Happy Independence Day Nigeria

 I wrote the following blog a number of years ago. Since it's now the 60th anniversary of the independence of Nigeria, I decided it bears repeating. I am not of Nigerian heritage nor do I know much about the country. What I do know, is that it gained its independence from Great Britain on October 1, 1960.

Here's the blog - 

As this new month has started, so has my reminiscing. Fifty years ago today, October 1st, 1960, Nigeria gained its independence from Great Britain. That's one of those pieces of trivia, and I have many, that is firmly etched in my brain. Why do I remember this? I was 10 years old, sitting in Mr. Footit's 7th grade music class at Essex Sr. Public School, not too far from the famed Christie Pits in Toronto. To commemorate the event our music teacher decided we should learn the Nigerian national anthem. "Nigeria we hail thee, our own dear native land, though tribe and tongue may differ...in brotherhood we stand.." Sorry Mr. Footit, that's all I remember.

I do recall a rather different teacher though. I'm not certain how old he was because he always seemed ancient. But then, all teachers did. I can't even tell you if he was any good as an educator. I do know that he was severely handicapped by arthritis. His back was slightly hunched and his feet shuffled when he walked. His gray suit hung loosely on his ever shrinking body. On good days we could see the pained expression on his face as his gnarled fingers attempted to play a few chords on the piano. Other times, he could barely function and found it challenging to start the record player.

Without fail, we ended every music class by listening to and singing along with a scratched up recording of *"Heart of My Heart". I wouldn't be surprised if it had been a 78 rpm. He told us he'd worn out many such vinyls during his teaching career. We all wondered why.

I recall how one day, a brave student finally asked. " Sir, why do you always play that record?"

 With moist eyes, I recall Mr. Footit's simple answer. "I want you to always remember me". 

It worked.

_________________________________________________________________________________

 *Excerpt from "Heart of My Heart" ....."too bad we had to part. I know a tear would glisten, if once more I could listen, to that gang that sang heart of my heart."

I Just Want A Hippopotamus

Our lives are all about making connections. I'm not talking about connections with family, friends, or other people. I'm referring to the connections which teachers are always hoping children can make. The ones when they learn something new...connections between facts, or songs, or news, or family traditions for example. I'm talking about the connections that  make ideas come together and sometimes make us say, "aha", or "oh yeah, I remember that", or "now it all makes sense".

So I started to wonder. If we hear something frequently, does it sit in the back of our brain somehow as if it were important or special? Is it lingering there, waiting to break out some day?  Is there some kind of subconscious or subliminal connection?

When I was very young, I remember hearing a song called, "I Want A Hippopotamus for Christmas". It didn't mean much to me, or so I thought. I just remember hearing it...a lot.  In the 80's, Anne Murray sang about a hippo in her bathtub. I know this because my toddler children wanted to hear the cassette tape ad infinitum.
                                                                     
In the late 90's, there was a Canadian tv commercial about house hippos. The commercial was aimed at children, attempting to get them to use critical thinking skills to ask questions about what they were watching on tv.  Apparently, children started to believe that house hippos were an actual real thing.

Similar commercials reappeared in 2019, created by the Canadian non profit literary organization MediaSmarts. It was part of a public service "break the fake" campaign produced by an Ottawa firm HyperActive (I got this from Wikipedia). The video was more explicit in reminding children that they shouldn't believe everything they see on tv. There were accompanying lesson plans for teachers who opted to use this as a teaching tool.

“Many Canadians remember the little hippos fondly, so we thought they were the perfect reminder that just because we want something to be true, doesn’t mean we should believe it,” said Kathryn Ann Hill, Executive Director at MediaSmarts.

I couldn't help but wonder, "Why a hippo?"

Why was the hippo the symbol that the media company decided to use for the commercials? In my mind, I had a vision of advertisers who were somehow influenced by either hippos in their bathtub, or wanting a hippopotamus for Christmas.

More recently, I've seen frequent mentions of house hippos on Facebook. People have been excitedly posting, "I found one," and sharing its obscure location. Whether they're planters or ornaments,  hippos in Canadian homes are starting to replace the age old Norwegian kitchen witch it seems. And why not? They're purely Canadian and they are real after all aren't they?

