Our Thursday, Warm Coats,

We met up with some of our friends from Wednesday night plus a bunch of other bowlers at The Crossroads Restaurant in Elmira for lunch, not a restaurant we favour although it seemed their food had improved since last time we were there. Matt had a BLT (Bacon, Lettuce and Tomato Sandwich) which was jam packed with bacon apparently and made on their own home made bread. He said it was very good. I had soup and salad and the soup was good. Turkey, tomato and basil. We were joined for lunch by the proprietor of Elmira Bowl too as two of our friends used to own a bowling alley so they know all the other proprietors. We then headed out to the alley. Some of the local bowlers had turned out to support our visit and we were all mixed in together which made it more fun. I actually bowled "fairly" well, Matt didn't do too badly either. Some of our other friends did really well and we all had a fun afternoon. It is a pity that Elmira Bowl is no longer a member of the Travel League but one of their bowlers was telling us that they had no drivers. That is a problem with older groups I suppose, many are no longer able, or allowed to drive. I hope they can find someone to drive them to the meets as it is more fun to have other alleys as part of the group, at the moment, we only have two. We did think of going to Elmira Bowl permanently, but driving could be a problem for us, depending on the weather. Not something we wanted to do every week, its not that close to home, they are way out in the country. We have closer alleys, but they don't take part in things either. It is a problem as lots of 5 pin bowling alleys are closing down, probably through lack of participation. A lot of the people where we bowl at Waterloo Lanes, don't care about any other events associated with bowling, they just go along on their bowling day and that's it. Matt and I have always enjoyed the tournaments and the Travel Leagues. It makes it more fun and we enjoy meeting other people. Of course, we bowl again this afternoon and having already bowled twice this week, I am a bit stiff. Good Morning America and ABC News are running a charity Warm Coats, Warm Hearts - they did it last year and collected several hundred thousand coats which were donated to people who don't have winter coats. Apparently a youngster who donated his coat left a message in the pocket for whoever received the coat and they have become friends. Nice story. The drive has spread into Canada as well. They get truckloads of coats from places like Burlington Coat Factory and lots from schools all over the States. Along with her Christmas Card, a friend of mine in Ireland, sent a little pocket sized cookbook of Irish Foods, Fast and Modern. This is one of the soup recipes I found. Bacon and Cabbage Soup A new life for a classic combination 1 medium onion, finely diced 50 g butter 2 large potatoes, peeled and diced 250 g savoy or spring cabbage (1 small cabbage) 600 ml chicken or ham stock 4 bay leaves, salt and pepper 175 g cooked ham or bacon Sweat the onion in the butter. Add the potato and cabbage. Cook for another 2 minutes. Add stock and bay leaves. Bring to the boil and cook until the potatoes are soft. Remove the bay leaves and liquidise or blend with a hand blender. Add the cooked ham or bacon. Season to taste.

Wednesday Night

Well, having cooked ourselves silly for a couple of days, our party was very successful and everyone seemed to enjoy everything, in particular the Lamb and Feta Cigars and the Scotch Eggs. The cake was a big success too. This is Matt cutting it and everyone waiting patiently for it and the cream. From the reactions I think some of my guests could have enjoyed the large bowl of cream on its own but the cake improved it. After we had finished stuffing eating, we cleared the table and played Sjoelbak. This is a Dutch game which we first came across in 1987 when we went for Christmas in the Muskokas. It could be described as a kind of shuffleboard. Two of our guests last night originate from Holland or the Nederlands and have their own Sjoelbak board. I bought ours for Matt in 1988 but of recent years we haven't played the game very much. In the end, after much hilarity, Matt won but he was given significant help by two of our guests *g*. If you are interested in reading more about the game click here for the rules. I am not sure we follow them exactly but one of our Dutch friends decided he would like to check them so I googled this morning and found you are only supposed to play one round at a time. Not that that matters of course. Today we are going with some of the same friends to Elmira to bowl - just a fun thing. We used to go with our travel league, but they have dropped out as no-one wants to travel apparently. Also today, I am sick of food and cooking, so I am being thoroughly lazy and not giving you a recipe. Have a great day.

