The Night Before Christmas

 The Night Before Christmas

It's time for the yearly post of The Night Before Christmas

Twas the Night before Christmas Poem
Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house
Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse.
The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,
In hopes that St Nicholas soon would be there.
The children were nestled all snug in their beds,
While visions of sugar-plums danced in their heads.
And mamma in her ‘kerchief, and I in my cap,
Had just settled our brains for a long winter’s nap.
When out on the lawn there arose such a clatter,
I sprang from the bed to see what was the matter.
Away to the window I flew like a flash,
Tore open the shutters and threw up the sash.
The moon on the breast of the new-fallen snow
Gave the lustre of mid-day to objects below.
When, what to my wondering eyes should appear,
But a miniature sleigh, and eight tiny reindeer.
With a little old driver, so lively and quick,
I knew in a moment it must be St Nick.
More rapid than eagles his coursers they came,
And he whistled, and shouted, and called them by name!
"Now Dasher! now, Dancer! now, Prancer and Vixen!
On, Comet! On, Cupid! on, on Donner and Blitzen!
To the top of the porch! to the top of the wall!
Now dash away! Dash away! Dash away all!"
As dry leaves that before the wild hurricane fly,
When they meet with an obstacle, mount to the sky.
So up to the house-top the coursers they flew,
With the sleigh full of Toys, and St Nicholas too.
And then, in a twinkling, I heard on the roof
The prancing and pawing of each little hoof.
As I drew in my head, and was turning around,
Down the chimney St Nicholas came with a bound.
He was dressed all in fur, from his head to his foot,
And his clothes were all tarnished with ashes and soot.
A bundle of Toys he had flung on his back,
And he looked like a peddler, just opening his pack.
His eyes-how they twinkled! his dimples how merry!
His cheeks were like roses, his nose like a cherry!
His droll little mouth was drawn up like a bow,
And the beard of his chin was as white as the snow.
The stump of a pipe he held tight in his teeth,
And the smoke it encircled his head like a wreath.
He had a broad face and a little round belly,
That shook when he laughed, like a bowlful of jelly!
He was chubby and plump, a right jolly old elf,
And I laughed when I saw him, in spite of myself!
A wink of his eye and a twist of his head,
Soon gave me to know I had nothing to dread.
He spoke not a word, but went straight to his work,
And filled all the stockings, then turned with a jerk.
And laying his finger aside of his nose,
And giving a nod, up the chimney he rose!
He sprang to his sleigh, to his team gave a whistle,
And away they all flew like the down of a thistle.
But I heard him exclaim, ‘ere he drove out of sight,
"Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good-night!"

And now, something a bit naughty

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Two Remebrance Day Poems

Flander's Field

 For the Fallen

Remembrance Day Poem

Remembrance Day Poem:

Freedom’s Cost

What is the cost,
For all of our rights?
Schooling, working,
Calm and peaceful nights.
We need to remember
Those who died.
Who gave us freedom,
In exchange for their lives.
Not only these people,
But those who are fighting still.
Who all pray to come home
If it be God’s will.
Fighting for our country
In what can only be hell,
No matter what the outcome is,
Never again will they be well.
Minds and bodies battered,
For they are shown no mercy,
Nothing must sway them,
For their mission is victory.
So it is today that we thank them,
For sacrificing their lives,
And giving us freedom,
For us to survive.

Remembrance Day Poem

Why Wear a Poppy?

“Please wear a poppy,” the lady said

And held one forth, but I shook my head.

Then I stopped and watched as she offered them there.

And her face was old and lined with care;

But beneath the scars that years had made

There remained a smile that refused to fade.

A boy came whistling down the street,

Bouncing along on care-free feet.

His smile was full of Joy and Fun,

“LADY” said he, “MAY I HAVE ONE?”

When she’d pinned it on he turned to say,

“WHY DO WE WEAR A POPPY TODAY?”

The lady smiled in her wistful way

And answered “This is Remembrance Day”

And the poppy there is a symbol for,

The gallant men who died in war.

And because they did, you and I are free-

That’s why we wear a poppy you see.

I had a boy about your size

With golden hair and big blue eyes,

He loved to play and jump and shout,

Free as a bird he would race about.

As the years went by he learned and grew

And became a man - As you will too.

He was fine and strong with a boyish smile

But He’d seemed with us such a little while,

When war broke out and he went away,

I still remember his face that day

When he smiled at me and said “GOODBYE’

I’ll be back soon, Mum, so please don’t cry.

