Cheese and Wine

Our Cheese and Wine party for some bowling friends went well on Wednesday night. Even my strawberry Santas worked although the filling became too soft and I had trouble constructing them. I forgot to take a photo of them. We ended up with way too much cheese. The assortment of 6 cheeses on a tray turned out to be a heck of a lot of cheese and I ended up giving bags of cheese away. These pix don’t include the cheese and artichoke dip either, obviously I hadn’t heated it up and put it on the table yet.. Then when everyone had eaten their fill, I product the Strawberry Santas which appeared to impress everyone. I thought they looked good, but as I said, I didn’t take a pic. However, I did take a photo of the pathetic last few which we finished for supper on Thursday. the one in the front appears to have collapsed a bit. The thing that staggered me most was once everyone had gone, Matt sat there and finished off the cheese and spicy jam and ate a load of crackers. Most unlike him.
My guests kept yelling at me to get my feet up, got swelling ankles again after my op the other week. Thursday I tried to do just that, but somehow had to keep hopping up to do things. One of those days, so I ended up with a balloon at the end of my leg again. Friday is bowling so I won’t be doing a lot of sitting with my feet up then either. Oh well.
One thing which went down really was the artichoke dip. Can’t remember if I have ever posted it before, but here it is. I got that recipe from a friend at a cookery club, I loved it at the party we went to and have made it a few times since.
Artichoke Dip
1 cup (250 ml) mayonnaise
1 cup (250 ml) shredded mozzarella
1/2 cup (125 ml) freshly grated Parmesan cheese
1 Tbs (15 ml) grated onion
1/4 tsp (1 ml) hot sauce, or to taste
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
1 14-oz (390 g) can artichoke hearts, drained and chopped
Paprika to taste
Instructions:  Combine the mayonnaise, mozzarella, Parmesan, onion, hot sauce, garlic, salt, and pepper in an electric blender or food processor and process until smooth. Add the artichokes and place in a small baking dish. Sprinkle with paprika and bake in a preheated 350F (180C) oven for 20 minutes, until bubbly. Serve warm with crackers or toasted pita bread triangles. Serves 8 to 12.
Have a great day

Monkey Business, Rockets and Asteroids

Apparently they did take away the monkey in the shearling coat. Although keeping one in Toronto is against the law, I don’t think its very fair on the monkey. It will miss its owners. At the moment he has been transferred to a primate sanctuary near Toronto. Apparently the little monkey, a macaque named Darwin,  is only 5 months old, there are some videos here of Darwin behind bars, he looks somewhat lost. I see there is now some discussion about exotic pets laws, personally I think the more efforts to clamp down on exotic pets the better. It is a trade I am very much opposed to and sadly all the while people want to buy them, others will wrest them from their habitats to sell them.

Scary news that North Korea has just launched another rocket – I am not sure what the world can do about it.

Of course next week, according to the Mayans, is the end of the world. There is a post going around on Facebook pointing out that the Mayans couldn’t/didn’t predict the arrival of the Spanish which effectually ended their civilisation. However, there was a new asteroid which was only discovered a couple of days ago and which passed pretty close to us. That makes me wonder if there is another one they haven’t discovered yet. Not to mention the ones they know about. My friend commented that she hadn’t decided what to wear for the end of the world, I suggested her birthday suit, she thought that was uninteresting LOL. There is another article here which carries a map of all the asteroid hits identified since 1950.

Amongst the many things which bug me are the alterations in carols. For instance, in We Three Kings4, the chorus is Guide us by the Ancient Light and NOT guide us to thy perfect light. The star is giving light to guide the kings for goodness sake.

I love pecans, used to get lots of them when we lived in the States. Friends had pecan trees although the hurricanes used to get those just when the nuts were about ready to pick. These look like a gooey Christmas treat.

Caramel-Pecan Bars

Source: Food and Wine at Cooking.com

Makes 16 bars

These delightful nut bars, inspired by a recipe from Ken Oringer's mother-in-law, are both gooey and crisp. Oringer sometimes adds a pinch of curry powder to the caramel because, he says, "I like for people to bite into these and wonder what the spice is. I love that element of surprise."

INGREDIENTS

21/4 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 cup sugar

3/4 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 sticks cold unsalted butter chilled and cut into cubes

1/4 cup ice water

1 tablespoon distilled white vinegar

1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter

11/4 cups light brown sugar

1/2 cup honey

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon curry powder optional

1 cup heavy cream

1 pound pecan halves

DIRECTIONS

In a food processor, pulse the flour with the sugar and salt. Add the cubed butter and process until the mixture resembles coarse meal. Sprinkle on the ice water and vinegar and process until the crumbs are evenly moistened. Turn the crumbs out onto a sheet of wax paper and knead just until the dough comes together. Pat the dough into a disk, wrap in plastic and refrigerate until slightly chilled, about 15 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 375°. Line the bottom of a 9-by-13-inch metal baking pan with parchment paper. Roll out the dough between 2 sheets of wax paper to an 11- by-15-inch rectangle (1/4 inch thick). Trim the dough to a 9-by-13-inch rectangle and place it in the baking pan. Cut the remaining dough into 3/4-inch-wide strips and press them up the side of the pan to form a rim all around. Refrigerate the dough until firm, about 30 minutes.

