Irene, Tornado, Looking Good at 83.

I was talking to friends in North Carolina yesterday, they are making provisions for a visit from Hurricane Irene. Earlier Irene was only a Category 1 but is forecast to strengthen to a 3. There have been 7 named storms already this year, but this is the first one which has actually developed into a hurricane. The maximum sustained winds late last night were 120 KT which is about 138 mph and expected to become stronger. Looking at the curve of the projected route, the eye may well miss the Carolinas altogether but even a glancing blow at that ferocity is likely to cause a lot of damage. At the moment Irene is likely to come ashore in New York or further north. I think the Canadian Maritimes may feel quite a bit of the storm. The software on my laptop shows a slightly more eastern path. Anyway, I hope, for my friends, it will not be too bad. I believe it didn’t do the Bahamas a lot of good last night according to reports, but the map above hasn’t changed on the internet although on my programme it still looks more eastern.

Meanwhile back at the ranch yesterday, we had tornado warnings for our area, but they dissipated and in the afternoon we had quite a pleasant day however, later in the evening we had one hell of a thunderstorm with lots of lightening but, round here certainly, we didn’t get a tornado thank God. I was feeling somewhat nervous though as the skies close to sunset looked pretty threatening. This morning you would hardly know it even rained although a lot of people had their power knocked out by the storms.

A report on GMA today about an 83 yr. old woman who had a breast enhancement. Why not? Apparently some of her family were dead set against it, probably worried about their inheritances!! She looked good and felt good which is what its all about. If you can afford it, go for it. And, she did look good.
I like beans, I like rice, what more can I say. I’ve never heard of vegan Worcestershire sauce, but I wouldn’t use it personally.

Baltimorean Beans and Rice

By The No Meat Athlete
WebMD Recipe from Foodily.com

Rice and beans come together to make a simple way to get both complex carbohydrates and protein in a single vegetarian meal. Throw in fantastic versatility at pennies per serving and you've got yourself not just the backbone of the vegetarian diet for runners but also a universal staple food. In this recipe, black-eyed peas take the place of beans.

Ingredients

1 cup dry brown rice
4 cups black-eyed peas
1 onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tbsp vegetable oil
2 cups chopped kale
2 tsp cider vinegar
2 tsp vegan Worcestershire sauce (can substitute with regular Worcestershire sauce)
1/2 cup frozen corn, thawed
1 tsp Old Bay, or any Chesapeake-style seafood seasoning

Instructions

Put brown rice and water together in a pot with a lid. Use the ratio of 1.5 cups water to 1 cup rice. Set the heat to maximum, and bring the rice/water to a boil uncovered. Then put the lid on the pot, and reduce the heat to low/simmer. If your lid has a steam valve, keep it closed. Let the rice simmer for 20 minutes. Turn off the heat, and let the rice sit in the covered pot for another 10 minutes.
Heat up the oil in a large pan over medium-high heat and fry the onion for 5 minutes. Add the garlic and fry for an additional 5 minutes. Stir in the peas and heat through. Fry the kale with the peas and onion mixture for a few minutes until wilted. Add the cider vinegar, Worcestershire sauce, and corn, heat through. Sprinkle rice with the Old Bay seasoning. Add salt and pepper to taste. Serve the pea mixture with the rice.
Total Servings: 4

Nutritional Information Per Serving

Calories: 396
Carbohydrates: 99.5g
Cholesterol: 0 mg
Fat: 0 g
Saturated Fat:
Fiber: 41.2g
Sodium: 126 mg
Protein: 37.7 g
Have a great day and keep away from hurricanes.

Peregrine Falcons, Damned Car, Tornadoes.

A friend on Facebook drew my attention to a wonderful story about Peregrine Falcons in Toronto and how these Falcons are proliferating in Ontario. Apparently they have just banded four babies who were born 43 stories up on the Sheraton Tower. The babies (properly known as eyeasses) will be watched carefully once they begin to fledge, or fly, to help prevent the strong mortality rate (80%) which occurs among baby falcons. Volunteers will take part in a fledge watch about 40 days after their birth. If you would like to read the full article from The Sun go here http://tinyurl.com/3js657z where you will also find a link to a photo blog. There are, apparently, another couple of falcons awaiting the hatching of their first egg. Also in Toronto.

Yesterday, we had a lovely day!! In the first place we had to rush and shower because they were turning off the hot water early. Then Matt took the car in to find that a strut in the back had gone and therefore both should be replaced, they told us a couple of hours, it was finally around 5:30 p.m. before we got the car back, together with a hefty bill. So absolutely nothing was achieved. Do you realise I have been 4 days without any asparagus. Talking of which, I was horrified to discover an Australian friend of mine doesn’t like asparagus. Oh what she is missing. There is a pretty good description of asparagus in this blog which makes me drool right now http://smotheredinbutter.blogspot.com/ look for the one called Aaaahsparagus!

Lots of dreadful pictures being shown from Joplin, Missouri which is bracing for, possibly, another tornado, meanwhile several more ripped through Oklahoma today.  Apparently President Obama is planning to visit there over the weekend when he comes back from his European trip. I’m not sure what good that will do, but I guess it shows he cares?

Amongst the many newsletters I get in my inbox is one from the BBC (Aunty BBC as we used to call it) with all kinds of interesting recipes. This vegetarian curry appealed to me. Because we were once very prominent in India (part of the British Empire) curry became a very popular dish in the UK and these days, due to the influx of Indian peoples into Britain, curry is, I’m told, more available than the proverbial fish and chips. For the people on this side of the pond, Aubergine is eggplant.

Spinach, Aubergine and Chickpea Curry

 

This delicious vegetarian curry is packed full of flavour and is ready in less than 30 minutes.

Ingredients

• 1kg/2¼lb fresh spinach

• 4 tbsp olive oil

• 2 medium red onions, chopped

• 200g/7oz canned chickpeas, drained and rinsed

• 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped

• 2 fresh hot green chillies, halved and thinly sliced, seeds included

• 1 tbsp coriander seeds, ground

• 1 tbsp cumin seeds

• 1 large aubergine, approx. 400g/14oz,cut into 2cm (3/4in) dice

• 400g/14oz tinned chopped tomatoes

• salt

Preparation method

1. Cook the spinach in boiling water for two minutes, then cool it under cold running water and squeeze gently to remove most of the liquid. Place in a food processor and chop the spinach to a coarse purée.

2. Heat half the olive oil in a large pan and cook the onion, chickpeas, garlic, chilli and spices for five minutes over a medium heat.

3. Add the remaining olive oil and the aubergine. Cook for ten minutes, stirring often, until the aubergine is coloured.

4. Add the tomatoes and a pinch of salt, then cover the pan, lower the heat and simmer for 15 minutes until the aubergine is soft. Stir in the spinach purée and serve.

Have a great day

Tornadoes, Dating, Elections, Inflation

In the news Monday morning, something like 240 tornados in the States, some of which took place in North Carolina which is not generally known for such weather. Sam Champion, the weather man on GMA, was in Sanford, NC which was badly damaged. We had no idea where that was, so looked it up. It was well away from the coastal areas where we have friends. Not that I don’t heartily sympathise with the people of Sanford, but it is always good to know one’s friends are safe. They really have had some bad storms in the States this last few days causing several deaths. A Lowe’s store was blown to bits but the staff managed to save everyone by hustling them to the back of the store. Another woman was delighted to find her puppies which had recently been born, she has now named them, Tornado, Lucky and Miracle. The storm chasers must have been happy they had lots of places to do their experiments etc.

I have always been leery of dating companies, there seem to be more and more of them advertising on TV every day. This morning a woman came forward on GMA and described how she had a date with a registered sex offender and she was going public because she wanted dating companies to do more about background checks on their clients. I know or have met two or three couples who met through a dating service, but I think I personally would be very reluctant to pursue such a course if I happened to need a new date. Of course if you meet someone out and about the same thing could happen to you I suppose. I have always believed, and advocated to single friends, the best thing to do is to join a club or society which interests you, in my case it was amateur dramatics first and then scuba diving second, and there you will make friends and this can often lead to marriage with someone compatible. The idea of dating total strangers is not a course I would ever pursue. This morning’s story just confirms my reluctance.

