Snow, Parking, Bowling, Christmas Puds.

For most of Thursday it snowed, very, very lightly in the morning getting heavier as the day wore on. However, as far as the roads were concerned it became wet but nothing more, thank goodness. We had to go see a specialist for Matt’s annual appointment in the morning which would have been a pain if the snow had been thick. Tees me off, we see this guy and he talks to us for all of about 6 minutes but we end up having to pay $4 for parking. What is also annoying, he moved locations and his previous one did not have paid parking. Of course if you spent the day parked there it would still cost the same amount, but of course we don’t.

In the afternoon we went bowling again and I had two super games and one reasonable one with a triple of 500 which delighted me, but not Matt. He did NOT bowl well at all. I just wish it counted for our league scores (well mine not Matt’s). I also spread the word that it was the 50th birthday of one of the proprietors at the end of the month. We won’t be there as it’s the day of our travel league, but the league who bowls on Thursdays is going to buy him a cake they said. Wish I was going to be there although the place where we will be having lunch sell the most gorgeous mince pies and I like to buy them for Christmas. Mind you I also like to sample them at lunchtime.

It occurred to me that Christmas is on its way and Christmas pudding may well be on the tables of some people. This is the recipe I use from my very old cook book by Mrs. Beeton. It’s got to be about as old as I am or even a bit older as it was my mothers and she would have been married 78 years this month but I don’t know exactly when she got the book, very early I suspect as she couldn’t cook at all when they got married. Mrs. Beeton changed her into a fantastic cook. Much better than I will ever be. Suet is readily available to me in Ontario, but I could never find it where I lived in North Carolina. Also, these days, a lot of people try and make the pudding healthier with the use of vegetable suet, I cannot imagine anything worse, but I don’t know. Traditionally in England we would pour brandy over the pudding and set it alight then bring it in to a darkened room. It was very impressive. I always made Rum Butter  (basically creamed butter, icing sugar and rum whipped up together) but my mother always preferred whipped cream (the really good English stuff of course). Another tradition, when making the pudding, everyone in the family got to stir it and the last tradition (that I know of anyway) was to add silver threepenny bits into the pudding but that is never done any more I don’t think. One pic shows a bracelet made of threepenny bits, I used to have one but gave it to a cousin who had it stolen from her. Pity. By the way it's pronounced thrupny.


Christmas Pudding - Mrs. Beeton

1/2 lb suet (here's a link of notes about suet in the US)  
2 oz flour
1/2 lb raisins
1/4 lb mixed peel
1/2 a grated nutmeg
1/2 oz mixed spice
1/2 oz ground cinnamon
10 oz milk
1 wineglass brandy or rum
1/2 lb breadcrumbs
1/2 lb sultanas
1/2 lb currants
1 lemon
2 oz shredded almonds
4 eggs
1 pinch salt

Put all the dry ingredients in a basin and mix well. Add the milk, stir in the eggs one at a time, add the liquor and the strained juice of the lemon. Work the whole thoroughly for some minutes, so that the ingredients are well blended. Put the mixture in a well greased basin. Boil for about 4 hours or steam for at least 5 hours. Usually made well before Christmas and then on the day, steamed or boiled for an hour or two before serving.

Servings: 8 (or more, it’s very rich).

Have a great day

Plus Points, Comet Landing.

Our grocery store awards Plus Points on certain grocery items – different ones each week. I generally try and make sure that the items we want are only bought with Plus Points, of course that doesn’t always work out. The allocation of items for these points is supposed to be based on what we normally shop for. In some cases they obviously aren’t and items I wouldn’t buy because we don’t have kids for instance, get points and are offered to us. I never buy stuff we don’t want/use even though it carries points. 100,000 gets you $100 of free grocery. I often buy a few things and use them but Matt gets mad and wants to save them for a full shop. Well, he got his wish this morning and bought $110 worth of groceries for $10. We still have quite a few points to start building up again. Good system. Same thing with our Visa. We get cash back once a year with the result that we use Visa for practically everything.

The Rosetta Mission involving landing a spacecraft on a comet has turned out successfully.
I was impressed that Google got this doodle up so fast to celebrate this landing. We heard about the actual landing of the Philae Lander at 11:03 Wednesday morning and it didn’t take Google long to have this doodle up at all. This was achieved by the European Space Agency. There is a video on the page as well as an interesting article about the whole mission.

