Daily Deals, Blogging, Books, Movie Animation.

I must confess that although I carry Amazon.com ads, I don’t often read them, however, there was a Daily Deal on Wednesday, a 32 gig flash drive for $22 and change. What a deal. I wish I hadn’t just bought one for $32. I was tempted to get another just because it was such a good price, but I resisted. The Daily Deals appear just above the header on this post. I am going to keep a better eye on the banner in future. Amazon.com sell such a lot of things, not just books and music. I wish Amazon.ca carried such a variety but maybe they are not allowed to by law or something.

Been sorting out a few things in my computer room come office come library and was looking at the folders in which I keep the printed versions of my blogs. The amount of stuff I have written over the years absolutely staggers me. Who knew I would have so much to say. Admittedly my print outs are single sided because I cannot guarantee that the printer won’t pull more than one sheet of paper through at a time which would make a right mess of double sided printing, but even so, that’s one hell of a lot of verbiage. One of the folders isn’t labelled yet as it isn’t completely full, but the others carry between 7-800 pages each. Thanks to those of you who have been reading my yap ever since I started, and thanks to those who have joined me through the years. I always knew I wanted to write, I just thought I wanted to write a book, but I am not sure I had the discipline to do the research and I sure never came up with a brilliant idea for a story.

Somewhere I saw a request (I think from Amazon.com) asking for photos of books in the bedroom. I never, but never read in bed. I hate it. When I am reading I am either sitting at the table eating lunch, or sitting in my armchair with a coffee at my side. Lately I have been doing a lot of Kindle reading. Before that I was reading some loaners which carried a lot of sex. I get tired of reading sex, its all the same, rarely anything different although having said that, I recently read one that was different and I was rather surprised, to say the least, to read what was written. I enjoy romance, but I really don’t want to read all this hot and steamy stuff. It doesn’t titillate me – does it you? I just think “Oh Gawd, not again”. I read one story recently where a couple were on a stakeout and had to hide, they are in a small closet and start making out, really!! For me, a good story doesn’t need all the intimate details, the best writers I know don’t add all this explicit stuff, they just tell a good story and if the characters fall in love, their sex life isn’t detailed right down to the last nubbin. I’ve had two good marriages and once upon a time lots of boyfriends, I don’t need this stuff. As for what I am now reading, I have been downloading lots of freebies from Amazon.com for my Kindle and enjoying them. A couple turned out to have detailed sex, guess what, I deleted them.

Matt tells me we are supposed to get 2 inches of snow this afternoon. Considering the whole of Europe is plastered with the stuff, I guess its about time we got some.

Last night I watched The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian, and wondered once again how they achieved the character of Aslan the lion. To me, he looks just like a real lion, but obviously you can’t have young humans hugging real lions. I finally got round to Googling about it and it turns out it was all done with computer animation. I am very impressed. I didn’t know they could do that much these days. It never occurred to me, I thought somehow they had taken film of a lion and interwoven it with the characters, but I guess that wouldn’t be possible anyway. The mouse, Reepicheep, was done the same way, as were all the talking animals. I don’t usually want to know how these things are done, but I was particularly interested in how they did Aslan. The Guardian had a video showing some detail about how it was all done.

I am still not totally decided if I am going to try and bowl today, will let you know tomorrow how it goes.

It would be hard to say which I would choose if offered a chocolate cake or a carrot cake, ideally I would like a piece of each, even though obviously it wouldn’t be good for me. Today I got a carrot cake recipe in my mail and as it claims to be simple, I thought I would share it.

Simple Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

Source: America's Test Kitchen
Cooking.com

Makes one 13 by 9-inch cake

If you like nuts in your cake, stir 1 1/2 cups toasted chopped pecans or walnuts into the batter along with the carrots. Raisins are also a good addition; 1 cup can be added along with the carrots. If you add both nuts and raisins, the cake will need an additional 10 to 12 minutes in the oven.

INGREDIENTS
For the Carrot Cake:
2 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour (12 1/2 ounces)
1 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/4 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon table salt
1 pound medium carrots (6 to 7 carrots), peeled
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar (10 1/2 ounces)
1/2 cup light brown sugar packed
4 large eggs
1 1/2 cups vegetable oil or safflower, or canola oil

For the Cream Cheese Frosting:
8 ounces cream cheese softerend but still cool
5 tablespoons unsalted butter softened, but still cool
1 tablespoon sour cream
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups confectioners' sugar (4 1/2 ounces)

DIRECTIONS
FOR THE CAKE:
Adjust oven rack to middle position; heat oven to 350 degrees. Spray 13 by 9-inch baking pan with nonstick cooking spray. Line bottom of pan with parchment and spray parchment.
Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and salt in large bowl; set aside.