Line the dough with parchment paper and fill with pie weights or dried beans. Bake for about 25 minutes, until the dough is just set. Remove the parchment paper and weights and bake the crust for about 12 minutes longer, until lightly golden and set. Let cool.

In a large saucepan, combine the butter, brown sugar, honey and salt and cook over moderate heat, stirring, until foamy and slightly thickened, about 10 minutes. Add the curry powder (if using) and cream and cook, stirring occasionally, until a candy thermometer inserted in the caramel registers 240° (soft ball stage), about 10 minutes longer. Add the pecans and cook for 2 minutes longer. Pour the filling over the crust, spreading it evenly. Bake for about 15 minutes, until the crust is golden and the topping is bubbling. Let cool completely. Slide the parchment onto a cutting board. Cut into bars and serve.

Have a great day

Snow, General, Mine Workers.

Tuesday morning we had snow, by Tuesday afternoon it had mostly disappeared. As we are having some friends over tonight, I really don’t want it to snow.

My cleaning lady came on Tuesday and finished her work by setting up the skirt for the Christmas tree. Looks so much better with it. We gave her a present which she seemed please with, mixture of edible goodies. Later I made a dip for tomorrow’s cheese and wine – an artichoke and cheese dip – and mixed up the cream cheese filling for the Strawberry Santas. Everything else had to wait til today. We have to pick up a cheese tray this afternoon and then decide if we need a few more grapes. Our Mrs. Mop has said she will come back on Jan 7, day after we dismantle our tree, and vacuum for us which will be great. It does make one hell of a mess. Its an old tree after all.

Read a news story which said Chinese workers are being charged large sums for a chance to work in Canadian mines on a temporary basis. The labour brokers are charging as much as $16,000 and then the workers will only get paid $10 an hour which is peanuts. One can’t imagine them being able to afford the charge in the first place, or to pay most of it back from their wages. The picture shows a mine entrance, or an adit. I have never been down a mine and have no desire so to do thank you. I wouldn’t even go down a gold mine if I ever got the chance.

At this time of year I find cocktail bites very useful things to have. These appealed to me, especially as I have been tasting spicy jams, none of which I found very spicy. Maybe I need to add some Tabasco or something similar.

Jalapeño Popper Cups

By AZPARZYCH on July 06, 2010

Photo by flower7

Serves: 4-6, Yield: 15.0 cups

About This Recipe

"I found this online; you can make the filling ahead of time and refrigerate covered until ready to fill the phyllo cups."

Ingredients

• 15 frozen miniature phyllo tart shells
• 4 ounces cream cheese, softened
• 1/2 cup cheddar cheese, shredded
• 2 jalapeño peppers, seeded and chopped
• 1 tablespoon hot pepper sauce
• bacon bits

Directions

1. Preheat an oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. Place phyllo cups onto a baking sheet.
3. Stir together cream cheese, Cheddar cheese, jalapeños, and hot sauce in a bowl.
4. Spoon mixture into phyllo cups.
5. Sprinkle bacon bits on top.
6. Bake in preheated oven until golden brown, about 15 to 20 minutes.
7. Serve warm.

Have a great day

Lost Monkey, Bowling, Mint Sauce,

Did you hear the story about the monkey running around the Ikea parking lot in Toronto on Sunday? The story even made it onto Good Morning America on Monday. The monkey was eventually reunited with its owners, but it appears that owning monkeys as pets is prohibited in Toronto but the police haven’t laid any charges. One wonders why not? The monkey was dressed in what is described as a miniature shearling coat and was apparently hunting for its owners who were shopping in Ikea at the time. Shows how much I know about fashion, I had no idea what a shearling coat was/is. Having Googled it, I find its what we used to call a sheepskin coat and Matt has had one for almost 40 years, still in excellent condition. How come a monkey has a better coat that I’ve got? No the animal, not the hubby.

I am delighted to report that I bowled really well (except for the first game which we won’t talk about). Obviously I was quite chuffed. Matt, unfortunately, had a bad day. That’s how it goes. At least we get some exercise out of it. One of our team members, who’s average is 124 bowled a 183, she was thrilled to bits. Its very exciting when you have such a good game.

