Shopping

Once again its Thursday and our regular grocery shopping day. Do you like grocery shopping? I do. I love to wander the aisles and see what's new and to look at all the nice fresh produce in the hope there is something different. Even if there isn't anything different, I like to look at and select the items that are there. Fresh vegetables are absolutely wonderful so long as you don't overcook them. I remember being told, many, many years ago, that most vegetables can be eaten and enjoyed raw so why cook them to death. The colours are always so appealing too, with all the different bell peppers in reds, yellows, oranges and greens; the fruits in their myriads of colours, think of plums, bananas, strawberries, oranges; the lovely greens of the leafy vegetables and lettuces; obviously I could list them forever there are so many things these days. When I was a child, we didn't have this abundance, I had no idea what a bell pepper was; bananas and pineapples didn't appear til well after the war. I was told my father brought bananas back from India one time, but I don't remember it although I do remember the beautiful Indian dolls he brought me one of which, sadly, was broken before it arrived. They were dressed in gorgeous materials which impressed me as I had never seen saris before.

We have friends coming for dinner on Saturday so we will be looking for a few extra products for the dishes we are going to prepare. We rarely, if ever, have starters and desserts on our own, but always when we have guests. This weekend, the dessert will be a kind of tribute to one of the members of my cookery group who recently passed away. She particularly loved chocolate so chocolate is what we are having. In fact, there are a number of dinner parties being held this weekend as a tribute to her, in England, Ireland, South Africa, etc. Many of them will also include chili which was another of her favourites. The hotter, the better. She had lived out east for many years and was used to very spicy foods. Chilis, another brilliant colour in the supermarket.

This is a recipe I have just copied from Chef2Chef which would have suited her down to the ground. It was copied from Glen's MM Recipe Guide apparently. I left in the comments at the end.

Title: Chocolate Mole
Yield: 12 Servings

Ingredients

100 g chilies anchoes
100 g chilies chipotle
100 g chilies mulato
4 tb lard
1/4 c raw sesame seeds
4 corn tortillas (6-inch -diam); cut into 1/2-inch strips
1 c finely chopped onions
1 c chopped seeded tomatoes
1/2 c chopped fresh cilantro -(coriander)
1 bay leaf; crushed
1/2 ts ground cinnamon
1/2 ts freshly ground black pepper
1/2 ts salt
1/4 ts ground cloves
1/2 ts ground cumin
1/2 ts cayenne pepper
1/2 ts oregano
4 oz bittersweet chocolate; - chopped
3 1/2 c chicken stock
1/2 c cashews; toasted and chopped

Instructions

Chocolate Mole, Courtesy of my wife, Sara.

Cover all the chilies and soak for 30 minutes. Reserve 1/3 cup (3 fl oz/80 ml) of the soaking water. Stem and seed the chilies

In a medium skillet, heat 1 tblspn of the lard over medium heat. Fry the chilies for 30 seconds on each side. Remove the chilies from the skillet and add the sesame seeds; stir until toasted lightly, about 1 minute. Remove the sesame seeds from the skillet and set aside. Add 1 tblspn of
lard to the skillet and, when hot, add the tortilla strips; fry until soft, about 2 minutes.

Place the chilies, sesame seeds, tortilla strips and reserved soaking water in a blender and puree to a paste; set aside.

In a large skillet, heat the remaining 2 tblspns lard over med-high heat; saute the onions until translucent, about 3 minutes. Add the tomatoes and cilantro and cook for 2 minutes. Add the bay leaf, cinnamon, pepper, salt, cloves, cumin, cayenne and oregano and cook, stirring, for 2 minutes, or until well blended. Add the chopped chocolate and continue cooking and stirring until the chocolate is melted, about 2 minutes. Add the chicken stock and cashews and bring to a boil. Add the pureed chili mixture and stir well. Lower the heat and simmer, uncovered, stirring occasionally, for 15-20 minutes, or until the mixture thickens and the flavors have blended.
Serve with grilled pork tenderloin, duck breasts, chicken or turkey.

Makes about 3 cups (24 fl oz/750 ml)

Of course, it is beneficial if you are sipping a Texas Tornado while preparing above. (don't tell my wife I said that!)

This sauce can be used for all kinds of different dishes but the favourites seem to be poultry, I only once made a chicken mole, not sure why I have never made one again.

Anyway, have a great day.

Swan Lake @ Wetten dass ? 2008-01-26

Another incredible video - do watch it

Oysters

I love oysters, although once upon a time I didn't. My parents would eat oysters by the plateful and I wouldn't touch them. I have described how once when I had a French girl staying with me, we had oysters and my parents, having prepared them together with brown bread and butter (traditional in England) called each of us youngsters in to try them, there were several of us. Each one of us went 'yeuch' until the French girl came in and my father described it as being a Disney cartoon where the oyster shells went one way fast and the stacks of bread and butter kept decreasing. They had to tip her out of the room before there were none left for the adults.

Once I got to North Carolina I learned to eat steamed oysters which I could eat by the bushel load and absolutely loved. Then, at London Airport returning from our Christmas visit this year, we had a seafood lunch and my plate had one raw oyster on it. I ate it, I loved it. Wonders will never cease. Of course I do miss my fresh oysters from NC, nothing like living by the water for fresh seafood. In Canada all such food has to travel an awfully long way to reach us and therefore costs twice as much as it does near the coast.

I wrote a blog about a last meal, maybe I should add Oysters to that menu.

