Kids and the Birds and Bees!

Today’s cryptic crossword clue – solution tomorrow

Girl, aristocratic? Not quite (8)

Source of clue – NZ Herald


For the solution and explanation, click here

Solution for 30 July cryptic crossword clue

Weed round front of semi with instrument, gardening aid (8)
Solution – Hosepipe


Another clue that is constructed bit by bit – like you might do if you were playing charades. 


Weed = hoe


Hoe is "round front of semi" ie placed around the first letter of "semi"  ie ho + s + e = hose


And then a word for an instrument follows – which has to be a four letter word given that the solution only has 8 letters.


Hose + pipe = a type of gardening aid.

JK Rowling

J K Rowling

It was JK Rowling's birthday on 31 July 1965.  So today she will turn 47!  Still young but so rich as a result of her undoubted talent and creativity.  And quite beautiful too, going by this picture.

I have read all the Harry Potter's and enjoyed them.  I don't think of them as just books for kids.  There is something special about the way she mixes the non magical world with the magical one.  I enjoy that much more than books which are entirely in the fantasy realm.

I am looking forward to her first book written specially for adults – The Casual Vacancy.  It will be out at the end of September.

Did you know that her middle name does not start with a "k"?  In fact she didn't have a middle name.  Her publisher suggested she add an initial so that it wasn't clear to her initial target market (young boys) that the writer was a woman!  And then, of course, she got stuck with it.

Nice bumper sticker

Today’s cryptic crossword clue – solution tomorrow

Weed round front of semi with instrument, gardening aid (8)

Source of clue – NZ Herald


For the solution and explanation, click here

Solution for 29 July cryptic crossword clue

It may bring comfort to a child, receiving love if throaty, suffering (5,5)

Solution – Tooth Fairy


The charades part of the clue is the second part of it starting with "child".
Child = tot


"receiving love" means the letter o (an abbreviation for love as in zero) is put into "tot"


"if throaty suffering" means that the letters in "if throaty" are scrambled up – suffering being a strange way of saying that the letters are scrambled.


So toot + h fairy = tooth fairy


Which can be said to comfort a child after they have lost a tooth – financially anyway!  What is the going rate these days for a tooth?


If you would like to learn more about cryptic crosswords, have a look at the sidebar under the StumbleUpon button.

Leftover chicken soup

Chicken soup

Sometimes I use the carcass of a roasted chicken as the basis for making chicken soup.  But this time, I just used white meat leftovers and made a simple thin chicken broth.

I made quite a potful and was able to freeze several portions as a good base for quick lunches.

So the ingredients I used were:

Chicken meat – cut up

Chicken stock (a concentrate jelly plus water)

A cubed potato

Some leftover pizza sauce (see here for how I made that)

Sliced onion – just chucked in (not sautéed off first, just being lazy)

Salt (not much because of the stock) and pepper

Simmer all of it until the potato is just tender.  Garnish when served with dill (or other green herb).  And that's it – so simple, it hardly counts as a recipe at all.

St Martha – patron saint of cooks/chefs

St Martha

July 29 is the day that St Martha of Bethany is remembered.  She was the patron saint of cooks and chefs.

Martha's brother was Lazarus and her sister was Mary Magdalene.

Today’s cryptic crossword clue – solution tomorrow

It may bring comfort to a child, receiving love if throaty, suffering (5,5)

Source of clue – NZ Herald


For the solution and explanation, click here

Solution for 28 July cryptic crossword clue

Play tune no end, hit by Armstrong originally (9)

Solution – melodrama


For those of you interested in cryptic crossword clue types, this one is a deletion and charades clue.


The first word defines the solution ie a melodrama is a sort of play – a particularly sensational emotion laden one.


You then take a word that means "tune" and truncate it because it has "no end".  "Melody" fits the bill


Then add something that means "hit" – in this case "ram"


And finally "Armstrong originally" means the "original" or first letter of "Armstrong" ie a


Melod + ram + a = melodrama.

Carole's Chilli

Carole's Chilli part cooked

This is the way I did chilli.  A made up dish so no doubt many of you great cooks out there will have suggestions as to how it could be improved.  And they are all most welcome.  Isn't that one of the great things about cooking – there are always new things to learn and try out!

So I prepared a bunch of stuff – I like to do all the prep I can first before starting cooking.  I usually store the prepared ingredients in little plastic food containers:

Onion roughly chopped

2 dried red chillies, soaked in hot water for a while and then chopped

Small piece of pumpkin, peeled and cubed

Garlic – lots chopped

Zucchini – chopped

Capsicum (bell pepper) chopped

Tin of red kidney beans drained and rinsed

Then I also used:

Packet of taco spice mix

Soy sauce

Worcestershire sauce

Tomato paste

Tomato sauce

Maple syrup

Small amount of water

I browned the ground beef (mince) and added the onion, fried it up for say 5 minutes then added everything else and let it simmer for say 5 to 10 minutes.

I then transferred it to the oven (at moderate heat only) and let it slowly cook for about 45 minutes.  This lets the flavours meld together.  Before serving taste it to see if it needs salt (possibly not because of the taco mix) and any more heat – in which case add chilli powder or cayenne pepper.