By the way, when we left to go bowling yesterday, it was snowing, not much, but it was still snow not rain. Grrrr. We got a little Easter gift from one of our friends at bowling, he always produces little bags of Candies for both Easter and Hallowe’en. A nice idea.

Today I have to have a mammogram and then tonight Matt gets training on his job as a registration officer for the elections on May 2. I thought I would go along and he could come with me for my training session so that we are both capable of helping each other out.

Headline this morning, Canada’s inflation rate has risen to 3.3% the highest since before the recession. It is all powered by the rises in gasoline prices which continue to go higher every day it seems. Gas is still cheaper in the States, but it doesn’t bode well for our vacation in September. Obviously this is going to affect our shopping prices and I don’t suppose anyone is going to give pensioner’s a raise.

Back to WebMD for today’s recipe. The picture made me feel hungry and as this is a healthy food, I might well give it a go some day soon. Doesn’t that picture make you feel hungry? For your information, we often do cook the recipes I give here, I just don’t always remember to mention it.

Chunky Vegetable Pot Pie

By Dana Treat WebMD Recipe from Foodily.com

Adapted from The Martha Stewart Living Cookbook – The Original Classics

Ingredients

1/2 medium (about 8 ounces) butternut squash, peeled and cut into ¾-inch cubes 1 small head celeriac, cut into ½-inch cubes 2 medium carrots, peeled and cut into thick 1-inch long matchsticks 1 cup cauliflower florets (from ½ of a cauliflower) 8 ounces Brussels sprouts, cleaned and trimmed and sliced lengthwise 1 medium beet, trimmed and scrubbed, cut into ½-inch cubes 2 parsnips, peeled and cut into thick 1-inch long matchsticks Olive oil Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper 3 garlic cloves, minced 2 medium shallots, minced ½ cup dry white wine 1½ cups light vegetable stock 1 cup plus 2 tbsp. flour 2 tbsp. plus 2 tsp. chopped fresh tarragon 3 tbsp. unsalted butter 1/2 cup milk 2 tbsp. freshly grated Parmesan cheese 1 medium zucchini, cut into 1-inch long matchsticks

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 425°F. Place squash, celeriac, carrots, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, beet and parsnips in a roasting pan. Toss with 2 tablespoons olive oil; season with salt and pepper. Roast for 35 to 40 minutes, stirring twice during the cooking. Remove; reduce oven to 375°F.

Heat a medium skillet over medium heat. Add just enough olive oil to coat the bottom, then add the garlic and shallots; cook until soft, about 5 minutes. Raise the heat to high, and add the wine. Let the wine reduce by half, about 2 minutes. Add the vegetable stock and simmer over medium-high heat for 5 minutes. Set aside.

Combine 1 cup flour, the baking powder, 2 tsp. tarragon, and a sprinkling of salt in the bowl of a food processor. Pulse in the butter until mixture resembles coarse meal. Add the milk and Parmesan, process until combined, and set aside.

Transfer vegetables to a large bowl. Add zucchini and the remaining two tablespoons tarragon; toss to combine. Stir in the stock mixture; season with salt and pepper. Transfer to a shallow ovenproof glass pie dish; bake for 15 minutes. Remove from the oven and drop heaping tablespoons of the biscuit dough over the vegetables, leaving some of the vegetables exposed. Place the pie dish in the oven and bake until the biscuits are golden, about 25 minutes. Serve hot.

Total Servings: 6

Nutritional Information Per Serving

Calories: 291.4 Carbohydrates: 42.3 g Cholesterol: 17.8 mg Fat: 8.0 g Saturated Fat: 4.4 g Fiber: 5.1 g Sodium: 170.8 mg

Have a great day

Public TV, Tornado.

