Gordon Ramsay's Turkey Meal

Everyone, I guess, knows Gordon Ramsay and his obnoxious behavior on TV shows such as Hell's Kitchen. There was another show, that I had not seen before, yesterday by a company called One Potato, Two Potato which in it Gordon and his family were making different meals. 

I watched that for probably up to two hours. The fact that he makes excellent food is undeniable but he consumes too much Sugar, Oil and Butter. He never uses, or at least I never noticed in 10 to 15 meals that he made, Whole Grain or Whole Wheat Flour and he has an excellent kitchen with top of the line equipment which is very hard to get. Gordon Ramsay when he's making food with either of his 3 daughters or his Mom or his soul son, is very different from Gordon Ramsay who swears the hell of the poor people who make stupid mistakes in his kitchen!

Anyways this week we decided to make his Turkey dinner so we got ourselves a medium-size Turkey and other ingredients according to him. I did the preliminary preparation yesterday and let the bird rest in the refrigerator for a day. Here is the list of ingredients in case someone is interested:

1- One medium Turkey.

2- Butter. (1 block of 454 g. Unsalted).

3- Olive Oil. (You figure out how much you will need during preparation).

4- Garlic (3 cloves).

5- Salt.

6- Pepper.

7- Lemon (2 medium or bigger size depending the size of your Turkey).

8- Onion (2 Mediums or large depending the size of your Turkey).

9- Bay Leaves (2 - 3 leaves).

10- Parsley (a handful, preferably ⅓ of a bunch).

11- Bacon (4 to 5 strips).

The ingredients for the turkey meal

Instruction:

1- Crush Garlic, and chop Parsley.

2- Mix Butter, Olive Oil, Salt and Pepper and add them all to Parsley and Garlic.

3- Grind the zest of the Lemons.

4- Add the juice of Lemons.

5- Mix them all and set aside.

6- Halve the onions and Lemons. (leave the skin of the Onions on).

7- Loosen the skin with fingers and then stuff the bird with Onions, Bay Leaves and Lemons.

8- Slide the paste mix underneath the skin and rub the rest on it.

9- Add some Olive Oil on the top.

10- Put it in the oven over 220 ̊ C for 10 minutes.

11- Take the bird out and bath it.

12- Put the strips of Bacon on the breast.

13- Turn the oven to 180 ̊ C and cook for 2.5 hours or half an hour per kilogram.

14- Bath every so often, if you could.

The Paste

Ready to go!

The result was awesome, delicious, moist, fully cooked Turkey. I turned the oven off after exactly 2.5 hours and let the bird be inside for another 1 hour. By the time we were ready to eat the meal, it had been cooled down enough. We started from the bacon strips which were so crispy and tasty. Then we got the legs, each for one of us. That was enough meat for the day. Turkey is a very rich meat and we were full after that without having any side items. The rest will be kept in the refrigerator and freezer for the next coming days that we are in the mode of this kind of meat. They are going to be excellent in Turkey Sandwich and also Green Salad with Turkey Chunks.

(Photo, top: The Turkey has been taken out of the oven and ready to be served)

A Nightmare in Kananaskis: Baldy Pass

I wanted to try Mountain Baldy again today so I saddled up and headed toward Kananaskis through Highway No. 1 again. It has been a couple of stupid days in Calgary. Temperature went up to 9 ̊ C and we had to leave the window open to be able to sleep, at least for the most of the night. With that Chinook happening I though it would be easier to run up the mountain and come back down but I was dead wrong! I started at exactly 11:00 AM and simply followed the footsteps from the trail-head where the sign is erected. The first 15 minutes of the hike is annoying because you are walking in the forest but parallel to Highway No. 40 and the annoying noise from the speeding cars is in your ears. Then you turn toward east deeper in the forest and it becomes better but the real trouble appear just after a few minutes of hike: Deep soft snow. If you do not have a good pair of Snowshoes, forget about the hike. I started going deep in to the snow and you know how annoying and frustrating that can be, right after I turned in to the east. Fortunately someone or maybe two had taken the route before me so I had a bit of guidance and stomped snow to follow! The trail goes besides and at time from the inside a stream or gully and I continuously skidded and slipped! This was going on until I reached a cairn at a some sort of junction which at my left was a ridge leading to Mountain Baldy, at my right was a trail leading to another peak which I don't know what it is called and in front of me was a valley of evergreen threes. 

I decided to go right because to me for whatever reason it seemed that the right peak is much easier to reach compare to Mountain Baldy that I had to have lots of walk on the ridge and close to the edges. The trail here is very easily detectable and has been marked by footsteps, especially because there was not much snow at the beginning, and also several cairns. I realized that the weather was changing and that actually was in the forecast. Strong wind started and that blew snow in to my eyes and head. I immediately equipped myself with a hat and glasses and carried on. It was not very bad for a few minutes but then I lost the trials or it had been buried under so much snow that I could not find it and got stuck in deep snow. Snow was almost to my waist but I wanted to go so I managed to pass the first barrier but then more snow and deeper this time appeared in front of me and that was the time I decided to turn back. I descended back to the first cairn and decided to take my chances at the other side, where the ridge would have taken me to Mountain Baldy. I claimed up a bit and the wind was getting stronger and more clouds were coming in so I decided not to take the risk and came back. 

The return was 10 times worse than the ascend! I guess it was mainly because that the snow was softer I was tired. I was cursing and going! I twisted my ankle a few times but I was lucky enough not to break it. I reached the parking lot eventually at 15:15 hours, almost and went home. 

