Books, Movie, This ‘n That.

Not sure what started me looking but I was checking out some books of which I have a few and would love to have the rest. They are children’s books by an English author, Violet Needham. Stories I loved such as The House of the Paladin and The Woods of Windri. I think I actually read most of them as a child, but don’t have more than about 4 of them. I couldn’t believe the prices, on Amazon. In most cases they are second hand books and yet they are asking $40 or $50. I checked Amazon.UK and they too are asking high prices with the exception of one used paperback which is going for a penny. Wonder what’s wrong with it? I just looked at Amazon Canada and they too are charging fantastic, to me, prices. Maybe I should be selling, not buying! Just checked on another children’s favourite, The Little White Horse by Elizabeth Gouge and I can buy that for a penny. I had my original copy of that book for many years, I coloured the pictures and read it from cover to cover a million times. Somewhere along the way, I lost it which was very sad to me. I bought a new copy, but it wasn’t the same as my original book.

Just watched My Fair Lady, hadn’t seen it in a number of years. Rex Harrison is brilliant. I did enjoy Audrey Hepburn too, but just discovered a few things tonight, not least of which, her voice, singing at least,was dubbed. Apparently Warner Bros. didn’t think Julie Andrews, who created the role on stage, had a film presence so wouldn’t hire her for the movie. The movie won all kinds of awards except for Audrey Hepburn who lost out to Julie Andrews in Mary Poppins. No screen presence eh? Of course I ended up in tears at the end, I always do. I have never seen the play Pygmalion from which My Fair Lady was adapted, but from what I have been reading, I am not sure there is a love interest between Henry Higgins and Eliza Doolittle.

Friday bowling turned out pretty good for me and once again I hadn’t planned on going. I am not looking forward to my angioplasty on the 30th, but if it will stop my legs hurting and let me walk again, well more than a few footsteps, I shall be more than pleased. It was damned cold today and on the way home we had spots of rain. They have been talking snow, no sign of it yet, but we shall see.

Got our first Christmas card on Friday. The friend who sent it is local, but she is swanning around Australia at the moment and won’t be back til almost Christmas so I guess she mailed them early or got someone to mail them for her. Probably her sister. She posted on FB that they were going to the Barrier Reef today which made Matt green with envy, that’s a place where he has always wanted to dive. Not likely to happen now though, even if we got to Australia I don’t think either of us are fit enough. Cousteau made it through late in life, but he was diving all the time. Matt hasn’t been in the water for many years now although he continues to exercise with small weights.

I love Pecan Pie. I don’t make a lot of pies, but that I have made a few times. This recipe is apparently the French version.

Pecan Tart

Source: Le Cordon Bleu Home Collection - Tarts & Pastries

Serves 8

This French version of the classic Southern pecan pie uses a rich, sweet pastry baked in the distinctive tart pan. The filling, however, remains the same - simply superb - especially when served with whipped cream.
INGREDIENTS

3/4 quantity Sweet Pastry Dough

For Filling:

2 eggs

2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

2/3 cup light corn syrup

2/3 cup lightly packed dark brown sugar

1 cup pecans, coarsely chopped

1 teaspoon vanilla

Pinch of salt

Other necessary recipes: Sweet Pastry Dough

DIRECTIONS

Preheat the oven to 325° F. Roll the dough out to 1/8-inch thick and line a 1-inch deep, 9-inch fluted tart pan with removable bottom.

FOR FILLING: Beat the eggs in a bowl. Add the salt, butter, corn syrup, brown sugar and vanilla and mix until well combined.

Sprinkle the pecans over the base of the pastry shell, then pour in the filling. Bake for 45-50 minutes, or until the filling has just set. If the filling puffs up too much, reduce the oven temperature to 300 degrees F.

Leave in the pan for 5 minutes, or until cool enough to handle. Remove to a wire rack and cool completely.

CHEF'S TIP: The pecans can be left whole or use almost any nut, such as walnuts, hazelnuts or macadamias.

Have a great weekend

Lab Appointment, Toy Theft, Get Out of Jail, Crayons.

I had to go to the local lab to get my quarterly blood test done. I got there before the crack of dawn and normally there is a line up of people although I actually managed 2nd place. I wondered why there were only a few of us and then heard the staff say most people booked their appointments these days. When I got home I discovered I had signed up to do that last time and completely forgotten about it. Duuh. I will still have to go early as I have to fast so by the time I get home I am dying for my brekky and a cup of coffee. It turned out one of the tubes wasn’t full enough so she had to ‘stick’ me again!!!! Never had that happen before, she apologised but I wasn’t very happy.

