Christmas Day

Tags

Christmas, Cornish Hen, Food, home, life, Plum Pudding

A quiet day it is, it started to snow around 8am this morning, no wind, just gently falling flakes of snow, sort of dancing around and covering the green fields with just enough snow to make it look like Christmas day.

My best wishes to all of you who celebrate Christmas, I hope this to be a good happy day today with your friends and family. If you are on your own, enjoy the Peace of the day.

So this Christmas meal will be very different for us this year, no one has been invited and it is only Will and I at the table. Will of course is restricted to his special hospital diet, he insisted in preparing a festive meal for me, with a Cornish Hen with an apple stuffing and a glaze. Vegetable roasted and of course the Rum butter sauce for our plum pudding from our friend in Vancouver, Ginny. We have our Christmas crackers and the festive silverware and champagne. I will start the meal with some good Smoked salmon with capers and onions.

Nicky and Nora those little sweet dachshunds have given me a gift certificate from Amazon. They are elderly now but remain the best little companions.

Watched the message from St-George’s Chapel of HM the King, what a beautiful message, so well done and addressing the King’s message of interfaith dialogue. The King wants to be the Defender of ALL Faiths not just the Anglican Faith. To do so, Parliament will have to pass a Law to allow him to do so. There is apparently no time now before Coronation Day when HM will take the Oath to change that detail, will see if the Prime Minister will move on it quickly.

This week we invited friends to visit Will for coffee, we certainly have the cakes and cookies all home made to pass around. We also have Geld which I buy for Hanukkah and give away. I always buy too much Geld.

Some pictures of Dec 25 in Charlottetown. It really taking me many days to write this one. We are now the 27 Dec.

Do you see the nose, Yes this is Nicky all wrapped up in his blanket and snoozing away on the sofa. He prefers it if I come and sit by him, then he snuggles right up to me and sleeps profoundly. Let sleeping dogs lie, goes the old saying.

A more simple table setting this Christmas for dinner, dinner for one and Will already had his special medical dinner. He made me dinner, starting with smoked Salmon and capers, then vegetables and roasted Cornish hen and of course flaming plum pudding for dessert. A beautiful brandy fuelled blue light, so festive. The best part WILL was able to eat some without difficulty, now that is a big step, a first in 6 months.

Christmas Morning finally some snow, just a bit but nice enough in the quiet streets and with some sunshine.

Now onwards to the New Year Festivities which will be calm and quiet also.

just a few more days

Tags

aspic, Canada, Christmas, Dresden, Food, Frauenkirche, Orange chocolate

Friday night apparently we will get very high winds in the 90km range and rain, by Sunday Christmas day it will be passed.

Just listening to the concert today from the Frauenkirche in Dresden with at the organ Matthias Grunert who is playing Cesar Franck, Grand Choeur for the series of concerts given at the Frauenkirche during Advent, Klingenden Adventskalenders.

Such a magnificent baroque Lutheran church built in 1726 by George Bahr, destroyed in 1945 and rebuilt in 1993.

Today in LeDevoir from Montreal I was reading about Christmas dishes you no longer see on the table, it seems that after 1980 such dishes just fell out of favour after centuries, literally of being associated with Christmas. Reading the article I thought, yes that is true, how did that happen. It seems that fashion changed and so did how people eat and what they eat. The old Christmas of French Canada with traditions coming from France of the 17th century changed and it all became much more simple and less about traditions. Noel itself is no longer the big religious event it was once, it is now very secular and even the creche under the tree has disappeared. There is at least 2 generations who remember nothing of the old ways of French Canada because their own parents simply do not follow them anymore.

So the first dish was Aspic, my grandmother whom we called Tante Fernande because she was my maternal grandfather’s second wife made this dish every year at Christmas, usually with chicken and green peas. I loved it and there was also the other version with beef which I think was equally good. It was only in Poland in 1998 that I saw it again on the table, we had our Christmas party at the Embassy and the staff made what is called there Galaretka drobiowa, it was sooo good. You will no longer find it in Canada. It originally came from the Court at Versailles, in his old age King Louis XIV had lost his teeth and he could no longer chew food properly, so his chef had to invent new soft food dishes. In Poland Carp which is a very old fish which can grow to a large size and found in ponds of european palaces and in rivers is bought at the market live and kept in the bathtub at home. The day you need to make the dish you wack it to death and then use the meat cut in filet. Our cook would prepare this dish for us and it was wonderful.