We started our TV viewing evening last night (well, after Jeopardy that is) by watching a show by Celtic Thunder which had been filmed in Toronto last November. As usual, a super show and we thoroughly enjoyed it. Damian has really grown up now, he is no longer the 14 yr old kid of the original show. They also had a female singer and another singer from the band. I was disappointed Ryan didn't sing more than one single - I wonder why? Then it was followed by The Five Browns, we had never heard of them but watched for a little while and it turned out to be 5 siblings who all played classical piano. Three girls, two boys. They were excellent. The first thing they played was The Flight of the Bumblebee which is a particularly difficult piece to play well. We were especially tired last night so didn't watch the whole programme but will certainly try to do so next time. I have just discovered you can hear The Flight of the Bumble Bee here http://www.the5browns.com/ as well as see lots of pictures and video about the youngsters who are making classical music hip.

One thing I wanted to mention quickly, I received my Tornado File Transfer Tool yesterday, I bought it on line from Worldstart. The idea is to be able to transfer files from one PC to another for whatever reason. This is the website for Tornado http://thetornado.com/backup_files.asp but I got it a lot cheaper at Worldstart.com.

Today I start doing a few things for dinner on Saturday, plus I have customers coming for Avon this morning so I need to get on, so only a short blog this morning. I love sweet potatoes but unfortunately Matt doesn't so I maybe won't get to try these any time soon, unless I make them just for me, hmmmmm! Thyme Roasted Sweet Potatoes

These sweet potato wedges are a great alternative to fries and partner so well with any grilled or roasted, meat, chicken or fish dish. It will be on your table more often than you can imagine. Serves 2 Ingredients 1 medium sweet potato, peeled and cubed (1-2” pieces) 1 tablespoon olive oil 1 teaspoon fresh thyme Salt and freshly ground black pepper Directions 1.Preheat the oven to 425°F/220°C. 2.In a large bowl place the sweet potato wedges and toss with the olive oil, thyme, salt and pepper. 3.Spread the wedges evenly on a lined baking sheet with sides, and bake for 10 minutes. Toss again and bake until done, probably another 5-10 minutes, depending on the size of the wedges. 4.Sprinkle with a little more salt & pepper and serve. Have a great day

Writing, Tornadoes, Hurricanes, Lockerbie Bomber.

