"Harrods Cookery Book" - Chicken Breasts with Mango and Almonds - Queen Elizabeth's 91st Birthday!

Date I made this recipe:  April 21, 2017 – Queen Elizabeth II's 91^st birthday!

Harrods Cookery Book by Marilyn Aslani

Published by Arbor House

ISBN: 0-87795-735-5; © 1985

Recipe:  Chicken Breasts with Mango and Almonds – p. 158

Well hip-hip, hooray, it's "HM's" Birth-day!  Yes, that's right,  Her Majesty ("HM"), the ageless Queen Elizabeth II, just turned 91.  Amazing but true!

Also "amazing, but true" is that the very famous Harrods department store is 183 years old this year.  Wow – twice as old as "HM."  As the Brits would say, that is "Smashing!"

I'm happy to say that Andy and I have been (or "bean" as the Brits say) to Harrods (in October 1994) and it was a fun place although we didn't get to spend a lot of time there.   I do recall us making a beeline for the famed Food Hall as it is possibly more famous than the store itself.  I can only imagine how the Food Hall has grown over the years because when we were there, you could pretty much get your hands on every type of food imaginable from every country imaginable though sometimes at a hefty price.  I do believe we gasped out loud when we spotted a bag of Kraft Marshmallows priced at $5.00 a bag and folks, that was in 1994!  Preposterous!

It should come as no surprise then, that we left the Food Hall sans food but all was not lost as we bought a couple of boxes of Christmas Crackers for the holidays.  Although the name certainly suggests this is a food item, it is not.  Christmas Crackers are paper "firecrackers," i.e. cardboard tubes filled with all kinds of goodies that are wrapped in bright holiday-colored paper and then twisted at each end.  The recipient then pulls on the ends to crack the package open (it actually makes a cracking noise) to reveal what is inside typically, little toys, candy and paper crowns.  The Brits love these things and so when I saw them, I knew I had to bring some back with me to share with my family at Christmas time.  The paper crowns were the best and I have several hilarious pictures of my mom, dad, and brother wearing them (such troopers) during our Christmas dinner.

This then concludes my memories of Harrods except to say we can now check this off list of "Things to see and do in London."  (For the record, we were in England on business and toured a good portion of the country, but had only a few days at our disposal to tour London.  Bummer, that.)

As to this cookbook, well...huh.  Let's just say that despite the fact that Andy and I had some very good meals (mostly pub grub) while in England, British cooking and recipes underwhelm me still, and sad to say, this cookbook and recipe was one of them.

The Table of Contents divides food into categories based on what how the food hall was laid out in 1985 when this cookbook was written:

• The Meat Hall that includes recipes for meat, fish, and poultry and game
• The Provisions Hall that includes recipes for cheese and dairy as well as charcuterie and variety meats
• The Fruit and Vegetable Hall that includes recipes for vegetables and fruit (I don't know why the simplicity of that made me laugh but it did!)
• The Bakery that includes desserts, biscuits and cakes (please remember that cookies are called biscuits in England), and breads and yeast doughs
• The Confectionery Hall that includes sweets of all kinds
• The Panty – you'll find your preserve recipes here
• Special Occasions that include Christmas, Picnic Hamper, Afternoon Tea, and a Garden Party.  The last two occasions – Afternoon Tea and Garden Party – are just so "vedy" British, are they not?  Quite!

All right then, from these categories, I came up with a mere handful of recipes (so disappointing) and here's what I considered:

• "Spinach and Ricotta Ravioli with Sage Butter" – p. 137 (from the Vegetable chapter)
• "Scallop Pilaf" – p. 49 (from the Fish chapter)
• "Chicken Breasts with Mango and Almonds" – p. 158 from the Fruit [and vegetable] chapter)

And the winner/not winner was....Chicken Breasts with Mango and Almonds.

