Going on a Bear Hunt (and a game!)

This week I suggested to Ben that we make sausage rolls. If you haven’t been to the U.K., it is possible you don’t know about this staple of museum cafes and quick lunches on the fly in the British Isles. I have consumed many sausage rolls, but until I looked into recipes, I didn’t realize how incredibly simple they are to make! 

Sausage Rolls

1 tablespoon oil

1 onion, minced

2 lbs. sausage

3 eggs

1 package frozen puff pastry, thawed according to package directions

1. Preheat oven to 400º.
2. Sauté onion in oil.
3. Combine sausage with 2 eggs.
4. Roll out both sheets of puff pastry slightly and cut each square into 2 rectangles. (4 total)
5. Spread sausage mixture in a log shape down the center of each rectangle. Brush the edges with remaining beaten egg. Wrap pastry around sausage, place rolls seam side down, brush top with egg wash, and cut each log into 1 1/2 inch pieces. Place pieces on parchment lined sheet pan and bake for about 20 minutes.

Sausage rolls can be enjoyed warm, cold, or at room temperature, the perfect accompaniment for lukewarm beverages that are also a mainstay of British lunches.

Of course, the most exciting event this week at our house was not the sausage rolls, though they were good. When we were making dinner for Mother’s Day, Jake calmly commented that there was a bear walking down our driveway! The rest of us, being city dwellers, went nuts! Sophia, having ninja-like phone reflexes due to her youth, was able to snap some pics but he ambled off before we could really get acquainted. 

The close ursine encounter made me remember a hotel stay in Berne, Indiana when we were at a family reunion. In the lobby there was a bear figure, the perfect size for children to sit and play on. I went on a bear hunt in our house for a picture I remember somebody snapped (probably Grandpa) of Ben sitting on this bear, beaming with joy. I looked high and low – attic, closets, bedrooms, photo albums – anywhere this picture might be, but struck out. I found a million other long forgotten photos, but no bear picture.

Phil has been stomping around the house since Sunday claiming he’s disappointed in the lack of bears in the yard. He feels ripped off that the last 29 years here produced no bears until this week. Some day (hopefully soon) he will cease his bear lamentations long enough to appreciate the bear hunt, where you never know what you’ll find.

Are you familiar with the NYT game “Connections”? I am a famously bad sleeper, so when I wake up at 1:00 in the morning, never to sleep again, I go the the Connections archive and play old games. Last month I exhausted the archives, so I turned to making my own games to force Invite Phil to play at his leisure. He doesn’t have a whole lot of leisure time, but maybe you would like to try.

The link below should take you to a page showing 16 boxes. You click on 4 that you think are connected and hit submit. There are 4 groups of 4. If you get it right, it will tell you what the connection is. If you are wrong, enjoy the hunt and try again.

https://connections.swellgarfo.com/game/-Nxydh_-6iH_pEMpmTbh