Anna Sultana’s Creamy Baked Chicken for Thanksgiving

This year, thanks to Covid-19, has definitely not been anything like anyone planned.
And now we’re facing the holidays.
A time filled with traditions and customs.
A time for gathering with our nearest and dearest.

Please, not this year.

Zoom, Skype, telephone, email, conference call… do anything but put your family and friends at risk.
As they said on the introduction to ‘The Six Million Dollar Man’, a television show that was popular in the 1970s, “We have the technology.”
The best way to show your love is to follow health guidelines - no cheating.

Since this isn’t the year for gathering the family around a big turkey or roast with all the fixings, why not try something new?

Ma’s Creamy Baked Chicken is easy to make, yet something a little different.
You don’t have to do much, so you’ll be free to check if everyone can hear you on Zoom.
No cranberry sauce or gravy is needed.
Just some favourite vegetables, with rice or pasta, and a nice dessert.
It’s been a hard year. Why not relax this Thanksgiving?


The Full Moon will be its brightest at 4:30 A.M. EST on November 30.
Nice to know some things haven’t changed.


Hints:

Depending on your preferences, you can use two servings each of breasts and legs or thighs, or four of the same.
The recipe is easy to expand if you have a larger household.
It’s also easy to reduce if you’re a couple or alone.
The leftovers are good for a few days, too.

Instead of Mozzarella you can use Swiss or Monterey Jack cheese.
Use whatever you prefer or have on hand.
You can also use a bit more or less, depending how creamy you like your chicken.

You can also place a slice of ham on each of the chicken portions before you add the cheese.


                        Creamy Baked Chicken

Grease an 8 inch square or 9x13 inch pan

Combine in a small bowl
4 Tablespoons mayonnaise 

4 Tablespoons sour cream
1 teaspoon garlic powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon pepper

Preheat oven to 375º F

Place in prepared pan
4 servings of chicken
Layer on top of the chicken pieces

4 slices Mozzarella cheese
Spread the mayonnaise mixture over the chicken.

Sprinkle over the chicken
4 to 8 Tablespoons grated Parmesan Cheese



Bake for 50 minutes to 1 hour.
Serve over rice or noodles.


About the holidays…
Back in 2002 I wrote an essay for the CKUW radio show ‘2000 & Counting' about getting Christmas gifts.
It was a meant as a light piece, filled with hints. Many of our listeners were seniors or college students, folks known for having to stretch their dollars. It’s always something…

Okay… listen up! There are about five weeks left until Christmas. That means gifts. I know, I know, it's more blessed to give than to receive. But, unless you have ways of shopping that you'd like to keep secret, giving gifts means money.

It's a little late to start a Christmas gift account at your bank and the utility companies really lose that Ho Ho Ho spirit if you try to skip paying their bills.

If the charge cards are already maxed out - or you just want to keep your nearest and dearest on a cash and carry basis - gift getting is going to take a little effort.

Desperate times call for desperate measures. As we're all stuck with holidays - oh, lucky us - I'll tell you some of my desperate measures.

Live off your hump. You know what I mean. Things like the 18 cans of tuna you have left from the time you bought 20 cans so you could get 50 bonus airmiles. Now's the time to crack those babies open. I know the family hates tuna. That's why there are 18 little cans of fishies swimming around your pantry. Well, the family would hate a Giftless Christmas even more. Think about it. Lousy dinners happen to everybody. But the family Grinch who comes up giftless at Christmas gets blabbed about throughout the neighbourhood and the generations. You don't want to be remembered by your great great grandchildren as Granny Grinchie.

Try creative cooking. Pretend you're on the TV show Iron Chef. You've just been given a tube of ground beef, a bag of marshmallows, a jar of salsa, a bottle of raspberry vinegar, a carton of frozen spinach, a jar of maraschino cherries and a box of rice-a-roni. Think only a nut throws odd things together? How do you think raspberry vinegar was invented? If the family gets snarky, tell them you found the recipe in a magazine - Drop names. Martha is always good - and if they can't appreciate all the effort you put into making dinner interesting… Well! You know the speech. Remember, guilt, when the other person has it, is a good thing.

