Monday, May 10, 2010

Mother's Day, Oil Leak, Expo,

I forgot to wish everyone Happy Mother's Day for yesterday, although in the UK at least that was in March. So please take my belated good wishes for all you mothers out there.
It appears that the "big box" didn't work to cover up the oil leak. Because of the combination of oil and seawater under pressure, crystals formed inside the box and made it too buoyant so it would not stay over the leak. Considering the weight of the thing, that is pretty incredible. Now they are talking shooting debris into the hole and plugging it up that way??? This will take about 3 weeks to accomplish. I believe the total gallons leaked out is somewhere in the millions. The Gulf is going to be dysfunctional for years and many of the people living around the area making their livings by fishing will not be able to do so. I wonder if BP will be paying them compensation. They certainly should. Meanwhile, despite this catastrophe, another deep well is being drilled off the coast of Nova Scotia. I know this was the first major disaster with an oil well, but surely they should pause for consideration before sinking more wells.
I quite enjoyed my volunteering over the weekend. I got to wander around the expo on Saturday and spent even longer doing so on Sunday. There were some very interesting stands at which I would have liked to spend more time. The focus was on health and wellness so my favourites, Let It Heal, were there giving people free Bowen treatments. Shannon, who is the local owner these days, gave a talk on Bowen therapy too which I attended and said how great I thought the treatment was. There was a stand quite close to where I was sitting guarding the entry door where they were telling you about iridology (strudy of the iris) and if you wanted to cough up $20 they would take a picture of your eye and then talk to you about what your eye disclosed about your health and what you could do about it. Another stand was all about spa treatments and I had a dollop of salted oil put on my hands which I had to wash as though in water. Then water was poured over my hands to rid them of the salt which had the effect of exfoliating them. My hands felt pretty good after. I meant to go back on Sunday but didn't get a chance. There was a Celiac stand so I picked up some recipes for my friend who's son is allergic to gluten. Another stand was Jeunique bras (I have two) so I entered to win another. They are pretty damned expensive bras, I thought I was rich when I bought mine. However they have been very good. Of course Canadian Diabetes had a stand although I didn't get to see much of it. Another booth had pots and pans which I would have liked to investigate more but didn't have a chance. There was an incredible amount of stuff. Even my local grocery store, Zehrs, was there and if you donated to a charity you could get some groceries from them. Another place was giving out apples and one saw people muching on them all over the place. Someone was giving out carnations too as I saw many women carrying them. There were a number of different treatments which one could try out, one quite close to me was apparently some kind of acupuncture without the needles, he had a couple of joined metal rods. Not sure what it was precisely, but it was very popular although the participants seemed to think it hurt quite a bit during treatment: they were apparently pleased with the results when it was finished. I wanted to try it but it was always so very busy.
A first for me yesterday was trying pickled asparagus. Its absolutely delicious. There is a hot and spicy version available as well. Not sure I would like that, I am a tad tired of hot and spicy, practically everything you see these days is hot and spicy. The recipe is on Barrie Bros. website and I givit to you here. Unfortunately I don't have access to a hot water bath any more - I used to borrow a friend's in NC - however if you do have canning equipment I highly recommend this recipe. I am looking forward to eating more today. I just phone the farm as there was quite a lot of frost tonight. He told me they had picked like mad over the weekend as they knew there would be frost so I am OK to get some today.
Pickled Asparagus
Barrie Bros.
Using 5 lbs of Ontario asparagus, wash well and soak in ice water whilst preparing 6 pint jars. Place 1/2 clove of garlic, 1 tsp dill seed, 1 tsp mustard seed and 6 peppercorns in the bottom of each jar. Place asparagus, tips up, in the jars. Don't waste tender ends, can them also for bite sized treats. Bring 8 cups of water, 2 1/2 cups of white vinegar, 3 tbs pickling salt and 1/2 cup white sugar to a boil. Pour over asparagus. Process in hot bath for 5 to 6 minutes.
Have a great day

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