French potato salad; No egg

I had to make a potato salad today. It was my contribution to a Mother's Day dinner. Bill, the gentleman hosting the party, requested the potato salad as he loves my wife's cold potato salad made with hard boiled eggs and mayonnaise. He figured I could use Judy's recipe.

The problem with Bill's request was the egg. Egg is off limits for me as it is for Bill's brother. He has heart problems as I do. Eggs are exceedingly high in cholesterol and dietary cholesterol is a no-no to those with heart disease.

I found a recipe for French potato salad posted by a Swedish blogger by the name of Ewa (Eva). She lives in Seattle, WA., and enjoys sharing her recipes. I don't believe she'd mind my posting a link to her site and her recipe for French potato salad: Delishhh.

I made some small changes to the recipe. I used a little less olive oil and a little less salt than called for and I added some roasted, chopped walnuts immediately before serving. I used my Cuisinart blender to mix the olive oil, champagne vinegar, Dijon mustard, salt and pepper into an emulsion. I tried whipping it manually but failed. The blender was the perfect answer.

I put the scallions, dill, parsley and basil in a bowl and mixed all together before adding all to the salad. As I mixed the salad, I salted and peppered it to taste but on the conservative side. I figure folk can always add more salt and pepper at the table. It is impossible to remove if added with too heavy a hand.

So, what was the verdict? Was my, or should I say Ewa's, recipe as good as my wife's? I believe it was. Bill, a tough critic at times, said the best two potato salads he has every tasted both came from my home. One was Judy's and the other was mine (Ewa's).

This potato salad is not for who fear calories. The olive oil adds fat and calories. This is one reason that I cut back on the olive oil in my version. But for those on a heart healthy diet, a serving of this squeaks by on the heart healthy side. This salad contains no saturated fat and no cholesterol.

Homemade soup: Easy to make, nutritious to enjoy

I've modified this recipe. For one thing, I've increased the amount of cauliflower used. Click on the link to see the new recipe: Elegant soup for about a dollar.

I'm not overly fond of cauliflower. I don't dislike it but it is not in my usual veggie rotation. Still, I found the idea of making a thick, creamy cauliflower soup without resorting to heavy cream appealing. And it gave me a chance to use my newest toy: A Cuisinart blender.

I've come to believe that it is almost impossible to make a poor soup at home. The canned stuff is just so boring, the makers seem to rely on salt to kick up the flavour. Homemade soups seem almost magically in comparison.

Judy and I had this soup the other evening. It was good. I can see making a big batch a day in advance and serving it to guests at the next holiday dinner.

Cauliflower Soup

2 teaspoons olive oil
1 small, chopped onion
1 chopped celery stalk
12 oz. chicken stock or vegetable stock
6 oz. 1% milk
10 oz. cauliflower florets
1 bay leaf
1 sprig of thyme
a little nutmeg to taste (just a few pinches)
2 tablespoons of chopped chives
pinch of freshly grated pepper - I like black for the flavour and colour

• Put olive oil in a deep fry pan and place over medium heat. Add the chopped onion and chopped celery. Cook until celery beginning to soften and onion looks translucent. Do not brown.
• Add chicken or vegetable stock, milk, cauliflower florets, bay leaf and sprig of thyme. Heat until simmering and then place a lid over the pan. Simmer for about 25 minutes or until cauliflower is tender. When done, remove from heat and let cool.
• Remove the bay leaf and the thyme sprig and pour the soup into a power blender. Blend until smooth.
• Pour the soup into a medium sized pot and reheat. Do not boil. Let soup quietly simmer until the right degree of thickness is obtained. Stir in the nutmeg and let simmer for another couple of minutes. All this reheating and thickening should not take more than 30 minutes. If it is not thick enough, I understand adding a small amount of potato flakes should quickly thicken this soup without damaging the flavour.
• Serve with sprinkles of  chopped chives and a couple of passes of the pepper mill. These add a little flavour and some much needed colour.

The next time I make this, I'm adding a clove of crushed garlic to the finely chopped onion and celery. I may oven roast a small number of cauliflower florets in a little olive oil. When the florets are almost done, I'll sprinkle on a little Parmesan cheese and return all to the oven until the cheese is just melted. I'll add these flavoured florets to the soup moments before serving. I think some little bursts of concentrated flavour hiding and floating in the soup might add extra presence.

I'd try this soup straight the first time, though, and leave the tarting up with roasted cheese-flavoured florets to later.

Just asking for a basic level of journalistic integrity

I went to a breakfast this morning in London, Ontario. The monthly social event is attended by those who once worked for the media in town but who have now, for whatever reason, found themselves put out to pasture.

It is always fun catching up on the latest media rumours, but this morning was a little more interesting than usual. I learned that Joe Warmington, the award-winning Toronto Sun columnist, wrote a story and posted it to the Internet before the event had occurred. Oops!

According to Now, a weekly news and entertainment tabloid serving Toronto, The Toronto Sun declared Rob Ford's appearance on the Jimmy Kimmel show a "victory for Ford" even before the writer, Joe Warmington could have seen the program. The Ford segment was taped at approximately 9:40 p.m. Eastern Standard Time but the date stamp on Warmington's first report was 9:13 p.m.

In talking about a program he couldn't possibly have seen, Warmington said the Toronto mayor's appearance "was vintage Rob Ford."