Why was this dish not a "Winner, winner, chicken dinner?"  Well, I can't quite put my finger on it except to say that the dish was neither good nor bad, it just was and "was" is not an option.  To put it another way, I just don't think any of the flavors stood out and so what we had was a dish of chicken + mangos + sauce rather than a blended dish of all of these ingredients and more.  These days, I am all about the "and more" in a dish.

I have to say that I was particularly amazed that the mango was not the star ingredient and I don't know why.  The dish sure looked good in the photo but maybe my mango wasn't as ripe as it should be?  Not that I know how to test a mango for readiness but that's another story.

Alas though reader, the mango problem wasn't the only issue as the "seasoning profile" also missed the mark. Both the marinade and the wok sauce contained soy sauce, rice wine and cornstarch and that is not exactly exciting.  The wok sauce contained 1 teaspoon of sugar but that wasn't enough to elevate it, either.

For the longest time after making this dish, I was stumped as to what could have made it work, and I've concluded that Chinese Five-Spice powder might have done the trick.  This flavor marries really well with the mango and also would have punched the dish up a notch as it contains cinnamon, cloves, fennel and star anise.  Sometimes it contains also ginger but this recipe used fresh ginger in the marinade and unfortunately, it was also strained out of the sauce.

I might have also added a half to full teaspoon of sesame oil to the marinade, not that it was called for, but because sesame oil adds flavor.  Sesame oil cannot be used in the wok to cook the chicken (the recipe calls for peanut oil) as it will burn, but a small amount in the chicken marinade shouldn't cause a problem.  Of course, I don't know that for sure, I'm just thinking of ways to make this dish more enjoyable to eat.

Finally, I erred on the side of cooking the chicken a bit longer than directed. "As directed" was about 1 minute, 30 seconds, and I, being my mother's daughter when it comes to chicken, wanted to make sure my chicken was done and not raw and so left it in a bit longer.

After making some rice to go with this stir-fry, I told Andy that dinner was ready.  He often waits until he's done to comment but this time around, he didn't say a word and I think that is indicative of what we collectively thought about the dish.  In summary:  "Huh."  Sadly, the leftovers I had the net day did nothing for me either.

As an aside, I tried hard to find a recipe to make in this cookbook that might please "HM," but I just don't like most of the standard fare that Brits enjoy.  I honestly can't see "HM" sitting down to this dinner but then again, maybe she would.  She's traveled all over the world so who's to say she's not a fan of stir-fry?  I'm just sayin' she probably wouldn't have been a fan of this stir-fry.

As to the cookbook though, you might want to take a gander at it for the sheer novelty of it all.  Harrods is still a must-see when in London and hip, hip hooray for them for standing the test of time!  As to "HM," long may she reign!

Chicken Breasts with Mango and Almonds – Serves 4 – Ann's Note:  allow ½ hour to marinate the chicken

For the marinade

1 ½ teaspoons cornstarch

1 egg white, beaten

2 teaspoons light soy sauce

1 teaspoon rice wine vinegar or medium-dry sherry

Ann's Note:  consider adding ½ to 1 teaspoon sesame oil to the marinade.  Consider also adding some Chinese Five-Spice Powder either to the marinade or the wok sauce.

3 boneless chicken breasts, skinned and cut into 1-inch squares

For the sauce

¼ cup water

1 tablespoon light soy sauce

2 tablespoons rice wine or medium-dry sherry

1 teaspoon sugar

1 teaspoon cornstarch

1/3 cup slivered almonds, toasted

Ann's Note:  Consider substituting brown sugar for table sugar.  It may not work but I just have a feeling it might have helped the flavors come out. 

Other wok ingredients

1 ½ teaspoons chopped fresh ginger root

1 large garlic clove, finely chopped

2 large scallions, white part finely chopped and green part cut into pieces

1 large mango, peeled and cut lengthwise into strips

Scallion tassels, to garnish

Mix together the ingredients for the marinade and pour over the chicken.  Cover and marinate in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.  Ann's Note:  You would be wise to bring the chicken and marinade to room temperature before adding them to the wok.  See below.

