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Larry Muffin At Home

~ Remembering that life is a comedy and the world is a small town.

Larry Muffin At Home

Monthly Archives: August 2020

some old photos

30 Sunday Aug 2020

Posted by larrymuffin in family, Uncategorized

≈ 6 Comments

Tags

dachshunds, life, Montreal, Ritz Carlton Hotel

Will has revived his old giant screen computer and found an incredible amount of photos from before 2011 even some videos of our first two dogs Bundnie and Reese. Seeing such photos bring back so many memories of events and where we were then.

rome 2007-2.jpg

This photo of my mom and dad in their home in Montreal in 2007. This was the Summer I was back in Canada for a few weeks before Will and I would depart for Rome for our next posting. My parents invited us to dinner at the Ritz Carlton Hotel on Sherbrooke street, at the Jardins du Ritz, this was before the rather disturbing modernization of this great hotel. It was a hot summer day and Les Jardins du Ritz was the garden restaurant with the famous duck pond. It was all very elegant and European. I did have a jacket with me, dinner with Dad never meant without a tie and jacket. Though that night we did not wear a tie. Mom was already affected by Alzheimer at this point and within a few months would be going to a care centre where she would live another 6 years with greatly diminished faculties. This was really the last time we would be together for dinner on the town.

nick nora rome

Here is Nicky and Nora lounging on a pillow bed we got them, one of many as they love to destroy them. In our den in Rome on Via Dei Villini.

Love Nicky looking at the camera and Nora half asleep, they are I guess about 1 years old on this photo. We had an excellent groomer in Rome who specialized in wire hair dog coats. Wish I could say the same for PEI.

Quote

Hukou — A Beijinger living in Provincetown

29 Saturday Aug 2020

Posted by larrymuffin in life

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

beijing, China, Family

My friend Yi who now lives in the USA has started a very interesting blog on his life in China. If you wish to learn more about how that country functions and what are the issues as seen my a citizen, have a read. I have known Yi since 2005 and he is a very nice and smart fellow.

 

In a previous post, I mentioned Hukou (Wikipedia). In China, they say it is to maintain “social order”, but it is mainly a way to control the populations in big cities. Each family has a “Household Register”. There’s one page for each individuals of the household. The information includes name, birth date, gender, ethnic group, […]

via Hukou — A Beijinger living in Provincetown

Party

29 Saturday Aug 2020

Posted by larrymuffin in food

≈ 6 Comments

Tags

cuisine, home, life, Paella, PEI, Seafood

Well this is truly the end of Summer and the weather has turned cooler at night dropping to 12 C. which is 53 F. and with the wind it is cold, you need a sweater or a jacket. Last night we organized a dinner party in the garden of a friend just one block away. We are allowed to have a gathering of 20 people outside in a garden. Our friend organized her garden with tables and chairs and handled all the logistic, it was very nice of her to do so much.

The people we invited are all long time friends. Will made his gazpacho which required 5 Kg of tomatoes and other ingredients. It is very good and was a big success. We asked another dear friend to bake a Paella for us with all manner of seafood, crab, lobster, mussels and shrimps, also chicken thighs and chorizo sausage. It was very good and a big hit.

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The making of the Gazpacho.

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The dish is 30 inches wide and can feed 30 people.

We had planned to do this around mid May to celebrate four years on PEI,  but with the pandemic we could not then. So now that the regulations have been relaxed and we have no more cases, we could have an outside gathering.

Another friend prepared beautiful shortbread and strawberries in chocolate. It was great fun and a good chance to see people we had only spoken to on the phone since March or seen en passant on the street.

School starts on PEI on Tuesday and we hope that all goes well. The Federal Government has given upwards of $22 Billion dollars to help all our Provinces with re-opening schools. This came about in a negotiation with all Provincial Premiers and is being respectful of their jurisdiction on Education which is solely theirs. What is funny with this pandemic is how the Provinces who are jealous of their jurisdictions are getting the Federal Government to pay for what is essentially their responsibility but are not shy to critic if it is not done the way they want.