Collards and Spring Greens

Having mentioned collards yesterday, I had a query about them. This is what Wikipedia has to say about them. To me they are very similar, although not exactly the same, as the vegetable known as Spring Greens in the UK. They are eaten widely in the Southern States where they frequently boil them with pork hocks which makes a very fatty mush - sorry I don't enjoy that. I personally prefer them torn up, boiled til just tender and then I do one of two things, I either toss them in garlic infused oil and add a little wine vinegar before serving, or I toss them in garlic infused home made tomato sauce. Both ways delicious and you can still taste the collards. If you can get hold of really fresh collards from field or garden, the very centre of the plant is so tender it can be eaten in a salad. As for Spring Greens, my mother used to cook them to a mush too, surprising because she usually didn't overcook things, but I remember her draining them in a collander and it was often my job to chop them with the edge of a saucer. Here is a recipe for Spring Greens and I see no reason why you couldn't prepare collards the same way except you might need to boil collards before you follow the recipe as they are quite a tough vegetable. Riverford Organic Vegetables Spring Greens with Garlic and Soy Sauce Preparation Time: 5 minutes Cooking Time: 5 minutes Serves: 4 Ingredients 2 small heads of spring greens 2-4 table spoons sunflower oil 2 cloves garlic soy sauce Instructions Spring greens are sweet, tender, full of flavour and packed with vitamins. We published this recipe 2 years ago and are reprinting it for the benefit of our more recent customers as it is just such an excellent way to make the best of their sweet, zesty, unadulterated spring flavour. You may be tempted to add chilli, ginger or lemon. 1. Chop two whole greens cross-ways into strips of 1cm or less. Chop almost down to the stump. The stems and leaf ribs are the sweetest bits. 2. Heat the oil in a wok or heavy bottomed pan over a high heat. Peel and lightly crush the garlic with the back of a knife. Keeping the cloves whole will avoid burning. Cook in the oil for just about 20 seconds and add the greens before the garlic browns. Cook for about 2 minutes turning constantly in the oil. 3. Add two or three shakes of soy sauce, cook for a further 15 seconds and serve. Riverford Organic Vegetables - www.riverford.co.uk Right, I am off to cook some more, spent most of yesterday cooking and now we have more still to do. Have a great day.

Boa Nova Rodizio, Bowling and Shopping.

