White or Green, Thai or Greek, Tiger Temple

So there I've been nittering on about a green Christmas for the last couple of days either in the blog or the comments and last night it snowed. Quite a lot of the stuff too. A bit too much, as I was supposed to go for my quarterly blood tests at the crack of dawn this morning and decided, because of the roads, to postpone it. Yes, I could have driven in it, but when it wasn't absolutely necessary, why do so? Matt tells me the weather forecast is more snow for the next couple of days, so maybe it will still be around in a week's time. The snowy tree is outside the apartment building and looks like a Christmas tree to me even without lights. Of course all this snow will delight the kids who toboggan on the slope behind our building. No problem with that, but their parents tend to park in the apartment parking lot and that can be a problem for the tenants. I finally got to Canadian Diabetes again yesterday after not being able to make it for one reason or another in the last two or three weeks. Just seems that everything has cropped up on Tuesdays lately. We (the administrator and I) discussed going to Boa Nova Rodizio one of these days, maybe some time early in the New Year. Matt hasn't been either and I am sure he would enjoy it. We also want to go back to Cameron's for dim sum. It was so good. Apparently the staff at the Kitchener office are being taken out for a Christmas lunch today - pity not the volunteers, especially as they are going for Thai food. I hope the roads have cleared up for them by then. Actually their office is right by a pretty good Greek restaurant The Three Kretans, so they could go there if driving isn't good. Matt just called me in to see something on Good Morning America. It seems that a Buddhist temple in Thailand is rescuing tiger cubs and there were the most gorgeous pictures of cubs running around the temple. However, a lot of the cubs are now grown animals having had cubs of their own and tourists visit to have their pictures taken with the animals. Now there is dissension; is it a conservation place or a zoo. Read here where it talks about re-introducing tigers to the wilderness; socialised animals would not settle in the wild I don't think. The conservationists are not happy about the situation. There is more on the news programmes tonight, I will have to try and catch it. I must say it was cute to see all these cubs trotting around loose in the temple and its grounds. Also to see grown tigers lying on the ground and people cuddling up to them to have their pictures taken. When I got home from working, Matt had been making things in the kitchen and we ended up with mini burgers stuffed with feta and other things, what people are calling sliders these days, not quite sure why. They were pretty good and we have some more for this evening. The recipe originally calls for Mozzarella, but as we didn't have any, he improvised. Hamburgers Stuffed with Mozzarella and Red Peppers Reader's Digest Live Longer Cookbook. Cheeseburger lovers rejoice! Creamy mozzarella oozes from the center of this very special burger, giving you a calcium boost with your protein. Serves 4. 1/4 cup diced roasted red pepper, patted dry 1/4 cup diced, part-skimmed mozzarella cheese (1 oz.) 4 black olives, pitted and coarsely chopped 1 tbs minced fresh basil, or 1 tsp dried 1 tsp balsamic or red wine vinegar 1 lb. lean ground beef 2 cloves garlic, minced 1/4 tsp each salt and black pepper. In a medium-sized bowl, combine the red pepper, cheese, olives, basil and vinegar. In another medium sized bowl, combine the beef, garlic, salt and black pepper. Using your hands, shape beef mixture into 8 thin patties about 3 1/2 inches in diameter. (It is easier to shape the patties if you wet your hands first.) Spread the cheese mixture on top of 4 patties, dividing the amount equally. Place the 4 remaining patties on top and pinch the edges to seal. preheat the boriler, setting the rack 6 inches from the heat. Arrange the stuffed burgers on a broiler pan and broil for 3 - 4 minutes on each side for medium rare, 4 - 5 minutes for medium or 5 - 6 minutes for well done. Serve on whole wheat English muffins accompanied by carrot and cucumber sticks. Have a great day.

Canadian Diabetes, The Three Kretans,

This morning I am going to the CDA seminar called "What's Next" so that I can see what happens and what they tell people. It is designed for those who have just been diagnosed with diabetes and it is recommended that volunteers participate as part of orientation. As far as doing any volunteer work however, until they have me set up on their main programme, there isn't a lot I can do. This should take another couple of days apparently. After the seminar, the Administrative Assistant and I are going to lunch at the local Greek restaurant, The Three Kretans. I haven't been there for a long while and she has never been and no-one would go with her before. I am hoping they will have dolmadas available as they are one of my favourites. They make very good ones there. I expect our lunch will consist of mezes which are the Greek way of saying appetizers (to all intents and purposes), when you are in Greece, you can frequently make a full meal out of mezes, or you can have one or two and then you are invited into the kitchen to see what the chef or cook has prepared for the day. Each dish will be lovingly described telling you its ingredients and how it was assembled. You can then choose what you would like to eat and it will then be brought to you. In Canada they just have menus like everyone else although one Greek restaurant which used to exist in Brantford called Zorba's, served you mezzes and then you were invited up to a counter where the chef had all his meals for the night on display and took off the lids to show you what he had prepared. The chef there was once the chef on Aristotle Onassis' brother-in-law's yacht. So you know he was pretty good. We had a wonderful meal. Unfortunately they are no longer there. Matt has made dolmadas several times and they were very good. Below is a recipe from Recipezaar which you might like to try. They are actually not that difficult. You can find all kinds of recipes for them, with and without meat, with rice or with bulgur wheat. When Matt worked in the Borstal system in England, he was with young people. One young man was a Cypriot and one day on a visit, his mother brought him some dolmadas. They discovered Matt liked them and gave him some. The next time the mother came in, she brought a casserole full of them for him. He brought them home, they were excellent. We guzzled the lot. (grapeleaf courtesy of About.com, first dolmadas picture from Geocities Traditional Greek Food, second dolmadas picture from MyRecipes.com)

Dolmadakia (dolmadas)

Submitted by katanga | June 17, 2008

1 16 oz. jar grape leaves 1 large onion, minced 3/4 lb. ground veal 2/3 C. rice, soaked for 5 minutes in boiling water and drained 3 T. fresh mint, chopped a little fresh dill 1 t. salt 2 T. olive oil Chicken broth juice of one lemon pinch of cinnamon

Carefully unfold grape leaves and rinse under cold water. Pat dry. In a bowl, combine onions, veal, rice, herbs, cinnamon, salt, pepper, and oil. Fold in sides then roll up from leaf tip end. Arrange a layer of leaves in bottom of large frying pan. Place stuffed leaves very close together on top of leaves in pan. Pour enough broth over to barely cover stuffed leaves and sprinkle with lemon juice. Weight leaves with a plate. Cover and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer one hour. Let leaves cool in broth. Drain and serve. Have a great day.