3 lbs boneless lamb shoulder cut into 1 1/2" cubes.
3 potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/2" slices
3 onions, sliced
3 carrots, peeled and quartered
Sea salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
2 tablespoons minced fresh parsley
2 cups lamb stock or beef broth
1 cup Guiness Extra Stout
Add salt and pepper to lamb cubes, cover and chill for one hour. In a large heavy pot layer half the potatoes on the bottom, then add onions, carrots and lamb. Place other half of pototoes on top. Pour in stock and Guiness then add parsley. Cover the pot with aluminum foil then place the lid on. Bring to a gentle boil then simmer for about 2 hours or until meat is tender.
Enjoy with fresh bread and more Guiness
Lamb Stock
Bones and trimmings from leg of lamb
1 carrot chopped
1 onion chopped
1 celery stalk chopped
2 garlic cloves
1 bay leaf
1/4 cup whole pepper
1/4 teaspoon fresh rosemary
Enough water to cover all ingredients
Simmer all ingredients for four hours. Strain and refrigerate overnight. In the morning, skim excess fat from the top of the broth. Portion and freeze.
Friday, August 31, 2007
Wednesday, August 22, 2007
Off the Beaten Track - Mangaia
If you're really interested in blasting off into outer space, but can't afford riding with Richard Branson, then head to Mangaia instead. Mangaia is part of the Cook Islands, but it may as well be another planet. We have a great deal through WestJet: only $18 dollars Canadian, round trip from Rarotonga on little used interline partner Air Rarotonga. Mangaia is so off the tourist map, the population has dropped in half over the last few decades: from 1200 to 600 souls. Take the cave tour with Tere, the master story-teller, stay at Ara Moana (one of only two accommodations on the Island) and get ready for an incredible local experience.
Julia and I, and four Swedish tourists, were guests of honour at their annual talent/model show, which featured more than half of the women on the catwalk portrayed by men in drag. Pack a couple bottles of wine from Rarotonga and enjoy them by moonlight at the "lookout," a short walk from Ara Moana. Watch a lonely fisherman walk the reef and swing a flashlight to and fro in the blissful moonlight. Listen to the adults and children sing beautiful songs in the poetic Maori language, and drum on upside down plastic pails. Yes, Mangaia is so "out there" they may have to ration electricity; but no mind, a flashlight and some propane makes everything better. Say "hi" to Ruff, the Ara Moana dog who dutifully slept outside our bungalow door every night. Tu and her sister Oko love a good chat, and if Jason is still there, thank him for the wonderful meals, especially the fried bread and roasted chicken. (Free range of course).
Mangaia is a gem. Where elso will you find pristine beaches with barely twenty footprints over the past ten years, and coral that is broad and healthy just a few feet from shore? This is the Garden of Eden.
Julia and I, and four Swedish tourists, were guests of honour at their annual talent/model show, which featured more than half of the women on the catwalk portrayed by men in drag. Pack a couple bottles of wine from Rarotonga and enjoy them by moonlight at the "lookout," a short walk from Ara Moana. Watch a lonely fisherman walk the reef and swing a flashlight to and fro in the blissful moonlight. Listen to the adults and children sing beautiful songs in the poetic Maori language, and drum on upside down plastic pails. Yes, Mangaia is so "out there" they may have to ration electricity; but no mind, a flashlight and some propane makes everything better. Say "hi" to Ruff, the Ara Moana dog who dutifully slept outside our bungalow door every night. Tu and her sister Oko love a good chat, and if Jason is still there, thank him for the wonderful meals, especially the fried bread and roasted chicken. (Free range of course).
Mangaia is a gem. Where elso will you find pristine beaches with barely twenty footprints over the past ten years, and coral that is broad and healthy just a few feet from shore? This is the Garden of Eden.
A Romantic Poem
A flight attendant recited a wonderful romantic poem for me today. It brought a tear to my eye:
If I were a cow on the way to the slaughterhouse
I'd kiss you one more time,
Before my lips are mulched into hamburger.
(Sniff)
If I were a cow on the way to the slaughterhouse
I'd kiss you one more time,
Before my lips are mulched into hamburger.
(Sniff)
Wednesday, August 15, 2007
Wow, it's been a long time... Mortgage mayhem.
It's been a loooooooong time since my last blog and I know all my fans out there, sorry fan (me), are awaiting a new installment. So I'm going to try again to get into the regular habit of writing this blog. For those of you who were following my Nobel Prize nominated Global Warming... hmmmmm series, I never really finished: no point. I have read recent reports of studies that seem to indicate there's very little proof that global warming is affecting hurricane development, strength and frequency. Not surprising, climate is incredibly complex. So I stick by my view, that everyone should be environmentally responsible but not to the extent of dramatically changing the world to fit a computer climate models. I'm just not buying all the doom and gloom. Humanity has so many more important issues to resolve: war being one of them.
