A Life, Lived

Someone Turns 50!

1962 was an eventful year - Marilyn Monroe attempted to sing Happy Birthday to President Kennedy. I guess when you are wearing the world's first 'spray-on' dress no one cares a whit if you can't carry a tune. She later died in August, perhaps the dress cut off all circulation to her brain.

The audio cassette was invented. Hmmm - does anyone who isn't a senior citizen remember an audio cassette?

The pull-top tab can made its first appearance on the world scene. Interesting enough it was not on a can of pop but a beer. Apparently drunken American males (no woman would drink a beer in 1962, don't you know) couldn't manage a bottle opener.

The first LED light was invented. Las Vegas rejoiced.

Western Samoa becomes independent from New Zealand. Nothing has been heard from this island nation since.

Pope John XXIII excommunicates Fidel Castro. The Organization of American States suspends Cuba's membership. The U.S. announces its trade embargo against Cuba. The United States Government bans all U.S.-related Cuban imports and exports. A Cuban military tribunal convicts 1,179 Bay of Pigs attackers. A group of armed Cuban exile terrorists fire at a hotel in Havana from a speedboat. The Soviet Union agrees to send arms to Cuba. Cuban Missile Crisis begins: A U-2 flight over Cuba takes photos of Soviet nuclear weapons being installed. A stand-off then ensues the next day between the United States and the Soviet Union, threatening the world with nuclear war. In a televised address, U.S. President John F. Kennedy announces to the nation the existence of Soviet missiles in Cuba. Cuban Missile Crisis: Soviet Union leader Nikita Khrushchev announces that he has ordered the removal of Soviet missile bases in Cuba. The Soviets begin dismantling their missiles in Cuba. The Cuban Missile Crisis ends: In response to the Soviet Union agreeing to remove its missiles from Cuba, U.S. President John F. Kennedy ends the quarantine of the Caribbean nation. Cuba releases last 1,113 participants in the Bay of Pigs Invasion to the U.S., in exchange for food worth $53 million. My word, Fidel had quite a year!

The first Target store opens in Roseville, Minnesota. The demise of Zellers here in Canada was officially on the way . . .

The first Wal-Mart store opens for business in Rogers, Arkansas. The standard of living for millions of Americans starts to decline instantly.

The term 'personal computer' is mentioned in the media for the first time on November 3rd. Awkward boys with incurable acne everywhere rejoice. Al Gore contemplates the internet.

First medicare plan is launched in Saskatchewan to great protest by doctors. Bus loads of American seniors start crossing the border in search of inexpensive heart pills. Republicans instantly started calling Canadians socialists and started talking about 'death panels' - something no one in Canada has ever seen nor endured.

Phil Knight develops the first Nike running shoe. Sports figures everywhere begin clamouring for an endorsement.

Songs of the year?

Blowin' in the Wind, Go Away Little Girl, Days of Wine and Roses, The Loco-Motion, Sherry, Monster Mash, Big Girls Don't Cry, The Twist - Chubby Checker, Good luck Charm - Elvis Presley, Soldier Boy - Shirelles, Duke of Earl - Gene Chandler, Roses are Red- Bobby Vinton, Johnny Angel- Shelley Fabares

Movies of the Year?

Lawrence of Arabia - How the West Was Won - To Kill a Mockingbird - The Manchurian Candidate - Ride the High Country

The average salary was $ 5,556

The average car cost $ 2,275

The average house cost $ 30,000

In the midst of all of this turmoil a little girl name Rosemary was born. There is no truth to the rumour that she vomited on the doctor the next day. No truth at all.

This wee thing was born on January 11th. Goodness, that was a looooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooog time ago. Happy Birthday you old goat! Your walker and a case of Metamucil is en route.

(Paul says you're five years away from qualifying for a senior's discount at Zellers. Shame the store will close before then. Mind you, he felt you might pass for 55. OUCH)

Travel Tuesday - New York

It's time for Travel Tuesdays. please feel free to play along - all you need to do is to post one of your travel pics (and who doesn't have a gazillion of those) and then pop on over to Sandi's blog to join her Linky.

This week's post has a back story.

Ok. ALL of my posts has a back story. I shall try to be brief (I see Sandi rolling her ideas already).

Paul works in retail. Retail employees can never take time off over the Christmas holidays. The store he works at has been bought by Target. They will close on October 1st throwing 300+ employees out of work (just one store - close to 250 in chain - that's a lot of unemployed folks). store will be shuttered for 8 months while target guts and renovates it.

