Author: chappyshi

Holiday in Switzerland

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I am in Geneva, Switzerland, for the Christmas holiday visiting my brother and his family.  My parents have flown down from Wales for the holiday also.  My brother’s wife’s niece who attends college in Munich, Germany, is visiting too.  As such, we have a full house but it is quite big enough for all of us to hang together and/or spread out as necessary.  The location is out in the country on a road with three houses, a river in the back yard, and France on the other side.

We have been out and about to the city of Geneva, to the historic town of Gruyere for fondue, to Borc to tour the Cailler Chocolate factory, hit the farmers’ market in Vivonne-les-Bains, France, and walked the burg of Nyon on the shores of Lake Geneva.  As it may sound, we have kept busy touring and also shopping for food for meals and presents for Christmas.  I have taken a number of pictures that I am posting when I can.  They can be seen by accessing the link on the right hand side of my home page under photography.  I’ll add a couple here for convenience.

Now I’m a Farmer!

Posted on by chappyshi

Kim asked me to pick the lettuce from the garden and wash it today.  I promptly fired up a bone (figuratively), slapped “Now I’m a Farmer” from Odds and Sods by the Who on the ear buds, and went into harvest mode.  I brought the lettuce in to wash it and figured I’d put it in the dishwasher on the delicate, cold cycle.  The heads promptly lost the wilt to leave so I gathered the dogs and my cat around and said “Lettuce Pray.”

Curried Seafood Salad

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Curried Seafood Salad

Course Main Course
Cuisine American

Ingredients

  • 1 cup flaked tuna 7-oz can
  • 1 cup chopped cooked shrimp
  • 1/2 cup chopped celery
  • 1/4 cup sliced ripe olives
  • 1/2 cup mayonnaise
  • 2 tablespoons lemon juice
  • 1/2 teaspoon Curry Powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon Bon Appetit
  • 1/4 cup Parsley Flakes
  • 2 tbsp water
  • 3 cups cold cooked rice
  • 2 tbsp French dressing

Instructions

  • Chill tuna and shrimp.
  • Add celery and olives.
  • Blend together mayonnaise, lemon juice, curry powder and Bon Appetit; add to tuna mixture and toss lightly.
  • Soak parsley flakes in the water about 5 minutes, then toss with rice and French dressing.
  • Transfer to serving plate.
  • Spoon tuna-shrimp mixture over rice.
  • Garnish with watercress or radish roses if desired.

Dill Macaroni Salad

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Dill Macaroni Salad

Course Side Dish
Cuisine American

Ingredients

  • 1 8- oz package elbow macaroni or salad macaroni
  • 1 cup chopped celery
  • 1/2 cup thinly sliced green pepper
  • 1/4 cup thinly sliced carrots
  • 2 tbsp chopped pimento
  • 1/2 cup mayonaisse
  • 1 tbsp vinegar
  • 1 tbsp sugar
  • 2 tbsp Instant Minced Onion
  • 1 tsp Dill Weed
  • 2 tsp Season-All
  • 1/4 tsp dry Mustard
  • 1/8 tsp White Pepper
  • Dash Cayenne or Red Pepper

Instructions

  • Cook macaroni as direct on the package; drain and cool.
  • Add celery, green pepper, carrots, and pimiento.
  • Mix remaining ingredients; spoon over macaroni and toss to mix thoroughly.
  • Chill.
  • Server in bowl or on salad plates in crisp lettuce cups.

Notes

Substitute 1/2 cup chopped onions for Instant Minced Onion.

Cucumbers in Sour Cream

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Cucumbers in Sour Cream

Cool and refreshing.
Course Salad
Cuisine American

Ingredients

  • 2 cups thinly sliced cucumbers, pared
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1/2 cup commercial sour cream
  • 2 tsp vinegar
  • 1/2 tsp sugar
  • 2 tsp Instant Minced Onion
  • 1/2 tsp Dill Weed
  • Dash Cayenne or Chili Powder
  • Cracked Black Pepper

Instructions

  • Place cucumbers in a bowl; sprinkle with salt and cover with cold water.
  • Refrigerate 30 minutes; drain well.
  • Combine sour cream, vinegar, sugar, onion, dill weed and cayenne.
  • Add cucumber slices to sour cream and toss lightly.
  • Chill at least one hour before serving.
  • Sprinkle with cracked black pepper.

Notes

Substitute low fat sour cream or yogurt. Use 1/2 cup thinly sliced red onion instead of Instant Minced onion.

Another Visit to Great Dismal Swamp

Posted on by chappyshi

I went to Great Dismal Swamp National Wildlife Refuge (NWR) today with the intention of bicycling the Washington Ditch Trail to Lake Drummond, which is about 9 miles round trip, having lunch and returning.  Unfortunately I got in about 2.5 miles where I reached part of the trail that was very low, grassy, and muddy.  The water on both sides of the trail was very high and had obviously washed over the trail often this spring.  I didn’t look forward to doing, on my hybrid bike, 4 miles of mud and soggy grass so I turned back.

I ended up going over to the Park HQ to see if they had updated their stock of T-shirts since the birding events there two weeks ago but they had not done so.  While there I walked the short trail that I was introduced to when taking walk with a group lead by a woman who worked at Black Water NWR in Maryland.  Thanks to that experience, I was able to locate two Northern Flickers, three or more Red-headed Woodpeckers gadding about, and a lone Screech Owl.  I saw and heard either a Eastern Phoebe or a Peewee…I can’t remember what the song was now.  I heard a Bobwhite but could never locate it.  Thanks to a couple I talked to there I heard a Yellow-billed Cuckoo and then saw one but didn’t realize it until I looked it up later in my bird book which I had left at home.

This couple commented about the fact that I was bravely wearing shorts in snake country.  They had heard and seen earlier, in the day, a five foot Timber Rattler when they were setting up to take a picture from their car.  The guy had a couple of interesting stories about snake encounters including one in which a friend of his had gotten a Timber Rattler caught up in the spokes of his bicycle while riding in Great Dismal and one about a friend of his shooting holes in his boat while trying to subdue a Water Moccasin.

Unfortunately, I returned home on the east side of the refuge and that ended up taking me almost two hours and forty minutes which, after the only twenty-five minute drive down, there made for an awful lot of driving to get in about an hour of exercise and recreation.

Any Thoughts On Sweetwater Brewing Company Beers?

Posted on by chappyshi

I got a six-pack of Sweetwater Brewery 420 Extra Pale Ale on the weekend, much to my chagrin.  I am choking them down one day at a time.  The label says the beer is a West Coast style pale ale with a strong hoppy finish.  I beg to differ.  This is one of the blandest pale ales I have ever had.  In fact I might refer to it as the Coors Light of micro-brews.  How appropriate that it is brewed in Georgia…redneck central.