Having cooked lamb at the weekend I discovered I had run out of mint sauce, not jelly, sauce. I can’t stand the jelly stuff. I want the good thick minty sauce that only appears to be made in the UK. Anyway, we stopped at Vincenzo’s on the way home; the assistant I asked thought I wanted the jelly, I assured her that I didn’t but presumed the two would be together, it was, so I was OK. Matt doesn’t eat the sauce, but to me its not lamb without mint sauce. We usually get it at our local grocery store, but haven’t seen it there lately. Knew Vincenzo’s would have it though, they have everything. I also found some pita chips which will save me making some for Wednesday when we are having some bowling friends over for cheese and wine. I want to open the packet and check them out but Matt says they will go soggy if I do; in an airtight container???

Last night I did my Christmas thing and watched Miracle on 34th Street. The original one. Which I thoroughly enjoyed yet again. Matt thinks I’m a big kid. LOL.

I have always loved Brussels Sprouts until recently when I went right off them along with a lot of other foods, doc put me on thyroid medications and I haven’t yet tried Brussels Sprouts. When I saw this recipe, thought I might give them a go.

Brussels Sprouts with Bacon-Horseradish Cream

Source: © EatingWell Magazine
6 servings, 1 cup each
These tangy horseradish-cream-topped Brussels sprouts are just the thing to serve with corned beef and potatoes, or alongside a holiday ham or turkey. Look for sprouts with tight, firm, small deep-green heads; if they’re still on the stalk, so much the better. To prepare, peel off outer leaves and trim the stems. Double it: Steam the Brussels sprouts in a Dutch oven instead of a saucepan.

INGREDIENTS
1 1/2 pounds Brussels sprouts, trimmed and halved
4 strips crisp-cooked bacon, finely chopped
1/4 cup reduced-fat sour cream
2 teaspoons prepared horseradish
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon freshly ground pepper

DIRECTIONS
Place a steamer basket in a large saucepan, add 1 inch of water and bring to a boil. Put Brussels sprouts in the basket and steam until tender, 6 to 8 minutes.
Mix bacon, sour cream, horseradish, salt and pepper in a medium bowl. Add the Brussels sprouts and toss to coat.

Have a great day

Alex. Decorating,

Today is the day we are supposed to write about Alex J. Cavenaugh. I actually don’t feel I have known him long enough to do so or to have a clue about who should play him in a movie, movies are much more his bag than mine. I originally came across Alex when I joined in to the A to Z blogfest last April along with a number of other bloggers. Alex is known as the Ninja and he certainly does a heck of a lot to support writers and bloggers ably assisted by his Ninja team. I have been grateful for his frequent visits to my blog and I am positive his Insecure Writers Group are very pleased with his initiative. He has published two books, both of which I have read and thoroughly enjoyed, Cassa Star and Cassa Fire with Cassa Storm due for release in the near future. Way to go Ninja Captain, sir.

I, on the other hand, have been very remiss about visiting other people’s  blogs lately. Its all this dashing in and out of hospitals and stuff. Then we both staggered around in order to put up our tree and decorations. Matt swears this will be the last year, but he is more of a Grinch than I am. Admittedly, for us, who are neither of us terribly fit any more, it is hard work. In fact putting the skirt under the tree is a job we are hoping our cleaner will do for us when she comes on Tuesday. We are neither of us able to crawl under the tree – its not just getting old, its being unfit as well unfortunately.

Today, of course, is bowling. Not sure whether I will be bowling or not, will have a go and see what happens. We were supposed to have another hospital appointment on Friday, but that has been postponed so we will be able to bowl as usual. I/we need the exercise.

I spent a large part of the weekend proofing an ebook for a friend, Glenda Larke and her wonderful story Havenstar. I have the paperback which came out a while back and was published in her married name and now she has turned it into an ebook which I read and found had a number of typos. Offered to help and so she sent me an editable copy which I have now returned to her. I think I got everything, but am not 100% sure. Tried my best. If you want a good read, it is available on Smashwords (but leave it for a couple of days to get the replacement) and will soon be on Amazon I understand. She has said she will be writing some more set in the same world, I do hope so.

I thought this recipe sounded pretty good. Wish I had noticed it before, we had a lamb roast on Saturday and this would have gone with it pretty well I think. We keep Panko but I have never seen whole wheat panko.

