GREETINGS FROM ROBSON!

We're back in the 'Big Buzz' a.k.a. Vancouver for the long Remembrance weekend. We live on Robson Street. I never venture far from it, as everything I enjoy is contained within this long and hugely stimulating 'Golden Mile'. I don't think I would like to live here full time as the noise and traffic would probably get to me after a while...and living dangerously close to shops, I'd be broke!! I enjoy it while I am here, but then I look forward to getting back to the peaceful tranquility of Victoria, my beloved garden city.

The last time I blogged I thought November would be a quiet and peaceful month but that's not the way it's shaping up. We have five new songs to learn for the Christmas concerts, our first one being the Oak Bay Christmas Light-up show on Sunday 24th of November. Then we sing with the Canadian Tenors at the Royal Theatre on December 10th which should be lots of fun. There will be lots of people performing and thankfully, I will be hiding in the huge choir behind them! No time to relax as we will be doing another Christmas concert on the 21st December. I'll be singing in the hail, rain and...hopefully not...snow!! They are all new songs to me and I'm trying to love them, but I'm not feeling a connection yet...I guess the more we get together, the happier I'll be!!

I went to my first Christmas Gala evening last Tuesday with some friends. It felt freaky listening to Christmas songs...I'm not quite there yet. Halloween is still in my head!! There was a fashion show, free manicures and makeovers, niblets of food (not enough to murder your appetite!) and all sorts of bits and bobs. Looking at the models parading in their lovely LBD's I guess it was more sensible to have finger food!

Oh yes, before I forget, I promised you the recipe for that delicious Moroccan Chicken dish I made over Halloween. Here goes:-

MOROCCAN CHICKEN

(This recipe feeds four people. I doubled it to feed 8)

I lb. skinless, boneless chicken breast meat - cubed
2 tsps. salt
1 onion chopped
2 cloves of garlic chopped
2 carrots, sliced
2 stalks celery, sliced
1 tbsp. minced fresh ginger root
half tsp. paprika
3/4 tsp. ground cumin
1/2 tsp. dried oregano
1/4 tsp. ground cayenne pepper
1/4 tsp. ground turmeric
1 1/2 cups chicken broth (I used stock cubes)
1 cup crushed tomatoes
1 cup canned drained chick peas
1 zucchini (courgette) sliced
1 tbs. lemon juice

Method:

Season chicken with salt and brown in a large saucepan over medium heat until almost cooked through. Remove chicken from pan and set aside.

Saute onions, garlic, carrots and celery in same pan, stir in the ginger, parprika,
cumin, oregano, cayenne pepper and turmeric. Stir fry for about one minute, then mix in broth and tomatoes. Return chicken to pan, reduce heat to low, and simmer for about ten minutes.

Add chickpeas and zucchini to pan and bring to simmering once again; cover pan and cook for about 15 minutes, or until zucchini is cooked through and tender. Stir in lemon juice and serve on bed of cous cous.

COUS COUS

I simply used one of those boxes of pre-seasoned cous cous. It came with the pine nuts, raisins and seasoning. I just added hot water, butter, and let it sit for 5 mins. then stirred it up. Delicious even by itself! You can also get wholegrain cous cous. I LOVE cous cous as it brings back happy memories of Paris and Morocco. Kevin doesn't like cous cous (in fact not a lot of people do) so I did rice as an alternative as well as the cous cous.

ENJOY!!

Love,

Patricia xxx