You simply have to to see the YouTube video of a new talent from Britain's Got Talent. They showed the clip on Good Morning America and both Matt and I had tears running down our faces. The audience gave this young man, Andrew Johnston, 13, a standing ovation; the dreaded Simon thought he was great. He starts by telling the world how he is bullied at school and deals with it by singing. To watch the video click here.

Last night we had another recipe from Dottie's Cookbook aka Betty Crocker's New International Cookbook, we enjoyed it.

Honey-Spiced Chicken with Orange Sauce
6-8 servings

In Israel, as in much of the Middle East, honey is an ingredient used to signal festive occasions, to celebrate the sweetness of life or of a new year. Honey, lemon and orange juice, ginger and nutmeg flavour this golden brown chicken and provide a sweet sauce too.

2 Tbs vegetable oil or chicken fat
2 1/2 to 3 lb. broiler-fryer chicken cut up
2 medium onions, sliced
1 tsp salt
1 tsp paprika
1/8 tsp pepper
1 C orange juice
1/4 C honey
2 Tbs lemon juice
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1/2 C pitted ripe olives
1 Tbs cold water
2 tsp cornstarch
Orange slices

Heat oil in skillet until hot. Cook chicken over a medium heat until brown on all sides, about 15 mins. Place the chicken in an ungreased oblong baking dish, top with onions. Sprinkle with salt, paprika and pepper. Mix orange juice, honey, lemon juice, ginger and nutmeg; pour over chicken. Add olives. Cover and cook in 350 F. oven until thickest pieces of chicken are done. 45-50 mins.

Arrange chicken, onions and olives on platter. Pour pan juices into a saucepan; heat to boiling. Mix water and cornstarch; stir into juices. Cook and stir until slightly thickened, 1 to 2 mins. Garnish chicken with orange slices; serve with orange sauce.

We cheated, we started with four skinless, boneless chicken breasts and adjusted timing from there. It was very enjoyable just the same.

Have a great day.

Diets and Diabetes, Foreclosure

This morning on GMA, Chris Cuomo was talking about diets and exercise. Also about cutting carbs. This is fine if you are fit and healthy in the first place, but if you have diabetes, you should check with your dietitian and doctor first. At the moment all dietitians say you should eat 2 or 3 carb points at every meal and NOT cut them out. You can do this by eating vegetables rich in carbs such as carrots and peas, or by adding whole wheat products to your meal. The key to all weight loss is to eat a healthy, balanced diet and be moderate about what you are eating. MODERATION in everything. A glass or two of red wine is OK a bottle or two is not. They also showed some simple exercises which anyone can do at home including the proper way to do push ups. I have never, in my life, been able to do a push up. However, I have watched people do them and they do not keep their torso absolutely straight which is what was demonstrated. Resistance exercise is highly recommended. You can do it at home or join Curves if you are female, there is a similar place for men but I can't for the life of me remember the name.

Isometrics are resistance exercises and Matt has been doing those since the year dot, so much so that he doesn't even know when he is doing them, sitting watching TV or something. This is why we recently had to change our love seat for a new chair for him as he had totally worn the nap off the material due to his incessant moving. Of course he is slim and has absolutely no extra pounds. People have been telling him for years that he will gain weight when he is older, he is now 73 and still more or less the same weight he has been all his life. I hate him. I have threatened to divorce him for cruelty for years. He never gains an ounce, never needs his teeth filled and never has a hangover. If that's not cruelty, what is?

Another item on Good Morning America today was about all the foreclosure scams which are taking place during this difficult financial climate in the States. Their advice is to go to your current lender and talk to them before you do anything or commit to anything. Seems sensible to me. One woman thought she was being helped to re-finance and ended up losing her house altogether due to a scam.

Today I thought I would give you another shrimp dish. This comes from Betty Crocker's New International Cookbook which, in this home, is known as Dottie's Book. She lent me this book many years ago and never did get it back. Last time I tried to return it she refused it and said she knew where it was if she wanted to read it. Trouble is, I have now moved 1,000 miles away.

Marinated Gingered Shrimp

This is a simple Japanese preparation that can be prettily arranged on a serving plate. Sweet sake is widely available, but the same quantity of sweet sherry may be substituted if sake is not to be found.

1 1/2 lbs shrimp, shelled and deveined
1/2 C soy sauce
3 oz. giverroot, chopped
1/3 C Vinegar (we use white wine vinegar)
2 tbs sugar
2 tbs sweet sake
1 1/2 tsp salt
2 to 3 Tbs thinly sliced green onion.

Cook shrimp until pink and still tender; arrange in a single layer in a glass or plastic container 12 x 7 1/2 x 2 inches. Heat soy sauce to boiling; add gingerroot. Reduce heat; simmer uncovered until most of the liquid is absorbed, about 5 mins. Stir in the vinegar, sugar, sake and salt; pour over shrimp. Cover and refrigerate at least 2 hours.

Remove shrimp from marinade with slotted spoon; arrange on serving plate. Garnish with green onion. Actually we never do this last step and we find the bits of ginger are delicious with the shrimp, obviously its your choice.

Have a great day.

Mixed up Babies. What You Can Do With Lego

Can you imagine that happening, but apparently it does. I saw a news report about it this morning. Two mothers were sent home with the wrong babies. Fortunately the hospital realised their mistake straight away. However, other people haven't found out for a number of years and have been devastated to find their child is not the child of their body. It really is a great argument for midwifery. I was very surprised when I first came to Canada to find that everyone went to hospital to have babies and didn't have the midwife in. There are midwives here, but few and far between. When you look at the picture on the left though, it isn't surprising mix ups happen.