We used to make appetizers like this all the time, haven’t done so in years though. This one came from Food.com

Bacon-Wrapped Water Chestnuts

By Merlot
Even though this is a very old recipe, I thought it might be something new to the "young whipper-snappers" who are unfamiliar with this recipe.

Ingredients:

Yield 16

 

• 1 (8 ounce) can water chestnuts, drained
• 1/4 cup soy sauce
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 8 slices bacon, cut in half crosswise

Directions:

1. Marinate the water chestnuts in soy sauce for 1 hour.
   
2. Drain.
   
3. Roll each chestnut in the brown sugar.
   
4. Wrap each chestnut with a piece of bacon.5
   
5. Secure with a toothpick.6
   
6. Arrange on a cake rack in a shallow baking pan.7
   
7. Bake at 400 degrees F for about 30 minutes or until golden brown.8
   
8. Drain on paper towels.9
   
9. NOTE: This can be prepared ahead of time and stored in refrigerator until ready to bake.
   

Have a great day

Vitamins, Prize.

I mentioned a while back that I had started taking B7 for my nails (sold as Biotin) and it does seem to be working, they are much stronger than the were. Then all I needed to deal with was that some of them were flaking which is why I started making smoothies containing leafy vegetables. Tuesday, I went to the pharmacy to get some more pills, they didn’t have any and nobody was very helpful about it either. I then went to the pharmacy in the grocery store, no luck there either. Finally I came home, somewhat teed off and managed to order some on line from Well.ca. Not earth shattering but somewhat irritating nevertheless. Does make me wonder if all these nail problems are to do with age or with the hundreds of pills I seem to take these days.

I mentioned I had won the prize of the day on M. Pax’s Realms Faire on Monday,  so I spent a fair bit of time downloading three of Mary Pax’s audiobooks which were part of the prize. I am also due for a book from Alex R. Cavenaugh who, knowing I have all three of his Cassa books, offered me a review copy of his new book Dragon of the Stars. I am really happy with that. I get some ‘swag’ from him too I gather.  There are some other books I am getting as well but haven’t yet. I had an email offering me a choice of two formats. I wasn’t sure but I would prefer to read it on Kindle. I thought that was mobi but I gather it isn’t having looked it up.

I’m back to shrimp again. At least one friend is allergic, sorry about that, I love the stuff.

Creamy Fettuccine with Shrimp and Bacon

A dish of shrimp sautéed in bacon drippings and tossed with fettuccine sounds like a no-no for the calorie conscious. But at under 400 calories a serving, indulge!
Worthy of a special occasion
:
8 servings (serving size: about 1 1/4 cups pasta and 1 1/2 teaspoons parsley)

Ingredients

1 pound uncooked fettuccine 
2 bacon slices (uncooked) 
1 pound large shrimp, peeled and deveined
1 garlic clove, minced
1 1/2 cups frozen green peas, thawed
1 cup shredded carrot
2 cups 2% reduced-fat milk
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 cup (4 ounces) grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley, divided

Preparation

Cook pasta according to package directions, omitting salt and fat. Drain well; keep warm.
Cook bacon in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat 6 minutes or until crisp. Remove bacon from the pan, reserving 1 tablespoon drippings in pan. Crumble bacon; set aside.
Add shrimp and garlic to pan; sauté over medium-high heat 2 minutes. Add peas and carrot; cook 2 minutes or just until shrimp are done. Transfer shrimp mixture to a large bowl; keep warm.
Combine milk, flour, salt, and pepper, stirring with a whisk. Add milk mixture to pan; cook over medium heat 3 minutes or until thickened and bubbly, stirring constantly with a whisk. Remove pan from heat; add cheese, stirring until blended. Add milk mixture to shrimp mixture; stir until combined. Add pasta and 1/4 cup parsley, tossing gently to coat. Transfer pasta mixture to a platter, or divide evenly among each of 8 plates; sprinkle evenly with remaining 1/4 cup parsley and crumbled bacon. Serve immediately.