In food processor fitted with large shredding disk, shred carrots (you should have about 3 cups); transfer carrots to bowl and set aside. Wipe out food processor workbowl and fit with metal blade. Process granulated and brown sugars and eggs until frothy and thoroughly combined, about 20 seconds. With machine running, add oil through feed tube in steady stream. Process until mixture is light in color and well emulsified, about 20 seconds longer. Scrape mixture into medium bowl. Stir in carrots and dry ingredients until incorporated and no streaks of flour remain. Pour into prepared pan and bake until toothpick or skewer inserted into center of cake comes out clean, 35 to 40 minutes, rotating pan halfway through baking time. Cool cake to room temperature in pan on wire rack, about 2 hours.

FOR THE CREAM CHEESE FROSTING:
When cake is cool, process cream cheese, butter, sour cream, and vanilla in clean food processor workbowl until combined, about 5 seconds, scraping down bowl with rubber spatula as needed. Add confectioners' sugar and process until smooth, about 10 seconds.
Run paring knife around edge of cake to loosen from pan. Invert cake onto wire rack, peel off parchment, then invert again onto serving platter. Using icing spatula, spread frosting evenly over surface of cake. Cut into squares and serve. (Cover leftovers and refrigerate for up to 3 days.)

Have a great day

Tissue Tigers, QR Codes and Clouds, Doctors and Medicine.

An email from the World Wildlife Fund yesterday emphasises the dangers to tigers and elephants because Asia Pulp and Paper is pulping the rain forests where they live. WWF is asking people to sign a pledge and to avoid certain paper products in particular Paseo and Livi – don’t know of them round here, but…. I am copying a paragraph from the email I received:

Asia Pulp & Paper (APP) is pulping rain forests and replacing them with pulp plantations to provide paper fiber for products like the fastest-growing brand of toilet paper in the United States today, Paseo. Since 1984, APP's forestry practices have cleared 5 million acres of Sumatra's forests--an area the size of Massachusetts. With only about 400 Sumatran tigers and fewer than 2,800 Sumatran elephants left in the wild, the remaining habitat is critical to these species' survival.

Its easy not to realise the dangers because we don’t see all this deforestation in our own back yards. 5 million acres is one hell of a lot of trees which have ended up as paper to flush down the toilet. Lets get together and try and do something about this. We should all sign the pledge for a start. In fact there are a number of pledge links on the page. The Sumatran Tigers are severely threatened at the moment which is why they are being featured.

Do you know what QR codes are? I am afraid I didn’t. It cropped up as a question on Jeopardy. Of course, I don’t have a Smart Phone either so I can’t take advantage of them, but I was just reading about them and they sound very useful. If, like me, you had no idea what they are, read this article from 50Plus which explains what they do. They apparently act a bit like bar codes, you can scan them with your Smart Phone and they will then refer you to a site where the information you are looking for can be obtained. I am afraid the cell phone technology is leaving me behind these days. Desktops and laptops are no longer enough. Matt would probably argue that it didn’t matter to us any more and while logically that is correct, I am one of those who would like to have all the latest tech to hand. Having been an avid sci fi reader all my life, it fascinates me to see how some of the ideas propounded by my favourite authors are being realised by today’s technology. I used to have friends who figured authors thought up the ideas for their books and then scientists came along and actually invented the systems. I think in many cases they could well be right.

Another thing I didn’t know much about was Cloud computing as it didn’t seem to be applicable to me. It isn’t. It appears to be much more business oriented from what I read. As I am no longer involved in any kind of business, I guess I won’t bother to pursue it.

For supper the last two nights we have had Chicken in Tarragon Sauce (July 17, 2010 blog) which is a very simple but delicious meal. We were very glad we had enough for Wednesday night as they changed Matt’s doctor’s appointment to 5:40 p.m. with the result we didn’t get home until about 6:45 p.m. All we had to do was heat it and we were ready. Chatting to the doctor about the difficulties of young people getting into medical college (you need marks of 97% apparently) she was saying how foolish the whole system was. Because of the money to be made as a doctor, kids are encouraged to enter the field because the places where they should use their talents, such as research, didn’t pay any money. Therefore we are losing brilliant minds who are confined to being GPs etc. and actually hating their jobs, which was why we are getting so many surly doctors. A friend of mine also mentioned that the government had closed down medical schools which made places even harder to get. Her niece is having to study in the US which, of course, is where she will end up practicing. How extremely short sighted the whole business is. We are desperately short of doctors anyway and the government isn’t doing anything much to remedy the situation. Our own doctor has now turned her centre into a group practice so that one could see any doctor in the place although it is advised if one doctor starts treating you for something, you should stick to that person. However, if you want to see a particular doctor, you could wait weeks. Can’t say I like that, but as the doctor said, we will get used to this way of doing things. By the way, I finally have an appointment to see a specialist for my shoulder, in May!!!!!!! Now that’s screwy if you like. Its such a pity, our medical system has so many good things going for it, but through government short sightedness, things are going sadly wrong.

I was interested that our doctor, who is very young, says she actually made house calls when she lived and worked in England. I thought that went out a long time ago, but we left in ‘75 so maybe it was still happening for a while after that.

As usual, I am inundated with recipe emails several of which I found rather boring. However, this one following sounded pretty good to me. I must admit I am not generally in favour of using canned soups in recipes, but we do so once in a while.

