Sunday 30 June 2013
30 June - Solution for the last clue and the next cryptic crossword clue
Surprisingly large one, a country in
Africa (7)
Solution – Algeria
Algeria
is a country in Africa.
It
is also made up of a mixed up letters of "large" plus i for one and a
for a.
Dislike of one rendering (8)
Hint – the last letter is n
Mustard chive sauce
Now
this mustard chive sauce is not the
sort of sauce we should have often. It
is laden with cream. But as a special
treat with thinly sliced corned beef it was spectacular. And it was good cold the next day on
sandwiches as well.
So
you take half a strained cupful of the liquid you have cooked your corned beef
in. (This has had cloves, cinnamon
stick, peppercorns, bay leaf, golden syrup, mustard powder and white wine as
well as the water). I would usually add
carrots and baby onion as well which would make the sauce even better.
Put
it in a pot with a cup of cream (full strength runny cream – the sort you can
whip). Bring it to a boil and then
simmer until it has reduced by about one third.
I found this took about 10 minutes or so. And even then it felt runny – but the next
day was quite thick. I think some of the
fat from the corned beef gets into the stock and gives the sauce that extra
flavour oomph.
Stir
in to your sauce 4 tablespoons of Dijon mustard and 3 tablespoons of finely
sliced chives. Simmer for one minute
more and then taste to see how much salt and pepper, if any, is needed.
Saturday 29 June 2013
James K Baxter
James
K Baxter, the best-known New Zealand poet, was born on 29 June and would have
been 87 today had he lived past 1972.
Here is one of his poems:
THE BAY by James K Baxter
On the road to the bay was a lake of rushes
Where we bathed at times and changed in the bamboos.
Now it is rather to stand and say:
How many roads we take that lead to Nowhere,
The alley overgrown, no meaning now but loss:
Not that veritable garden where everything comes easy.
And by the bay itself were cliffs with carved names
And a hut on the shore beside the Maori ovens.
We raced boats from the banks of the pumice creek
Or swam in those autumnal shallows
Growing cold in amber water, riding the logs
Upstream, and waiting for the taniwha.
So now I remember the bay and the little spiders
On driftwood, so poisonous and quick.
The carved cliffs and the great outcrying surf
With currents round the rocks and the birds rising
A thousand times an hour is torn across
And burned for the sake of going on living.
But I remember the bay that never was
And stand like stone and cannot turn away.
On the road to the bay was a lake of rushes
Where we bathed at times and changed in the bamboos.
Now it is rather to stand and say:
How many roads we take that lead to Nowhere,
The alley overgrown, no meaning now but loss:
Not that veritable garden where everything comes easy.
And by the bay itself were cliffs with carved names
And a hut on the shore beside the Maori ovens.
We raced boats from the banks of the pumice creek
Or swam in those autumnal shallows
Growing cold in amber water, riding the logs
Upstream, and waiting for the taniwha.
So now I remember the bay and the little spiders
On driftwood, so poisonous and quick.
The carved cliffs and the great outcrying surf
With currents round the rocks and the birds rising
A thousand times an hour is torn across
And burned for the sake of going on living.
But I remember the bay that never was
And stand like stone and cannot turn away.
29 June - Solution for the last clue and the next cryptic crossword clue
Discipline in class (5)
Solution – order
Order
can mean discipline or a class of things.
Surprisingly large one, a country in
Africa (7)
Hint – the
solution is the name of a country
Chinon
Chinon is a lovely town close to the Loire
Valley in France.
It
has a ruined citadel on top of the hill.
This
is where I developed an interest in Joan of Arc. It is here in Chinon in 1429 that she was
said to have recognised the Dauphin despite him being disguised and asked to
head an army. (long story)
Labels:
France,
Joan of Arc,
Travel
Location:Auckland, New Zealand
Chinon, France
Friday 28 June 2013
28 June - Solution for the last clue and the next cryptic crossword clue
Excursion abroad in front of galley
(6)
Solution – outing
An
outing is an excursion
Abroad
= out
In=
in
Front
of galley = first letter of galley
Discipline in class (5)
Hint – this
is a double definition clue
Food on Friday: French food
Bonjour! Yes,
it's French food … or should I say
cuisine this time.
