Manitoulin, Birthday, Travel

We will soon be on the road driving to board the Chi Cheemaun ferry which will take us from Tobermory to South Baymouth on Manitoulin Island. We have booked a bed and breakfast for two nights in South Baymouth at the South Bay Inn and from then on will play it by ear. I am not sure how long we are going to be away, but probably at least a week. The island is supposed to be worth exploring. It is actually in Lake Huron and forms one edge of the area known as Georgian Bay. For some reason, although we have been here since 1975, we have never been to the island before. I am not sure how much posting I will do whilst we are away, obviously I have no idea of the availability of internet connections. So its a case of expect me when you see me. Yesterday was my birthday, I was 70 would you believe. I mentioned this to my foot nurse the other day and she was 'gob smacked' (I love that expression) which I found very flattering. On Saturday night we went to a friend's house in Hespeler (mentioned in a previous blog) where eight of us got together for dinner and of course drinks. We had a wonderful meal, comprised of great salads, corn on the cob, excellent potatoes, a German tomato salad (hoping to get the recipe for that) my Jambalaya, see below, taken after it had been attacked and the wonderful salmon I talked about the other day, again I hope to get her precise directions for doing the salmon too. They then produced the cake as shown above, just had my name on it, but actually we were celebrating a couple of other birthdays as well, however, I got to blow out the candles. It was a carrot cake and I lurve carrot cake. What don't I love, I hear you asking, well true, not much. Sunday morning we were still full, but it didn't stop us eating bacon and eggs for breakfast cooked by our hostess. Sunday night supper was all planned, Chateubriand with maybe French beans and Portabella mushrooms with, what was most important, one of the two bottles of Malivoire Pinot Noir that I have been look forward to for months. Tragedy, I was not prepared to drink it. I really wasn't interested in wine, or, come to that, much interested in food but, I have to eat, so we ate and had a glass of a mediocre wine and saved the Malivoire for our Wedding Anniversary. What a pity, too much of everything Saturday night. I have been reflecting a bit on my life to date. Unfortunately, a lot of it I cannot recall. I wonder if a good hypnotist could bring forth all the events. I have had a pretty good life and some times a very interesting one with all my travels and the people I have met and still continue to meet even if not face to face. The internet has opened up a whole new world to all of us (well other than people like Matt who hardly know it exists and apparently Senator McCain too). I find it absolutely wonderful how many friends I have made through cyber space, some of whom I am lucky enough to have met, many more I hope to meet in the future. Although for those who live in Oz, I am afraid that is somewhat unlikely unless I win a lottery or something. How many people have lived a number of years on a boat which travelled to ports in Europe. Not many. I didn't appreciate it at the time, I always wanted a book to read, but looking back I can see why many people envy me my later childhood and teenage years. Admittedly I got seasick a lot in those days, but I loved it when we arrived in France or Denmark or any of the many countries we visited. It was also great when my parents moved to the Mediterranean and I could join them on the boat and travel around there instead. Even when they sold the boat and moved into a delightful villa in Spain, it still made for a great vacation spot. Today of course, when we travel, it is often to destinations which used to be exotic to us. Places like The Dominican Republic, the Bahamas and so on. Although we have still gone back to Europe on occasion. Our trip to Portugal being an example. When we lived in North Carolina, Florida was almost in our backyard and yet that was almost unheard of as a possible destination when we lived in the UK. In recent years, the British have made Florida a regular destination. Maybe not now with the gas prices how they are and with airlines feeling the pinch all round. Canada lost Zoom Airlines in August, Britain have just lost XL and other airlines have been in crisis lately too. Maybe the world, which had shrunk so much due to air travel , will start to enlarge again as costs become more and more prohibitive. Well we are hoping the forecast and most of next week will be good weather. I have just discovered that son-in-law #1 reads this blog, I had no idea, so especially for him, bearing in mind he complained about the cold soups, I am including an Indian recipe which I found at Recipes Indian.

Dry Mutton Assamese Style

500 gms mutton 1 cup curd 1" piece of ginger 8-10 cloves of garlic 2 bay leaves 1 tbsp garam masala powder 1 cup mustard oil 1 tsp turmeric powder Salt to taste

Whip the curd. Marinate the mutton pieces with salt, turmeric, curd and 1tbsp of oil and leave aside for 2 hours. Grate the ginger and crush the garlic. Heat the remaining oil in a kadhai (A wok-like cooking utensil with circular handles on either side, used for frying, tempering and cooking vegetable dishes. The best kadhais have thick, heavy bottoms) and add the ginger, garlic and the bay leaves. Fry these for one minute and add the marinated mutton pieces. Lower the flame and cook over a low flame for at least half an hour or until the mutton becomes tender. Mix in the garam masala and stir well. Once the mutton becomes tender and absolutely dry, remove from fire and serve.

Have a great day and maybe a great week.

Asparagus Soup

Just a quick addendum, Tim Barrie, the asparagus grower about who's product I tend to rave, has some asparagus soup left for sale. If you are interested and live locally, there is a link to his blog where he tells you how much and how to obtain it, on this page. Its good soup, honest.

