Baldur

We do not have cable channels here at Chateau Baldur,
Both being in agreement that cable is not worth paying for.
Back in the olden days when cable first appeared locally the premise was that you paid the subscription to the service which gave you commercial free programming. Does anyone else remember this?
That was rather cool.
I also remember when the focus on MTV was music and not sophomoric humor. We would leave the set on as if it were a radio.

We are finding changes to the non-cable world as well.
PBS was also once commercial free.
More local networks are being added, it seems the familiar ones are sprouting offshoots. While scrolling through the channels on the evil remote it no longer follows a simple numeric system.
Our local channel 10 is now subdivided into 10-1 and 10-2. It's all unnecessarily complicated

Baldur

Now Baldur tends to read about programs before I get to view them.
Something that has been enjoyable in a soap-eperish kind of way has been the series called 'The Tudors'.
We purchased the complete first season on DVD and watched it in less than 2 weeks, that prompted me to buy season 2 as well.
Now we have finished that set and have lent the discs out to friends.

Perhaps it's time to finish viewing 'Firefly' we watched about half of that series before getting distracted.

Baldur

-e +o =soap-operish

sheftali52

Ah Baldur, Sheftali sympathizes with the multi-remote control annoyance. The last time I counted, there were five remote controls in our family room, and I only know what two of them do (maybe). As for computers, the eggheads who design the software obviously don't think like most of us do! On a happier note, Sheftali is harvesting tomatoes and peppers from her garden, and looks forward to creating some killer pico de gallo soon. Since she's using a habanero pepper for the pico de gallo, it should be sufficiently "warm" to satisfy her taste. Scoville units reign! Have not had the nerve to acquire any naga jolokia peppers (also known as bhut jolokia), which purportedly are the hottest peppers on this planet. It's one thing to like hot and spicy foods, but another thing to invite the grim reaper to dinner. Sheftali will admire naga jolokias from afar!

Baldur

Baldur has been going overboard with the curry powder this week, for medicinal purposes.
Robert really hates curry so this has become a week of dual menus.

This evening my dinner was a stirfry of onions, garlic and chickpeas with a few green peas, green beans, a diced tomato and a small amount of penne pasta.
The curry part was quite powerful. I started with a tablespoon of honey and 2 tablespoons of water, into this I added a couple teaspoons of curry powder, a little cumin powder, a little English dry mustard, a goodly amount of hot red pepper flakes, a couple drops of toasted sesame seed oil, a tablespoon of dried coconut milk powder, some freshly ground black pepper and a couple of minced basil leaves.
This mixture sat on top of the stove in a small bowl all afternoon.
To put it together I chopped the onion and sauteed' it in olive oil, When it was rather browned around the edges I added a peeled and pummeled clove of garlic and a well drained and rinsed can of chickpeas.
Then I added 6 small chunks of canned pineapple (the maximimum amount Baldur can ingest without breaking into a rash) and a small fresh tomato, diced.
I tossed it all around in the wok trying not to kill the tomato too much.
Then I added about 1/2 cup pre-cooked penne and the drained parboiled peas and green beans. Over all this I poured the curry concoction, and tossed it around to warm the sauce
The pasta became dyed a bright saffron yellow and everything got quite fragrant.
It was quite delicious.
Robert had creamed chipped beef on toast, which he quite thoroughly enjoyed.

Baldur

-quitex2, when Baldur gets sleepy he becomes repetitive.

sheftali52

Sheftali is not a vegetarian, but she would prefer the exquisite concoction Baldur had for dinner to what Robert had. Not familiar with coconut milk powder, but it sounds interesting.

Robindcr8l

I seem to remember a discussion here on Channel Baldur a while back about an occupation for Baldur. I believe I have come up with the perfect job for him. Baldur, I invite you and Richard to leave the rain and weeds and interesting diners of Rhode Island behind, and come live with Robin in Idaho as her personal chef. Can't really offer a salary, but I will cover room and board, and there's plenty of room here at Chateau Robin. I'll even do the grocery shopping if Baldur makes me a list.

lilalee

Sounds delicious, and I'm still laughing. If I cook something new, my hubby looks at it, and says "what is that?" I tell him he gets chipped beef on toast!! He's happy! Too funny, but always have it in the cupboard!!