Pretty awful story in the news at the moment, the Salvation Army have discovered they have lost $2 million’s worth of toys from their warehouse. They say this theft occurred over 24 months, like how did no-one notice that that many toys had been removed from storage? A staff member has already been fired, but it seems to me there is a lot more to it than one staff member. Then it turns out the Sally Ann in Quebec is missing funds – they too have fired someone but so far no arrests have been made in either case. Matt says if they catch the perpetrators and jail them, they will not be very popular as the Sally Ann do a lot for prisoners and their families many of whom are poor. These thefts are particularly bad at this time of the year, just before Christmas and it may be they will not be able to recover in time which means a lot of kids won’t get their presents this year thanks to these thieves. Theft is bad, but such a theft as this is appalling.

RJ or Randolph J. Johnston on the local radio station (guy I talk to when I do recipes) came up with a story this morning. Apparently if you are a wealthy person in China you can hire a double to do your time when you have been sentenced for a crime. Finding a double must be a bit of a problem but once you have done so, you have to pay him/her and support the family whilst he/she is doing your time.

I just heard an astounding statistic. Something like 5 million Crayola crayons are produced every year. Who the hell uses all those? Apparently the first Crayolas were produced in 1903 with just a few colours in a box whereas today – as you can see from the picture, there are at least 64 in some boxes. I think of crayons as being used by kids, but it would appear I must be wrong for that amount to be produced every year. I have a friend who does portraits in coloured pencils, but I am sure they aren’t the same thing at all.

Cassoulet is such a wonderful hearty dish for winter weather which we are heading into in the Northern Hemisphere. This one is from the Hairy Bikers (such great names, reminds me of Two Fat Ladies) and has been tweaked so that it isn’t so overloaded with calories.

Our Special Cassoulet

By The Hairy Bikers 

Cassoulet is a hearty dish but with a few little tweaks we’ve reduced the calorie count while keeping the big flavours. Choose really meaty sausages and gammon, take the skin off the chicken and use a very small amount of oil – it all helps. They specify gammon which is something I have never seen in Canada, or the States come to that, so that one would have to substitute ham. For caster sugar, use the sugar you buy regularly, it is much finer than the granulated sugar sold in the UK.

464 calories per portion.

Serves 6 Takes about 30 mins to prepare andt 1-2 hours cooking.

Ingredients

• ½ tsp sunflower oil

• 6 sausages, at least 85% meat

• 4 celery sticks

• 3 carrots

• 2 onions, halved and sliced

• 6 boneless, skinless chicken thighs (about 450g/1lb)

• 2 garlic cloves, crushed

• 200g/7oz piece smoked lean gammon, trimmed and cut into 2cm/1in cubes

• 2 x 400g/14oz cans chopped tomatoes

• 150ml/5fl oz red wine (or water)

• 1 tsp caster sugar

• 1 tsp dried chilli flakes

• 1 bay leaf

• 4-5 bushy sprigs fresh thyme

• 400g/14oz can cannellini beans in water, drained and rinsed

• 400g/14oz can butter beans in water, drained and rinsed

• freshly ground black pepper

For the garnish

• handful fresh flatleaf parsley

• ½ large orange, zest only, finely grated

Preparation method

1. Brush a large non-stick frying pan with the sunflower oil, using the tip of a pastry brush. Add the sausages to the pan and cook over a medium heat for 10 minutes, turning every now and then until nicely browned on all sides.

2. Meanwhile, trim the celery and peel the carrots and cut them into diagonal slices about 1.5cm/½in thick.

3. Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas 4.

4. Add the onions to the frying pan and cook with the sausages for 6-8 minutes, stirring regularly until softened and lightly browned.

5. Trim the chicken thighs of any visible fat - we find a good pair of kitchen scissors does the job well - then cut the thighs in half.

6. Add the garlic and chicken pieces to the pan with the sausages and onions and cook for 3-4 minutes, turning the chicken twice until coloured all over.

7. Transfer everything to a large flameproof casserole dish.

8. Stir in the gammon, celery, carrots, tomatoes, red wine and 300ml/½ pint cold water, then sprinkle over the caster sugar and chilli flakes. Stir in the bay leaf and thyme and season with lots of ground black pepper.

9. Bring the cassoulet to a simmer on the hob (burner), then cover with a lid and transfer to the oven. Cook for 45 minutes.

10. Take the casserole out of the oven and stir in all the beans. Cover with the lid again and put the dish back in the oven for another 30 minutes.

11. Just before the cassoulet is ready, prepare the garnish. Chop the parsley roughly and toss with the orange zest in a small bowl.

12. Serve large portions of the cassoulet in deep plates or wide bowls with a good sprinkling of the zesty parsley garnish on each one.

Have a great day

Thanksgiving, CIPD, Fog, Damaged Goods.

To all my American friends and readers, I hope you have a great Thanksgiving.

Ever since I read the article on pain which I linked to yesterday, I have been fuming about the word unpleasant when associated with chronic pain. In the end I emailed The Canadian Institute for Pain and Disability and expressed my opinion. I wanted to be really impolite, but I restrained myself. I just said whoever wrote that article obviously knew nothing about the subject. I was going to say “unpleasant” my arse (ok ass over here) but didn’t. It really angered me the more I thought about it. Silly I suppose but there you are.