I think, "I want a hippopotamus for Christmas". Perhaps I'll find one during my eventual post pandemic excursions. There seems to be a certain joy in locating them hiding away in gift shops and thrift stores. Maybe I'll discover one that speaks to me.

Meanwhile, I have to wonder what creativity will eventually come out of the current "Baby Shark" generation.

UPDATE

Found one. Like me, he is slightly flawed, rough around the edges,  has been chipped away at, but is not totally worn out. His colouring has become bland, but there are still occasional artsy signs of creativity, and perhaps of a once quite different and busy life. He has short little legs, is a little hefty in the mid section, and enjoys decorating himself for the occasional nightly outing. He becomes more easily tired, continues to be frequently distracted, but still manages to do a lot more than many other hippos his age. In fact, he has even travelled a distance from a scratch and dent rack, just to live at this house. He enjoys fun, and smiling, and is hoping to be around for awhile to add to his lifetime of adventures.

Lemon Posset

I saw this pretty photo somewhere and thought this dessert looked good.  The appearance reminded me a bit of creme brulee which is my all time favourite super rich dessert, not to be eaten more than once a year.

I found out it was called, Lemon Posset...bonus. I love lemon. Curious to find out what "posset" meant and assuming it was some kind of french culinary term, I searched google translate.

Wow...who knew? Posset, means...posset. That got me nowhere.

So I tried another tact, looked up "posset" and "detect language". Google detected Latin. Seriously? So posset is Latin for the word "could".

Posset this possibly be correct? I doubted it.

Further research was required because I hate not knowing stuff, and now I needed a derivation and definition.

I looked up "posset" in dictionary.com. Thankfully, I didn't do this first because I would have given up my quest. I found this meaning, "a drink made of hot milk curdled with ale, wine, or the like, often sweetened and spiced." Sounded very unappealing.

Alas, wikipedia came to my rescue...or did it? Once again, I found the British hot drink with milk and ale description. 

So after looking at the recipe, I decided to create my own definitions.

Posset - n.  A fancy french pudding with lots of sugar. A diabetic nightmare.

                  Alternate  meaning - A decadent  dessert, insanely expensive at a restaurant.

                                      

I actually found the recipe for this dessert to be very simple and very high in calories. It's just one step away from eating from the sugar bowl.  Dare I try it? Tempting.  I'll report back if I do.

Ingredients

2 cups whipping cream
2/3 cup sugar   
1/4 cup fresh squeezed lemon juice (2 lemons)
lemon zest from 2 lemons

Directions

Bring whipping cream to a gradual boil for 3 minutes. Combine and boil sugar, zest, and lemon juice. Whisk lemon mixture into cream. Remove from heat and strain out zest before pouring into individual dessert bowls. Let cool then put in fridge to chill until firm. Decorate with fruit or flowers

UPDATE

I made it. It's not so simple. I combined a couple of recipes as I always do and noted changes in "ingredients" and "directions" above. If you don't warm the cream slowly, it gets a strange consistency. Also, I heated the sugar and lemon juice to dissolve sugar. Used only 2/3 cups sugar. Then I whisked the sugar, lemon mixture into the cream. Strained the whole thing to remove zest. Poured into dishes and cooled.  Once cooled, I put it in the fridge to solidify. Decorated.

It tasted pretty good but I likely won't make it again.

Where Have the Months Gone? A Pandemic Review

For awhile since self isolation,  I'd wake up in the morning with the title and melody from a Carpenters' song, "It's Yesterday Once More" swimming in my head. Although the song has nothing to do with our current situation, it does contain a poignant verse which spoke to me.