I really enjoyed my dinner at Boa Nova. I should have taken pictures. I am not much of a cameraman though and forgot to take it. Of course I had my cell phone, but didn't use that either. When we got to the restaurant at 6:00 p.m. it was totally deserted. We were told we could help ourselves to the buffet and when we were ready we had to turn a card over (which they had given us) and the Gaucho would bring meats. We started off with some cabbage soup which I enjoyed but it needed a little salt for my taste. My friend tried the potato and collards soup which she enjoyed too. Incredibly she had never eaten collards, I will have to remedy that for her fairly soon. I then had some shrimp and mussels served with rice and a spoonful of black beans which turned out to be spicy. My friend went to the salad bar which looked very good. We both held off a bit because of the meats. Having turned our little card over, a young man came with a skewer of chorizo (Portuguese or Spanish sausage; if you have never eaten it, it has a taste all its own). Because of her lap band surgery my friend didn't have any, but I did and it was good. Once that was eaten we got some peppered steak which was really good and cooked medium (actually I thought it was quite rare) however, they offered to cook it more should we desire, but neither of us did. Because of the lap band surgery my friend was unsure how much she could eat so asked about the lamb. They kindly brought that next. It was good and pink and flavoured with Rosemary. After that we got chicken wrapped in bacon, another type of steak, a chicken drumstick, some pork, another type of beef which had a special name - I'm a good reporter, I can't remember what they called it. It was all delicious and we could have gone on eating as long as we wished. They don't give you a lot of anything but keep coming back. Each person is given a small pair of tongs so you can grasp the meat as it is being sliced. Being a pig, I had seconds of several things. Once we were stuffed to the gills with meat, they brought round barbecued pineapple. When I first saw it I thought the skin was still on. Turned out that they put patterns in the flesh, then sugar the pineapple before they barbecue it. Absolutely delicious. I had three slices of that, all told. The picture looks similar except in our case it was brought to us on a skewer. I understand there are a lot of these Brazilian type restaurants around, I thoroughly enjoyed it, so if there is one near you, I recommend it. One thing I very much liked is that we were not rushed as one is in some restaurants, it was a very leisurely meal. Oh and there were several full tables with large parties, when we left. Earlier in the day, yesterday, I had three of the worst games I have bowled in years - no real explanation. What was annoying was that one of the three games was "beat your average" for which one wins a couple of bucks at the end of the year. Couldn't get near my average, however, Matt went way over his. Then we went and did some final shopping for Wednesday. We are so dumb the pair of us. We called in at the liquor store close to the bowling alley for a particular wine I thought they might stock as it is such a big store. We got it and left to go shopping in a different area. Once we were well away, I remembered we needed a large bottle of wine for our party on Wednesday so we had to go to another liquor store. How stupid can you get? No, don't answer that. Anyway, I have to go make a chocolate cake. Its the one I posted a day or two ago "Tony's Mother's Chocolate Cake", for the Celiacs I have been meeting lately, that too is gluten free as well as the Turkish Orange Cake. Here is a Soup I got from Sankofa. African Tomato-Avocado-Buttermilk Soup 3 lb Tomatoes, peeled and seeded 2 Tbs Tomato paste 1 cup Buttermilk 1 Tbs Olive oil 1 Avocado, mashed to a puree Juice of 1 lemon 2 Tbs Finely minced fresh parsley Salt and pepper to taste Hot pepper sauce Garnish: 1 Cucumber, peeled, seeded, and diced, sour cream, plain yogurt, or creme fraiche 1 Purée tomatoes in a food processor or food mill, then press through a sieve to remove seeds. In a large mixing bowl, beat the pureed tomatoes, tomato paste, buttermilk, and oil. Toss pureed avocado with 1 tablespoon lemon juice to hold the color. Add the avocado, remaining lemon juice, and parsley to the tomato mixture; stir to mix well. Season to taste with salt and pepper, and a generous number of drops of hot pepper sauce. Refrigerate several hours before serving. 2 At serving time, taste soup for seasonings. Ladle into individual bowls and have guests garnish their portions with cucumber and sour cream. Pass hot pepper sauce around to add more piquancy. Servings: 8

Winter Wonderland, Boa Nova Rodizio

We sure got plenty of snow this weekend, some of the side roads are still white. The park outside our windows was a crystal delight yesterday in the sun, of which we had plenty, it was a beautiful day. Not so today, I am afraid it is dull. No that is not the park, but a picture of a sunny snowy day. We have a busy day today. First we have to go bowling, then we have to do shopping for our dinner on Wednesday (several items we didn't want to get too soon) and finally I am going to dinner with a friend at the Boa Nova Rodizio, a Portuguese restaurant with Brazilian overtones. If you would like to read all about it click here and see their web page. This is a picture of their buffet table, but their specialty is Rodizio where the Gauchos bring the meat to your table on the skewers which held it whilst being cooked on a rotisserie; they carve you as much as you want. I do hope they have some of my favourite Portuguese foods, I will let you know tomorrow. I have heard of this restaurant for some time but never been there before. Matt isn't going, he figures we can have a girl's night out and talk our heads off. (I hear silly heads somewhere there LOL). Tomorrow I have a lot of cooking to do so will have to get cracking to write my blog and do everything else. We are doing this dinner as a tapas, mezzes or finger food meal. Originally because there were more people than we could seat at our dining table. Unfortunately, one of our guests is in hospital with gall stones so won't be with us. Poor woman, that is a miserable thing to have I understand. What a time of year too, just coming up to Christmas! Here is another recipe from Best Ever Christmas. Prawns (Shrimp) with Fresh Herb Dip 1.5 kg cooked medium king prawns (or large shrimp) Fresh herb dip: 30 g butter 2 spring or green onions, chopped 1 tsp sambal oelek* 2 tbs chopped basil 2 tbs chopped parsley 2 tbs chopped mint 1 cup mayonnaise 1/2 thickened cream Peel prawns leaving tails intact, devein. Store in the fridge until required. To make Dip: Melt butter in small pan, add onions and garlic, stir fry over medium heat until soft, cool. Comine in a medium bowl with the remaining ingredients and serve with the prepared prawns. *Sambal oelek is available in specialty deli stores which sell Asian foods. Have a great day.