We have been getting lots of fog lately as I mentioned the other day, but today it was frost as well. When Matt went out on his early shopping trip he said the grass was white. When we first came to Canada, we were told snow started on November 15th. Luckily it hasn’t yet this year although they are predicting flurries at the weekend.

I don’t think its my week. I received my travel wall plug cord for my Kindle and the USB plug was broken. I have emailed the supplier. Then, I don’t know if you remember the crystal bracelet I was so thrilled about earlier this year, I obtained one for a friend and hers has already lost 4 crystals. I bought them from Great Buy Online Store whom I have now phoned twice and emailed twice with no luck. So far my own bracelet is fine. I bought a couple of pairs of earrings from them too. One for a friend in the States, perhaps I had better phone her and see if her earrings are OK. I am not a happy camper. I am getting a refund for the cord, but I don’t really want one, I want the cord itself. I told them but no notice has been taken, so I guess I will have to re-order. Like I said, not my week.

If you are in a last minute crisis, here is a starter which will take you five minutes to prepare – hopefully there is a corner store where you can get the cheese and that you have some spicy jelly to put over top. I love spicy jams and jellies with cheese. Often have spicy jam with Havarti for my lunch.

Jalapeno Jelly and Cream Cheese Spread

By Pam-I-Am on June 15, 2006

"This is a classic appetizer that is great for last minute unexpected guests. In fact, I'm surprised it's not posted yet! I've made this for years. The sweet and hot taste on crackers is so wonderful!"

Ingredients

• 1 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese
• 2/3 cup jalapeno jelly ( red or green)
• crackers

Directions

1. Open the brick of cream cheese and place it on a plate.
2. Spread the jelly evenly over the top. Serve with a small knife for spreading or use a hearty cracker that will not break.

Have a great day

More on Pain, Doctors, Thanksgiving, Radio.

Talking about pain and doctors, Helen Venn commented on yesterday’s  blog about needing more research on the subject. She is very right and it reminded me that our family doctor commented to us one time that there were many family doctors who were really not happy being family physicians and would be much more at home doing research except that research doesn’t pay. What an indictment on our times. We need to pay researchers more for both medical and other kinds of research. Without them, nothing will advance. It seems sad that brilliant minds are being wasted because they have to go into the wrong fields in order to provide for their lives and families. There are, of course, pain specialists but when Matt went to see one he could do nothing for him because he was on a blood thinner. So you either suffer debilitating, chronic pain or give up blood thinners and have a stroke or heart attack or something. What a choice. Doing a little research I just found an article on pain which says 1 in 5 Canadians are living with chronic pain. It also describes pain as an ‘unpleasant’ experience, I’ve got news for them, it’s a damn site worse than unpleasant.

I am not too happy with the medical profession anyway at the moment. Last time I went to the family doctor the nurse sent off a sample to the labs to get a culture done. I then phoned 3 weeks later and another nurse phoned the lab and discovered that they couldn’t do the culture because the first nurse didn’t label the sample!!!!! Honestly, and its them taken all this time to find out. Then I queried the fact that I thought a doctor I had seen early in September had sent off a sample for a culture, oh yes, they said and they had had the results and had given me Macrobid (which I had had once and which proved useless). No-one had told me this had definitely happened nor that any results had been received. I have had several more antibiotics and I still have problems. I am booked for a cystoscopy in Dec. but I need an effective antibiotic between now and then, I hurt (see first paragraph). The nurse I was talking to spoke to the doc who was right there and between them and their own pharmacist they have come up with something and are faxing it to my pharmacist. An hour later I check, no fax, phone doctor again, oh no she is doing it now. Soon their office will close and with my luck there won’t have been a fax. Its enough to drive you to drink; now that’s a good idea. OK it came through. Sorry to be ranting about this but I was very miffed to say the least.

I received the MP3 of my most recent radio broadcast – I was giving the Hallowe’en recipe for the Broken Fingers. What a mess I made of that broadcast, I couldn’t even remember my blog address, duuuh.  I stumbled through the recipe and couldn’t find the time in the oven either. Lack of preparedness all round. I am ashamed of myself. Matt said I was bad, he was right. Will do better next time. All the others I have been much better and sounded pretty good I thought.

Wishing all American friends and readers a very happy Thanksgiving tomorrow. Don’t eat too much LOL.

For those of you celebrating tomorrow, here is an interesting side dish which its not too late to plan to serve.

Pear and Red Onion Gratin

Source: © EatingWell Magazine

8 servings

Bosc pears are strong-flavored and hold their shape when cooked, making them well suited for this savory side dish. It's a terrific accompaniment for a glazed ham or grilled sausage or most any roasted meat or poultry.
INGREDIENTS

1 large red onion

3 ripe Bosc pears

3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, divided

1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme

1/4 teaspoon salt

Freshly ground pepper to taste

1 cup coarse dry breadcrumbs, preferably whole-wheat (see Note)

1/3 cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano

Ingredient Note: We like to use the Ian's brand of coarse dry breadcrumbs, labeled "Panko breadcrumbs." Find them in the natural-foods section of large supermarkets.
To make your own breadcrumbs: Trim crusts from firm sandwich bread. Tear the bread into pieces and process in a food processor until coarse crumbs form. One slice makes about 1/3 cup. Spread the breadcrumbs onto a baking sheet and bake in a 250°F oven until dry and crispy, about 15 minutes.