Don't get me started on the war! Maybe later.
One thing that has been puffing me with "I toad-a-so," is the collapsing housing market in the United States that will eventually creep into Canada. Back when we were looking at houses a couple years ago, our Real Estate Agent kept saying "housing prices will continue to rise, it's a matter of supply and demand." I kept telling him it would stop, that rising housing prices could not be sustained if real wages don't rise equally. "Supply and demand... supply and demand." How about "what goes up, must come down?"
Yes, supply and demand is a factor and demand was big because supply was limited, but what caused the demand? Well, low interest rates of course. All of a sudden everyone wanted a house, renting was throwing your money out the window, a waste. People were desperate, paying big money for pieces of, well... shit. We saw it all the time. In one house, I told the agent I couldn't believe he had it listed at $154,000 and told him I wouldn't pay $100,000. He said he already had three offers and days later the SOLD sign appeared.
Think about it. When we bought our house in 1995 for $68,000, we were originally only given a pre-approved mortgage for $60,000 dollars. Anything beyond that, the Credit Union said would risk our being "house poor." The rates at the time were near 10%, so it certainly made sense. At the time, our gross combined annual income was probably around $55,000. That was not too bad, we both worked full time and had few other expenses and no other debt besides car payments. Gas and electricity were also a lot cheaper back then; gas was less than half of what it is now. We convinced the Credit Union to up our mortgage to $70,000 because most of what we saw at $60.000 back then was crap, very much like a lot of the stuff you'd see today at $160,000.
So what has changed since then? How come twelve years ago a mortgage institution would turn you down for anything above $70,000 dollars when today, someone with a similar income and debt profile can qualify for a mortgage around $200,000 dollars? How can anyone realistically afford that? If interest rates continue to rise, which they most likely will, people's monthly payments could double when they renew a fixed rate five year mortgage and few people I know have seen their salaries double over that same period. How can anyone afford that and still eat? Lending institutions just kept moving the bar higher and higher: why have a mortgage at 30% of your income when you can have one 70%. But it's the lending institutions in the United States that are suffering as well, loosing millions on defaulted loans and reposessing homes that no one can afford to buy anyway.
To think, we're building Waverly West to deal with the massive demand for housing. If things continue along this destructive road and lending institutions keep being loose with their loans, Waverly West may be a graveyard for a generation of homeowners' broken dreams. Buy what you can afford and if you can't afford it, don't buy it. It's such a simple equation.
Don't get me started on the war! Maybe later.
One thing that has been puffing me with "I toad-a-so," is the collapsing housing market in the United States that will eventually creep into Canada. Back when we were looking at houses a couple years ago, our Real Estate Agent kept saying "housing prices will continue to rise, it's a matter of supply and demand." I kept telling him it would stop, that rising housing prices could not be sustained if real wages don't rise equally. "Supply and demand... supply and demand." How about "what goes up, must come down?"
Yes, supply and demand is a factor and demand was big because supply was limited, but what caused the demand? Well, low interest rates of course. All of a sudden everyone wanted a house, renting was throwing your money out the window, a waste. People were desperate, paying big money for pieces of, well... shit. We saw it all the time. In one house, I told the agent I couldn't believe he had it listed at $154,000 and told him I wouldn't pay $100,000. He said he already had three offers and days later the SOLD sign appeared.
Think about it. When we bought our house in 1995 for $68,000, we were originally only given a pre-approved mortgage for $60,000 dollars. Anything beyond that, the Credit Union said would risk our being "house poor." The rates at the time were near 10%, so it certainly made sense. At the time, our gross combined annual income was probably around $55,000. That was not too bad, we both worked full time and had few other expenses and no other debt besides car payments. Gas and electricity were also a lot cheaper back then; gas was less than half of what it is now. We convinced the Credit Union to up our mortgage to $70,000 because most of what we saw at $60.000 back then was crap, very much like a lot of the stuff you'd see today at $160,000.
So what has changed since then? How come twelve years ago a mortgage institution would turn you down for anything above $70,000 dollars when today, someone with a similar income and debt profile can qualify for a mortgage around $200,000 dollars? How can anyone realistically afford that? If interest rates continue to rise, which they most likely will, people's monthly payments could double when they renew a fixed rate five year mortgage and few people I know have seen their salaries double over that same period. How can anyone afford that and still eat? Lending institutions just kept moving the bar higher and higher: why have a mortgage at 30% of your income when you can have one 70%. But it's the lending institutions in the United States that are suffering as well, loosing millions on defaulted loans and reposessing homes that no one can afford to buy anyway.
To think, we're building Waverly West to deal with the massive demand for housing. If things continue along this destructive road and lending institutions keep being loose with their loans, Waverly West may be a graveyard for a generation of homeowners' broken dreams. Buy what you can afford and if you can't afford it, don't buy it. It's such a simple equation.
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