Supper, Sleep Clinic, Windows.

Last night I decided to make the Asparagus and Endive salad which I posted the day before, I even remembered to take a picture of it. Once we had dug in I thought of a better way I could have posed the picture, oh well, keep saying I am no photographer. Wed both enjoyed it and I can now really recommend it. The orange of the dressing really complements the ingredients. Endive can be a little bitter, but with the asparagus and orange, it is great.

Yesterday was also bowling day. I had lots of fun again, but I can’t say I bowled very well. My excuse was having had a sugar low before we left home and I was still feeling shaky (what was my excuse last week I wonder). One of our friends, who had previously gone through the same sleep treatment which I am going through now, asked if I had seen the article in the paper about the doctor at the sleep clinic, we don’t take the paper, so I hadn’t. Apparently he is being accused of incompetence which is very reassuring. Even the College of Physicians and Surgeons is involved which makes it even more serious. I am not sure the accusation is anything which affects my diagnosis, at least I hope not. Friday is when I go to the CPAP supplier to get fitted for my machine.

We were informed late yesterday that the workmen would be coming in the morning to install 3 new windows. The frames are somewhat rotted because this is an old building, I guess tomorrow they won’t be.

Asparagus and lobster, two of my most favourite foods, what combination could be better?


Asparagus and Lobster Crêpes with Fines Herbes Hollandaise Sauce

1 lb asparagus, ends trimmed
Cooked meat of 1 large lobster, or 2 lobster tails (about 1 1/2 lbs loster before cooking)
sprinkling of salt plus 1/2 tsp.
Fines Herbes
Hollandaise
2 Tbs white wine vinegar
1/4 cup water
3 large egg yolks
3/4 cup unsalted butter, softened and cubed
2 Tbs lemon juice
white pepper to taste
1 Tbs fresh tarragon, finely chopped
1 Tbs fresh chives, finely chopped
1 Tbs fresh chervil, finely chopped.

1. Preheat oven to 300°F.
2. In a large pot, steam or boil asparagus until just tender, about 10 mins, cool under cold water, drain and set aside.
3. Coarsely chop cooked lobster, set aside
4. Prepare crêpes.
5. Divide the asparagus into 8 separate bundles. Place a bundle in each of 8 crêpes, sprinkle with salt and roll to enclose. Place asparagus in a glass baking dish, top with lobster and cover with foil. Just before serving, and no sooner, place in heated oven for 15 mins to warm through.
6. In a small saucepan over medium high heat reduce (boil) vinegar, water and 1/2 tsp salt until approximately 3 tbs remains, remove from heat.
7. Lower heat to medium-low, add yolks to pan and return to heat, whisking constantly until foamy and lightly thickened. Make sure not to scramble eggs; if the eggs begin to cook too quickly pull off the heat and whisk vigorously to cool slightly before continuing.
8. Begin to whisk butter into pan 1 cube at a time. Once all the butter is incorporated, whisk in lemon juice, white pepper and fresh herbs. Use immediately.
9. Place two asparagus crêpes on each plate and top each with some of the warmed lobster. Spoon hollandaise overtop, serve immediately

Servings: 4
Source
Source: Food and Drink Spring 2010

Author Notes
If preparing this for a dinner party, the asparagus, lobster, crêpes and vinegar reduction can all be prepared beforehand so that the only thing left to prepare is the hollandaise. Make sure to use a good quality butter so that the hollandaise has great flavour.

Have a great day

Quicken, DOS, Windows, Internet

I was talking about financial programmes to a friend on Facebook. I said I had been using Quicken for 20 years. I am actually not sure if that is accurate. I used to use MYM or Manage Your Money in DOS format and did so for a number of years. I liked that software very much. Then Quicken started to appear and at about the same time Windows also started appearing, both of which I hated. They had pictures of offices and you had to click on file drawers or various other things showing on the screen to get somewhere or other. Having used DOS for a number of years, it was so cumbersome and everything took so long to happen. Gradually MYM became out of date, they did try one Windows version, but it didn’t really work for some reason and so Quicken took over as far as I was concerned. Today it is a pretty slick product, but I would probably never have switched if MYM had stayed the course. Now I rely on it for all my financial information. It took me quite a while to get used to Windows and their early versions were pretty cumbersome. Most of the computer users of today wouldn’t be able to use DOS at all, but in the early days we had both that and BASIC which was a programming language. Once upon a time I could write very simple programmes but once Windows came on the scene, it was no longer necessary. One year, for Hallowe’en, I copied a programme from a magazine I read and turned the screen to face out of the window, I had a man’s head turning into a werewolf and the kids were fascinated.

My first real computer was a Commodore 64 (I had a cassette tape version before that, had a couple of great games on it too) which I bought in 1987, it didn’t even have a hard drive, I had to get one installed, I think it was 500 Mbs – not all that many people had personal computers then but I had been using them at work. One system had a stack of instruction books to go with it. I was sent to IBM for a week to learn to use it and to read the books. Before this work places had large systems which had to have programmers to work them and punch tapes. A colleague told me I would never be able to use computers because I was no good at math. Guess he was wrong; computers changed, not my ability to do math. I first started accessing the internet around ‘88 to ‘89 I think. In those days it was very rudimentary and there were very few servers, AOL was one of the first, I can’t even remember the name of the ISP I used. It was expensive too because you not only had to pay the server, but the cost of the phone call to the server so one didn’t stay online for very long. We were living in North Carolina at the time and there were very few computer stores. Now the place is littered with them. One repair guy I had came to me one day, amazed, and told me about 1 gig hard drives - we couldn’t believe it, now I have something like 240 thousand gig on my laptop and 400 thousand on my desktop and that is nothing compared with what some people have, especially if they are gamers. Hell people’s handhelds have a lot more power and storage than my first PC.

The next day or two we are supposed to get a fair amount of the white stuff. Especially tonight I believe.

Here’s a somewhat decadent breakfast. Think I might put Nutella on it.

Brandy Sour Cream French Toast

Active Time: 15 Minutes
Total Time: 20 Minutes
Yield: 2 4 pieces

You wouldn't guess how easy this decadent-tasting breakfast really is.

RECIPE INGREDIENTS

2 beaten eggs

1/2 cup milk

1 tsp. cinnamon

1 tsp. vanilla

2 tbs. sour cream

2 tbs brandy

Good crusty French bread

DIRECTIONS

Whip all ingredients except bread well.

Slice bread about 1 inch thick.4 slices

Soak in wet mixture.

Heat griddle and coat with butter. Cook bread until nicely brown on both sides and cooked through.

Serve with favourite syrup or homemade apricot jam

Have a great day