Recipe: Hash Brown Casserole

This is really easy to make, goes well with meat of your choice or salad for you vegetarians.

2 – 16 Oz Package of Frozen Hash Browns
2 cups sour cream
2 – 10 oz cans of mushroom soup
¼ cup of melted butter
¼ cup chopped green onion
2 cups grated cheddar cheese
Topping: ¼ cup Parmesan cheese
2 tbsp chopped parsley

Break up frozen potatoes. Mix with other ingredients. Put in buttered 9×12 casserole dish. Sprinkle the topping on top. Bake at 350 degrees for 1 ½ hour.

Lego Spotlight: LEGO 891 Two-Man Scooter, Non-US Version of 442

LEGO 891 Two-Man Scooter, Non-US Version of 442

Being between jobs gives me more time for my hobbies and since I recently moved but haven’t had the time to really organize the new place until now, I thought I’d finally get around to doing a formal inventory of my Lego collection.

My Lego collection is the only thing I own that’s actually worth money, but I could never part with it. I still get Lego for Christmas every year (recently it’s been Star Wars Lego) and when I have income, I do hunt for older sets on eBay.

This is the first set I have got when I was four or five in the late 70s. I actually have two of this set, but have used one for spare parts for other broken sets.

Early Space Lego only had white and red astronauts. Over time, other colours were added starting with yellow and later, blue and black.

Recipe: Golden Mushroom Pork & Apples

2 cans (10 3/4 ounces each) Campbell’s® Condensed Golden
Mushroom Soup (Cream of Mushroom soup will work too)
1/2 cup water
1 tablespoon packed brown sugar
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon dried thyme leaves, crushed
8 boneless pork chops, 3/4-inch thick (about 2 pounds)
4 large Granny Smith apples, sliced
2 large onions, sliced (about 2 cups)

Stir the soup, water, brown sugar, Worcestershire and thyme in a 3 1/2-quart slow cooker. Add the pork, apples and onions.
Cover and cook on LOW for 8 to 9 hours or until the pork is cooked through, or on HIGH for 4 to 5 hours.

Serving Suggestion: Serve with a field greens salad tossed with toasted walnuts, blue cheese crumbles and red wine vinaigrette with
Texas toast or garlic bread. For dessert serve a fruit and yogurt parfait; layer strawberry yogurt with chunks of pineapple and green
seedless grapes, then sprinkle with granola.

Nutrition Information
Calories 277, Total Fat 9g, Saturated Fat 3g, Cholesterol 57mg, Sodium 603mg, Total Carbohydrate 26g, Dietary Fiber 4g, Protein
23g, Vitamin A 11%DV, Vitamin C 7%DV, Calcium 4%DV, Iron 7%DV

Yes, You Can Cha Cha to Lady Gaga

Daniella, Lindsay and GaryWhen I first started my ballroom dancing lessons last September, I’ve learned a lot more steps across six dances: waltz, tango, fox trot, rumba, swing and cha cha.

The latter has proven to be my favourite dance of late. It’s fast, it’s fun and it’s great for dancing to a lot of popular music. So when it came time to select a dance for my latest spotlight dance, it was a no brainer. I told Lindsay, one of my teachers, that a cha cha to Lady Gaga would be fun. I was half kidding, but only days later she and my other teacher Daniella conspired to develop a route to Bad Romance.

But here’s the kicker: I wouldn’t be dancing with just one partner – I would be dancing with two!

Dancing with two partners made rehearsals challenging, but I knew it would be routine to remember. It was tricky, but a lot of fun and it caught the audience by surprise too. My friends Jonathan and Izabella were there once more to cheer me on, as well as my friend Natalie and my friend David, who snapped some photos.

Recipe: Sweet-And-Sour Ribs

Tasty and easy to make in your slow cooker.

Brown sugar, packed 2 cups 500 mL
All-purpose flour 1/4 cup 60 mL
Water 1/3 cup 75 mL
White vinegar 1/2 cup 125 mL
Ketchup 2 tbsp. 30 mL
Soy sauce 2 tbsp. 30 mL
Garlic powder 1/4 tsp. 1 mL
Ground ginger 1/4 tsp. 1 mL
Pork side ribs, cut into 2 or 3 bone portions 3 lbs. 1.4 kg

Combine brown sugar and flour in medium saucepan. Add water. Stir. Add next 5 ingredients. Heat and stir on medium until boiling and thickened.

Layer ribs and brown sugar mixture in 5 to 7 quart (5 to 7 L) slow cooker.

