A Bad Year In The Entertainment Industry

   The Grim Reaper's sharpened scythe did bite deep in 2016, taking quite a number of famous people from us.
   Probably the most tragic of all was the death yesterday of Debbie Reynolds at age 84. It's not the fact she was in her 80's that's tragic. It's the fact that her daughter, Carrie Fisher of Star Wars fame, died a day before her after having a heart attack on a flight to L.A last week.
   And they, of course, aren't the only ones we lost this year. George Michael also passed away Christmas Day. The year got off to a seemingly rough start with the passing of  David Bowie, Alan Rickman and Glen Frey in January.
   Also leaving us, some far too soon, were Prince, Muhammad Ali, astronaut John Glen and Jean Alexander. A lot of you won't know who she was, but she was a long time fixture of the British drama "Coronation Street", playing Hilda Ogden.
   After all these celebrity passings, some people are saying 2016 was a bad year. I saw something on a Facebook page from a friend to put it in perspective. That post pointed out that 1665 was a truly bad year, as the bubonic plague struck London, England killing more than 350 thousand people.
   Still, it does seem that we've lost an inordinate number of luminaries this year. Let's just hope 2017 doesn't see a repeat.

TTFN, and Happy New Year!

Back At It

   I hope you all had a Merry Christmas (or Happy Holiday). I know I did. Having last week off was great, although I must admit I got quite lazy. Sleeping in until 6:00 A.M was a treat, and (I must admit) something I could get used to very quickly. As tradition seems to state, I again watched the Lord of the Rings trilogy, and basically lazed around the house getting fatter.
   But, all good things must come to an end, and I'm back at my desk this Boxing Day. Which really isn't a hardship. Christmas for us was good, only marred a bit by the fact our youngest decided against traveling from Regina to Yorkton due to a snowfall warning. We managed to dodge a weather bullet, getting just a few cm (inches) from a Colorado Low that's pounding parts of Manitoba, and even more so parts of the U.S Plain States.
   It also looks like 2016 is going to end the same way it began in the entertainment industry, with the death of George Michael

   Capping off a terrible year that saw David Bowie, Alan Rickman and Prince, among others pass away.
   Hopefully, 2017 won't be the same.

TTFN

Winter Vacation

   I will be taking next week off for my winter break. Everyone in our newsroom gets a full week off over the festive season, and mine just happens to be the week ahead of Christmas.
   My plans: Do as little as possible, aside from finishing off Christmas shopping etc. But that won't take long. Other than that, I'll probably continue my tradition of watching the Lord Of The Rings trilogy. It's something I started doing in 2013 when we first got our house here in Yorkton. My wife was still living in Regina, waiting for our house to be sold, and I had to work Boxing Day (the 26th ). So, I binge-watched all 3 movies Christmas Day that year. I'll stretch it out over 3 days next week.
   I'll be back at it Monday the 26th, Boxing Day in Canada. Meantime, I wish you all a Merry Christmas, and hope the festive season is a good one for you all!

TTFN

...And What A Delicious Meal It Was!

   Saturday, I blogged that I'd been given a recipe by GX94 mid-day host Tonya Cherry to prepare. It was a chop-suey, with my choice of meat. It was "pork day" at home, so that's what I did. She also wanted lots of pictures:

   Which I was happy to provide. My ever creative wife also suggested we do a "staged" one for show purposes. And. since she loves doing displays, I figured "what the hell":

   As for the meal, I'd give it 4 out of 5 stars. It really was that good! In fact, it's going into the stir-fry meal rotation.
   As for the recipe, here it is:

Chop Suey recipe from Florence Bodnarchuk of Canora:

Beef, chicken or pork thinly sliced.

Small onion, large dice.

3 stems Bok Choy, cut diagonally

1 to 2 celery sticks, cut diagonally

1 cup cabbage

1 can bean sprouts

1 can mushrooms

1 can bamboo shoots

1 clove garlic

1 1/2 tbsp soya sauce

1 tsp sugar

**She says she uses whatever vegetables are available like peppers, carrots cauliflower etc.

Put 2 tbsp oil in a wok or skillet and heat. Add meat and cook until almost done. Add onion, soya sauce, sugar and the remaining vegetables and continue stir-frying. Add 1/2 to 3/4 cup water (or chicken or beef stock) and cook for a few minutes. Add corn starch solution to thicken. Serve with your favourite rice or noodles.

