Ice and Snow Park
Saturday, November 13, 2004
It is well worth the extra mouse click to see these beautiful snow and ice sculptures in Harbin, China. I guess this means I have finally come to terms with summer being over!
Wednesday, November 10, 2004
Modest Sunbathers
T-Day and Counting
Saturday, November 06, 2004
I came across a nice blog today from some college kids who are going to cook their own Thanksgiving dinner and wanted ideas. I'm sorry, but I lost their link. However, these were my suggestions:
Gravy
1) well ahead of time: in small fry pan, melt butter & stir in flour; remove from heat when slightly brown and/or mixed well (this blob keeps the gravy from being lumpy. The blob is called a reaux. But I'm not French...so it's a blob.)
2) boil the turkey innards (or just the liver) in a cup or two of H2O. This is your stock base. I always mush the liver into the stock. No...my gravy in NO WAY tastes like liver afterwards (yuck)
3) making the gravy when turk is done: heat up the stock in a fry pan; add the blob. With the sucker (baster thingy) gather some turkey juices from the bottom of the pan (MUST BE bottom to avoid grease). Add one or two sucker-fulls to your gravy pan. Bring to boil (to take away the taste of flour) STIRRING CONSTANTLY. After it boils, enjoy.
Turkey
Give your bird a well deserved massage. After turkeysue is washed and dried, gently work your fingers under the skin and loosen up a couple of pockets separating the skin from the breasts (ouch).
It helps to have 2 people do this next part. Prop up the bird and somehow put in a marinade on one breast, and perhaps a different marinade on the other under the skin (get creative...it's fun!). I like to use a little herbed lemon juice. A favoriate salad dressing works well (NON-creamy). Or maybe a hint of your fave BBQ sauce. Don't overwhelm turkeysue...she's a proud bird. This process helps keep turkeysue moist as well.
Now give her another massage and make her dance. You heard me...this is a family tradition in my house. I started it when the kids were young to make them laugh. Now they are all grown and won't let me put the damned thing in the oven without making her dance. Maybe this year I'll make a video and post it! (no promises since I don't know how yet) Happy Thanksgiving!
I strongly suggest you invest the extra dollars in a free range wholesome healthy bird. Your taste buds will thank me, I promise. There is a world of difference between a healthy bird and the pathetic factory farm raised type.
Gravy
1) well ahead of time: in small fry pan, melt butter & stir in flour; remove from heat when slightly brown and/or mixed well (this blob keeps the gravy from being lumpy. The blob is called a reaux. But I'm not French...so it's a blob.)
2) boil the turkey innards (or just the liver) in a cup or two of H2O. This is your stock base. I always mush the liver into the stock. No...my gravy in NO WAY tastes like liver afterwards (yuck)
3) making the gravy when turk is done: heat up the stock in a fry pan; add the blob. With the sucker (baster thingy) gather some turkey juices from the bottom of the pan (MUST BE bottom to avoid grease). Add one or two sucker-fulls to your gravy pan. Bring to boil (to take away the taste of flour) STIRRING CONSTANTLY. After it boils, enjoy.
Turkey
Give your bird a well deserved massage. After turkeysue is washed and dried, gently work your fingers under the skin and loosen up a couple of pockets separating the skin from the breasts (ouch).
It helps to have 2 people do this next part. Prop up the bird and somehow put in a marinade on one breast, and perhaps a different marinade on the other under the skin (get creative...it's fun!). I like to use a little herbed lemon juice. A favoriate salad dressing works well (NON-creamy). Or maybe a hint of your fave BBQ sauce. Don't overwhelm turkeysue...she's a proud bird. This process helps keep turkeysue moist as well.
Now give her another massage and make her dance. You heard me...this is a family tradition in my house. I started it when the kids were young to make them laugh. Now they are all grown and won't let me put the damned thing in the oven without making her dance. Maybe this year I'll make a video and post it! (no promises since I don't know how yet) Happy Thanksgiving!
I strongly suggest you invest the extra dollars in a free range wholesome healthy bird. Your taste buds will thank me, I promise. There is a world of difference between a healthy bird and the pathetic factory farm raised type.
Canadian ?
Thursday, November 04, 2004
If this guy were a U.S. democrat, maybe I could understand this behavior.
I wish him well.
November 4, 2004
A Canadian man, angry that he was refused a plane ticket to Australia at Los Angeles Airport, stripped naked, sprinted across the tarmac and climbed into the wheel well of a moving Qantas 747, officials said on Wednesday.
Pilots of the Qantas Airways flight stopped the plane. The man was coaxed out of the wheel well and arrested for trespassing, said airport spokeswoman Nancy Castles.
"This was an extremely dangerous thing for him to do. If he had continued to cling in there with the aircraft taking off at over 200 miles (320 kph) per hour, he might have fallen out and could have been sucked up by an engine," she said.
"If he had survived that and was in the wheel well when the landing gear was retracted, he could have been crushed by the mechanism. And if not he very likely would have frozen to death during the 15 1/2 hour flight at 30,000 feet (9,150 metres) while wearing no clothes."
The man, Neil Melly, 31, tried to buy a one-way ticket on the Qantas flight on Monday evening, but was turned down because he could not supply a valid credit card, Castles said.
Later, he managed to climb over an airport fence, topped by three strands of barbed wire, without injury and was spotted by a ramp worker "running, naked, full-speed" toward the plane.
Castles said a check by authorities found that Melly had been reported missing to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and was suffering from bi-polar disorder, a manic-depressive illness.
I wish him well.
Good Neighbors !
Tuesday, November 02, 2004
Canadian Satire
If George W. Bush is re-elected, single, sexy, American liberals - already a threatened species - will be desperate to escape.
These lonely, afraid (did we mention really hot?) progressives will need a safe haven.
You can help. Open your heart, and your home. Marry an American. Legions of Canadians have already pledged to sacrifice their singlehood to save our southern neighbours from four more years of cowboy conservatism.