"Lookin' back on how it was in years gone by
And the good times that I had
Makes today seem rather sad, so much has changed"

I miss my friends, my trips, certain group activities, shopping, my appointments (yes even those), and mostly, my freedom. I suppose it is affecting me more since I am now considered "older", "senior", and "high risk group", during this time of covid-19 pandemic. The problem is that with age, there's also a certain element of urgency to get on with life, and to do all those things we always wanted to do while it's still possible. This isolation is severely impacting the time I have left to complete those activities.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not playing the world's tiniest violin here. I understand how fortunate I am. I know there are all kinds of horrific issues in the world, and there are people who were suffering prior to this, and even more so now as a result of this pandemic. The loss of jobs, the homelessness, the poverty, the hunger, the death toll, has escalated everywhere. I too have family members who are impacted.

Nonetheless, I'm no longer young enough to recoup this time, or to consider it as just a blip in my life.

On the bright side, there are things I've accomplished during my stay at home time. I'm trying hard not to think of them as "make work projects", since that would depress me. So, in an effort to make the best of my "captivity" as it were, here are some of my escapades and accomplishments over the last couple of months. This summary, is not meant to sound boastful. I have not found ways to save the world. It is rather an attempt to remind myself that I have managed to use some of the time to a good end.

It all started with new and inventive ways of cooking with food finds early on, while we were unable to shop. I've completed several blogs about that including  "Covid Cooking" 5/21/20 .

The cooking, then got interspersed with the dreaded housework, "Fanatical Tidying, Organizing, or Not! " 5/15/20, and as the weather improved,  gardening, "Pandemic Planting" 5/16/20.

For awhile, when we thought the pandemic would be short lived, we had special celebratory days. I decorated, we dressed up in costumes, and it was fun. Eventually, my poor hubby got tired of my silliness and I got sick of all the work involved, so we've put everything on a hiatus. It's only temporary, so shhhhh...don't tell.

First we celebrated the Blue Jays no home opener day this year.  We wore our fan gear and ate hot dogs, fries, and other ballpark delicacies.  Next came Maritime fish Fryday...self explanatory, but who knew I had an Anne of Green Gables outfit and would dress hubby as a fisherman in his yellow slicker?

German Day was a celebration of our heritage, complete with schnitzel, sauerkraut, spaetzle, and beer. Medieval Times was a lot of work. We wore elaborate costumes and wigs and performed feats of strength. Formal Friday was a suggestion by late night talk show host Jimmy Kimmel, even though I'd already thought of it. Then there was our Green Eggs and Ham party.  For Cinco de Mayo, which conveniently fell on Taco Tuesday, I made a papier mache pinata and sombrero.  Choice of food was obvious and simple.

Then,  after hearing everyone complaining about the length of their hair, it became time for a little haircutting fun.         

 Hobbies have managed to take on a new life. First, I painted a bookcase (details in blog "Now I Am An Old Purple Woman" 5/29/20).  The stool was an old rickety unpainted wreck. Now, it's an old rickety, weirdly painted wreck. I'll never be a Picasso, but I'm having fun. The easel has seen a few of my efforts.

I recently wallpapered the laundry room, practiced piano, and  reverse tie dyed a shirt (blog yet to come). I've also managed to make a dent in the pile of books I've been meaning to read.

Perhaps it's all been time well spent after all. At least that's what I'll tell myself.

There are countless jokes on the internet about the coronavirus, and this calendar year. There are comments about unused day planners, and those who say that 2020 doesn't count and we're really not a year older. I fear that I will be at least a year older before all this is over. 

After  I saw a rather humorous meme from Aunty Acid using the  movie "Groundhog Day", I now no longer hear the Carpenters' song "It's Yesterday Once More" in the morning.  Instead, I've started waking up to "I've Got You Babe".

Cool Tip I Learned in My Old Age

I can't imagine where the world would be without youtube videos to show us how to do anything and everything nowadays. It's especially useful during our current self isolation.

My daughter has become an expert at crochet. I have not as yet been quite as ambitious, although I have learned some new things. Who says you can't teach an old dog new tricks?

This morning, hubby opened the cereal cupboard and laughed when he saw this.

Why had nobody told me about this before? This is brilliant. I'm tired of ripped lids, and half open boxes, particularly cereal boxes.

I found a video on youtube that showed how to close a cereal box. Since I was tired of shredded, half open lids, I thought I'd try it.   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FhEHnIypRM0

The first box was rather large, and I was unsuccessful, although, I was able to get it sealed enough that all I needed to add was a clip and it still looked neat.

