WHAT’S HAPPENIN’ IN THE HOUSE:
Tonight: Wear a fun hat! Any hat.... or decorate your helmet! Woo Hoo!
Next Week: It's February... Will the groundhog see it's shadow?
Other NEWS: Oakville Curling Club BOARD REPRESENTATIVE OPPORTUNITY:
Be the next WNW League Board Representative at our club.
The applications are pouring in!! (not really at all - but I am hopeful someone will step up)
Don't miss this opportunity to make change (if you want to). It's a great and easy role to play. You go to OCC board meetings and I have taken it upon myself to second all motions that I agree with. It's that easy! Let me know if you are interested.
(Or we could put everyone's name in a hat and choose a lucky winner!)
Even MORE NEWS: We have an opportunity for Oakville Curling Club Members to curl in Edinburgh in late March 2026 at the
- Edinburgh International Curlers’ Gathering. Bonspiel dates are March 20 – 22, 2026.
- The Funspiel format is Open Mixed, like Monday Night or Saturday morning curling.
- The level of competition is moderate, somewhere between Level B and Level H in Weekend Mixed Curling.
- By email to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., please let me know if this is something you are interested in doing.
Rick Brady
JOKE OF THE WEEK:
STUFF THAT MAKES US CURL BETTER:
RECIPES AROUND THE RINGS:
Our Best-Ever Chicken Pot Pie (from Country Living)
The secret to this super-homey dish? Cooking it in cast-iron.
- Yields: 4 - 6 serving(s)
- Prep Time: 20 mins
- Total Time: 45 mins
Ready for a chicken pot pie as good as grandma made? We've got the recipe right here. This weeknight-friendly recipe takes less than an hour, and you end up with a warm, delicious casserole of veggies and chicken that the whole family is sure to love.
What is the sauce made of in chicken pot pie?
Chicken pot pie sauce is made mostly from chicken stock and white wine that has been seasoned with thyme and then thickened with flour. When it's done right it makes an absolutely yummy stew-like sauce that helps hold everything together.
How do you keep the bottom crust of chicken pot pie from getting soggy?
The best part of a chicken pot pie is this: you don't need to!
You see, a "pot pie" is essentially a stew that has a pie crust, puff pastry, or biscuit crust topping, but that doesn't have any kind of crust on the sides or underneath. This is what makes them different from traditional English style meat pies. (A Shepherd's Pie is similar, but it has mashed potatoes instead of a pastry crust topping.)
You can turn nearly any kind of meat into a pot pie — including pork, lamb, ground beef, or steak — though in America, chicken has become the most popular.
How do you keep chicken pot pie crust from burning?
We might be cheeky and suggest you simply follow our cooking times. However, it's true that every stove is a little different, and it can be difficult, especially when cooking at high heat, to avoid hot spots that might burn a pie.
Luckily our recipe has a couple built-in ideas to help keep that from happening. First-off, the interior ingredients are all cooked through before baking, so you don't have to worry about a pie coming out burnt on the outside and raw in the middle. If your home oven tends to cook a little hot or fast, you can lower the suggested temperature, or shorten the time, and simply keep an eye on things. When the crust appears brown and toasty, it's done!
If, for any reason, you want the interior to cook a little longer, but are worried about the outside of the pie burning, you can always make a loose tent over the pie with aluminum foil. This should keep some of the heat off the top, and avoid the pastry singeing while the rest cooks.
Is there a way to shorten the recipe time on Chicken Pot Pie?
While we highly recommend following this recipe through to get the best flavor, sometimes you just want to save some steps — and we get it! If you use rotisserie chicken or already-cooked chicken, you can skip the first step and save yourself about 15 minutes of work as well as an extra pan to wash.
While it's not quite as delicious, we think you'll still love the end result.
What's the best cookware for Chicken Pot Pie?
As country cooks know, the secret to a really great chicken pot pie is the same as the secret to a really great anything: Cook it in cast iron!
The stove-to-oven versatility and meat-searing qualities of cast iron make it the ideal vessel for this dish. Though we don't recommend storing leftovers in cast iron!
Ingredients
- 1 Tbsp. olive oil
- 1 1/2 lb. bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 1/2 yellow onion, chopped
- 2 carrots, chopped
- 2 stalks celery, chopped
- 1 tsp. fresh thyme
- 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
- 2 cups chicken stock
- 1/4 cup dry white wine
- 1 cup frozen peas
- 1/4 cup fresh flat-leaf parsley
- 1 (14-ounce) package all-butter puff pastry
- 1 large egg, beaten
Directions
- Preheat oven to 425°F. Heat a large cast-iron skillet over medium-high heat. Add oil. Season chicken with salt and pepper. Cook, skin sides down, until golden brown and crisp, 6 to 8 minutes. Flip chicken and transfer skillet to the oven. Cook, until the internal temperature of the thickest thigh registers 165°F on an instant-read thermometer, 12 to 14 minutes. Transfer to a cutting board. Discard skins and bones, and chop chicken.
- Place skillet over medium-high heat. Add onion, carrots, celery, and thyme. Season with salt and pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally, just until crisp-tender, 3 to 4 minutes. Add flour and cook, stirring, 30 seconds. Slowly stir in stock and wine. Bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer and cook, stirring occasionally, until thickened, 4 to 6 minutes. Remove from heat. Stir in chicken, peas, and parsley.
- Cut puff pastry into a circle 1 inch larger than the outside rim of a cast-iron pie plate. (You may need to roll the dough on a lightly floured work surface to get it to size.) Place pie plate on a rimmed baking sheet. Transfer filling to pie plate and top with puff pastry; crimp edges. Brush puff pastry with egg. Bake, until golden brown, puffed, and cooked through, 20 to 25 minutes.
GAMES, BOOKS, MOVIES & SHOWS:
This week is a show from Netflix. Do you like serious Jason Bateman? Jude Law?
Black Rabbit. An intense drama focusing on two estranged brothers, whose reunion leads to a dangerous spiral of debt and crippling in New York City!
Intense is a great word to describe this limited series.