According to every book I have read on mammals raccoons have been night time creatures.  Well over the last week I have seen a raccoon that is a day time raccoon.  This raccoon showed up in my neighbourhood last weekend and has just been hanging around.  According to my neighbour the raccoon lives on their porch. 

This raccoon that now live in the neighbourhood is not a normal raccoon.  It is a sandy, brown, black colour and does not look like a raccoon any book describes it to be.  On top of being a weird colour this raccoon is missing it’s tail.  Also this raccoon is not afraid of people.  When you go outside and it is in a drive way it just stand there and does not move.

Just to make this even more strange animal control came to our house so they could get the raccoon but said that they are not allowed to take it because it did not look sick.  So now the raccoon is still living around our neighbourhood.

What would you say if a 12 year old boy was on a terrorist list?  This is a question many people should be thinking about.  Well around February 23,2010 a 12 year old boy, was going on a trip with his parents when the check in desk would not allow for his ticket to be valid.  If I were the parent at this time I would be going crazy.  According to the systems it said that this boy was a terrorist and was not allowed to travel in America.  It turns out that there is another person with the same name who is on the terrorist list. 

This boy was on many television show talking about what had happened and how he is suppose to go to Japan in the summer for some competition.  This problem is really worrying his parents because he is allowed to go but he might not be able to get back.  I seems like anyone can be put on the list.  What will happen now.

What would you do if a 150 year oil-painting got destroyed. 

In April of 2009, 250 works of Pablo Picasso got displayed at New York’s Metropolitan Museum.  One of Picasso’s  oil paintings called “The Actor” measures 115cm by 200cm and worth $130-million.  Last week this painting was the victim to a clumsy art student.  As the student was going through the gallery he/she accidently stumbled into the painting and tore a 6 inch gash into the painting.

Many are wondering how can you fix a one of a kind Picasso.  Well it is not easy.  Art experts have come together to discuss how the painting can be fixed.  If the painting is to be fixed there are many difficult steps that are to be taken.  These steps include having to collect all of the loose flakes of paint, reweaving the linen canvas to secure the edges of the tear, and then sticking the threads together.  Once this is completed a new piece of linen will have to be matched as closely as possible to the original and fitted in the back so it can support where the tear was.  Then the linen will have to be patched back on by wax and the tears and holes will have to be treated. 

What about the cost of this painting?  It is estimated that the cost will cost a few thousand in Canada.  So what is in store for this painting.  Will it ever be put back together,  well it probably will be.

If you are trying to decide on what to cook for the holidays here are some ideas. 

If you are sick of having turkey there are always other alternatives.  There are also alternative recipes for those who are vegetarians. (All of the following recipes are from the Food Net work)

If you are wondering here is a recipe that I found from the food net work and hope that this recipe will be great for those who are sick of turkey or would like to have something either than turkey.

 Crown Roast of Lamb

Ingredients

• 2 racks lamb, 6 to 8 ribs each, approximately 1 1/2 to 2-pounds each
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 6 cloves garlic, minced
• 4 teaspoons fresh thyme, chopped
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground coriander
• 1 to 1 1/2 tablespoons sherry vinegar
• 1/2 to 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
• 1/2 to 1 teaspoon chopped fresh rosemary leaves

Directions

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

To french the racks of lamb:

Make a cut on the fat side of the ribs, perpendicular to them, about 2 1/2-inches down from the rib ends. Cut through the fat down to the rib bones.

Turn the rack on end, with the bones facing up and push a knife through the flesh between each rib, using the initial cut as a guide for the knife. Cut down the side of each rib to remove the excess fat in between each rib. Using strong kitchen twine, wrap the twine around each rib at the base, nearest the meat and pull to remove all of the remaining fat and sinew from the rib bone.

Bend each rack into a semicircle (meat side in and fat side out) and using kitchen twine tie them together at the base and center, in order to hold the racks together. The rib ends should be pushed outward to create the look of a crown.

Rub the lamb with the olive oil. Combine the salt, pepper, garlic, thyme and coriander and press all over the lamb. Place the roast in a Bundt pan with the center of the pan coming up through the middle of the roast.

