OK Go White Knuckles

Apparently this took 124 takes to get it right.

(thanks to Lynn for the link)

I wonder if I could get the Budster to do this?

Eton Mess

I have a huge pile of clippings from various newspapers and magazines. They tend to be human interest stories that may inspire a piece of fiction, or it might be a restaurant review for a new place I want to try, or perhaps a photo that conjures up something.

More often than not though, the clipping is for a recipe I want to try. I'll remember that I cut it out, and that it's somewhere in my pile o' clippings, but I usually can't retrieve it easily. So I'm going to start posting them here. At least this way I can a) find them again and b) allow you to try them too. I'll be honest. It's mostly so I can find them. Behold the blog as a filing system.

So let's start with this one I stumbled across today.

Eton Mess

(don't ask me why it's called that...something to do with the school?)**

Apparently this is the trendy new dish in New York right now. You can make it with fresh raspberries or strawberries. I bet it's good with crushed pineapple or bananas too.

Meringues:
2 egg whites
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp lemon juice

Raspberry Sauce:
1 cup raspberries
2 TBSP lemon juice
3 TBSP superfine sugar

Topping:
1 cup raspberries
1 cup whipping cream (35%) whipped with 1 TBSP sugar

How To:
Preheat oven to 275F.

Put egg whites in a bowl and beat until they froth like a mad dog. Add sugar and beat until egg whites are stiff and glossy like shaving cream. Beat in lemon juice.

Spoon onto parchment paper on cookie sheet in six 2" dollops. Bake for 1 hour or until crisp. Break meringues into large and small pieces. Set aside.

Combine raspberries with lemon juice and sugar in a food processor and process until smooth.

Fold together raspberries, whipping cream, raspberry sauce (reserving some for garnish) and crumbled meringue (reserving some for garnish) in a bowl. Place a spoonful of raspberry mixture onto the middle of a plate or use a ring mold if you want to go pretty. Garnish with more crumbled meringue and a drizzle of raspberry sauce. Repeat layers. Serves four. Ish.

** Of course after typing that I felt compelled to look it up. It's traditionally made with strawberries and is served at Eton College's annual cricket game against Winchester College. Apparently the recipe has been around since the 19thC.

Spoof on The American

Here go the Yanks mocking us Canucks again.

The original:



The spoof, eh:



Over and oot, eh.

Drumming my pain with his fingers...

We are in the midst of some of the best days of fall. Warm, sunny days where you just want to fling open the doors and windows to let in the light and all that fresh air.

My neighbour two doors down has done the same. How do I know this for sure?

Because it would appear my neighbour two doors down has a full set of drums. Whoever it is, and I'm going on the assumption it's a he judging from the gusto with which the set has been tackled, is playing long and loud and with considerable enthusiasm if not talent.



It's been going on all afternoon. And I mean ALL afternoon.

I work from home.

I'm about ready to rip out my own ears and feed them to the dog.

Why not guitar? Why not flute? Or banjo, harmonica or even a fricking tuba?

Drums.

Makes one long for a good snow fall.

On Excuses

And why there is no excuse for not writing when you say you want to.

Like Yoda says, "Do, or do not. There is no try."

The amazing John Scalzi puts it another way in this blog post.

Check it out via this link (right here, just touch it, go on, you know you want to):

FIND THE TIME OR DON'T

So what are you waiting for? Make like a bee and get busy.

(thanks Kathy for the link!)

Canada's Greatest Hero

This Sunday is the 30th anniversary of Canada's greatest hero. I think he's actually one of the world's greatest heroes.

Terry Fox.

He ran the Marathon of Hope, a run across Canada, to raise money for cancer research. On April 12th, 1980, he began his run in Saint John's Newfoundland, the easternmost city in Canada. He was twenty-one years old.

Did I mention he lost a leg to cancer? He did not consider himself disabled. He was an athlete. And he set out to prove it.

He ran a full marathon for 143 days in a row except for a few days of rest forced upon him midway. Shin splints, dizzy spells, a swollen knee, cysts on his stump, tendonitis in his ankle - and still he ran. He was forced to stop in Thunder Bay Ontario when his cancer returned and ultimately took his life.

His hope was to raise one dollar for every Canadian, and at that time we numbered 24 million.

To date, over $500 million dollars has been raised in his name.

To read a beautiful article on Terry, please visit the site below. It states much more eloquently than I ever can, the impact Terry Fox has had on us all.

The Terry Fox Story

Fall is here

At least, the weather is telling me so if not the calendar. It was too cold to swim last weekend, and so, sadly, it's time to put away the boats and BBQ and deck chairs to be replaced by crockpots and down-filled coats and toques. Summer in this part of Canada never ends gently, but with a smack upside the head. One minute you're swimming, the next you're getting up in the morning and feeling a real chill in the air and you know, you just know in your bones, it's all over but the shouting for another year.

I sometimes feel envious of those who live in warmer climes like California, but then I see something like this and I'm content to live here in the Great White North.

Isabel Allende - Tales of passion

"There is a Jewish saying that I love. What is truer than truth? Answer? The story."

Giant Scab or Chopped Arsehole?

A definitive guide to visiting Scotland courtesy of Danny Bhoy, my favourite comedian on the planet. My sister got to see him live last week in Edinburgh, one of the stops on her cruise around the UK, and then my friend kc got to see him too.

I am shoveling bat guano at the cottage.

I am, however, married to a man of Scottish descent.

I'll say no more about that.

Here's my Danny: