Two easy slow cooker recipes.

Here are three easy but not quick trophy H recipes to add some zip to your cooking life. They also make great gifts to give to other food fans. Slow cookers or crock pots as they used to be called are not just for pot roast anymore. Here are two simple ideas even a new cook can master.
Mushroom pate. Puree a kilo of fresh mushrooms in a food processor or a blender with a bit of red wine or vegetable stock. If you don’t have a machine, get someone who loves you or works for you to chop the mushrooms as finely as possible. I used morel mushrooms for this the last time because they were in season but you can use any kind of mushrooms. This is actually a time where even those tasteless white button mushrooms can be utilized or try a combo of mushrooms. Put the mushroom blend in a slow cooker and add some salt and a good amount of black pepper. I sometimes add a teaspoon of fresh chopped rosemary but you can leave out the herbs and just go with the mushrooms and salt and pepper.
Turn the cooker on low and leave the lid off to allow the liquid to evaporate. Scrape down the sides with a spatula every half hour or so and give the mix a stir. When most of the liquid is gone, after about 4 hours, you are left with a mushroom concentrate perfect for adding to sauces, marinades or just eating as a spread on your favorite toast.
I used this pate to stuff chicken breast two ways. I put a layer under the skin and I made a pocket incision in the side and filled that with a mixture of the mushrooms, chopped black olives and capers. I served this with a side of fried polenta with herbs to MrD.
The extra pate freezes well or you can store it in the fridge for about a week before a blue mold starts and you have a whole new fungus food group but you are likely to eat it all before either of those things are required.
My second trophy H recipe is even easier and just as useful. Blend together equal amounts of maple syrup and regular, not your 25 year old 150 dollar balsamic vinegar, in a slow cooker and let cook on the low temperature with the lid off. I usually make this at night time and just leave it simmer away until the morning. You don’t even have to stir this. You are left with a truly trophy glaze that works on everything from chicken to ice cream and lasts for months in your refrigerator. Store the maple balsamic glaze in one of those squeeze bottles so handy for plate decorating.

Morel Mushroom BBQ Sauce

1/3 cup smooth Dijon mustard
1/3 cup tomato paste
½ cup banana or regular ketchup
1/3 cup maple syrup
1/3 cup equal parts Balsamic and malt vinegars
¼ teaspoon ancho chili powder
½ cup precooked morel mushroom paste
½ cup precooked chopped morels

Stir all ingredients together and cook uncovered in your slow cooker on the low temperature setting for about 2 hours. Excellent for grilled leather, feather, fin or even veggies.

MrD and trophy H fly upfront.

Every so often when MrD and I have to do the shuttle run back and forth to Manila from Vancouver we use our mileage points to upgrade from our business class seats to first class. We have both put more than enough time sitting in monkey class and there is nothing wrong with that but when you are old and cranky its best to have a bit of leg room and a flat bed or just stay home.
Friends and family have asked me many times what it is like up there past the curtains. Most people really don’t like to hear about others having a good time as much as the bad side of things. Fair enough. Those people can now click the close button and get on with the real world. For the rest who want to hear about my trip in 2D then read on my silent readers. Here is an excerpt from my diary.
I settle into seat 2D for the 13 hour and 22 minute flight to Hong Kong from Vancouver. It’s already nearly 3 am. There are only six seats in first class and 2 attendants, Valerie and Clarisse to take care of us. Valerie, one of our two flight attendants brings my complimentary Shanghai Tang pajamas and a Bally amenity kit. I take time to peak inside the Bally double zippered black bag and find a tooth brush, Colgate mouth wash and tooth paste, all standard, a shoe horn, Acca Kappa amenities consisting of a lip balm, anti aging moisturizer, white moss facial mist, ear plugs and a wooden comb. All in all no surprises there. Tonight’s soft cotton PJ’s have a rusty brown trim. I quickly change into an older pair of PJ’s I brought with me, saving the new ones for future house guests to snuggle up in some day. I am wearing a blue trimmed pair from an earlier flight so I don’t look part of the “tour” plus the crew will know I’ve been here before.
MrD is seated just in front and is already flipping through the foreign language movie channels. A New York Hasidim Jewish couple have seats to our right. He is standing up in his prayer shawl rocking back and forth in mid prayers. The high walls or our first class suites hide whoever the two to our left are. I notice there are no fresh orchids in our wall mounted flower vases. Cut backs on Cathay?
I have given our head flight attendant a large bar of Lindt 85% dark chocolate. It’s a good travel tip to bring small gifts for the cabin staff no matter where they seat you on the plane.
It’s 2:35 am. The big bird leaves the docking area. Our welcome bubbles have been sipped and flutes collected. Up, up and away. Our monkeys are travelling with us tonight. I hope they don’t snore. I hope I do. I managed to get a couple of hours sleep before we left so I can stay awake and enjoy some of the luxurious service. In first you order your food ala carte from the menu and eat when you want. I want to watch a movie or two.
Clarisse just brought the dinner menu and said she’d checked on the where abouts of the missing orchids. Tonight’s food fare starts with caviar and smoked salmon, asparagus soup to follow before a salad of greens with grilled prawns, dried cranberries, pecans dressed in a dilled lemon dressing. To follow will be pan fried beef tenderloin and portabello mushrooms with Cabernet sauce, served along seasonal roasted veggies and red skin potato mash. There is also ricotta ravioli with tomato basil sauce if I want but pasta on planes never works out to be a good choice. It is always comes partially dried out. I take that back. The 2 dollar instant noodles you have to buy on Air Canada is a delightful meal choice considering their options.
There is also a Chinese menu. We are after all on the way to Hong Kong. Cathay offers a chicken and young coconut soup, followed by a cold plate of marinated bean curd and carrots with the main of stir fried sea food with X.O. sauce, steamed rice and stir fried veggies. Its first so we can pick and choose or go for the works.
But first before I order any food,Clarisse returns and drops off a dish of warm smoked almonds and offers me a flute of the Krug Grand Cuvee Champagne. The wine list reads like the who’s who of what wine connoisseurs drool over. Like the Vintage Chardonnay and nose in the glass Malbecs. Chateau stars from 2003. No 4 star entries here. They are back in business class. This flight features the 2009 Morgon. A French Bordeaux Burgundy, old old vines of Gamay. 2009 was an exceptional vintage with a dense crimson dark cherry hint laced with velvet tannins. It promises a persistent length still fragrant at 15 thousand feet in a pressurized tin can.
There are lots of good cheeses on the menu for desert like Cambozola, Cheddar, Oka or goat cheese to go with the fresh berries and custard or the triple chocolate cake with vanilla cream and raspberry coulis. (But haven’t we just about had about enough raspberry coulis?) There is also a choice of black sesame desert for our Chinese fans and a full supply of chocolate pralines in case we are still feeling peckish.
If I find myself getting hungry later on there are snacks of grilled pork quesadillas, chicken, cheddar, tomato and bacon baguettes or braised beef brisket with noodles in soup. There is also a hot pot of rice with a minced pork patty and mushrooms in chicken broth or several flavours of Haagan Dass ice cream.
All this should keep me going until breakfast arrives two hours before landing in Hong Kong. My menu promises fresh squeezed juices or papaya kiwi smoothies, fresh fruits and yoghurt with or without cereal. Eggs served which ever way I fancy, like, boiled, fried sunny side up or scrambled and served with grilled Canadian ham, Cajun sausage, potato rosti, grilled Roma tomatoes and asparagus. There is a basket of warm croissant, muffins and toast to go with all that.
There is also a breakfast tray of dim sum for our Chinese lover’s morning menu and of course Kosher meals for my neighbours.
All this with a cappuccino, latte or espresso?
I fasten my seat belt for the long flight ahead and prepare to stuff my face.
Tonight we have four choices in our own bread baskets. Cathay’s signature garlic bread is not toasted as well as I like it. Besides, who eats garlic bread with caviar? The Melba toast will do just fine. Clarisse offers second helpings of caviar and salmon but I decline and move on to the soup course. A warm crusty rosemary bun keeps me amused while I wait and shuffle the over abundance of silver and crystal around on my linen covered over sized table.
The asparagus soup arrives with floating bits of al dente spring spears. I order a glass of French 2006 Meursault Les Clous from Bouchard Pere & Fils. It is crisp and clean as the asparagus floating in the pottage.
The soup is a little thin but the asparagus shines through. The wine proves a perfect compliment and reminds me of spring mountain meadows on a cool morning. All this at 15,000 feet and 4am remember. I’m glad I had a long nap before all this indulgence. I have to pace myself so I leave some soup for Clarisse to clear. Moments later Valerie arrives with tonight’s salad of huge jumbo prawns and roasted pecans. The prawns are a little too dry but the greens are crisp and abundant. The dried cranberries are complimented by the subtle lemon dill dressing.
I keep going back for crumbs and nibbles of the soft rosemary bun. I am not a big bread eater but this has a punch I enjoy. Valerie clears my left over shrimp salad. I am still attempting to pace myself. The beef and a glass of 2009 Morgon will follow. It shows up looking just like the steaks served in business class but on a bigger plate and swimming in more gravy but in first class we don’t call it gravy. The Morgon I send back because it’s too floral and almost sweet. Clarrisse offers a snifter of the 2003 Lynch Bages. It matches well with the beef, green and yellow grilled zucchini, carrot cornels and my lovely smashed red potatoes.
I have been eating for two hours and I still have dessert and coffee to work my way through. I leave a lot of the steak and veggies. I choose 2 of the 4 cheese selections although they all look tempting. Clarisse offers the vintage Ramos Pinto 10 year old Port to go with the cheese but I decline and sip a tiny bit more of the Bages. I decide to pass on the three other desert choices or I will have to go jogging into the back monkey section or do a trophy H Roman diet number in the toilet.
Besides it is time to sleep so while I go freshen up and give my good nights to MrD who is still munching away and watching films in foreign languages, Clarrisse and Valerie make up my 81 inch flat bed with its own mattress, over stuffed pillows and thick white duvet. Our fellow travelers are already off to dreamland.
I won’t bore you with breakfast details other than to let you know that the smoothie was a good choice and the fried egg sunny side up was not.
And then poof, all too soon the 14 hours had passed and the captain had turned on the seat belt signs for landing.
I don’t know how I managed to waddle off the plane and through immigration but MrD and I were soon settled into our suite at the Marriott in Hong Kong Central just in time for another breakfast in the business lounge.