Place on the middle rack of the oven and cook for 30 to 35 minutes, until the meat reaches an internal temperature of 130 degrees F. This is approximately 8 to 12 minutes per pound. Remove from the oven, transfer the roast to a rack, cover with aluminum foil and let the meat rest for 20 minutes. While the meat is resting add the sherry vinegar, mustard and rosemary to the juices that accumulated in the Bundt pan while cooking. Stir to combine. Taste and adjust seasoning, as needed. Cut the string away from the roast and place cooked stuffing, rice or barley in the center if desired. Serve the warm sauce with the roast.

Now if this recipe is something you are not looking for that you should try a vegetarian alternative.  For those who are vegetarians there are many recipes all over the food net work.   Not only are there recipes for the holidays but there are some for off the holidays.  But I would like to give you a recipe that I found that sounded good.

Butternut Squash Lasagna

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 (1 1/2 to 2-pound) butternut squash, peeled, seeded, and cut into 1-inch cubes
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1/2 cup water
• 3 amaretti cookies, crumbled
• 1/4 cup butter
• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 3 1/2 cups whole milk
• Pinch nutmeg
• 3/4 cup (lightly packed) fresh basil leaves
• 12 no-boil lasagna noodles
• 2 1/2 cups shredded whole-milk mozzarella cheese
• 1/3 cup grated Parmesan

Directions

Heat the oil in a heavy large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the squash and toss to coat. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Pour the water into the skillet and then cover and simmer over medium heat until the squash is tender, stirring occasionally, about 20 minutes. Cool slightly and then transfer the squash to a food processor. Add the amaretti cookies and blend until smooth. Season the squash puree, to taste, with more salt and pepper.

Melt the butter in a heavy medium-size saucepan over medium heat. Add the flour and whisk for 1 minute. Gradually whisk in the milk. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Reduce the heat to medium and simmer until the sauce thickens slightly, whisking often, about 5 minutes. Whisk in the nutmeg. Cool slightly. Transfer half of the sauce to a blender*. Add the basil and blend until smooth. Return the basil sauce to the sauce in the pan and stir to blend. Season the sauce with salt and pepper, to taste.

Position the rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 375 degrees F.

Lightly butter a 13 by 9 by 2-inch glass baking dish. Spread 3/4 cup of the sauce over the prepared baking dish. Arrange 3 lasagna noodles on the bottom of the pan. Spread 1/3 of the squash puree over the noodles. Sprinkle with 1/2 cup of mozzarella cheese. Drizzle 1/2 cup of sauce over the noodles. Repeat layering 3 more times.

Tightly cover the baking dish with foil and bake the lasagna for 40 minutes. Sprinkle the remaining mozzarella and Parmesan cheeses over the lasagna. Continue baking uncovered until the sauce bubbles and the top is golden, 15 minutes longer. Let the lasagna stand for 15 minutes before serving.

*When blending hot liquids: Remove liquid from the heat and allow to cool for at least 5 minutes. Transfer liquid to a blender or food processor and fill it no more than halfway. If using a blender, release one corner of the lid. This prevents the vacuum effect that creates heat explosions. Place a towel over the top of the machine, pulse a few times then process on high speed until smooth

Not only do I love to have great main courses, but I love to have good drinks to go along.  For me I just like the classic Hot Chocolate but I have found a great recipe for hot chocolate.

Chocolate-y Christmas Cafe au Lait

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups whole milk
• 2/3 cup plus 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1/2 cup unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder
• 2 ( 2-inch) cinnamon sticks
• 1 strip orange peel, about 1/2 inch by 3 inches
• 10 whole cloves
• 2 to 2 1/2 cups hot brewed strong coffee
• 1/4 cup cold heavy cream
• Ground cinnamon, for garnish
• Cocoa, for garnish

Directions

In a medium saucepan, whisk together the milk, 2/3 cup of the sugar, and cocoa until smooth. Add the cinnamon sticks, orange peel and cloves and bring to a simmer, stirring, to dissolve the sugar and prevent the cocoa from sticking to the bottom of the pot. Simmer for 2 minutes, then remove from the heat, cover, and let steep for 10 minutes.

In a medium bowl, whip the cream with the remaining 1 teaspoon sugar until thick and frothy, and peaks form. Set aside.

Strain the milk mixture into a coffee pot or carafe and add 2 cups of the hot coffee (2 1/2 cups for stronger coffee flavor, to taste). Pour into cups or small mugs and top each with a dollop of the sweetened whipped cream.

Serve immediately.