We Don't Like Ike, Do Like Seafood

Ike has made quite a mess in southern Texas we hear. It is a huge storm and it did strengthen. I thought I heard Category 4 but don't quote me on that. Since hitting land it has dropped back to a Category 2. None of which is any compensation for the people in its path. (Picture from National Geographic) For a link to a National Geographic article about the storm click here a fairly current report. Of course there are lots more reports on the net. Gas prices already increased by 13 cents yesterday so I have no idea what it will be like today. Luckily Matt filled up preparatory to our trip on Monday and hopefully we can last out until the prices drop again. There a lots of refineries on the Gulf Coast where Ike is rampaging at the moment. One of the things that bugs me about people deciding to "ride it out" is the cost of the rescues necessitated after the storm is over. I gather a lot of rescue work is going to be needed. One woman was in a hospital with her daughter last night and watched, on TV, as the waves destroyed her mother's house, no the picture is not the house mentioned. (Picture from Washington Post) Of course news reporters enter when others leave. Always reminds me of an air hostess friend who described her job by saying she would stand at the door of a burning plane and tell the passengers to precede her down the chute. Yeah right! Not this baby. They showed one reporter, late last night, standing on a balcony in the gale and then back tracked to show the producer on the ground hanging on to her feet so she didn't blow away. What a job. I spoke to two friends yesterday, one who lives in Texas and one who's daughter and family live there. However, both families live inland so if anything shouldn't get more than some heavy winds and rain. We were in Florida once, inland, when a hurricane passed and it was exciting to watch, but not particularly dangerous. Made most of my Jambalaya yesterday, that is Matt cooked the rice and I peeled three pounds of shrimp - once that is done the bulk of the job is over. Just got to add things like ham and vegetables and its all ready to go. I know our hostess is doing salmon and she does an excellent job of it too. It is absolutely delicious, she used to do a half salmon for the bowling get togethers some years ago, so I am really looking forward to it tonight. (Picture from wholefoodsmarket.com) No idea what anyone else is bringing. We were supposed to be having a bonfire too but suspect the weather won't allow it. Pity, we have always enjoyed sitting around a fire in the evening. Used to do it a lot in the Carolinas where we had stacks of wood to burn, mostly from trees knocked down by hurricanes, funnily enough. See its an ill wind!!! I have a feeling if we had a fire tonight we might get drenched. Of course today is what I call my North American birthday as I was actually introduced to this world at 2 a.m. in England which would be about 9 p.m. in Ontario, so I celebrate two days running. Pity I can't persuade everybody to give me presents two days running *g*. A share of a nice diamond necklace would be good. Well, I had better go finish off my Jambalaya although I can't add the tomato until we are about to serve it. Having mentioned poached salmon, here is a recipe from Canadian Living. Oven-Poached Salmon by The Canadian Living Test Kitchen



This classic buffet dish is not only beautiful but also delicious hot or cold. Cutting the fish before cooking gives clean edges. To serve, garnish with more slices of lemon and fresh sprigs of parsley and thyme. Watercress Mayonnaise makes a spring-fresh condiment to serve alongside.

Servings: 12

Picture Paxarcana.wordpress.com

1/4 cup (50 mL) white vermouth 2 tbsp (25 mL) chopped fresh thyme (or 1 tsp/5 mL dried) 2 sides salmon (about 2 lb/1 kg each) 1/2 tsp (2 mL) salt 1 lemon, thinly sliced 12 sprigs fresh thyme or parsley

Nutritional Info
Per serving: about	-
cal	218
pro	23 g
total fat	13 g
sat. fat	3 g
carb	1 g
fibre	trace
chol	66 mg
sodium	160 mg
% RDI:	-
calcium	2%
iron	3%
vit A	2%
vit C	17%
folate	16%

In small saucepan, heat vermouth with chopped fresh thyme over medium heat; let cool for 10 minutes. Strain through sieve.

Cut four 40-inch (1 m) long pieces of foil; place double thickness on each of 2 rimless baking sheets. Grease foil.

Cutting just to skin, cut each piece of salmon into 6 portions; place, skin side down, on each pan. Sprinkle with salt<> Roast in top and bottom thirds of 400°F (200°C) oven, rotating and switching pans halfway through, until fish flakes easily when tested, about 25 minutes. Discard thyme sprigs; scrape off white protein. (Make-ahead: Let cool for about 30 minutes; discard lemon and refrigerate until cold. Cover and refrigerate for up to 24 hours.) Serve warm or cool. Have a great day.