We're making lemonade - for the first time ever we may be able to travel for the holidays!!!!!

Do we return to New York?

Pecan Pie

Last fall I moaned about the price of pecans on facebook. It seems we were in the midst of a pecan shortage here in Ontario and the price was going up . . . up . . .up! This was bad news for someone who does as much Christmas baking as I do!

Not long afterwards a package from my friend Sandi in Alabama arrived - of course it was two big bags of local pecans. I was convinced that I needed to use them for something special. No run of the mill recipe would do for a prized treat like this.

Last week one of our friends was coming over for dessert and tea. I decided to make a pecan pie using my special horde. I've got lots of recipes for pecan pie but figured I'd use Sandi's tried and true recipe on her blog.

I've had a slice or two of pecan pie in my day - this was brilliant stuff. Often the filling is so flipping sweet that my teeth whine. Sandi's recipe was simple and just sweet enough allowing the wonderful taste of those pecans to shine through.

I had some extra pastry so I rolled it out and decorated the edge of the pie shell. All I did was using a pastry or ravioli cutter (I use it for ravioli but I think it is actually a pastry cutter) to slice the rolled pastry into slices. I then cut each slice into squares. Once I brushed the edge of the crust with a simple egg wash I arranged the squares in an overlapping pattern until the edge was covered. Easy, simple, and it looks impressive.

As Sandi always says - Y'all enjoy!

Sandi's Pecan Pie

1 cup white corn syrup
1 cup brown sugar
Pinch salt
1/3 cup butter melted
3 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup chopped pecans
1 9” pie crust
Pre-heat oven to 350

Combine syrup, sugar, salt, and butter. Beat the eggs and vanilla, then add into the sugar mixture. Beat all of the ingredients until fluffy. Place the pecan pieces in the bottom of the un-cooked pie crust. Pour syrup mixture over the nuts, these nuts will rise to the top. Take a handful of pretty pecan halves and arrange them gently on the top of the pie. Use a pie shield or foil to prevent the crust from burning. Bake for 50-60 minutes. Allow to cool before serving.

Spicy Pork with Asparagus and Chile

So I want to do a bit of de-cluttering in 2012. Those of you who have been following this blog for the past 5 years (Paul reminded me that it's fifth 'birthday' came and went last week with nary a woo hoo on my part to mark the milestone) know that my mind in words in weird ways at times. I'd say weird and wonderful ways but I suspect there'dbe a line waiting to argue the appropriateness of the second adjective.

In my mind de-cluttering means that I am finally going to start cooking with those recipes that I have been hording. I'm sure I'm not the only one out there who has a pile of printed recipes that I thought sounded delicious but never got around to actually cooking; colleagues print things off that they think I'd like and give them to me, interesting looking recipes appear every day in my e-mail in-box, blogs feature interesting looking things . . . before long I have a pile 5 inches high on my desk. Yes, 5 inches high!

One day last week I arranged them by seasons so I could make the most of local, seasonal produce as much as possible. This week's menu features the first 6 of these recipes.

I suspect that someone out there is sitting smugly thinking 'seasonal - there ain't nothing seasonal about asparagus in Ontario right now Jerry!' Of course not. However, de-cluttering in my twisted mind means I also plan on using up the food that is in the house. We waste a lot of food. I want to start using more up, wasting far less, and cutting back on what we buy.

I had asparagus that I had bought for New Year's dinner. We never ate it. It was time to do so.

The recipes that we're making this week are from the 'pile' and feature ingredients that are seasonal or include things I had on hand that I wanted to use up.

There you have the path I took to last night's dinner. This recipe was featured back in the spring on the Bitten Word  blog and they picked it up from the April 2011 Bon Appetit  magazine. The Bitten Word lads liked this recipe so much that they featured it in their top recipes of 2011 post - high praise indeed because they have cooked some amazing things.

It was Paul's turn to cook last night so it fell to him to assist with the de-cluttering of the recipe file and the fridge. He is good with Asian foods - knowing that they cook very quickly he has everything chopped, measured, and set out in small bowls so that he can pull it together in a flash. He served this up with some steamed rice and a smile - my smile came after I had tasted it. This was a great choice to start with the recipe de-cluttering!