Have a great day

Remembrance, Maleficent

Remembrance Day today. I already lost one poppy. Although this began in order to remember those killed in World War I to me it is very much more pertinent to World War II which I lived through even if I was too young to know what was happening. My father took part so I was somewhat involved as he was so rarely at home during those years. He spent three years in Rhodesia (as it then was) training pilots to fly. Here is a very interesting article about Flanders Fields which stirred the imagination of all who saw the wild poppies growing there. The article also quotes the poem by Canadian Soldier Lieutenant-Colonel John Alexander McCrae. Also a photo of tourists looking at the 880,00 ceramic poppies on display at the Tower of London in England about which Hilary Melton-Butcher wrote recently. I am not sure what is going to happen to those poppies once they remove them. I know I would love to get hold of one. The article talks about the actual Flanders Fields and how they were virtually destroyed by the war but that the poppies were still finding ways to grow.

I rented Maleficent from iTunes. At first I had trouble playing it but eventually it worked although not as well as it should. I think that is the fault of my Laptop rather than the fault of the movie. However, I loved it, I thought the story was great. It’s a retelling of the Sleeping Beauty story and magnificently done in my opinion. Not that I am anything of a film reviewer, but I am now toying with buying it. I think rather than buy it from iTunes I might buy the actual DVD. My laptop is getting a tad old and doesn’t play stuff as well as it did although it still plays DVDs file. If you like fairy tales, I highly recommend this one. It has everything in it from fairies to dragons. Love and wickedness.

Woo hoo, I have just heard I am the winner of the randomly drawn prize for the first day at Realms Faire. Most unexpected. Lots of stuff to pick up but will have to leave it til tomorrow as I'm just about off to bed now.

I love white bean soups and this one from Cooking Light which came to me from My Recipes sounds like a good one.

White Bean Soup with Gremolata

Pancetta adds bold flavour to this smooth, savoury soup. Pair with toast or a small green salad for a light and filling weeknight meal.

Worthy of a special occasion

4 servings (serving size: 1 1/2 cups soup and about 1 1/2 teaspoons gremolata)

Ingredients
Soup:
2 teaspoons olive oil
1/2 cup finely chopped pancetta
1 cup prechopped onion
1/2 cup prechopped celery
2 teaspoons minced garlic
2 cups fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth
1/2 cup water
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
2 (19-ounce) cans cannellini beans, rinsed and drained
1 bay leaf
Gremolata:
1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley
2 teaspoons grated lemon rind
1 teaspoon minced garlic

Preparation

1. To prepare soup, heat oil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add pancetta; sauté 2 minutes. Stir in onion, celery, and 2 teaspoons garlic; sauté 3 minutes or until almost tender. Stir in broth and next 4 ingredients (through bay leaf). Bring to a boil; reduce heat, and simmer 8 minutes, stirring occasionally.
2. To prepare gremolata, combine parsley, rind, and 1 teaspoon garlic. Sprinkle over soup.

Have a great day

Cover Reveal, Flying Penguins,

Our Ninja captain Alex J. Cavenaugh, has written three successful books and is soon to launch his third. This is not connected to the other stories but is still set in space. Last week, he revealed the cover for his new book which I have pleasure sharing here.



Isn’t it a magnificent cover. I know Alex is thrilled and we are all thrilled for him. I’m afraid we have to wait a bit longer for the book though, January I think. Alex’s inspiration for this story was a song Dragon on the Sea by Ayreon

.

There’s a lovely story from World Wildlife Fun about a camera man trying to capture a Flying Penguin – not really flying but jumping high in the air out of the water. He had great difficulty capturing a shot and sometimes the penguins landed on his cameras and even knocked them into the water. As he says, try telling that to the insurance company. This is one of the pictures he got and there are two or three more good ones on the page. The picture is even better there too.



We actually had some snow on Saturday night, not much, but considering we are in Canada and in the States some places got a foot of the white stuff, we should be grateful for small mercies.

Chicken Tikka Masala is a big favourite in England these days. Indian food of any kind is very popular. I wish it would become as popular here, difficult finding a good Indian restaurant anywhere near where I live. This recipe came from the Food Network.