The other dish was called Pain Sandwich and that was not a favourite of mine, it was a commercial invention in 1920 to push the sale of white bread. You sliced it on its lenght instead of the usual slices. Use spreadable cream cheese and decorate with pimentos, slices olives and roll up. You then apply mayonnaise on the outer side and roll in chopped up parsley. You can then slice it to make little wheel sandwiches. Tonight at the Club we talked about this in the lounge by the fireplace. Everyone had a story about childhood where their family and relatives would prepare dishes like green jell-o salad with corn and peas, it was so festive and the height of sophistication in the late 1950’s and 60’s. We laughed and realize that today we eat very differently and no one goes to the lenght of work preparation and trouble our mothers, aunts and grandmothers went through.

At Christmas I always look for Orange rind dipped in dark chocolate. It is easy to find in Europe but not so much here where big chocolate corp control the market of sweets. I did find dark chocolate with orange flavour, the thing is shaped like an orange and wrapped in golden paper. It is good but I prefer the taste of orange rind, more chewy, sweet and bitter all at once.

I also got my sister in NYC to get me a new hat, I have specific taste and I wanted a Drilby which is a hat that was worn by Andrei Gromyko. I had bought one in Italy around 2010 and I wore it in Winter only. Could not find anything here in PEI.

We are currently having a fierce wind storm and it is suppose to bring rain later during the night. The same storm pass over NYC earlier. Apparently it will cause some damage and after Fiona about one month ago, people are skittish about power cuts on the Eve of Christmas. The bridge to the mainland closed at 6pm tonight and there is no way to leave the island now, flights are cancelled, moral of this story, do not travel at Holiday time.

We are safe and sound at home. Hope everyone has a good Christmas with my best wishes.

Minus 10 days

Tags

Christmas, Concert, Dresden, Food, Frauenkirche

This week Will cooked 60 sausage rolls. A good recipe where he will caramelize 2 big red onions and then incorporate them with sausage meat, using in this case Bangers. He also made some mince meat pies and I made more of my shortbreads pistachio, cranberry and orange zest.

The weather in the next 36 hours will be rain and sleet with high winds, no snow. Apparently the temperature will be well above average this Winter. I believe it, it’s not cold at all, but that is not good for colds

Found on YouTube a very nice concert given at the Frauen Kirche in Dresden for Advent. This wonderful 90 meter tall church in the German Baroque style was destroyed in February 1945 in the fire bombing of Dresden. It has been totally rebuilt and is spectacular. They hold regular Lutheran services, they also have concerts and recitals and most are on YouTube. The church has 4 organs and its own music school and choir.

We visited several times as it was being rebuilt. Dresden has in the last 25 years been reborn. The concert was on the 11 December with Diana Damrau (Soprano) Mauro Peter (Tenor) Nicole Chirka (Mezzo – Soprano) Martin-Jan Nijhof (Bass – Baritone) Marie Jacquot (Conductor) Staatskapelle Dresden and the choir of the FrauenKirche and the Opera House of Dresden. What is nice about such a concert it allows you to listen to Christmas music which is not the old standards and come from less heard composers. One is René Kollo, Christmas Peace or Gounod, Noel, Cesar Franck, sortie pour Noel.

Advance polls

Tags

City, daschunds, elections, Food, PEI, pizza, voting

Today was the first day of 4 advance voting days before the 7 November date for the Municipal Elections in PEI.

I follow the candidates most of whom I know at a certain level to have spoken to them or met with them since 2018 when I ran for office in Charlottetown. I do remember their stand on various issues and do we ever have lots of urgent and pressing issues in Charlottetown, from housing which is in an acute crisis no matter how much money you have to buy, rent or build. Homelessness in a city of 40K and infrastructure in general in a state of decay or in complete fail mode. A city council that is completely dysfunctional, financial scandals and nepotism on the grand scale.