Pineapple Plum Chicken Meatballs

Yield : 4

Courtesy of CookWithCampbells.ca™ Food Network
Substitute the chicken with extra lean ground turkey in this mouth-watering recipe.

Ingredients

Pineapple Plum Chicken Meatballs

• 1 pound (454 g) extra lean ground chicken
• 1 egg
• 1/3 cup (75 mL) bread crumbs
• 284 Mililitre Can CAMPBELL’S® Condensed Low Fat Cream of Chicken Soup
• 398 Mililitre Can pineapple tidbits, drained
• 3 tablespoons (45 mL) plum sauce
• 1/4 teaspoon (1 mL) ground ginger
• 1/8 teaspoon (0.5 mL) ground black pepper
• 2 cups (500 mL) hot cooked brown rice, cooked without salt

Directions

1. Combine chicken, egg and bread crumbs in medium bowl. Form into 1¼” (3 cm) balls – about 18 to 20.
2. Brown chicken meatballs in large non-stick skillet at medium-high heat, turning often.
3. Combine soup, pineapple, plum sauce, ginger and pepper. Add to skillet and heat to a boil. Reduce heat to low. Cover and simmer for 10 minutes or until meatballs are cooked through. Serve over hot cooked brown rice.

Tip

1. Cayenne pepper gives an extra flavour kick to the sauce – replace the ground black pepper with the same amount of cayenne.
2. Pineapple Plum Turkey Meatballs: Choose extra lean ground turkey to replace the chicken in this mouth-watering recipe.

Have a great day

Cats, Wines, Charles Dickens

A friend posted a link on Facebook to an article on The 25 Most Awkward Cat Sleeping Positions. The article and pictures are on Buzz Feed and I thought this was one of the cutest.  I haven’t been owned by a cat in years but I always liked them – Matt on the other hand is not a cat person so cats love him. I have a number of friends who really love cats and some of them appear to have dozens of animals. I remember one friend in NC, their place was literally littered with cats both inside and out. I like cats but I thought this was a bit ridiculous. I think most of them were eventually put down.

Yesterday afternoon we decided to go buy a few wines in particular because Vineyards Estates have a Cabernet on sale as it is the end of the vintage. Matt’s new wine cooler now has 10 reds and three whites so that should do us for a while. That reminds me, one of our guests on Saturday looked at the wines in the cooler and figured it would be enough to last us the night. I am somewhat disappointed though, we were looking for a Clos du Val Zinfandel which I mentioned in a blog last year and none of the stores in Ontario has any, and when there is any available in Ontario it will probably be reserved for restaurants. No fair. The girl I spoke to originally about it (Sherry), some time last year, was away for the week on a training course, so hopefully I will be able to find out more next week. We did manage to replace our Rosemount Shiraz which we drank the other night. It’s a wine we very much enjoy. My personal favourite wines are Zinfandels though. We bought a Dancing Bull which is not a bad one and fairly inexpensive. I liked their old label best. Today it’s a plain old browny/red one. I have talked about this before. I do wish they wouldn’t change labels as it makes it so much easier to recognize the one’s you are looking for.

Yesterday there was a lot about Charles Dickens – Google had a picture celebrating the 200th anniversary of his birth. On Facebook there was a little animated movie about his life, it mentioned a house he bought called Gads Hill in Higham outside Rochester in Kent, England. The house was later turned into a school and I went there when I was 8 yrs. old. It appears to have become co-ed since I was there. The animation about him mentioned alcoholism, I had never heard of that before, but I do know there was an underground passage from the house to the pub, The Falstaff, across the road. I have just been reading up on Gads Hill and apparently the tunnel was built by Dickens who had a Swiss chalet on the grounds opposite the house. I have no idea when the pub was built.  Rochester itself is full of places which were featured in various books like Satis House in Great Expectations. I went to a Dickens festival there one year where we feasted on salmon and champagne and had excerpts of Great Expectations read to us by Dame Sybil Thorndike a well known British actress. I have mentioned before that the church where I got married was reputedly the site where Pip met the convict: again in Great Expections. It was very likely as the church was close to the river Medway where a lot of convict hulks were moored; old ships which had been converted to prisons. Absolutely dreadful places I believe.

Valentine’s Day is next week so I am being inundated with Valentine recipes, a lot of chocolatey desserts of course, needless to say these appeal to me and I thought the following one looked particularly good. In fact don’t you think it looks absolutely scrumptious?

Bailey's Chocolate Mousse

By Vseward (Chef~V) on February 22, 2007

Photo by Calee

About This Recipe

"Another favorite recipe using Bailey's Irish Cream. Chocolate Mousse is great, but adding a little Bailey's makes it decadent! I've had this recipe for years and can't remember where my friend got it, but I'm glad she shared."