Chicken in Creamy Tomato Curry: Chicken Tikka Masala

Recipe courtesy Aarti Sequeira

Yield: 4 to 6 servings

Ingredients

• Marinade:
• 1 cup plain yogurt, whisked until smooth
• 3 tablespoons Ginger-Garlic Paste, recipe follows (or 1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger and 3 cloves garlic put through a garlic press or finely minced)
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1 pound boneless, skinless chicken thighs, poked with a fork, and cut into large bite-sized chunks
• Sauce:
• 2 teaspoons olive oil
• 3 tablespoons butter
• 1/3 cup Ginger-Garlic Paste, recipe follows (or 6 cloves garlic and 2-inch thumb ginger minced)
• 2 serrano peppers, minced (seeds removed if you don't want it spicy)
• 2 tablespoons tomato paste
• 1 teaspoon garam masala
• 2 teaspoons paprika
• 8 Roma tomatoes, diced
• 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
• 1 to 2 cups water
• Oil, for grilling
• 1 tablespoon dried fenugreek leaves (optional)
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• Minced fresh cilantro, for garnish
• Cooked rice, naan, or crusty piece of bread, for serving
• Ginger-Garlic Paste:
• 1/2 cup cloves garlic, whole
• 1/2 cup fresh ginger, peeled, cut into 1/2-inch slices
• 1/4 cup canola oil

Directions

Sauce:
For the marinade: In a large bowl, mix together the marinade ingredients. Add the chicken and toss to coat. Marinate at least 30 minutes, or in the refrigerator up to overnight.
For the sauce: When you're ready to make the curry, place a large skillet over medium heat and add the olive oil and butter. When the butter has melted, add the Ginger-Garlic Paste and serrano peppers. Sauté until lightly browned around the edges. Add the tomato paste and cook until the tomato has darkened in color, about 3 minutes. Add the garam masala and the paprika and sauté for about 1 minute to draw out their flavours.
Add the tomatoes, salt, and 1 cup water. Bring to a boil, turn down to a simmer, and cook until thickened, about 20 minutes. You may need more water depending on how much liquid the tomatoes give off.
Meanwhile, fire up your grill. When it is nice and hot, lightly brush it with oil. Place the chicken on the grill, shaking off some of the excess marinade. Cook until it's charred, about 2 minutes on each side. (Don't worry that the chicken will still be a little uncooked, it finishes cooking in the sauce).
Pour the sauce into a blender or food processor, or use an immersion blender, and process until smooth. Pour back into the skillet and bring back up to a boil. Add the chicken and fenugreek leaves, if using. Take the heat down to a simmer and cook for about 10 minutes. Add the cream and stir through. Garnish with minced fresh cilantro, and serve over rice, with naan, or a crusty piece of bread!
Ginger-Garlic Paste:
Throw the garlic, ginger, and canola oil in a mini-food processor and let it go until it forms a semi-smooth paste. There will still be tiny little pieces in there, but overall, it should resemble a paste.
Save what you don't use in a small glass jar. It should last in the fridge for 2 to 3 weeks. It's a delicious addition to marinades, pasta sauces, stir fry sauces, slow-cooker recipes, gravy etc. We always had a jar of this stuff in our fridge growing up.

Have a great day

Saturday Recipe

I am not an advocate of Pumpkin Pie although I devour Pumpkin Soup. However, for all my friends who are fanatic about pumpkin anything here’s a cheesecake recipe from McCormick. Although they would like you to, you obviously don't have to stick to McCormick products especially if they are not readily available in your area. I would never make this myself, but I just might try a slice if it was offered.

Pumpkin Pie Layered Cheesecake Recipe

 
 
A layer of pumpkin pie filling is sandwiched between layers of vanilla cheesecake for the ultimate holiday dessert.
 

Ingredients

Serves: 12

Graham Cracker Crust:

1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
1/3 cup butter, melted
2 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons McCormick® Pumpkin Pie Spice

Cheesecake Filling:

3 packages (8 ounces each) cream cheese, softened
1 cup sugar
4 eggs
1 cup sour cream
1 can (15 ounces) pumpkin
1/4 cup flour
1 tablespoon McCormick® Pumpkin Pie Spice
2 teaspoons McCormick® Pure Vanilla Extract

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 325°F. For the Crust, mix all ingredients in medium bowl. Press evenly onto bottom and up sides of 9-inch springform pan.
2. For the Filling, beat cream cheese and sugar in large bowl with electric mixer on medium speed until fluffy. Add eggs, 1 at a time, mixing on low speed after each addition just until blended. Add sour cream; mix well. Remove 1 cup batter to medium bowl; beat in pumpkin, flour and pumpkin pie spice until smooth. Stir vanilla into remaining plain batter. Pour 1/2 of the vanilla batter into crust. Gently pour pumpkin batter over top. Top with remaining vanilla batter.
3. Bake 50 minutes or until center is almost set. Turn off oven; let cheesecake stand in oven 2 hours or until cooled. Remove from oven.
4. Refrigerate 4 hours or overnight. Run small knife around sides of pan to loosen crust; remove sides of pan. Store leftover cheesecake in refrigerator.

