The beaver is a proud and noble animal
Notes from a bemused canuck
So I’ve reached the point where I’m the one cooking stacks of pancakes for Ben and his friends in the morning post-sleepover. No hangovers, yet, though.
The sad thing though is that we’re down to our last tin of proper maple syrup ?. We did however realize that Aldi sells Canadian Grade A (dark), which should be acceptable until we can get some more of the good stuff.
Ben’s cooking school held an apero on their last session of the year.
Everything on the plate, save for the spätzle, is homemade: balsamic bacon brussel sprouts, braised cabbage with apples, mulled wine-poached pears, boar fillet, mulled wine gravy. Been cooking most of the afternoon, but da-yum!
Move over, le Motty, there’s a new chasse game in town!
I’ve finally gotten around to making the chili con queso recipe that I’ve been wanting to make for ages! Verdict? It was yummy! Next time, I need to make the queso a little bit thicker (less milk). I added paprika (for warmth) and a bit of turmeric (for color). My chili sauce worked really well for Bean, because it’s more flavourful and fruity than burn-your-face-off hot.
Child was deemed “too tall” for both the Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service (WAVES) and Women’s Army Corps (WAC) so she took a position at the Office of Strategic Services (OSS). She helped invent a shark repellent that is still in use today.
Child did not have a natural talent for cooking. In fact, she was a self-admitted disaster in the kitchen until she began taking classes at Le Cordon Bleu in Paris.
Child spent her early years working for what would become the Central Intelligence Agency. In 1993, she joined another CIA: the Culinary Institute of America. The group inducted Child into its Hall of Fame that year, making her the first woman to ever receive the honor. She was also awarded the French Legion D’Honneur and the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
She credited her long life to red meat and gin. Some great quotes:
I am the proud owner of my very own, genuine, Indian masala tin.
I’m sure that all of Katy’s aunties will tell me I’m doing it wrong, but mine contains mustard seed, fennel seed, turmeric, ginger, cumin, chili and coriander.
My helpers and I have handmade sausagemeat to then handmake scotch eggs. Very tasty teamwork, and I love the taste of the sausagemeat. I pan roasted fennel seeds, coriander seeds and peppercorns, then added some salt, dijon mustard, nutmeg, onion powder, and a little ground clove. It came out really, really well!
Since we recently bought a freezer, I’ve been cooking up a storm to fill it up. So far, aside the pizza bases and sausages, it contains carrot & coriander soup, broccoli & stilton soup, pasta sauce and beef chili. Any comments on what I should do next?
Current Mood:
Happy
In the past few weeks, I have been working on the planning of:
– the PST group xmas party
– the main EBI xmas party
– mince pies & mulled wine for 100 people at work
– booking 50 tickets for Stomp
– booking 150 tickets for a cinema screening
– getting 500 mugs printed for work
and a boatload of smaller tasks, none of which are actually my actual day job.
It’s been stressful, to say the least but the good news is that everything is now done and over. The office paella potluck went down a treat. It was held at the Great Chesterford community center and the comments about the food and the venue were uniformly positive (many thanks to the paella chefs!). The day had a rocky start with a trip to Addenbrookes A&E after Bean dropped a chair on his big toe but bounced back once the food started being served. We already had all of the food prepped and packed in the car, but there was a ton of last-minute stuff we needed to deal with. Still, with a few phone calls, everything got sorted out and in the end, we were in and out of Addenbrooked in about an hour and a half. I have to give mad props to the guys who helped clean the place up afterwards, it was a big help!
The EBI xmas party was last night, at La Raza in Cambridge. The comments I got on the night were also very positive, with people saying that it was a better party than in the past couple of years. I can personally vouch that the food was not only feckin’ plentiful, but very very good as well. Given all of my allergies, the fact that I was stuffed at the end of the night was a very positive fact IMO. The jalapeno poppers were great, but those beef and horseradish yorkie puds were pure crack! Plus, you know, 5 drinks for a fiver is a deal you can’t beat :) The only critiques I would give for the night was that the music the DJ put on wasn’t what I would have preferred for a xmas party. Other than that, and the totally unfounded rumours of a rigging of the raffle draw (hehe!), the night was a success in my books.
Becky had a bit of karmic retribution when Bean woke up at 11 and, realizing that we weren’t there, cried for an hour before getting himself back to bed. Becky was a bit frazzled when she called, I think…
So now, I only have one more week of work before I get some leave time to chill out and cook stuff for the holidays. I’ve already started tonight, with a braised beef topside and some chicken stock that I’m going to use to make a hamhock terrine in the near future. Katy and I are trying to finalize the list of all the recipes we want to try out for new years :)
The prezzies are mostly all bought and just need wrapping, so that’s a load off as well.
Go us, for being productive!
Current Mood: Happy
So, first off, Tolstoy is starting to feel better after being a very sick boy. He went downhill very quickly two weeks ago and, after several tests and a week’s stay at the vet, they diagnosed pancreatitis. He also had a bout of E.Coli and some anemia. Fun stuff. The good news is that symptomatic treatment has been effective and, after having had cage rest for the past two weeks, he seems to be perking up. The bad news, as it were, is that in the course of diagnosing the pancreatitis, the vets discovered that he’s had a herniated diaphragm as a result of being hit by a car two years ago. Part of his liver and spleen have herniated into his chest and that’s compromised his lung capacity and constricted his heart. All of which can be rather, well, fatal and needs immediate attention.
It’s a weird situation. He was fine, and could very well stay fine for years, until he’s not. Then he’s dead. To avoid this, he’s going under the knife tomorrow. The vets wanted to make sure that he’s gotten over his previous malaise before they operated. He’s a lot better now, but he’s still not out of the woods yet. Because the hernia’s been around for so long, there is the possibility of nasty complications. He’s in good hands, and we’ll find out how things went tomorrow. Poor little guy. He’s not even 5 and will have had two major surgeries and a minor one. Yay, insurance…
On a more positive note, we went to visit Annie this weekend. Bean’s very excited about the prospects of getting his dog. Everybody at nursery knows the name of *his* dog :)
She’s really good about not pulling on the leads, so when we went for a walk, we were only loosely holding on to the middle of the lead while Bean was trotting along behind Annie. It was a case of not being sure who was walking who :)
We had very nice visit of Cambria Farm, which is run by a lovely lady called Jane Wilton-Clark. She runs a rare-breed pig farm that produces some truly excellent pig products. We bought some sausages and patties and had some for lunch when we came back. YUMMAY! Definitively have again, and driving back there with Annie will give us an excuse to go visit and buy some more :)
Speaking of food, I made a lasagna and a roast chicken, neither of which I’d done in a very long time – both of which were very good and therefore must re-enter the rotation of weekend dishes. Note to self.
Current Mood:
Giddy