Ingredients

• 16 ounces semisweet chocolate
• 4 ounces unsweetened chocolate
• ½ cup Baileys Irish Cream
• ½ cup heavy cream
• 4 tablespoons brewed espresso or 4 tablespoons coffee

Sugar syrup

• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 4 tablespoons water
• ½ cup egg whites ( about 4 eggs)
• 1 quart heavy cream
• ¾ cup sugar

Directions

1. Melt chocolate, Irish cream and espresso over low heat.
2. In separate pan, simmer sugar and water until temperature on a candy thermometer reaches 224 to 230°F., soft ball stage. (Remove from heat at 224°F; mixture will begin to caramelize at 232°F.).
3. Whip egg whites until stiff and glossy. Add sugar syrup to whites and continue to whip about 8 minutes until eggs have increased in volume and mixture has cooled; fold into chocolate mixture.
4. Whip heavy cream and sugar until stiff peaks form. Mix with chocolate mixture/eggs/sugar syrup mixture.
5. Pour mousse into molds or serving dish. Allow to set in fridge. Garnish with chocolate shavings and fresh seasonal berries.

Have a great day

Romania, Jubilee Medals, Lousy Labels

There was a news story yesterday that the current Romanian government had stepped down – at least they did so, if only the Syrian government would quit as well instead of killing protestors – 200 killed just the other day. We are so used to our freedoms it is difficult to understand how other countries can deal with their people so harshly. According to a friend’s mother, who lives in Romania, there have been lots of riots similar to when Communism fell.

60,000 Canadians are to receive Diamond Jubilee medals for their work in community service – the first medals presented to the first 60 recipients by the Governor General on behalf of the Queen. The Jubilee celebrations will last for 4 months culminating in what is described as a lavish ceremony on the anniversary of the coronation in 1953. Damn, as an ex-patriot Brit I thought I might get a medal, LOL. Guess I am out of luck.

A number of Canadian companies have been accused of having misleading labels on their food promoting things which are not strictly true or over emphasizing something which is not accurate. One such company is Maple Leaf Foods who have agreed to ‘correct’ their labelling. As we personally don’t buy any of the foods listed it isn’t a concern in our household, but I do agree that labels should accurately convey the correct information. No additives should mean just that, the amount of fibre in bread should be properly stated, etc. etc. Also stating things were scientifically proven when they really were not should definitely be dealt with. The article lists a number of offenders.

Having sent Matt off to bowl on his own once again, I have decided that maybe on Friday I will go with him and have a go. My left shoulder is a lot better although my fingers are tingly and numb still. I now seem to be having trouble with my right knee instead!!! I simply love aging.

We haven’t had quinoa for a while now and I thought about it this weekend so it is now on our weekly shopping list. Then I came across this recipe in my inbox so thought I would try it. I still have 14 lbs. of shrimp so this would  be a good one to use some. I came across another with honey, but I am not sure we would enjoy that. I didn’t know what was meant by pistou so I have linked it to a Wikipedia explanation.

Quinoa with Spice-Roasted Shrimp and Pistou

Contributed by John Currence

SERVINGS:4

Chef John Currence coats shrimp with a potent mix of fennel seeds, dried oregano and garlic and onion powders. He flavors the quinoa with a vibrant, pesto-like pistou, made with a judicious amount of oil.

Ingredients

1. 1/2 pound medium shrimp, shelled and deveined
2. 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
3. 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
4. 1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
5. 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano, crumbled
6. 1/2 teaspoon fennel seeds, chopped
7. 1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
8. 1/4 cup canola oil
9. Salt and freshly ground pepper
10. 1/4 cup (packed) basil leaves
11. 2 tablespoons flat-leaf parsley
12. 1 tablespoon fresh rosemary leaves
13. 1 1/2 teaspoons fresh thyme leaves
14. 1 garlic clove, smashed
15. 2 tablespoons freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese
16. 1 1/2 cups quinoa, rinsed
17. 2 1/4 cups water

1. In a resealable plastic bag, toss the shrimp with the garlic and onion powders, paprika, oregano, fennel seeds, dried thyme, 1 tablespoon of the oil and 1/2 teaspoon each of salt and pepper until coated. Let stand at room temperature for 30 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 425°F. In a food processor, pulse the basil, parsley, rosemary, thyme leaves, garlic and cheese. Add 2 tablespoons of the oil; purée until smooth. Season with salt and pepper.
3. In a saucepan, combine the quinoa, water and the remaining 1 tablespoon of oil. Season lightly with salt and bring to a boil. Cover and simmer over low heat until the quinoa is tender, about 15 minutes. Let stand for 5 minutes. Transfer to a bowl; keep warm.
4. On a baking sheet, roast the shrimp for about 8 minutes, until curled and pink. Cut the shrimp into thirds and add to the quinoa with the pistou. Toss well, season with salt and pepper and serve.

Have a great day

Malware, Maple Sap, Herbs and Spices, European Snow, Queen's Jubilee

I said on Saturday that my computer was sending out emails. It turned out that I had Malware on my laptop, luckily I did a virus scan and Avira picked it up straight away. I find that a very good programme.