Friday, Wonton Wrappers, Jewellery

We took the glass lid back to the store and couldn't find anything nearer in size as it was only a few millimeters out. What a pity, I like glass lids - one can see what is happening. Serves me right for dropping both of the ones we had. I was hoping to have lunch out, but it really wasn't necessary so we came home, lunched and then went bowling. Yesterday I didn't do too badly. Matt has decided he can't bowl on Fridays, his scores were not up to his usual standard. We then popped in to see a friend to collect some Avon and I had a second look at the jewellery she is now selling. Latasia see here. There are some very attractive pieces and if I were in the market for more jewellery I would certainly be tempted. I was invited to attend a party last night but couldn't make it. Obviously a lot more pieces than shown in the picture. I am sure she will do well with it. Years ago there was Sarah Coventry jewellery and I bought quite a bit of it which in fact was a waste of time. I rarely, if ever, wore it and gave most of it away. Because we are planning to make some pot stickers for our party on Wednesday, Matt is concerned about purchasing wonton wrappers. Having phoned the store, they assure me they have them, but until he gets them, I don't think he will be convinced. We used to see them all the time in the States, but we have never had occasion to buy them here. The last time he made the pot stickers was for a party in the US where they were very popular. Oriental Pot Stickers 1/2 lb mixed scallop/shrimp (cod or haddock) 1- 1/2 tsp veg oil 1 tsp peeled, grated gingerroot 1 clove garlic minced 3/4 cup finely chopped leek 3/4 cup finely chopped water chestnuts 2 Tbs finely shredded carrot 1 Tbs dry sherry 1 Egg white 30 Wonton wrappers 2 tsp cornstarch Veg cooking spray 2 tsp veg oil 1/2 cup water Ginger Soy Sauce 1/2 cup plus 2 Tbs water 1/4 cup low sodium soy sauce 1 Tbs thinly sliced green onions 1 tsp sugar 1 tsp peeled grated ginger 2 tsp rice vinegar 2 tsp dry sherry Coarsely chop seafood by hand or processor. Set aside. Heat 1 1/2 tsp oil in skillet over medium heat. Add ginger and garlic, saute 30 secs. Add leek, saute 3 mins til tender. Combine fish, leek mixture, water chestnuts and next three ingredients in a bowl, stir well, set aside. Work with 1 wrapper at a time (cover rest with a damp cloth) spoon about 2 tsp of mixture in each wrapper. Moisten edges with water bring opposing corners to centre, pinch, repeat with other corners. Place on baking sheet sprinkled with cornstarch and set aside. Coat a nonstick skillet with spray, add 2 tsp oil heat over medium. Arrange potsticker in skillet, cook 3 mins until bottoms lightly browned. Add 1/2 C water, cover and cook 1 min til bottoms are crisp. Serve with warm Ginger-soy sauce. Sauce: Combine all ingredients in a bowl; stir well. Yield about 1 cup. Serving size about 3 tbs. Note: the picture looks somewhat different to the end result, but I couldn't find a picture that looked exactly the same. Have a great weekend.

