March 17, 2017 Newsletter

Dear Friends,

Tangents:  HAPPY St. PATRICK’S DAY!

You’ve got to do your own growing, no matter how tall your grandfather was.  -Irish Proverb.

And this is from my favorite song that my Mom (whose maiden name is Murphy) used to play the acoustic guitar and sing to us when we were children (among the many – like all the  Irish, she is so musical; she was always singing as she was doing house work, and what a treat it was when she sat down and played guitar and sang):

Oh Danny boy, the pipes, the pipes are calling
From glen to glen, and down the mountain side
The summer’s gone, and all the flowers are dying
‘Tis you, ’tis you must go and I must bide.

But come ye back when summer’s in the meadow
Or when the valley’s hushed and white with snow
‘Tis I’ll be here in sunshine or in shadow
Oh Danny boy, oh Danny boy, I love you so.

And if you come, when all the flowers are dying
And I am dead, as dead I well may be
You’ll come and find the place where I am lying
And kneel and say an “Ave” there for me.

And I shall hear, tho’ soft you tread above me
And all my dreams will warm and sweeter be
If you’ll not fail to tell me that you love me
I’ll simply sleep in peace until you come to me.

I’ll simply sleep in peace until you come to me.

And what is St. Patrick’s Day without lamb.  After many years of trying several different recipes for rack of lamb, I believe I’ve finally found the best.  It’s from Danny Meyer’s old Union Square Café in NYC (and his cookbook “Second Helpings”:

ROAST RACK OF LAMB
Serves 4

The trick is that the racks rest between two short roasting, allowing you to carve them while they’re evenly cooked, rosy pink, and still piping hot.
1 cup fresh bread crumbs (the best in Victoria are from Ottavio’s Italian bakery in Oak Bay)
1 teaspoon minced garlic (that’s the recipe – I use more)
1 ½ teaspoons chopped fresh tarragon (that’s the recipe; I prefer minced parsley)
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper
2 lamb racks, 8 ribs each (see note)
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard.

1. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.

2. In a bowl, combine the bread crumbs, garlic, tarragon, olive oil, 1/8 teaspoon salt and 1/8 teaspoon pepper, mixing with your fingers so that the bread crumbs absorb the oil.  Set aside.

3. In a cast iron skillet or ovenproof sauté pan large enough to hold both racks, heat some olive oil over high heat until smoking.  Season the racks all over with salt and pepper and sear them in  the pan, meaty sides down.  Cook until well browned, about 2 minutes.  Turn the racks over and cook  1 minute longer.   Place the skillet in the oven.  Roast 9 minutes for medium rare or 8 minutes for rare.

4.Remove the skillet from the oven, transfer the racks to a plate, and let them rest for 15 minutes, uncovered.  Use a pastry brush or a teaspoon to coat the meaty side of each rack with the mustard.  Use your fingers to press the bread crumb mixture onto the mustard.  Return the racks to the oven and roast for 15 more minutes to brown the crust.  Slice in between each  bone and serve the chops immediately.

Note: Ask your butcher to remove the chine bone, trim the racks completely down to the meat, and “French” the bones by scraping away all the fat and gristle.  After this, each rack should weigh one pund.

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

Britain’s Kate, The Duchess of Cambridge, laughs as she presents shamrocks to the Colonel of the Irish Guards at the St. Patrick’s Day Parade at the Cavalry Barracks in Hounslow, London, on Friday. Kirsty Wigglesworth/AP

Spectators watch as revelers march up Fifth Avenue during the St. Patrick’s Day Parade on Friday in New York. New York City was awash in green and Irish pride as throngs celebrated. Andres Kudacki/AP

A boy takes part in the St Patrick’s Day parade on the streets of Dublin, Ireland, on Friday. Brian Lawless/PA/AP
Market Closes for March 17^th, 2017

International Markets

Bonds

Currencies

Commodities

Market Commentary:
On this day in 1997, Hewlett-Packard, Johnson & Johnson, Travelers Group and Wal-Mart are added to the Dow Jones Industrial Average, replacing Bethlehem Steel, Texaco, Westinghouse Electric and Woolworth.
Canada
By Oliver Renick
     (Bloomberg) — Canadian stocks were little changed, poised for the fourth gain this week, as a rally in phone companies was offset by declining health-care stocks.
     The S&P/TSX Composite Index added less than 0.1 percent to 15,562 at 10:35 a.m. in Toronto. On Tuesday, the index slid to its lowest since December. Seven of 11 major industries advanced as financial companies and consumer stocks declined.
* Canada Goose adds 7.3% after jumping 27% from its IPO price on Thursday
* Telecom stocks up 0.7% for biggest single-day gain in a month
* Health-care shares 0.4% lower with all five companies down, led by 1.5% decline in Knight Therapeutics
* Materials shares 0.3% higher with Bloomberg Commodity Index up for fourth day this week
* Dominion Diamond up 9.9% for biggest rally in index after saying Thursday that FY18 sales will increase 62% Y/y
US
By Oliver Renick
     (Bloomberg) — U.S. stocks slid Friday as a drop in financial stocks offset gains in utilities as bonds advanced for a third time this week.
     The S&P 500 Index lost 0.1 percent to 2,378.18 at 4 p.m. in New York, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 20 points to 20,914.49. The S&P 500 ended the week 0.2 percent higher after the Federal Reserve raised rates without altering its forecast for further increases this year.
* Utility shares up 0.7% for biggest gain in S&P 500 as the 10- year Treasury yield dropped 4 basis points
* Financial stocks down 1.1%
* VIX reversed early decline to end higher
* Heavy volume amid quadruple witching and index rebalancing; about 9.5 billion shares traded hands, most so far this year
* Traders are pricing in a 54% chance that Fed officials will increase borrowing costs by June, Fed fund futures show
* S&P 500 up 3.7% in March, poised for its longest monthly winning streak since July
* Investors are also focusing on Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin, who will attend his first gathering of G-20 finance chiefs
** On Thursday, Mnuchin in Berlin repeated his view that the long-term strengthening of the dollar is in the best interest of the U.S. economy
* With the earnings season nearing its end, about three-quarters of S&P 500 firms that have reported results exceeded profit estimates and about half beat sales forecasts, according to data compiled by Bloomberg
* S&P 500 EARNINGS: none after-market Friday or pre-market Monday
* In Europe, stocks advanced to the highest level since December 2015

Have  a wonderful weekend everyone.

Be magnificent!

Wise people are concerned only with what lies behind all these things.
Just as bees fly from one blossom to another, looking only for the essence of each one,
wise people look only for the essence of every person they meet.
Wise people, who know and understand the soul, are indifferent to both pleasure and pain;
they have risen above sensations.  They are indifferent to the past and the future; they have risen above time.
They are indifferent to danger; they have risen above fear.
Wise people know that what is here, is also there;
that what was, will also be.
They see unity, not division.
Katha Upanishad

As ever,

Carolann

There are no traffic jams along the extra mile.
–Roger Staubach, b. 1942

Carolann Steinhoff, B.Sc., CFP®, CIM, CIWM
Portfolio Manager &
Senior Vice-President

Queensbury Securities Inc.,
St. Andrew’s Square,
Suite 340A, 730 View St.,
Victoria, B.C. V8W 3Y7

Tel: 778.430.5808
(C): 250.881.0801
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www.carolannsteinhoff.com