Next, I attempted a smaller box. Wow... it worked.

Before long, my cereal cupboard was organized. I had managed to seal all the rest of the boxes as in the video. Another unnecessary pandemic self isolation project completed. 

Here's a repeat of how for those who haven't seen the video.

Step 1 - Close inside waxed paper containing cereal. Then, at the top of the box, fold in one large lid and two small end ones.

Step 2 -  Bend small end portions of box to from a V shape which points to the inside of the box.

Step 3-   Tuck the other large lid in on the far side of the V's against the first large lid.

Fantastic!

Amazing isn't it how these small efforts and successes keep us amused during the current health crisis?

Someone told me there's a hack to seal potato chip bags as well, to which I asked, "Who actually has partial potato chip bags?" Anyhow, I shall leave that little trick for someone else to post.

Cinnamon Rolls

As I mentioned before, this was never meant to be a cooking or baking blog, but alas. Facebook has been inundating me, and probably everyone else with recipes. I wonder what makes them think we all have time to cook and bake? You'd think there was a pandemic, and we were all bored while sitting around at home. Having said that, I must admit, I've looked at some of the recipe offerings and I've even tried a few.

Today, I made easy, healthier, crock pot chicken and dumplings thanks to Allrecipes.com. It was a pretty good lunch. Then, I made some zucchini pancakes, and the following cinnamon rolls.

I'm sharing this method of making cinnamon rolls, which I discovered under the heading "Newfoundland Recipes" because it was incredibly easy, quick, and delicious. Although I'm certain most people in my age group have probably made variations of cinnamon rolls before, I haven't...until now. I suppose I always thought the process to be much more complex.

I will share the recipe here, and what I learned. I absolutely would do several things differently, having completed this once. In fact, I think it would only take one more batch to perfect these. Now if only someone would eat up all of the first platter so that I could make more.

Dough

2 cups flour
1/2  cup shortening
1 cup milk
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt

Mix ingredients together and roll out on lightly floured surface.

Filling

Mix together -

1/4 cup melted butter
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 cup brown sugar (I used brown sugar substitute for part of this)

***What I learned - I would probably add nuts or raisins to this filling next time. Also, do not spread filling too close to edge because it oozes out while baking.

Spread filling onto rolled out dough.

Now, here's another of my regrets. I rolled up the dough lengthwise until it looked like the rolling pin.  I suppose I was afraid it would get too thick. Next time, I will roll it in the other direction. The buns need to be a bit bigger than what I made. Also, I cut one inch slices. I found them to be too small. So, in my opinion, thicker and fatter is better.

Place on parchment lined cookie sheet but not too close together. They do tend to get middle age spread. Bake at 350F for 20-30 minutes until they are lightly browned and done looking (not at you but done looking to you...as in not raw).

After you bring them out of the oven, brush on glaze while rolls are still warm.

Glaze

1 cup icing sugar
2 tblsp. milk

So here they are...my first attempt. Not pretty, but very delicious.

Empire Cookies...a favourite

Empire Cookies

From what I’ve read, empire cookies originated in Germany and are a form of linzer cookie (the ones with the cut out on top and various jams inside). Later they were adopted in other countries in various forms, but they are basically supposed to look like a little crown. 

This is one of my favourite simple cookies. I use the same cookie dough recipe for special holidays. I cut them out with seasonal cookie cutters, and decorate accordingly. In this case, I don’t double them up and I make the individual cookies a bit thicker. 

Basically, these are a sugar cookie and pretty easy. My original recipe came from Canadian Living, but I have made some adaptations as necessary over the years and they're my "go to" emergency cookie.

I prefer smaller cookies, because I’m a dainty person, and because after the effort, I want them to last for a few minutes before they all get eaten. I think that most recipes are similar, and when I google the photos, most look like mine.

The last time I made these cookies was in Atlanta, Christmas 2019 while visiting my daughter. I worked with what I had because there was no rolling pin, and none were available at stores. In the words of one sales person, “What do you use those for?” 

