A Life, Lived

Travel Tuesday - Patmos

A few years ago, when we were on our cruise of the Greek Islands, one of the islands we stopped at was Patmos. Designated as “Holy Island” by the Greek Parliament in 1981 as well as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1999, Patmos had been used as a place of exile by the Romans on account of its steep morphology. That’s how St. John found safe refuge here in the 1st century A.D., exiled by the Emperor Domitian.

According to the prevailing theory, the Book of Revelation was written in 95 A.D. in the Holy Cave of the Apolacypse, where St. John heard the voice of God talking to him. Turned into a place of worship by the monk Christodoulos Latrinós in the 11th century the cave –on whose walls we can trace the fingerprints of St. John’s himself–, is still open to the devout Christians.

The Holy Monastery of the Apocalypse was built as a castle in 1088 by the monk Christodoulos Latrinós. Cultural and religious centre since its first day of use, it took another five centuries for it to spread its activities all around the island – and not just the town of Hóra (Chora), where it is situated. Around this Monastery revolve Holy Week and Easter celebrations every year.

Buildings of different ages form the Monastery, comprising 10 chapels and 99 cells as well as a Library of 890 handwritten codes and 13,000 documents about the history of the site.

We visited in October so there were no Easter celebrations for us. We also decided to skip the crowds heading to the monastery. Our shipmates were driving us to distraction and we just needed some downtime away from them on our short stay . . .

Mint and Cucumber Martini

When we were searching for a drink to sip on St. Patrick's Day we selected this one. I was looking for something which would be refreshing and light. I also didn't want a cloying minty beverage - something one sees a good deal of on St. Patrick's Day!

This sounds like an odd combination. Don't be offput by that as the final drink is anything but!

It is easy to make, light, refreshing and with a delicate tint of green . . .

Mint and Cucumber Martini

4 slices of peeled cucumber, each about 1/4 inch thick
10 mint leaves
3 tablespoons simple syrup
1 lime, juiced
5 oz vodka

In a cocktail shaker, muddle the cucumber, mint and simple syrup until the cucumber offers no more resistance.

Fill the shaker with ice, then pour in the lime juice and vodka. Put the lid on your shaker and shake until the cocktail is thoroughly chilled, about 20 seconds.

Strain the mixture into a martini glass. Garnish with a tiny sprig of mint and a cucumber slice.

Earth Hour 2015

 

Paul and I did our usual - gather around the fireplace, lights turned off, the hand cranked radio tuned to CBC. This year we had a special cocktail - a Blue Earth Margarita.

Photo Hunt - Sport

This week's Photo Hunt theme is 'sport'.

I took these pictures during a trip to Athens . . .

 

Apple Cinnamon Buttermilk Pancakes

This is a delayed post. We made these for Pancake Tuesday (Shrove Tuesday . . . Fat Tuesday) - whatever you call it . . . it was awhile ago!

We had some apples which were going a bit soft so we thought apple pancakes would be in order. The recipe was a bit odd - I don't think I've seen a pancake recipe include sour cream before - but the results were wonderful. The nice thing about pancakes for dinner is they come together easily and quickly after a crazy day of work.

NOTE: we used whole wheat flour.

Apple Cinnamon Buttermilk Pancakes

1 teaspoon baking soda
2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 -3 tablespoons brown sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 large eggs, beaten
1 1⁄2 cups buttermilk
1⁄2 cup sour cream
1⁄4 cup butter or 1⁄4 cup margarine, melted
1 large apple, peeled, cored and grated

In a large bowl, mix together the baking soda, flour, baking powder, brown sugar, salt and cinnamon.

In another bowl, whisk together the eggs, buttermilk, sour cream and melted butter; add to the flour mixture and stir JUST until the flour is moistened.

Stir in the grated apple.

Drop a scant 1/4 cup of batter onto a hot lightly greased griddle.

Cook, turning once until golden brown.

Gnocchi with Butternut Squash, Sage, and Mushrooms

It's hard finding fresh produce in the middle of the Canadian winter - much of the local produce available are hearty fall vegetables which have survived the cold storage room throughout the winter. Case in point, our CSA has gifted us with a squash every few weeks and we've been searching for ways to eat them up.

I found this recipe on a UK magazine site and was sold!

The abundance of autumnal colours and flavours make this amazingly simple gnocchi recipe look more complicated than it actually is. The butternut squash takes about 30 minutes to roast, so your oven does most of the heavy lifting, while the rest is an easy assembly job - and a tasty one at that...

Gnocchi with Butternut Squash, Sage, and Mushrooms

1 butternut squash weighing about 800g (1lb, 10oz)
1tbsp olive oil
Butter
6 sage leaves 
1 garlic clove, crushed
120g (4oz) shiitake mushroom
500g (1lb) gnocchi&nbsp
Freshly grated parmesan, to serve

Heat the oven to 200˚C (gas mark 6). Peel the butternut squash and cut it in half. Scoop out the seeds and fibres. Cut the flesh into 2cm (¾in) chunks.

Put the squash in a large shallow baking tray. Drizzle over the oil and toss the chunks until coated, then season. Roast in the oven for 30 mins until the butternut squash is soft and browned along the edges.

Meanwhile, melt a knob of butter in a large pan. Add the sage leaves and cook for a few seconds until they have deepened in colour. Stir in the garlic, then the shiitake mushrooms. Cook, shaking the pan occasionally, until the mushrooms are edged with gold.

Cook the gnocchi according to the packet instructions and toss with the mushrooms and butternut squash. Serve with Parmesan.