Diamonds to Jambalayas

Diamonds are a Girl's Best Friend. On GMA there was a fascinating segment about thirteen women in California who had bought themselves a diamond necklace and share it between them. It started with one woman, Jonell McLain, seeing the necklace in a jeweller's store. She then contacted a number of women friends and proposed purchasing this as a joint venture. Finally, the jeweller agreed to sell the necklace at a discount so long as his wife could be part of the group. A book has now been written telling the story and a movie is apparently on its way. Each member of the group wears it for a month unless there is a special occasion, like being interviewed on Good Morning America I guess. They claim it has really changed their lives in many ways. If you would like to read more about it click here where there is also an excerpt from the book. It really is quite a novel concept - wish I had 12 friends I could share a diamond necklace with. Matt continued watching GMA whilst I came to blog and he saw Jack Hannah who is a visiting "animal man" and who brings in the most fascinating critters. Apparently there was one small deer or antelope which is known as "the red deer" whilst he was talking, Jack was stroking this animal with a napkin. At the end, he showed that the napkin was red but the deer hadn't lost any colour. Wish I could find something about this to show you. The only red deer I can find are not the same animal at all. The one Matt saw was striped. Fascinating that you can get colour from the animal and yet it still retains its colour. Another segment which interested me was the formation, some years ago, of a group called Just Between Friends. It has become big business now, but it is basically a giant yard/garage sale where people sell their gently used items to people looking for bargains. They suggest how you can do this in your own neighbourhood by getting, say, 20 friends together to sell their gently used items. They call it a consignment convention. Apparently everyone involved in selling makes some money and people come away with excellent bargains on things they need. click here for the whole story. Sarah Palin has just been interviewed by Charlie Gibson who is one of the best in his field - I didn't watch it, I am not political as I have said before - however I did see one segment where Charlie asked Palin about Russia and her foreign policy views - she started on about how one can see Russia from Alaska. It appeared to me, she didn't really understand the question, or she wasn't sufficiently genned up on the situation. I was asked, in the comment section, about posting a Jambalaya recipe. I already posted my recipe on the 4th of July and yes, it does contain shrimp. I have made it many times and it has always been popular. I have no doubt that "dahn sath" they have many Jambalaya recipes which differ considerably, but I have never investigated them. I have just found a chicken and sausage Jambalaya on About.com which may fit the bill if you don't like seafood. Oops, having posted it I see it also has shrimp but perhaps it would be OK to leave them out. Chicken and Sausage Jambalaya Source: About.com Serves: 6

Ingredients:

• 1 broiler chicken, cut up, about 3 pounds
• paprika
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 cup chopped onion
• 1 cup chopped green bell pepper
• 2 ribs celery, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 pound smoked sausage, thinly sliced
• 2 cans (14.5 ounces each) stewed tomatoes
• 2 cups chicken broth
• 1 cup long-grain rice
• 2 teaspoons leaf thyme, crumbled
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt, or to taste
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon hot pepper sauce (Tabasco)
• 1 pound shrimp, shelled and deveined

Preparation:

Wash chicken and pat dry; rub with the paprika. Heat olive oil in a large skillet; add chicken and brown on all sides. Remove chicken from skillet. Add onion, green bell pepper, celery, and garlic. Sauté over low heat until onion is tender, about 10 minutes. Stir in sausage, tomatoes, chicken broth, rice, thyme, salt, pepper, and hot sauce. Add chicken and turn to coat with sauce. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover, and simmer for 30 minute, or until chicken is tender. Stir in shrimp and cook about 3 minutes longer, or just until shrimp turns pink. Have a great day.

GMA Train, Tests

Good Morning America is doing their whole week's broadcast from a train next week. Hey that means we probably won't see it. The logistics of this broadcast are absolutely incredible. We wonder what it is going to cost ABC News. If you want to read more about it click here to get to the GMA web site. Of course it means nothing to those of you who are not in their broadcast area, but it really is an incredible undertaking involving helicopters picking up broadcasts and feeding them to satellite links and so on. We will have to try and catch some of the programme whilst we are on the road. Governor Palin is being well and truly attacked today. All kinds of scandals being brought up. Bound to happen, especially as she had pushed McCain's ratings up to equal or surpass Obama's. What a fiasco this all is. The latest accusation is she abused her power as governor to fire a top security guy. Of course today is also September 11 so there is lots on the news about the attack on the World Trade Centre. A new memorial is being dedicated in the Pentagon and they are going to have a moment of silence in remembrance. I still have the video of those attacks. A friend called me that morning and told me to turn on the TV. We all thought the first was an accident. Matt was out golfing and knew nothing about it until they reached the club house. I still would like to know about the plane that was supposed to have been shot down, I never heard any more about it. I wonder if it was a false report or what. I went for my blood tests finally this morning, Tuesday night I forgot to start fasting and was still eating cookies at 9:30, not a good idea. I didn't bother to put a coat on forgetting I might have to stand outside the clinic for a while. It was chilly but not bad, a crisp fall morning.. There were people with jackets on who were standing there literally shivering, not just one either. What are they going to do when winter comes? Today is shopping day, but I don't think we will have to buy very much, we won't be home after Monday morning. I do have to get some of the ingredients for my Jambalaya which I am making for the birthday party on Saturday. But generally, we don't need much at all. Matt got the car all tuned up ready to roll. Last night we tried some barbecued ribs which we bought from M & M's Meat Market. They tasted pretty good, but weren't really enough. One would have to buy two packets and that would work out to be fairly expensive. I've never made ribs as Matt normally doesn't like chewing bones (well he didn't chew these, he cut the meat off them) but just thought I would like to try them. When we first came to live in Canada, there was a restaurant quite close to us called The Knotty Pine. It was a very busy place and had an upstairs casual eatery and a downstairs more formal dining room. I would love to have owned a couple of shares in it, must have made a fortune. Unfortunately many years later, it was taken over by the son who ran it into the ground (or so we were told, it was while we were in the States). In the upstairs restaurant, they served a wonderful bean salad which I wanted the recipe for, but never did manage to get hold of. The following is the nearest I have ever come to it. Five Bean Salad Source: World Wide Recipes Servings: 8 - 12 1 cup (250 ml) extra virgin olive oil 1/3 cup (80 ml) balsamic or red wine vinegar 1 Tbs (15 ml) Dijon-style mustard 2 cloves garlic, peeled and coarsely chopped Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste 1 can (16 oz, 450 g) garbanzos (chick peas) 1 can (16 oz, 450 g) red kidney beans 1 can (16 oz, 450 g) black beans 1 can (16 oz, 450 g) green string beans 1 can (16 oz, 450 g) yellow wax beans 1 medium-sized onion, chopped 1/2 cup (125 ml) fresh parsley leaves, coarsely chopped Combine the olive oil, vinegar, mustard, garlic, salt, and pepper in a blender or food processor and process at high speed until emulsified. In a large colander drain and rinse the canned beans. Combine with the dressing and the onion and parsley in a large bowl, tossing to mix ingredients thoroughly. Chill for at least 2 hours. Have a great day.