Heat a woke over high heat, then add the peanut oil.  Ann's Note:  Before you add the chicken and marinade to the hot wok, bring them up to room temperature first.  The recipe doesn't call for you to do that, but I found the cornstarch in the marinade started clumping when added to the hot oil and that was not a very attractive look. Plus, I don't think the flavor came out as it should have. When the oil is hot enough for a piece of ginger to float to the surface, add the chicken and marinade, and stir-fry for 30 seconds.

Place a sieve over a bowl, and pour the chicken and all of the oil into it.  Leave to drain thoroughly, then return 2 tablespoons of the oil to the wok.  Stir-fry the ginger, garlic and white scallion parts for 30 seconds.  Return the chicken to the wok and stir-fry for 1 minute.  Transfer the chicken to a serving dish.

Pour 1 tablespoon of the oil into the wok, heat and add the mango.  Stir-fry for 30 seconds, then add all the sauce ingredients except the almonds.  Cook for a further 30 seconds until the sauce thickens.

Stir in the green scallion parts and the toasted almonds. Pour over the chicken.  Garnish with the scallion tassels.

"Country Cuisine;" "The Duchess of Duke Street Entertains;" "The Great British Bake Off Big Book of Baking" - for Queen Elizabeth II's 90th Birthday!

Dates I made these recipes:  April 21 – April 27, 2016 – Queen Elizabeth's 90^th Birthday

Country Cuisine by Elizabeth Kent

Published by:  Sidgwick & Jackson – London

© 1980

Recipe:  Carrot Vichyssoise – p. 117 – from Sharrow Bay (hotel) in Ullswater, Cumbria:  Chef:  Francis Coulson; Proprietors:  Francis Coulson and Brian Sack.

The Duchess of Duke Street Entertains – Edited by Michael Smith

Published by:  Coward, McCann & Geoghegan, Inc. New York

© 1977

Purchased at an estate sale

Recipe:  Louisa Trotter's Cheese Straws – p. 69-70

The Great British Bake Off Big Book of Baking by Linda Collister.   Includes recipes by Mary Berry & Paul Hollywood

Published by:  BBC Books

ISBN: 978-1-849-90483-4

Purchased at Barnes and Noble

Recipe:  Paul's Chocolate Volcanoes – p. 310

Right then.  Let me start off by saying that I hope "HM" (Her Majesty) appreciates the efforts I went through to produce some delicious delights befitting HM and her 90^th birthday because folks, finding and making these recipes was a downright horrible exercise, what what!

Let's begin with a few points of culinary interest:  1) In 1994, my husband, Andy, and I went to England and considered ourselves most fortunate to have eaten fairly decent food while there.  This was at a time when the Brits were just getting the hang of edible cuisine.  But that said 2) most of their food is, I'm sorry to say, rubbish and I spent more time for this blog post eliminating food I wouldn't eat on a bet (like ""Smoked Mackerel Hot Pots"—oh me no think so!) than what I would eat.

Then 3) I eliminated recipes that called for hard-to-find ingredients (i.e. native to Great Britain but not here) or recipes that just took too damned long to make.  So there went half of the three book's contents right there.

And then there was this problem:  4) Some books like Country Cuisine had so many usable recipes that I wanted to "cheat" and make a bunch of stuff from that book and that book alone but that would break my own rules of one per cookbooks so I couldn't go down that rabbit hole.  Then other books like The Duchess of Duke Street Entertains was just bereft of anything usable or – dare I say – edible, and I had to work hard to find a recipe – any recipe – that would work.  Best I could do was Cheese Straws and I thought they would pair well with the soup so there you go.  And finally there was dessert which seemed like it would be easy except I had to eliminate anything made with yeast (due to previous efforts at making a doorstop), phyllo dough (I hate working with it) or anything requiring 2,000 or so steps before I could shove the thing in the oven.