Please
look out your French style dishes and link them in. I am sure there are lots of good ones out
there. Feel free to add links to posts
about French cookbooks too.
Just
put your name and the name of the dish into the first box and copy the url for
your post into the second one.
I'll
be pinning the links to this Pinboard as quickly as I can to make it
easy for you to select which links to visit.
Bon
appetit!
Ps - For those that like to plan ahead, you can find the forward schedule in a page at the top
Thursday 27 June 2013
27 June - Solution for the last clue and the next cryptic crossword clue
South American republic holding
alternative view (8)
Solution – panorama
Panama,
a South American republic, is holding or contains "or" for
alternative and you get panorama meaning view.
Excursion abroad in front of galley
(6)
Hint – the
first letter is o
Julian Barnes – The Sense of an Ending
This
book is almost impossible to describe.
Certainly to describe in a way that does it justice. It has been called "a jewel",
"clever", "suspenseful", "beautiful" and "at
times side-splittingly funny". All
I know is that it kept me fully engaged and I finished it feeling
satisfied. I knew I had read something
really good.
It
is a reasonably short book and you get the feeling that every word deserved to
be there. You end up thinking about time
and how your past affects your present.
Small
warning – there is a bit of sexual content – mostly funny if a bit crude.
Don't
be put off that it won the Man Booker prize – it isn't all high falutin'.
Wednesday 26 June 2013
26 June - Solution for the last clue and the next cryptic crossword clue
Escaped in cab, sodden,
unfortunately (9)
Solution – absconded
Absconded
for escaped is also made up of the letters in "cab sodden".
South American republic holding
alternative view (8)
Hint – this
is a container clue
Need some inspiration – Breakfast Part I
To
give you some inspiration for Breakfasts, here are some links I chose from Food on Friday: Breakfast. There were so many good ones that I'll be showcasing some more breakfast
ideas next week as well.
We
start with Sichuan Hot Eggs by
Elisson of Lost in the Cheese
Aisle.
Kaz
and Ang over at Melting Moments did
this Daddy's Baby Bircher. Just fab.
I
dare you not to get hungry just looking at I
Sing in the Kitchen's Strawberry Cheesecake Pancakes.
I
hadn't heard of Crack Bacon until I
saw The Erratic Project Junkie's
post about it. Wow!
Here
are some Eggs Newburg from Lost Past Remembered – the recipe is
part of an interesting post about Hearst Castle.
Terry
from RV Life and Food gave us this
terrific dish – Sweet Potato Hash with Spicy Hollandaise Sauce.
How
about these Roasted Cauliflower Quiches by Skinny Simple Recipes!
To
finish on a spectacular 'bacony' note, here is Radishgirl Thymes' Maple Glazed Bacon Donuts.
Tuesday 25 June 2013
25 June - Solution for the last clue and the next cryptic crossword clue
Prophet starts to imagine Saint
Augustine is against heathens! (6)
Solution – Isaiah
This
was an acrostic clue ie the solution was made up of the first letters of the
words in the clue starting with Imagine.
And you then get Isaiah who of course is a prophet.
Escaped in cab, sodden,
unfortunately (9)
Hint – this
is an anagram clue
Zingy Orphan Salad – new name!
Update:
Thanks to Michelle, Analisa, Kirsten and Lisa for the name ideas – I have
combined them to call this Zingy Orphan Salad
The
salad was made from diced capsicum (bell pepper), courgette (zucchini), radish,
potato, snow peas (or they might have been sugar snap peas) and parsley.
The
dressing was an egg vinaigrette. It was
made from:
Chopped
hard boiled egg
Dijon
mustard
Olive
oil
10
capers, chopped
Vinegar
(white wine)
Chili
flakes
Salt
and pepper
Despite
it being an orphan salad, it was very tasty.
Monday 24 June 2013
Capital city of the week: Avarua
Avarua means "two harbours" in
English
It
is the capital of a country which is made up of a number of islands.
Raw
fish is a normal part of Avaruan's diet
Nearly
everything in Avarua is closed on Sunday's – except the churches, of course
And
you can see lovely trees like this in Avarua.
So
where is Avarua?
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