Yesterday I started reading The Phoenix Unchained. On reading the flyleaf I discovered that the world I was about to enter had originally been created in a series called The Obsidian Trilogy which I thought I had missed. There are references to the previous story which was supposed to have taken place 1,000 years ago and gradually I realised I had read the trilogy. However, what fascinates me is that the stories referred to are quite a bit different to what actually happened in those previous books, just as history becomes distorted after 1,000 years so have the memories of the current society and I am impressed with the way Mercedes Lackey and James Mallory have done that. A very interesting exercise in story telling. Especially when one tends to think "oh no, that's not quite how it happened" and then recall the proper story. I never would have been as observant about such story telling artifice if I hadn't been reading a lot of what my author friends are telling me. I never really thought about the art of writing before, just about whether the story was good and well told. I am now much more aware of the skill which is employed in good story telling. One of the things recently discussed on Tropic Temper by Glenda Larke was the use of names to convey backgrounds. Something I had certainly never thought of - maybe I had unconsciously registered that a character had a specific background because of the name, but I certainly never thought about it before. I didn't mention the storm in Ontario on Thursday, there were at least four tornadoes reported, mostly north of us, although we did catch the edge of the storm, but for us, thank goodness, it was only the edge. There was a lot of storm damage and there are some excellent storm photos on this site. Unfortunately one person was killed. I am not sure where you hide from tornadoes in Ontario. A basement would be the best place I guess and most houses have those. In this building I suppose we would head to the underground garage although how sturdy that would be I wouldn't like to guess. Hurricane Bill is due in the Atlantic Provinces on Sunday, but by then it should be well and truly downgraded. Its the warm water which tends to speed up a hurricane. It can still do a lot of damage but earlier it was a category 4 which is not a very nice storm at all. So, they've released the Lockerbie bomber on compassionate grounds because he has cancer. He has since received a hero's welcome when he landed in Tripoli. He showed a lot of compassion when he killed a plane load of people (270), I see no reason why he shouldn't have lived and died, in jail. I am not surprised the relatives of the dead are upset, I know I would be. On GMA they talked about forgiveness, I don't see how you can forgive someone like this, whoever you are. Maybe put it behind you and let it go, but forgive? No way. Of course he still protests his innocence, but there isn't a person in any prison who isn't innocent according to them. I might add that, being in a British prison, Abdel Baset al-Megrahi would have had the best treatment available to anyone in Scotland, better than a great many British themselves would have available to them. Easting Well are emphasising the importance of starting your day with a good breakfast and the following is one of their recipes for doing just that. I get a tad tired of the same ol' same ol' for breakfast although I try and add as much variety as I can. These sound to be something which would make quite a difference and I will certainly try them. I think I might need to buy a new muffin pan though. Mini Mushroom-&-Sausage Quiches These crustless mini quiches are like portable omelets. Turkey sausage and sauteed mushrooms keep them light and savory. Small and satisfying, they’re also a good finger food for your next cocktail party. Makes 1 dozen mini quiches Ingredients 8 ounces turkey breakfast sausage, removed from casing and crumbled into small pieces 1 teaspoon extra-virgin olive oil 8 ounces mushrooms, sliced ¼ cup sliced scallions ¼ cup shredded Swiss cheese 1 teaspoon freshly ground pepper 5 eggs 3 egg whites 1 cup 1% milk 1. Position rack in center of oven; preheat to 325°F. Coat a nonstick muffin tin generously with cooking spray (see Tip). 2. Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add sausage and cook until golden brown, 6 to 8 minutes. Transfer to a bowl to cool. Add oil to the pan. Add mushrooms and cook, stirring often, until golden brown, 5 to 7 minutes. Transfer mushrooms to the bowl with the sausage. Let cool for 5 minutes. Stir in scallions, cheese and pepper. 3. Whisk eggs, egg whites and milk in a medium bowl. Divide the egg mixture evenly among the prepared muffin cups. Sprinkle a heaping tablespoon of the sausage mixture into each cup. 4. Bake until the tops are just beginning to brown, 25 minutes. Let cool on a wire rack for 5 minutes. Place a rack on top of the pan, flip it over and turn the quiches out onto the rack. Turn upright and let cool completely. Individually wrap in plastic and refrigerate for up to 3 days or freeze for up to 1 month. To reheat, remove plastic, wrap in a paper towel and microwave on High for 30 to 60 seconds. A good-quality nonstick muffin tin works best for this recipe. If you don�t have one, line a regular muffin tin with foil baking cups. Nutrition Information Per quiche: 90 calories; 5 g fat (2 g sat, 1 g mono); 105 mg cholesterol; 3 g carbohydrate; 9 g protein; 0 g fiber; 217 mg sodium. Have a great weekend.

Flight 61, Crystal Skulls, Tornadoes,

How nice, nothing special to do today, I can relax. Bit of a shocker on the news last night, a plane lost its pilot during the flight. He had a heart attack and died. Of course the co-pilot took over and none of the passengers, apart from a doctor, knew anything about it, but its not something you think of happening on your flight. Apparently most flights over 8 hours carry a third pilot, although Air Canada does not, so they said. Still, presumably the co-pilot is there because he is quite capable of handling the emergency. Hard on the family too. We watched an interesting programme last night about crystal skulls. I am sure you are aware of the Indiana Jones movie on this subject, well this was almost like the movie. The Mayas have a prophesy which says that if all thirteen of these crystal skulls are not available in 2012, there will be a cataclysmic catastrophe causing the end of the world. Nasty thought. They have found something like 8 of the 13 skulls and they think they know where at least a couple more are. There is a lot of controversy about the time these were made, was it by the Atlanteans, ancient Mayans, an extra terrestrial race or were they all made in fairly modern times. You can read more about it here. People attribute all kinds of magical properties to these skulls and it was a very interesting programme last night following the adventures of a man (don't remember his name) who was married to the daughter of Mitchell-Hedges (Anna) who was something of an Indiana Jones and who's family appears to have perpetrated a hoax on the world, although the explanation of the Sotheby's story was that Mitchell-Hedges had left his crystal skull with a friend who put it up for auction. The only way for Mitchell-Hedges to get it back was to buy it!!! I'm not quite sure why the friend would do that? Extensive testing was done on the M-H skull and they ended up with the answer that "The damned thing simply shouldn't be" which rather adds to the theory of extra terrestrials. Its a very interesting story altogether. The skull on the left is made of amethyst crystal. I hope they find them all, I don't want to take chances in 2012. There have been lots of tornados in the central States, something like 28 on Wednesday night. How terrifying. I am not sure I would live in that 'corridor' as, IMHOP, they are getting more and more storms. There were pictures on TV from a storm chaser heading towards one which was half a mile wide. To me such people are mentally deficient. The rest of us run the other way. As you will see, I have posted pictures from YouTube in a separate blog. We got a new Food and Drink from the Liquor Store this week and right on the cover were these savoury bites which look absolutely fantastic. I love smoked salmon. Smoked Salmon Kettle Chip Bites The lemon kick in each bite works well to balance the salt in the chips and smoked salmon. No time to prepare the chips? Simply chop the smoked salmon, stir it into the cream cheese mixture and serve as a dip for the chips. 1/2 cup light cream cheese, softened 1 Tbs horseradish 1 Tbs minced shallot 2 tsp minced capers 1 small clove garlic, minced 1 tsp grated lemon rind 1 Tbs lemon juice 1 bag kettle cooked potato chips 1 pkg (85 g) sliced smoked salmon 2 Tbs chopped fresh chives Using an electric hand mixer, beat cream cheese until fluffy. Beat in horseradish, shallot, capers, garlic, lemon rind and juice until smooth. Empty chips onto a large plate and select flat, similar-sized chips. Dollop a small amount of the mixture onto chips and set on a serving platter. Cut smoked salmon into thin strips and place decoratively on top of cream cheese mixture. Sprinkle with chives before serving. Serves 6 to 8. Have a great day.

Tornadoes and Seafood

I just saw on GMA that there is a special on 20/20 tonight, for those of my readers who can get that programme, about Tornadoes. The special is about myth busting and one myth they busted today was hiding under an overpass. Although people have survived in them, the overpass acts like a wind tunnel and the tornado effects are worse than being right outside I gather. Showed one guy who had done just that because he was worried about his car. He, himself, was very lucky to survive, out of his car hanging on two rods and the car ended up as a total junk pile about a mile away. We are going to watch the report tonight, not, luckily that we get these twisters here much, but we could. I mentioned before about a big one north of us, so there is nothing to stop us getting one here. We had a small earthquake here once, I was one of the few who felt it. The map on the right shows the area of the States which is most likely to get tornadoes, and if you follow that due North, guess where we are? Tornado Alley is more in the centre though and we are located somewhat to the right of that. Being in a tall building, I have no idea what would happen if a tornado hit it and there are lots of buildings much taller in this area let alone anywhere else. They are not unknown in Europe, I once saw a waterspout travelling up the river Medway which is in the south east of England.

This morning I have to go peel a couple of pounds of shrimp which will be cooked and marinaded for the Japanese Gingered Shrimp recipe I posted the other day. Matt, having once had an allergic reaction to being stuck with the feeler of a shrimp when he was out shrimping in NC one time, won't have anything to do with peeling them, not even if they have been cooked before hand. My policy is, if you don't peel them, you don't eat them when it comes to peel and eat shrimp. We used to go to a friend's who had a shrimper and used to produce stacks of shrimp and back fin crabs. We would sit at tables covered in newspapers and pick crabs or peel shrimp to our heart's content. Matt would not do either. He likes the meat of the crabs, but is too lazy to pick them. He thought it wasn't worth it as there is so little meat on each crab. It was worth it to me and several others. I used to really enjoy those meals. This picture shows some crab, but we used to have lots more. I don't think I have any pictures of those times, too busy eating. I was just telling a friend about my father missing out on a piece of lobster claw which he thought still had shell on and was too lazy to crack and then I picked it up and popped it in my mouth.

I recently bought a can of crab and when I got round to eating it, it was pretty tasteless. Makes me long for the days of all those crabs which were so delicious. Along with the oysters I was raving about a couple of days or so ago of course.

A friend of mine and I used to go to the Maritime museum in Beaufort, NC (pronouced bofort, in SC its pronounced biewfort) where they had talks on local seafood of various kinds and showed us how to cook them. One time, of course, it was backfin crabs which they showed us how to shell properly and then what to do with them. From this I picked up one of the best crab cake recipes I have found. I could actually taste the crab in them, it is not overpowered by all the additions. JoAnne was one of the people giving the talk.