Vegetable Parmesan

By A Nutritionist Eats
WebMD Recipe from Foodily.com
Ingredients

• 1 red pepper, sliced into 4 pieces
• 1 eggplant, sliced into 1/2″ thick slices
• 1 red onion, sliced into 1/2 ″ thick slices
• 1 large fennel bulb, sliced into 1/2″ thick slices
• 1 jar fire roasted tomato sauce
• 1/4 pound sheep’s milk Pecorino Romano, shredded
• 1/2 cup whole wheat panko bread crumbs
• basil and red pepper flakes for garnish
  

Instructions

1. Pre-heat oven to 400° F.
2. Heat grill and mist all veggies with olive oil. Season with salt and pepper. Grill eggplant for about 3 minutes per side and set aside. Repeat with all vegetables. Cut pepper into strips after grilling.
3. Pour 1/2 cup sauce on bottom of a 9×13 pan. Spread out with a spoon. Layer on eggplant, more sauce and a little cheese. Repeat with remaining vegetables, sauce and cheese. (Essentially making a lasagna.)
4. Top with 1/2 cup bread crumbs and bake for about 25-30 minutes until cheese has melted and sauce is bubbly.

Have a great day

Matt

I am pleased to say the colonoscopy went well. Matt was as dopey as you can imagine when I got him into the car to come home, he doesn’t remember any of it he tells me. The doctor found one polyp which he removed.

Meanwhile, for some reason, I am extremely tired, must be all that walking I did which I am not really used to lately. It seemed to take forever to get from the hospital to the parking lot. Cost me $10 too. Expensive one. So apologies, not much of a blog today.

I couldn’t resist this recipe, chocolate and red wine, what could be more tempting.

Chocolate–Red Wine Cake

Source: Food and Wine

Makes 1 bundt cake

A recipe in Anne Willan's 2001 Cooking with Wine inspired this fluffy, not-too-sweet cake, which uses just enough wine in the batter to give it a slight boozy flavor.
INGREDIENTS

2 cups all-purpose flour

3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder not Dutch process

11/4 teaspoons baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 sticks unsalted butter softened

1 3/4 cups sugar

2 large eggs

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

11/4 cups dry red wine

Confectioner's sugar for dusting

Whipped cream for serving

DIRECTIONS

Preheat the oven to 350°. Butter and flour a 12-cup bundt pan. In a bowl, whisk the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt.

In a large bowl, using a handheld electric mixer, beat the butter with the sugar at medium-high speed until fluffy, 4 minutes. Add the eggs, one at a time, and beat until incorporated. Add the vanilla and beat for 2 minutes longer. Working in two batches, alternately fold in the dry ingredients and the wine, until just incorporated.

Scrape the batter into the prepared pan, and bake for 45 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let the cake cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then turn it out onto a rack; let cool completely. Dust the cake with confectioner's sugar and serve with whipped cream.

Have a great weekend

Medical, Havenstar and Glenda Larke.

When you read this, we will have been up at the crack of dawn to go to the hospital in Cambridge in order for Matt to have a colonoscopy. Why do all these things have to be done so flaming early? The further away they are, the earlier they want you there.  Reports yesterday said the Duchess of Cambridge was out of hospital and felt much better, but I have been seeing a few stories from friends who have had the same problem and say it’s a miserable business. Apparently Charlotte Bronte died from the condition. At least the Duchess will get the best medical attention, but it won’t encourage her to have more babies I think.

Forgot to tell you, when I went to my diabetic clinic the other day, my thyroid was still low apparently, so the doc put me on dessicated thyroid. I was picturing people going round to funeral parlours and removing the thyroids from corpses or something. In fact, my pharmacist assures me its from pigs.

One of my favourite authors, Glenda Larke, has now released the very first book she wrote, Havenstar, as an ebook on Smashwords. The book was published under her married name, Glenda Noramly, and is actually one I own. Nevertheless I decided to buy the electronic copy for my Kindle. I am very fond of this book and believe Glenda is planning to write another book set in this world. So far, Glenda has had 10 novels published most of which I own. Her world building skills are excellent and her books, mostly in trilogies, are wonderful. She has another book ready to be published called The Lascar’s Dagger which sounds pretty exciting just from the title and knowing her work. Although Glenda is Australian, she has lived around the world with her husband and currently lives in Malaysia. They are planning to return to Australia any time soon. There is a bio of her on Smashwords.

I have said recently that when I lived in the UK we didn’t do any cookie baking at Christmas time. Maybe things have changed. I got  this recipe from the BBC this morning so thought I would share it with you, the snowmen look kinda cute. I would remind you, caster sugar is very similar to the sugar we use every day on the North American continent. Granulated sugar in Britain is/was much coarser.