   If you like stir-fry, this is definitely worth doing, and was scrumptious.

TTFN

I've Been Given A Task

   And it's from GX94's mid-day announcer Tonya Cherry. Regular viewers of this blog will know she puts out a cookbook every year, with proceeds going back into the community where they were sold. And that's in many locations right around the Parkland region. Regular viewers will also know I'm a bit of a dab-hand when it comes to cooking, and can knock off some great tasting meals.
   So what Tonya has asked me, and a few of the other on-air staff here, is to cook (or bake) a recipe to bring in for a taste-test. Not one from this years cookbook or others in the past, but recipes she gets sent in advance of next year's book. She's given me a stir-fry to do up. And wouldn't you know it, stir-fry is one of my specialities! She's also asked that I "document" the experiment (take photos), so she can up-load them to our station website and Facebook page. The chop suey recipe I'm doing calls for either beef, chicken or pork. I've made an editorial decision, and will go with pork.
   And that's where I'm going to leave this for now. I will, of course, update this forum (with pictures) once we've tasted the dish, likely Tuesday.

TTFN

"A Date Which Will Live In Infamy"

   It was a Sunday morning 75 years ago when Japanese carrier forces launched their strike against the U.S fleet at Pearl Harbour. 353 aircraft were involved. All 8 U.S battleships were damaged, other ships were also hit. In all, some 24 hundred people were killed, most of them servicemen.
   The attack also brought the U.S fully into World War II, although some historians say America would have entered the fray sooner or later. It was the next day, December 8th, then U.S president F.D Roosevelt spoke to his nation, saying it was a date which will live in infamy as he declared war on the Japanese Empire, and Nazi Germany.
   One of the most devastated capital ships, the USS Arizona:

   Still lies at the bottom of the harbour as a memorial and gravesite, since more than 11 hundred service personnel were killed on board that ship. To this day, oil from the fuel bunkers continues to escape, staining the water above.
   24 years and 1 day earlier, the port city of Halifax was devastated after 2 ships, one loaded with tons of munitions, collided in the harbour during World War I. Roughly 2 thousand people were killed, and 9 thousand injured. The explosion remained the most powerful non-natural blast until the first atom bomb test in 1945.
   Your history lesson for the day :)

TTFN

Is It Really 10 Years?

   It has in fact been a decade since these furry babies came to their forever home. We had to say "goodbye" to 2 other cats a few weeks earlier in November 2006 due to old age and illness, and there was a huge hole in the family we needed to fill. So, my eldest son and I braved a prairie blizzard and headed off to the Regina Humane Society. My wife had asked if we could find 2 female cats to adopt (her preference). But after a long search, hampered by the fact there was a disease running rampant which limited our choices, we "picked" these 2 boys.
   Actually, the tan one reached through his cage and grabbed onto my son, so we had to take him. The grey one was a different story. Rather than meow like the other prospective cat adoptees, he sat silently. Rather than paw at people walking by, he sat silently. I knew then and there we had to have him.
   So, packing them into carriers loaned by the Society, we set off into the blizzard again on the trek home. Which was accompanied by a lot of caterwauling from our 2 new family members. After showing both where the litter boxes and food were, we settled in to get used to each other. It did not take the grey one long to imprint onto me. He leaped up and perched on my left shoulder which, to this day, is his favourite place.

   We did add to our "family" 5 years after we got these 2, a little black and white female I saw on an adoption website.
   I mentioned earlier they have a "forever" home, and I meant it. All 3 came with us when we moved from Regina to Yorkton, and the 2 females who were part of our lives for 17 years came with us when we moved from Thunder Bay, Ontario to Regina back in '97.
   Can they be infuriating? Yes. Can they be insufferable at times? Yes. Are we glad we adopted them? Yes.

TTFN