I am presently reading a book called The Deed of Paksenarrion by Elizabeth Moon. I can really recommend it if you read that kind of book. The author was recommended to me by an Australian writer and I am enjoying it. The book I got hold of is three books in one which makes for a rather big paperback to hold and read. I am not yet sure what else she has written but will be researching it soon.

I have just seen a segment on Good Morning America about Nathan Sawaya who is now a famous artist making sculptures out of Lego pieces. He has exhibitions all over the place and sells these pieces for a lot of money. He just gave the four hosts of GMA a piece each, which he made specially for them. You should have a look at the web site here there are pictures of all the sculptures he has made, some of which are very clever, but don't appeal to me, others, like the bear, I think are delightful. I remember when I visited Disney Village (believe that is called Downtown Disney these days) and saw all the Lego characters on display there, I was absolutely fascinated. Some of the items are so lifelike. The serpent on the right was one of my favourites. The dinosaurs on the left are great too, there is also a space ship and a helicopter on display, all made out of Lego. Not to mention a Lego family just positioned there like a real family might be. Can you imagine the patience it must take to build these things. I don't really remember playing with Lego myself, but I know most kids do at some time in their lives. I remember playing with a building set belonging to someone else where you had real tiny bricks, window frames and blueprints and actually built miniature houses. You could then soak them if you wished to dismantle them so that the "glue" dissolved. I have never seen that set before or since.

We went to M & M's again yesterday to buy some more Chateaubriand and decided to try one of the stuffed chicken breasts they do. We got the ones with Portabella mushroom stuffing. I'm not actually sure it was Portabella, unless it was baby Bellas, or Crimini, but they were pretty good. Its funny we haven't shopped in M & M's for years. Once upon a time their steaks were "tenderised" with something and Matt didn't like the taste. They seem not to do that any more.

One weekend a friend of mine and I both cooked the same recipe which we had got from different sources. She posted her version on our cookery group. This is what she came up with. I don't remember where either of us got this recipe, sorry about that. When I made the recipe, we couldn't find vegetable cream cheese, which would be healthier, but settled for regular cream cheese.

Chicken Stuffed with Heaven

4 boneless skinless chicken breasts 4 slices black forest ham vegetable cream cheese onions can of chicken broth white wine pepper 1 Pound the chicken breasts quite thin. I suggest using a meat mallet to do this. I don't have one so I had to improvise. For everyone's sake, I suggest you do NOT try to pound it thin with a rolling pin. It DOES flatten the chicken, but we are still picking bits off the walls and ceiling. Or maybe you are not supposed to scream "DIE chicken" as you smash it to bits? Regardless, get the chicken flat somehow. 2 While you are releasing all your pent up frustrations on a dead bird, have someone else slice your onions into rings. I used 3 good sized onions. Heat a bit of butter in a frying pan, add a little oil, then add your onions. Caramelize them. I don't cook them quite to that, I prefer cooked to clear. Just before they were done I added a splash of wine to them, and some pepper. 3 While the onions are frying, lay a slice of black forest ham on each chicken breast, then a scoop of cream cheese. Spread out the cream cheese all across the ham. Add some slices of onion to each of the chicken breasts, then roll up and secure with a toothpick. Or six. (HOW do the cooks make the chicken still look good while doing this? Mine looked like stabbed... well.. CHICKENS! 4 Go back to the frying pan that you cooked the onions in. Hopefully your overzealous spouse has not whisked this off the stove and started washing it. Add a bit more oil and a bit of chicken broth to the pan, then brown the chicken rolls on all sides. If it browns too quickly, add more broth. 5 Once the chickens are browned, lay them out in a casserole dish, and add the rest of the onions over the top. Set aside. 6 In the frying pan, pour the rest of the chicken broth and about 1/4 cup of wine. Be sure to scrape the pan to get all the "Good Stuff". Drop in a good dollop of the veggie cream cheese, and whisk until it's dissolved. Pour this sauce over the chicken in the casserole, then bake at 325 for 20 - 25 minutes. 7 This would be delightful with a tossed salad, fresh asparagus and a light fruit cup for dessert. Servings: 4

Have a great day.

Sunday is a Day of Rest

I have decided to make all Sundays rest days from my blog. I hope you have a great day.

Lousy Weather, Rice Crispie Fish

The weather in our part of Canada is particularly miserable at the moment, dull, wet, cold. Spring I guess. Last night we had a humungous thunderstorm with lots of lightening and thunder. Sort of thing that usually comes with hot weather, not this miserable stuff. We didn't really go anywhere as we were waiting for the chair delivery which we were told would come between 10:50 and 2:50, honestly, a 4 hour window which turned out to be longer because they got a flat tire. However, it arrived and Matt is now happy after having ruined the love seat he used to sit on. I'm happy because the love seat was looking such a mess these days.

I just picked up a recipe from the Rice Crispies site. I would never have thought of using Rice Crispies to coat fish, but actually I thought this recipe looked very interesting. Particularly as there has been a lot in the news telling us how good almonds are for us and how, in one study, they fed a test group 2 oz almonds a day and they didn't gain weight.

