Showing posts with label Winter League. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Winter League. Show all posts

Friday, September 2, 2016

Winter League, Balcony Work, Gas,

Bowling again today. Much better than yesterday. I have been helping the alley by calling all the bowlers who were in the Seniors' Winter League last year. We have lost a couple of them to death sadly, another says he has taken a part time job which is not schedule. He is going to be working for a cleaners so I asked him if his job was to cut the buttons off everything! Others have had operations or one woman had broken her femur. Ouch. Amazing what happens to people through the summer. However, I think there are plenty of us left plus there are one or two newbies who have already signed on.

I mentioned a week or so ago that they had brought in a large crane and were drilling holes in, what
we thought, were finished balcony floors It has been drivng me bonkers wondering what they were up to. I have finally found out. When they first started, they set up a gantry with a movable platform on it. The gantry was braced on some of the floors in a tier. To do this, they had to drill holes. These new holes are to basically cover the bracing holes which have made the balcony floor unstable and they will pour fresh concrete. Not all the floors have to be repaired like that as the bracing was on alternate floors the higher it got. I couldn't figure out how they were going to make formers for this concrete but friend said they would brace a piece of plywood or something, underneath the holes which is exactly what they have done.

The price of gas round here has been bouncing up and down. Hovering around $1 a litre. Dunno what it's like elsewhere. Our grocery store, the one that gives us all those points, also gives us vouchers for cents off a litre. We have two at 5 cents but Matt keeps forgetting to use them. Makes a difference when you are filling a tank.

I am a sucker for anything with a Puttanesca sauce. So when I came across this I had to share.

Bucatini Puttanesca

1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
6 garlic cloves, minced
4 anchovy fillets
1 1/2 tsp dried oregano
3/4 tsp crushed red pepper
4 cups unsalted chicken stock
12 oz bucatini or thick spaghetti
3 pints multicolored cherry or grape tomatoes, halved
2 Tbs unsalted tomato paste
1/4 cup chopped fresh basil
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
24 pitted kalamata olives, chopped
3 Tbs capers
1/8 tsp salt

Heat a large high-sided sauté pan over medium heat. Add oil to pan; swirl to coat. Add garlic, anchovies, oregano, and red pepper; cook 2 minutes, stirring constantly to break up anchovies. Add stock and pasta to pan; bring to a boil. Cook 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add tomatoes and tomato paste. Cook 2 to 3 minutes or until pasta is done. Remove pan from heat; add remaining ingredients, tossing to combine.

Servings: 6

Source: Cooking Light

Have a great day

Tuesday, September 15, 2015

Birthday, Bowling, Car.

To all my cyber friends, thank you so much for my birthday wishes, you really made my day. To my blogging friends, sorry, I  just haven't had a chance to visit your blogs today, time just slipped away from me. Hopefully I can make up my lack tomorrow although as most of you know we are out for lunch tomorrow, also for my birthday. I will be stuffing myself on Hot and Sour Soup, which I love and finishing up with Moon Cake which I also love. Funny, much as I love this soup, I have never made it myself. I just wait with longing for my chance to eat it at the Mandarin where the do a particularly good one. Of course Moon Cake is only available during the Moon Festival which is right now. I posted a picture of that yesterday.

Today was the first day of Winter League bowling and I opened with a 213 game which I was thrilled
to bits with. My second game was nothing to write home about, but my third was another good one. I was well pleased. Matt, I'm afraid, was not pleased with his game. It was also fun seeing everyone that didn't bowl during the summer, again and hearing what they had been up to. One woman had been on a river cruise in Germany travelling from Antwerp to Zurich - lucky, I would love to do one of those river cruises. Matt doesn't want to, thinks they would be too crowded. Also I hear there is quite a bit of walking, as neither of us is a good walker any more, that cuts that out I'm afraid.

As Matt is taking the car in at the crack of dawn on Wednesday, his usual shopping day, we have had to re-arrange shopping to Tuesday morning. Hopefully we have remembered everything. By the end of Wednesday we probably won't have enough money left to buy anything more. You think I'm joking?

When I saw this recipe on Monday morning, I was hungry for lamb chops. Unfortunately I don't have any at the moment so we ended up with Shrimp Creole. Nothing wrong with Shrimp Creole but when you are in the mood for one thing, another doesn't always suffice.