JoAnne's Crab Cakes
Serves: 6

2 C crab meat
1/2 t salt
1/4 tsp pepper
pinch cayenne
2 eggs beaten
fine bread crumbs
1 T mayonnaise
4 T margarine or butter

Melt butter in fry pan. Mix crab meat with seasonings, eggs and mayonnaise. Add bread crumbs to thicken to a soft moulding consistency. Spoon in to pan and sauté until lightly browned on both sides. Drain on paper towels. Serve.

Looking at that picture, I could eat those right now. Yum.

Have a great day.

Artistic Elephants and Major Storms

If you haven't seen this video Elephants Painting you really should watch it. Matt saw it on TV a day or two ago and then I got to see the YouTube version. If you look carefully there is a handler parading another picture in the background showing flowers. I understand not all elephants respond to this training, but some of them seem to enjoy it. Someone on a list asked if the elephants are just trained to paint the one picture or what? I have no idea, but getting them to do what they do is pretty fantastic in my book.

There have been more tornadoes in the States, I feel so sorry for the people who are subject to such things, in fact there is a corridor up the centre of the States where more tornadoes occur than anywhere else. However, statistically, there have been lots more tornadoes this year than normal. Another sign of global warming I gather. I must say I much prefer hurricanes, if I have to have either that is, you get days of warning about them and can generally move out of their way, a twister just arrives. Admittedly you know the weather at the time is likely to spawn a tornado, but you don't know when, where or if. As for these people who chase the storms, they are, in my opinion, certifiably nuts. At Disney World they have a show called Twister and it is supposed to be just like being in one except basically you are to one side watching even though you get water in your face, that was plenty for me. I DO NOT want to experience the real thing. They do happen in Canada occasionally, but not with such regularity I am pleased to say. Some years ago there was a big one hit Barrie which is quite a bit north of us and Matt had occasion to go up there afterwards. The devastation was pretty terrible although Matt was fascinated by the fact that the twister (aptly named) had knocked down houses standing in between totally undamaged buildings.

Living in the Carolinas, we often got hurricanes visiting us, and we usually took shelter somewhere more solid than where we lived. We lost 26 trees over the years, but luckily we never had one come down on our home, fences, decks, etc. but not the home itself. One time we came back to find a tree down in the back yard and another in the front yard, both of which had fallen away from the house. If they had fallen the other way, poof!!! I had a little programme for the computer called Storm Tracker. It was very useful and gave me a pretty accurate idea of where the storm was going. I would plot it from the co-ordinates given by the TV. Once when they told us to evacuate, I could tell the storm was turning away, so we didn't move and it was right, it skimmed past us.

Several times we went to a friend's house and we often had hurricane parties where we all took some kind of food. I remember our first time when we were only visiting the area. Matt went to a local store who was tipping out all the ice from his machines (when the power goes off it melts of course) and bought a whole load of steaks which were on sale. When we got to the friend's house, someone had brought a pile of shrimp which I helped to peel and we ended up with a fantastic meal of those items plus salads and a few bottles of hooch. Some people stayed up all night watching the storm progress, I went to bed and forgot all about it. One of the worst hurricanes we remember was when Floyd sat over the Carolinas for days and it rained and rained and rained; there was really serious flooding, one saw pictures of houses just showing their roofs, people being rescued by boats and so on. Since that time Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans and the coastal towns and caused even worse damage. I haven't forgotten that dreadful tsunami either, which we never hear about any more, I have no doubt the people of that area are still struggling to recover.

Well, this morning we are expecting our new chair to arrive so I have to go check the website to see what time to expect it.

Last night we had some arctic char just broiled with a little seasoning, which was absolutely delicious. If you have the opportunity to taste arctic char, I really recommend it. Its flesh is similar looking to salmon but, in my opinion, much more tasty. I know I mentioned a restaurateur friend who smoked his own salmon and arctic char and served it in the restaurant. I preferred the char, and I am a smoked salmon devotee from way back.

Have a great day.