Lime Baked Fish

500 mL	2 cups	RICE KRISPIES* cereal crushed to 250 mL (1 cup)
50 mL	1/4 cup	finely chopped almonds
15 mL	1 tbsp	chopped fresh parsley
50 mL	1/4 cup	all-purpose flour
2	egg whites or 1 egg
45 mL	3 tbsp	lime juice
1 mL	1/4 tsp	each: salt and ground ginger
2 mL	2 tsp	seasoned pepper
500 g	1 lb	fish fillets (such as tilapia, sole or haddock)

PREPARATION

1. In large plate or shallow pan, mix together crushed cereal, almonds and parsley. Place flour on second plate.
2. In small bowl, mix together egg whites, 30 mL (2 tbsp) of the lime juice, salt and seasonings.
3. Dip fish in flour, shaking off excess. Dip in egg mixture, draining slightly, then coat with cereal mixture. Place in single layer on foil-lined baking sheet sprayed with cooking spray. Drizzle with remaining lime juice.
4. Bake at 200°C (400°F) about 15 minutes or until fish flakes in thickest part, when tested with fork.

Have a great day.

Artistic Elephants and Major Storms

If you haven't seen this video Elephants Painting you really should watch it. Matt saw it on TV a day or two ago and then I got to see the YouTube version. If you look carefully there is a handler parading another picture in the background showing flowers. I understand not all elephants respond to this training, but some of them seem to enjoy it. Someone on a list asked if the elephants are just trained to paint the one picture or what? I have no idea, but getting them to do what they do is pretty fantastic in my book.

There have been more tornadoes in the States, I feel so sorry for the people who are subject to such things, in fact there is a corridor up the centre of the States where more tornadoes occur than anywhere else. However, statistically, there have been lots more tornadoes this year than normal. Another sign of global warming I gather. I must say I much prefer hurricanes, if I have to have either that is, you get days of warning about them and can generally move out of their way, a twister just arrives. Admittedly you know the weather at the time is likely to spawn a tornado, but you don't know when, where or if. As for these people who chase the storms, they are, in my opinion, certifiably nuts. At Disney World they have a show called Twister and it is supposed to be just like being in one except basically you are to one side watching even though you get water in your face, that was plenty for me. I DO NOT want to experience the real thing. They do happen in Canada occasionally, but not with such regularity I am pleased to say. Some years ago there was a big one hit Barrie which is quite a bit north of us and Matt had occasion to go up there afterwards. The devastation was pretty terrible although Matt was fascinated by the fact that the twister (aptly named) had knocked down houses standing in between totally undamaged buildings.

Living in the Carolinas, we often got hurricanes visiting us, and we usually took shelter somewhere more solid than where we lived. We lost 26 trees over the years, but luckily we never had one come down on our home, fences, decks, etc. but not the home itself. One time we came back to find a tree down in the back yard and another in the front yard, both of which had fallen away from the house. If they had fallen the other way, poof!!! I had a little programme for the computer called Storm Tracker. It was very useful and gave me a pretty accurate idea of where the storm was going. I would plot it from the co-ordinates given by the TV. Once when they told us to evacuate, I could tell the storm was turning away, so we didn't move and it was right, it skimmed past us.

Several times we went to a friend's house and we often had hurricane parties where we all took some kind of food. I remember our first time when we were only visiting the area. Matt went to a local store who was tipping out all the ice from his machines (when the power goes off it melts of course) and bought a whole load of steaks which were on sale. When we got to the friend's house, someone had brought a pile of shrimp which I helped to peel and we ended up with a fantastic meal of those items plus salads and a few bottles of hooch. Some people stayed up all night watching the storm progress, I went to bed and forgot all about it. One of the worst hurricanes we remember was when Floyd sat over the Carolinas for days and it rained and rained and rained; there was really serious flooding, one saw pictures of houses just showing their roofs, people being rescued by boats and so on. Since that time Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans and the coastal towns and caused even worse damage. I haven't forgotten that dreadful tsunami either, which we never hear about any more, I have no doubt the people of that area are still struggling to recover.

Well, this morning we are expecting our new chair to arrive so I have to go check the website to see what time to expect it.

Last night we had some arctic char just broiled with a little seasoning, which was absolutely delicious. If you have the opportunity to taste arctic char, I really recommend it. Its flesh is similar looking to salmon but, in my opinion, much more tasty. I know I mentioned a restaurateur friend who smoked his own salmon and arctic char and served it in the restaurant. I preferred the char, and I am a smoked salmon devotee from way back.

Have a great day.

Pork Chop

As I have nothing much to write about today, I am just going to post the other recipe we picked up from the local paper yesterday. We spent the morning shopping as Thursday is our usual day and bought some fish, halibut and arctic char. The char we are going to eat tonight, it is probably one of my favourite fish. So here's the pork recipe for you.

Almond-Crusted Pork with Quick Cabbage & Pears

1 (2 oz) bag ground almonds or 2/3 cup chopped whole natural almonds 1 tsp fresh thyme 1/2 tsp each salt and pepper 4 boneless pork chops (about 1 1/2 lbs in total) 4 Tbs almond or canola oil 2 Anjou pears, cored and sliced 1 cup shredded red cabbage or radiccio 1/4 cup chicken broth, white wine or water 1 Preheat oven to 350 F. 2 Combine almonds with thyme, salt and pepper in a shallow pan or bowl. Roll each pork chop in crumb mixture, coating all over. Heat oil in a large skillet and add pork chops; fry on medium heat 5 mins without touching. Turn, using tongs instead of a spatula to avoid splattering oil. Cook for 5 mins more or until golden brown. 3 Transfer to a lined baking sheet and place in oven to finish cooking, 20 to 20 mins depending on thickness. Juices should run clear and no pink should remain. 4 Scrape brown bits from skillet and discard. Add pear slices and brown on medium heat. Lower heat to medium-low and add cabbage and chosen liquid. Cover and cook until cabbage wilts and pork chops are done. Sever chops on top of cabbage and pears. Servings: 4 Source: Live It

Have a great day.