Cook, covered, on Low for 10 to 12 hours or on High for 5 to 6 hours.
Serves 6.

1 serving: 720 Calories; 32.0 g Total Fat (14.2 g Mono, 2.9 g Poly, 11.7 g Sat); 128 mg Cholesterol;
77 g Carbohydrate; trace Fibre; 32 g Protein; 449 mg Sodium

Care to Waltz?

Gary and LindsayLast week I performed my first dance routine in public.  Every few months students are encourage to perform a “spotlight dance” in front of other students and guests. It was scary and amazing at the same time.

This spotlight was close to Christmas so the dance was performed to a holiday song. I actually brought my entire Christmas CD collection into the studio for my instructor Lindsay to go through. Ultimately she selected a song by Enya. We did a waltz, which had quickly become my favourite dance.

I did two lessons a week for several weeks leading up to the big night and we even had a professional dance coach come in to help with the choreography. Preparing and practicing a routine is a lot like planning a wedding: It takes a lot of time but the actual event flies right by. The routine itself was two-and-a-half minutes.

I was so nervous leading up to the performance, but it went flawlessly. It was a fantastic experience, thanks in large part to my instructor Lindsay. My friends Wenn, Ashley, Jonathan and Izabella came out to watch.

When I first started dancing in September I had no idea I would enjoy the performance aspect so much. I can’t wait until the next one.

A big thanks to Wenn for capturing it on video!

Gary Hilson is a writer, editor and digital media specialist for hire. He lives in Toronto.

Farscape: Through the Looking Glass / A Bug’s Life [DVD Review]

Farscape: Through the Looking Glass / A Bug’s Life
DVD / ADV Films / November 2003

The ninth DVD in the Farscape series begins with a great standalone episode and finishes with an episode that opens the door on storylines that will resonate well into the third season of SF series.

In “Through the Looking Glass,” the passengers aboard Moya are hotly debating their next move – some want to leave the biomechanoid ship for fear that her pregnant condition may make her easier to capture by the Peacekeepers.

Crichton would like to stay, if only because the Uncharted Territories are where the worm holes are, while Aeryn is the only one who wishes to remain aboard Moya out of loyalty to the ship and her Pilot. The argument is cut short when Pilot interjects to say that Moya feels confident enough that she can starburst to put some distance between her and the Peacekeepers. Needless to say, starburst does not go as planned. In the aftermath, the crew discovers Rygel has disappeared. Setting off to look for him, Aeryn and D’Argo also disappear in a flash of light before the other’s very eyes. Crichton soon stumbles through inter-dimensional doors leading to four different Moyas. It turns out Moya is stuck in starburst — she didn’t have enough power to complete the journey. To top it off, there’s an alien entity roaming the corridors of all four Moyas, leaving large scratches in the hull. Crichton’s science background is put to the test here as he races to merge Moya back together and free her from starburst before time runs out.

“Through the Looking Glass” is at its heart a puzzle and thoroughly entertaining from beginning to end. As often is the case, it’s Crichton who clues in first and has to rally the crew to come up the solution.

There’s also some hilarious interplay between the characters, as well as some bonding in the peril – both proving why this series is a few steps beyond the average TV SF: the characters are the heart of the story.

“A Bug’s Life” for the most part is also a standalone story, but it sets events in motions that have immediate effect through the end of the first season and well into Farscape’s third year. When special commandos are forced by a fuel leak to come aboard the ship, they are deceived into believing that Moya is still under Peacekeeper control. They reveal to Aeryn and Crichton (acting as a Peacekeeper company) that they are on a mission to a secret base to deliver an unmarked crate. Curious about the crate’s contents, Rygel and Chiana are the first to discover an unseen enemy: a lethal virus living within a host body. Virtually undetectable, the virus plays a deadly jumping game as it changes host from Thonn to Chiana to Crichton.

No longer able to continue the ruse, Crichton et al must work with the commandos to recapture the virus. However, their efforts will have deadly consequences for at least one of Moya’s crew.

“A Bug’s Life” is the weaker episode on this disc, but is redeemed by an action-packed ending that has ramifications for years to come.

As for the extras, they’re pretty slim, although the video profile of Lani Tupu offers fascinating insight into the characters of Crais and Pilot. It’s just too bad that these profiles don’t have footage of the actors interacting off screen and between scenes.

“Through The Looking Glass” — 10/10
“A Bug’s Life” — 7/10
DVD Extras — 6/10

Gary Hilson is a writer, editor and digital media specialist for hire. He lives in Toronto.