Irish Polar Bears?

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.

Bowling, Diabetes,

I was tickled pink yesterday, I bowled really well. I actually had a 200 game which is definitely not usual for me. Our new team is a fun group which helps. The team I was on last year were too busy talking family and not interested in the bowling per se which I found unencouraging (is there such a word?) to say the least. I ended up with an average of 170 which is very high for me. I know it is unlikely to stay that high and I hope it won't because I don't need such a high average if I enter for any of the bowling tournaments this winter. Of course with a high average like that, I am unlikely to get "most improved bowler" at the end of the season too although we joked that she (woman who runs the alley) could come up with a booby prize. Now we have a few errands to run before going away. I have cancelled the newspaper, don't want that piling up outside our door, have to license the car this month, its registered in my name so has to be done for my birthday. Also have to have my three monthly blood tests done for diabetes. Bit of a pain, I have to get up at the crack of dawn get a urine sample and then dash down to the clinic which luckily is quite close. They then take 5 or 6 tubes of my blood after which I can come home and finally have breakfast. I have been hearing a lot lately about people who don't take proper care of themselves although they have diabetes. There is no reason why you shouldn't live a long and healthy life with diabetes providing you do everything you are told and having an A1C test every 3 months is one of the things to do. I personally am terrified of all the complications which can occur from diabetes. One of the things which particularly scares me is amputation often necessitated by artery blockages and subsequent lack of blood to the feet. I also recently found out that apart from all the complications we are normally warned about, i.e. kidney, liver, limb functions, heart attacks, one can have trouble with the skin, muscles and exoskeleton. Less prevalent I gather, but it can still happen. We just discovered that Johnny Cash, the singer, died from diabetes. We hadn't realised that before. I am supposed to go to CDA today but they phoned and asked me to come in tomorrow. The weather isn't being too kind to us at the moment. Pretty cool, seems like someone shut off the heat once September started. I do hope it will brighten up for our trip next week. We are taking shorts but are not sure if we will need them. Oh yes, we saw Canada Geese in our park yesterday, from the window, something we have never seen there before. They didn't visit for very long, Matt thought they might be on their migration and just stopped in for a nosh. You can just about see them, amazing how small they look when they are quite big birds. There were lots more behind the bushes on the left. You have to have a permit to shoot them and you certainly can't do so in a city park, but we ate one once and it was good. A friend we used to have was hunting mad. He also knew how to cook them properly. They are a problem in a lot of parks where there is water, they are such messy things and the parks get covered in goose poop. People with back yards which slope down to the water have the same problem. The friends' in Hespeler where we are partying on Saturday have that disadvantage in their back yard. I know the chilled soups weren't too popular so here is a Chicken Satay recipe from the same source - Home Basics. I love Satays, and this is a quick and easy way of doing it. Grilled Peanut Chicken Satays Source Home Basics Serves 6 1 pouch onion soup 1/4 Cup olive oil 2 tbs firmly packed brown sugar 2 Tbs creamy peanut butter 1 lb boneless, skinless, chicken breasts, pounded thin and cut into strips 12 wooden skewers (I actually have metal ones) In a large, resealable plastic bag, combine the soup mix, olive oil, brown sugar and peanut butter. Add the chicken and toss to coat. Seal and marinate in the refrigerator for 30 minutes. Remove the chicken from the marinade and discard the marinade. Thread the chicken onto the wooden skewers (which should have been soaked in water prior to this). Grill or broil until the chicken is cooked through. Have a great day.