Chilli served with rice

Carole's Chilli got the thumbs up from the better half so all was well.

It is not about how you look ....

Limited time offer - dealing to word verification

For those of you using Blogger Only

If any of you would like to get rid of the pesky word verification (prove you are not a robot etc) stuff so that people can comment more easily on your posts, but you don't know or can't remember how to do that - then help is at hand.

If you post a comment on this post with your blog address in it, I will comment back on your blog with a step by step guide on how to kill it off - which I did for a blog friend a little while ago.

Cheers and happy blogging.

Reminder to look at Books You Loved: July edition

Hi everyone!  Hope you are all having a great day.  Don't forget to check out the July edition of Books You Loved. There is an interesting collection of links to all sorts of books.

The August edition will be coming along on the 9^th and at that time the July edition will close to new entries.

Today’s cryptic crossword clue – solution tomorrow

Play tune no end, hit by Armstrong originally (9)

Source of clue – NZ Herald

For the solution and explanation, click here

Solution for 27 July cryptic crossword clue

Dexterous lady primarily brought in to make earthenware (5)

Solution – Delft

Dexterous = deft


Lady primarily = first letter of "lady" ie l


Brought in = that the "l" is put inside "deft"


You end up with Delft which is a type of pottery or earthenware – from Holland.

Useful kitchen gadget – retro mechanical timer

Mechanical kitchen timer

Another post about a gadget – this is one I use almost every day.  It is a timer – not a fancy electronic one – but a retro style mechanical timer.  It works just fine for me – I can even carry it around the house with me if I need to remember to take something out of the oven.  It doesn't need to be plugged in so that saves power.  And it doesn't have a battery, it just ticks away.  My kind of gadget.

Stephanie Alexander – Cook’s Companion

The Cook's Companion - Stephanie Alexander

I am not generally a great fan of buying cookbooks - they usually contain heaps of recipes that you would never try.  But the one cookbook I have that I use constantly is Stephanie Alexander’s Cook’s Companion.  

She is a well known Australian cook.  The book is helpfully organised by ingredient. It also has a great section at the front dealing with kitchen basics like making custards etc.

The part of the book that I use the most though is the list of things that go with each ingredient.  That is fantastic when looking for inspiration.

I also admire Stephanie Alexander for setting up the Kitchen Garden Foundation.  This foundation supports Australian schools setting up vegetable gardens so that kids can learn about how to grow their own food.  Fantastic.

Today’s cryptic crossword clue – solution tomorrow

Dexterous lady primarily brought in to make earthenware (5)

Source of clue – NZ Herald


For the solution and explanation, click here

Solution for 26 July cryptic crossword clue

Expectation of the man taking work on board (4)

Solution – hope

A short solution today.

Hope = expectation

The man = he

Work = op (Latin abbreviation used in music)

Since the man or "he" is "taking on board" "work" you get "he" round "op" and come up with "hope".

This is an example of a container clue and of a clue that uses abbreviations.

Food on Friday: Go bananas!

ON

Okey dokey, this week we are collecting recipes/ideas for using bananas.

Update:  I have now made up a Pinboard for these links.  Click here if you would like to see it.

To get you started thinking, here is Stephanie Alexander's list of what goes well with bananas:

Bacon	Breakfast cereals	Brown sugar
Caramel	Chicken	Chillies
Cinnamon	Coconut	Cream
Cumin	Curry spices	Fish
Fruit salad	Honey	Kirsch
Lemons	Maple syrup	Nutmeg
Nuts	Onions	Pork
Raisins	Rum	Sugar
Vanilla	yoghurt

One or two things on this list were a surprise to me – like onions and pork.

So just put your links into Mr Linky below.  And while you are here check out other Food on Friday editions on ingredients you might be interested in.  You will find them in a sidebar to the right (just under the list of Cryptic crossword clue types – which is another whole subject entirely).

Losing weight - is it your fillings fault?

Today’s cryptic crossword clue – solution tomorrow

Expectation of the man taking work on board (4)

Source of clue – NZ Herald


For the solution and explanation, click here

Solution for 25 July cryptic crossword clue

Immediately make amends, bagging century (2,4)
Solution – at once


The solution is a phrase meaning "immediately".  That phrase can also be made up by taking the word "atone" which means "make amends" and "bagging" or "capturing" the letter "c" for Century.


This is a container clue.  For more information on different clue types please look at the links in the sidebar to the right.

Anita Shreve– the pilot’s wife

I enjoyed the Pilot's Wife by Anita Shreve.  When preparing to write about it, I checked it out on Amazon and Goodreads and was amazed at how mixed the reviews were.  I thought the book explored how we don't really know the people closest to us in the context of a plot that was full of twists and turns.

I am not going to tell you anything about the plot because I think it is best to come to the book without any expectations.  And as for the reviews that complained that the plot was not "realistic" enough – hello?  It's fiction.

Anita Shreve is a very good writer.  A warning  - you might not be able to put this book down once you have started it.