Starbucks Oat Bars

One of Paul's favourite treats to get at Starbucks is the oat bars.

For those of you who haven’t tried the oat bars at Starbucks, allow me to explain. These boring-looking, unassuming little slabs are actually incredibly rich. The oats are glued together with copious amounts of butter and brown sugar, and are insanely dense and chewy as a result. These are perfect, sweet, buttery bricks of pure comfort.

This recipe is a pretty good version of the original . . .

Starbucks Oat Bars

½ cup unsalted butter
½ cup light brown sugar, packed
¼ cup light corn syrup
¼ cup milk or almond milk
¼ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3½ cups quick cooking oats

Preheat the oven to 325°F/162°C and grease and line a 9x9 inch pan with parchment paper.

In a food processor, grind 2 cups of the oats until it resembles a fine flour, about a minute on high speed. Transfer to a large bowl and stir in the remaining 1½ cups of oats. Set aside.

In a small saucepan, melt the butter, sugar, syrup, and salt together over medium heat until the butter is completely melted and the sugar has dissolved. Remove from heat and whisk in the milk and vanilla extract.

Pour the butter mixture over the oats and stir until thoroughly combined. Scoop into your prepared pan and, wetting your fingers a little bit under the tap first, press the oats into the pan firmly and evenly.

Bake for 15-20 minutes (I found that 17 minutes was perfect), until the edges are slightly golden and the middle no longer looks wet.

Allow to cool on a rack before slicing into 8 bars. Store in an airtight container in the fridge.

Naples

One of my facebook friends was in Naples, Italy last week and posted plenty of pics to make me jealous.

I am responding in kind. . .

 

Dear Target . . .

Don't let the door hit you on the behind on the way out the door.

Yesterday was Paul's last day at work - his store was one of the first to close - rendering Paul unemployed for the second time in three years thanks to Target.

After one of the biggest corporate failures in history Target made the decisions quickly to pull the plug on its Canadian division. For retail employees this was a disaster. Target had tossed 27000+ aside when they purchased the leases from Canada's old discount retailer, Zellers back in 2012. The Zellers stores closed to make way for Target. Fewer than 1% of the Zellers employees were hired by Target.

Now by closing down Target is tossing 17,500 employees out of work.

Much has been said about how Target is generously paying their employees for 15 weeks.

BS

This is the minimum under Canadian law.

People have this sense that the employees were going to receive a big pay cheque at the end. However, the reality is that Target will just pay them until May 16th. The problem for these employees is that if you quit or get fired you are not eligible for the payout nor would you be eligible for Employment Insurance benefits. People are stuck.

Sadly the retail debacle of our times could have been avoided had Target planned the expansion better. They should have never bought all of the Zellers' leases - there was a reason why no one shopped in those locations. They should have never opened 120 stores in 16 months - had they opened smaller they could have perfected the supply chain and stores wouldn't have opened with empty shelves. They should have gotten to know the Canadian shopper - we may look like Americans but we are not. They should have made sure they employed some Canadian retail management experts at the early stages rather than importing their 'brain' trust from the US. They never should have announced two years before they arrived that they were coming to Canada - this gave the competition plenty of time to prepare. Finally, they should have made sure their prices were competitive.

At just about every juncture in this expansion Target made a fatal decision.

When the former CEO who oversaw the expansion into Canada (and all of these bad decisions) left the company he received a payout of $61 million US - almost as much as the compensation owed to their 17,500 former Canadian employees . . .

The worst thing about all of this is that from Paul's perspective target was a very good employer. He enjoyed working for this company.

Hmm

Why Can't there be Dinosaur Shoes for Girls?

8-year-old Sophia Trow is taking a stand for dinosaur-loving girls everywhere! After the Mighty Girl from Middlesbrough, England left a shoe store disappointed when an employee told her that dinosaur shoes were only for boys, she penned a letter to the Clarks shoe company asking why girls can't have dinosaur shoes too. Her mother, Jane Trow, tweeted Sophia's letter and it soon went viral, prompting female scientists around the world to tweet Sophia photos of the shoes they wear while doing scientific research!

Sophia's letter read: "My Mum took me to buy new school shoes and I saw that there were dinosaur shoes for boys. Why can't girls have dinosaur shoes? I don't like how girls have flowery shoes. I like dinosaurs and fossils, so I think that other girls might as well." After her mother's tweet, the TrowelBlazers, a project celebrating women in archaeology, paleontology, and geology, shared Sophia's letter with their supporters and encouraged them to share photos of "inspirational ‪#‎InMyShoes‬ pics" for the young dino lover.

Photos began flooding in as female scientists shared photos of everything from broken-in hiking shoes to the steel-toed boots that they wear in the field. Her mother told Today that "I feel so grateful all these people have taken the time to encourage not just my daughter, but other children. I think girls, in particular, need visible positive role models to look up to, where looks are not the sign of success... The women tweeting photos of their shoes have even introduced her to fields of science she didn't know existed. So if nothing else comes from this, then I'm overjoyed that my daughter's eyes have been opened."

Sophia has been thrilled with the response: "It’s really good and I think they’re great because when I grow up I want to be a scientist. I think this all probably makes everyone glad someone has spoken about dinosaur shoes and maybe it will change things.” And, Sophia's stand against sexist marketing has made an impact: Clark tweeted an apology and stated that they are now developing a broader range of unisex styles for the autumn/winter season.

Kudos to this Mighty Girl for speaking up for dino-loving girls, to the scientists who have supported her, and to Clarks for being responsive to its customers!