Monday, February 4, 2013

A Meatless Monday Recipe: Shakshuka-Eggs Poached in Spicy Tomato Sauce



 Shakshuka: Poached Eggs in Spicy Tomato Sauce

¼ cup chopped onion
2 Tbls. chopped sweet red pepper (or yellow or green)
2 Tbls. chopped parsley
1 glove garlic chopped
1 hot red pepper or pepper flakes**
1 tsp sugar, optional
1 tsp. olive oil or spray
2 cups canned tomatoes with juice, chopped
1 Tbls. tomato paste
Salt and black pepper (optional)
**How hot and spicy you want your shakshuka to be-very hot: use a whole red pepper and leave it in all the time, medium hot-use a whole red pepper but remove the seeds, mildly hot-saute the hot pepper but don’t cook it in the tomato sauce. I make the mildly hot and then my husband adds some hot pepper flakes or tabasco sauce to his.

  1. Saute onion and pepper.

  1. When the onion and pepper are soft, add the chopped garlic and parsley and sauté for 1 minute. If using the hot pepper, add it with the chopped garlic and parsley.


  1. Remove the hot pepper for mild heat, and add the chopped tomatoes and tomato paste, (For a hotter dish, keep the pepper in. Add the sugar if using. Add a shake of salt and pepper

  1. Let the sauce cook about 15-20 minutes covered, Remove the cover for the last five minutes if you see there’s a lot of liquid still.


  1. Crack the eggs, one at a time, into a cup and gently slide them into the sauce. Cover and let the eggs cook a bit to firm up, then gently spoon sauce over the tops. Cook until done.


 Here's how the eggs look as they firm up enough to spoon the sauce on top:


 And here's the dish plated and ready to eat. Serve with bread and salad for a delicious lunch or light supper.


Monday, January 28, 2013

Pride and Prejudice: Happy 200th Birthday

200 years and 10 days ago, Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen was first published. Now you all know that it is my and many others favorite book but for those of you who haven't yet read it I though I'd add some links so you finally can and for those of you who know and love it, some links to reread it and for some Regency fun.


You can download the free e-book here or if you would rather listen to Pride and Prejudice you can download this wonderful free audio book read by Elizabeth Klett here. This reading is as fine as any you could pay for.

The English media is just full of fun articles celebrating the 200th birthday...here's one that I enjoyed-a slightly bizarre review of favorite characters by well known authors and scholars-from The Guardian. 

Even if haven't been to Bath, you can enjoy the Jane Austen Centre  events and bookstore here  That's also where you can read the on line magazine and try out some of the quizzes.  Today, you can listen in on a read-athon

You can purchase  the wonderful BBC mini-series from 1995 starring Colin Firth here at Amazon or watch it for free on You-Tube (it starts here) and I'll even get you started:
Happy Birthday  and thank you Jane Austen.



Tuesday, January 15, 2013

Some highlights from our trip

We're back from our month long trip to the US...of course, we had a wonderful time with family and friends. I thought I'd share some pix starting with: the grandbabies!
I caught them coloring! That's Ella first and then Mika-they're 22 months old now.



We had so much fun with them in Boston-just hanging out, going to the park, reading them books-you know-doing grandparent things. :)

We spent about a week in Philadelphia and had several outings planned but then I got sick-nothing serious just it put a kibosh on the outings. We did take a one day trip to Washington, DC-our daughter was testifying before a joint Congressional committee on human rights in China! Proud Mama? You bet!
 I finally got to the DAR Museum-every time I've been in Washington, its been closed.
Here's a bad hat hair  picture to prove that I actually finally got there.

 They allow no pictures inside-We saw a wonderful fashion exhibit and some quilts. DH always has my best interests at heart-I saw 2 quilts and thought that was it. He brought over a guide and she showed us how to pull out sliding display doors and there were 6 more quilts! Not one was one of the famous DAR quilts however. :( 

We had a wonderful week in New York with our daughter-we went up to Hyde Park (FDR's home) and just generally enjoyed the snow! I stayed an extra day with her and went to the Metropolitan Museum and my most favorite place: the New York Public Library where I read some Godey's Lady's Book magazines from the 1870s, (See why its one of my favorite places?)

Happy New Year to all...its good to be home.