Have a great weekend

Unknown Name, Emoticons, Mermaids,

I wish something could be done about these unknown name callers, we have been getting so many lately. Thursday afternoon I had been feeling under the weather, (bowled really badly too but being unwell was my excuse) came home and decided to take a nap. Had trouble dropping off and finally did so only to get a bloody phone call from Unknown Name. Grrrr. Once in a while I answer them if they are from the local calling area because our cleaning lady comes through as an unknown name, but usually I don’t. This morning I did and it was a call from our Prime Minister. Recorded of course!! No, I didn’t listen.

A friend used this emoticon on an email message yesterday, I thought it was so cute I simply had to copy it.  You’ll gather we were talking fencing or was it pistols at Dawn? I rarely use emoticons as I can never remember how to do so, or what you type for what and I keep losing the list I have.


I heard an ad on the radio for a Christmas performance of The Little Mermaid at a local theatre. How on earth do you do mermaids on a stage?

My blog has the title “A scent of Chocolate” so it’s about time we had a chocolate recipe. This one certainly fills the bill. Makes me drool.

HERSHEY'S Ultimate Chocolate Brownies Recipe

 

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup HERSHEY'S Cocoa
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 2/3 cup butter or margarine, melted and divided
• 1/2 cup boiling water
• 2 cups sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1-1/3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup HERSHEY'S SPECIAL DARK Chocolate Chips or HERSHEY'S Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips
• ONE-BOWL BUTTERCREAM FROSTING (recipe follows)
• Additional HERSHEY'S SPECIAL DARK Chocolate Chips or HERSHEY'S Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips (optional)

Directions

1. Heat oven to 350°F. Grease 13x9x2-inch baking pan or two 8-inch square baking pans.
2. Stir together cocoa and baking soda in large bowl; stir in 1/3 cup butter. Add boiling water; stir until mixture thickens. Stir in sugar, eggs and remaining 1/3 cup butter; stir until smooth. Add flour, vanilla and salt; blend completely. Stir in chocolate chips. Pour into prepared pan.
3. Bake 35 to 40 minutes for rectangular pan, 30 to 35 minutes for square pans or until brownies begin to pull away from sides of pan. Cool completely in pan on wire rack. Frost with ONE-BOWL BUTTERCREAM FROSTING. Garnish with chocolate chips, if desired. Cut into squares. Makes about 24 brownies.
ONE-BOWL BUTTERCREAM FROSTING
6 tablespoons butter or margarine, softened
2-2/3 cups powdered sugar
1/2 cup HERSHEY'S Cocoa
1/3 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Beat butter in medium bowl. Add powdered sugar and cocoa alternately with milk,
beating to spreading consistency (additional milk may be needed). Stir in vanilla.
About 2 cups frosting.

Have a great day

Hawaii/Mars, Squirrels.on Steroids. Ampersands.

Tight but spectacular quarters. Six people will spend the next eight months together in a 1,500-sq.-ft. dome on Hawaii’s Mauna Loa volcano (not the actively flowing Kilauea). The experiment, funded by NASA, will permit scientists to study the participants’ reactions to close quarters and minimal contact to the outside world, groundwork for a future mission to Mars.  This is fascinating, I didn’t even realise there were any plans afoot to send people to Mars at any time in the near future. I guess they want to figure out whether it’s feasible before they do make those plans. It looks pretty desolate doesn’t it? I am not sure if they think the area is similar to Mars or it’s just the isolation they are looking for.

Interesting story about Arctic Ground Squirrels and how they survive the winter in their burrows which can end up being –23C. They are in the burrows for 8 months. They cannot burn just fat for this length of time to get the results so they also burn muscle, This means that during the summer they have to bulk up on steroids and just before winter they are loaded with testosterone. Scientists were studying why these steroids don’t affect them adversely as they do humans, no squirrels with “roid rage” for example. The article goes on to explain this in detail. What it does not explain is what the squirrels ingest to obtain these steroids.