Pantomime, Stratford Festival, Theatre

We (a friend and I) set off early to get to St. Jacob's to see our pantomime, we had time to kill so went to a local outlet mall where, in a kitchen utensils store I found a glass lid for our frying pan (I had broken two lids) so I bought it, having phoned Matt to find out what size I needed. I also bumped into an ex neighbour who recognised me and knew my name but I am ashamed I didn't remember hers. Its a few years since I last saw her. We had good seats in the theatre, not too close to the stage thank goodness. I had chosen the right row. My friend had never been to the pantomime before so I told her what to expect and the programme itself told her she was supposed to boo the baddies and cheer the hero. It was, as usual, very well done with lots of funnies and lots of stuff for both kids and adults. Being Cinderella, the baddies were the ugly sisters (played by men) and at the end of the show the audience was asked what to do with them and a young girl shouted out "get rid of them" the whole audience cracked up it was so funny. I think it was the same youngster who was up on stage a little later to help sing a song and had us all laughing then too. One thing I was a little puzzled about, they used music from well known shows and films, I wondered if they had to pay royalties to do so. There was one song I knew was from Oliver Twist and another from Les Misérables to name a couple. I think the script may have been from an English pantomime as there was at least one joke which I would think probably wasn't appreciated by a Canadian audience. I was told, by a friend very involved in stage work, that you cannot change the script of a show you produce. When I got home, I had received the catalogue of shows from the Stratford Festival for next year. I believe I mentioned we have a Stratford on the River Avon in Ontario where they have several theatres and a festival of performances each year. They are doing Macbeth, Midsummer Nights Dream and The Importance of Being Earnest next year and together with a host of other plays several of which I would like to see. I just made a discovery that the part of Lady Bracknell in the Importance of Being Earnest, is also played by a man. I hadn't remembered that if I ever knew it. Our local Galt Little Theatre is planning to produce the show too. I do love the theatre. The Drayton Entertainment Group are planning to produce The Heiress which is a play in which I took the lead some 45 or so years ago and it wasn't that new then. As I said to my friend, I will have to go see it to see if they do the job as well as I did *g*. Also, when I got home, I discovered the lid with which I was so pleased, was just a fraction too big for either of our large pans, so we have to take it back, grrrrr. Matt wants to do so this morning, but we have bowling at 1:00 - we'll see. Another thing in the mail was a booklet and some coupons for Brunswick Sardines. I had asked them if they knew the recipe I was hunting for (Sardine Rice Bundles) which I eventually found. The booklet is full of sardine recipes. They also sent me a sardine recipe by email as well. I like sardines so will try some. I know not everyone likes them. My father used to love sardines on toast sprinkled with a soupçon of cayenne pepper. Anyway, here is one of their recipes: Crispy Sardine Pizza 1 can Brunswick Sardines in Tomato Sauce 1/2 loaf crusty bread 1/2 Cup prepared pizza or pasta sauce 1 cup Mozzarella cheese, shredded 1/2 cup green pepper strips (Bell or capsicum) 1/4 cup mushrooms sliced 4 slices bacon cut into pieces Using the top or bottom half of the crusty bread loaf, remove 1/2" in depth of the inner bread. Leave outer crust intact. Loosely wrap aluminum foil around the outside of the bread. Spread pizza sauce over the bread. Add shredded cheese. Flake the sardines (with sauce) with a fork and spread over cheese layer. Add green pepers and mushrooms. Add bacon. Place bread with its toppings on a baking sheet and bake at 400°F for 15 minutes or until heated through. Makes 4 servings. Alternatives: Replace the vegetables and cheese with your favourite varieties. Cut in smaller pieces and use as appetizers. Also great made with Brunswick Seafood Snacks. Have a great day.