Juggernaut to Camelot and Port Dalhousie

We watched the English movie Juggernaut on TV last night. It was only given a couple of stars, but we enjoyed it. Richard Harris played the lead and Anthony Hopkins played a cop with Omar Sharif as the ship's captain. There were all kinds of faces that we knew but couldn't put a name to. One being David Hemmings who was Richard Harris' sidekick; I finally realised he was so familiar because he played Mordred in Camelot. King Arthur's son in case you don't remember. Now that was one of my favourite movies, again with Richard Harris of course and Vanessa Redgrave as Guinevere. Of course Richard Harris was also the first Professor Dumbledore in the Harry Potter movies. So sad when he died.

If you are wondering why I am so late posting today, I had a busy morning trying to sort out why I cannot open one particular web site. I was working with my ISP, but I still cannot open the page, he could, my friends can, I can't. Its a pity because its about a restaurant we are going to at the end of the month. A friend sent me some of the menu choices, but I would love to see the site for myself. The restaurant is called Treadwell's and their specialty is buying local food and serving what's in season. In the hopes you can open it this is the website Treadwell's so you can read all about it even if I can't. The occasion is to be a farewell dinner for a Romanian mother who returns home on the following Monday. Whilst talking to the ISP he was reading the menus and telling me how delicious everything sounded. If that wasn't frustrating, I don't know what is.

As the restaurant is in Port Dalhousie which is a couple of hours drive for us, we decided to stay the night and spend the next day visiting the area. It is between two of the Great Lakes, Ontario and Erie and owes its existence to the building of the first Welland Canal. We have never been there before so it will be interesting to look around. Also, its not far from the Niagara wine region which I have mentioned before, so if the worst comes to the worst, we can always force ourselves to go to a winery. The picture on the left is the Bed and Breakfast where we will be staying.

Today, we picked up two recipes from the local paper which we are planning to try. The first one is a Curried Shrimp Salad.

Curried Shrimp Salad

1 lb shrimp (deveined and peeled) 2 Tbs butter 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped sea salt and fresh black pepper to taste 1 Tbs mild curry paste 1 Tbs lime juice 2 celery stalks finely chopped 1 1/2 cup grapes, cut in half 1 Tbs raisins 1 green onion finely chopped 2 Tbs walnut pieces 1/4 cup plain yogurt 4 Tbs fresh cilantro, finely chopped 1 In a large frying pan, melt the butter. Once hot, add the shrimp, after two mins, add the chopped garlic, salt and pepper. Stir. After another two mins add the curry paste and lime juice and mix. Fry for about five mins. In a large bowl, add the celery, grapes, raisins, green onion and walnut pieces. 2 Add the shrimp and most of the pan juices to the bowl with the celery and grapes. (Be careful not to scrape the pan). Stir in the yoghurt and mix all ingredients together. 3 Sprinkle with cilantro and mix again. 4 Serve with a spinach salad. Servings: 4 Recipe Source Author: Liz Monteiro & Luisa d'Amato Source: 30 Minute Miracle

Have a great day.

Charlton Heston, Dining Tables and Chocolate Volcanoes

Did you hear that Charlton Heston died at the weekend. The passing of another great icon. Not that he was the greatest actor in the world, but his movies were frequently blockbusters. I loved the movies where he played Moses and Ben Hur for instance. In fact, having it brought to mind, I watched Ben Hur on Sunday night. I had taped it years ago. Matt has always disliked Charlton Heston, his comment about Ben Hur was the best actors were the horses. I was once again thrilled to watch the chariot race and wish we had such races today.

Of course he was also very unpopular with his views as President of the National Rifle Association. I have seen some very nasty comments about this on line in the last couple of days. People cannot disassociate the actor and his work from his personal life. I was going to say private life, but it wasn't very private.

Yesterday, after bowling, we decided to go to a local furniture store to buy Matt a new chair. We have been looking for a while now. He has been sitting on a love seat for the last 7 years and has totally ruined the fabric, it had a kind of velvet finish; not any more. Matt has fidgeted the nap right off it. It looks terrible. So, we found him a leather lounger which, I hope, will fit in with the sofa and chair we still have and last him a bit longer. Someone is actually taking the love seat to recover for their own use, not something I am capable of doing; I did think of having it re-covered, not the cheapest proposition.

I saw a dining table I liked, it would seat 8 which I would would be great. Matt swears there isn't room for it, I'm not so sure. Every so often it would be nice to be able to seat that many people and if I found a suitable table with a leaf in it I could extend it when I need it. We will see how that little discussion proceeds. This is our current table which will seat 6 fairly comfortably.

Because I have been discussing chocolate desserts with my cooking friends lately, I thought I would pass on a recipe I got from Food and Drink which is a quarterly magazine put out by the LCBO or Liquor Control Board of Ontario. They have lots of wonderful recipes, including one for the best carrot cake I have ever come across. However, this time it is Warm Chocolate Cakes which some people refer to as volcanoes.

Warm Chocolate Cake
Serves: 6

6 oz Bittersweet Chocolate
2/3 C unsalted butter
1/3 C sugar
6 egg yolks
3 egg whites
1/3 C all purpose (plain) flour


Preheat oven to 425 F (220 C). In heavy pot on low heat, melt chocolate and butter together. Cool slightly.

Beat together sugar and egg yolks with electric mixer until thick and creamy, about 4 mins.