Heard on the news at the weekend that the sap is rising, the maple sap that is, its about 4 weeks early because of the mild winter we have been having. To tap the maple sap you need warm days and freezing nights. I wonder if that means they will be opening the farms early as well, you can often go there and get pancakes and syrup – we took Matt’s oldest daughter to a maple syrup farm many years ago and I went and tasted the sap itself, doesn’t taste of anything. It takes a heck of a lot of sap to make the syrup, they boil it in a sugar shack for a long time to reduce it for syrup and of course even longer to make maple candies and butter. Deelicious. A lot of people don’t like the candies as they are very sweet, but I love them. Don’t get to eat them very often though. In fact maple candies are supposed not to be too harmful for a diabetic. Here’s some more pictures:











Its incredible that the clear water like sap shown in the bags above turns into a deep golden syrup.

I’m pleased to report our Saturday night dinner party went very well and the birthday boy was well and truly feted. We started with marinated gingered shrimp, for a main course we had Chicken Chasseur, shown in the picture, butter braised endives and twice cooked potatoes. For dessert one of my favourites, Almond Rice Pudding. I was a bit disappointed in the butter braised endives, they were OK but that’s about it. Just about everything got eaten and all the plates were clean, always a good sign. We consumed quite a bit of wine with the meal too. We figured several bottles weren’t breathing so needed mouth to mouth. (See Saturday’s blog).

I was thinking, over the weekend, about the herbs Matt had to buy for the Chicken Chasseur. He needed rosemary, tarragon and thyme which obviously are not available from Canadian sources at this time of year and have to be imported. It occurred to me that as kids, in the UK during war years, herbs were not available to us for various reasons and I have no actual remembrance of when we were able to get such things in the stores after the war. Gradually over the years, we have come to accept that whatever time of year, we can get things out of season, including our herbs. Only trouble is, today we are supposed to not buy imported foods, the 100 mile rule, and to put up with what is available in our neck of the woods. Its sort of come full circle. OK we’re bad, we do buy fresh herbs grown, oddly enough, in Colombia, along with things like coffee and chocolate which isn’t grown anywhere in Canada as far as I am aware. We do keep tea although we don’t drink it ourselves and of course that too isn’t locally grown. In the summer we grow herbs on our balcony, and really don’t want to go without them in the winter.

We’ve been hearing reports all weekend about the snow in Europe. Paris, London, and Rome for a start, have all had snow. Our grandson has been posting snow pictures on Facebook from his home in the UK. In the central States they had as much as 55 inches of snow, which is a lot of the white stuff. Meanwhile, here in our part of Ontario, not a drop of snow in sight.

Today, February 6, is the 60th anniversary of the day King George VI died and Elizabeth II ascended to the throne. I remember it very well, I was 14 at the time and was a weekly boarder at a school in Herne Bay, Kent. I was very annoyed at the time because I had a non uniform dress in George VI’s tartan and I wanted to wear it but was told I had to wear school uniform. Elizabeth and Philip were on a visit to Kenya when the King died so had to come screaming home. This year is, therefore, the Queen’s Jubilee and there are lots of celebrations taking place. There are lots of commemorative pictures on the web showing pictures of when she was a child with her mother and father, pictures of various occasions during her reign and now the official jubilee pictures. I keep wanting to spell jubilee with two l’s. In a way I would love to be there for some of the celebrations. Even Prince William isn’t there right now, he is in the Falklands for a tour of duty.

On Sunday I read it was National Chocolate Fondue Day which naturally made me sit up and take notice, I always enjoy fondues although funnily enough I have never made a chocolate one. Makes me think of Matt’s daughter’s chocolate fountain which we all enjoyed last time we were in the UK.

Chocolate Fondue

Joy of Baking.com
6 ounces (170 grams) semisweet or bittersweet chocolate, cut into small pieces
1/2 cup (120 ml) heavy whipping cream (contains 35-40% butterfat)
1/4 cup (60 ml) milk
2 1/2 tablespoons (35 grams) granulated white sugar
2 tablespoons light corn syrup
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/4 cup Nutella (optional)
1 tablespoon liqueur (such as Frangelico, Grand Marnier, Kahlua, Tia Maria, Amaretto, or a brandy) (optional)

Chocolate Fondue: Place the chopped chocolate in a medium sized stainless steel bowl and set aside.
Combine the cream, milk, sugar, and corn syrup in a saucepan and place over medium heat. Bring to a boil, stirring often.
Remove from heat and pour immediately over the chocolate. Let stand until the chocolate has melted, then whisk until smooth.
Whisk in vanilla extract, Nutella (if using), and the liqueur (if using).
Place the chocolate sauce in a fondue pot and serve with fresh fruits, chunks of pound, butter, sponge, or angel food cake and cookies (amaretti, ladyfingers, rolled wafer cookies, or biscotti). Reheat the sauce if it becomes too thick.
Makes about 1 1/2 cups. Preparation time 15 minutes.

Have a great day

Birthday, Authors, Pensions

Today is Matt’s birthday. We have friends coming over to join us for dinner this evening.