Greek Lamb Chops and Mint Yogurt Sauce

Give lamb chops a Greek twist with the addition of fresh oregano and a minty yogurt sauce.
  • Yield: 4 servings (serving size: 2 lamb chops and 2 tablespoons sauce)

Ingredients

  • 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
  • 2 teaspoons chopped fresh oregano
  • 2 garlic cloves, minced
  • 8 (4-ounce) lamb loin chops, trimmed
  • 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
  • 2 teaspoons canola oil
  • 1/2 cup plain fat-free yogurt
  • 1 tablespoon chopped fresh mint
  • 1/2 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
  • 1/8 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 1 garlic clove, minced

Preparation


1. Combine the first 3 ingredients in a small bowl. Sprinkle lamb with 1/4 teaspoon salt and pepper; rub with oregano mixture. Heat a large skillet over high heat. Add oil to pan, swirling to coat. Add lamb, and cook for 3 minutes on each side or until desired degree of doneness. Let stand for 5 minutes.
2. Combine yogurt and remaining ingredients in a small bowl. Serve sauce with lamb.

Have a great day
 

Monday, August 20, 2012

New Bowling Season, Books, Swimming the Channel,

One week today we start the winter bowling season again, we miss three weeks though bMacDaddy'secause we never bowl on Labour Day, the one day of the year when the woman who runs the place is always off, and then we will be on vacation for two weeks. No doubt we will be doing some 10-pin bowling whilst in North Carolina. I follow MacDaddy’s on Facebook which is where we go when we bowl down there. They have been having all kinds of lunch or dinner specials on with specials on shrimp appearing once or twice. We occasionally have lunch there with our friends before we bowl. Their food isn’t bad.

Over the weekend I finished my second Alcatraz book, Alcatraz versus the Alcatraz vs. CrystalliaScrivener’s Bones. The funniest thing, to me, was an extra two pages after the end of the book for those who cheat, detailing how someone died who didn’t actually do so in the story. If you did cheat you would have been upset to read about the death of the character which is intended to be a punishment for cheating. I think Brandon Sanderson is totally zany with these books. They are intended for a much younger audience but I am thoroughly enjoying them I am impressed with his totally different humour.. The next book is Alcatraz Versus the Knights of Crystallia.

At the time of writing there is a teenager attempting to swim Lake Ontario. It set up a train of memories in my mind. When I was about 14 we were living on a canal in Lincolnshire, England, and one morning, before I went to school, a man went into the water and swam to the beginning and back (don’t remember how far) but basically he was swimming all day and didn’t get back til late evening. I vividly remember my mother saying that, all day long, whatever she had been doing, she kept thinking about him still swimming. I don’t know much else about him other than he was practicing to swim the English Channel which he subsequently attempted towing his own supplies and completely unsupported. Unfortunately he went missing. I started wondering who he was and whether in the intervening years anyone else had attempted the same thing and had success or otherwise. I tried Googling without result. I have emailed a Channel Swimming group who may have records. Whilst trying some research I came across videos of people actually doing the swim, dunno why they do it, they are nuts. Here’s one of the ones I found. I had never thought about the problem of crossing the shipping lanes.

I don’t often snack between meals or when travelling, but this recipe sounded good and as we will be driving to NC very soon, I just thought it might be useful. One thing I am not quite sure about, do you shell the edamame or not?

Spicy Lemon Edamame

South Beach Diet

Frozen edamame in the pod are easy to find in most supermarkets these days. spicy-lemon-edamameThis recipe will make them your new snack favorite on any Phase of the diet. While the edamame are best served warm, they can also be chilled for a take-along snack.

Ingredients

3 clove(s) garlic large, smashed and peeled

1 medium lemon juiced (use 2 teaspoons), and 2 large strips of zest, cut into thin slivers

1/2 teaspoon pepper, red flakes

16 ounce(s) edamame, frozen in pods (1 bag)

1/2 teaspoon salt, sea coarse

Instructions
  • In a medium saucepan, combine 6 cups of water, the garlic, the lemon zest, and red pepper flakes. Cover and bring to a boil over high heat. Cook, partially covered, for 3 minutes to blend the flavors.

  • Add the frozen edamame. Return the water to a boil and cook, uncovered, for 3 minutes.

  • Drain well and transfer the edamame to a serving bowl. Discard the garlic. Toss the edamame with the lemon juice and sea salt. Serve warm.

    Each serving is 1 cup.

Have a great day

Jo