A Banana Cartoon: Getting ready for this week's Food on Friday

Today’s cryptic crossword clue – solution tomorrow

Immediately make amends, bagging century (2,4)

Source of clue – NZ Herald

For the solution and explanation, click here

Solution for 24 July cryptic crossword clue

Lie unhurt, surprisingly, describing onset of tsunami (7)
Solution – untruth


The first word of this clue is the definition part – ie it tells you what the solution will mean – obviously another word for "lie" can be "untruth".


"surprisingly" after "unhurt" is a clue that there is an anagram ie the letters in "unhurt" are mixed up to form another word – but here there are only 6 letters.  So we find that the first letter of "tsunami" ie its onset is in the middle of the anagram of "unhurt" – this is how you get to "untruth".


If you are interested in the different cryptic crossword clue types, please check out the sidebar to the right under the StumbleUpon button.

Homemade Steak Burgers

Home-made steak burger

We do like having an occasional burger – but have taken to making our own. 

For this steak burger I took one piece of Scotch Fillet, bashed it flat with a pestle (wrapped in cling film).  Then I marinated it in a mixture of chilli sauce, plum vinegar, Worcestershire sauce, salt, pepper and oil.  I only left it for half an hour or so but you could leave it as long as overnight.

I sliced the sesame seed topped hamburger buns in half and smeared some Flora Pro-Activ on it – you could use butter or margarine.

Sesame seed burger bun

I Prepared the cold fillings – sliced gherkin, tomato, cheese and red onion.

Cold fillings for steak burger

I prepared a tomatoey sauce by mixing, tomato sauce (ketchup) with chilli jam, sweet chilli sauce and mayonnaise.

And I also got out my American mustard.

Tomato chilli burger sauce

I then quickly seared the steak on each side before putting it into a moderate oven for 5 minutes or so.

Seared Scotch Fillet Steak

Then I toasted the buns, buttered side down, in the pan (I wiped it out first, but you could do it straight in with the meat juices).  Keep an eye on the buns, you can burn them – I just like them warmed through with a tiny golden edge.

Finished home made steak burger

From there it is just a quick assembly job standing between you and a super delicious but simple steak burger.

I just love this poster

Today’s cryptic crossword clue – solution tomorrow

Lie unhurt, surprisingly, describing onset of tsunami (7)

Source of clue – NZ Herald


For the solution and explanation, click here

Solution for 23 July cryptic crossword clue

Somewhat wet, a politician tucking into meal (7)
Solution – dampish


To get this clue, you need to know that an abbreviation for a politician in the UK and many other countries is MP standing for Member of Parliament.


So a + mp is "tucked into" a word meaning "meal" - dish.  And the word formed as a result means "somewhat wet".


D + amp + ish = dampish

Chicken leftovers pizza

Chicken leftovers pizza

I had some leftover roast chicken and some leftover homemade pizza sauce.  So it seemed like fate was calling me to make a pizza. 

I used flat bread for the pizza base.  Sometimes I use pita or Lebanese bread.  I find it crisps up better than bought pizza bases and am not confident enough to make my own pizza dough – although I now have some super recipes thanks to Food on Friday: Pizza.  

Chicken leftovers pizza ingredients

So I cranked my oven up real high with my baking sheet in it.  When it was almost at temperature, I got out the frozen flat bread and brushed one side with olive oil and turned it over onto baking paper.

I then smeared it generously with my pizza sauce.  I sprinkled a mixture of grated Egmont cheese and parmesan onto it. (Egmont is a specialty type of Colby).

Pizza just before going in to oven

On top I put the chunks of leftover chicken white meat, some chopped capsicum (bell pepper) and a good season with salt and pepper.

Pizza just out of the oven

Fifteen minutes in the oven or until bubbling and golden. I then finished off the pizza with a bit of chopped dill and coriander leaves (cilantro) and drizzled a few drops of sweet chilli sauce on – which as you can see I forgot to do until after the pizza had been cut. Yum.

Chicken leftover pizza

Dame Te Atairangikaahu

The Maori Queen

Dame Te Atairangikaahu, otherwise known as The Maori Queen was born on 23 July 1931 and unfortunately passed away in 2006.  She was known to her people of the Kingitanga movement as "The Lady".  A modest, softly spoken but immensely respected figure with mana in spades.  Much missed by anyone who ever knew her.

Do you believe what Elvis said??

I don't know anything about music. In my line you don't have to. - Elvis Presley

Today’s cryptic crossword clue – solution tomorrow

Somewhat wet, a politician tucking into meal (7)

Source of clue – NZ Herald


For the solution and explanation, click here

Solution for 22 July cryptic crossword clue

Former partner and board member, last of many not listed (2-9)
Solution – Ex-directory


Ok, if you are "ex-directory" you are not listed in the phone book.  I imagine phone books won't be around for too much later with the internet taking over.


So you can build up "ex-directory" from the first 3 parts of the clue.


An "ex" is a former partner


A director is another name for a board member


And "last of many" simply means that the last letter of the word "many" is used.


Ex + director + y = ex-directory