 The holidays is also a time to give or make cookies.  Personally I enjoy pepperming and I have found a great recipe for a desserts with peppermint on the Food Net Work and hope to bake them myself.  What makes this recipe great is that it combines all of my favourite aspects of what makes a great dessert into one easy recipe.

White Peppermint Snowballs

Ingredients

• 1 package (18-ounce) refrigerated sugar cookie dough, room temperature (recommended: Pillsbury)
• 1/2 teaspoon peppermint extract (recommended: McCormick)
• 1/3 cup crushed peppermint candies, plus more for garnishing
• 1 cup powdered sugar, divided

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Cut the cookie dough into 8 pieces. In bowl of electric mixer, on medium speed thoroughly combine the dough pieces, peppermint extract, 1/3 cup crushed peppermint candies, and 1/2 cup of the powdered sugar.

Roll the dough into 1-inch diameter balls. Arrange, 2 inches apart, on parchment lined cookie sheets and bake until set, about 8 to 10 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool slightly on cooling racks.

Add 1/2 cup of the remaining powdered sugar to a small bowl. While the cookies are still warm, roll them in the sugar. Sprinkle with crushed peppermint candies and serve.

As the cookies cool, they will flatten slightly.

Variation: Peppermint Candy Cane Twists

• 1 package (18-ounce) refrigerated sugar cookie dough, room temperature (recommended: Pillsbury)
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon peppermint extract (recommended: McCormick)
• 1/2 teaspoon red food coloring

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

Cut the roll of cookie dough in half. Put the halves in separate large mixing bowls. In 1 bowl, thoroughly mix 1/4 cup of the flour and the peppermint extract into cookie dough. In the second bowl, add the remaining 1/4 cup flour and enough food coloring to make a red dough. Mix well with gloved hands until the color is well blended.

Divide the white and red dough into 24 pieces each, (for a total of 48 pieces). Roll each piece into a rope 8 inches long and about 1/4-inch in diameter.

To shape candy canes, arrange 1 rope of each color side by side on parchment lined cookie sheets. Gently twist together and shape into a candy cane. Repeat with the remaining pieces, spacing the cookies about 2 inches apart. Bake until edges are very lightly browned, about 10 minutes. Remove from the oven and let rest, about 5 minutes, before transferring the cookies to racks. Gently remove them from the cookie sheets with a long metal spatula and cool on cooling racks.

Yield: 24 cookies

Prep Time: 25 minutes

Cook Time: 10 minutes per batch

Ease of preparation: easy

Fringe, it does have an unusual name but it is an amazing show.  If you like to watch science-fiction, Then I highly suggest this show.  This show is not a typical show that people would get in to.  Before I started to watch the show I thought it was just some random show about abnoramal things but I was wrong.  The first time I started to get into the show was when I was on vacation.  There was nothing else on television so I decided just to watch Fringe.  By the end the episode I was watching I wanted to watch more but sadly it was not on.

Fringe is about different abnoraml things.  The basic plot of the show is that there are two univerises, ours and the parallel univerise to us.  There are a selected amount people who are able to travel between both univerises. In our univerise there are all these strange things and a team has been assembled to figure out the source of these strange happenings. 

In the first season there are randome things happening to people, which is refured to being called “the Pattern”.  There is a team that is assembled to find the source of these happenings.  The team consits of Olivia Dunham (Anna Torv), Peter Bishop (Joshua Jackson), Dr. Walter Bishop (John Noble).  Olivia is a FBI who has been assigned to find out why these strange things are happening and brings back the division called fringe.  Peter is Walters son but he thinks that his father is a dangerous man. Dr. Bishop is a former member of Fringe. 

 Here is a video below that is the trailer for the first season.

So the other day I was watching Ultimate Cake Off on TLC while watching CSI.  Now on this show people have to create cakes for certain things.  On some of  these episodes teams have had to create a cake for Miley Cyrus 16th birthday and on other they have had to create cakes for gatherings.  The objective of this show is to see who can make the most elaborate cake in only 10 hours.  Also the winner of the cake off gets 10,000 dollars and there cake is represented at the celebration.  On this particular episode the teams had to create a wedding cake.  Now during the show you see each team constructing there cakes.  All of the contestants have time to plan out what the cake will have from what the representative says they would like to have.   At the end of the show you see what the cakes look like and you find out who was the winner.  On that nigh there were 3 teams but sometimes there can be about 4 teams. 

