09/30/09

Baking!

A couple of weeks ago I gave you a recipe for monkey meat which was untested. Tonight I bring you things that marmite goes with!

Things marmite doesn’t go with…

Chocolate Ice Cream

Vanilla Ice Cream

Orange

Pear (although debated by Heidi)

Grape

Things Marmite Goes With…

Warm toast with melty butter

Pear (although debated by me)

Pasta….tried with Ravioli (see picture)

and finally the thing that marmite really doesn’t go with…

Flapjack!

Heidi has accepted the challenge to show me how to cook deserts and cakes and so last night for mission one we tried flapjack but as you can tell from the list above we also experimented with marmite on various foods including making a batch of marmite flapjacks which I can honestly say is the single most disgusting thing I have ever tasted (and I love marmite!).

However cunningly Heidi passed the marmite flapjack off as a chocolate one to an unsuspecting Cameron at breakfast this morning who took a bite and in answer to ‘how is it?’ said ‘mmm not bad’….’really?’ remarked Heidi, ‘Oh, I think we gave you the marmite one by mistake’

This was followed by the flapjack being spat-out and Cameron informing us that he hated marmite…genius!

Here’s a photo of our normal and marmite flapjacks…

Next week we shall attempt apple lasagne…warm apples with a layer of custard and pasta sheets turning the classic italian dish into a contemporary british desert…we shall see how that one turns out…I have high hopes!

09/26/09

Snow Leopard

So yesterday I gave into temptation and purchased Snow Leopard for my Mac, for those unmac people Snow Leopard is the new operating system (like Windows 7 is the update to Vista and Vista was the downgrade from XP!). Apple haven’t really added masses of new features but claim that everything has been rewritten and works faster!

And they’re right!

I took out my Snow Leopard disc earlier, popped it into my mac and an hour later it was installed, my programmes, documents and settings remained intact meaning that I logged in and was ready to go!

I haven’t really used any of the new features yet but scrolling stacks is really useful. However the speed of the whole thing is fantastic, backups are faster, browsing is faster and the whole loading process is faster too…I’m a happy Mac user!

09/24/09

Alcohol Problems

It’s that time of year again when thousands of people flock off to university either for the first time or 2nd, 3rd, 4th etc. times and as they begin the year Fresher’s Week is highly anticipated by many for it’s cheap drinks, late nights and opportunities to get to know people (often in more ways than one).

The Facebook status’ within my friends have already started mentioning the exploits of previous nights and anticipation of future opportunities to go out and get completely bungalowed.

On the other side in the last few months we’ve seen the introduction of the completely ridiculous drinking ASBO and gone from being ‘under 21′ to ‘under 25′ in a desperate attempt to stop those underage buying alcohol. (Surely when they can prove they are 18 they’re gonna got mad?).

Apart from the obvious problem of the drinking ASBO being impossible to actually administrate (is a bar owner going to have a list of mug-shots which he has to refer to before serving a customer?) all of these ways of ‘stopping’ binge drinking seem to once again (surprise, surprise) be reactive rather than proactive.

Let’s put it this way, more young people (and children) are admitted into hospital for alcohol related problems, those underage are getting hold of alcohol and those are can drink are drinking too much and causing violent problems and someone publishes an article on one of the above or some statistics and those in power suddenly think ‘hang on we have a problem’ and come up with a selection of potentially ineffective ways of stopping it.

Surely the problem as a whole is that Britain has a very immature approach to alcohol, student unions encouraging ridiculous games like pub golf and celebrities (who we have no choice but to allow to be role models to young people) getting wasted simply says ‘it’s okay to get drunk’ yet somehow we forget to point out that excess of alcohol causes huge problems, for example girls are far more likely to have unprotected sex when under the influence of alcohol.

In my opinion the only way too get over this problem is to encourage student unions, universities and night clubs to take a mature approach to alcohol and their club evenings and not encourage ridiculous drinking and perhaps more importantly we need to remind potential role models that they are role models, whether that’s parents, teachers or youth workers who get drunk or celebrities who area featured and laughed at in the papers for falling over or climbing a hedge or whatever when drunk.

When people make the decision or end up in the public eye as a role model we need to encourage them to be a good role model and at the same time the media needs to stop glorifying drunkenness as headlines for the sake of society and the celebrity. A front page headline of Kerry Katona snorting cocaine or another celebrity being arrested for drunken violence doesn’t help the individual or the world.

09/23/09

Best Muse Performance!

Here’s a video from Yahoo…the synopsis simply reads ‘Muse get revenge on producers of Italian TV show ‘Quelli Che Il Calcio’ who insisted that they mime so singer Matt Bellamy and drummer Dom Howard swap places. Presenter doesn’t notice and New ‘lead singer’ Dom lies his way through interview’. It’s genius… enjoy! (you need to recognise the members of Muse to get the joke!)