DIRECTIONS

Fill a large bowl three-quarters full with water; add a handful of ice cubes. Cut onion into 16 wedges, place in a strainer and lower into the water. Let stand for 20 minutes.

Preheat oven to 400°F.

Halve and core each pear; cut each half into 6 slices. Drain the onion wedges well and place them in a 9-by-13-inch glass baking dish along with the pear slices, 1 tablespoon oil, thyme, salt and a grinding of pepper; toss to combine. Cover with foil.

Roast for 30 minutes, stirring twice.

Meanwhile, combine breadcrumbs and cheese in a small bowl. Drizzle with the remaining 2 tablespoons oil; stir to combine. Remove the pan from the oven, sprinkle the crumb mixture evenly over the gratin, return to the oven and roast until the breadcrumbs are well browned, 20 to 30 minutes more. Let cool for 10 minutes before serving.

Have a great day

Fog, Cheers Alex, Cheese

Coming home from the pig tail dinner Saturday night, it was pretty foggy, but not too, too bad. Sunday night and into Monday morning it was even foggier, still thick at 9 in the morning. We don’t usually get fogs like this, but we have had so much sunshine in the last few days I guess it’s not surprising. We were lucky it wasn’t as thick on Saturday night or we would have had some trouble getting home. This picture is looking over our balcony wall at 9 a.m. My friend is going golfing at 10 today, I think she might be out of luck. I love digital cameras. Matt couldn’t do that with his camera, take a shot and put it on the computer.

I know that I have written a minimum of 1421 blogs, but without laboriously counting I don’t know the full total as I deleted a lot of the early ones because Blogger said I had run out of space to put categories so I have an idea there are at least a two or three hundred more, bit of a nuisance because I don’t know exactly. ( I do have hard copies by the way). However, I used to get very few comments from anyone until I joined the A to Z Blogfest this year. My readership increased but not dramatically but it was nice to see. A lot of this was due to Arlee Bird and Alex J. Cavanaugh who regularly comments on my blog, thanks so much Alex, and now there is going to be a Blogfest all about Alex. I will not be taking part as I don’t really know enough about Alex, I haven’t known him a full year yet. But he really is a wonderful person and does his level best to help bloggers and writers everywhere. Not only that, he has written two great books, Cassa Star and Cassa Fire, great space stories and there is a third one on the way.

Today we checked out my favourite store, Vincenzo’s and talked to the catering staff about doing a cheese tray which I actually had already seen online, guess I could have ordered it there, but I didn’t know if they were more or less set pieces. You can change the selection a bit. For instance, neither of us like Cambazola but we do like Borgonzola, so changed that. Whilst there we picked up a few different kinds of crackers to go with the cheeses. Plus I bought myself some Mascarpone – shouldn’t surprise you – and some more gherkins, primarily for making Tartar sauce to go with fish, dill pickles just do not work. The tray will be picked up on the afternoon of the day we are entertaining. We are planning a wine and cheese get together in December for some of our bowling friends.

A friend posted this recipe on Facebook last Sunday. I was fascinated and decided to share it with you.

Strawberry Santa's
Ingredients

1 lb large strawberries
1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
3-4 Tablespoons powdered sugar (or sugar substitute - to taste)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1. Rinse strawberries and cut around the top of the strawberry. Remove the top, (enough for a hat). Clean out the whole strawberry with a paring knife, if necessary (some of them are hollow already. Prep all of the strawberries and set aside.
2. In a mixing bowl, beat cream cheese, powdered sugar, and vanilla until creamy. Add cream cheese mix to a piping bag or Ziploc with the corner snipped off. Fill the strawberries with cheesecake mixture.
3. Once strawberries are filled, top with the 'hats.' Decorate according to photo. (Black candy sprinkles for the eyes.)
4. If not serving immediately, refrigerate until serving.

Have a great day

New Money, New Student, Pig Tails, Twilight, Dancing and Pain.

Would you believe, the government have issued a new polymer $20 bill and Ticket machines in three major cities will not accept it. I must admit I haven’t tried using them in any machines myself but I had heard rumours of this problem. I actually saw my first $100 bill this week. They really do feel different after using the old bills for so long. That white bit in the photograph has pictures inside it, looks odd doesn’t it?

A 105 yr old woman living in a nursing home in Tierp, Sweden, was informed that a spot had been reserved for her in a class of kids turning 6 next year. This letter was sent to all children born in ‘07. Anna Eriksson was indeed born in ‘07, but 1907 and someone failed to notice the actual year of her birth. Quite funny really, the school would love her to come and have a visit with them.