 

 

About my former blog

28 Friday Aug 2020

Posted by larrymuffin in blog

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

blogspot

Before 2014/15 I was blogging on Blogspot, then something happened one day and I was no longer able to blog on Blogspot. So I migrated to WordPress.com

I old blog is still live and can be found at  larrymuffin.blogspot.com

Lots of pictures etc. I am going to try to do a look back to those years prior to my retirement and our return to Canada.

 

Recipe requested

27 Thursday Aug 2020

Posted by larrymuffin in cooking

≈ 7 Comments

Tags

Canada., cuisine, ice cream, Irish whiskey

Well dear readers you requested the recipe of the Irish Whiskey Browned Bread Ice Cream and here it is from Glen, who is a Canadian cooking all manner of nice dishes for our pleasure. Please enjoy!  We tried it and it is really good, sorry Ben and Jerry, here is your pink slip.

For Dr. Spo,  Glen also has an Absinthe Ice Cream recipe, I know you will enjoy it.

 

Food videos

27 Thursday Aug 2020

Posted by larrymuffin in food

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

1930, amaretti, cuisine, ice cream, Ireland, life, whiskey

So I started with the Japanese Egg Salad sandwich, well from that first recipe I was prompted by YouTube to see other types of sandwiches you can make which in Asia is considered street food you can buy in small kiosk or in the large kiosk in all train stations for a snack on board a train. What is interesting about train stations in Japan is the variety of the food offer and the quality, something you simply do not see in Canada. There are lots of very interesting recipes on YouTube and none are difficult to make.

Sometimes they will use some ingredients like sprinkling sugar and then using ketchup and mayo as part of dressing up your sandwich. Some combinations may appear strange to Western taste but it is worth a try, I know Foodies will understand that.

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The three ingredients for this ice cream recipe, the custard, the whiskey and the roasted bread. All this will go into our ice cream machine and then into the deep freeze. 

Today Chef Will, who has always been good in the kitchen and has an aversion to boiled potatoes, decided to make Irish brown Bread Ice Cream, for this recipe you need a good 12 year old Irish Whiskey, we have a bottle of Yellow Spot, single pot still, aged in three casks, Bourbon, Sherry and Malaga. I know Dr Spo of the No Rubbish school would approve. What got Will to make this type of ice cream is his recent purchase of a previously admired Ice cream machine by Cuisinart. Three days ago he made fresh pistacchio ice cream. Yes pistacchio has 2 C. in the word, pronounced Pis Tak Kio. I know you may wonder, Brown bread ice cream?!? really? Yes really, will let you know how it all turns out.

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He also made with left over egg whites some Amaretti cookies to have with our Espresso. For those who might be interested, we use Lavazza ground coffee.

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So has promised, here it is very good ice cream, it does have that taste of Irish Whiskey and a crunch to it due to the roasted bread. This is a recipe Will found on a YouTube site which specialize in recipes of the 1930’s in Canada.  If anyone is interested, let me know and I will post the link to this YouTube Channel. The host and his wife are charming and will be honest, if after making a recipe it is not good or they do not like it, they will tell you. Not every recipe can be a winner.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tamago sando タマゴサンド

24 Monday Aug 2020

Posted by larrymuffin in cooking

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

cuisine, egg salad, Japan, sandwich

Here is a recipe for Japanese Egg Salad Sandwich, Tamago Sando.  I made this today and it was good. I used Japanese Mayo KEWPI and I also recommend using white milk bread and cut off the crust has shown here. The step you may want to skip is the making of pickles, simply use prepared relish or buttered pickles which can be easily bought.  I also use one tea spoon of Dijon Mustard mixing it with the KEWPI Mayo and I do not use salt at all.

It is important to measure the cooking time for the eggs carefully. Tamago Sando is easy to make and delicious.  Enjoy!