Something I have been thinking about lately, I recommend people do not use ampersands "&" on their blogs as 9 times out of 10, especially in headings, they come out as gobbledygook.

On Monday, a Portuguese friend, who had just spent 5 weeks in her native country, turned up at bowling with a present of some Ovos Moles for me. I love these sweets and could devour them in large quantities, but apart from anything else, they are sweets. There is a large Portuguese contingent in Cambridge (the next town) and I wondered if there is anywhere there where they are made and sold. Meanwhile I looked up a recipe. They are a lot easier to make than I thought. I still might look for a baker though.

OVOS MOLES DE AVEIRO (PORTUGUESE EGG YOLK CONFECTION)

Source: Easy Portuguese Recipes
June 21, 2013


We are going to show you how to make Ovos Moles de Aveiro, which are Portuguese egg yolk sweets. These are one of the most identifiable treats unique to Portuguese dessert making. They are seen at any dessert shop or any event and are perfect for those with a sweet tooth like myself. The smooth texture and sweet flavour of the yolk in the crunchy shell makes for quite an enjoyable treat. This dessert is sure to impress and quite simple and easy to make.

Ingredients:
Making the Shell:
1 pound flour
2 cups cold water
1/2 cup of olive oil
Making the Filling:
8 egg yolks
1.5 cups sugar
1/2 cup rice flour

Directions:
For the Shell:
1) Pour the ingredients in a bowl and knead them well until they reach a dough like consistency..
2) With the help of a rolling pin, roll the dough very thin, place it in a lightly greased form and with the tip of a knife, make the shape you wish to mould the filling in. The dough should be very thin, almost transparent.
3) Mould the dough into whichever shape you please, or if you have a specific baking mould, use that.
For the Filling:
1) Pour the sugar in a saucepan on the stove with a glass of water and let it boil until 245 degrees Fahrenheit or the sugar has become a syrup with an even consistency.
2) In another saucepan, dissolve the rice flour in 1/2 cup of cold water. Add the boiled sugar syrup to this mixture let it cook on low heat for 5 minutes.
3) Turn off the heat and let it cool slightly and begin adding in the egg yolks.
4) Keep stirring them together and let them cool for another 5 minutes on low heat in the saucepan.
5) Pour the filling into the moulded shells.
6) Serve and enjoy!
*If you wish to add a bit of crunch to the treats you can place them on a baking sheet in the oven at 250 degrees fahrenheit for about 3-4 minutes until they reach a crunchy shell.*

Have a great day

Meadowbank, Loonie.

This morning (Tuesday) I had a chat with a friend in England. I hadn’t spoken to them for a long time. She happened to mention a street close to her and I remembered we used to live there when I was about 8 years old. Meadowbank, St. Margaret St., Rochester. I googled it and there is still an address for a Meadowbank, but it doesn’t look anything like the house I remember which was Georgian I think. It is at 92 according to the google info but that is not the same house at all. I wonder what happened to it. I can’t imagine it would have been knocked down

I gather, from the news headlines, that our dollar (Loonie) has sunk to an all time low because of the sinking gas prices. No wonder it cost me heftily when I exchanged some dollars today. In case you are unaware, it is called a Loonie because of the picture of one on the back of the coin. We also have a toonie of course which just follows from being worth two Loonies I guess. I’m not sure where this picture came from as all the Loonies we have the bird is just floating in the water. I guess, looking at it, it was for the Olympic games.

Today, in England, is Guy Fawkes Day when Guy Fawkes is burned in effigy throughout the country because of his involvement in trying to blow up the houses of parliament whilst the king was there.

Remember, Remember the 5th of November
Gunpowder, treason and plot
I see no reason why gunpowder treason
Should ever be forgot.

I have never made pierogis but I have a friend in NC who does and I used to devour them. This recipe looked pretty simple. I have copied it with instruction pictures as well. It was on the P and G website (Proctor and Gamble) as I used to work for them, many years ago, I think I should be able to borrow their recipes.

Homemade Pierogi Recipe

By: Jackie Bruchez
 
No need to buy the frozen version when this version is much fresher and just as quick! 
 