Elections, Bowling, Dinner

I think I may have mentioned that I am sick to death of electioneering from the US which has been going on for months and will not finish until November. Now our own Prime Minister, Stephen Harper, has called an election which will take place on October 14. At least our campaigning won't take so long, but it means a double whammy of advertising on TV. As a friend of mine might say, oy vey. The picture is one posted by the Green Party, I am very tempted to vote for them as I would like to see a party get in who cared about the environment which it seems to me is not the case with most of them. I won't be around when the polar bears go extinct because of ruined habitat, or any other similar situations which will surely arise in the future, but I still care enough to want to do something about it. Here is a quote from the Green Party page "Harper said he wants to be involved in the anti-Kyoto plan to coax the US into joining Kyoto. That’s like saying the reason you're joining the bank robbers in the heist (is) to convince them to go straight." Today is bowling day for the first time this winter season. I have missed it for the last few weeks since the summer league ended. Even though it means practically eating my lunch at breakfast time because they start so early and parking is so difficult. The pity is we will bowl today and then next week will be away. Not sure if we will be back the following week. Depends if we are having fun and/or the weather is being nice to us. I hope I can bowl as well this season as I did during the summer season. Trouble is the winter crowd don't seem to care that much which I find has an effect on me. Had a delightful dinner on Saturday night at a friend's house. It was, unfortunately, a tad cool for sitting outside for long. We had a drink and then ate our hors d'ouvres outside, large grilled garlic shrimp accompanied by bread and a dipping sauce of which I ate far too much and then went in as it was a bit chilly. For a main course we had a choice of chicken Cordon Bleu or Kiev with veggies cooked on the barbecue and we finished up with a sinful chocolate mousse served with Cappucino ice cream. I know our hostess reads this blog now and then so thanks a bunch, it was good. Picture from myrecipes.com. It turns out that a lot of people don't like cold soups like the one I posted on Saturday. Sorry about that y'all, but I love them and I am going to post another from the same source, Home Basics. I suppose you could heat this one if you absolutely had to!! Curried Carrot Soup Source Home Basics Serves 4 1 Tbs butter 1 medium onion, chopped 2 tsp curry powder 2 tsp grated fresh ginger 5 medium carrots, peeled, cut into 1/2 inch pieces 2 cups chicken or vegetable broth 2 cups light cream, divided 1/2 tsp salt 1/2 cup plain yoghurt In a medium saucepan set over medium low heat, melt the butter. Add the onion and sauté 3 to 4 mins. or until softened. Add the curry powder and ginger and cook, stirring constantly, for 1 to 2 minutes. Add the carrots and broth, increase the heat to medium and cook covered for 25 to 30 mins or until the carrots are very tender. Remove from the heat and let cool for 5 minutes. Stir in 1 cup of cream. Purée the soup in a blender or processor until completely smooth. Add the remaining cream and salt and blend again to mix. Transfer to a covered container and refrigerate until completely chilled, at least 2 hours or overnight. To serve, ladle soup into individual bowls and swirl a generous dollop of yoghurt into each. Have a great day.

Hurricanes or not, Trip.

Tropical Storm Hanna appears to be not more than a big storm and is currently harassing the Eastern Seaboard of the States. Hanna did cause some deaths in the islands but pictures shown of the Carolina coast 5 hours after it hit show people in the water and hardly a ripple. Hannah is busy racing up the coast and will drop some rain in places where they are not used to such storms. Ike is on its way and that is already a Category 3. They are predicting it will strengthen, after it has passed Cuba. Josephine is still a Tropical Storm. If you are interested, there are all kinds of videos on the weather channel if you click here you can see them. The picture was taken from the weather channel a day or two ago. Someone made the crack the other day "I don't like Ike". In case you don't remember that's a reference to the buttons people wore when Eisenhower became president "I like Ike". Well, only just over a week and we head on out for our trip. It will be nice to get away. The car is all ready, we didn't end up spending and arm and a leg, just an arm. Matt does the packing, I am useless at it and that won't get done til Sunday. We bought new suitcases for our trip to England and one of them is ginormous. I think we could pack for a couple of months if we took it. Picture from dawsonresort.com Manitoulin is actually quite a big island we are told and there is lots to see. Me being me, I wonder what the restaurants are like. We had a magazine in our mail box last week called Home Basics. I am not sure where it came from, but it is full of delicious sounding recipes. One I am particularly interested in was a cold soup which I will give you the recipe for. In fact they listed three cold soups all of which look pretty good. This one looks so good it caught my eye instantly. Chilled Cucumber, Avocado and Shrimp Soup Serves 4 Source Home Basics 1 medium Avocado 1 medium cucumber, peeled and diced 1/2 Cups chicken or vegetable broth 1 Cup plain Yoghurt 2 Tbs lime juice 1 tsp salt 1 cup diced, cooked shrimp 2 green (spring) onions, finely chopped 4 small, cooked, peeled shrimp. Cut the avocado in half and remove the stone. Wrap half the avocado in plastic wrap and set aside. Peel the other half and cut into chunks. Place the avocado, cucumber, broth, yoghurt, lime juice and salt in a blender. Process until smooth and creamy. Transfer the mixture to a bowl and refrigerate for at least 1 hour or until very cold. To serve, peel and slice the remaining avocado half. Stir the avocado into the soup along with the diced shrimp. Ladle the soup into 4 bowl, sprinkle with green onions and float a single shrimp on top of each bowl. The picture shows the tail still on the shrimp. I personally hate tails left on and always remove them otherwise the person eating them has to then find somewhere to put it. Have a great weekend.