So there was that.  And then, and it has to be said, I had to deal with measurements and converting measurements and that was no fun at all.  Not at all.  England uses grams for measures which is why you absolutely need a scale to do some of this stuff.  In fact, the very same day that I made this recipe, my friend, Star Tribune columnist, cookbook author and master baker, Kim Ode, wrote a column for the paper outlining essential kitchen equipment for amateur bakers as well as one for advanced and I am chuffed to say that although I don't bake a lot, I had all but one item from both lists.  As I commented on her Facebook page, I love my kitchen scale and marvel that I ever went without one.

And as a reminder, all of this was to honor "HM" whom I adore and who gets mad props for making it to age 90 (and 63 years on the throne) while looking fabulous to boot.  And all the dishes I made her paid homage to her in some way, shape or form.  "HM" is fluent in French, thus the vichyssoise, Brits love their crackers ("biscuits") and toasts at tea times (cheese straws) and "HM" loves chocolate so hooray!  And with the exception of the cheese straws, all of these turned out to be pretty darned smashing! (Details to follow.)

And now a word about the books:

Country Cuisine is a compilation of recipes from country hotels, inns and bed and breakfasts and it is "delightful" as the Brits would say.  I thought it especially appropriate that the author's name is Elizabeth Kent as Elizabeth II is related to the Duke of Kent; they are first cousins.  Most of the recipes in this book were sounded good and were pretty easy to make while others, as noted, sounded horrible.

The Duchess of Duke Street Entertains is based on a TV show – The Duchess of Duke Street – that aired on the BBC from 1975 to 1976.  The show spotlights Louisa Leyton Trotter a/k/a "The Duchess" who worked her way up from being a servant to a cook to being a Duke Street hotel proprietress.  I didn't watch the series but heard about it (it was Emmy-winning) and so there you have it.  This cookbook gave me the most trouble as most of the recipes just weren't "all that."  Again, I reference dishes like "Creamed Veal Kidneys" and "Kippers with Marmalade."  Ghastly.  The "biscuits" I made were okay but that was mostly my fault – I think.  The recipe said to add the egg mixture to the flour mixture to form a paste but the paste didn't form like it should.  I suspect more liquid was necessary but didn't know how much so left it alone.  I also think the dough sat too long in the fridge but that was my fault.

The last cookbook, The Great British Bake Off Big Book of Baking, got me back on track and thank goodness for that.  Say what we will about British cooking, baked goods – both savory [savoury if you are British) and sweet saved the day.  Baking doesn't usually involve icky ingredients although savory bakes can be dicey. 

Now if you're not familiar with the BBC/PBS show, The Great British Bake Off, acquaint yourself with it ASAP by watching it on PBS or YouTube. I'll wait.  In Britain, this show is several seasons ahead of where we are in America but I don't care because the show is fantastic!

The premise of this show is that several bakers, most of them baking at master or near-master levels, compete to win the show's grand prize.  Each episode has three baking challenges:  the signature challenges i.e. recipes they are known for; the technical challenge where they are given basic instructions for the challenge of the day and the showstopper where they have to make spectacular items like 7-tiered cakes that look good and taste good too.  Each challenge has winners and losers and then at the end of each episode, someone is cut and sent home.

Each challenge is judged by Mary Berry and Paul Hollywood (yes, that's his name), who are master bakers and whose recipes are included in this cookbook.  And each show is hosted by Sue Perkins and Mel Giedroyc.  Mel is an absolute stitch to watch and you will likely "luff" her.

The thing I "luff" about this show besides Mel is that the contestants are so absolutely polite with each other it's ridiculous.  And so British.  Even though they're in a competition they rally around each other each and every episode and it's touching.  Compare this to some of their American "counterpart" shows where every single day in that kitchen is a thrown down of some sort, sometimes involving knives, sometimes not.  "Uncivilized" is likely what the Brits would say with a good "sniff, sniff" in that way they have.

And I also love the judges and marvel at their own skill of being able to ascertain when someone's "bake" is just not quite on point.  Plus they're funny although Mary is much more quiet compared to Paul.