Pour in chocolate mixture and beat together for 5 mins.

In a separate bowl, beat egg whites until stiff peaks form, about three mins. Fold into mixture along with flour.

Pour into 6 nonstick buttered moulds or non-stick muffin tins (we use cocottes or ramekins). Bake for 5 to 7 mins or until edges are just cooked and centre is still liquid. Cool for 5 mins in cooking dish. Carefully remove to serving dishes. Serve with lightly whipped cream. Do NOT look at the calories *g*.

Have a great day.

Labelling and Obesity.

I just saw a segment on Good Morning America about food labels. Apparently they are not always very accurate. They hired a lab to do some testing for them. I already knew that when a label says 0 fat it could have up to .5 mg in it and still be within the legal limits. The upshot of their studies seemed to be stick to the advertised serving size. Now this is fine if its something like cookies, but have you seen the serving sizes on some cans and packages, not enough to keep a flea alive. Very unrealistic, so you end up eating more than you should - according to the label - and then you have a problem. They used a very prevalent statement about chocolate cookies "who can eat just one" I must say I can. I find just a taste of chocolate satisfies me and I can stop at one quite easily.

I have seen some really huge people lately and wonder why they don't do something about it, their doctors should be able to give them some assistance. I saw one woman who's rear end would have covered three chairs, I saw her overflowing one. At least she was still ambulatory, I saw others who were huge and in wheelchairs. There is a tendency to blame glands on such problems, but its amazing how many of these grossly obese problems can disappear once they are under medical supervision. The horrifying cases are those who live in their beds permanently because they can no longer move, how can anyone let themselves get this morbidly obese. Its not like I don't sympathise, I have been fighting obesity all my life, but self discipline has to come into this somewhere. According to the Canadian Diabetes Association, diabetes is costing Canada something like $13 billion a year, in the States it is over $100 billion and a lot of that cost could be alleviated by people losing weight. Even covering the cost of bypass or lap band surgeries would help. A friend of mine who was very overweight had a procedure done and has now lost over 50 lbs. Before she had the procedure she was showing high blood sugar counts, now she is no longer bordering on diabetes. That is simplistic and would not happen for everyone perhaps, but the doctor at the expo said even a 10 lb weight loss helps. Sorry about the rant.

Bowling again today so Matt was polishing his bowling balls yesterday. I bought him some for a birthday present a few years ago. He then didn't get a lot of use out of them for a while, but they have now come back into use. We found out the other day where he can get them engraved quickly and will get them done, probably at the end of this season. I never realised how much care these bowling balls need. Matt was given instruction by the owner of the alley where we started our interest in the game. You have to buy special polish which also has an abrasive in it. I don't have any bowling balls and don't think I want any.

The following recipe is one Matt has made for finger foods at parties. We had a period in North Carolina of having such parties and these disappeared very fast.

Oriental Pot Stickers

Source: Cooking Light - Jan/Feb 94

1/2 lb mixed scallop/shrimp (cod)
1-1/2 tsp veg oil
1 tsp peeled, grated gingerroot
1 clove garlic minced
3/4 C finely chopped leek
3/4 C finely chopped water chestnuts
2 Tbs finely shredded carrot
1 Tbs dry sherry
1 Egg white
30 Wonton wrappers
2 Tsp cornstarch
Veg cooking spray
2 tsp veg oil
1/2 C water

Ginger Soy Sauce

1/2 cup plus
2 tbs water
1/4 cup low sodium soy sauce
1 tbs thinly sliced green onions
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp peeled grated ginger
2 tsp rice vinegar
2 tsp dry sherry
Instructions: Coarsely chop seafood by hand or processor. Set aside.

Heat 1 1/2 tsp oil in skillet over medium heat. Add ginger and garlic, saute 30 secs. Add leek, sauté 3 mins til tender. Combine fish, leek mixture, water chestnuts and next three ingredients in a bowl, stir well, set aside.

Work with 1 wrapper at a time (cover rest) spoon about 2 tsp of mixture in each wrapper. Moisten edges with water bring opposing corners to centre, pinch, repeat with other corners. Place on baking sheet sprinkled with cornstarch and set aside.

Coat a nonstick skillet with spray, add 2 tsp oil heat over medium. Arrange potsticker in skillet, cook 3 mins until bottoms lightly browned. Add 1/2 C water, cover and cook 1 min til bottoms are crisp. Serve with warm Ginger-soy sauce.

Sauce:

Combine all ingredients in a bowl; stir well. Yield about 1 cup. Serving size about 3 tbs.

Have a great day.

Snow, Diabetes Expo, Ninth Gate

Snow again, in April, in England would you believe? I understand there was quite a blanket of the stuff all over the country first thing this morning. Very unusual at this time of year. I bet our granddaughter is thrilled judging by her reaction to the few flakes which fell whilst we were there.

A friend posted pictures of where she lives and they look quite pretty although she tells me now that it has mostly gone since the sun came out. After all the snow we have had this winter, Matt kidded her it was just a heavy frost *g*. On the right is one of the pictures she took.