We did manage to find a vast array of cookie cutters on sale and there was one which I found suitable, roundish with wiggly edges, although regular round, or a small juice glass will work as well.

Ingredients                                                                          

1/2 cup butter, softened                                                        

1/2 cup sugar

1 egg                                                                                     

1 tsp. vanilla                                                                         

2 cups flour                                                                           

1 tsp. baking powder     

Filling & Topping

raspberry jam (for inside cookie)

1 cup icing sugar

1/4 tsp. almond extract

2 tsp. hot water approx. (add more by drops if necessary)

maraschino or candied cherries

Directions

Cream butter and sugar together until smooth. Beat in egg and vanilla. Combine flour and baking powder and add gradually to creamed mixture. On a lightly floured surface, roll out dough quite thin because, don’t forget they get doubled. Cut into rounds. Place on parchment paper or ungreased baking sheet.

Hint - I usually use a large cafeteria type tray to sprinkle flour and roll out the dough. This saves a lot of mess, and clean up later.

Bake 325 for about 7-10 minutes for small, or 10 minutes if you made larger ones. My oven runs hot. Don’t let them get brown...just a bit at the edges. Let cool. Spread half the cookies with raspberry jam.

Combine icing sugar, almond extract and enough water for a thin icing...start with less and add lest it get too runny. Frost tops of cookies. Put a small piece of cherry on top. I usually cut about 3 or 4 cherries into bits and dry them on a paper towel (not drying them will make the red bleed into the icing). Size of cookie cutter determines how many you get. I usually have a couple dozen.

What can I say...no rolling pin? Use a liquor bottle. Only problem is that it’s hard to get the dough really smooth and even harder to get all the dough off the bottle.

I'm not too fussy so they never look perfect. They still taste the same.                                     

Pandemic Pancakes - Easy Peasy

I had forgotten about these very simple pancakes. I made them for myself this morning when my breakfast chef was not available.

Many years ago, I belonged to a diet group (Insert name of any diet group here. I've belonged to them all.)   I remember getting this pancake recipe. It's ridiculously simple, delicious, and filling. They're especially great if you don't have, or don't want to use flour, baking powder, or sugar.

The beauty of these is that the content is easily measurable in calories, protein, carbs, and fruit. There's no added sugar.

If you have a blender, it makes a more smooth pancake, but it's not essential. Basically, just toss all these ingredients together.


Ingredients    (makes 2 medium or one large)

1 egg     80 calories
1 slice bread (any kind you like, I used thin sliced) 70 calories
1/2 banana (good use for any that are starting to darken) 45 calories
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
cinnamon if you wish

Total calories for a substantial breakfast 195 . I find these pancakes
to be quite sweet and moist enough on their own, but if you prefer to top them with a bit of syrup, honey, agave, or a dusting of powdered sugar, be sure to consider the extra sugar and calories.

If doubling the recipe, just use another slice of bread and another half banana.  I  have never used a second egg, but have added a splash of milk if the mixture looks too dry.

Directions

If using a blender, put egg and banana into blender and mix. Tear bread into a few pieces and add it along with vanilla. Blend briefly until smooth. Pour onto a pan as in photo.  (I used a tiny amount of spray olive oil to cook).

Recipe as I wrote it made 2 medium sized pancakes or if you prefer, one large.

If  you don't have or don't want to use a blender,  mash the banana and whisk
together with egg and vanilla. Break bread into very small pieces and add to banana and egg . Mix together. Pour into pan. If there are small pieces of undissolved bread, it's not really a problem.

I hope you enjoy them. I did.

More Covid Organization Projects

I'm beginning to wonder whether the things we do while we are in self isolation are actually essential, something we would have done sooner if we'd had the time, or if they are just make work projects to keep us busy.

At our house, we have a fair sized pantry filled with quite a few canned goods. I thought it might be a good idea to take inventory of the contents. I was afraid that some items had been there for awhile and would get outdated or remain unused when new products are bought. I made an inventory which I soon decided was not an efficient way to keep track. I listed how many of each item there was, then changed the numbers as the cans were used...messy.

