Birthday treats

This week was the Hubby's birthday, so a grand meal was in order. He requested lamb chops grilled over charcoal, a favorite thanks to the time spent in South AFrica. Well, in S.A. you can't have lamb chops without boerewors, usually just called wors, which means sausage. (Pronounce it "vorse") This is not just any sausage, but a local recipe made from beef, pork, pork fat, coriander and other spices. Simply delicious. There is nothing like it here in the States.

Never being afraid of spending a few hours in the kitchen, I decided wors was in order for the birthday boy. Usually the casings come from the local specialty food store, where for some unknown reason they charge a hefty chunk of change for them. What do you suppose the demand for sausage casings is? So this time, the sausage was made middle eastern style, wrapped around a skewer. Son #1 grilled them on the bbq. What a treat. They were mm, mm, good!

New Cat Toy

Bought some veggies today and left them lying on the counter for a while. Came back later to find the bag of green beans open. No one, repeat no one, in my family would choose to snack on a raw green bean. (Except me, of course), so I was wondering what happened. Guess who provided the answer? Angus!   So the next time you want to treat your kitty to a new toy, head to the green grocers!

Delicious Fish for dinner

Tilapia with Artihokes.
Serves 4

4 Tilapia fillets
2 cloves garlic
1 bag Kroger PS frozen artichoke hearts
(works better than canned)
2T olive oil

Press or chop garlic and saute in olive oil. When you can smell it, add artichokes, stirring to coat with oil.
Season fish with Lawry's seasoned salt (or whatever your fave is) and freshly ground black pepper.
Push veggies aside and lay fillets in pan. Cover with veggies then add a lid to the pan.
Steam for a few minutes on side one, then turn fish over and finish steaming side two. Total time about10 mins, depending how thick the fillets are.

Sad day in the household

Sad day in the household today. We had to say goodbye to sweet Chloe, our 20 yr old kittie. She was a rescue from a cat shelter near where we lived in Pittsford, N.Y. Youngest son Brian was just a toddler when we got her, so he can't remember life without her. Now we'll all have to get used to that idea.

Mystery Revealed

Here is the paper pieced top of Paper Panache's Nativity Advent Quilt.

25 blocks, at least 2.5 hrs each = 62.5+ hours invested to date. Call me crazy.  22" by 34"

In my opinion, there are two publisher errors in the pattern. With something this complicated, the only errors should be mine.

He's a superb cook!

I'm braggin' on #1 son and his girlfriend. We ate delicious gumbo (Paula Dean's Seafood Gumbo) and roasted broccoli, followed by koeksisters! Koeksisters are a South African confection, a kind of a braided doughnut steeped in syrup. Difficult to get just right and time consuming to make. They were delicious! I am thoroughly impressed.

When I was living in the dorm at my university in South Africa, we were instructed not to "koeksister", which meant we should not entwine ourselves with, but keep a respectful distance from any amorous young man! I wonder if they still instruct the young ladies about that.

Mystery update: 24 done, one to go. Picture to follow.

Mystery and the mystery of cornbread.

23 down, 2 to go.

No good food news today. My oldest son is turning 28 tomorrow. He has invited us to dinner for the first time ever! He is a good cook, so I am looking forward to our get together. He asked me to bring one thing - cornbread. Simple? Apparently not. I decided to pit Alton Brown against Jiffy. Alton was a little softie at heart and Jiffy got sunburned. Oh well, it will do the son good to know his mom isn't perfect :) Updates on the protege's efforts tomorrow.