Canadian Pacific, Pantomimes,

I forgot to tell you, coming home from the dentist's on Tuesday night, it was dark, we had to go under a railway bridge and there, on top, was a Christmas train covered in lights - decorated carriages as far as I could see. It was such a lovely sight; some of the messages were about Canadian Pacific and some were wishing us all Happy Holidays. I understand the object of the train which has been around for 5 seasons now, is to raise public awareness of hunger and to raise money with a Christmas show. Didn't know about any of this before I Googled. I was just thrilled to see the train, I have no idea where the performance was taking place, read more here there is even a schedule although I don't see Cambridge, Ontario on the list and that is where we saw them. I would love to have taken photos as these don't really do it justice, but they are all I can find. Today I am off to see a matinée, a Christmas Pantomime, Cinderella. It is being staged at St. Jacob's School Theatre which is a small town fairly close by. It's part of the Drayton Entertainment group who's performances I have been going to see all year. They try to copy the format of a British panto, but they don't quite hit the nail on the head, sorry, they didn't with the one I saw, Aladdin. We will see how they do this time. Next year they are doing Robin Hood and I am not quite sure who the Pantomime Dame would be in that story. A British Pantomime has to have a Dame, some of the most famous comedians have played Dames in the past (and probably still do). The part is always played by a male and in England the Principle Boy is always played by a woman with "legs up to here". I always remember, with fondness, Terry Scott, who was a top comedian in his day, playing the dame and doing a routine to the stripper. He was preparing for bed and wearing dozens of corsets and it was one of the funniest things I have ever seen. This was him as Widow Twankey in Aladdin. Technically pantomimes are designed for children, but the London ones are full of adult humour most of which would be way beyond the children who have their own comedy all the time in the show. There are many stock scenes for kids, like the actor who has a bear behind him and doesn't know. He keeps turning and the children keep shouting warnings, but every time he moves, the bear does too. The kids love it. I was telling one of the nurses at the dentist's yesterday about the Turkish Orange Cake as she has a family member who cannot eat flour. Not Celiac disease, but still cannot eat wheat. So, specially for her, I will post the recipe again. The picture is one I made quite recently, it is always popular and is delicious. Turkish Orange cake 2 large oranges 6 eggs 8 oz ground almonds 8 oz sugar 1 tsp baking powder Juice of half a lemon Wash oranges and boil them in water for 2 hours (YES, two hours ! Careful pan doesn't dry out.) Throw out the water. Cool and pulp in a blender or food processor. You can remove pips but I never bother. Beat eggs and add them to orange pulp and then add all other ingredients. Pour into a buttered and floured (unless you can't use flour) cake tin. Bake at 180C or 350F or gas 4 for 60 minutes. Cool before turning out. Cake should be moist. Serve on own or with cream. Have a great day.

