Archive for November 2018

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Beaujolais Nouveau

November 18, 2018

2018-11-17 20.58.27The third Thursday in November  is Beaujolais Nouveau Day. Most people don’t know that. This is the day that the current year’s Beaujolais Nouveau wine shows up on liquor retailer’s shelves. I have it marked in my calendar on my iPhone.

So what the heck is Beaujolais Nouveau? Okay, Beaujolais Nouveau is the name of the French wine made with the first harvest of Beaujolais grapes. You’ll notice on the bottle that the vintage is listed as 2018. You won’t see an earlier vintage, because once it is sold out, that’s it. No more until next November.

Beaujolais Nouveau is a smooth, mellow, light tasting red wine. I usually serve it at Thanksgiving dinner. Thanksgiving is on the 4th Thursday and Beaujolais Nouveau is on the third. How convenient.

And Beaujolais Nouveau goes well with turkey. Also, it won’t break the bank. Usually a bottle of Beaujolais Nouveau sells for under $10. Often less. Friday we bought four bottles plus a couple of bottles of white. Albertson’s gives a 10% discount for 6 bottles which brought the price down to $9 a bottle.

If you tend to not like red wines like Cabernets or other red blends, give Beaujolais Nouveau a try.

Here are some pointers for further reading about Beaujolais Nouveau:

Enjoy!

Categories: Wine
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Pea Soup

November 15, 2018

Today I am cooking pea soup in our crock pot. This is one of Mary’s favorite meals. She will usually eat a whole soup bowl without any nagging on my part. When I was a kid, my mother would make pea soup and I hated it. I guess when I came to adulthood my tastes had changed.

And it so easy to make. Prep time is about 20-30 minutes. Cook time about 4-5 hours.

Here are the ingredients:

So we have:

  • 4 Carrots
  • 2 Celery stalks
  • 1 bag of dry split peas (usually found in the grains section)
  • 1 Medium onion
  • 8 oz. Diced ham. (Our super market sells packages of 8 oz., just the right size.)
  • 48 oz. Chicken stock (We prefer the low-salt variety)

Peel and chop the carrots. Wash and chop the celery and onion. Add to the crock pot.

Then wash the split peas in a colander. Add to the crock pot.

Finally, add the diced ham. Add the chicken stock with enough fluid to cover everything in the pot.

Cover and cook on high for about 4-5 hours. Good idea to stir once or twice during the cooking. Don’t forget to plug it in. (I’ve done that once or twice.)

I use plastic crock pot liners to help in the clean up later on. Available in the plastic bag aisle of the grocery store.

Done. Take a nap.

Categories: Cooking, Recipes
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The Tatooist of Auschwitz: A Novel

November 15, 2018

TatooistI just finished a book titled “The Tatooist of Auschwitz” about a young Slovakian man who was imprisoned at Auschwitz during World War 2.

I could hardly put the book down. This is the story of a young Slovakian man named Lale who was imprisoned in 1942 in Auschwitz. Somehow, Lale survives and manages to get a job of  “Tatooist” which was a person who inscribed inmates with their identification number on their arm.

It is a story of one man’s survival in a German prison camp. Lale manages to survive and even thrive. He manages to not only survive but meet a woman named Gita and fall in love. Then, after the war become his wife.

One of the skills that Lale had that helped him survive was that he was fluent in over four languages. He was useful to the Germans. I really enjoyed this book. I could hardly put it down. I went through it in about three days which for me is light speed.

Go ahead and download it. You won’t be disappointed.

 

Categories: Books, Reviews
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Fire!

November 10, 2018

We are in the fire season right now. Bill Patzert (climatologist) once said that there are four seasons in California, drought, fire, rain and mudslides. Right now we are in “fire season”. The above seasons, it seems are not of the same length. It seems that we have been in “fire season” for a long time.

These seasons are a vicious cycle. First comes the fire, which burns away all of the scrub grass, then comes the rain which creates mud (and slides) and finally drought. And then, we start all over again. Rainy season is generally accepted will start some time in January.

The most recent fire is called the “Woolsey Fire” which is currently burning about 70,000 acres in an area north of Malibu in LA and Ventura counties. At our home in San Pedro, we get a small scent of burning wood when the wind is blowing out of the north. We are not in any danger right now.

You know that you live in California, when you have an app on your phone that shows the current fire “map”. By the way, the app is free. Here’s the current fire map of California. Note, the two red dots just north of LA. These are the two fires that are near us.

Here are a few pictures:

Evacuation from Malibu

Categories: California
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