A Tasty Recipe for Rice, the Stamps Posted For Sale Yesterday and Good Old Phil

Today's post is a bit of a mixed bag, as yesterday, I did not do much lotting, as Steph worked from home and it was her turn to use the computer. So I went for a supplies run and opted to sort purchases and cost them instead.

But before I get into what I posted for sale, I want to share with you an idea for rice that is very tasty: Paella Valencia. It is a spanish rice dish that is cooked over the stove in a very large open skillet, about 16 inches wide. You need a very large skillet, or the ingredients will not all fit. It uses surprisingly few herbs and spices, yet is very tasty. You will need:

1.5lb chicken legs, thighs, etc.
1 large tomato, seeded and chopped
1 medium onion , finely chopped
4.5 cups of hot chicken broth.
1 cup of cooked grean beans (I use canned, that have been well rinsed)
1 cup of white kidney beans (canned but well rinsed)
1 cup of broad beans (canned but well rinsed)
1 pound of long grain rice (about 2.25 cups)
1 teaspoon of fresh rosemary leaves
salt to taste

You take the chicken and using a cleaver, chop it up into bite sized pieces. Heat 1/4 cup of olive oil in a saucepan over medium heat and brown the chicken in batches. When the chicken is done, remove to a plate and set aside. Spoon off all but 1 tablespoon of the pan juices and turn the heat down to low. Add the onion and tomato and cook over low heat for 30 minutes stiring occasionally. The purpose of this step is to really bring out the flavour of the onion and tomato using the pan juices.

After 30 min have passed. Add the chicken and the stock. Simmer for another 10 minutes.

Then add all the beans, the rice, the rosemary and a bit of salt. Turn the heat up to medium high and cook for 25-30 minutes, checking the rice for absorption of the liquid and taking care to ensure that the rice does not burn. However, some brown crust on the bottom of the pan is desirable. If the stock is absorbing or boiling away too quickly, simply add more from a can or carton kept on hand. When the rice is done let stand 5-10 min.

This is not a quick meal - it will take about an hour and a half with all the prep. But the good news is you can do other things during most of that time, just checking on it as it cooks.

Now for the highlights of what I have listed and am planning to list today:

The 1859 first printing of the 10c Cents issue in black brown. The stamp has a tear at the bottom, but is still a very rare stamp in any condition. 

An unused example of the 2c claret Cents issue from 1864.

The mint 5c red Nesbitt envelope from 1860.

The 10c brown Prince Albert from 1861- a  particularly nice example!

The mint 10c dark brown Nesbitt Envelope from 1860

The 12.5c green Queen Victoria from 1859. 

The 17c dark blue Jacques Cartier from 1864

Finally, I heard that everybody's favourite curmudgeon royal Prince Philip is back in the news with one of his famous gaffes. Honestly, I don't think the royals will be the same once he is gone, and he is 94 now. I don't think he means to come off as an jerk - people forget that he comes from a family of very uptight people. His candour, if we can call it that is probably a survival mechanism. So what did he say this time? Well I can't remember where he was, but he was meeting a receiving line of women and he greeted them with the line "Who do you sponge off of?" - really in this age of women working as much as men. Mind you he wouldn't have any experience with that as he comes from a different time. Then at another event he was posing for a picture with a group of people when he got frustrated with  the photographer and said apparently "just take the @ukin# picture!".

Some of his other famous ones over the years:

"So how do you keep the locals off the booze long enough for them to pass the test?" - said to a Scottish driving instructor while touring a driving school in Scotland.

"If it has legs and is not a chair; if it has wings and is not an airplane and if it swims and is not a submarine, the Cantonese will eat it. Better not stay here too long or you will go slitty eyed." - said to a group of British exchange students while visiting Beijing in 1986. 

"2,500 killed and wounded? Nawww it can't be that many. I would know - I went to school with General Dyer's son." - Said to a group of Indian politicians while touring the monument to the Amritsar massacre. This was the key event in India that crystallized support for Ghandi, in which the British opened fire on a peaceful protest. 

Oh Phil, the world will be a more politically correct, but less interesting place when you leave us.