Pierogies are Polish noodle dumplings that can be filled with a variety of mixes. Traditionally, it’s a very time consuming dish to make, but this quick recipe takes about half the time. You’ll have a delicious meal or snack on the table in no time!

Serves: 4

Ingredients1 package fresh lasagne sheets*
225 grams (1/2 pound) potatoes, peeled and cut into 1-inch slices
30 mL (2 tbsp) unsalted butter, melted
1 mL (1/4 tsp) kosher salt
1 mL (1/4 tsp) ground pepper
250 mL (1 cup) grated dry farmer's cheese
75 mL (1/3 cup) sour cream

*Tip: To make simple homemade pierogi dough, combine 225 grams (8 ounces) of sour cream, 625 mL (2 1/2 cups) of flour, 15 mL (1 tbsp) softened butter, 1 egg and 1 egg yolk. Knead together and roll flat.

Instructions
In a medium saucepan, bring potatoes to boil. Cook until fork tender. Once cooked, drain and mash with a fork. Add salt, pepper and melted butter and stir

1. Mix in shredded cheese with mashed potatoes
   
2. Cut fresh lasagne pieces into 7 1/2-centimetre (3-inch) rounds using a cookie cutter or a glass
   
3. Place 15 mL (1 tbsp) of mashed potatoes in the centre of the dough round
   
4. Wet the edges of the round and bring both sides to meet each other to make a half-moon shape. Pinch close and press edges shut with the edge of a fork
5. Heat a tablespoon of butter or oil in a pan over medium heat and briefly sauté the pierogis until they are slightly crispy and brown on the exterior. Then add 15 mL (1 tbsp) of water, cover the pan and steam for about 3 minutes. Remove and cook until water has dissolved
6. When they are browned on one side, flip the pierogis and pour a few mL of water in the pan and cover to steam for about 3 minutes
7. Remove cover and cook until the water has dissolved. Place pierogis on a serving dish and serve with a dollop of sour cream

Filling SuggestionsPierogies are also delicious when filled with a caramelized onions, bacon, sauerkraut and horseradish. Simply make the pierogis as instructed above, but add the additional desired ingredient on top of the mashed potato before closing the round.

Have a great day

God Save the Queens.

This picture and subject appeared in my inbox this morning from Travel and Leisure. Bearing in mind how pro conservation I am, I thought I would share it with you.

God Save the Queens

A proposal to add the African lion to the U.S. list of endangered species was made last week. American hunters are responsible for the most lion killings every year, though loss of the animal’s habitat to development and agriculture are also to blame. Bearing in mind that over 50% of the world’s wildlife has disappeared in recent years, I hope everyone will support this proposal. I am totally unable to understand people who want to kill animals just for the sake of doing so and showing the world how clever they are. Many of the animals they shoot have been set up for the kill anyway.

Bowling was good this Monday. My average increased by one point, better than last week when it went down 3 points.

We have been doing a vegetarian version of stuffed endive leaves for a number of years, which oddly enough, I find I have never shared on this blog, but these came from Mushrooms Canada and I thought would be good.

Beef Mushroom Endive Taco Boats

by The Primal Desire

Ingredients
2 lbs ground beef
6 large white or brown mushrooms (finely chopped)
1 red onion (finely chopped - ¼ cup put aside for salsa)
1 red chilli pepper (finely diced)
2 cloves garlic
3 heaping Tbsp taco seasoning (homemade or Paleo variety)
4-6 endives (leaves separated from base)
1 cup cherry tomatoes (finely chopped)
2-3 Tbsp ghee or grass-fed butter
optional:
½ - 1 can black olives (chopped)
shredded aged cheddar or crumbled blue cheese (if lacto-paleo)
Pineapple Salsa
1½ cups pineapple (about ½ a pineapple - finely chopped)
¼ cup red onion (finely diced - from above)
1-2 Tbsp cilantro (diced)
1 avocado (cubed, salted and coated in lime juice)
Method
Pineapple Avocado Salsa (make this in advance so that flavors can blend):
1. Mix ¼ cup finely chopped red onion with pineapple, cilantro, and avocado.
2. Place in fridge until needed.
Endive Boats:
1. In a large frying pan or pot, melt ghee or butter over medium heat.
2. Add remaining onions and mushrooms, cooking until soft.
3. Add chilli, garlic and beef, stirring well to break up ground beef.
4. Once browned, mix in taco seasoning and olives.
5. Fill each endive leaf with ground beef/mushroom mixture.
6. If using cheese, sprinkle each endive.
7. Serve with pineapple salsa and cherry tomatoes to be spooned on top.
Tip
This is great with aged cheddar or even blue cheese if you eat lacto-paleo. If not, it's still a really nice balance of flavors to share with everyone!