Sunday I had an email from a good friend in the States suggesting I google her 5 yr old grandson’s name – Billy Wagenseller. Obviously I did so and lo and behold here is this youngster with his picture all over the internet because he is the youngest Vampire in the Twilight Saga, Breaking Dawn part 2. What a handsome boy he is and how proud grandma and parents must be. I wasn’t going to bother with the Twilight Saga movies, having read the books, but now I think I have to see it. He doesn’t look too undead to me though!!  Maybe I should go to the theatre and yell out, I know his grandmother, when he comes on screen. No? He started his career modelling at 18 months apparently. He has a Facebook Page too. I friended him of course.

Saturday night we went to eat pigtails, well I did anyway. I had my allocation of three and some sauerkraut. Two of the pigtails were in barbecue sauce, not sure what the other was, but had apple sauce with it. Delicious. Had to virtually take a bath afterwards of course. I have decided I should get some pigtails and roast them crispy in the oven which is the way Matt likes them. There is always a Newfie band for the pigtail dinner; unfortunately Matt can’t stand it apart from which they are very loud, I love the music, its lively and makes you want to move. Two of our women friends had to dance together as their husbands were not available, one was sick, one was working in the kitchens. They both love to dance. So do I, but my dancing days are done. What tees me off is a couple of friends always join us and they are in their 80s and dance up a storm – they leave way after we do. I should be that fit. We went back to one friend’s house to visit her sick husband. He is suffering from terrible back pain and living on Percoset at the moment. This happens to him a couple of times a year and the docs have said they could operate but he might end up in a wheel chair. Something wrong here somewhere. I think doctors have a tendency to think “well they’re old” or something or have not experienced major pain themselves so have no idea what their patients are going through. It was just the same with my shoulder a year ago. Grrrr.

By the way, I ate a couple of my lobster tails last night, delicious.

I have always loved ‘things’ in rice paper, the look of them always appeals to me, so when I saw this recipe it caught my attention straight away.

Rice Paper-Wrapped Salad Rolls

WebMD Recipe

Similar to a salad that has been rolled up, this dish is usually eaten as a snack, although it also makes a lovely lunch. The key is to make the rolls tight, and that requires practice. You can substitute chicken, beef, or tofu and mushrooms for the filling. Grilled fish such as salmon also works well. You can serve whole or cut into smaller pieces to make them easier to serve and share. The recipe calls for untrimmed pork because the dish benefits from a little fat.

Ingredients

• 1/3 pound pork shoulder, untrimmed, cut into two pieces
• 12 medium-size raw shrimp, unpeeled
• 8 12-inch round rice papers, (plus some extras)
• 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 small head red leaf lettuce, leaves separated and washed
• 4 ounces rice vermicelli or rice sticks, boiled 5 minutes, rinsed, and drained (find these in the Asian section of your supermarket)
• 1 cup bean sprouts
• 1/2 cup mint leaves

Instructions

1. Cook the pork in boiling salted water until done but still firm enough for slicing, about 30 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, bring another small pot of water to a boil. Add shrimp and cook until they turn pink, about 3 minutes. Rinse under running water and set aside to drain. When they're cool enough to handle, shell, de-vein, and cut in half lengthwise. Refresh in cold water and set aside.
3. Remove pork from heat and drain. When cool enough to handle, slice into thin slices, about 1 by 2 1/2 inches. Place on a small plate and set aside.
4. Set up a salad roll "station": Line a cutting board with a damp kitchen towel. Fill a large mixing bowl with hot water and place nearby. (Keep some boiling water handy to add to the bowl) Arrange the ingredients in the order they will be used: pork, shrimp, rice vermicelli, bean sprouts, mint, and lettuce.
5. Working with 2 rice paper sheets at a time, dip 1 sheet, edge first, in the hot water and turn to wet completely, about 10 seconds. Lay it on the towel. Repeat with the second sheet and place it alongside the first. This allows you to work with one while the second is setting.
6. Line the bottom third of the rice sheet with 3 shrimp halves, cut side up, then top with two slices of pork. Add 1 tablespoon rice vermicelli, 1 tablespoon bean sprouts, and 4 to 5 mint leaves. (Arrange the ingredients so the rolls end up being about 5 inches long and 1 inch wide.) Halve a lettuce leaf lengthwise along its center rib. Roll up in one piece and place on the filling. (Trim if too long.) While pressing down on the ingredients, fold over the filling, then fold in the two sides and roll into a cylinder. If paper feels thick, stop at three-quarters of the way and trim the end piece. (Too much rice paper can make the rolls chewy.) Repeat with the remaining rice papers and filling.
7. To serve, cut rolls into 2 or 4 pieces and place them upright on a plate.

Have a great day

Lawrence and Peter, Medical Prices, Rig Explosion.