In search of the once a month perfect burger.

It’s one burger a month for the Trophy Husband. This better be good I silently implore Mandy the bartender at “The Two Parrots” on the corner of Granville and Davie Streets in downtown Vancouver. My “Beef Canuck Burger” arrives nearly hidden under a side of fries that look not too greasy and show good colour. I hate pale fries. The charred champion’s nestled on a multi-grain bun. I don’t enjoy chewing on white buns. His big thick meaty patty hides beneath a glistening blanket of melted Canadian cheddar. Two strips of crispy bacon snuggle topside on my precious. I see some dill pickle and a generous - maybe too generous - slice of uncooked red onion, two pieces of real tomato and a leaf of fresh curly lettuce.
This Canuck is too big for my Trophy H mouth. I rip into his side as he drips his warm juice down the back of my hand. My second attack goes for his top. I bite down hard enough to rip a hunk of this warm flesh and chew. My teeth discover grilled mushrooms with their perfect, nipple-like texture. A dollop of flavoured mayo squirts around my tongue. I douse the fries with black pepper, cider vinegar and lovely tears of yellow hot dog mustard. No salt. Never ketchup! I can easily leave a lot of the fries, but all this tasty Canuck is going home in my gut.
This is my once a month burger fling. The bun could have been a bit more toasted.
A five star burger? Not quite, but better than most bar burgers. The fries get three stars only. But fries don’t really count to a trophy H. It’s the meat. Good meat between excellent bits of buns. The rest is not important in my once a monthly.
“The four star burger and a glass of house red, taxes and Mandy’s tip comes in at $20.
Let me know where to try next month’s burger. I think I will be in Hong Kong or Manila.
Stay tuned for next week’s update, my silent reader.

Easy pleasing spring pasta.

