Povey Prattle

Brown 1 lb of ground chicken or turkey with a wee bit of olive oil,   in a large skillet. When browned add a Savory Herb Chicken seasoning mix (mixed of course with water).  I used Slow Cooker brand. Add frozen veggies of your choice;  e.g. corn, peas, beans; and cut up fresh mushrooms:-  you choose the quantities. Simmer for approx. twenty minutes. In the meantime steam about 15/16 oz of frozen cauliflower  florets.  Mash them when they are soft. Pour the simmered chicken or turkey + veggie mix into a 9" or 10" baking dish.  Spread the mashed cauliflower on top (as if it were mashed potatoes). Sprinkle a bit of grated cheese on the top, then bake at 360 f  for  25 or so minutes.      Easy to make.  Good to eat.

In these difficult  COVID days why do we keep asking the same question; one which has never received a satisfactory answer; viz:    " Why did the chicken cross the road?" It is a dumb question in crisis time. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- We'd all be wiser if we took time to wrestle with a more pertinent; but oft ignored conundrum. Dear friends,   if you want life to improve in the crisis,  please take time to think about this Why did the dish run away with the spoon?

Do you get taste bud memories?     That food you liked so much when you were young.   Was it Cream of Wheat? Or Fried Liver? Or Cream of Wheat with Fried Liver? None of the above?    I am with you! My taste memory is this: In 1837  Mr. Alfred Bird devised an egg free custard.  It was then,  and is now,  a great success. It's sold in a powder which one makes into a paste with a bit of sugar and some cold milk. That paste is then added to milk which is being heated.  Brought to a gentle boil, and with constant wooden spoon stirring, it thickens  for use. Served whilst still hot, there is nothing better to be poured over hot apple pie, or Christmas pudding. We also liked it served in a bowl over slices of banana. and allowed to cool and stabilise. That's what I've been enjoying these past two days.  Oh So Good! Beware, the ingredients (printed on the can)  are in U.K. units, and must be converted into U.S. units. A ...

Posted on Face Book by my friend the Revd. Jane Dunning. Poem by the Irish Priest, Poet,  and Mystic John 0'Donahue. (1956 - 2008) For Citizenship In these times when anger Is turned into anxiety And someone has stolen The horizons and mountains, Our small emperors on parade Never expect our indifference To disturb their nakedness. They keep their heads down And their eyes gleam with reflection From aluminum economic ground, The media wraps everything In a cellophane of sound, And the ghost surface of the virtual Overlays the breathing earth. The industry of distraction Makes us forget That we live in a universe. We have become converts To the religion of stress And its deity of progress; That we may have courage To turn aside from it all And come to kneel down before the poor, To discover what we must do, How to turn anxiety Back into anger, How to find our way home. ~ John O'Donohue from To Bless the Space Between Us *** ...

J.M.P.'s  Shepherds' Pie (28th July) 2020.... ........  with a topping made from mashed cauliflower (with two mixed in raw eggs and some bread-crumbs to give it body).   Pretty darn good as a low starch alternative to spuds. Truth in advertising!  The cut up cooked lamb with onions. celery and mushrooms was supplemented with a Coleman's brand Shepherds' Pie seasoning pack ( probably available in your American  Supermarket's "International Aisle" ) to add flavour. Yum yum  g....o....o....d  especially for those of us in the U.K. who learned to love Shepherd's Pie which our Mums made on Mondays from the leftover Lamb Sunday dinner (or Cottage Pie, when the Monday meal was made from leftover Beef Sunday d d ). My Shepherds or Cottage Pie is pretty darn good, freshly made as it is from fresh ingredients;   but it is not a patch on Mums leftover ingredients! Wherever your spirit  is:   thank you Mum  fo...

I could/should have used the dishwasher Meat loaf: with pork, beef, onions, celery, roasted garlic tomato sauce (and bits of  cooked bacon to add that  "je ne sais quoi") Peach Cobbler, with fresh peaches. All this cooking to fill in a bit of time.  Some for me, and some to share with friends and neighbours. Sharing seems to be the right thing to do in this miserable pandemic days. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Cooking done,  my friend Ashley (Chrisman) Lloyd and I broke out   and met for lunch at Culver's. There I had a sinfully greasy cheese burger with fries; the first I've had in over a year.  Umm, umm GOOD!

This juvenile Ibis  (I think) set up shop immediately outside my Lanai yesterday afternoon ( 15th July 2020). She/he remained there for two hours, sometimes looking in at me, and sometimes taking a few steps  - elegant and awkward at the same time. Of course I talked to her/him. ============================================= Some months ago I would often see a gaggle of birds on the grass at the south end of Nathan Benderson Park. Always in a group, scurrying, pecking.   Too far away to photograph; and skittish when I tried to draw nearer. I had no idea of their identity until I was listening to the radio programme "Living On Earth". A guest described them as "like a football with a thin neck, and a small head".  Then I knew! I had been looking at Guinea Fowl. They are greatly to be prized for pest control, and are voracious eaters of ticks.ck. They love to be in groups.   In the case of the radio programme guest sh...