Disclaimer - I note, while typing this up, that we didn't follow the recipe as printed - we were supposed to add the green onions to the pork/asparagus mixture while it was in the final stages of cooking rather than sprinkle them on top.  Oh well. It was still good. Next time we'll try it the other way and let you know if it was better, worse, or just the same. We also don't have anything that resembles chili grade pork here in the frozen tundra so we went with lean ground pork.

Spicy Pork with Asparagus and Chile

3 tablespoons soy sauce, divided
1 tablespoon Shaoxing Chinese rice wine or dry Sherry
2 teaspoons cornstarch
12 ounces ground pork (preferably coarsely ground; sometimes labeled chili-grind)
3 teaspoons Asian sesame oil, divided
12 ounces thin to medium asparagus spears, trimmed, cut on extreme diagonal into 1/2- to 3/4-inch pieces
1 red jalapeño chile, minced with seeds
1 tablespoon minced peeled fresh ginger
2 tablespoons oyster sauce
1 teaspoon honey
2 green onions, thinly sliced on diagonal
Fine sea salt

Whisk 1 tablespoon soy sauce, rice wine, and cornstarch in medium bowl. Add pork; toss to blend.

Heat 2 teaspoons oil in heavy large wok or deep skillet over high heat.

Add asparagus, chile, and ginger. Toss until asparagus is crisp-tender, about 3 minutes. Using slotted spoon, transfer asparagus mixture to plate.

Add remaining 1 teaspoon oil to wok. Add pork mixture and stir-fry until browned, using spoon to break up pork into small pieces, 2 to 3 minutes.

Return asparagus mixture to wok. Add remaining 2 tablespoons soy sauce, oyster sauce, and honey; stir-fry until pork is cooked through, adding water by tablespoonfuls if dry, about 2 minutes.

Add green onions; toss to incorporate.

Season to taste with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper.

Photo Hunt - Bling

This week's Photo Hunt theme is 'bling'. I must confess to not having a wealth of bling shots. I did recall a visit to Lucca a few years ago where I took a picture of some bling belonging to an alleged 1200 year old wooden crucifix.

This crucifix has a fascinating istory . . .

The Holy Face of Lucca (Volto Santo di Lucca) is a venerated wooden crucifix, located in the free-standing octagonal Carrara marble chapel (the tempietto or "little temple"), which was built in 1484 by Matteo Civitali, the sculptor-architect of Lucca, to contain it. The tempietto stands in the right-hand nave of the cathedral of San Martino in Lucca, Italy. Medieval legends stated that it had been sculpted by that Nicodemus who assisted Joseph of Arimathea in depositing Christ in the tomb and specifically dated its arrival in Lucca to AD 742.

According to medieval legend, Nicodemus did all the carving work but the face, which he hesitated to complete for fear of not doing it justice. He fell asleep, and upon awaking found the face beautifully carved - the miraculous work of an angel. The Crucifix of the Holy Face was buried in a cave for safekeeping, where it remained for centuries.

It was rediscovered by Bishop Gualfredo, who was on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land when its location was revealed to him in a dream. To allow God to decide where the Crucifix should be kept, the bishop set it adrift on an unmanned boat in the Mediterranean Sea. The Volto Santo arrived on the shores of northern Italy, where the Bishop of Lucca, also prompted by a dream, put it into a wagon with no driver to determine its final location. The two oxen pulling the wagon stopped of their own accord at Lucca in 782.

The Volto Santo was placed in the Church of San Frediano, but the next morning, it was found to have been miraculously transferred to San Martino. For this reason, the legend explains, San Martino was designated the cathedral of Lucca (an honor previously held by Santi Giovanni e Reparata).

Every September 13-14 and May 3, the Luccans celebrate the Volto Santo with a solemn procession from San Frediano to the Duomo. The statue is no longer carried through the streets on these occasions, but it is dressed in rich medieval vestments inside its shrine. These include a golden crown, a golden breastplate with a jeweled cross necklace, a golden belt with small sculptures in Gothic niches, a half-robe of black velvet embroidered in gold thread, and gold-embroidered scarves draped over the wrists.

One Reason Why I Am Not Chuffed About Returning to the Office

Generally returning to the office in the new year means a new password for my PC which I shall never remember!!!

ARGH

The De-cluttering Begins

One of my goals for the upcoming year is to de-clutter the house. We have lived here for 8 years and over the years we have done a fine job of bringing things IN but not a great job of brining things OUT of the house. The result is that junk was starting to pile up.