Canada's Moose, Newfoundland and Crème Brulée

Watched an interesting Canadian Geographic programme last night. Apparently Newfoundland is overrun with moose. Early last century 4 moose were imported onto the island and now they are having big problems with the animals. They are eating the island out of house and home plus they are a big danger on the roads. The indigenous black bear does kill off some of the babies and the hunting season accounts for a great deal more, but the moose produce something like 4,000 young a season. The moose has now become Canada's most dangerous animal because of the road accidents it causes. Not really the fault of the moose is it? The programme had some stunning shots of both moose and bears. Considering I have only ever, in over 30 years, seen one female moose, it has inspired me with a new desire to go to Newfoundland for a visit. The scenery shown on the programme was also stunning, although I suppose you need to choose the right time of the year. The car has to go back in again today, they just did the service yesterday. Today its having a new battery. The knocking noise can be ignored for the while as it is in the a/c and will cost us quite a bit to get fixed apparently. Lunch with Matt's cousin went very well. It was wonderful to see her again, not that any of us would have recognised anyone else. We caught up on everything that had been happening in our lives, all family stuff of course. She ate every scrap of her lunch which was great. I love it when people eat what we prepare. I tried some Crème Brulées from M & M Meat Shops and they were very good, we enjoyed them. They were individual servings and came in a cookie Tulip cup. In the picture from cooking101.abccook.com they are served in ramekins, but the basic idea is the same. Later I found out how many Weight Watcher points they are. Wish I hadn't, especially as we still have one left! We have an invitation to a barbecue on Saturday which will be fun. I have mentioned before that we can't barbecue because we are in an apartment building. Propane tanks are dangerous in a building like this. I'm not actually sure electric ones are that safe in a big building like this either. I have mentioned before, I love mousse. It is one of the few things I don't mind what the flavour is, raspberry, strawberry, chocolate, lemon, you name it, I'll eat it. We once ate our way through a whole bunch of mousse desserts at a restaurant in Beachy Head, England, and loved them. This one is from my cookery group. Baked Chocolate-and-Hazelnut Mousse Serves: 8 Source: RUK 8 oz. semi-sweet chocolate (Baker's sweet chocolate will do) 1 tablespoon Frangelico (hazelnut liqueur), brandy, or white rum 1 tablespoon heavy or light cream 3 large eggs, separated 2 tablespoons sugar 2 tablespoons flour 1/8 teaspoon salt 5 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened 1/4 cup chopped hazelnuts, coarse or fine powdered sugar Melt chocolate with liqueur and cream over low heat (use a double boiler or microwave on low to be safe). Remove from heat when melted. With electric mixer, beat egg yolks about 3 minutes until thick and lemon-colored. Add sugar, flour, salt, butter, and hazelnuts. Mix well. Add chocolate mixture to batter. Mix thoroughly. Beat egg whites until stiff. Stir 1/4 of whites into batter to lighten mixture. Carefully fold in rest of whites. Spoon mixture into 8 to 10 small, fluted, foil, baking liners (paper cupcake liners in a muffin tin, a well-buttered muffin tin, individual ramekins, or individual soufflè dishes may also be used). Bake 20 minutes at 400F. Let cool slightly, then dust tops with powdered sugar from a small sieve. Serve in foil liners on dessert plates with small dessert spoons. Good warm or cool. Freezes well. Makes 8 Individual Baked Mousses. Have a great day.

Car and Lunch

Matt has taken the car in this morning, ostensibly for service, but there is a knocking noise plus I think the brake liners need doing in the front. This makes me verrrrry nervous. We never seem to be able to take the car in for service without ending up spending a bunch of money. The joys of motoring I guess. Luckily the garage we are using is just down the road from us, so we don't have to go very far. So cross your fingers for us that by the time you read this, we aren't in the poor house. Matt's cousin confirmed she has printed off a Google map and will be here at 11 as scheduled. Lunch should all be ready by then. I haven't made my Caesar dressing yet but it doesn't take too long. I use one which is something of a cheat, but which I got from a friend some 25 years ago and which we very much like the taste of. I make my own croutons but oddly enough, I don't like croutons any more, I have no idea why. In a restaurant I usually get them to "hold" the croutons on my salad. I will be serving them separately for lunch. Making croutons is pretty easy by the way, just lightly toast some bread, then cut it into small cubes and fry them in olive oil in small batches until they are golden brown, two slices of bread at a time (too many and you will end up burning them) then dry on paper towel. You can then use straight away or freeze them. I usually make up a batch for freezing when I do make them. You can, of course, season them with garlic if you wish, I personally prefer them without the garlic. This is the recipe I use for Caesar Salad which I got from my friend Barbara who, sadly, is no longer with us. Quick and Easy Caesar Salad 1/3 c olive oil 1/3 c italian dressing 1 egg yolk 2 tsp lemon juice 6 dashes tabasco 2 tsp wine vinegar 4 tsp parmesan dash pepper & salt 2 crushed garlic cloves 1/2 tsp dry mustard 1 Tsp anchovy paste Mix all ingredients in a bowl - store in fridge if required. Tear up Romaine, add dressing, croutons and bacon bits. Toss and serve. Have a great day.