The Now report goes on to say that Canada.com's Marc Weisblott first tweeted out the column at 10:31 ("Joe Warmington reviews a show before it airs"). Fifteen minutes later, amid suggestions from those in studio that the appearance had been a disaster, the Sun pulled it down. (It has disappeared as well from Google's cache.)

One exchange that hasn't gone missing is the Twitter tweets between National Post columnist Bruce Arthur and Toronto Sun staffer Cynthia McLeod.

In the ensuing conversation I thought the responses by Alex Colangelo and Stan the Man Chan were among the best. Colangelo offered, "So I guess perfection is waiting for an event to occur before writing about it?" Stan clarified the problem that McLeod seemed unable to fathom: "No one's asking for perfection. We're just asking for a basic level of journalistic integrity."

Seeking solutions to the housing crisis

Streetscape from Hong Kong shows dense residential does not have to be boring.

 
This is an intro to a link to a New York Times piece on the housing crisis facing cities around the globe. I really liked some of the stuff the writer said.

As someone who attended many of the ReThink London meetings, I believe cities may well lack  the fortitude to deal head-on with the numerous problems encountered trying to supply decent, while also affordable, housing.

Housing policy can be very tricky to get right. “Success is going to be in the eye of the beholder,” says Eric Belsky, the managing director of the Joint Center for Housing Studies at Harvard. “If success means building more homes at greater densities, you’ll end up with some neighbors not happy . .  .

Personally, I find the London, Ontario, solution of embracing sprawl to be totally unacceptable. That said, I feel quite alone in my opposition. Oh, lots of folk talk the end-the-sprawl talk but they fail to walk the end-the-sprawl walk.

Here is the link to Rent Too High? Move to Singapore. Read it, let it make you think and don't get hung up on statements like the following: "It seems the only solution would be to level all of, say, North Brooklyn and put up monolithic prefab tower blocks. But New Yorkers don’t want to live in Singapore." (And there is no demand to emulate Singapore housing in either London, Ontario, or New York, New York.)

When it comes to housing, Singapore and Hong Kong are guideposts and not final destinations.

Eating healthy despite being miles from home

Lunch in St. Jacobs: A delicious stir-fry on a bed of Basmati rice.

Today was a meatless day. No beef, no chicken, no fish -- nothing but veggies. Today was also escape-to-St. Jacobs day. St. Jacobs is a small town about an hour from London. At one time, it was famous for its Mennonite shops.

Then a couple of small malls moved to town and it became a shopping magnet. The town paved the land behind main street and put in parking for the tour buses filled with visiting shoppers. But times have changed. Many of the once popular mall shops have disappeared. For instance, Dansk -- a once popular retail destination -- has closed all its factory outlet stores.

With the downtown mall emptying of stores, the small mall has now been converted to another use. But the town still has Mennonites and, even without the presence of lots of out-of-town retail, it may be able to return to its small town retail roots.

The little stores my wife and I visited were filled with great stuff, much of it locally made. We picked up a loaf of freshly baked sour dough bread in the local bakery and for lunch we enjoyed a non-chain restaurant meal.

I must confess, I miss the Dansk store. But I don't miss McDonald's, Wendy's, et al. My meatless day lunch was great. So far, Dr. Spence has been right: Meatless days can be absolutely delightful.

Leftovers

Leftovers don't have to be second best. Tonight we had left over ratatouille. Judy punched it up with, what else, some other leftovers.

She added roasted red peppers and canned artichoke hearts. It was delicious. (Before Judy served this, she added a sprinkle of Parmesan but it hid the look of the dish. You will have to use your imagination.)

For a ratatouille recipe, just cruise the Internet. There are lots of recipes posted. And if you make too much, punch it up the next day and enjoy it all over again. Weight Watchers rates this dinner as a five and my heart doctor would call this a wonderful Mediterranean dish. Lose weight and possibly arterial plaque all at the same time.

What a great idea. Pass the red wine, please.

Is the CPP Investment Portfolio Struggling?

Maybe my headline is a little too strong -- and maybe not. A financial expert by the name of Mark McQueen has strong feelings about the running of our Canada Pension Plan (CPP). His feelings are not good.

I started thinking about how the CPP is managed after hearing some comments made on the CBC morning news show with Heather Hiscox. The comments seemed to be throw-away filler and not thoughtful insights.

I've followed McQueen online as well as on BNN and he makes a good case for concern. I decided to see if he has published anything recently on the CPP. I found an online post from February of this year (2014): CPP Investment Board’s External Private Equity Managers Continue to Drag Returns.

McQueen tells us: "The CPP Investment Board reports that our hand-picked team produced $1.8 billion of negative value add over four fiscal years . . . " Go to McQueen's post on his Wellington Financial blog for the whole story or at least as much of the story as McQueen is able to report. You see the CPP Investment Board is terribly secretive about its investments and returns. Much of the financial date provided to the Canadian public is intentionally useless, according to McQueen.

CBC's Hiscox needs to widen her reach when it comes to connecting with folk in the business world and in the financial arena. She should stop with the almost daily fawning over Kevin O'Leary and move on. I nominate Mark McQueen as an on-air financial expert willing, and more than able, to point the news organization in the direction of some newsworthy stuff.