Well we spent the day at the Diabetes Expo yesterday, some of it was interesting some of it not so. Unfortunately knowledge of a subject does not, necessarily, ensure your ability to pass it on to others in an interesting manner. However, research is producing new medications some of which are not yet available in Canada but are in the U.S. which means they will be here soon. There were some interesting cook books but as Matt keeps saying, we have cookbooks up the kazoo, not to mention programmes on the computer and access to hundreds more, probably thousands more, recipes on the internet. They always have an exhibition of various things to do with diabetes, such as glucose monitors, insulin pens and so on and you can talk to a panel of experts on anything such as diet, medications etc. They always have experts in several fields of whom you can ask questions. Much to my surprise, there was a booth from the funeral home where I used to work so I had a chat to the girl there, she is new since my time: got myself a new pen from them. I also had a good look and demonstration of insulin pens as they are called. I had retained pictures of the old way of using a syringe and such, but no longer true. I am assured by all who know that the pen is less painful to use than the lancet I use every day to check my blood sugar. At the moment I will take it on trust although I am told that one day I may have to progress to insulin. Not too soon I trust. As one doctor quipped, we can now keep the diabetes under sufficient control that something else can kill you before the diabetes does.

I watched a good movie last night, The Ninth Gate with Johnny Depp, I really enjoyed it. The plot involved Johnny Depp, who was an antique book authority, authenticating a book which was based on another book which was supposed to have been written by the Devil. Full of mystery, sex and murder. Matt didn't watch it, not his kind of thing at all. Often advertising on TV ruins a film for me, but this time it didn't. It kept me interested from beginning to end. The end is a bit of a mystery in itself mind you.

Last night, for supper, we had a small Chateaubriand which M & M Meats are selling for roughly $11. A very good buy. A friend, locally, served them to us one time and so we finally got round to buying some for the freezer. Enjoyed it very much and it is good value for money. We have an indoor/outdoor grill and Matt cooked it on that. Took about 10 minutes. It was delicious. We had a Dancing Bull Zinfandel with it and thoroughly enjoyed our simple meal.

I always like different things to do with vegetables and this one I got from UCook.com a couple of days ago and thought would be different. I have been cooking a similar recipe for years, but the sun-dried tomato rather than fresh plus the anchovies give this recipe a different twist.

Beans with Sun-dried Tomato

1 1/2 lbs green beens, the smallest you can find
3-4 Tbs extra virgin olive oil
2 garlic clives, minced
2 anchovy fillets, chopped
1 Tbs minced sun-dried tomatoes
salt to taste
Freshly ground black pepper to taste.

Snap off both ends of the beans and wash them under cold running water. Bring a medium sized saucepan half full of salted water to a boil over medium heat. Add the beans and cook, uncovered, until tender but still a bit crunchy, 2 to 4 mins. depending on size. Drain and immediately plunge the beans in a large bowl of ice water to stop the cooking and to set their green colour. Drain and set aside.

Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the garlic, anchovies and sun dried tomatoes. Stir for about 1 minute, making sure not to let the garlic turn too dark. Add the beans, season and stir just long enough to heat the beans through. 1 - 2 mins. Taste, adjust the seasoning and serve.

Served 4 to 6

Have a great day.

Would You Believe Snow? T'ai Chi

I can't believe it, having written how well the snow is disappearing, I get up this morning to find a thin layer of snow all over the ground again. Yesterday everyone was talking about the nice weather and how spring was finally here, ha!!

I am thinking of showing some of the people in my apartment building how to do T'ai Chi. We have a lot of oldsters here, well I am one after all, and it is so good for teaching balance and harmony which is so needful particularly when you are older. It will be good for me as well as for the people I am teaching. One thing Matt is concerned about is injury, one can, if not careful, twist knee joints, etc. so obviously I could be in trouble, the last teacher I studied with got people to sign a waiver, I would have to do the same. I have never met anyone who was injured, but you just never know.

This reminds me of an enterprise we started in North Carolina, cooking for people in their homes, it was pointed out to me by a friend who had been in the catering business, that we could easily be sued if someone got sick after our meals, even if it was actually nothing to do with our food. Something I had never thought of. A pity, it was a good idea at the time. We called our business Adventures in Dining and did several successful functions.

We have been discussing chili and chocolate recipes on the cookery group I belong to, this is the only recipe I have ever tried, Matt was not too keen, but I enjoyed it.

Chicken Mole with Green Beans
Serves: 4

Source: Cooking Light Jan/Feb 2001

4 chicken breasts, skin removed
1 lb green beans, trimmed, part cooked
Cooking spray
2 tsp olive oil
1 c finely chopped onion
1 tbs chili powder
2 1/2 tsp bottled minced garlic
2 tsp unsweetened cocoa
2 tsp ground cinnamon
2 tsp dried thyme
1/2 tsp sugar
1/4 tsp salt
3/4 cup chicken broth


Heat a large nonstick skillet over med high heat. Add chicken, cook 5 mins on each side. Place the chicken and beans in a baking dish coated with cooking spray and cover with plastic wrap. Microwave on high for15 minutes or until chicken is done, turn half way.

While the chicken cooking, heat oil in skillet over med high heat. Add onion and the next 7 ingredients, onion through salt, cook for 3 mins or until onion is soft, stirring frequently. Add broth, and cook until thick (about 2 mins). Spoon sauce over chicken mixture.

Have a great day.

Diabetes Expo, The River Grand.

Life seems to consist of running around like chickens with their heads cut off or alternatively doing absolutely nothing. This week is a chicken week. I will not be writing a blog on Saturday, or not in the morning at least, as we are going to a Diabetes Expo from 8:30 to 3:00 - almost just across the road for us which is convenient. It is run by the Canadian Diabetes Association who do very good work in Ontario. In fact I have just written to their volunteer co-ordinator to see if there is anything I can do for them. They use volunteers a lot, especially at Expos like the one on Saturday, not that I could do the standing around these people do at Expos, but I could certainly do other stuff for them. We will see. In case you are unaware, I do have diabetes.