And with a last name of "Hollywood," it should be no surprise that Paul is the more outgoing.  And out of all the incredible edibles out of this cookbook, supplied by the bakers and the judges, I decided on his Volcano Cakes.  They were easy to make and seeing as how HM loves chocolate, this is as close as I could get to a birthday cake in her honor.

And with that, let's have a "Hip, Hip, Hooray" for HM and then off we go to the kitchen!

Carrot Vichyssoise – serves 8 – from County Cuisine

2 potatoes

4-5 carrots

2 onions

2 leeks

Ham bone or 2-3 rashers of bacon (Ann's Note:  thin slices of bacon)

2 bay leaves

2 ½ pints chicken stock

1 dessertspoon sugar

Salt and pepper

½ pint single cream (Ann's Note:  The Brits have "single cream" and "double cream" and best I can tell, half and half is probably the closest although I used regular cream without any problems."

Carrot cut in fine strips to garnish

Peel the potatoes, carrots and onions, then chop into small pieces.  Trim and shred the leeks.  Put all the vegetables into a large saucepan with the ham bone or chopped bacon, bay leaves and stock. Cover and simmer over low heat until the vegetables are tender.  Remove the bay leaves and ham bone and liquidize until smooth (or put through a sieve).  Add the sugar, then season to taste with salt and freshly ground pepper.  Blend in the cream, the slowly reheat (taking care not to let it boil) or chill thoroughly.  Just before serving (hot or cold), garnish with fine strips of carrot.

Louisa Trotter's Cheese Straws – serving size not given – from The Duchess of Duke Street Entertains

 5 ounces plain flour (Ann's Note:  plain flour is all-purpose flour)

4 ounces unsalted butter

2 egg yolks

2 ounces freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Good pinch of salt (about ¼ teaspoon)

Pinch cayenne pepper (optional)

1 teaspoon lemon juice

1 tablespoon cold water

Mix yolks, lemon juice and water together.  Rub fat into flour until sand-like texture is arrived at.  Toss in grated Parmesan cheese.  Season lightly, tossing well in.  Make well, pour in the liquids, mix quickly and form deftly into a paste.  Leave for 1 hour in a cold place.  (Ann's Note:  My mixture did not form a paste and I suspect it was because there was not quite enough liquid in the mix but I followed the directions given so....)

Roll out dough ¼-inch thick and then cut into 2-inch wide strips.  Place these onto a buttered baking sheet, mark out the strips into ¼ to ½ inch sticks.

Dredge with more grated Parmesan cheese if the budget permits!  Bake at 400 for 7 to 8 minutes, or until crisp and golden brown.

Remove with the aid of a palette knife to a cooling tray.  Divide when quite cool.  Store in airtight tin.

Ann's Notes:  Because the dough did not form into a paste, the rest of the instructions were difficult to follow.  I did my best to roll out the dough into a ¼-inch piece but failed and gave up trying to cut the dough into strips and sticks and just sort of threw the mess onto a baking sheet and hoped for the best.

The result was not half bad in the taste department but horribly awful in the looks department.  And I baked them for about 10 minutes as 7-8 didn't cut it.  If I had time I would make these again to see if I got different results but I didn't so there you have it.

Paul's Chocolate Volcanoes (Signature Bake) – makes 6 – from The Great British Bake Off Big Book of Baking

Unsalted butter and cocoa powder for the moulds

165g dark chocolate (70% cocoa solids), chopped into small pieces

165g unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

3 medium eggs

3 medium egg yolks

85g caster sugar (a/k/a "Baker's sugar," "Superfine," or "Fast-melting" sugar)

2 tablespoons plain flour

6 small pudding moulds

Grease the pudding moulds with butter and dust the inside with cocoa powder.  Chill for 30 minutes.

Gently melt the chocolate and butter in a heatproof bowl set over a pan of simmering water.  (Ann's Note:  or use a double boiler).  Remove the bowl from the pan and stir until the chocolate mixture is smooth.

Combine the eggs, egg yolks and caster sugar in a bowl.  Using an electric mixer, whisk together for several minutes until thick, pale, and mousse-like in consistency.  Carefully fold in the chocolate mixture, then fold in the flour, trying not to knock any air out of the mix.

