I figure that my many many readers in the US may need a wee little break of fun reading stuff after the voting and lead up to the tuesday elections --as I'm typing this I have no idea what's going on, just hoping that the good guys and gals win.
That's it for political crap! On with the show --cus the show must go on!
I'll give you a weather report here down under --in the driest state in the driest continent-- blue skies, not a cloud in sight. Bit of a southeast breeze, not particularly warm at 23 C (74 F), but I'm still sitting here in shorts and a tank top (singlet for those of you in the UK or Oz).
The black panther beast from hell is out on patrol... I can tell that from the screams emanating from the elementary school playground next to us. I just hope he doesn't bring any wounded ones back again --it's a bummer caring for the sick and injured ones he finds... Oh, I jest! The little kids love playing with (running from) him... really, they do!
How's about I get back to my story? Would you like that? Of course you would... --all due respect to Mr Rogers--
Makee Breakee part Zwei (dos) (2) (@#&) (two)
Back to ice skating as a youngster. If you missed part one, just scroll down to the previous post. It'd be kinda lame linking to it. You've already found that I liked to ice skate (figure skates), was good at it, had quick reflexes, had no fear, and was not very bright --gosh, some things never change!
Where did we ice skate? Heck, more like where didn't we ice skate would be a better question. I'd skate to school on the neighborhood roads (hard hard packed snow, very close to ice).
We'd go down to the canal by the lake behind the house with snow shovels and clear off a section of it to skate on. We were dedicated! A 9 and 10 year old skating through the neighborhood while carrying snow shovels to clear off a big chunk of the canal just so we could skate! This was when it had frozen over enough to be solid, but the school hadn't flooded the rinks yet.
Did you know that during the Fur Rondy events in Anchortown they used to have the car rally race on the ice at Sand Lake? It was SO COOL!!!! Imagine this: cold, ice, winter, frozen lake, bulldozers plowing out a rally race track on the lake behind our house. PERFECT for skating on, especially since the race cars really really really polished the ice!
We'd get together and have a sorta roller derby late at night on the course on our ice skates --loads of fun, especially since there were huge snow berms everywhere so if you went down you just slid into the snow barriers. Ah, yes, FUN times!
They stopped running the race on the lake yonks ago... MAJOR bummer. But we had fun and didn't kill ourselves (if I killed myself then you wouldn't be reading this).
We'd also line up our hockey sticks (yes, I had a hockey stick and figure skates... it worked!) about a yard apart (in parallel, not series) and see how many we could clear. Great fun, except when you landed on a stick, then you went down rather fastly.
Another way to fall fastly was to skate through the roads after they'd been graveled... if you weren't careful it could really hurt.
Between jumping the hockey sticks and skating on the graveled roads I acquired quite the list of injuries, none of them major though. I'd jam a wrist every now and then and then carefully skate home and mom (rest her soul) would have a look at it, give me a tut-tut, put an ace bandage on and slap an ice pack on it. Mom was the cure-all for jammed/sprained wrists.
But what happens when mom can't fix it and how did little dave hurt himself so bad that mom couldn't fix it? Stay tuned for part 3!
And now, more Food --you may have guessed that food is one of my favorite (favourite) things--
Eggplant Parmesan
This is a great one for you vegetabletarians, heck I love it too and I'm a carnivore. The big canine and incisor teeth towards the front of my mouth were (in my opinion) only made for one thing: the ripping of meat off of bone. But I do love me some veggies too!
What you need:
1 eggplant
1 egg
1/4 cup milk
1 cup breadcrumbs
pinch of sea salt
a few grinds of fresh peppercorns
1 litre tomato(e) sauce (for those of you outside the US, you'd want what's called "tomatoe puree" --if you use "tomatoe sauce" then you'd end up using what the folks in the US call ketchup (catsup) BLARF) --ain't internationallity GREAT!
a handful fresh oregano, finely chopped
a handful fresh basil, finely chopped
a bit of fresh thyme
fresh grated mozzerella cheese
fresh grated parmesan cheese (for those of you in the US: NOT the CRAP that comes in a green canister made by crap (kraft))
olive oil for frying
What you do:
Slice the eggplant into 1 cm thick slabs (around a half inch), then cut the skin off each slab (you'll figure out how to do that). Beat the egg and milk together. Dip each piece of eggplant into the egg/milk mix, then dredge through the breadcrumbs. You'll end up with a plateful of raw, breaded eggplant slices (10-15 depending on the size of the eggplant).
Heat the olive to a very hot temp in a wok (a half inch of olive oil in the wok should be fine) and deep fry each piece. I usually do 3 or 4 at a time. It only takes a minute or two for each side so don't overcook them. Set them aside to drain on paper towels.
While they are drying, combine the tomato(e) puree with sea salt, ground pepper, oregano, basil and thyme.
In a large baking dish, place 3 or 4 of the fried eggplant slabs in the bottom. Pour in some of the seasoned tomato(e) puree, then sprinkle with the shredded mozzerella and shredded parmesan. That's one layer complete! Layer up till you are out of eggplant (you should get at least 3 good layers) and then finish with more mozza and parm.
Cover (very very important to cover this) and bake for 45-60 mins (2700-3600 secs) at around 195 C (385 F).
Let it cool for a few mins before serving, otherwise the cheese could blister the top of your mouth.
Serve with fresh, homemade garlic bread and a fresh salad w/vinegrette dressing.
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