Snowman biscuits (Christmas cookies)

Makes 24 biscuits
By Jayne Cross

Ingredients
200g/7oz self raising flour
100g/3½ oz caster sugar
100g/3½ oz butter, plus extra for greasing
1 large free-range egg, lightly beaten
1 tsp vanilla extract
For the decorations
white and blue fondant icing
white and black writing icing
sprinkles
48 small chocolate balls
Preparation method
1. Pre heat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas 4.
2. Mix the flour and sugar together in a bowl, then rub in the butter with your fingertips until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs.
3. Add the egg and vanilla essence and mix to form a soft dough.
4. Roll out onto a well-floured work surface and cut into rounds. Place on greased baking sheets and bake for 10-12 minutes, or until
golden brown.
5. Cool on a wire rack. When completely cool decorate.
6. Roll out the white fondant icing and cut out circles the same size as the biscuits, brush the backs of the circles with a little cooled boiled water and stick them to the biscuits, smoothing down the icing as you stick it on.
7. Roll out the blue icing and cut out more circles, then cut these in half and using a little more water and stick on top of the white icing for the hats.
8. Brush the hats with water in places where you want the sprinkles to stick and then sprinkle!
9. Pipe decorations on the hat with the white writing icing, then pipe a small blob for the hat bobble and another for the nose – stick on the chocolate balls. Pipe black eyes and mouth then leave to set. 30 mins to 1 hour
 
Have a great day

Licenses and Snow

Driving around all over the place as we were the other day, we noticed several license plates which were totally illegible. The letters and numbers had faded to white in many cases so they could not be distinguished from the background. I would have thought that was against the law, but nobody seems to do anything about it. The picture shows what they should be like, but as I say, one sees lots that are faded. Great if you happen to be committing a crime, your license would not identify you.

Yesterday morning when I got up, bit later than usual, it was snowing pretty hard, but it didn’t last long. An English friend was complaining about the snow they had had in Kent, from the pictures it was what we would call a light dusting. I can remember very heavy snows in Kent which is in the south east of England. I can remember the river Medway freezing up around the edges and someone walking across the harbour on top of the ice. He actually frightened my mother by peering in the porthole of the galley (they lived on a boat) when she knew that was the water side and he couldn’t possibly be there.

Poor Matt has to make the necessary preparations and not eat all day tomorrow for his colonoscopy on Friday. Never had one myself, don’t want to thank you very much. I wonder what they would do with someone who had diabetes. I would think fasting for 36 hours would not be a good thing.

One look at these and I couldn’t resist sharing them. As I have already said, I don’t make cookies, it wasn’t a holiday tradition amongst the people where I lived in England. You make ‘em, I’ll help eat them though.

Lusciously Nutty Holiday Logs

From EatingWell: November/December 2008

Registered Dietitian Mary LaRock flavored these phyllo rolls with orange and dark chocolate for a winning cookie that will be a lovely addition to any holiday cookie platter.

2 dozen cookies

Ingredients

 

• 1 cup finely chopped walnuts
• 1/3 cup plus 5 teaspoons sugar, divided
• 1 tablespoon freshly grated orange zest
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
• 8 sheets phyllo dough, (9-by-14-inch), thawed
• Canola oil cooking spray

Topping

• 1/3 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 300°F. Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper or nonstick baking mats.
2. To prepare logs: Combine nuts, 1/3 cup sugar, orange zest, cinnamon and cloves in a small bowl.
3. Place one sheet of phyllo dough on a clean, dry surface. Coat thoroughly with cooking spray. Top with another sheet of phyllo and coat with cooking spray. Sprinkle one-quarter of the walnut mixture (about 1/3 cup) evenly over the phyllo.
4. Using a sharp knife, cut the large phyllo rectangle lengthwise into 3 strips then in half crosswise to form 6 smaller rectangular strips.
5. Beginning at the short ends, loosely roll each strip into a neat log. Repeat with the remaining phyllo and walnut mixture.
6. Place the logs about 1/2 inch apart on the prepared baking sheets. Spray tops lightly with cooking spray and sprinkle with the remaining 5 teaspoons sugar.
7. Bake the logs, in batches, until golden, about 25 minutes. Let cool completely.
8. To prepare topping: Place chocolate chips in a small microwave-safe dish. Microwave on High for 30 seconds. Stir. Continue to microwave for 20-second intervals until melted, stirring after each interval. Transfer the chocolate to a plastic sandwich bag. Snip off one corner, being careful not to make the opening too large. Squeeze the melted chocolate decoratively across the top of each cooled log. Let stand at room temperature until the chocolate is completely set.

Make Ahead Tip:

Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 2 days or freeze without the chocolate drizzle (Step 8) for up to 1 month. Defrost at room temperature before decorating with the chocolate drizzle.

Have a great day

Statins, Royal Baby, My Christmas,

I came across this article the other day and it made me wonder. New research is saying statins can increase the incidence of osteoarthritis in the knee. I personally am taking Lipitor for cholesterol although I cannot tolerate much of it because it gives me major cramps, as do all statins and any cholesterol drugs. However, although I have a low dosage I have started having problems with my right knee. I intend to bring this up with my internist at the next visit to see what she has to say about it. Matt too is on a statin and had a replacement knee before he was put on the statin. His other knee seems to be doing OK.

