Oil Damage, Dolphins and Pelicans.

Matt has another physio today, hope it goes well for him. I was thinking I might do the same thing, but bearing in mind how much he was aching on Tuesday, I am having major second thoughts. Although the doc who sent him swears he will eventually feel very much better.

I heard briefly on the news this morning that the dolphins are hanging around in the bays of the Gulf of Mexico in an effort to escape the oil. Trouble is, unless their food is doing the same thing, that won't help. Maybe humans could feed them from other sources. This tragedy continues to escalate and although BP swear the oil spill is cut back considerably, it hasn't stopped and there is already one hell of a lot of crude in the gulf. It seems to me there are a lot of little efforts taking place, but nobody really knows how to deal with it. They report that there are twice as many oiled up birds this week as there have been over the last several weeks. What a major blow to the ecology of the region apart from the effect on the residents of the area. There are over a million articles and videos on the web showing birds, pelicans in particular, covered in oil. Pelicans are such an integral part of the south I hope this doesn't decimate them beyond recovery. This picture was taken from dailykos.com in order to emphasize the importance of these birds in particular. Today, too, they were talking to the families of the people who lost their loved ones in the explosion on the oil rig. There were 11 people killed and so far no-one has done anything for them other than send flowers and attend funerals. One poor woman was pregnant as well as having a young child. She has since had the baby who will grow up without ever knowing his father. If you want to see any of this it is all on GMA at http://abcnews.go.com/gma there are also some spectacular videos of the actual explosion.

I have to get cracking today as I have lots going on. If you have friends or contacts in Portugal, it is their National Day today, so my best wishes to my friends and everyone else who is Portuguese. That reminds me of course, at the beginning of next month we have Canada Day and then American Independence Day, everyone knows about July 4, but only Canadians appear to know about July 1.

This is a chicken salad from a Reader's Digest book - it is a recipe we are very fond of. I like Reader's Digest cookbooks, we have several and enjoy cooking from them.

Chicken with Snow Peas and Peanut Sauce

Reader's Digest Great Recipes

½ lb fresh snow peas, ends trimmed, or 1 package (6 ounces) frozen snow peas

2 Tbs peanut butter

2 Tbs reduced sodium soy sauce

2 Tbs cider vinegar

1 tsp Oriental sesame or peanut oil

1 1/2 tsp minced fresh ginger or 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger (fresh tastes so much better)

1 clove garlic, minced

1/8 tsp cayenne pepper or to taste

2 cups cooked chicken cut into matchstick strips

1/2 cup sliced radishes

1/2 cup sliced water chestnuts

2 Tbs sliced green onion

1. In a large saucepan, cook the snow peas in boiling unsalted water for 3 minutes or until the peas are tender but still crisp. Drain well and arrange attractively on a medium size platter. 2. In a large bowl, whisk the peanut butter, soy sauce, vinegar, and sesame oil until smooth. Stir in the ginger, garlic, and cayenne pepper. Add the chicken, radishes, and water chestnuts; toss lightly to mix. 3. Spoon the chicken mixture over the snow peas and sprinkle with the green onion

Servings: 4

Have a great day