I was sorry to learn from an email from Brandon Sanderson that the last book in the Wheel of Time series will not be coming out any time soon, the earliest would be November and even that is only a guesstimate I understand. At this rate Brandon Sanderson will be popping off his clogs as well as Robert Jordan (I’m joking, he’s only 37). It appears he is spending a lot of time travelling the world this year which means, to me, he can’t be writing or re-writing etc. I am very envious of one of my Australian friends, she is going to one of the conventions (known as cons) at which Brandon Sanderson will be present. Maybe she will get to meet him. I want, I want. Mind you I would love to meet, or have met, lots of my favourite authors, some of whom are no longer with us of course, Isaac Asimov and Anne McCaffery come to mind. Glenda Larke, who is very much alive, is another person I would like to meet – once in a blue moon she comes to the States; she is moving back to Oz and I can’t see me ever getting to Oz so I just have to hope she comes this way again.

This was on Facebook yesterday, I loved it.

Reading more about revisions to the Old Age Security in Canada, it appears they might do something to reduce the Guaranteed Income Supplements which assist people who are not entitled to the full pension for one reason or another. Guess what, we come under that heading. Needless to say I have my fingers crossed. It is a fact that there are more people becoming pensioners and less people working to provide tax money to pay for such pensions.

No more from me now. Apparently one of my computers has picked up a virus and is sending emails to everyone on my mailing list.

We tried this dish Thursday night, it was from Mushrooms Canada. We both enjoyed it very much. We didn’t have a salad or bread with it, and found it was plenty to eat for us.

Mushroom, Tomato and Basil Ragout

Serve a green salad and crusty bread with this one-pot vegetarian dish - perfect for a fast meal or as a side dish with grilled meat or fish. Orzo is tiny rice shaped pasta.

Ingredients

1 leek

1 2 tbsp olive oil

3 garlic cloves, minced

1 lb. small fresh mushrooms, halved

1 can Italian flavoured tomatoes* (28oz/796 mL)

1 cup water

2/3 cup Orzo pasta

1/2 cup Fresh basil leaves, thinly sliced

Salt and pepper to taste

Garnish: grated Parmesan cheese (optional)

Method

Slice off and discard the dark green tops and roots of leek. Cut in half lengthwise and rinse under water to remove any grit; thinly slice. In a large, deep skillet or saucepan heat the oil over medium heat. Add the leeks and garlic and cook, stirring constantly, for 3-4 minutes or until the leek begins to soften. Add mushrooms and cook, stirring frequently, for 2-3 minutes. Stir in the tomatoes, breaking up with a spoon, water and orzo. Bring to boil, and cook, stirring occasionally, for 12 -15 minutes or until the orzo is tender and it has thickened. Remove from heat and stir in the basil. Pass the cheese to sprinkle on top if desired. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Makes 4 main course servings

* Substitute stewed tomatoes or Herb and Spice flavoured tomatoes for the Italian flavoured tomatoes and add 1tbsp (15 mL) dried Italian seasoning with the tomatoes.

Groundhog Day, Nazis and Kiddie Porn,

It seems that yesterday the groundhogs were very confused about the weather predictions, the two Canadian groundhogs, Wiarton Willie and Shubenacadie Sam in Nova Scotia (the latter I had never heard of before) both predicted an early spring. However, the American animals were saying something different. It all depends on whether there is any sunshine and/or snow for them to see their shadows or not. Round here it was a very dull day as it apparently was for the two groundhogs so they didn’t see their shadows: therefore spring is on its way. However, Punxatawny Pete from Pennsylvania saw his shadow which means 6 more weeks of winter. In fact, in this part of Ontario, we haven’t had much in the way of winter anyway, so there isn’t a whole lot to worry about unless we suddenly start getting snow storms. The snow we did have over the weekend has completely disappeared. Wiarton Willie is, as far as I know, the only white groundhog famed for weather prediction. The picture is of some seniors waiting for the groundhog prediction. There have been a couple of funnies on Facebook too regarding groundhogs.

Having lived through the second world war, I find it horrifying although I guess I am  being naive, that there are neo Nazi groups in Canada, or anywhere else. If only these groups had any idea what went on during the war, how many people were treated by the Nazis, not just Jews although they were the biggest sufferers. These neo Nazis are now complaining that they have been hacked and it is an invasion of privacy. I guess its not illegal to be a neo Nazi but I wish it were.

Not only that, they have just broken up a child porn ring and arrested 60 people, they are asking people to come forward if they think anyone in their household is accessing such sites or involved in any other way. The figure people must know. Maybe, but would they betray a family member I wonder? When you live in Canada and interact with the average Canadian, you cannot imagine that there are people who do this kind of thing, but I suppose it isn’t confined to our country, and I don’t suppose arresting 60 people will put a stop to it. Whilst people are prepared to pay there will be others prepared to provide. I would certainly report anyone I knew was involved, but luckily I don’t. In the article they say these people come from all walks of life, all occupations and all age groups.

Today I will be starting on preparations for Matt’s birthday dinner tomorrow. He is doing some of it although I guess, being the birthday boy, he shouldn’t have to, but then he enjoys cooking as much as I do.

I got a most unusual recipe from Mushrooms Canada the other day so obviously I had to share it.