(Photo: Mountain Lorette, at the other side of Highway No. 40, is seen here from Baldy Pass on the way back. From here to parking lot is only about 15 minutes)

Disappointing Party

This years Christmas Party, unlike what I had though, was held but the obvious differences were very visible. But let me start from the damn stupid cab company. I wanted to be sure that we will have a cab on time at our door steps so I called 4 days in advance and booked the cab, let's say Wed. noon. On Thu. when I was going home at about 17:10 hours my telephone rang and automatic message notified me that my cab had arrived!! Can you imagine something as stupid as that!? So I talked to the Paki and he agreed to leave. I would have not paid a dime, had he asked any money. 

So I called a day in advance and surprisingly it came only after 5 minutes! For that reason we arrived at least 10 minutes early which was fine. A few people were there and I found someone to talk to while we were drinking something. Before that I realized that the people had been directed to a different room which while it was nice, it was much smaller than the previous years. Understanding the number of guests would be less, that was OK. I decided to get a myself something stronger. So I went to the bar. Surprisingly I realized that Jack was not there! The guy gave me something similar, in his own opinion but after one try I decided to go with a different Whiskey, a different brand, which tasted better to me. I guess I had a few of them. Then it came to dinner time and checked out the buffet by staying in a short line and it didn't look so bad but when I had my first round I find myself in no position to go for the second trip and just limited myself to the desert and that was the end of it. To me the difference between the quality of the meal in this year and the last year's was very obvious. The next few hours was spent on chats with people, watching dancers and that was all. We decided to leave early, compare to the ones who had come way after us and we did. 

(Photo: I tried to get a shot from the ceiling which was illuminated by the D. J. guys nicely but does not seem to be very appealing!)

Communication Towers

There was a program on the radio once I was driving a few month ago which they were discussing the tele-communication towers and their rapid growth around the city. Of course not their growth but grow in their numbers. People were complaining how ugly they are and how cellular phone companies go around the laws to be able to plant more in and around the city. According to a some sort of city by-law or any other jurisdictional regulations, communication towers should not be taller than X meters. So the companies started ordering theirs in X-.5 meter and planting them everywhere they needed! That actually is a very good example as how laws work in Canada. There are thousands of different regulations for everything but because there is always a way to get around it or alter it, most of them of broken. Rather than that there is not much enforcement so no one cares to follow. 

(Photo: I found this tower in a small manufacturing facility and when I talked to the owner of the shop and asked him if he receives rent for that he confirmed and added that he wished they had put up more of this on his property!)

Heart Mountain's 2nd Attempt Failed!

I went to Heart Mountain again today with the intent to hike it all the way up. It was a sunny and not very cold day. Only -14 ̊ C! It was almost 12:15 PM by the time I got there and just seeing a few vehicle parked gave me this hope that the trail is open and people are hiking but I was apparently wrong. Shortly after my start at 12:24 PM I saw a group of fellas with rock climbing equipment and first though they had been to Heart but I was wrong they had been probably to the Creek to practice. 

So when I hit the trial I realized that I am the only one who, to that moment, has attempted to go up. It was not really a good start because although it was not very cold there was too much snow. At first I was in up to my ankle and not wearing boots, gaiters, warm pants and socks was a bit disturbing but the higher I got the better I felt. At the same time the weather was more pleasant because the sun was shining and warming me but then skidding and sliding started and the snow got deeper. I had my spike devices right from when I left the parking lot but heavy snowfall hides the rocks and spikes and crampons are shit on them. Then I started looking for a stick to not only help me on my way up but also I could measure the depth of snow and find my way. For the next hour it was not bad. I mainly stayed on the trail but whenever I got off it, I was up to my knees in the snow. Then I had a few meters of climbing using my hands and then I lost the trail and got tired and lazy! But the main issue was my feet which was so cold and heavy of ice and snow! I turned back and headed down after that. I certainly went higher this time and I believe I only had half an hour or so to reach the top but because of the cold in my feet I decided to descend. 

(Photo: Lac Des Arcs from the trail of Heart Mountain in a beautiful December day)

Flashback (28): Chicken Shit(!)

There was this tiny guy at work whom I had to deal with at times. An asshole! I barely saw him working but he was highly regarded and was sent to a supplier premises once in another continent. I personally didn't have any major issue but not receiving a response from him when I called but that was OK. These guys, Caucasians, generally don't like foreigners and on the top of that when it comes to questioning. We had another Caucasian who sat in the same room as mine for a while and I'm not sure whether I have a post about him or not but he was an old-timer, in his late 60s, I would say. So one day we were sitting and doing our daily things and the tiny guy, whom I would call him Chicken Shit based on what the old timer named him later, showed up and started arguing with the old guy. I was a bit surprised because first of all the old guy could be his father. I expected him to have respect for someone as old as him. Second of all he could simply call him to another room and tell him about his problem instead of yelling at him. in front of everyone. Anyways the guy quit I guess more than a year ago. Then last week I somehow learnt about his salary and that was a  surprise to me as well. I expected him to be well paid but I was not impressed. He selected a long and funny title for himself, probably to impress others as well as feeling good about himself. I'm not saying that he was a fool but he pretended more than what he really was I guess. He now works where that I think his title fits better. I know his salary is higher. If we consider the regular annual raise for every year that he worked his salary today would be even less than mine! But I guess he's happy now that he doesn't work with us, have a better salary and does what he likes. 

(Photo: Chicken Shit or as it is also true chickenshit is considered someone inefficient! For that guy, the term works perfectly as he also was tiny and small, which resembles not only a chicken but even lower, chicken shit!)