We also have elections in other towns like Cornwall, Summerside, Stratford and in many small settlements in rural areas. In the smaller settlements, it has been very difficult to find anyone who wishes to run for office, this means the Province has to step in and put those area into trusteeship.

The media in general does not cover much of the election or the candidates, a lot of fluff pieces and roundtables where the candidates make nice statements and every one smiles a lot. You have to appreciate that the media in general in PEI, this includes the National Broadcaster CBC are very gun shy when political topics come to the forefront. The population being so small, you cannot speak of someone without bumping into a relative or an old school chum. People can loose jobs for not voting for a certain candidate, this is why people never want to say who they are going to vote for. The political actors are also pretty much the same gang, related to business or political parties. This year because of FIONA and the tons of debris still laying around, many candidates have no signs. They go door to door instead, but there is a strange apathy amongst the population.

In Charlottetown, we have 3 candidates for Mayor of the Capital ( a big village) one is the incumbent whose own family have been public office holders for several generations, they are also in construction and are well known. The other fellow is someone who is the head of the Landlord and Owners association, a group devoted to defending the privileges of the powerful who are so often maligned. He is also a housing crisis denier. The third fellow is totally unknown and speaks non-stop about abortion which is clearly NOT a municipal issue.

In my Ward which is the old town of Charlottetown of 1779, we have 3 candidates, this is probably the most important Ward in terms of population, tourism, businesses and political power. The population has attracted more and more wealthy people and wide gentrification is underway, tourism yes all the hotels and Air B&B are in Ward one, the cruise ship port is also here and the Legislature and all the government buildings including City Hall. So we have the incumbent who is closely allied and employed by the most powerful business family in PEI. The other candidate is a young women, who made her name by creating a group who organized help in PEI for everyone needing it after FIONA, her efforts have been widely appreciated, the Government being largely absent and totally disorganized or unable to help. The Premier Denny King, a former comedian, thought he would give money to people, a cheque for $250. for anyone asking for it. The Red Cross is handling this charitable endeavour, problem is, the Red Cross has virtually no staff and cannot really do this. The other problem is that a lot of Islanders have no fixed address OR we should say they have 2 addresses, one is formal but they do not live there and the other is informal where they actually live. It makes things complicated when you want to check on the home address of people for official purposes. So the Red Cross has a tough time cross referencing who lives where and who is the the real beneficiary? Ah! the Island way.

The third candidate in Ward 1 is a fellow who believes that the first priority is to build nuclear silos on the docks to prevent an attack by Russia. Yes we always have kooks in every election it provides entertainment.

So I voted and I was the only one there with 6 employees of Election PEI, they were not very busy this morning. In all it took me 3 minutes, in and out. It is all paper ballots with a pencil. I always preferred paper ballots so simple and old fashion and no fuss. There is also a register where you sign your name to indicate that you did come in to vote. All very civilized.

Today I also gave a bath to Nicky and Nora, they don’t like it and Nora knowns something is wrong when she sees us get their towels and soap and run the water. She gets this look in her eyes, too funny. Both needed it and they feel better afterwards. All their blankets were also washed.

Tonight is home made pizza night, fresh made pizza dough, toppings, Fontina and Parmesan cheese, sliced tomatoes, sauté mushrooms and a green pesto sauce. I always prefer a white sauce or a pesto sauce, I am not big on tomato sauce on pizza. In Italy, the variety of pizzas is interesting and ever changing and tomato sauce is not common. Again it looks like it is an Italian immigrant cuisine invention. The pizza is cooked in the oven in a black cast iron skillet pan at 500 F. for a few minutes.

Pizza ready to be cooked toping is arugula Pesto, Mushrooms, slice fresh tomatoes, red onion, Fontina cheese and Parmesan.

Out of the 500 F. oven, ready and delicious.