Last night I started watching Lawrence of Arabia, after 3 hours or so I gave up and wrote my blog. I have seen it several times before and I even have it on VHS. I still think it’s a marvellous movie and Peter O’Toole was one of the best actors Britain ever produced. However, I was tired and knowing I had to blog, turned off the movie. One of the best things I saw him do was King Henry in Becket. He was brilliant in that too. Even better, IMHOP, than as Lawrence. From recent press releases though, he is tired of acting and has quit. This surprises me because as a general rule, actors go on as long as they can find employment. He is 80 but even so. He started his acting life at the Bristol Old Vic (as opposed to the Old Vic in London) as a Shakespearean actor. I recently picked up his memoirs but couldn’t get on with them. However, his acting is unsurpassed.

Having had an unremarkable session of bowling, one good game, one very mediocre and one lousy, we went to the mall to pick up some drugs and to buy some lobster tails. Our local grocery store are doing a special this weekend of small tails for $1.99 a piece. Of course, when I got there, they didn’t have any left. I couldn’t even get a rain check. Meanwhile Matt had been to the pharmacy and picked up some meds and his Pico Salax which he has to take before his colonoscopy. It was $22 something, I was horrified. Two little packets and neither the government nor our insurance assist with its purchase. Horrors. I’m glad this doesn’t happen very often. We left the mall with me grousing about the lobster tails, Matt suggested we went to the library and then returned to see if they had received the lobsters they had sent for. Nice of him as he won’t be eating any. When we got back they had received a smallish supply so I got 6 tails for myself. They are frozen and the sales person assured me they would keep for 6 months, Matt said they wouldn’t keep for 6 minutes once I got them thawed, LOL. They are not, of course, very big, but certainly worth eating. Did I ever mention “show me a lobster and I will follow you anywhere”.

Talking of expensive meds, I finally got to talk to a head honcho at the hearing aid place and she said she was authorised to reduce the price of the batteries. She took a hefty chunk off the price so now we are somewhat happier although Matt is not happy about the whole thing and has only agreed to the 90 day trial so as not to upset me. I just hope he will realise how much he has been missing by having bad hearing.

I have no doubt you have heard about the oil rig explosion in the Gulf of Mexico, luckily it was not a drill platform so no underwater rig involved but nevertheless two people are missing and four are badly injured. Seems that area is fated as far as rig accidents are concerned. They have just about recovered from the BP spill and now there is another accident. Hopefully this one will not cause any major pollution. I still wouldn’t be that keen to eat the local seafood.

You can think of me this evening, chomping down on pigtails at the Legion in Hespeler. Yum.

It seems to me that anyone living on the North American continent is a sucker for potato salad. This one arrived in my inbox and I thought sounded interesting. The addition of caraway would give a good flavour, we used to call those bird’s toenails when we were kids.

Horseradish Spiked Red Potato Salad

By The Gluten Free Goddess
WebMD Recipe from Foodily.com
Ingredients

• 2 pounds red potato
• 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 6 tablespoons apple cider or rice vinegar
• 2 tablespoons horseradish
• 2 tablespoons parsley
• 2 teaspoons dill
• 1 teaspoon caraway seeds (optional)
• 1 red onion - diced
• sea salt and ground black pepper to taste

Instructions

1. Wash and cut up the red potatoes, toss them into a pot of salted fresh water. Bring the water to a boil and simmer the potatoes until they are fork tender. Drain well.
2. Pour the cooked potatoes into a large bowl. While the potatoes are still warm, sprinkle with sea salt and drizzle with extra virgin olive oil and vinegar. Toss to coat and to soften the edges of the potatoes pieces a bit. Add the diced onion, horseradish and toss to distribute. Taste and season with more sea salt and plenty of fresh ground pepper. Add the chopped parsley, dill and caraway; mix.
3. Taste test. Add more olive oil or vinegar, sea salt or herbs.
4. Serve warm or cover and chill. Remember that chilling the potato salad will subdue its flavor considerably. I always season my potato salad more vigorously if I am going to serve it chilled. Taste test after chilling it and add more seasoning if it needs it.

Have a great weekend

Flyers, Catherine de Médici, Desktop.

Matt went down for the mail yesterday, came back and announced nothing but junk. This frequently happens. I was thinking what a waste of time, paper, money, trees.  The people who send out all this garbage are certainly not concerned with their carbon footprint. There is a garbage can by the mail boxes and it is frequently overflowing with all this stuff. OK I think it gets recycled, we have all kinds of recycling bins here, but even so... its a waste. Not much one can do to stop it either. A lot of what we get is for pizzas, then there is the political stuff apart from all the other rubbish. One guy cracked “no pizza flyers today, what am I going to eat tonight?”. Talking of pizza flyers, did you see they are now doing wieners inside the outer crust of a pizza. Think its Pizza Hut. Can you believe it? What a combination!