Yesterday afternoon, our Superintendent and his wife invited everyone to share in coffee and cake from 3-6. This is the third time they have done this, Sue bakes herself silly and presents a table loaded with goodies. She had even made some cakes with Splenda this time for the diabetics (of which she is one). I suspect she had a lot of cake left over at the end of the day. She loves to cook but as she broke her ankle before Christmas, is not yet fully mobile so I don't know how she coped.

The snow is actually beginning to disappear although some of the mountains which were formed by ploughing parking lots will take a while yet. There is some danger of flooding, especially the River Grand in Cambridge, nearby. We crossed a couple of small tributaries yesterday and they were flooded and running very fast. Not major flooding at that point, but it wouldn't take much. Of course there are houses on the river banks which are prone to flooding, I guess when they were originally built, people didn't think of such things. In fact I was thinking only yesterday how few places have public access to the rivers because of the buildings on the banks. It is the same with coastal waters where accessing the beaches is almost impossible for people who don't own or rent beach front property. One of my pet peeves about the area of North Carolina where we used to live was the lack of public access and that buildings were built on the top of dunes. Apart from the unsightliness of it, I thought sand was supposed to be a bad surface on which to build. Even the Bible says something about "build not your house upon sand".

When Matt was in hospital having a knee replacement about a year ago, there was a young man in his ward who was a chef at a local restaurant. He had had a bad kitchen accident with boiling oil spilt all down the back of his legs. His name was Paul, I'm afraid we didn't get his last name; needless to say, Matt and Paul discussed cooking and food. He gave Matt a recipe he had created and I share it with you today.

Paul's Tomatoes

Ingredients:
60 Cherry Tomatoes - peeled
60 Coriander seeds
3 cloves
2 cloves garlic
1 sprig rosemary
1 vanilla bean split and scraped
500 g honey
50 ml olive oil
60 ml sherry vinegar

Instructions:
Bring honey to a boil. Add spices, herbs, garlic, vanilla, olive oil. Simmer for 5 mins.

Add tomatoes and then removed from the heat and pour into a shallow container. Add vinegar and put in fridge for 24 hours.

Have a great day.

Living to 150, Howl at the Moon

Well I was disappointed to discover that you would have to drink something like 3,000 bottles of wine a day to get the anti-aging benefits. Damn, even I couldn't do that, LOL. In fact, it turns out that red wine does have a property which retards aging, it is called resveratrol, so companies have found a way to concentrate the resveratrol into pill form which they are presently testing and hope to present to the American Food and Drug Administration within 5 years. I then decided to research the internet and find all kinds of people are selling resveratrol already, now I wonder????? There was some mention of it helping with diabetes amongst other things such as heart, brain (alzheimer's) and kidneys.

Several scientists and professors were interviewed during the programme and they see no problem in being able to extend life in the future to several hundred years and maybe even to 1,000. They have already worked on making a new heart in the laboratory from stem cells and say that eventually every part of the body will be replaceable allowing for longer, healthier lives. One problem I foresee is excessive overcrowding. In all the sci fi books, people can already live on the moon and various colonised planets which would help considerably, unfortunately we have not yet managed to do this so the thought of all the millions of people living to 1,000 years is absolutely horrifying, they couldn't allow many people to have children until some of the oldsters died off. We were also told that there are something like 50,000 centenarians in the US today some of whom were on the programme showing them leading healthy, active lives. Water skiing was one activity shown, driving their cars and caring for their homes on their own. They also partake of healthy sex lives and generally enjoy life so we were told. Nor do all of them live in senior's homes. The point being that it is no longer unusual for people to live beyond 100 years.

So, maybe there's hope for me yet.

Because we had a busy day, yesterday, we went out for supper at a restaurant literally just down the road from us, its called Howl at the Moon. Matt had Chicken Parmesan and I had a schnitzel, we both had a Caesar salad which was part of the deal. The salad was delicious, but huge, they also brought a garlic loaf for us, I made the mistake of eating a couple of slices, then our main course arrived and was big enough to feed a couple of armies. I had two pieces of schnitzel, some vegetables and a mound of rice, Matt had a large piece of chicken and an absolutely huge portion of fries, they were delicious fries mind you, I pinched a few of them. I ended up with a doggy bag, I very seldom have to do that. This, to me, was a typical example of the over large portions in North America. No wonder obesity is a problem. I did have a glass of red wine so that should help, well that's my excuse as well as giving me some resveratrol.

I always think of a schnitzel as veal, but mostly around here, which is nevertheless predominantly a German community, it is usually pork.

WIENER SCHNITZEL - BREADED VEAL CUTLET Cooks.com

4 6 oz. veal cutlets Flour 3 tbsp. Parmesan cheese, grated 1 egg, beaten 1 tsp. parsley, minced 1/4 tsp. nutmeg 1/2 c. milk 6 tbsp. butter Juice of 1 sm. lemon Salt and pepper to taste Pound meat very thin. Lightly dredge each cutlet with flour. Combine 2 tablespoons flour, cheese, egg, parsley, seasonings and milk. Beat smooth. Dip floured cutlets in batter. Cook over low heat in 4 tablespoons butter until golden and tender. Keep cutlets hot on warm serving platter. Heat remaining 2 tablespoons butter until darkened; add lemon juice, stir to blend and pour over cutlets. Garnish with parsley. Note: This dish becomes Schnitzel Holstein if a fried egg tops each cutlet before sauce is poured over all.

I copied this recipe directly hence the different colours.

Have a great day.