Divide the chocolate mix equally among the 6 prepared moulds.  Place in the fridge and chill until firm. (You can make the puddings up to 24 hours in advance and leave them in the fridge until you are ready to cook them.)

Heat your oven to 400F.  Place the moulds on a baking sheet and bake for 8 minutes* until the puddings are risen but not cracked.  Ann's Note:  at 8 minutes*, the dough was raw so I added 5 more minutes to the timer and they were almost done.  Five more minutes got me closer but still not quite there so I added 5 more and after a total of 23 minutes, they were perfect.  I don't see how on earth they would be done in 8 minutes unless he used the tiniest "pudding" moulds on the planet.  I used small soufflé molds and still had to bake them for quite some time.

Also, I've had similar "volcano" cakes in Hawaii at Roy's and theirs differed from these because they need 45 minutes to bake and they flowed chocolate "lava" when cut open.  These do not and from the looks of the photo, they were not supposed to.  Instead, we got a lovely moist center and that was good enough for us.  Whether they were up to Paul Hollywood's or even "HM's" standards is another story for another day.

"1980 Olympic Games in Moscow - Cookbook and Schedule of Events" - Stir-Fried Chicken

Date I made this recipe:  July 29, 2012 (for the Olympics)

1980 Olympic Games in Moscow – Cookbook and Schedule of Events – Favorite Recipes of Prospective U.S. Participants

Published by:  Wm. C. Brown Company Publishers

© 1979

Recipe:  (Cheeseman’s) Stir-Fried Chicken – p. 62

*Note:  This is one of my longer blog posts but just like the Olympics, it will (likely) only come around every four years so hang in there!

Right then.  So the 2012 Olympics got underway in London on Friday, July 27, with a right smashing Opening Ceremony that included a hilarious James Bond spoof featuring none other than HM, The Queen of England.  That’s right, the Queen of England.  Like most viewers, I must have played that scene back 3 times utterly stunned that it was the Queen, the real Queen and nothing but the Queen.  Who knew that HM had such a sense of humor?  Oh, and Daniel Craig (as James Bond) wasn’t too bad, either. (By the way, in an uncanny coincidence, my community band played music from the James Bond movies as well as John William’s Olympic Spirit this summer.)

So OBVIOUSLY with the Olympics at hand, I needed to find myself an Olympic cookbook, right?  Quite.  Well find it I did in of all places, the charming café/bookstore in my hometown in Michigan – Falling Rock Café – last April and yes, I’ve been holding on to it ever since.  I am nothing if not prepared for the global events!

For those of you who were around in 1980, you might recall that this cookbook is a bit of a head-fake as the Olympic team did not participate in the 1980 Olympics that year.  U.S. tension against the former Soviet Union was already on red-alert when Russia invaded Afghanistan and in response, President Carter decided to cancel our appearance at the games.  (Naturally, the Soviet Union followed suit and canceled its appearance at the 1984 games in Los Angeles and so tit for tat and phooey on all that!)  Let me just say that to this day, I believe this was the wrong decision. Aspiring Olympic athletes devote their whole lives and their bank accounts to make the team and punishing them on behalf of a nation is just wrong – on both sides.

Harrumph.  Any who…so here we are at the 2012 Olympics already and some of the 1980 athletes are now providing commentary on various events, like former swimmer Rowdy Gaines and gymnast Bart Conner.  And since I was a high school swimmer I was all set to make one of Rowdy’s recipes but changed it up at the last minute.  And here’s why:  about the same time that I pulled this cookbook off my shelf as a “must use,” the U.S. observed the 40^th anniversary of Title IX, allowing for equality for women in sports. And again, I can only shake my head and marvel how time flies.  And so I decided that this blog would be better served by a recipe from a female athlete and with that, let’s go “off-road” for a bit to talk about Title IX.

Title IX, enacted in 1972 (I was in 8^th grade) is a portion of the Education Amendment that established, in part, No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance.  This applied to about every level of education including, thank goodness, sports.

