Mexican Shells with Boursin Red Chilli Pepper

Ingredients

• 150g (6 oz.) Boursin® Red Chili Pepper
• 24 round mini nachos shells
• 30ml (2 tbsp.) olive oil
• 1 onion, diced
• ½ green pepper, diced
• ½ red pepper, diced
• 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• Salt and pepper
• Fresh coriander

Preparation

Step 1

In a skillet on medium-high heat, fry the onions for 2 minutes in olive oil. Add the peppers and garlic, and then cook for 3 more minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste, turn off the stove and set the mixture aside.

Step 2

Preheat the oven to 190 °C (375 °F). In a large bowl, combine the Boursin® with the fried vegetables. Fill the shells with the mixture and place them on a baking sheet. Bake for 10 minutes.

Step 3

Garnish each shell with a leaf of fresh coriander and serve immediately.

Beef Hoisin Mini Meatballs

Prep time: 15 minutes
Cook time: 13 minutes

Ingredients

Meatballs

• 8 oz extra-lean ground beef
• 3 Tbsp dry bread crumbs
• 2 Tbsp hoisin sauce
• 1 tsp crushed garlic
• 1 egg
• 2 Tbsp minced green onion

Sauce

• 1/3 cup hoisin sauce
• 1/3 cup red currant jelly
• 1 tsp crushed garlic
• 1/2 tsp minced fresh ginger
• 2 Tbsp water

Garnish

• 2 Tbsp chopped green onion
• 2 Tbsp chopped fresh cilantro

Directions

1. For the meatballs, combine the beef, bread crumbs, hoisin sauce, garlic, egg and onion. Form into 20 to 24 meatballs, about one inch in diameter.

2. Spray a large non-stick skillet with cooking oil and add the meatballs. Cook over medium-high heat for three minutes, turning until browned on all sides.

3. For the sauce, combine the hoisin sauce, jelly, garlic, ginger and water in a small bowl. Add to the meatballs and stir well. Cover and simmer on low heat for 10 minutes.

4. Serve garnished.

Last evening at Maureen's

Thank you for everything, Maureen. Your home and hospitality are awesome with that little extra grace: an alphabetized bookshelf.  And thank you for providing Glenn Gould's Goldberg Variations.

Do Not Say We Have Nothing inspired some enthusiastic conversation about an obscure bit of history.

    

Books we mentioned: 

• The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing by Marie Kondo
• The Little Red Chairs by Edna O'Brien
• The Break by Katherina Vermette
• A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles
• The German Girl by Armando Lucas Correa
• The Cellist of Sarajevo by Steven Galloway
• Purity by Jonathan Franzen
• Exit West by Mohsin Hamid 

Recommended movies: 

• The Founder
• A United Kingdom

All Our Names

February thaw - Yes!

Thank you to Susan for a special evening. It was perfect as usual.

Thank you also to the groundhog for this amazing weather.

All Our Names has an unusual structure, and most of us found it a little disconnected because of the two narratives and the various locations.  I wish I'd heard Mengestu talk about the book in advance but here he is now talking about his intentions:



There were no changes in the dates or locations for the next few book club evenings.

• March 23 will be at Maureen's and the book title is Do Not Say We Have Nothing by Madeleine Thien.
• On April 20 we'll go to Saara's for a discussion of Best Kind of People by Zoe Whittall.
• The May 11 meeting will be at Lynda's where we'll talk about 13 Ways of Looking at a Fat Girl by Mona Awad.

We are resolved to consult with everyone about future dates to avoid conflicts if possible.

Books mentioned at our meeting: 

• His Whole Life by Elizabeth Hay
• The Hunter and the Wild Girl by Pauline Holdstock
• The Joys of Motherhood by Buchi Emecheta
• Just Kids by Patti Smith
• The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
• Son of a Certain Woman by Wayne Johnston
• Naked Lunch by William S. Burroughs

With Oscar night nearly upon us, we came up with this list of memorable films: 

• Hell and High Water
• Hacksaw Ridge
• La La Land
• Lion
• Manchester by the Sea
• Hidden Figures
• Fences
• Jackie
• Moonlight
• Arrival 

General Interest: 

• Learning Unlimited Etobicoke will resume again in the fall
• Hot Docs usually lists something interesting, including their festival
• Lifelong Learning Mississauga has spring series on Tuesdays and Thursdays

Netflix Pix:

• Line of Duty
• Rectify
• The Fall
• Paranoid
• Santa Clarita Diet  

Don't miss these (not on Netflix yet): 

• This is Us
• Pure

Evening at Mai Bistro

Last evening, we celebrated our 20th anniversary by dining at Mai Bistro where the food and service were delightful.  Thanks again, Sue, for not only suggesting this cozy spot, but also for selecting the wonderful sharing plates.