Cranberry Stuffed Mushrooms

Mushroom Mania Contest 2nd Place Winner: Louisa of
Living Lou

Louisa Clements is the writer, recipe developer and photographer behind the Canadian food blog Living Lou. She creates healthy, nutritious and wholesome recipes that are simple and fun to make. You can also find Louisa blogging for The Kit as a Health and Wellness Blogger. Louisa Clements is the writer, recipe developer and photographer behind the Canadian food blog Living Lou.

Ingredients

12 button mushrooms, stems removed
1/4 cup fresh cranberries, chopped
1 tbsp butter
Olive oil for pan
1 medium sausage link
1 clove garlic, chopped
1 tbsp white wine
1/4 cup goats cheese
1/4 tsp dried sage
3/4 tsp maple syrup
salt and pepper, to taste
1 tbsp Parmesan

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350.
Dice 6 of the mushroom stems, discarding the remaining 6.
In a pan, melt butter over med-low heat. Add cranberries and cook for 3-4 minutes. Add the mushroom stems and cook for another 2-3 minutes. Remove from pan and allow to cool in bowl.
In the same pan, turn up the heat to med-high and add a little olive oil to coat the pan. Next, add the garlic and sausage meat. Cook and crumble until sausage is fully cooked.
Leaving the sausage meat in the pan, add the white wine, scraping up all the brown bits on the bottom.
Turn off heat and add the cranberry and mushroom mixture back into the pan. Add in the goats cheese, sage and maple syrup. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Allow goats cheese to melt then stir together to combine all of the ingredients. Spoon the mixture into the mushrooms and bake in the oven for 15 minutes.
After the 15 minutes, remove from oven and sprinkle with Parmesan. Return to oven and bake for another 5-7 minutes.

Have a great day

Battery Life, Dangerous Heels, Khat, Pizza.

Why doesn’t my 2 hour laptop battery last 2 hours? It really is frustrating and I would hate to have to rely on it when I wasn’t in a position to charge my battery. I recently saw an ad for a laptop of some kind with a 9 hr. battery, mind you the unit was about $1,000, but I bet even that doesn’t last a full 9 hours. Laptop batteries are pretty expensive on their own, I did think of getting a spare battery until I looked at the prices. A friend used to talk about going home by train and watching a movie – I wouldn’t think my battery would last long enough.

Watching GMA the other day they had a segment about high heels and just how bad they really are for women. In fact they can apparently cause heart attacks which seems a little extreme but it was well documented. Now I have come across an article by WebMD talking about the health risks of high heels which I thought you might be interested in reading. Although a man was trying them out on TV, obviously this article is predominantly directed towards women. I used to wear very high heels, for the time, when I was younger, those were about 3 inches, but these days they have gone to the extreme and women are basically walking on tiptoe. I don’t wear heels any more; I certainly wouldn’t like to try these. I once got my heel caught in a manhole cover, I think these would be even more prone to something like that. They used to complain about floor damage when I was younger, something like a ton of pressure is exerted on the heel, I wonder if it’s the same with these modern shoes or does all the pressure go to the toes. A friend of mine has a name for shoes like the ones in the picture, she calls them “Come f..k me shoes”.

I don’t pretend to be ‘up’ on drugs but I have just read about an entirely unknown one, khat. Apparently a detector dog named Rusty sniffed 60 kg. of the plant at Toronto airport. It is a substance grown in the Horn of Africa which is chewed to release an amphetamine like substance. Rusty got some good doggy treats for his success. I can’t honestly say it looks very appealing, I certainly wouldn’t want to chew this even if I wanted a drug.  I don’t know what breed Rusty is, I thought Labradors were the main breed for drug detection. Obviously not.

I just read something about the first time someone had pizza. For me that was in Paris when I was about 18. My French boyfriend of the time, I was staying with his family, took me to a restaurant, I have no idea if it was pizza only, and ordered one – I hated it. I didn’t tell him that of course, but I really didn’t like the flavours at all. Nothing like the pizza here which, in my opinion, are overloaded with things, you can keep your pepperoni. Until you have had a genuine Italian pizza, you haven’t lived. I think the second time I ate pizza was in Sicily when my cousin and I meandered down a street buying small pizzas to eat and then buying ice creams, then back to pizzas. Those I loved. I think the first time there were too many olives and at that age I hadn’t really developed a taste for them. I also like anchovies on my pizza but I have rarely come across anyone in North America who enjoys anchovies. Most people seem to have tried them on their own and found them way too salt. Well they are, but added to something else they give a delicious flavour. There is a recipe I often make which I saw on TV made by an Englishwoman. I don’t know what they were called, but I call them English Stuffed Peppers, the recipe uses anchovies and I have, on occasion, given them to people who profess not to like anchovies, and they have enjoyed the peppers very much even when realising what they contained. I don’t have an exact picture of the finished recipe but the one below is very similar. Ooh, now I’m hungry for stuffed peppers.

