Roasted Chestnuts

Peeled Roasted Chestnuts

Elaine told me this morning that Hub's former boss OR (also her Hub's current one) died of cardiac arrest at the age of 49 while out cycling over the weekend. At the very same moment, my cleaning lady came by and told me that her friend in Ukraine was killed by a bus when she stepped off the pavement in a hurry, working a few jobs to raise 2 young children on her own. She was 33.

All this just when I've been thinking alot recently about life and death and how unpredictable it could be. One could be laughing one moment and dead the next. You could go out and never return, leaving your children waiting for you in vain. You could save your best dress for a special occasion that you may not live to enjoy. You kiss your Hub goodbye as he leaves for work and that could be the last one you'd ever give him. How depressing is all that?

It's age and the cold all getting to me. I am getting morbid. I feel like roasting chestnuts all the time.

I bought one of those roasting pans with holes in it, a chestnut cracker and a few bags of chestnuts. My fireplace does not work as one needs to open the windows when using it which is so stupid it is not worth the try. I roasted them on my gas stove instead.

Basically you pinch each chestnut with the chestnut cracker twice on the same side so that you get a cross. Then you put them in the roasting pan, cover with aluminium foil and roast them over the fire for about 15 minutes, shaking the pan from time to time to roll the chestnuts over to the other side. You can hear them crack open when they are cooked.

The Teenager loves roasted chestnuts. Peel them while they are still hot.