Sadly, on the North American continent, most people seem to believe the Italians eat nothing but pizza and pasta. They are missing out on such wonderful food. The story goes that around 1547 when Catherine de Médici married Henry II of France she found the food so uninteresting that she eventually imported Italian cooks to the French court. Many of the dishes for which France is well known actually were imported from Italy. Funny I have known about Catherine for many a long year, but until I was checking dates, I didn’t remember much of her history. I knew she was largely ignored by her husband in favour of his mistress, Diane de Poitiers, but it would appear she really got her own back after the King’s death and was regent for two of her sons ruling France with something of an iron hand. Pity the king never knew. I remember reading a book about her a loooooong time ago, I’m not sure how many years it covered, obviously I don’t remember a heck of a lot about it anyway.

Woohoo, I have a desktop computer once again. I am still writing this blog on my laptop as I had already started, might as well finish it here. I now have to get the money from the flooring people, they have agreed to pay for the repair and I am just waiting for the invoice to take/send to them. They are actually close by so maybe we will drop it off. I suspect they might warn customers of the prospective dust in future.

I love Debbie Reynolds (or I used to) but we watched the first part of The Unsinkable Molly Brown, what a dreadful movie. I loved here in Susan Slept Here and as Tammy (forget the name of the movie) oh and a whole raft of other movies, but we turned this one off.

I just got a few recipes for appetizers, specifically for Thanksgiving (US) but seems to me they would be suitable at any time. This one particularly appealed to me.

Caramelized Onion and Gruyère Tart

Food and Wine

Serves 6-8

1. 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
2. 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
3. 2 large onions, halved and thinly sliced
4. 1/4 cup dry Marsala
5. Salt and freshly ground white pepper
6. Buttery Cornmeal Pastry
7. 6 ounces Gruyère cheese, coarsely shredded (1 1/2 cups)

1. In a large skillet, melt the butter in the vegetable oil. Add the sliced onions, cover and cook over moderate heat, stirring, until softened, about 12 minutes. Uncover the skillet and cook, stirring occasionally, until the onions are very soft and well browned, about 45 minutes longer; add a little water as necessary to prevent the onions from sticking. Add the Marsala and cook until nearly evaporated. Season the onions with salt and white pepper and transfer them to a medium bowl.
2. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 375°. On a lightly floured work surface, roll out the Buttery Cornmeal Pastry to a 13-inch round, 1/8-inch thick. Wrap the dough around the rolling pin and fit it into a 10-inch fluted tart pan with a removable bottom. Run the rolling pin over the rim to trim off the overhang. Prick the bottom with a fork and refrigerate until chilled, at least 10 minutes.
3. Line the tart shell with foil and fill with pie weights or dried beans. Bake in the center of the oven for about 25 minutes, or until the edge is golden and the center is nearly set. Remove the foil and weights, cover the edge with foil and bake for 5 minutes longer, until the shell is cooked through and golden.
4. Sprinkle the Gruyère into the tart shell and spread the onions on top. Bake for 10 minutes, or until the cheese is melted and the onions are sizzling. Let cool for 15 minutes. Unmold the tart, cut it into wedges and serve warm.

Make Ahead The tart can be refrigerated overnight. Rewarm before serving.

Have a great day

Reading, Hearing, Wandering Planet.

I finished the little book, The Emperor’s Soul, by Brandon Sanderson. At first I didn’t think I was going to enjoy it, but in the end it was very good. Once again a different type of magic. He certainly has some original ideas. Obviously being a small book it didn’t take me long to read it. I can highly recommend it. I now have the David Weber book I mentioned as well as a book on my Kindle which I have already started Killer Cuvée which has a winemaking setting. I wonder if Brandon Sanderson is planning to write more in the setting of Emperor’s Soul, it would be most enjoyable. He does seem to jump around in his worlds though. He has finished the Wheel of Time books and the last book is supposed to be published in January. I have no doubt I am not the only one waiting with bated breath for the end of this series.

So we went for our audiology tests and the upshot is that they think we should both have trial hearing aids for 90 days. Matt is fighting this as hard as he can. What I don’t really understand, although it was explained to us, is why we should have a hearing aid in each ear when most people one sees have only the one. However we are told it balances the hearing properly. Later talked to our friends who were telling us about the horrendous cost of batteries. These are not covered by our insurance apparently and cost $80 for 60 batteries and the batteries do not last long they tell us. Batteries were never mentioned at our audiology appointment, so I think we will have to make some further enquiries. I don’t think we need to be shelling out large sums on batteries.

Apparently a rogue planet has been found wandering in space. It is a pretty unusual occurrence they say. Normally these wandering planets are difficult to see because of an excess of light. This has been spotted with a Canada-France-Hawaii telescope. This is an artist’s impression of the loose planet. I didn’t know planets could wander around loose, I thought they were always attached to a star. One lives and learns.

In England we used to make and/or buy curries of all kinds. In fact take away Indian food has surpassed fish and chips I understand. This is a recipe from BBC Food.

Home-style Chicken Curry

A rustic and authentic quick Indian one-pot packed with tons of hot Asian spices and fragrant coriander.