And to my absolute amazement, my tiny junior high/high school, jumped on the bandwagon and started women’s sports.  I mean, we are talking about class sizes of just over 100 people per class; by contrast, my husband’s high school class was over 600. We probably barely qualified for Class C sports designation but there we were, in it to win it.  So bravo, William G. Mather High School, bravo!  (And yes, I know that the law said we must comply, but there’s “compliance” and then there’s “compliance!).

Well, this prompted me to go back to my yearbooks to track our women’s sports progress.  In 1972, there weren’t any women’s teams but in 1973 (freshman year), a Girls’ Tennis Team started.  A friend of mine joined the team that year and I joined a year later.  By 1974, we added the Girls’ Swim Team although unfortunately, I was sick the day the photo was taken and so you’d never know I was on it.

So a mere year after Title IX, we had ourselves two bona-fide girls’ teams.  By 1975, we added basketball and by 1976, we had a track team.  Not too shabby!  (For the record though, there is no word that sends me flying faster than someone calling me a “girl.” But that’s another story for another day.).

Now, before you pull out your pom-poms, let me just stress to you that equal opportunity to participate in sports did not equal an equal opportunity to get funding or support.  Oh no – in fact, quite the opposite.

The first year I was on the tennis team, we carpooled to our meets.  Yes, carpooled.  We didn’t have uniforms, we didn’t have managers, we barely had a locker room and you should have seen our city tennis courts – two of them, both with blacktop surfaces and set down by Lake Superior so flyaway tennis balls soon became swim-away tennis balls.  Our second team coach (the first coach was a woman), was also the boys’ wrestling coach and never, ever ceased to compare us weakling “girlz” to his he-man boys team.  He let us borrow his team’s warm-up jackets for meets but otherwise we were on our own.  The coach who followed him was a nice guy but I don’t know: is it a good thing to advise high school athletes that if you’re going to drink, drink Scotch?!!  Mind you, I was all for that but it did crack me up. 

As to the swim team, hahahahaha….well, we tried.  The good news was that our school had one of the very first school pools in the Upper Peninsula.  The bad news was that our school’s pool was not regulation and there were always weird drain problems that caused the pool water to turn various shades of green.  And I am not exaggerating at all.  In fact, when I think about swimming in that pool back then for gym class and swim team and lifesaving classes, I about turn green myself.

So anyway, for every one lap we did at a meet in a regulation pool, we had to do double or triple the laps in our pool.  We could not do a flip turn in our pool because the shallow end was truly shallow but we were allowed at meets to do kind of a half turn above water.  (So dorky and embarrassing but there it is!).  Although we got team swimsuits, for some inexplicable reason, we chose green and gold suits (Go Pack Go) even though our school colors were orange and black.  We did not get to use the wrestler’s warm-up jackets and so had a collection of various and sundry sweat shirts at our disposal.

We did not lift weights or do anything that modern athletes do to build strength and endurance and didn’t care.  In fact, and I say this with fondness, our attitude was pretty much cavalier then entire time we were swimming because we always knew we were outnumbered:  all the other schools had bigger pools, bigger staffs, and bigger athletes.  So we swam for fun and in some ways that made the experience all the more enjoyable.

As to funding, well, my first response is “What funding?” All the boys’ sports (football, basketball, etc.) got $10 a day for food; we got $5.  All the boys were properly attired, we were not.  All the boys went to meets by bus – the big kid’s kind – while we were eventually allowed to use a smaller half-bus to go to meets.  There was no booster club, no parental support (seeing as how our meets were during the day so parents could not attend) and very little interest.  I will however, give props to most of the male athletes in our school as they ended up embracing us in their own way and found many of our antics and experiences hilarious.  In fact, and it’s a long story, but my swim team nicknamed me “French Fries” and when the guys found out about that, they called me that as well.  I was never as popular in high school as I was that year.