End of October

Tags

CANCER, Food, inflation, life, spaghetti

Well the weather in PEI so far and despite hurrican Fiona has been very very mild, take today 27C with humidity, that is NOT normal folks and points to a climate crisis. Despite this our politicians will not speak of it, except in bland generalities so as not to scare the horses. Everyone complains about the price of gas and when it is suggested they look at EV cars they claim they are too expensive to buy despite a rebate of $15,000. They also drive a fossil fuel car worth $45,000 so that is not much of a logical arguments and they will wait 30 minutes, motor running, at the drive through for a coffee. Yes people are funny.

I had a bit of a difficult day yesterday, the weather was bad but mild and I was really depressed. I always try to be up and smiling for Will, he is the one who is sick. So being positive is important, though as I told him I do not like to go to the Cancer Treatment Centre, it is a depressing place starting with the lighting and the beige colours. The staff is great and very good. It is also a quiet place unlike the hospital next door which is a zoo.

Our friends on the Island have been great, bringing home made foods and giving support. A friend brought some Borscht, it was excellent, the beets on the Island are very sweet, it makes for a very good soup. Another friend brought a Persian Beef Stew and that too was very good. Others have brought vegetables from their garden and zucchini cake and a very nice piece of paté.

Speaking of food, I saw another spike in food prices yesterday at the grocery store, a few months ago any item was $5 or at least it started at that mark. Now its $10. despite the supply chain arguments, this no longer bear any credibility and it has been revealed that the grocery chains are making record profits in the billions. The Federal Government is finally looking into the matter.

Today the good news is that Will has put on 3 lbs the doctor was happy and he has to put on more. So fatty foods is the solution. Will also made today his spaghetti meat sauce, which is a combination of Veal, Beef, Meat of Italian sausage no casing, there is also carrots, onions, herbs all put into the food processor. Then into the slow cooker for 5 hours and voila. So for dinner I will have spaghetti, looking forward to it.

News

Tags

cake, Food, PEI, zucchini

Well we are at the end of week 3 of treatment. We have 3 more weeks to go. There is progress and that is good news. Thank you to all who have sent good wishes, it is very much appreciated.

We are coming to the end of October already, time is flying so quickly, I am surprised by how fast events come and go.

We had a visit today by a friend and we sat outside it was such a beautiful day. She lives with her family in the St-Peter’s Harbour area, quite a lovely area of the Island, it is also where the Greenwich National Park is located. They have a large garden and we got some bounty of vegetables. So this evening I am having a large salad for dinner.

Will today made a Sweet Potato Cake, it is very good and an easy recipe to follow.

Our friend also brought some zucchini cake and it is wonderful. The weather is cooler but the brilliant sunshine makes all the difference.

Voting card and Spaghetti squash

Tags

Election, Food, squash, sweet potatoes, voting

We are in the midst of a Municipal Elections in the various villages and towns on the Island. The vote is on 7 November, but we can vote as early as 29 October. In some municipalities no one wants to run for Office and the incumbent is retiring, the question is who will govern such places? Would they come under trusteeship of the Provincial Government?

In Charlottetown, we have some Councillors who are retiring, some are re-offering and should not. In the 10 Wards many are single candidate meaning they you are elected by acclamation, not a good thing. For Mayor there is 3 candidate but only one is very well known and a previous unsuccessful candidate, one is totally unknown and of course the out going mayor who is not very popular, due to too many scandals and mistakes not to mention a lack of judgement.

We received our voting cards today, people here are automatically registered to vote based on their home address and health cards and or driver’s licence, very simple process. NO there is no voter fraud. At the voting place you have to show your health card or driver’s licence to get a ballot. Strangely enough, a lot of people do not bother to vote, but municipal government is the closest thing to the citizens and the city provides basic services like garbage removal, snow removal, public works. Also in Charlottetown, this being a big village everyone knows the Mayor and his family and the Councillors, you may have been to school with them. So it is very direct democracy.

This time of the year is squash time in many sizes and types of, selling at many farms for $2 or so. Squash are very good to eat and very filling. Last night found an easy recipe with garlic, olive oil, lemon juice. I also cooked some chicken thighs in the oven and drizzled pesto over it. Made a nice dinner.