Go ethnic. Granny's recipes don't have to be saved for Folklorama. God bless ancestors. Go to an ethnic restaurant and get a load of the prices they charge for a plate of pasta fagioli (that's noodles and beans). Grandma would die laughing if she saw those prices. Starch and beans got millions of people through tough times. Go thou and eat likewise.

Beans aren't good enough? Go past the recognizable cuts and shop the mystery meats. Put enough spices on them and the family won't know what hit them. I once made spaghetti and meatballs using animal organs only a mother could love. Guess what? Hubby had invited a friend. Well, the buddy was getting a free meal, so I followed the Cook’s Golden Rule: Don't apologize and don't explain. The buddy said it was delicious, like the meatballs they serve at the Bay. Hmmm… I notice the Bay is still in business. There's more than one way to skin a cat.

Shop your house. No kidding. Grab a bag and stroll through your house. Look for things somebody foisted… uh… gave to you. Well, why should you be stuck with it until you're six feet under? Unless it was made by your preschooler - don't even think it, they DO remember - you're free to pass it on to someone else. Just don't give it to the person who gave it to you.

Pack your own. Ever notice the little overpriced goodies the stores stuff into baskets and bowls? One current gift item is a box of pasta, a tin of sauce, some cheese and some wooden spoons nestled within a large bowl. Are you too stupid to do the same thing? I didn’t think so. It's one way to get rid of some of those extra airmiles purchases. Let somebody else eat the tuna.

Still thinking about the folks in the flyers looking wildly happy over a toaster?
Toss the flyers. Those models were paid big bucks. Stores want you to buy. A stress free family holiday is not their goal. If they had their way you'd replace everything and pay 50% interest.

Remember how the best presents were things that showed that someone cared? Maybe somebody hunted down an out-of-print book by your favourite author.
The gadgets that looked amazing seem strange on December 26.

While you're shopping, get yourself some treats.
I have a friend who picks up a bag of pfeffernusse cookies every year. When she feels like all she's doing is giving, giving, giving, she pops a pfeffernusse and gives herself an old time Christmas. It doesn't take much.

God bless us, everyone.

Father's Day, The Summer Triangle and The Summer Solstice

During the 90s I was a regular on CKUW radio - first on 2000 & Counting, then on Better Than Chocolate.

It was a great learning experience as I wrote stories, read them live on air and learned how to do the technical work.

About Better Than Chocolate - picture the Television show Frasier.

I was both Frasier Crane performing live, and Roz Doyle, clicking for the various prerecorded bits, and keeping an eye on the sound levels and clock.

In 2006 I wrote this piece for Father’s Day.

It got a few laughs then and I hope it gets a few now.

Goodness… 10 years have just flown by!

I wonder what the Papa-razzi Package costs now?

     People talk about how Christmas has changed over the years.  Well, I think Father's Day has changed even more than Christmas has.

     In the fifties, Father's Day was pretty simple.  It was a snap to shop for Dads.  Moms were hard.  There were so many different toilet waters.  Lipstick colours changed every year.  One year Lucille Ball Red was popular.  The next year every lady was wearing Flaming Fuschia.  I mean, how was an elementary school kid supposed to know what to get?  

   

     Dads were easy.  They always needed a pair of socks or another tie.  There WAS something about an Aqua Velva man.  The bottles of blue water came in a variety of sizes and they were all cheap.  If you had to soften Dad up for the report card that was coming, you could splurge on Old Spice or English Leather for a few pennies more.

     If you'd blown all your money for Mother's Day - an easy thing to do - you could get another tube of Brylcreme.  Those little dabs went fast and Dad always needed another tube so he could look debonaire and Mom could run her fingers through his hair. 

     Keeping the family car spiffy has always been a Dad's job.  Remember when they were unwrapping their presents in the movie A Christmas Story?  Dad Darren McGavin was thrilled to get a tin of Simonize for his car.  It was big.  It was heavy.  It was cheap.  

     That was the Golden Age for Dads gifts.  But now?  Let's just say that Dads are getting to be as big a problem as Moms are, gift-wise.

     I always thought of men as being rough and ready in their grooming needs.  I raised a son.  He once took a bath, answered nature's call, then went straight to drying everything - and I mean everything - with the bath towel.  He thought cutting out a small step would save some time.  At least that was his explanation when I asked him about the skid marks on the yellow towel.  