More Politics and More on Brain Plasticity

There is an email circulating asking Canadians to email the Governor General Michaélle Jean about the current turmoil in our government. Be sure I have done so and forwarded the email to other Canadians. I am pleased I am not the only one to be disturbed by the proposed coalition. I gather the Governor General is rushing home early from a state visit to deal with the problem and I hope the influx of emails will help her to do what is right and keep the voice of democracy alive. Tuesday night I watched Public Television. I quote: “Brain Fitness 2: Sight and Sound,” airing at 8:00 p.m. Tuesday, December 2, is the second program in a series about the power of brain plasticity to transform lives. The program takes viewers into the labs of the world’s most innovative neuroscientists, psychologists and neurobiologists who are discovering the amazing power of the brain to change, regardless of age." Another excellent programme on the plasticity of the brain and all the wonderful things they are discovering about the brain and what it can do to repair itself. To see a blind man stepping inside a circular tube on the floor and then out again as easily as a sighted person, was quite incredible. Much of the object of such research is to enable older people to maintain their independence a lot longer than before. They were asking for donations and as thank you gifts at quite a high level of donation, you could get four different gifts one of which included a computer programme called Insight which is an excellent tool for improving the working of the brain, see here. Unfortunately I personally can neither afford the donation to PBS nor the price of the programme on the open market. However, I recently did a Japanese test which was sent to me by a friend and on the one occasion I tried it found my brain rated at that of a 53 yr. old. If you'd like to try the game/test for yourself click here and see what rating you come up with. Matt tried it twice, once he ended up at 57 but wasn't sure what he was doing as he is not much good with computers, however, the second time he came in at 35 yrs old. This means I definitely have to try again, I can't have him beating me LOL. The site instructions are in Japanese, so read below! 1. Touch 'start' 2. Wait for 3, 2, 1. 3. Memorize the number's position on the screen, then click the circle from the smallest number to the biggest number. 4. At the end of game, computer will tell you the age of your brain. Having spent a fair amount of time (and money) at the dentist's yesterday, I ended up finding a recipe in Canadian Living magazine, which I really liked the look of. I since found the recipe on the internet but although the magazine had a great picture showing the juicy roasted pears with a pale golden mound of succulent filling in the hollow, the recipe on the internet did not. So I used a picture of a Bosc pear. I typed the recipe into my cookbook programme (Living Cookbook) before I looked on the internet. Pity, it would have saved me some effort. Honey-Roasted Pears 4 lge Bosc Pears 1/3 cup liquid honey 2 Tbs butter 2 Tbs orange juice FILLING 1/2 cup cream cheese, softened 2 Tbs liquid honey 1 egg yolk 1/4 tsp grated orange rind FILLING: 1 In a bowl, beat together cream cheese, honey, egg yolk and orange rind until smooth. set aside 2 Peel and halve pears, leaving stems intact. Trim thin slice off curved side to level. Using melon baller or teaspoon, remove core and enough of the centre to make 1½ in. wide and ¾ in. deep hollow, without going through the bottom. Place, cut side up, in well-greased 13 x 9 inch glass baking dish. 3 In microwaveable glass measure, heat together ¼ cup of the honey, butter and orange juice on high for 30-45 seconds or until melted. Stir; brush all over pears. 4 Turn pears cut side down. Bake in 375°F oven, basting every 10 minutes, for 30 minutes. Turn pears and baste; bake for 10 minutes. 5 Pour any liquid in centre of pears into baking dish. Spoon generous 1 Tbs filling into centre of each pear. 6 In a bowl, stir together remaining hone and 1/3 cup boiling water. Stir into pan syrup. Bake, basting once, until filling is puffed and pears are golden and tender, about 30 minutes. Transfer to platter; spoon sauce over top. Servings: 4 Have a great day

Politics, Dentists, Book

I hate politics and politicians. Having gone through a general election where a minority Conservative government was chosen by the voters, it now turns out that the remaining parties are planning a coalition in order to force out the Conservatives. If they can't come to power one way they will prostitute themselves to other parties to gain power another way. The picture shows, left to right, the NDP leader Jack Layton, Liberal leader Stéphane Dion and Bloc Québecois leader Gilles Duceppe. I can't believe in the first place that Stéphane Dion is still heading the Liberals after leading them to two election defeats and now they plan for him to lead the coalition. I don't talk, write or follow politics normally, but this whole situation is disgusting. Matt and I are being socially non existent today, we are both having work done on our teeth which will necessitate our non appearance in public. Trouble is we had to be at the dentists at 8:45 a.m. and as he is in another town, that meant arising before the crack of dawn in order to be on time. I do not like early rising. We have to go back again at 4 this afternoon. For all this unpleasantness we will have to pay a considerable sum. Our insurance pays some, but not, by any means, all. I am currently reading the Serpent Bride by Sarah Douglass which I am enjoying but is the kind of book you have to put down every now and again. I realise, reading it, I have read other books by Sarah Douglass. I am not quite sure which ones, but characters and events referred to are familiar to me. There is already a second book out in this particular series, not sure if it is just two books or whether she plans more. I am planning to make a chocolate cake next week, I got the recipe through my cookery group. I think I may have published it before, Senior Moment kicking in, but it is certainly a good cake and worth repeating. If there are any concerns with raw eggs and salmonella in your area, I suggest you avoid this recipe. We know it as: Tony's Mother's Chocolate Cake Make 24 hours in advance 10 oz caster sugar 10 oz unsalted butter 10 oz melted Bournville chocolate (any kind of good chocolate) 9 egg yolks 5 egg whites 1 Cream yolks and sugar for 15 minutes in mixer. 2 Mix butter with melted chocolate and add. 3 Beat egg whites until stiff and fold in. 4 Bake 2/3 of the mixture in a well-greased, push-up square tin, line with greaseproof paper, at Gas No 2 for 1½ hours. 5. Allow to cool. Pile raw mixture on top. Put in fridge to set and serve the following day.

