When I first heard there was a possible poisoning in an exotic foreign setting, my first thought was "Texas"! Imagine my surprise on learning that "Cat Stew" is a specialty of the Far East, not the Deep South!!

Recipe available upon request....

My cat retched upon hearing the news. Evidently there's a family connection...Oh, wait - I just remembered: she habitually retches for no apparent reason...usually on our living room rug

Well, it's been way too long since I posted a recipe here, so I thought I'd once again upset our meat-and-taters contingent of readers with a selection:

SPAGHETTI WITH ANCHOVY CARBONARA

Ingredients
12 oz spaghetti
1/4 c olive oil
3 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
1 2 oz can flat anchovies, drained and chopped
pinch of red pepper flakes
1/2 tsp finely grated lemon zest
1 Tbsp chopped oregano
1/4 c chopped parsley
2 lg egg yolks
Salt and ground black pepper

Directions
1 - Cook the spaghetti, drain, reserving 1/2 cup of the liquid.
2 - In a large skillet, heat the oil with the garlic and anchovies, cook over medium-high heat about two minutes, breaking up anchovies. Add the red pepper, lemon zest, oregano, and parsley. Add the pasta, and toss to coat. Remove from heat.
3 - Whisk the egg yolks with the reserved water, and add to the pasta. Cook over low heat, tossing, about one minute. Season with salt and pepper, and serve.

Here's another anchovy recipe. Super easy and it's from Gwyneth Paltrow's cookbook. DS and I gobbled this up for lunch today with a bitter green salad.

Anchovy Vinaigrette
Gwyneth's description in the book:
"A two-minute dressing (if that) that adds tremendous flavor to bitter greens. I adore this with escarole, I could eat it as a whole meal. This is my mother's favorite dressing so I make it all the time for her by special request. I got my deep love of anchovies from her."

6 olive oil packed spanish anchovies
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar (my note: I add extra of this)
1/3 c extra virgin olive oil
freshly ground black pepper

Whiz the anchovies, mustard, and vinegar together in a blender, being sure to get the anchovies completely pureed. With the motor on, slowly stream in the olive oil. Season to taste with the pepper.
(my note: I just throw it all in the blender and whiz ~ I don't do the olive oil and pepper in different steps)

Those anchovy recipies are horrifying.

Dinner tonight... Campbell's Chicken, Barley, and Mushroom soup and Island Pineapple Jello and two percosets.

Hope it settles well, if not then we'll try clear broth and jello tomorrow morning.

Oh, anchovy recipes:::salivating::: I adore anchovies - thank you, Susie and NG! I'll give you a review after we try them out!

Hopeful, if you have only ever had anchovies on pizza, you may be surprised. When it's broken down like in the dressing or in hot oil, it doesn't really taste fishy. It's just salty and yummy.

Marital, I do hope you try out that dressing recipe. It's my new fav

Here's a recipe I threw together a few years ago. I was at one time a dedicated "gym rat" and wanted a high-protein, low calorie, quick-fix meal for post-workout recovery.

Ingredient:

1 cup quick rice (or 1/2 cup regular rice)
1 Tbs. olive oil
1 can tuna fish (in water, not oil)
1 tsp. anchovy paste
1/2 tsp. red pepper flakes
1 Tbs. capers

Prepare the rice according to package directions.
In a small saucepan, heat the olive oil. Add the tuna and stir. Add the remaining ingredients and stir until heated well. Remove from heat and serve over rice.

I'm quite certain that your fellow gym participants stayed away from you.

I never cooked it until I was HOME from the gym. It was a post-workout meal, not a pre-workout warmup.

I forgot to tell you about the Burns Night supper we had last week, in honour of the Scottish bard, Robert Burns' birthday.

We had Cullen Skink, haggis, neeps (which someone told me you call "rutabaga" - is that right? The orange-fleshed root vegetable that you mash) and chappit tatties, followed by Trifle made with Drambuie.

It was very delicious.

EEEEGADSSSSSSSZZZZZZZZZZZZ

We had Cullen Skink, haggis, neeps, and chappit tatties, followed by Trifle made with Drambuie.

Delicious, indeed!

My housemate and good friend made a haggis last year.

She (nor I really) couldn't cook much other than hamburger helper and maybe this was just a bad example, but I threw it, pan and all out into the yard and took her to the K&W for dinner.

We had to air the house for HOURS to get the aroma of the Haggis out.

Sassenachs, the lot of you!

(I'm only very distantly Scottish, but I'm hoping to eat my way to a passport if they if go independent.)

I am one quarter Scot, and it's still sounds pretty bad to me.

I'd give it all a go, except maybe the neeps - which were once historically "unfit for eating" and used for crop rotation and animal feed.

Most of it has to be better than Boidin noir... though, were I ever to find it actually in casings, I might give it another try.

Just so everyone knows what is being discussed:

Cullen skink: a thick Scottish soup made of smoked Finnan haddie (haddock), potatoes and onions.

Haggis: a kind of savoury pudding containing sheep's 'pluck' (heart, liver and lungs), minced with onion, oatmeal, suet, spices, and salt, mixed with stock, and traditionally encased in the animal's stomach and simmered for approximately three hours.

Neeps: either mashed turnips or "swedes", which is a relative of kohlrabi

Chappit tatties: potatoes mashed with butter and finely chopped onions (or chives); can be formed into patties and secondarily grilled

Don't forget the trifle, NG...

In layers: Sponge cake spread with raspberry jam, soaked in .25 pt sherry. Proper jelly, set with raspberries through it, and couple of tablespoon of Drambuie to make a Scot's trifle. Proper custard. Cream, with a drop of Drambuie whipped through it, piled high. Raspberries on top to decorate. Heart attack to finish.

Heart attack to finish.