     Now men have discovered their inner Alan Alda.  They know about brands like Nivea.  Soap on a rope has lost its oomph.  Blades and a can of Barbasol just won't cut it anymore.  Guys have discovered grooming sets: shower gels, body washes, face scrubs, after shave balms and a post shave soother that the nice sales clerk swore will control his beard's growth.  You know, the same crap and sales pitches they've been throwing at women for years.  

     And for the guy who's really into his feminine side, there are events like the Papa-razzi Package at the Fairmont Hotel in Vancouver.  The 36 hour getaway includes an hour-long massage, a facial, foot care, a souvenir shaving kit and a round of golf.  The package costs $2,165 plus taxes and airfare if you don't happen to live in Vancouver.  Hey, femininity never came cheap. 

     Tools have always been popular gifts.  Something is always getting lost or broken, right?  Time was when, after being showered with a 32 piece wrench set, a 14 piece clamp set and a 65 piece screwdriver set, every Dad was ready, willing and eager to wrench, clamp and screw any and everything in the house.  

     Fellows, I was wondering… if a man receives a 205 piece drill and screwdriving set (consisting of screw driving bits, nut driving bits, spade bits, high speed drill bits, hole saws, masonry drill bits, sanding drums and a countersink which, I've been told, are ideal to use on wood, metal, plastic, brick, mortar and concrete) would he really use them all or just stick to a half dozen favourite pieces?  You know, the way we women use the same favourite spoons and pans in the kitchen.  Sometimes wretched excess is just, well, excessive.

     Speaking of the kitchen, a Dad's cooking used to be basic.  Raw meat plus fire equaled hard small hockey pucks served with ketchup and relish in a bun.  Raw onion slices were added for the July first weekend.  Up to now the most exciting thing I'd ever seen a man do at the barbecue was to stick a can of beer up a chicken's butt so it could stand and roast.  It looked almost patriotic.  

     Dads made simple basic food.  And healthy.  No E coli bacteria could ever survive a Dad's barbecue.  

     Now folks are dropping like flies because Dads have discovered cuisine.  Ketchup and mustard have disappeared.  Guys who flunked Geography and can't find their way to their in-laws across town without a CAA triptik are now into Japanese, Mexican and Thai recipes.

  

     While at the Liquor Commission, I picked up the freebie Flavours magazine.  On the cover it said, Sassy sauces for your grilled goodies.  Uh, huh.  I don't know what my Dad would've thought of things like sorrel-spinach sauce.  On salmon, yet. 

     There was also an article about the joys of salt water.  According to the folks at Flavours, soaking food in brine is the key to a killer barbecue.  I don't know.  I remember one picnic forty years ago when the boat tipped over, everyone and everything fell out and everything got doused with good old salty Atlantic Ocean water.  No one thought that was anything worth repeating ever again.

  

     Shish kebabs used to be simple.  Meat, onion, green pepper… meat, onion, green pepper… meat, onion, green pepper until you ran out of everything.  Well, now bamboo skewers aren't good enough anymore.  Oh, no.  One recipe in Flavours should earn a cook a Boy Scout badge.  Get this: Peel fresh ginger and cut into several four inch long skewers.  Then carve the ginger on one end into a sharp point.  If your local grocer is out of long chunks of ginger, don't panic.  You can also do the same thing to lemongrass stalks.  

     Oh, pull-lease!!  If God meant us to spend our short summers carving little sticks He never would've made those nice clean bags of bamboo skewers.  Life - and a Manitoba summer - is way too short for that kind of nonsense.     

  

     There was a time when a bag of coal big enough to burn down a house could warm the cockles of a Dad's heart.  It could keep a fellow busy for a whole summer's worth of Sundays.  Now charcoal has some competition.  Have you been exposed to Mesquite Flavoured wood chips?  Our neighbour, Lou, really loves mesquite.  He chopped some chips up and sprinkled them on the salad.  Okay…  Lou isn't quite right in the head.  Last week he served up what he called grilled pizza.  Uh, huh.  Like we didn't notice the take out boxes stacked next to his recycling. 