Muse – Uprising – Live-ish & Interview @ Yahoo! Video

09/22/09

blog but no blog…

I’ve had so much I’ve wanted to blog on in the last few days but it’s been filed in various places!

Some thoughts just haven’t been thought enough to blog and in turn that’s left them raw (although the other project I’ve started is a sort-of diary blog which is completely hidden from the public view point where raw things end up!).

I’ve been meaning to blog on the Hunsley Christian Youth Trust and my first few weeks but haven’t got around to it yet (I will soon… in the meantime www.hcyt.co.uk) and I also keep meaning to revisit my ‘marriage blog’ from a year and something ago to see how my thoughts have changed since entering into the world of wedding planning.

This post perhaps serves as more of a reminder so look out for new posts soon!

09/18/09

Derren Brown – Not Convinced

Last Wednesday Derren Brown suggested to the nation that he had predicted the lottery numbers before presenting a theory last Friday combining a series of ideas and revealing how he ‘predicted the lottery’.

However this nonsense was completely unconvincing and the programme got more and more surreal and the claims he’d made on Wednesday were crushed as nonsense in the Telegraph who pointed out that whereas Brown claimed that he couldn’t reveal the numbers prior to the draw or buy a ticket he could have because it was a prediction and therefore allowed!

This week he tried to stick the nation to their seats, after a more convincing set of theories this week the tape that would ‘stick you to your seats’ just didn’t seem to work. He even seemed to tell us that it wouldn’t work before showing the clip suggesting that it depended on the quality of your reception, your mindset before hand and how responsive you are.

Did anyone stick to their seats or was the studio full of actors and the phone lines fixed? Who knows anymore than whether his crazy theories actually predicted the lottery but I think it’s all fake.

Perhaps more importantly this new style of ‘magic’ just seems stupid compared to the good old days of Paul Daniels!

09/15/09

Carrier Bags

I don’t go shopping that often (by this I mean a shopping centre style shopping) but I do know that when you wander around towns where people are partaking in the act of consumerism they are usually clinging onto a handful of plastic bags with a variety of brands and logos showing the world exactly where this particular consumer has been shopping.

It’s the same with supermarkets, you reach the checkout with a trolly of food (in my case 80% impulse buys and 20% what I actually need) and the (friendly?) cashier asks you if you could like some carrier bags.

I am well aware that I’m not describing an unusual scenario yet despite taking lots of bags (and then re-using a few times or just throwing away) we forget the environmental impact of them.

Jo has worked on a checkout this summer and the typical response of people being offered bags is ‘yes’ or ‘yes, I’ve left mine in the car/at home/ in my pocket but I cannot be bothered to move my wallet to get them out!’ and I’m as guilty as the next person. 9 times out of 10 when I go shopping and forget to grab the bags for life from my kitchen… I even think about adding some to my car but keep forgetting to help the bags make the transition from my kitchen to the car.

This forgetfulness usually results in me buying more bags for life.

The problem is that somehow we need to stop using so many carrier bags.

Both Sainsbury’s and ASDA have done promotions offering bags for life to customers for free and encouraging them to re-use them next time (although most forget!), when I was younger Sainsbury’s used to give you 1p back per carrier bag you re-used (before the days of the Nectar Card and Bags for Life) and this encouragement continues in the form of loyalty points for re-using bags in both Tesco (eugh!) and Sainsbury’s but not in ASDA who don’t have a loyalty scheme just cheaper products.

When Aldi first opened in Bexhill where I grew up I remember us taking our own carrier bags because they charged for them so the few times we visited Aldi we took our own or just put the shopping in the boot loose because ‘we weren’t going to pay 2p a carrier bag’.

Years on from that Marks and Spencer’s charge for carrier bags and a WHSmiths in Sheffield station do the same (I don’t think this is all WHSmiths) but this trend hasn’t caught on.

I think it’s time that we started charging people for carrier bags in order to encourage people to reuse their bags….hitting people in the pocket may make them think about reusing, it would certainly make me remember to put the bags in my car!

I am challenging myself to actually remember to reuse my bags from now on and will make the occasional reference to my success of this on my blog (although I appreciate that how I use my bags doesn’t make interesting reading!)

On a completely contradictory tangent bags for life are actually worse for the environment because they take longer to biodegrade….cotton bags are better and probably last longer!

09/14/09

Porn For A Pound

Walking into Poundland last week during a trip into Hull I went to browse their CDs and DVDs as I usually do in the hope of their being something worth buying.