It has been 20 years since Wanda got us started and some 200 books later, we are still opining away. A very big thank you, Wanda.

The damper on last night's celebration was that Marian was ill with the flu and could not attend. We toasted you, Marian, with thanks to instituting and maintaining our blog.  Get well soon.

We changed our plans for some of our future meetings:

• The February 22 meeting will now be at Sue's where we'll talk about All Our Names by Dinau Mengestu.
• March 23 (no change) will be at Maureen's and the book title is Do Not Say We Have Nothing by Madeleine Thien.
• On April 20 we'll go to Saara's for a discussion of The Best Kind of People by Zoe Whittall.
• The May 11 meeting will be at Lynda's where we'll talk about 13 Ways of Looking at a Fat Girl by Mona Awad.

Details for January

It appears that the majority of us like the idea of celebrating our anniversary at Mai Bistro on Dundas Street West near Burnhamthorpe.  The date is still Thursday the 5th. A big thanks to Susan for making the arrangements. See you there at the usual time. 

Remember Me Like This

Remember Me Like This was controversial and stirred up quite a lot of comment.  Like it or hate it, you have to admit that the conversation about this novel was fun.

Somehow we discovered that we had reached a milestone: it's twenty years since our book club began! This is cause for celebration and so we've ditched our plan to go to Lynda's next month. Instead we'll meet at a restaurant. Probably we'll stick with the same date: January 5th. The location hasn't been decided yet.  I'll post the information here as soon as we finalize our plan.

This change means that the date for book club at Lynda's has moved up to February 22nd. The book will be All our Names by Dinaw Mengestu.  And following that change, we'll go to Maureen's on March 23rd for Do Not Say We Have Nothing by Madeleine Thien.

April 20th will be at Sue's.  We'll talk about The Best Kind of People by Zoe Whittall.
On May 11th the book will be 13 Ways of Looking at a Fat Girl by Mona Awad and we'll be at Saara's.

Books that were mentioned:

• A Marriage of Opposites by Alice Hoffman
• The Party Wall by Catherine Leroux
• Sweetland by Michael Crummey

Movie recommendations:

• Arrival
• Moonlight
• Manchester by the Sea
• Mustang

And Netflix:

• Longmire
• Dicte
• 30 Degrees in February
• Case
• Rams
• Midnight Diner

Almond Cheddar Appetizers 

Ingredients:

1 cup mayonnaise
2 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
1 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese
1 medium onion, chopped
3/4 cup chopped almonds
6 bacon strips, cooked and crumbled
1 baguette

Preparation:

Combine mayonnaise and Worcestershire sauce.  Stir in cheese, onion, almonds and bacon.
Cut bread into 1/2 in. slices.  Spread with cheese mixture.  Cut each in half.  (or cut in half before spreading with cheese). Bake at 400 for 10 minutes or until bubbly. Yield: about 4 dozen.

Unbaked appetizers may be frozen. Place in a single layer on a baking sheet; freeze for 1 hour. Remove from the baking sheet and store in an airtight container for up to 2 months. When ready to use, place unthawed appetizers on a greased baking sheet. Bake at 400° for 10 minutes or until bubbly.

Toblerone Shortbread

Ingredients:

2 cups room temperature butter
1 cup superfine sugar
1/2 cup corn starch
3 1/2 cups flour
2 bars (100g) toblerone chocolate (I used one big bar, around 300 g in all)
3 tbsp. icing sugar

Preparation:

Heat oven to 350 F.

Beat butter and superfine sugar in large bowl with mixer on high speed until light and fluffy. Mix flour and corn starch. Gradually add to butter mixture, beating well after each addition. Stir in chocolate.

Drop by heaping tablespoons 1 inch apart on baking sheet.  Bake until lightly browned. When cool sprinkle with icing sugar.