Have a great day.

Decorations and Dim Sum

Saturday afternoon, Matt lugged all the Christmas stuff from the storage room and we worked on the tree. Surprise, surprise, although we didn't use them last year, the tree lights worked. It actually took something like two hours to set up the tree, put out a few more things and vacuum the "needles" dropped from the tree. We should buy a new one it really is shedding badly these days. We still had more "stuff" to put out or hang or whatever, but we gave it up for the day. I think we are getting too old for this. All the bending and stretching with ornaments and trees. Not to mention trying to get the skirt round the tree, oy vey as some of my friends would say. Matt is feeling very Scroogie (new word!) about the whole business and saying we will leave the tree up for the rest of the year so we don't have to do it again next year. However, it will still all come down on 12th Night. Somehow my pix don't do justice to all the bright colours - maybe I should go for photography lessons. We finally went for our dim sum meal on Sunday and thoroughly enjoyed it. At my request we started with Hot and Sour soup which is one of my favourites then followed it up with a whole selection of different things all of which were delicious. The only vegetable we had was Chinese Broccoli which I think is the same thing as broccoli rabe It was cooked very crisp and I couldn't manage it with chopsticks so had to use my knife and fork. This is the URL for the restaurant where we ate click here and it lists all the different foods they offer for dim sum selections, I don't remember the name of everything we ate, some I do. The first thing that came to the table were two dark brown bundles which turned out to be sticky rice wrapped in lotus leaves. We were told it was the best sticky rice, but having nothing to compare it with, I don't know, it was certainly delicious and contained pork, smoked I think. We also had some eggplant stuffed with meat, a steamed pork bun with barbecued pork in it, two or three different dumplings and a couple of other things; a lot of food. We were given a pot of green tea automatically right from the git go. I meant to take my camera, but completely forgot about it. We both thoroughly enjoyed everything we ate, there was a preponderance of fillings made with pork or shrimp or sometimes both, together with dipping sauces, one of which was as hot as Hades and I like hot; they were all very good. The restaurant was full of Chinese and doing a brisk business with take out as well which is always a good sign. They had chopsticks on the table, but Matt and I ended up with forks most of the time. We can use chopsticks, but we are not as adept at it as our friend and her partner. We will get her to take us there again I think. I finally found the recipe we have been hunting for for days, Sardine-Rice Bundles, we have made them a couple of times and they are delicious. The recipe comes from Reader's Digest Great Recipes for Good Health. Sardine-Rice Bundles 1/3 cup long-grain rice 1 tsp sugar 2 Tbs white vinegar 16 lge romaine lettuce leaves or spinach 1 can (3 3/4 oz.) unsalted, water-packed sardines, drained well (Matt cheats and uses oil packed. 2 green onions, sliced thin 1 In a medium sized saucepan, cook the rice per package directions, omitting the salt. Set aside 2 In a small bowl, dissolve the sugar in the vinegar. Stir into the rice and cool. 3 In a large, heavy saucepan, bring to a boil enough unsalted water to cover the lettuce leaves. Add the romaine and cook for 1 minute. Drain and blot dry with paper towels. 4 Place a tablespoon of the cooked rice at the base of each leaf. Top with a piece of sardine. Sprinkle with green onions, then tightly roll up the leaves, tucking in the sides. Serve warm or chilled. Accompany with hot mustard. Makes 16 bundles to serve 4 as a first course. Have a great day.