Yellow Spaghetti squash like the name indicates once cooked it comes out like spaghetti, you can mix it up with any pasta sauce and parmesan.

I also bought a buttercup squash and will find a recipe for that one.

Recently I developed a taste for Sweet potatoes and Red Sweet Potatoes, Will has a recipe for sweet potato cake and we are making that tomorrow. I find that a sweet potato has more taste than the regular potato. Easy to cook in the oven and just good as is.

Speaking of Will, he has now completed week 3 of treatments and it is going well. So 3 more weeks to go.

Boeuf haché a la Lyonnaise

Tags

books, cuisine, Food, Lyon, Stalin

So for dinner tonight in celebration of our dear friend Urs Spo, https://sporeflections.wordpress.com who was suppose to be here with us but with all the airline snafu could not make it, we decided to go ahead and celebrate. If he had been here we would have had Champagne, Lobster and Oysters, what he would have liked. Oh zut alors, we will have to do this another time.

The recipe is simple, it is as you can tell by the title a hamburger recipe served bun-less and always with a sauce and it is name after the City of Lyon.

You will need Lean ground beef

INGREDIENTS

Nutrition

• ³⁄₄cup finely minced yellow onion
• 2 tablespoons  butter
• 1 ¹⁄₂lbs extra lean ground beef
• 2 tablespoons marrow or 2 tablespoons fresh pork fat
• 1 ¹⁄₂teaspoons  salt
• ¹⁄₈teaspoon  pepper
• ¹⁄₈teaspoon  thyme
• 1 egg
• ¹⁄₂cup  flour, spread on a plate
• 1 tablespoon  butter
• 1 tablespoon oil
• ¹⁄₂1/2 cup  red wine or 1/4 cup  water
• 2 -3 tablespoons  butter

DIRECTIONS

• Cook the onions slowly in 2 Tablespoons of butter (about 10 mins) until tender not browned.
• Place onions in mixing bowl. Add the beef, butter (or suet, marrow or pork fat) the seasonings and the egg; mix well.
• Form into patties 3/4″ thick.
• Cover & refrigerate till ready to use.
• Just before sautéing, roll the patties lightly in flour.
• Shake off any excess flour.
• Place butter and oil in heavy skillet over med-high heat.
• When butter foam begins to subside, saute the patties for about 3 minutes per side (or more depending upon how you like your burger).
• Place burgers on serving platter and keep warm while finishing the sauce.
• Pour fat out of the skillet and discard.
• Add stock (or wine, vermouth or water) and boil down rapidly.
• Scraping up the coagulated pan juice till reduced to almost a syrup.
• Off heat, swirl 2-3 Tablespoons of butter into the sauce – 1/2 Tablespoon at a time until absorbed into the sauce.
• Pour the sauce over the hamburgers and serve.

the finished product.

Today also our cleaning lady came and completed washing the windows. It looks so much better now. It was a hot sunny day today at 24C with a breeze. I am continuing to read my new book on Stalin’s Library, a story about his 25,000 book library and what happened to it after his death, really interesting and it gives you a real picture into who he was as a person independent of the persona we know as the dictator. It involves a lot of details about his parents, childhood in Gori, Georgia and his life before the revolution of 1917, his education. Stalin (man of Steel) is nom de plume so to speak was born Joseph Vissarionovich Dzughashvili. Stalin was an avid reader and an intellectual but also a fanatic in terms of politics. I will review further the book once I am done reading it. I do have one thing in common with Stalin, Emile Zola was is favourite writer, I read Zola and I also find it to be a great writer of his period in France.

Lamb shanks and having a son

Tags

children, cuisine, education, fathering, Food, Jordan, lamb, rearing

This title is almost biblical, sounds like the Prophet Abraham and his son Isaac and the sacrifice asked by God. Luckily it ended in a lamb shank dinner.