But the war went on and he had to stay,

And all I could do was wait and pray

His letters told of the awful fight (I can see it still in my dreams at night).

With the tanks and guns and the cruel barbed wire,

And the mines and bullets, the bombs and fire.

“Till at last at last, the war was won

And that’s why we wear a poppy son”.

The small boy turned as if to go,

Then said, “Thanks lady I’m glad to know.

That sure did sound like an awful fight,

But your son – did he come back alright?”

A tear rolled down her faded cheek;

She shook her head but didn’t speak

I slunk away in a sort of shame,

And if you were me you’d have done the same,

For our thanks, in giving, is oft delayed,

Through our freedom was bought – and thousands paid!

And so when we see a poppy worn,

Let us reflect out burden borne

By those who gave their very all

When asked to answer their country’s call

That we at home in peace might live,

THEN WEAR A POPPY! REMEMBER – AND GIVE!

Jelly Roll Cake

So, I decided to try something different today with baking and made a jelly roll cake. The recipe I used was found on the internet, so I wasn't too sure on how it would turn out. I ended up having to make some adjustments on it once I was finished. Here's how it went.

The ingredients

Next, I put parchment in the cookie sheet & sprayed it with PAM, so it wouldn't stick

Next, start beating the eggs

Hmmm...needs more beating. Not quite there yet.

That's better. Now gradually add in the sugar

Next, add in the vanilla & water

Mix that up. Then, gradually add the flour, baking powder, salt mixture

Great! Now it's ready to go into the pan and oven.

Baking time! Recipe says 10-15 minutes. I'll bake it for 10 minutes. While that's baking, time to prep the towel with icing sugar.

Out of the oven & onto the towel. Take off the parchment & roll it up. Let it cool for about 30 minutes.

Time to get the jam ready. Mix it up, so that it'll spread easier.

Oh crap! 10 minutes was too long. Looks like my cake burnt a bit. Oh well. Shit does happen.

Spread the jam over the cake anyways.

Roll it back up & add some more icing sugar on it. I just used what was left on the towel.

Doesn't that look good? It turned out pretty good.
After awhile, it's time to cut it up & give it a try. Mmmm....look at all that jam.

2 thumbs up! It still tastes good. With my jam being a bit tart, it's not overly sweet.

Here's the recipe that I used.

Jelly Roll Cake

Soft, sweet, and full of jam, this sponge cake is easy to roll and makes for a simple yet impressive dessert!

Ingredients

3 eggs

1 cup granulated sugar

1/3 cup water

1 teaspoon vanilla

3/4 cup all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

Powdered sugar

About 2/3 cup jelly or jam

Steps

• Heat oven to 375°F. Line 15x10x1 -inch pan with waxed paper, foil or cooking parchment paper; generously grease waxed paper or foil with shortening.
• In medium bowl, beat eggs with electric mixer on high speed about 5 minutes or until very thick and lemon coloured. Gradually beat in granulated sugar. Beat in water and vanilla on low speed. Gradually add flour, baking powder and salt, beating just until batter is smooth. Pour into pan, spreading to corners.
• Bake 12 to 15 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Immediately loosen cake from sides of pan and turn upside down onto towel generously sprinkled with powdered sugar. Carefully remove paper. Trim off stiff edges of cake if necessary. While cake is hot, carefully roll cake and towel from narrow end. Cool on cooling rack at least 30 minutes. *This needs to only bake for about 7 minutes. At 10 minutes, it’s already starting to burn*
• Unroll cake and remove towel. Beat jelly slightly with fork to soften; spread over cake. Roll up cake. Sprinkle with powdered sugar.

Expert Tips

• Increase eggs to 4. Beat in 1/4 cup unsweetened baking cocoa with the flour. If desired, fill cake with ice cream instead of jelly or jam. Spread 1 to 1 1/2 pints (2 to 3 cups) slightly softened ice cream over cooled cake. Roll up cake; wrap in plastic wrap. Freeze about 4 hours or until firm.
• Make jelly roll cake as directed adding 2 teaspoons grated lemon peel to batter with flour. Omit jelly and spread cake with 2/3 cup purchased lemon curd or make Lemon Curd. Roll as directed. Store covered in refrigerator.
• Make jelly roll cake as directed substituting 1/2 teaspoon almond extract for the vanilla. In small bowl, whip 1/2 cup whipping cream, 2 teaspoons powdered sugar and 1/4 teaspoon almond extract to stiff peaks. Spread over cake and roll as directed. Store covered in refrigerator.