Dragon

I can't say as I've ever had chipped beef on toast but I'm quite certain I would much rather have Baldur's curry penne or whatever lovely new dish lilalee came up with. I'm a great fan of trying new recipes and I'm fortunate to have a sweetie who's a great fan of eating them. He's always willing to try new things and he'll help me cook them too if I let him. We're pretty 'kitchen compatible' (if that term even exists) here at Chateau Dragon

sheftali52

Chef Sheftali is envious of Dragon's kitchen compatibility with her hubby. I love trying new things, too, and it's always an "if" about hubby liking what I cook. Currently, Sheftali is searching for a good recipe that uses saffron. On one of the few occasions Sheftali was out and about in Qatar four years ago, she visited a spice shop and found saffron for sale at no more than the other very reasonably priced spices in the shop. After doing a few mental leaps, Sheftali bought a small stash of saffron and has been hoarding it ever since.

Robindcr8l

What exactly IS chipped beef?? Seriously?

lilalee

Robin, chipped beef comes in a jar or bag, usually near the tuna, and canned meat items. It's dried beef, and I don't know the history of it, but do know my husband grew up eating it, and also the military served it!!

I cut mine up into small pieces and rinse it, as it's salty. Anout two cups of milk, pepper, and flour on low heat until it thickens. Sometimes I add dry mustard. Serve on toast!! My husband and son love it! I may have a few bites, and thats it!!

My mother-in-law showed me how to make it this way, and sure Baldur has a better recipe for it!!

-n+b

sheftali52

Robin, I'm not sure what sort of chipped beef is served in Chateau Baldur, but what I've seen is thin dried beef strips mixed in a butter/flour/milk mixture and served warm over toast. In the military mess halls of old, I heard that SOS (same old stuff) consisted of hamburger in a butter/flour/milk mixture served over toast. (Of course, the less reverent of us say SOS stands for something that can't be said in polite company! Some consider chipped beef a step up from SOS!

Robindcr8l

Oh, thanks for the education. I sort of remember my mom talking about it and she called it SOS which stood for sh** on a shingle she said from the military. But I never saw it or tried it so when you guys talked about it I wondered what exactly it was.

marius

Talk of food is making me think of garden fresh green beans. Have made the casserole, cooked them with onion and bacon bits, steamed them plain. Any other ideas or recipes? : )

indigo

I have one for you. It's from Food Network Canada-Fresh, with Anna Olsen
GREEN BEAN GRIDDLE CAKES
1 lb fresh green and yellow beans
3 tbsp olive oil
1/2 cup finely diced onion
1/4 cup all purpose flour
2 large eggs, separated
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp fine salt
dash ground nutmeg
Trim beans and French (slice thinly on an angle). Bring a pot of water to boil
salt and blanch beans uncovered, until just tender, about 4 to 5 min. Drain
and rinse to cool ( or shock in ice water) or 2 cups of thawed frozen Frenched beans can be used. Set aside
Heat 1 tbsp olive oil in small sautepan over med. heat and saute onion till tender. Remove from heat and toss with beans. Stir in flour, egg yolks,baking powder, salt and nutmeg and stir to coat. Whip whites until they hold a soft peak and fold into batter in 2 additions.
Heat a griddle over med.heat with remaining 2 tbsp olive oil and drop batter by spoonfuls onto griddle. Cook 3 min.flip gently and cook 3 min. more.
Serve with butter or small dollops of sour cream.
I haven't tried this yet but it looked very good served with chicken or turkey.

Baldur

That sounds very good indigo. Most of my green bean plants drowned this spring but the few that survived have many small beans on them.
This rain never seems to want to end.

Baldur has been being very careful not to spend money this summer; but I just bought something on eBay.
Finally there was an inexpensive hardcover copy of 'Jitterbug Perfume'. That's been on the 'watch' list here at the Baldur Library for ages.

In general Baldur dislikes softcover books and gets very upset when hardcovers are not available.

Baldur

The Baldur Library is rather compact in area but stuffed to bursting with books and magazines.
Here you will find a rather eclectic assortment of reading materials.
The head librarian has been trying to assemble the complete collection of several magazine titles including:
Style 1900
America Bungalow &
Victoria
As for books the titles run the gamut from Virgil's 'the Georgics' through the works of Theodore Roosevelt, Anne Rice, Neil Gaiman and 'Doctor Grordbort's Contrapulatronic Dingus Directory'.
Baldur could hardly put the last one down.

Baldur

One of Baldur's favorite literary quotes comes from that book, as stated by Lord Cockswain:
"Until next time, keep your fingernails clean, be kind to the elderly, and stay off the opiates. Jolly Good!"