Sunday morning

23 Sunday Aug 2020

Posted by larrymuffin in Music, Uncategorized

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

art., Italy, kaufmann, life, sunday

Another beautiful quiet sunny Sunday morning. Listening to Marc Hervieux who is a Canadian Opera singer and he has his radio show on Radio-Canada.

This morning he was playing this Italian song Parlami d’amore Mariu.

Come sei bella più bella stasera Mariú!
Splende un sorriso di stella negli occhi tuoi blu!
Anche se avverso il destino domani sarà
Oggi ti sono vicino, perché sospirar?
Sung by Jonas Kaufmann, who has a clear pronunciation in Italian.
https://youtu.be/pMgbDt31wnM

Gold Plate and Saucer

22 Saturday Aug 2020

Posted by larrymuffin in life

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

café, Charlottetown, Food, Horse races, Japan, Kewpie, Music, PEI, Red Shores, Restaurant, Vietnam

Old Home Week is a tradition here in PEI, it is in support of the race horse industry. Charlottetown has a race track that goes back to the 1880’s and many fine horse are bred on the Island. Some will tell you that Charlottetown is like Kentucky when it comes to racing horses in terms of traditions. Red Shores also has a casino and a very good restaurant.

This year again the race takes place and people make bets on who will win the race held on Saturday 22 August. Yesterday Friday we went across the yard to our neighbour for a drink in the garden and some food. It is our fifth year to do this.

red-shores-racetrack.jpg

Friday was a funny day, the weather was grey and cool at 20C with some kind of humidity that gave everything a September look. Next week school starts and there is a lot of trepidation in the air. Parents, teachers and students are a bit on edge and plans are still being worked out by the Provincial Dept of Education on what to do. Interestingly on this topic the Chief Medical Officer gave her advice but is leaving final decisions to the Premier and the Minister of Education. Everyone is keeping fingers crossed and hoping for the best. Also today I was at the grocery store and again observed that most people do wear masks and only a few don’t. Lots of people also use hand sanitizers in the store or in the parking lot, many carry it in their cars and you see people sanitize before driving off.

I think we have a couple of Covid cases left on the Island, overall for several months now Covid has disappeared from the Island, the only new cases came from people who arrived from abroad. Since March we have had no deaths and no hospitalization. But this pandemic is still weighing in on us, you cannot forget about it.

I was at the new Japanese grocery store SUMMIKO MART this week and I was looking for Japanese mayonnaise called KEWPIE. The recipe is different from North American mayo. It only uses Egg Yokes not the whole egg.  I remember when I visited Japan, I had a egg salad sandwich made with Kewpie Mayo and it was so good, the taste was rich. I found some and will try it next time I made egg salad sandwich.

IMG_6487

They also make fresh Japanese food all ingredients imported direct from Japan and made in front of you. This is truly a first in Charlottetown.

We also have a new Vietnamese Coffee House called Madame Vuong preparing coffee the Vietnamese way which is very different from North American Coffee, the roasting process and choice of beans is a new experience. They also have Vietnamese style sandwiches, etc. It would appear that the Vietnamese are replacing the Chinese who, many, have left for Toronto. Alambé is another Vietnamese Coffee shop on Kent Street, it is very nice to see such new additions to our local scene.

Gert Van Hoef is a young Dutch concert Organist, he started learning to play the organ at 13 from his grandfather and as he says, he became obsessed with the instrument and decided to make his career of it. He has been successful and gives numerous concerts in Europe.

Here he plays as you will recognize the tune played by Big Ben in the Elizabeth  clock tower of the Parliament in London, the Carillon de Westminster, Opus 54 deel 6 van Louis Viërne (1870-1937).

 

 

Autumn is coming

19 Wednesday Aug 2020

Posted by larrymuffin in life

≈ 12 Comments

Tags

Canada., Counsellor, Crown, Food, Lascelles, PEI, Wine

As if on the dot as of the 15 August the weather cooled all of a sudden, as it does every year, we went from 38C to 22C. and it is more comfortable now. The weather is still sunny and though it is nice for us in the City it is a crisis for farmers with lack of rainfall and the fire index is critically high, so no open fires are allowed anywhere. Though I noticed today that the Sun is lower in the sky and enters the house at a more horizontal angle and the days are progressively getting shorter.