I hope you enjoyed reading this.

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Making Grape Jam

So, I got enough grapes this year to make jam again. This is how everything went.

Grapes harvested

 And weighed out

Next comes the fun part. Preparing. You have to take them off of the stems & separate the innards from the skins. There I am having tons of fun. It's necessary to wear a glove on the hand that you'll use for squishing the innards out, otherwise, you'll end up with pink/purple hands.

Check out those grape guts & skins

Next, we dump the grape guts into a pot & cook them til they're all mushy

Once they've turned to mush, they'll need to be strained to get the seeds out. We don't want all those seeds in our jam.

 Look at all those seeds!

 Liquid grape guts

Next, you dump the liquid grape guts back into the pot & add the skins. Remember those skins from the beginning? Now is the time that they get used.

 Once it starts to change colour, you add the sugar in. 1 cup per pound of grapes. Since I had just over 1 1/2 pounds of grapes, I added about 1 3/4 cup of sugar. Now, you cook it with the sugar until it starts to thicken.

 Notice how the colour gets the longer you cook it?

The end result is this lovely dark colour.
Next, you make sure that your jars are clean.

See the nice clean jars? Fill up said jars with the jam & put the lids on tight.

This was a sample during the cooking process. See how nice & thick it is after it cools. Mmmm...it tastes good.

 Here's a video of the jam cooking
Making Grape Jam

That's all there's to it. Now, Here's the recipe that I used. I had found it online a few years back.

Concord Grapes Jam by DK on Oct 11, 2011

It's sweet and its slightly tart and it has the MOST AMAZING purple blue colour. From what I read online, Concord Grapes (from Concord, of course!) are less sweet than regular grapes and which you can skin easily. You can give a slight squeeze at one end and you will find the pulp readily leaving their skins. These are mostly used for their juice, Jams and jelly - remember Welch? They are also used for making pies and tarts. Due to the fact that they have large seeds they are normally not used for eating just as they are.

• Cook time: 30 min to 1 hour
• Prep time: Under 30 min
• Serves: 8+ people
• Yields: Around 5 cups

Ingredients

• 3 lbs ripe Concord Grapes
• 3 cups Sugar (see Tips)

Tips

Sugar: The book suggests using additional 1 cup (total 4 cups) if you prefer your jam sweeter. I used only 3 cups and for us it was quite sweet already.

Method

1. Wash the grapes well in cold water.

2. Pick the Grapes off their stems.

3. Squeeze them out of their skins into a stainless steel pot. It’s totally fine if a little skin stays stuck to the pulp.

4. It’s a cumbersome process indeed but it doesn't take as long as you might think. The book suggested something on the lines of 15 minutes. For me, in spite of distractions galore from a little one trying to whisk the grape from the table to trying to capture photos, it took only 30 minutes.

5. Set aside the Grape skins. You will be using them later.

6. Yay! Pink fingers! Well you might have coloured fingers even after washing them and you will be fated to remain with pink palms for the rest of your life..err..ahem! OK! Bad joke I know!

7. Place this pot of grape pulp over medium heat.

8. Cover and bring to a gentle boil.

9. Cook for about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.

10. When the grapes have broken down to a mush remove them from the heat.

11. Place a large bowl in the sink and set the sieve over it. Pour the grape pulp into the sieve

12. and using a wooden spoon, push down the pulp through the mesh.

13. Discard the seeds.

14. Add the grape skin to the pulp

15. and bring it to a boil, stirring occasionally. Boil for 2 minutes wherein you will notice that the now this mixture has turned dark thanks to the colour of the grape skins.

16. Alternatively while the jam was coming to a boil, warm the sugar in a 150F oven.

17. Gradually add the warm sugar, stirring in 1 cup at a time to the pulp.

18. Bring back to a rolling boil and cook stirring constantly.  Did you look at that color? Deep purple! Looks mind bogglingly good, isn’t it?

19. How to check if your Jam is done?

1. Temperature Test – If the temperature (using a candy thermometer) shows 220ºF (or 104ºC), then the Jam is done. Make sure that your thermometer is placed vertically and the bulb is covered with the jam. The bulb should NOT touch the bottom of the pan.
2. Spoon Test – This is similar to how you test a sugar thread consistency.  Take a cool metal spoon and dip it into the boiling Jam mixture. When you life the spoon, if the Jam runs off the spoon like a syrup, then the Jam needs more cooking time. But if it is heavier and drops like slate/sheet off the spoon instead of flowing as drops, you know that the Jam is done.
3. Refrigerator Test - I mostly use this method to check the doneness of my jams. I keep a plate in the freezer and remove it when I want to test. I then pour a small amount of the boiling jelly/jam on this plate and let it sit in the fridge for few seconds. If the mixture gels /mounds and wrinkles when you push it with your finger, it's done. If runny and it does not have a body to it, then continue to cook the jam for few more minutes until it clears the nudge test.