After a short time, I decided to sort out the contents of our jelly cupboard as well. Same issues as the pantry. In fact, you might say there are more pantry type items stored in the jelly cupboard

I came up with a better plan. After creating the chart, with enough boxes in each direction, I put an / for each  thing we already have. I taped the charts to the inside of the cupboard doors. As the
 products are used, we will put a line through and end up with something like an x. That's the theory. There's space to add to the list at the  bottom. I have left a conspicuous pen to be sure that what's used is crossed off. Essential or make work project? So far, it's working well and I like it.

I also decided to do something about my jewelry. I found a hanging holder which was formerly my daughter's. I'm sure she's forgotten it exists since she's no longer even in the country. I hung it on my bedroom wall near the closet. How sensible. Now I can see my earrings and perhaps even use some of them instead of  wearing the same ones every day. I also found a hanger type jewelry holder that I'd forgotten about, in my basement. I've owned it for a long time but, like so many other things, it was just sitting idle. It has a clothes hanger and is two sided...brilliant. It will store costume jewelry and larger items...eighty in total. The concept of "shopping your house" is becoming more and more handy for me these days.

I decided that whatever I don't wear/use in the next year, will be disposed of.  The left holder looks pretty good on the wall. The one on the right, once filled will go into the closet and hang with my clothing.


My next project will be an attempt to deal with shoes. I have not as yet figured out a perfect storage solution. I've tried see through shoe boxes, boxes with photos on the outside, racks, and hanging organizers. All of these take up space which I don't have. It leads me to think that perhaps I just need to downsize. Alas, I'll miss my multitudinous Birkenstocks. On the other hand, as the expressions goes, "How many shoes can you wear at a time?"

Now I Am An Old Purple Woman

Many people are familiar with the poem, "Warning" by Jenny Joseph which begins, "When I am an old woman I shall wear purple."  Essentially, she suggests that when people are older, they don't care as much about what others think of them. They have the freedom to do as they please, without feeling the need to impress others. I believe this to be true. She also suggests that some people should be a bit quirky before they become old, so that nobody will think them odd later in life. It doesn't work. People still think I'm odd, but alas, I don't care that much about what they think. So clearly, Joseph has a point. 

This week, I was busy. We had an old brown bookcase in the garage. Why does most furniture have to be brown anyhow? During one of my energetic moments, I decided to paint it, so that it could be placed the bedroom. I wanted my impossible pile of books to be organized enough that they could be shelved, and hopefully read. I knew I wouldn't offend anyone who has issues with the painting of wood, since this shelf was made of ***chipboard photo-paper. After a trip to Home Depot, I learned that I needed to use primer, then cover with two paint coats. What colour was I going to pick? 

After careful consideration, I decided to paint my bookcase purple to add some life to the room. Back in 9/23/11 "Missing Blogs...Updated Digs" I redid the bedroom in shades of green and aubergine, and although some changes have taken place since then, the basic colours have remained the same. I like them.

The whole time I was using the purple paint, I was reminded of the children's story, "Harold and the Purple Crayon". I wondered how it would look if I sketched and painted Harold on the side of my shelf. At no point did I care what people might think about this odd childlike shelf showing up in a bedroom. On the other hand, not many would see it and it would probably bring me joy.

Although I had some issues with the paint adhering without lifting off the photo paper (not sure if the primer preparation was correct), I eventually succeeded in completing the additions to my satisfaction. I protected it with varathane, and it was done...night time appropriate with moon and stars.

My books are now stacked and the room makes me happy. The colour  breaks up the boredom of the rest of the brown furnishings.

Earlier on, when I was doing the priming, I decided to also coat a rocking chair which I had retrieved from a neighbour's trash. There wasn't much wrong with it except that a dog had chewed part of the seat at the back. Wood purists of the world might take issue with me. When I turned the rocker over, I was surprised to make some discoveries. Still, it will become my next art project.

Although I'm not yet certain how I will complete the chair, I do know one thing for sure. It will not be purple.

 ***Chipboard photo-paper shelf - No real wood was harmed in the painting of this bookcase.