Everyday we have our activities planned for the day and marked on the calendar. Now because of the pandemic most of our volunteer activities are on hold. But we still have to shop or see friends or get a haircut or simply travel on the island. This Summer we went to French River in the New London area and stayed at a nice cottage, something we are sure to repeat, we enjoyed ourselves so much. Being Summer, we drink a lot of Rosé and across the street from our house is a new wine shop with 400 labels of wines which would fall in the more notable category. The prices are from $20 to $900 a bottle depending of the wine and vintage, found some very good German white and Italian rosé from Puglia.

Lately we have been to small diner parties at friends. Now we all brace ourselves for the coming Fall Season and the return to school for so many. Fortunately our little island has been sparred the worst and we only have a handful of cases and all came from people returning from abroad. Self-isolating at home and all cases have been mild, no hospitalization, lucky indeed.

What I really like to do is to start the day with quiet music with my morning Espresso with Nicky by my side. On the Weekend, Radio-Canada has music programs with a host who talks on various topics engaging the listener, the music is soft, classical, I like piano music like Satie, Grieg, Ravel or Debussy. Every evening, we rarely go out at night, after dinner, which for us is around 08:30pm because we have dinner late by Canadian 5pm standard, I like to sit in my chair in the living room with Nicky beside me and listen to classical music, reading. Currently I am reading the letters and journals of Sir Alan Frederick Lascelles, known as Tommy, private secretary to the King and later to his daughter Elizabeth II, fascinating behind the scene stuff, so well written a real page turner, the documents were edited by Duff Hart-Davis, who did all the necessary work to put the book together and sought all necessary permissions. A difficult task because the Courtiers are protective of such documents seen as State Papers, in the end the Queen agreed and gave permission for publication.

We did not have the annual parade on 15 August due to Covid 19 but our neighbour will have a lunch outdoor on Friday as she does every year. A simple get together. A week from now we invited 20 friends (this is the legal limit) to have dinner and our good friend Pico will make his famous Seafood Paella in his metre wide dish, that alone is worth the show, quite a nice dish. We are using a friend’s secluded yard which is nice and private on a quiet street. I know that small gatherings are now allowed as long as you follow precautions.

On other news, we have a new Minister of Finance, Chrystia Freeland, who has been Minister of Foreign Affairs and is currently Deputy Prime Minister, she will now have the Finance Portfolio as well and will present in the Fall an economic forecast. Also yesterday the Prime Minister went to see the Governor General and ask her to * Prorogue Parliament until 23 September, when the House will return and we will have a Speech from the Throne giving out the details of the Government’s new program to renew the economy after this first Covid phase. Freeland is famous for having handled the negotiations to the new Free Trade Agreement CUSMA with the Trump administration, a difficult task if there ever was one.

It looks like we may have a general election in October despite the fact that most people do not want one due to the Pandemic. But the other parties in the House appear keen, despite the fact that the Conservative will have a brand new leader and the NDP have no money for an election, the Green Party should also have a new leader by then. The Separatist Bloc Quebecois are pushing for an election but remains to be seen if they will be able to win over other MPs to vote against the Government. The test may come as soon as 23 September since a vote of confidence must take place after the Speech from the Throne.  At the moment PM Trudeau has a minority of seats in the House but the poles show him winning the next election, time will tell.

 

*Prorogue; Prorogation is a political process which marks the end of a parliamentary session, and also refers to the time between the end of one parliamentary session and the start of another.

 

 

 

 

 

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ROME - THE IMPERIAL FORA: SCHOLARLY RESEARCH & RELATED STUDIES.

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In Defence of Westminster

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Jerry and I get around. In 2011, we moved from the USA to Spain. We now live near Málaga. Jerry y yo nos movemos. En 2011, nos mudamos de EEUU a España. Ahora vivimos cerca de Málaga.

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