hawks soar on Winter Solstice

Thanks, Daryl, for the surprise arrival yesterday of bear creek haiku #136  : )-  I put it in my pocket & carried it as a talisman on my daily trek on the snow covered local trails. The highlight of the hike was watching a curious red tailed hawk circling high above, who was soon joined by a larger hawk with dark wings. It was the day of the Winter Solstice, and sunny and warm after several dark, cold and dreary weeks. The hawks seemed more interested in spiralling on the high currents than in hunting for rodents in the valley below, and it was a treat watching them soar.

After the refreshing walk I decided to spoil myself with chicken fingers and a glass of red wine at the only good local cafe. I devoured bch while sipping the wine and waiting for the chicken fingers to fry - perfect way to wind down my day!

hawks soar
on the shortest day
of 2016

As you keep sending me bear creek booklets, I feel I should reciprocate, so today I mailed you a copy of CROSSING LINES: POETS WHO CAME TO CANADA IN THE VIETNAM WAR ERA - pretty sure you'll enjoy it.

season's best and a productive 2017,
peace & poetry power!
Chris/cricket

stuffed chef's meatless green peppers

Hi Jim,
We'll have to compare stuffed green pepper recipes & the results sometime  :  )-  My friend Sierra asked me to make them a few months ago, as I hadn't made stuffed peppers since my cooking days. So I gave it a try, & they were a great success with both of us.

I dug out an ancient cookbook of Sylvia's, which suggested parboiling the halved peppers before baking. I put them in a pot of boiling water for a few mins before I stuff them now. For the filling I use rice - basmati or jasmine preferred. I add a touch of curry powder to the boiling water for the rice to give an extra bit of flavour, also lots of butter pats (can't use too much butter when cooking!)

When I'm sauteeing the ingredients - the diced tops of the peppers, a bit of diced onion (find onion gives me indigestion now), lots of diced garlic cloves, some diced ginger root & shrooms. I deglaze the pan with some generous dashes of red wine - you also can't use enough red wine when cooking, something I learned at Georgie Brown.

As I'm semi-veg, there's no meat in my sauce, so I add half a bottle of 'Classico" spicy red pepper sauce to the sauteed veg & let it simmer, similar to making spaghetti sauce.

I mix the blended sauce & cooked rice together & stuff the slightly parboiled peppers, adding a nice topping of grated parmesan and/or cheddar, depending on my cheese larder. I bake at fairly medium temp for about 3/4 of an hour, maybe jacking up the heat briefly at the end to fully melt the cheese. Serve with several glasses of merlot or shiraz & Italian bread, preferably ciabatta lunga clusters.  

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm Goooooooood!!!   I made them yesterday, so this aft I'll cheat & just nuke one of the very large peppers.


On 2016-12-18, at 11:42 AM, jim christy wrote:

I forgot to mention that I too made stuff peppers. Three or four days ago but I steamed, father than baked them; weren't bad. Have you ever thought about writing something about your jobs?
Maybe even and industrial cooking haiku (or maybe not).

went down to the demonstration, to get my fair share of abuse . . .

I'm the "T" in count (blue parka)
 
pic from Belleville Intelligencer

Chris --

Thanks for signing up to join the Make Every Vote Count Day of Action. Note that this event still needs a host. We need your help to make this happen.

Hosting is easy, and we'll help you every step of the way. All you need to do is show up at your MP's office at noon with a copy of the Liberal electoral reform promise. We'll invite people to join you and send you a step by step guide to help you get organized.

Can you step up to host? Sign up at http://we.leadnow.ca/keepthepromise or call (855) 532 3609 ex 40 to confirm with us.

Don't want to host but still want to attend? Here are the details again:

WHAT: Make Every Vote Count - Belleville
WHEN: December 13, 2016 at 12pm
WHERE: MP Neil Ellis's Office
100 Station St
Belleville, ON K8N 2S5
Canada
Google map and directions
CONTACT: Event host: Lynne · rochonlynne@gmail.com


If enough people join this National Day of Action, we can send a powerful message to the Liberals that we wont let them get away with backtracking on their promises on voting reform.

The more people who join, the stronger our voices will be. Can you invite a friend or two to join you on Tuesday?

We're in this together,
Leadnow Organizing Team
http://we.leadnow.ca/



Hi Lynne,
Thanks for organizing the successful demo yesterday  ;  )  I told a couple of friends about it who couldn't attend the demos where they live, & they were pleased that we had such a large turn-out. It was nice to meet such a progressive group of kindred spirits!  Afterwards I 'flaneured' around Bville for a couple of hours - walked along the river, toured downtown, visited Quinte Arts Council's office to donate a couple of my recent books & concluded my trip south with a chicken teriyaki bento box at the Toro Restaurant (with a Sapporo beer chaser).

Thanks as well for the great pics!