The judges of this show consist of a representative of the event that is going on.  During this competition the judges walk around and see how the progress of the teams are going.  Also they have certain point in the competition where the judges choose a team that they think have being doing the best and tell them that they are aloud to give one of the other teams a penalty. 

By the end of the 10 hours these cakes ar out of this world. Most of the cakes are really elaboratewith lots of detail on them.  For example in one episode there was suppose to be a pig on the cake and the pig looked like a real pig.  If you were to look a the detail you could see how much the pig look like an exact replica of a pig. 

On the last episode played these cakes were filled with lots of detail and each one stood to about 6ft tall.  Now, that is crazy.  This heightis not normally how tall a cake would be.  In the end there were 3 wonderful cakes.  The first cake was a carousel cake. The second teams cake was a flower cake. This cake was decorated in chocolate made flowers, that looked like roses.  the third teams cake was a elegant cake.

Not only does this show make you interested in baking but it gets your mind to think about how they do all of that  work in under 10 hours. Not only do the teams have to push their cake up a ramp to get to judging but they ave to make sure that their cake does not fall apart.  Also most of the cakes that are made are almost 6ft tall wich makes the lives of the cheifs even more difficult.

The scene open, people are playing volleyball and all of a sudden three of the court players start to fall down.  Now what is the cause of this? There is only one answer CSI: Miami.  Horatio Caine (David Caruso) and team are on the job to figure out what happened.  As we welcome in Jesse Cardoza (Eddie Cibrian) to his first investigation within seconds he found the cause to these players death.  This clue leads the team to thinkining that the murders have to do with electricity. 

CSI is not just or regular investigation type show but it does have to do with other things as well.  The first situation is between Calliegh Duquesne (Emily Procter) who is arrguing agaist Eric Delkco (Adam Rodriguez), who had been helping his criminal father. 

As the show goes on Natalia Boa Vista (Eva LaRue) and Jesse discover that the players were killed by a lighting rod.  This leads the CSI team to go further on with the inveestigation.  Of course CSI: Miami is nothing with out Horatio at some point taking of his sunglasses and saying a cheeze tag line.

Peersonally for me CSI: Miami is a great show that always gets me thinking before I go to bed.  Not only does this show make your brain think about what is to come but who was the murder and why.  For me I have almost seen every CSI episode that there could be.  So at the end of the show when I see the preview for next weeks episode it get me thinking about how they are going to be doing the episode.

As we head into the 4 episode of season 8, I just keep on wondering what will they hve in store of up coming episodes.

Welcome to York Student Blogs.

This is your first post.

As a student blogger at The York School, you are expected to follow the blogging guidelines below. As your writing will be published to the world wide web under the York School name please conduct yourself in a manner reflective of a representative of our school . When submitting details for comments or discussion use only your first initial and last name to identify yourself. Use the questions below to help you decide what is appropriate to post on your blog. This space if for you to express yourself so above all else enjoy writing!

1. Only post things that you would want everyone (in school, at home, in other countries) to know. Ask yourself: Is this something I want everyone to see?

2. Do not share personal information. Use only your first name and initial to identify yourself.
Ask yourself: Could someone find me (in real life) based on this information?

3. Think before you post.
Ask yourself: What could be the consequences of this post?

4. Know who you’re communicating with.
Ask yourself: Who is going to look at this, and how are they going to interpret my words?

5. Consider your audience and that you’re representing The York School.
Ask yourself: Do I have a good reason/purpose to do this?

6. Treat other people the way you want to be treated.
Ask yourself: Would I want someone to say this to me?

7. Use appropriate language and proper grammar and spelling.
Ask yourself: Would I want this post to be graded for proper grammar and spelling?

8. Only post information that you can verify is true.
Ask yourself: Is this inappropriate, immature or bullying?

9. Anytime you use media from another source, properly cite the creator of the original work.
Ask yourself: Who is the original creator of this work?

Commenting Guidelines

As a blogger, you will be commenting on other people’s work regularly. Good comments:
• are constructive, but not hurtful;
• consider the author and the purpose of the post;
• are always related to the content of the post;
• include personal connections to what the author wrote;
• answer a question, or add meaningful information to the content topic;
• follow the writing process. Comments are a published piece of writing.

Blogging Guidelines adapted from : http://blogs.isb.ac.th/blogging-guidelines/