Monday, July 2, 2012

Bananas, Holiday, Dentist’s.

Well I’m damned, who knew? Banana skins contain lots of great nutrients and shouldn’t be just thrown away, according to eHow Health. . If you are into plants and gardening they make wonderful fertilizer, especially for roses. They also make wonderful use-leftover-banana-peels-800x800cleaners for silver, put in a blender until they become smooth and creamy, then take a little cream on a cloth to clean your silver. I must try this. We eat a banana each per day so….. I also believe you can clean shoes with banana peel but I’m not sure about that one. Rubbing the inside of a banana peel on skin affected with acne or psoriasis works wonders too. Might go red at first but in a day or two it effects a cure. Works for warts and poison ivy as well. I certainly must try it on the silver. In fact there are all kinds of tips and tricks on the web site.

Today is, of course, a holiday in Canada, it being Canada’s birthday. I am sure we will have lots of fireworks tonight which we might watch from our balcony. I have Canada_Day-2012hpsaid before, sadly we are on the wrong side of the building to see some of the main firework displays although I wouldn’t change where we are for any other reason. I was impressed  with the Google Doodle yesterday which celebrated Canada Day. Wednesday is Independence Day in the States, not sure if they will celebrate that day or make it Thursday. Seems a bit silly to take Wednesday off and go back on Friday, unless they have the whole lot off. Having asked on Facebook everyone assures me that they only have the Wednesday off, I guess the other days are part of people’s vacations.

dentistHappy Saturday, I was chomping into my steak at dinner and felt something hard in my mouth – my tooth had cracked in half. Lucky I didn’t swallow it I guess. I phoned to find out if there was any dentistry available on the holiday weekend, there is and I spoke to the on-call dentist. However, its not giving me any big problems except for two sharp pieces of tooth, so I think I will wait until I can see my own dentist. They already know what a god awful mess my teeth are in. I have been terrified of dentists since I was about 15 yrs. old. Pity, when I was a kid, my mother (a natural psychologist) used to say if I was good she would take me to the dentist, I never minded going in those days. Not enough to live at the doctor’s these days, now I have to go to the dentist’s as well. Something my English readers may find odd, dentists are addressed as Dr. here, as are veterinarians and surgeons. No “call me Mr.” in North America. In the UK surgeons get very hot under the collar if you address them as Dr. Unless things have changed of course.

I was reminded, over the weekend, of a Swedish recipe I haven’t heard of or made in years: I used to enjoy very much, don’t know why I stopped making it. It was Viveka of My Guilty Pleasure’s last meal before setting off on her trip. Viveka always eats hers with a raw egg yolk but it can be fried if you prefer. If raw, she leaves the yolk in the shell and places it on top of the potato mix. Apparently in Sweden you can buy Pytt-i-Panna in packets these days as it is a very popular ‘leftovers’ dish.

Pytt-i-Panna

serves 4
• 12-15 peeled potatoes, finely diced (1×1 cm)pytt_i_panna
• 300 g (10.5oz) smoked pork/bacon/pancetta, finely diced
• 2-3 yellow onions, finely diced
• Any left over cooked meats or sausages, finely diced – the more mixture of meat the better it gets
• Spices: salt, freshly ground black pepper (and perhaps allspice).
• 4 eggs and pickled beetroots for serving – I also serve mustard and salt pickled cucumbers

Method
1. Blanche potatoes for a few minutes in salted, boiling water.
2. Fry bacon at medium heat in a big frying pan, preferably cast iron, until fat has melted.
3. Add the well drained potatoes and add to pan a little at the time. Fry, stirring gently, until potatoes are golden.
4. Add onions (and additional meats as available), fry until onions are transparent (and meats are cooked through).
5. To taste, add salt, black pepper and perhaps a bit of allspice.
6. Serve with fried eggs or raw egg-yolks on top, and (always!) with pickled beetroots on the side
7. You can add left over cooked or raw vegetables too. What ever you fancy. Personal I stick to only potatoes.

With this I would serve ice cold beer or milk and a freezing snaps.

3 comments:

  1. I'm still very uncomfortable with going to the dentist--one of my least favorite places to go. I don't think I'll be eating any banana peels. I recall back in the late 60s and early 70s when a rumor started circulating that one could get high by smoking banana peels. There must not have been any credence to that story or I guess we'd hear more about people doing it.


    Lee
    Tossing It Out

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I heartily agree Lee. I don't think it was recommended that you should eat the peel, LOL. I have never heard anything about smoking them.

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