Sorry my faithful silent reader to have left you hanging in cyber blog land for such a very long time. A lot of what has been happening in my life lately is best left unrecorded. I am back and will be sticking to writing about food this week.
There is a new restaurant called “Basil Pasta Bar” that opened here in Vancouver on Davie Street, just around the corner from where our home is located. They have a great selection of ingredients, several choices of pasta and excellent sauces. You just put together which ever combo suits your fancy. It makes for an excellent test kitchen for my trophy H pasta suppers loved by MrD and crowds of lucky dining guests.
Here is a great recipe for an easy pleasing pasta dish that you can make in your own kitchen.
I used fussily but any pasta you want will work just “bene”. Chop up a couple of anchovies, a strip of crunchy grilled bacon, a slice or two of smoked salmon and a couple of spears of grilled asparagus and add these all to the pasta with a spoon of pesto. Stir well and serve garnished with some crumpled goat cheese and fresh oregano.
Buon Appetito

One of my favorite trophy H holiday pastimes is to wander along a beach letting my mind drift off to sea while the sounds of the waves relaxes and soothes my city mind. Boracay is my place for getting away. I was spending a wonderful afternoon strolling along the coast minding my own business when I felt something like a light kiss on my ankle. It turned out to be a slight nudge from a black banded water snake. What this young devil was doing on the beach I didn’t know but I was glad it was too small to get its fangs into me. “Very poisonous,” grinned two sailors who sat watching. Fortunately I did not scream and or faint but just stepped away and admired the serpent in its camouflaged splendor.
The snake was only about a foot in length. It was clearly a baby. Its parents were likely a meter long. This sea krait has a flattened tail like a fin that enables them to swim. They are most comfortable underwater where they can stay submerged for 15 minutes but this hansom specimen was exploring the sandy shore of rocks and sea weed washed ashore on this lonely section of beach on the island of Boracay in the Philippines. I had seen a large cousin of this creature the first and only time I went snorkeling around the island some years ago. I am a fan of snakes but prefer them to be behind glass in a sealed terrarium or made into a nice belt.
I watched this young fellow slither over the volcanic rocks at the water’s edge. I managed to get out my video camera and take a short film to show my snow shoveling friends back in Canada. The two sailors kept up telling snake stories. In the olden days I might have grabbed a long stick and smashed the serpent into paste but I happily let this beauty continue on its slinky way. I did not mention the scene to MrD and MsH, my travel companions who would likely have insisted we leave the island immediately for the city.
When I returned to Manila I showed the video to my staff who oohed and awed at my luck to see the most poisonous snake in the Philippines. They explained it is worse than a cobra bite because there is no anti venom. You have 8 hours to live before the paralysis in the toxic venom stills your heart. Not a fun way for a trophy H to spend a holiday.

Time flies when I am too.

It is great to be back home in Manila. The last week or so has found me sitting at airports awaiting long, long overdue flights or finally on board, stretched out, with my feet up and a glass of champs, earphones on and flipping channels trying to forget just how long the flights from Vancouver to Sydney, Australia really are in actual hours. The added comfort of having my sister along for the ride made it all bearable but it has not been easy.
First Cathay Pacific’s flight from Vancouver to Hong Kong which originates in NYC was delayed from 2 am until 5am because of snow storms on the east coast. That meant that after the 12 hour flight across the Pacific we would miss our connecting flight to Manila. They transferred us to an afternoon flight 6 hours after our scheduled takeoff time. Fortunately the Cathay lounge has shower facilities so we could freshen up a bit. If you have to get stuck in an airport lounge then Cathay Pacific’s Hong Kong Wing Lounge is as good a place as any.
MsH and I finally made it home to my home in Manila to rest for the night but it was back to the airport the next day for another flight back to Hong Kong with connections to Sydney, Australia. This time the flights were on time but when we arrived in Sydney at our hotel about 9:30 am the following morning. Our hotel room was not ready until 1:30 and I had my first appointment at 2pm. Trophy H was not in a very energetic mood and had to dig deep for any signs of my good humour.
The rest of the time spent in Sydney was as wonderful as always. I introduced Sis to old friends and we both made a couple of new ones. In between alternating rain showers and heat waves we patted the kangaroos and got our photo with Maggie the Koala at Sydney’s Taronga Zoo. MsH and I supped, sipped and shopped some of Sydney’s sensational offerings. Busy friends invited us to fabulous picnics, delicious dinners at their houses and guided tours of the sites of Sydney most tourists would not get to experience.
All too soon our short visit down under finished and we flew back to Manila to meet up with MrD who arrived from Vancouver after a stay in Tokyo. Now we can relax at home and put our tired feet up in the heavy heat. Tuesday we three will be flying off again to my favourite Island of Boracay that readers remember from my previous blogs.