The first job was the pantry. Actually, it's half of the linen closet but it's so large that we use half of it as a pantry. Things had gotten so bad in there that we had taken to stuffing boxes, bags, and jars in anywhere. The result was that I never could find a damn thing.

Things reached a crisis when  I was unable to find lentils that I KNEW were in the pantry so I went out and bought more - only to find 7 bags of lentils whilst looking for the chicken stock that I couldn't find . . . so I went out and purchased stock only to find 8 cartons while looking for the olive oil . . . You get it.

This is the before shot:

This is the after shot - 4 large bags of garbage later. . . $ 100 spent on special containers for things to keep it neat and tidy. I discoverd more lentils, dried beans, and pasta than I knew was possible to own. Some things in the pantry had expired 4 years ago!!! Apparently I need to do this more often.

With it being garbage and recycling this morning I went a bit crazy yesterday. I had piles of magazines that I was saving to make a particular recipe one day. I rarely did it though since I get most of my recipe sonline. Out they went - more than 100 of them.

Poor Paul almost had a seizure carrying them all downstairs to put out to the curb.

Today I defrosted and cleaned out 2 freezers. Another garbage bag full.

Believe it or not but this is just a wee start . . .

Feels good though but now methinks it is time for a nap!

Mexican Chocolate Soufflés

This is year three of the Cooking Light Supper Club - a monthly blogging event that brings cooks from around North America together for a virtual meal . . . all from the pages of Cooking Light magazine. Each month we have a theme and we select recipes to make and blog about that will fit the theme.

This month's theme was 'Dreaming of Summer - Mexican Fiesta' - perfect now that we have finally gotten some Arctic temperatures here in Ontario. Right now dreaming of summer is a happy thing because the bitterly cold reality will scare the heck right out of you.

I decided to make these Mexican chocolate souffles for my dish this month. I love the heady mix of bittersweet chocolate, pepper, and cinnamon in Mexican chocolate dishes so I thought that they would be perfect. The recipe makes 8 but I didn't want to be eating cake for 4 nights - sure it's light but does one really need a cake a night when a bit of fruit will do after the December indulgences?

This is one of those recipes that looks far more complex than it is - I had most everything made in advance so that when we were sitting down to dinner I just whipped the egg whites, mixed everything together, and popped the souffle cakes into the oven. They were ready to serve by the time we were done eating and we were back to the New Year's monopoly tournament.

These were amazing - intense chocolate flavour with the added layer of cinnamon and pepper in every bite. I almost regretted not making the full recipe because we had to fight over who got the leftovers. One doesn't mind the added calories form leftovers like THIS!

Mexican Chocolate Soufflés

Cooking spray
3 tablespoons granulated sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon ground red pepper (optional)
3/4 cup fat-free milk
3 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon coffee-flavored liqueur (such as Kahlúa)
1 large egg yolk
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
6 large egg whites
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
Powdered sugar (optional)

Preheat oven to 375°.

Coat 8 (6-ounce) ramekins with cooking spray; sprinkle with 3 tablespoons granulated sugar.

Combine 1/2 cup granulated sugar, cocoa, flour, cinnamon, salt, and pepper, if desired, in a medium saucepan. Gradually add milk, stirring with a whisk until smooth. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat; cook 1 minute, stirring constantly. Remove from heat; add chocolate, stirring with a whisk until smooth. Place chocolate mixture in a large bowl; stir in vanilla, liqueur, and egg yolk.

Place the cream of tartar and egg whites in another large bowl; beat with a mixer at high speed until foamy. Add 2 tablespoons granulated sugar, 1 tablespoon at a time, beating until stiff peaks form. Gently stir one-third of egg white mixture into chocolate mixture; gently fold in remaining egg white mixture. Spoon evenly into ramekins; sharply tap ramekins 2 or 3 times on counter to level. Place ramekins on a baking sheet.

Bake at 375° for 30 minutes or until puffy and set. Sprinkle with powdered sugar, if desired. Serve immediately.

So what did the rest of the group bring to the party?

Our newest member Giz of Equal Opportunity Kitchen started us off with an appetizer of Camarones Fritoes with Mexican Cocktail Sauce.

For the main dish our dedicated leader/organizer/reminder Val of More than Burnt Toast chose appetizing Chicken Carne Asado Tacos with Pickled Onions.

Sandi of The Whistlestop Cafe offers some delectable Pork Hominy Chili.

Roz of La Bella Vita ties it altogether with a thirst quenching Sangria.