English Stuffed Peppers

2 Red Peppers
3 Medium Tomatoes
4 Anchovy Fillets
12 Slices of Garlic
2 Tbs olive oil
French Bread

1. Cut peppers in half vertically and clean. Peel tomatoes and cut in to pieces. Stuff in to peppers. Snip one anchovy fillet per pepper half over tomatoes and add 4 slices of garlic to each pepper. Spoon olive oil over each pepper and roast for 1 hr in an oven preheated to 350F. Serve with crusty bread.

Servings: 4

Have a great day.

Bloody Cleaning, Cranberry Glass, Laptop Holder, Movie.

What an exhausting afternoon yesterday. We cleaned silver, glasses, shelves, ornaments and anything else. Difficult to tell,  but there are dozens of glasses on those shelves. Dunno why we keep ‘em all. Much as I like to see it when its finished, I am not a happy camper when it comes to doing it. No those shelves don’t lean, I am not the world’s best photographer. Matt’s good but he doesn’t consider my digital camera to be a real camera.

There is actually more silver on the dining table and coffee table even though I sold a lot of it off a couple of years ago – sigh. I have a few bits of copper and brass too so they got done as well. I am too old for this stuff. It all takes so long though, it isn’t worthwhile getting our cleaner to do it on her monthly visit, nothing else would get done. One gets to the stage – do I want my home to look attractive etc. etc. or do I want to save labour. At least my violet decided to flower this week, so it looks pretty right now. Yes, I do kind of collect piggy banks, have a few more elsewhere. Only trouble is the rubber stoppers perish after a year or two and I have been unable to replace them. Found some plastic ones, but they didn’t work. I also kind of collect shot glasses. We happened to accumulate one or two and then people assumed we collected them so they started bringing us shot glasses from their trips so now we have quite a few of them. I even bought one or two myself. In the middle of the first picture is my cranberry apple which I bought in Niagara Falls at a place called Rossi Glass where they make glassware, you can visit and watch them blowing glass or moulding it, whatever they are doing that day. As this isn’t a good pic I found one on the net. Mine seems to be a deeper colour. Don’t know if you are aware, cranberry colour is obtained by adding gold to the glass mix. We bought the apple as most of the stuff they make was way out of our price range. They have some beautiful stuff in all kinds of colours, shapes and sizes and prices.

So finally its February, although we have only just realised it’s a leap year, which makes 29 days this month. Saturday is the old man’s 77th birthday so we are having some friends over for dinner. I have been somewhat housebound for a long time so it will make a nice change for me. Had a really nice phone call from a friend in NC yesterday too, she no longer has a computer so was unaware of my health problems. She heard about them from other friends and was all worried about me. We have some great friends in NC. Yes we have great friends elsewhere too. Many of my best friends are cyber friends although I have been lucky enough to meet some of them face to face.

I was doing my usual grousing the other day about typing on the laptop and Matt was saying he would find something for me to prop it up at an angle. Lo and behold yesterday, Worldstart sent me an email with just the thing. It was $14.97 so I promptly ordered one. Not sure how it will actually work on one’s lap, but certainly on a desk or table it should help. I buy from Worldstart now and again, they usually have good stuff and provide good service.

Last night we watched a wonderful movie, Music of the Heart with Meryl Streep. It was about a teacher who started to teach kids from inner city Harlem in New York to play the violin. After 10 years and thousands of successes funding was cut and her programme was axed so they decided to fight back. With lots of help from all kinds of people they ended up giving a concert in Carnegie Hall and getting the help of people like Itzhak Perlman and Isaac Stern with many others who’s names I don’t know. The funny thing is I wasn’t really sure I wanted to watch it – apart from anything else I get so sick of the advertising, but Matt turned it on and it didn’t take long to get caught. I have said before how much I like Meryl Streep, I think she is brilliant. Mr. Holland’s Opus was a similar kind of story. There have been several notable teachers about whom films have been made.
 
I came across this recipe as being diabetic friendly yesterday. Those of my readers, and there are a few, who do NOT like asparagus can ignore this section.

Asparagus and Endive Salad

Source: dLife

Light and elegant salad combining asparagus and endive in a homemade orange Dijon vinaigrette. Try using a sugar substitute instead of regular sugar.

1 lb fresh asparagus , trimmed and cut into 2 inch pieces
1/2 tsp grated orange peel
1 Tbs Juice, orange, fresh
2 Tbs seasoned rice vinegar
1 Tbs olive oil
1 Tbs small shallots , minced
1/2 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp dijon mustard
1/8 tsp black pepper
8 oz Belgian endive, fresh, head , cut lengthwise into 1/4 inch strips (2 heads)

1. Place 1/2 inch of water at the bottom of a 12 inch pan and bring to a boil over high heat. Add in asparagus and cook until tender yet crisp, about 2 minutes. Place in strainer, rinse under cold water, drain, and pat dry with paper towels.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together the orange peel, orange juice, vinegar, oil, shallots, sugar, salt, mustard, and pepper until well combined.
3. Add the asparagus and endive to the bowl with the dressing. Mix well to evenly coat and serve.

Servings: 4

Have a great day