     We have an old gas barbecue that chugs along with 11,000 BTUs.  It has been doing a dandy job of turning meat into blackened briquets for quite a few happy family gatherings.  Have you seen the new barbecues?  When did guys start pimping their grills?  The big selling feature for these monsters is how many BTUs are under the hood.  

     I checked the dictionary.  BTU means British Thermal Units.  Well, that was a big help.  I needed to get BTU into terms I could understand.  I looked around my house and found that my gas water heater has 30,000 BTUs.  The heater is plastered with little notes from Furnaceman.  Cheery messages like: Third degree burns can occur in six seconds when the water is 60º C.  Death is also possible.  

     

     Hmmm…  My water heater has 30,000 BTUs and it can get water hot enough to kill somebody.

     A Kalamazoo Bread Breaker Two Dual-Fuel grill with an infrared rotisserie cradle system and a side burner has a 154,000 BTU capacity.  It has a temperature gauge that reaches 1000º C.  It also has nighttime grilling lights.  Why?  Would a middle-age hubby, after his 3 a.m. pee, get an uncontrollable urge to wander out to the Kalamazoo and grill a couple of turkeys?  

     According to the manufacturer, it's geared to the Man cook with fire market segment.   

     Middle-aged men, who normally think it's a hassle to reheat leftovers in a microwave, are gathering around these monster barbecues and acting like a bunch of teenage boys.  They're checking under the hood, twisting dials and rattling off phrases like Mounted smoker box… warming rack… hi-dome cooking lid… porcelain coated cooking grid… heat plates with the same slobbering enthusiasm most had for their first car.

     There are also barbecue accessories.  I'm not talking long handled forks and aprons that tell folks to kiss the cook.  

     The Centro food prep station is a buffet, cooler and more.  It can be connected to the barbecue to create a complete outdoor kitchen.  Hey, fellas!  There's a room that has all this stuff.  You're welcome to come and flex your cooking muscles all year round.  Sorry the oven only goes to 500º C, but, we girls have been able to crank out complete holiday dinners in it.  it's called the kitchen.

     Maybe the Discovery Channel was trying to do a public service.  On Father's Day they had a special on the 1883 Krakatoa catastrophe.  When Krakatoa went Kabooie, it produced an ash cloud.  The ashes and gases reached 1000º C.  Most of the people in a 30 mile radius were killed by the extremely hot air which liquified their lungs. 

     

     Dads, if some fool gave you the Bread Breaker, think of Al Gore and take it back.

     The ozone layer will thank you.

     The environment will thank you!

     The lungs of everyone within 30 miles will thank you!!

     And, most important, the family's burgers and wieners will thank you!!! 

About the sky this week, thanks to the folks at The Farmers' Almanac…

June 4: New Moon 11:00 PM. Tonight should  be a great night to spot the Big Dipper.

June 5/6: Look up at the sky at sunset and see if you can see the thin waxing crescent Moon sitting very low in the sky. The sighting of this young Moon this month means, Ramadan, the month of fasting for Muslims, begins.

June 10: If the sky is clear, you may be able to see the waxing crescent Moon in the western sky. Jupiter is the brightest looking “star” nearby, and Regulus is the fainter one on the other side of the Moon.

June 11: Tonight is a good night to see Moon and Jupiter. The Moon is less than five degrees from Jupiter, so you should be able to see both without having to look very far.

June 12: First Quarter Moon, 4:10 AM. 

June 13: Looking east during early nightfall you should start seeing the Summer Triangle in full force. While summer hasn’t officially started, this triangle is viewable by mid-June at evening dusk. To spot it, look for a triangle that’s composed of the three brightest stars in the sky. 

June 13: Earliest sunrise in 2016. The earliest sunrises of the year happen around mid-June, despite the fact that the Summer Solstice, the longest day of the year, comes about one week later.

June 14: Spica sighting. Find the Moon then see Spica, a very bright star and closest star to the Moon– less than five degrees away.

June 15: Moon is at apogee, its farthest point from Earth.

June 16: Look for the waxing gibbous Moon and Mars, the red planet, brighten up the sky after sunset. The planet Saturn and Antares, the brightest star in the constellation Scorpius the Scorpion, can be seen as well, but Mars is the brightest.