I don’t know where I‘ve been, other than in hospital for a day, lately, I have just discovered it has been announced that the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are expecting a baby. Apparently the British bookies are offering 10/1 odds on the baby being a girl and similar odds for it being a boy. Guess they have a 50/50 chance of being right. I haven’t seen anything on the acceptance of the inheritance change stating that a first born girl can inherit even if a son follows. I obviously must do some looking into this. So then I went on Facebook and it is all over the place including the fact that the Duchess is suffering from an extreme form of morning sickness and has to stay in hospital for a while. The baby is due next year obviously, but I didn’t see an approximate date anywhere.

Yesterday I was asked about favourite Christmas recipes. I don’t really have any. We didn’t bake cookies when I lived at home and I don’t think I knew anyone that did. We always had lots of nuts and chocolates around, but not cookies. Of course we always had a Christmas cake full of fruit and flavour which had marzipan and icing on it. for some reason fruit cake is treated very scathingly here with lots of jokes made about it, but I used to love it as did my family. My mother always made a cake and for many years, so did I. Matt, however, is not a fruit cake eater. Our main concentration was on the Christmas meal, usually a roast turkey stuffed with a sausage stuffing in the main cavity and chestnut stuffing (my favourite) in the neck end. With the turkey we would eat bread sauce, French style gravy, roast potatoes and Brussels Sprouts. This would then be followed by home made Christmas pudding with which we would have rum butter or, for my mother, cream. That is thick cream (no not Devon cream) but thick English cream that one could get anywhere. Boxing Day was a roast leg of pork with the crackling on it (keep the pork just give me the crackling) served with apple sauce – as a sauce not a side – gravy, roast potatoes and Brussels again. Usually followed by the rest of the Christmas pud. Occasionally we might have goose, in fact I often cooked goose for Christmas Eve when I was first married. Many people chose goose for their Christmas dinner. Sadly, ducks and geese are extremely expensive over here so we never buy them, but if I go to a restaurant with duck on the menu, its usually my first choice. I just remembered chipolatas, small sausages, I don’t think we had them very often, but they were certainly a staple of Christmas Dinner in many British homes. In my home, on Christmas Day, we always had cold, thinly sliced ham for breakfast (cooked similarly to yesterday’s recipe) with Colman’s mustard and champagne. After marrying Matt that became champagne cocktails. Same breakfast on Boxing Day. Then we would have our main meal around 2 p.m. and later have turkey sandwiches and cake for our supper. Not sure what we did for supper on Boxing Day. Maybe cold pork?

Here is a really Christmassy recipe from Kraft, I won’t be making them as most, if not all of them would go down my throat. I can eat quite enough of the wrong things without actually making any. I’m going to try making the Strawberry Santas I posted recently.

Oreo Cookie Balls

What You Need

1 pkg. (8 oz.) PHILADELPHIA Cream Cheese, softened

36 OREO Cookies, finely crushed (about 3 cups)

16 oz. BAKER'S Semi-Sweet Chocolate, melted

Make It

MIX cream cheese and cookie crumbs until blended.

SHAPE into 48 (1-inch) balls. Freeze 10 min. Dip balls in melted chocolate; place in single layer in shallow waxed paper-lined pan.

REFRIGERATE 1 hour or until firm.

Kraft Kitchens Tips

Special Extra

Sprinkle cookie balls with additional cookie crumbs.

Seasonal Variations

Snowmen OREO Cookie Balls: Prepare as directed, using BAKER'S White Chocolate, and adding a snowman face to each with decorating gels and frostings. Christmas Tree OREO Cookie Balls: Prepare as directed, using BAKER's White Chocolate, and using decorating frosting to draw Christmas tree designs. Top each with a cinnamon candy.

For Easier Dipping

Use a toothpick to dip the cookie ball into melted chocolate; shake off excess chocolate then place on waxed-paper.

Have a great day

Bowling, Turron, Doctor’s Again,

Grumble, grumble, I couldn’t bowl yesterday and I had forgotten it was “I Beat my Average” day. I think the only prize I will get at the end of the season is five bucks because she feels sorry for me LOL. I should be able to bowl next week. One of my team mates bowled a 208 and for her that was absolutely fantastic, we were all cheering her like mad. Mind you, these days, it would have been quite fantastic for me, not been bowling all that well lately. However, I think it’s the first time she has ever bowled so high.

The weather was incredibly warm yesterday, in some areas it was almost June like I gather. I think we will get smacked with the cold stuff again pretty soon though. On the way back from bowling we stopped at Vincenzo’s to get our Turron which I had asked them to save. I now have two bars of the chocolate one which I love as well as three bars of the regular hard one. I seem to recall Matt didn’t enjoy the chocolate one too much (I hope) so I can eat the bulk of it (rubbing her hands together).