Books and Josephine

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.

Inflammatory Breast Cancer

I have just been sent this video clip. If you have never heard of Inflammatory Breast Cancer, I urge you to watch this video. This is for women of course, but if you have a wife or daughter, you should be aware of this too. I had never heard of IBC which apparently can be diagnosed by a doctor as being a bug bite when it turns out it is one of the most pernicious forms of breast cancer and CANNOT be detected in the usual way. Please do watch this, its important. http://komonews.s3.amazonaws.com/ibc/komo_ibc.wmv

Hurricanes and Cheeses

It turned out that Gustav wasn't as bad as they predicted, by the time it made landfall it was only Category 1. I say only, that is in comparison to a 4 or 5 which was what they were talking about. It was still responsible (or was it) for the deaths of 8 people on the US mainland and a heck of a lot of damage in Louisiana. New Orleans has lots of flooding although not as bad as last time. I say 'or was it', if people didn't get out of the way, is that the hurricane's fault? The levees were overtopped again but they are not scheduled to finish rebuilding them for several years yet. One thing I was pleased to hear, people were allowed to take their pets with them when they were evacuated. Some said they wouldn't have gone without them this time. Photograph courtesy of the US Coastguard/Associated Press. One thing that does concern me, those who evacuated this time will eventually return and say "why did we leave, it wasn't necessary" with the result that next time they may not go and another Katrina situation could develop. However, we now have Hanna and Ike frolicking around in the Atlantic plus Tropical Depression 10. At present Hanna is destined for the South East coast of the States. That's where I used to live. They have been hit hard by hurricanes over the years, but not much lately they are pleased to say. Hurricanes come in cycles of about 10 years according to the weather boffins, I guess we are now in another cycle this year. That doesn't mean hurricanes don't form, there just aren't as many and certainly not many landfalls in some years. Of course the Caribbean Islands get quite a pasting when all these storms go past. Gustav did a lot of damage in Haiti and The Dominican Republic. I was surprised to get a question about Havarti Cheese yesterday. It is a Danish cheese which is also made in Canada, must admit I prefer the original. Wikipedia have a great description of it click here and also describe how it came to be made in the first place. It is a wonderful cheese for toasting too. I just slap a slice on a buttered bun and stick it under the grill. Yummy. Today, Marilyn of French Marilyn's Blog (see link this page) told me of another recipe using Mozzarella. In fact by the sound of it, the recipe is really for Bocconcini which are small cheeses very similar to Mozzarella. In her recipe they are served sitting in a bed of caviar. Not many of us can afford real caviar so one can make do with lumpfish roe or something similar which is not very expensive. It is something I must try, sounds pretty good. Think I have some lumpfish roe and the local grocery sell Bocconcini. Yes I know, lots of people don't like any kind of caviar, Matt isn't that keen, he would rather have a good paté de foie gras. I, on the other hand, take after my mother and love the stuff. Don't know if I told you the story of a flight to England a few years ago, we were travelling Air Canada and I commented that on a Canadian plane we should be serving Canadian wines, not French. Canada does excellent wines these days. We got into chat about the whole subject and finally the chief flight attendant got involved in the discussion. I happened to mention that I had always wanted to travel first class because of the better food, but had never been in a position to do so They said it wasn't much different, but then it turned out they had had paté and caviar for supper which we certainly hadn't. In the end we were brought small bottles of Canadian wine and a serving of paté for Matt and a serving of caviar for me. The rest of the passengers must have wondered at this special treatment. This had not been intentional of course, but on the way home I tried it on again, no success that time. Its Canadian Diabetes volunteer day again today. I already know one job I have to do and it won't be easy as the Word programme on the computer plays me up. Maybe it doesn't like me although I never have trouble with Word on my own PC. Here is a pasta recipe I picked up and which I haven't tried yet. I like both goat's cheese (Chèvre) and sun dried tomatoes so thought I would save the recipe to try. I usually enjoy the recipes of Giada di Laurentis on Everyday Italian too so figure I have a winner here. Angel Hair Pasta with Sun-dried Tomatoes & Goat Cheese Source: Everyday Italian Picture from Slowtrav.com Servings: 4 1 (10-ounce) jar sun-dried tomatoes packed in oil, chopped (oil reserved) 1 small onion, chopped 4 garlic cloves, minced 1/4 cup tomato paste 2/3 cup dry white wine 8 ounces angel hair pasta Salt and freshly ground black pepper 2 ounces soft fresh goat cheese, coarsely crumbled 2 tablespoons chopped fresh Italian parsley leaves Heat 2 tablespoons of the oil from the sun-dried tomatoes in a heavy large skillet over medium heat. Add the onion and sauté until tender, about 3 minutes. Stir in the garlic and sauté until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add the tomato paste and cook for 2 minutes, stirring constantly. Add the wine and sun-dried tomatoes and simmer until the liquid reduces by half, about 2 minutes. Meanwhile, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add the pasta and cook until al dente, stirring occasionally, about 5 minutes. Drain, reserving 1/2 cup of cooking liquid. Add the pasta to the tomato mixture and toss to coat, adding some reserved cooking liquid to moisten. Season the pasta, to taste, with salt and pepper. Sprinkle with the goat cheese and parsley and stir. Mound the pasta into bowls and serve. Have a great day.