June 18: As darkness falls look to the south-southeast part of the sky for the Moon sitting about 2 1/2 degrees to the upper left is a very bright star shining sedately with a yellowish-white hue. That “star” is the planet Saturn.

Anna Sultana’s Mocha Cake and Mocha Fudge Frosting

I’m watching Julie & Julia on television.

It just started.

Julie has had a rough day at work.

She’s home and is making a chocolate cream pie.

That chocolate pie lead to her blogging, sort of.

Ah…  chocolate…

Chocolate has had its place in my writing career, too, sort of.

When Sophie and I wanted to start our radio show in 2007 we had to come up with a name.

It was supposed to be short, catchy, something to tell the listeners who we were.

We went home and wrote lists of what we thought were perfectly good titles.

Robin Eriksson, the Program Director at CKUW, wasn’t impressed by our ideas.

She suggested we name our show Better Than Chocolate.

Since we were totally out of ideas - and we knew she had final say on the show’s name - we agreed to accept her suggestion.

Now we’re talking two senior citizens.

I was 57 and Sophie was 75 years old.

Neither of us had heard of, let alone seen, the movie Better Than Chocolate.

It was a 1999 Canadian romantic comedy movie shot in Vancouver and directed by Anne Wheeler. 

Just so you know, it is one of Canada's highest grossing films of all time, really, according to the Cannes Film Festival Website.

Yeah, well, there were Canadian beavers in it, all right, but just not the type of beavers two old ladies would go to the movies to see.

Wonder how many of our listeners were equally surprised when they tuned in to us.

In 2009 that radio show became my blog Winnipeg is Better Than Chocolate.

Which I started after seeing the movie Julie & Julia.

The circle of life... Julia... Julie... me.

Oh, well…  Back to chocolate…

Chocolate’s health benefits have been in the news lately.

Last year the Huffington Post had an article about that, too:

10 Ways Giving In To That Chocolate Craving Can Benefit Your Health

So, yes, there's proof, chocolate is good for you.

But a square of chocolate doesn’t quite seem like enough for a dinner dessert.

Especially if it’s been a Sunday dinner type of dinner.

That does seem to call for Julie’s chocolate cream pie.

Or Ma’s Mocha Cake with Mocha Fudge Frosting.

Hints:

If you are using all purpose flour in this recipe remove two tablespoons from each cup of all purpose flour.

If you are using cake & pastry flour in a recipe that calls for all purpose flour add two tablespoons to each cup of cake and pastry flour.

The frosting instructions are for the sheet cake.

If you are making two layers:

Cut 2-inch-wide strips of wax paper.

Place the cake upside down on a serving plate.

Arrange the wax paper under the cake to protect the plate.

Spread the frosting over the cake with a spatula.

Smooth the frosting over the top and sides.

Place the second layer on top and cover with frosting.

Let the cake set at least an hour before serving.

                        Mocha Cake

Place the rack in the centre of the oven.

grease a 13 x 9 x 2 inch baking pan or 2 8 inch round pans

      

Preheat oven to 350º           

Sift together into a large mixer bowl

2 Cups cake & pastry flour

2 Cups sugar

3/4 Cup cocoa

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

Add

2 large eggs

1/2 Cup oil

1 Cup strong black coffee

1 Cup buttermilk

Beat at medium speed for 2 minutes.

The batter will be thin.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan or pans.

Smooth the surface with a spatula.

Bake until the cake is done, 35-45 minutes (30-35 minutes for round pans).

A toothpick should come out clean.

Let the cake cool in the pan on a wire rack for 5 minutes.

Invert the cake onto the rack and let it cool completely.

                        Mocha Fudge Frosting

Chop

8 ounces bittersweet chocolate

Place in a medium saucepan

1/2 Cup heavy cream

1/4 Cup butter

2 Tablespoons light corn syrup

1 teaspoon instant coffee powder

Heat until simmering.

Remove the pan from the heat and add

chopped bittersweet chocolate

Stir until smooth.

Chill, stirring occasionally, until the frosting is thick enough to spread.

Cut 2-inch-wide strips of wax paper.

Place the cake upside down on a serving platter or board.

Arrange the wax paper under the cake to protect the platter.

Spread the frosting over the cake with a spatula.

Smooth the frosting over the top and sides.

Let the cake set at least an hour before serving.