Another medical day today, diabetes clinic for me in the morning and then an Opthalmologist for Matt in the afternoon. One thing I will be interested to find out is how my thyroid is doing. You may remember a few months ago I went right off food, couldn’t really enjoy the taste of most things and was told this was because my thyroid readings were low. Having been taking an infinitessimal amount of Synthroid and it seems things are better all round although I did hope it might make me lose weight as well, no such luck. Wednesday we are hoping to have time to get our hair cut. I actually washed it yesterday along with my whole self in the shower, delightful. Its amazing how one misses such things.

This is the first time I have seen a recipe for ham the way I always cooked it in England. We did not buy previously cooked hams and then roast them, we bought raw meat – or fresh ham as its called in the recipe – prepared it and then roasted it. To me it tastes so much better. I never brined it, but brining does definitely improve the taste of many meats. Not exactly the same recipe I used to cook ham, but it sounds pretty good to me.

Roast Fresh Ham

Source: America's Test Kitchen – Cooking.com

Serves 8 to 10

If you don't have room in your refrigerator, you can brine the ham in a large insulated cooler or a small plastic garbage can; add five or six freezer packs to the brine to keep it well cooled.
INGREDIENTS

For the Roast:

1 fresh half ham bone-in with skin, 6 to 8 pounds, preferably shank end, rinsed

1 cup apple cider

2 cups packed dark brown sugar or light brown

5 whole cloves

For the Brine:

4 cups kosher salt or 2 cups table salt

3 cups packed dark brown sugar or light brown

2 heads of garlic cloves separated, lightly crushed and peeled

10 bay leaves

1/2 cup whole black peppercorns, crushed

For the Garlic and Herb Rub:

1 cup fresh sage from 1 large bunch, packed lightly

1/2 cup fresh parsley from 1 bunch

8 medium cloves of garlic

1 tablespoon kosher salt or 1 1/2 teaspoons table salt

1/2 tablespoon ground black pepper

1/4 cup olive oil

DIRECTIONS

Carefully slice through skin and fat with serrated knife, making 1-inch diamond pattern. Be careful not to cut into meat. Bring cider, brown sugar, and cloves to boil in small nonreactive saucepan over high heat; reduce heat to medium-low and simmer until syrupy and reduced to about 1 1/3 cups, 5 to 7 minutes. (Glaze will thicken as it cools between bastings; cook over medium heat about 1 minute, stirring once or twice, before using.)

In large (about 16-quart) bucket or stockpot, dissolve salt and brown sugar in 1 gallon hot tap water. Add garlic, bay leaves, black pepper, and 1 gallon cold water. Submerge ham in brine and refrigerate 8 to 24 hours.

Set large disposable roasting pan on baking sheet for extra support; place flat wire rack in roasting pan. Remove ham from brine; rinse under cold water and dry thoroughly with paper towels. Place ham, wide cut-side down, on rack. (If using sirloin end, place ham skin-side up.) Let ham stand, uncovered, at room temperature 1 hour.

Meanwhile, adjust oven rack to lowest position and heat oven to 500°F. In workbowl of food processor fitted with steel blade, process sage, parsley, garlic, salt, pepper, and oil until mixture forms smooth paste, about 30 seconds. Rub all sides of ham with paste.

Roast ham at 500°F for 20 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 350° F and continue to roast, brushing ham with glaze every 45 minutes, until center of ham registers 145°F to 150°F on instant-read thermometer, about 2 1/2 hours longer. Tent ham loosely with foil and let stand until center of ham registers 155°F to 160°F  on thermometer, 30 to 40 minutes. Carve and serve.

Have a great day

Weather, Medical, Google Programmes.

Incredible, on Friday it snowed, and snowed leaving lots of the white stuff. Saturday night it rained and there isn’t a scrap of snow left anywhere. It was still raining when we got up on Sunday morning. A lovely day in fact it drizzled for all of it and was quite chilly.

Saturday I didn’t do much of anything. We had taken out a rib of beef to cook for dinner and I realised we didn’t have any frozen Yorkshire puds. Matt didn’t want to go to the store, so I talked him through mixing up the batter and we made some individual puds ourselves. I have never made Yorkshire puddings in muffin pans before but I’m pleased to say they worked very well. I put a bit too much mixture in a couple before I figured it out, but they turned out OK in the end. I also talked him through the gravy where I put a load of veg and herbs to cook in water and then add wine and Bisto later. The result was, our dinner was good. We had a bottle of Chilean wine which made it even better. Of course we had roast potatoes, Matt always does those, and flat green beans which I slice. It was a co-operative effort.