More on Gustav

Gustav is 2 hours away from landfall and could still increase its strength. At present it is packing winds of 115 mph which is quite bad enough. To Marilyn who says she loves storms, I have experienced a number of hurricanes, from a distance and I assure you, to stay if you can run is totally foolish, although I have just seen an interview where people did try to run and got stuck in the traffic for hours so ended up going back home. They estimate there are about 10,000 people left in New Orleans, however around 2,000,000 have evacuated the coast. They sure learned their lessons after Katrina. These are killer storms, Katrina killed something like 1,600 people, they are not storms you just sit around and watch. Even if you have reason to suppose your home is strong enough to withstand the winds, there is still the storm surge which is a major factor on the coast of Louisiana. Luckily it was never a problem where we lived in North Carolina. Just to add to the problems, they are predicting 12 to 14 inches of rain which is enough to cause floods on its own without any storm surge. If you want to sit around and 'watch' all that Marilyn you will be all alone and maybe no longer with us afterwards to tell the story of how exciting it was. The picture is again from the Weather Channel and if you want to view their latest videos click here to see what they have to say. Bush will not be attending the convention for McCain today because he is keeping his eye on the hurricane and after so much criticism last time, he and the government are poised to bring relief to the area straight away. One thing I wonder, having had a lot of experience evacuating from hurricanes, is where all these evacuees will go. Its all very well to ship 2 million people away from the coast, but there won't be hotels which can cope with that many people. I don't know if they have shelters set up somewhere away from the coast or what? Its a lot of people to deal with. By the way, it is Labour Day in Canada and the States today, what a heck of a way to spend a holiday, running from Gustav. Animals are a big problem too. Hundreds of pets were abandoned and drowned last time, hopefully more people will have taken their pets with them. I know some of the Canadian animal shelters went down there to rescue as many animals as they could. We contributed a few dollars to help. I don't know what happens to cows and horses etc. although I remember seeing pictures of dead pigs floating by. I sure wonder what happens to wild animals. Some might be safe enough in burrows unless those flood of course. Picture from webranding.typepad.com - shows a sad little group of dogs on top of a house. There are dozens more even sadder pictures of what happened to some pets during Katrina. On a happier topic, I think I have mentioned Carbonite before, it is a wonderful programme. I first came across it from the Canadian Association of Retired People generally referred to as CARP (there is an AARP in the States) who recommended it. It is a backup programme and just sits in your toolbar and quietly does its job whilst you get on with whatever you are doing. The other day I realised I had lost a whole folder of pictures that I had been using for this blog. I checked back into Carbonite's restore feature and there it was. A couple of clicks and a short wait and now I have all my pictures back. Marvellous. Everything is stored on line and encrypted for safety. I can't recommend it highly enough. You can try it for free at this address so you can see for yourself how good it is. I am not certain, but I think it costs around $56 a year and it is, in my opinion, worth every penny. If you had lost as much stuff as I have over last 20 years or so through forgotten or inaccurate back ups you would be leaping at this. Another wonderful programme I use is Plaxo which stores all one's email addresses and keeps everyone up to date. If I change my email address, every one of my contacts on Plaxo will be notified automatically. Not only that, I lost the addresses once and Plaxo had them all stored safely for me. Plaxo's Page will tell you all about it. It even tells who, among your contacts, has posted blogs in any week. And no, I don't have a financial interest in either of these websites, I only wish I did. I mentioned, a week or so ago, a dish Matt does with baked tomatoes. Taking plum tomatoes, cutting them in half, adding fresh basil, salt and olive oil with a dusting of sugar or Splenda and then cooking them for a couple of hours in a slow oven. He did them over the weekend and they were delicious as usual. I took a photo to show you the tomatoes before they went in the oven. They got devoured too quickly once they came out so I forgot to take a picture of them then. He does add a little extra olive oil after about the first hour of cooking. You end up with some lovely flavoured oil which can be sopped up with a nice piece of crusty bread. MMMMMM. I have mentioned tomato toasts before, a thing we used to do in the States when we had a really nice back deck, was to lightly toast a Ciabatta bun, rub garlic on it, spread a little olive oil, some well seasoned tomato and a slice or two of Havarti cheese. We just popped them back under the grill long enough for the cheese to start melting and then ate them sitting on the back deck watching the birds sipping on a beer at the same time. That was the life. This picture isn't quite the same, but it shows you the type of bun we used to use. We did not close the bun but put filling on both halves. I've just had breakfast and I am making myself hungry. I have remembered another sandwich I make for myself, especially, butter two slices of decent bread (no not mayo, butter) then add, in layers, some lettuce, onions, tomatoes and cucumber with plenty of salt and pepper. Put the top piece of bread on and smoosh it down. The flavours meld and are wonderful. It doesn't need anything else I promise you. Have a great day.