And so, back we go to the budget-busting Olympics and my, my how times have changed.  While today’s athletes have their own financial struggles, I think they are nothing compared to what we went through.  Olympic teams nowadays have sponsors and endorsements and even, in many cases, professional athletes.  Can you imagine telling any female swimmer today that she gets $5 bucks for food?  No. 

And so I must confess that the times that I’ve heard women whining about being treated as second-class citizens compared to the men’s team, my blood boils.  In fact, I still recall the whining done by several high school girls’ hockey teams a few years back when they weren’t allowed to use the Xcel Energy Center where our professional hockey team plays for their games like the boys’ teams were.  WHAT?!!!  This is where my age is showing:  “In my day young lady, girls weren’t even allowed to play hockey.  We had to drive to our meets in the SNOW and then walk five miles to the arena….” (Actually true story:  my swim team was on its way to a regional meet in a nearby town that required us to drive along Lake Superior in blizzard conditions.  The famous “lake effect” was such that everything was just a sea of white including the white semi that was jackknifed across the highway.  Our bus driver swerved to avoid hitting it at the last second and we ended up in the ditch and had to wait for a bus tow-truck.  So much for that swim meet.  You want to talk about hardship, I’ll talk about hardship!)

So all this brings me back to why I decided to make a recipe from this book for this blog submitted by a female athlete instead of a male athlete, not only to kill two stones (the Olympics and Title IX) at the same time but also to talk about a subject that is near and dear to me.  And so today’s recipe is all about Gwen W. Cheeseman, a 1980 Olympic field hockey player, and her recipe for (Cheeseman’s) Stir-Fried Chicken.  And to really tie it to this year’s London events, the former Kate Middleton, now the Duchess of Cambridge was a field hockey player back in the day AND the last Olympics were held in Beijing, China and so it’s all good.  Women then, women now – hooray! (I am also happy to report that Gwen made the 1984 Olympic team and her field hockey crew won the bronze that year.  Well done!)

Despite my rants about the early years, I was quite “chuffed,” as the Brits would say to be a part of those high school teams and am glued to the set this year as I am every Olympics (save for the 1980 Olympics), reliving my almost-glory days!  I swam the backstroke for my team (first one in the water at every meet) both in the individual event and the 400 Individual Medley Relay (back, breast, butterfly, freestyle) and also swam the 400 Freestyle Relay, my absolute favorite event and sometimes anchored it.  They were fun times and the thrill of that competition never goes away even though the younger generation is now having all the fun in the pool.  And seeing all these young ladies on the podium?  Well…pass the Kleenex.

  

(Cheeseman’s) Stir-Fried Chicken – serves 4

2 large, whole broiler-fryer chicken breasts, skinned, halved, boned and sliced diagnolly into ¼-inch thick strips

2 tablespoons peanut oil

1 cup thinly sliced celery

1 medium green pepper, cut into think strips

¼ teaspoon ginger

1 pound fresh bean sprouts

1 5-ounce can water chestnuts, drained and sliced

½ pound fresh mushrooms, sliced

1/3 cup raw cashews, halved

1 chicken bouillon cube, or 1 teaspoon instant chicken bouillon

½ cup water

2 teaspoons cornstarch

¼ cup soy sauce

3 cups hot cooked rice

In a wok over high heat, heat peanut oil.  Stir-fry celery, pepper, onion and ginger in oil until tender-crisp, about three minutes.  With slotted spoon, slide vegetables up onto side of wok to keep warm.  To remaining oil, add chicken and stir-fry until meat turns white, about three to five minutes.  Slide vegetables back down and add bean sprouts, water, chestnuts, mushrooms, cashews, bouillon and water.  Blend cornstarch with soy sauce; gradually stir into wok and cook, stirring constantly, until mixture is heated through and thickened.  Serve over hot rice.  Serves 4.

Ann’s Note:  for some inexplicable reason, my grocery store was out of bean sprouts and so I used canned.  Do not do this at home!  I might as well have opened a can of La Choy Chop Suey, the taste was that bland.  Live and learn, people, live and learn.