I hope you enjoyed my little jam making adventure.

Oopsie....apparently I did not add enough sugar to my jam, so it's a bit tart. Oh well.

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Heat Warning Out

We're under a heat warning.

4:52 AM CDT Saturday 03 August 2019
Heat Warning in effect for:

• Mun. of Emerson-Franklin incl. Roseau River
• R.M. of De Salaberry incl. St-Pierre-Jolys and St. Malo
• R.M. of Hanover incl. Steinbach Niverville and Grunthal
• R.M. of La Broquerie incl. Marchand
• R.M. of Ritchot incl. St. Adolphe and Ste. Agathe
• R.M. of Ste. Anne incl. Richer
• R.M. of Stuartburn incl. Zhoda Vita and Sundown
• R.M. of Tache incl. Lorette Ste-Geneviève and Landmark

A hot and humid start to the long weekend.

Highs near 32 are expected today in the Red River Valley, with humidex values approaching the 40 mark. Warm temperatures will continue tonight, with overnight lows near 20. Sunday will be somewhat unsettled with a good chance of thunderstorms and continuing warm with highs again near the 30 mark. Passage of a cold front will bring a return to more seasonal conditions on Monday, with daytime highs in the mid-twenties.

Other areas of the province will also see hot and humid conditions, although they should remain just shy of warning criteria.
Extreme heat affects everyone.

Watch for the effects of heat illness: swelling, rash, cramps, fainting, heat exhaustion, heat stroke and the worsening of some health conditions.

Never leave people or pets inside a parked vehicle.

Watch for the symptoms of heat illness: dizziness/fainting; nausea/vomiting; rapid breathing and heartbeat; extreme thirst; decreased urination with unusually dark urine.

Heat warnings are issued when very high temperature or humidity conditions are expected to pose an elevated risk of heat illnesses, such as heat stroke or heat exhaustion.

For more information on heat and your health:
- Visit Manitoba Health at: http://www.manitoba.ca/health/publichealth/environmentalhealth/heat.html.
- Call Health Links - Info Santé at 204-788-8200 or toll-free at 1-888-315-9257.

Please continue to monitor alerts and forecasts issued by Environment Canada. To report severe weather, send an email to MBstorm@canada.ca or tweet reports using #MBStorm.

Another Severe Storm Watch Out

With this heat & humidity, it's not surprising

 

10:13 AM CDT Thursday 25 July 2019

Severe thunderstorm watch in effect for:

Mun. of Emerson-Franklin incl. Roseau River

R.M. of De Salaberry incl. St-Pierre-Jolys and St. Malo

R.M. of Hanover incl. Steinbach Niverville and Grunthal

R.M. of La Broquerie incl. Marchand

R.M. of Ritchot incl. St. Adolphe and Ste. Agathe

R.M. of Ste. Anne incl. Richer

R.M. of Stuartburn incl. Zhoda Vita and Sundown

R.M. of Tache incl. Lorette Ste-Geneviève and Landmark

Conditions are favourable for the development of dangerous thunderstorms that may be capable of producing damaging wind gusts and damaging hail.

A cold front tracking eastward across central and southern Manitoba is expected to trigger thunderstorms as it progresses towards Ontario. Some of these thunderstorms may become severe with the main threats being large hail and damaging winds. The thunderstorm activity is expected to exit the region by late afternoon or early this evening.

Very large hail can damage property, break windows, dent vehicles and cause serious injury. Very strong wind gusts can damage buildings, down trees and blow large vehicles off the road. Remember, severe thunderstorms can produce tornadoes.

Please continue to monitor alerts and forecasts issued by Environment Canada. To report severe weather, send an email to MBstorm@canada.ca or tweet reports using #MBStorm.

Book Review: A Walk Among the Tombstones by Lawrence Block

Here is my short review of A Walk Among the Tombstones.

This was another good addition tot he series. It started out a bit slow, but picked up about half way thought. Like always, the current case was resolved by the end. Also, the book was much better than the movie, which I found boring. All in all, it was a good read.