I couldn’t shower til Monday so I wasn’t very happy. PTA bathing doesn’t work as well. I needed to wash my hair too it was looking yukky. So you can imagine how delighted I will be to shower today. I didn’t tell you that this time they were unable to put a plug in my artery (a decision that has to be made on the operating table apparently) and they had to stop it bleeding with compression. Lots of it. Hours later, once I was allowed out of bed, I had to compress the wound area every time I got up or sat down and I have to do this for 2-3 days. It’s a bit of a pain to do, I forget now and again as well. I think it is probably OK now, but I am trying to be compliant for the full time I wouldn’t want to have to call the ambulance. I was told to put pressure on for 10 minutes if it did start bleeding and if that didn’t stop it, to call 911. I guess being a major artery, one needs to be very careful. I suppose that’s more than you wanted to know, sorry.

Couple of other blogging friends have had messages from Blogger saying they have run out of space for their pictures, one has been downsizing her pictures, seems to work. The other deleted a whole bunch and says that didn’t do anything. Meanwhile I had a message about maybe half a dozen of my blogs, most going back years ago, as infringing copyright. I was supposed to receive a memo about it. I didn’t. Eventually, having hard copies of them all, I just deleted them. Appeared to dispose of the problem. Blogger seems to do some funny things. Rather like the Adsense advertising, lots of people, including me, were taken off the advertising list for some unknown reason which was never stated. One person had been using Adsense for years, he didn’t use pictures at all but suddenly they took him off their list. He had no idea why either. There doesn’t seem to be anywhere you can go for a proper answer to the problem. I assume most of it is done automatically, so if it goes wrong, no-one does anything about it.

I thought this sounded like a good steak recipe.

Santa Fe Steak

By Derrick Riches, About.com Guide

This is a great way to take a not so tender steak and turn it into something fantastic. This round steak is marinated in a flavorful mixture, grilled hot and fast, and carved into think strips.

Yield: Serves 4

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 pounds top round steak, 1-inch thick, flank steak works well too.
• 1 large avocado, diced
• 1/2 cup chopped red onion
• 1/3 cup frozen margarita drink mix, thawed
• 2 tablespoons fresh cilantro, chopped
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 teaspoons ground cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper

Preparation:

Combine margarita mix, cilantro, vegetable oil, garlic, cumin, salt and pepper. Reserve 2 tablespoons of mixture and pour remaining into a resealable bag or non-reactive container. Add steaks to mixture, turning to coat. Refrigerate for several hours or overnight.

Remove steaks from marinade and discard the marinade. Place steaks on a preheated grill and cook until done, about 6 to 8 minutes per side. Meanwhile combine 2 tablespoons of marinade with avocado and onion. Toss until evenly mixed. Remove steaks from grill and carve into thin slices. Serve with avocado salsa.

Have a great day

Report

I’m not sure this will be much of a blog, but for all those who wished me well and were thinking of me today, I got back home around 6:45 p.m. having left home at 5:30 p.m. If you aren’t really interested in my hospital day, just skip this blog.

As you will guess we were at the hospital in good time and in fact they took me along to the operating room early as well.  One nurse brought out a form for me to check what I had written, I told her she was joking I had left my glasses behind and had no idea what was written on the paper so she read it to me and asked me to verify my signature. After squinting really hard I finally figured it could be mine!!! The anaesthetist, by the way, had the coldest hands of anyone I have ever known.

Back in recovery by around 10, I was all done, but my back was killing me and I had to put up with it. I had to lie flat. With some slight changes plus some Tylenol 3, which helped a bit but not a great deal, that was it until 2 when I was allowed to get up and go to the bathroom. First time since 7:30, I just couldn’t perform flat on my back. Anyway, getting up helped my back. 

Later in the afternoon it was pointed out to me that it was snowing, didn’t realise there was a window across the other side of the day surgery. Boy was it coming down. Matt was supposed to pick me up at 5 and got there about 6. The roads were un-funny. Traffic was really creeping along. I was worried when Matt was so late because anything could have happened. Took us an age to get home again. Really had quite a lot of snow. Monday the forecast is for summerlike weather Matt tells me.

Finally did get home and had supper, every time I move I have to press hard on the insertion site. This year they were unable to put in a plug so it took 6 hours to ensure that the bleeding had properly stopped, actually I did start bleeding again earlier in the day so I was delayed leaving the hospital.

My thanks to everyone for their well wishes. In my 6 or 7 hours sitting doing nothing, I wished I had you all with me to chat. I didn’t take a book as last time I was something of a zombie all day. Not this time, had lots of wakeful hours.

I am now supposed to rest for 2-3 days. At least I can use my laptop or read.

Hope you have a great weekend.