were unfamiliar with. She was wondering what readers do when they come across an unfamiliar word, do they immediately look it up or guess the meaning and carry on. I tend to be a "guess the meaning" type of person although if I find it totally incomprehensible, I might look it up straight away. This picture is from avoidinglife.typepad.com
Talking of reading, I have had three books on order from the library for weeks and weeks, Monday we go away and I don't take books on vacation so, guess what, they are all ready for me to pick up. If only they could have come in two weeks later. I have just finished reading The Siege of Arrandin which I very much enjoyed. I have discovered a wonderful way to die, you kind of fade away and become part of a magical dragon. Right up my street, 'cos I love dragons. There are two more books in the trilogy so obviously the siege is not yet over. The three books I have from the library are Strangers in Death by J.D. Robb and two more in the series by Katherine Kerr which I have been following. I have been thoroughly enjoying J.D. Robb's books too they are very fast paced cop stories set in the future. The characters build up over the course of the books all centred around one cop, Eve Dallas.
Cauliflowers are pretty plentiful at the moment so here is a recipe for a baked one.
Baked Cauliflower and Mushrooms
Servings: 6
3 cups cauliflowerets (about 1 pound)
1 cup chopped mushrooms (about 4 ounces)
1/2 cup chopped red onion (about 1/2 medium)
1 tablespoon olive or vegetable oil
2 teaspoons lemon juice
2 teaspoons cider vinegar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped, (about 1 teaspoon)
1/3 cup chopped green onions, (about 5 medium)
Heat oven to 350 degrees. Spray 9-inch square baking dish, with nonstick cooking spray. Mix all ingredients except green onions. Spread evenly in baking dish. Bake uncovered 40 to 45 minutes, stirring occasionally, until vegetables are tender and golden brown. Sprinkle with green onions. 6 servings.
Have a great day.