Ingredients

• 1 large onion
• 6 garlic cloves , roughly chopped
• 50g ginger , roughly chopped
• 4 tbsp vegetable oil
• 2 tsp cumin seeds
• 1 tsp fennel seeds
• 5cm cinnamon stick
• 1 tsp chilli flakes
• 1 tsp garam masala
• 1 tsp turmeric
• 1 tsp caster sugar
• 400g can chopped tomatoes
• 8 chicken thighs , skinned, boneless (about 800g)
• 250ml hot chicken stock
• 2 tbsp chopped coriander

1. Roughly chop the onion, transfer to a small food processor, and add 3 tablespoons of water - process to a slack paste. You could use a stick blender for this or coarsely grate the onion into a bowl - there's no need to add any water if you are grating the onion. Tip into a small bowl and leave on one side.
2. Put the chopped garlic and ginger into the same food processor and add 4 tbsp water - process until smooth and spoon into another small bowl. Alternatively, crush the garlic to a paste with a knife or garlic press and finely grate the ginger.
3. Heat the oil in a wok or sturdy pan set over a medium heat. Combine the cumin and fennel seeds with the cinnamon and chilli flakes and add to the pan in one go. Swirl everything around for about 30 secs until the spices release a fragrant aroma.
4. Add the onion paste - it will splutter in the beginning. Fry until the water evaporates and the onions turn a lovely dark golden - this should take about 7-8 mins. Add the garlic and ginger paste and cook for another 2 mins - stirring all the time.
5. Stir in the garam masala, turmeric, and sugar and continue cooking for 20 secs before tipping in the tomatoes. Continue cooking on a medium heat for about 10 mins without a lid until the tomatoes reduce and darken.
6. Cut the chicken thighs into 3cm chunks and add to the pan once the tomatoes have thickened to a paste. Cook for 5 mins to coat the chicken in the masala and seal in the juices, and then pour over the hot chicken stock. Simmer for 8-10 mins without a lid until the chicken is tender and the masala lightly thickened - you might need to add an extra ladleful of stock or water if the curry needs it. Sprinkle with chopped coriander and serve with Indian flatbreads or fluffy basmati rice and a pot of yogurt on the side.

SAVE TIME

Adding a dash of water while blitzing the onion, garlic and ginger saves on chopping time and helps thicken the masala as it cooks.

Have a great day

Monday, New Research, Septuagenarian,

What lousy weather on Monday, blowing, rain, chilly. Thoroughly yukky. Then my game was lousy as well, so was Matt’s. I guess it was just that kind of day. Snow was a probability but it doesn’t seem we got any. Snow is on the horizon for us any time there are lots of areas which have had the white stuff already.

Story on CBC news, they are now finding it possible to track some awareness of people in a vegetative state and to obtain simple answers whilst they are in a functional MRI type of environment. It is a pretty horrible thing to find out that some, if not all, such patients have some awareness of their existence. I did wonder, reading the article, whether they are imputing answers that they want to find, like, is the patient in pain, the answer being no which is obviously what they want to hear. The research is being conducted by Dr. Adrian Owen of the Centre for Brain and Mind at Western University in London, Ont., who moved from Cambridge, UK.

Today we go for hearing tests and probably trial hearing aids. Sadly at our ages, one’s hearing degenerates even if deafness doesn’t actually set in. Matt swears I mumble which is the classic response by people who’s hearing is somewhat impaired. I know my own hearing isn’t as good as I would like it to be. Told you, we are a couple of old fogeys. Trouble is, as my mother used to tell me years ago, one doesn’t feel old, OK things don’t work as well as they did, but I don’t feel any older now than I did 30 or 40 years ago. A good thing in a way I suppose. Just realised Harrison Ford is a septuagenarian too. doesn’t look bad does he? Matt and I both tend to look at people around here and think ‘look at that old person’ when they are likely the same age as we are.

Love mushrooms

Garlic-Rosemary Mushrooms

Source: © EatingWell Magazine

4 servings, about 3/4 cup each

These simple sautéed mushrooms work as a quick, weeknight side dish. To turn them into a main course, toss with cooked pasta and a generous handful of Parmesan cheese or fold into an omelet with Gruyère, fontina or Swiss cheese.

INGREDIENTS

1 ounce bacon (about 1 1/2 slices), chopped

1 1/2 pounds mixed mushrooms such as cremini, shiitake (stemmed) and portobello, cut into 1/4-inch slices

2 medium cloves garlic garlic,

1 1/2 teaspoons chopped fresh rosemary or 1/2 teaspoon dried

1/4 teaspoon salt

Freshly ground pepper to taste

1/4 cup dry white wine

DIRECTIONS

Cook bacon in a large skillet over medium heat until just beginning to brown, about 4 minutes. Add mushrooms, garlic, rosemary, salt and pepper and cook, stirring occasionally, until almost dry, 8 to 10 minutes. Pour in wine and cook until most of the liquid has evaporated, 30 seconds to 1 minute.

Have a great day