Friday 31 May 2013
31 May - Solution for the last clue and the next cryptic crossword clue
Be circumspect ,at first, over hot
meal cooked in a sauce (8)
Solution – Béchamel
Be = be
Circumspect, at first – the first letter of circumspect ie c
Hot = h
Meal cooked – ie the letters in "meal" are cooked ie mixed up
Be + c + h + amel = Béchamel
Other ranks row about a decree
Hint – the
last letter is n
Food on Friday: Cakes
ON
Yep
– you got it! Food on Friday is about cakes!
Apologies to those of you watching your weight. The links will not help you. But they will be delectable.
Please
link up all your favourite cake recipes – just put your name and the name of
the cake into the first Mr Linky box and copy the url for your post about the
cake into the second box.
I
only recently realised that in the US a coffee cake is not a cake with coffee
in it! I kept seeing coffee cakes and
was amazed at how popular they were until I finally twigged that a coffee cake
was a cake you ate with a cup of coffee… duh … I am obviously a slow learner!
Thursday 30 May 2013
30 May - Solution for the last clue and the next cryptic crossword clue
Chauvinistic teams split group (6)
Solution – sexist
Chauvinistic = sexist
Teams = XI's ie elevens in Roman numerals - cricket teams are known as elevens
Group = set
se + xis +t = sexist
Be circumspect ,at first, over hot
meal cooked in a sauce (8)
Hint – the
solution is a name of a sauce – go all you foodies!
Jane Eyre
Charlotte Bronte |
Hands
up those who have read Jane Eyre – ok,
forgot I couldn't see you for a minute!
But I am sure almost all of us have read it – probably at school. But maybe we should revisit some of these
classics as adults.
Charlotte
Bronte wrote Jane Eyre in 1847 – that's 166 years ago.
It
was a book written in the first person through the eyes of Jane – very unusual
for its time.
It
is a rags to riches story and has a so-called happy ending – although whether
she would have been happy over the long haul with Rochester we will never know.
If
you want to revisit Jane's adventures, and have an e-reader, you can download
it for free from Project Gutenberg and other sites.
Charlotte
Bronte was the eldest of the Bronte sisters. She was a tiny and delicate
woman. She died while pregnant at the
age of 38. A tragedy.
Wednesday 29 May 2013
29 May - Solution for the last clue and the next cryptic crossword clue
Nearing resort, hittable (2,5)
Solution – in range
And it is also found if you "resort" ie re-order the letters in "nearing".
Chauvinistic teams split group (6)
Need some inspiration - Prawns and shrimp
Here
are some super shrimp and prawn dishes to inspire you today. They were linked in to Food on Friday: Prawns and shrimp.
All
the dishes that were linked in looked good – to see the Pinboard I made for
them, click here
Today's
first inspirational dish is BBQ Shrimp Flat bread by Cook with Sara.
I
just loved this mouthwatering Shrimp Fra Diavolo by Savory &
Sweet-Hearts.
Thanks
go to The Pescetarian Journal for
these Oregon Shrimp Quesadillas.
Feeding Big called this the Best Shrimp Recipe Ever – who am I to
argue with that?
I
love the idea of this Sesame Shrimp Salad by Fort Mill SC Living. Way to go Christin.
Finally,
a little shout out to myself for this PepperedPrawns and Snow Peas dish – which turned out well and is so simple to do.
Tuesday 28 May 2013
28 May - Solution for the last clue and the next cryptic crossword clue
Power plant lacks a spiritual leader
(6)
Solution – rector
Power
plant = reactor
Reactor
lacks "a" ie you delete the a and you get "rector" which is
a name for a type of church minister or spiritual leader.
Nearing resort, hittable (2,5)
Hint – this
is an anagram clue
Potato and onion cake – a partial success
This potato and onion cake tasted great but
wasn't that successful at looking like a cake that you could serve in wedges –
which was supposed to be the idea. I
suspect my potato wasn't cut finely enough.
You
butter and line the base of a cake tin with baking paper. And heat up your oven to reasonably hot.
While
it is heating you gently fry off your onions and garlic (3 onions, 3 cloves of
garlic) in butter until they are soft.
Slice
6 or so potatoes finely – I hand cut mine so they were "rustic" – a
mistake.
Then
layer your potatoes and onion mix in turns until you get to the top potato
layer. The first layer is also
potato. Put salt and pepper on top of
each layer as it goes in.
Melt
3 tablespoons of butter and pour it over the top.
Bake
covered for 40 to 45 minutes until potatoes are tender then uncover and give
them another 10 minutes or so to brown the top.
Let
it stand for 5 minutes then turn it out onto a plate. Take the paper off and turn over onto your
serving plate. You are then supposed to
be able to serve it in wedges – ha! As
if.
Monday 27 May 2013
Capital city of the week - Brussels
Brussels is credited as being
where Brussels sprouts came from – although this is far from certain.
Brussels
is the largest city in this country.
Brussels
is a bi-lingual city and the majority of its population were not born in the
country. One of its twin cities is
Atlanta.
This
weird structure is in Brussels.
Brussels
is the capital of BELGIUM.
27 May - Solution for the last clue and the next cryptic crossword clue
Heard no sound from the stable? (5)
Solution – neigh
When
you hear the word "neigh" it sounds like "nay" as in No.
But
a "neigh" is a sound you might hear in a stable!
Power plant lacks a spiritual leader
(6)
Hint
– this is a
deletion clueCrowded House - no not my house – the band!
Crowded House is claimed as Australian
– but you can judge for yourself. The
lead singer/songwriter and another member of the band were born in a small town
in New Zealand – they are Neil and Tim Finn – both of whom were also in the
successful band Split Enz.
Crowded
House had a big international hit in 1986 with Don't Dream It's Over – written by
Neil Finn. It did well in the US, Canada
and, of course, New Zealand and Australia.
I
am posting about Crowded House today because 27 May is Neil Finn's 55th
birthday – just reaching his prime in my view!
Sunday 26 May 2013
26 May - Solution for the last clue and the next cryptic crossword clue
Kind disposition (6)
Solution – nature
Nature
can mean both 'kind' as in "sort" and 'disposition'
Heard no sound from the stable? (5)
Hint
– this is a
"sounds like" clueMustard and parsley sauce using Greek Yoghurt
As
you know I often use crème fraiche in my sauces etc instead of cream. I wanted to see what I could do with Greek
yoghurt. A little googling suggested
that it would split in a sauce unless you stabilised it.
I
lightly whisked together the Greek yoghurt (plain) with an egg white, a couple
of tablespoons of olive oil and a ¼ teaspoon of cornflour (corn-starch).
This
was then heated very gently and Dijon mustard was added. Right at the end I added chopped
parsley. It was an ok sauce (and I
guess, healthier) but a bit more fussy to make than I would like.
Saturday 25 May 2013
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