Have a great day

Weekend, Aerial Spelunking?

We have a couple of places in the dining area with lots of silver and glasses and periodically we have to strip off the lot and polish the silver, wash the glasses and the ornaments, etc. It’s a thankless job but one I prefer we do as our cleaner tends to be a bit of a breaker plus it takes a long time and she wouldn’t have time to do anything else. It isn’t helped by back pains either, we have to take breaks periodically.  So we did one set on Saturday and the others on Sunday. We also have a few odd bits of silver scattered around the room which have to be done too. Luckily these days I have a product which lasts for ages so we don’t have to do it so often. At times like this I think “why the devil don’t I get rid of some of this stuff”? In fact I did get rid of some a couple of years ago but obviously not enough. Anyway, the upshot of this was that I figured we deserved something special for dinner on Saturday night so I made Kung Pao Chicken, the lighter version which I posted a while back. It is very good and we both enjoy it. I serve it with plain rice but one could also serve it with noodles. This is it cooking in the pan. This time I had all the ingredients and I increased the amount of snow peas which we both like. With a nice Pinot Grigio it went down very well. It calls for minced ginger from a jar, never come across that, but I keep fresh ginger in the freezer and it doesn’t take a minute to grate what I need.

I just got this photo from T + L Transporter. They send out some interesting things, but this one I was astounded by: Earlier this fall, an Austrian pilot completed the world’s first underground hot air balloon flight, steering a smaller-than-normal balloon through Croatia’s 675-foot-deep Mamet Cave. In my opinion, the Austrian pilot is nuts. I am not sure I would go down there under any conditions. Spelunkers have always seemed somewhat foolhardy to me. I don’t have claustrophobia but I don’t think I would be happy in some of those underground caves they explore. Although I watch film of spelunking with interest.

I haven’t eaten a baked apple in years, I don’t remember the last one. I used to quite enjoy them, but nowadays I don’t eat apples of any kind much. Not my favourite fruit. However, this does appeal and I might have a go.

Easy Baked Apples

WebMD Recipe

 
 
 
 
 

 
Ingredients

• 1 apple, green or red
• 1 tablespoon softened butter, or canola margarine
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 tablespoon maple syrup
• 3 tablespoons chopped pecans, or walnuts

Instructions

1. Remove the core of the apple with an apple corer and slice 1/4 inch off of the apple bottom (to make a flat bottom). Place apple upright in a microwave-safe soup or salad bowl.
2. Blend 1 tablespoon of softened butter or canola margarine, 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon, 1 tablespoon maple syrup, and 3 tablespoons chopped pecans or walnuts together in a custard cup.
3. Fill the core of the apple with the mixture (there is enough to fill 3 apples). Cover apple with plastic wrap and microwave on HIGH until apple is tender (about 3 minutes).

Have a great day

Saturday Recipe

I hope you all enjoyed Hallowe’en yesterday. I can't believe it's November.

This is a very simple dish I have served many times as a starter. However, I often add a little Brie cheese and a few pieces of chopped up ham which I put in underneath the eggs. Makes it richer and more special.

Convent eggs

Rich and creamy, Convent eggs look most attractive if served in individual cocottes or ramekin dishes.

ingredients

1 tbsp butter, softened
4 eggs
Salt and freshly ground
black pepper
4 tbsp fresh double cream

method

1. Brush the insides of the cocottes or ramekins with the butter. Break in the eggs, season to taste with salt and pepper, then carefully spoon 1 tbsp cream over each egg.
2. Place in a roasting tin half-full of hot water and cover with buttered greaseproof paper or foil. Bake in a moderate oven (180°C/350°F or Gas Mark 4) for 10 to 15 minutes or until the eggs are set.
3. Serve immediately.

Have a great weekend.