So today is Father’s day, a bit of a commercial holiday like Mother’s day. But at the Farmer’s Market a lady from whom I bought stocks of rhubarb, wished me a happy Sunday (that is very Italian) and a happy father’s day, which surprised me. It also got me to think.

Today I am cooking for dinner 2 lamb shanks from well known local farm and their lamb is delicious. It takes about 2 hours to cook slowly with some thyme and rosemary. This is a meal I would have in Jordan every Friday, being prayer day for Muslims, we had the day off. Lamb in Jordan is a very traditional dish and it is prepared with much care. Lamb also appears at religious festivals, this of course is taken from Scripture and the Koran is basically the Old Testament with its stories and various prophets like Abraham, Moses, etc, including Jesus and his mother Mary.

So I was thinking if I had a son what would I want for him. I was reminded yesterday at a concert piano recital at the Club of Chopin, Bartok and J.S. Bach by young 12 yr old musicians, how education is so important to create a happy life and future for children.

I would emphasize reading and love of books, starting by books suitable for the age and then progressing to more serious books with time.

I would encourage visits to art galleries and museums, learning about paintings and its historical evolution and understanding what influenced painters is important because it develops the sense of observation and appreciation.

Learn to cook and appreciate food in many various forms. This is a life skill in my book, I find that people who cannot appreciate food or would not know how to boil an egg are deprived of an important life skill. Frozen food and fast food is not the solution, I unfortunately know people who feed their kids nothing but junk food because it is so easy to do so. Learning completely about vegetables and fruits, what is in season and what is not, appreciate cheeses from various cultures, there is more to life than commercial cheddar, baking is also an important skill.

This I would pair with learning about wines and how quality is not expressed in the price of a bottle, but the simple pleasure of what is good.

I would try to develop in him a taste for all cultures, pointing out that there is nothing to fear in what may appear strange or different. This is tied to learning languages, speaking a minimum of 3 languages fluently to me is essential to life, because if you speak many languages it opens doors to understanding others.

Above all, I would teach him to appreciate quality in all things and shy away from the simplistic and average.

Finally respect for people and a sense of civic duty and responsibility towards your community.

Children are a responsibility and need lots of care and at the same time the parent has to develop in the child self-assurance and natural curiosity. This is too often completely lacking in our world today.

Tuesday

Tags

Belle river, Food, life, PEI, Summer

Well our Summer plants are shaping up. We are going first to Les Iles de la Madeleine for a few days, then this Summer will go around the Island and on 21 August to the cottage at French River which is a place we love and will have some old friends from Ottawa visiting. I don’t think they have been here before and we are looking forward to their visit. They had visited us in Egypt back in 1990, seems like ions ago.

The weather is nice but like all Islands in the North Atlantic still with a cool wind.

My diet or I think I should say weight loss is going great and this gives me a lot of pleasure, this morning my nutritionist told be I look thinner and that there was a noticeable change from 6 weeks ago. I see it in the mirror and on the scale.

There is obvious benefits to eating more vegetables and fruits and limiting meat to 100 gr. fish and seafood with only lemon or some olive oil is also better, the big sauces are nice but in moderation. I am also grateful to my Mom who started us eating all manner of fruits and veggies at a young age and making up funny stories about them. I am not a picky or fussy eater and this has served me well in life. Mom also never prepared meals to please us, she prepared what she believed was good for us, she really favoured home made soups, she had recipes that came from the great grand-parents who lived into grand old age of their late nineties. Mom would say look at them and a sign of health, never mind the fact that my paternal great grand-mother smoke the pipe and was a shark at cards.

My brother in Florida is also following a diet now on his own, large salads and fish and he is also doing very well.

Today at the Health Food Store I found a ginger chew called Chimes, it is low on calories like 1 C. and my nutritionist said if you only have 2 a day you will be fine.

Tomorrow we are going to visit a friend of ours who lives East of Charlottetown, in Belle River which prior to 1755 was called Belle Rivière. We have not seen him since October 2019, looking forward to the visit. Another sunny day tomorrow which is very nice, it really feels like Summer now.

Belle River on the shore of the Abegweit Passage (formerly known as Northumberland Strait)