Truly a meal designed to help one think about somewhere nice and warm!

See you next month ladies . . .

Travel Tuesdays - Bologna

It's time for another edition of Sandi's blog 'event' - Travel Tuesdays. It's easy to play (I like THAT!) all you need to do is to post one of your travel pics (and who doesn't have a gazillion of those) and then pop on over to Sandi's blogto join her Linky.

I'm thinking about summer today. Yes, I am.

Even though I'm currently off on Christmas vacation I foolishly tried to ease myself back into work by going into the office today.

ICK

That is why I am thinking about the summer and the trip I'll take to Italy. I'll be travelling with a group of teachers - they'll be learning more about early years education and I'll be making sure they have a brilliant time.

One of the places we'll be visiting is Bologna so I thought I'd post some of the pictures I took on my last visit to one of Italy's most fascinating and under appreciated cities.

July can't come soon enough!!!!!

Looking Towards 2012

It's funny how often we try to reinvent ourselves when we put a fresh new calendar up on the wall. Humans have a remarkable sense of renewal - lots of blank pages on which to start anew.

We also have a remarkable ability to not change the things we think we want to change because a day or date we have identified as suitable for a fresh start is coming up - 'the diet starts Monday so it is just FINE if I eat this giant plate of food I know I shouldn't eat today' mentality.

When I was still in the classroom teaching one of my favourite tasks on the first day back after Christmas vacation was to have my students develop New Year's Resolutions for a pet or a celebrity. It was a great writing activity and they always came up with so many fascinating things. We'd end up developing a class book which all of the resolutions listed, beautifully illustrated, it was always a choice item in the class library.

I could use some of that natural creativity as I think about what I'd like to accomplish in 2012.

For many people 2011 was a horrid year of uncertainty and turmoil. We are expecting a bit of that as Paul's employer is closing at some point in the year. On the flip side, it will also be the first full year in 6 where I wasn't coordinator at work - a thankless job that came with much stress and little additional compensation. I will enjoy having time to explore some of my own professional passions at work for a change.

Good and bad.

The task of thin king about what needs to change in 2012 is made more complex by the fact that we lead relatively full lives. We have interests, we have passion for life, and we live it. That being said, there are always things that one can, should really, change up a bit from time to time.

So what would I like to accomplish in 2012?

As I look around the den I am struck with the amount of clutter there - old magazines, books, papers. Things I never look at any more but could at some point in the future. In 2012 I'd like to de-clutter, not just the den but the house.

We keep bringing more stuff into the house but we rarely get rid of stuff. While we don't have a huge house (by North American standards . . . in the rest of the world a small village could live in the structure) it is certainly large enough for the two of us but if we don't deal with all of this stuff we may need to move into something larger.

There, the first thing I would like to accomplish in 2012 is to de-clutter our house. Better order a dumpster.

I suspect 2012 will be a year I start to get in tune with my health. I subscribe to the 'head in the sand' mentality believing that if you don't know something in wrong than everything is just fine. Remember playing peek-a-boo? That is me with my health.

I have my first physical in YEARS (lots and lots and lost of years) next week (who the hell schedules a physical a week after Christmas break? ARGH) and I am anticipating all sorts of things that will come as a result of that. As I approach 50 I realize that it's a bit late to start thinking about preventative maintenance but sure is not too late!

Notice I'm not saying - I want to exercise more and lose weight. Those trite statements are a given - like a beauty contest contestant saying 'I'd like world peace'.

In tune with my health - whatever that means.

Over the past few years we have been thinking more locally when it comes to our food. Sure it's hard here in Canada in the depths of winter and the only thing local is a pile of dirty snow but for much of the year there is good locally produced foods available.

We have been seeking local producers - be they wine makers, cheese makers, bakers, or farmers - as a part of our 'eat local' quest. I'd really like to focus more on this over the coming year. I'd like to support local food producers. Hell, I'd like to celebrate them! I'd like to eat more fresh, seasonal food. I'd like to reduce the environmental footprint of the food that we eat.

I'd like to get out more.

By our very natures, we are homebodies and can become quite sedentary, particularly in the winter. Last year we made a point of getting out, doing some hiking, exploring our area. I'd like for this to continue this year. We are members of a major art gallery in the area but we rarely visit. It's time to take advantage of the wonderful things that are available in our area.

So there you have it - de-clutter, be more in tune with my health, eat locally (and celebrate local food producers), and get out more.  My goals for 2012.