A trophy H's guide to Aussie slang for MsH.

I can speak a little trophy H Australian slang thanks to spending several debauched afternoons down under with one or three of our lovable Aussie neighbours. In less than two weeks time, the day before the Vancouver Winter Olympics begin, I will make tracks down under to Sydney Australia with my older sister MsH. (I am hoping she will meet an Aussie sheep farming surfer type bloke, fall in love, get married and move to the other side of the planet away from what's left of her dysfunctional family.) Sis is a saint, lives in the frozen Canadian mid north taking care of very old people inside an old folk’s factory. Sis wants to pet a roo before she karks it. We are flying on Cathay Pacific, not Qantas, because business class is really so much better on CX. I will have about 24 air hours, to teach MsH Australian. My teacher was a lairy wharfie with an Irish accent. I met him in a seedy bar on Oxford Street in Sydney, Australia. He was all smiles and reddish blond hair. He began to fire away that he hadn’t got a zack, but was easy. I offered him my xxxx in exchange for a language lesson. He sat down all of his 6’8” workman’s blond self beside me for a yabbber, told me I looked a tall poppy, a dag and a galah to boot all lairs and not some naff, lamb brained, Joe Bloggs sitting at Maccas, giving mates an earbashing, over some barney with the boss. “Onya!”, he grinned and leaning down low towards me, begged me for a pash.
I thanked him for his kind observances and reluctantly declined his offer, but I surely didn’t rack off about it.
MsH is packing and preparing for our CX veg out and ear bashings. I never fill up my suitcase early. You, silent reader, know that the trophy H packs well. Tune in next week for more travel ideas about packing and fashionable updates. I’ll have three
trophy H helpful hints on how not to appear to be nouveau trash when you fly business or first class. I will also explain when and where and with whom to perform properly, the upgrade eyelashes flutter... Have a good week.



. Aussie Slang Phrases from “A” to “Z”

A over T verb:- to fall over, from "arse over tits".Barney noun:- an argument or fight cark it verb:- to die. dag adjective:- bits of manure that stick to the long wool around a sheep's bottom forming small dangling balls. Also a term for a funny person, nerd, goof, loser. In this respect it can have either an endearing or disparaging meaning, although is usually used for a likable fellow. Earbashing noun:- to talk to, or be talked to, for a long time. Generally implies a reprimand. fire away verb:- used to tell someone to begin speaking, usually to begin speaking their mind. Galah adjective:- an endearing term for a fool or silly person. Also, and from, a particularly noisy parrot coloured Pink and Grey. have a burl, have a crack, have a go verb:- to attempt to do something considered a little difficult. I'm easy adjective:- not worried, not concerned, or has no preference to the outcome of a choice. Joe Bloggs noun:- the average person in the street. Although the term is male, it is non-specific and therefor signifies a person of either sex. kark it verb:- to die or cease operation. Lair noun:- a flashily dressed young man, or a lout. Lairy adjective:- flashy, particularly appearance. lamb-brained adjective:- some one who is stupid or impractical. Macca's noun:- McDonald's make tracks verb:- to leave, depart or head off. Naff adjective:- useless, low quality, ridiculous. Onya misc:- an expression of encouragement, short for good on you. Pash noun:- a long and enthusiastic kiss. QANTAS noun:- Australia's national air carrier. QANTAS is an acronym for Queensland and Northern Territory Aerial Services Ltd. rack off misc:- go away, used when very angry with someone tall poppy noun:- a successful person or achiever who, as a result, is the target of jealousy and grudging remarks. up a gum tree noun:- confused, in a quandary about a problem. veg out verb:- to relax and think of, er, nothing. Waffle noun:- nonsense wharfie noun:- a dockside worker. XXXX noun:- Four X, the brand name for a popular Queensland beer. yabber verb:- to talk too much zack noun:- a Sixpence. Pre decimal currency used before Feb 1966. The term is still used today, but to indicate that someone is broke. "I haven't got a zack".