‘Are those porn DVDs?’ Jo remarks to me.

Sure enough, there on the top row (top row not even being that high…a 10 year old could easily reach it) was a full shelf of various porn DVDs… retailing (as most things do in Poundland) for £1,

I have to say I was a little bit shocked… I wouldn’t say I’m easily shocked but that was one thing that did…needless to say I didn’t purchase one (or any number for that matter) but just left the shop feeling slightly shocked and wondering if even porn fans were feeling the hit of recession.

I realise that in blogging this the result may be two fold. You may be feeling as surprised as me or you may be grabbing your car keys, putting on your shoes and heading to Poundland!

(If it is the latter may I suggest you visit www.xxxchurch.com)

09/12/09

Tesco – Continued Fun!

Regular readers will know of my dislike of Tesco (see these posts) and once again they continue to annoy me a little.

A couple of weeks back whilst in Sheffield the Tesco van decided to block the road and make a delivery to the store…so I waited for 10 minutes (see left picture).

If it was anyone other than Tesco I probably wouldn’t be that bothered but I grasped the opportunity to moan about Tesco to someone, took some photos and sent them by e-mail to Sheffield City Council last week.

On Thursday I received a reply from their highways and transport division and although it is advised that I pop in and let the local police know (which I may not get an opportunity to do so) it seems to reveal Tesco breaking the terms of their planning permission by using a larger lorry they are legally allowed… I’m hoping Sheffield Council will let me know what happens but we’ll see.

Anyway here is the e-mail

Dear Mark
The lorry you documented loading to the Tesco Express is clearly committing an obstruction. Unfortunately this matter can only be dealt with by the police. It may pay you to drop into the station at the end of Scotland Street and report this. With luck, they will send an officer round to explain the error of their ways.

From the Council point of view, this behaviour is not acceptable. There is clearly is a loading bay that would have been conditioned as part of the planning permission. It appears to me that either the delivery vehicle did not make a reasonable attempt to properly use the bay, or there was a car parked in the bay when it arrived or they are using a vehicle larger than anticipated.

If the vehicle was poorly parked because of laziness or because it makes it easier to off load from the tail to the service door then it is the police to deal with.

If there was a car there as it arrived then this is difficult to deal with. The service vehicle could wait and block the road until the vehicle moves or it could “go round the block”. I would suggest that with schedules to keep, they would be tempted to try and off load as fast as possible. One of the City Council’s Civil Enforcement Officers (traffic warden) may be able to enforce the loading bay and I will ask that this receives attention. The problem is that this behaviour is intermittent and officers cannot wait all day for an offence to occur.

On most planning applications of this type, the size of service vehicle is specified. Generally, the vehicle is limited to an “urban artic”. This is smaller than the vehicle on your photos. I will pass your email onto the Highways Development Control Planning Officer who dealt with the application. It may that the store is in contravention of its planning permission, in which case, enforcement action can be taken.

I hope that one or all of the actions above will help prevent the road from being blocked on a regular basis. However, I am happy for you to send me an details of dates and times that problems occur, this will help us to deal with this matter.

09/11/09

Monopoly City Streets

A couple of days ago Monopoly city streets went live!

If you haven’t heard about it Monopoly City Streets is a online game combining Monopoly and google maps meaning that you buy real streets (in a virtual world!) and build houses on them. Every so often you get a chance card which, much like monopoly can be good or bad…some allow you to build sewage plants or factories on others streets and some allow you to build schools on yours which protects them from factories and sewage plants.

It’s a bizarre game because you can’t spend that long playing because you run out of money and have to wait for the next days rent but it’s good fun so far!

Here’s a link to the game

09/10/09

Recipe For You

Since moving into my own place I have naturally had to fend for myself and cook so in what is a first for my blog I am taking a more domestic theme for this particular post and I’m sharing a recipe with you.

I should clarify that I have not used this recipe as the local supermarkets here don’t seem to stock the required ingredients but here’s the recipe (taken from the congo cookbook – link)

Monkey bushmeat is commonly consumed in tropical Africa. Monkey meat is prepared fresh in rural areas. It is also smoked to preserve it and allow it to be sent to market in the cities. A common sight along rural roads is smoked whole monkeys for sale, tales tied to heads to make carrying handles. Fresh monkey meat is often cooked in a Tomato Sauce made from tomatoes, chile peppers, and onions. Smoked monkey meat can be prepared in a Tomato-Peanut sauce: Soak the smoked meat in water, then rinse and drain it. Fry tomatoes, onions, chile pepper, in hot palm oil. Add tomato paste and the monkey meat. Simmer until all is tender. Season with salt and pepper.

09/5/09

Italy… Finally!

It’s well over a month since Jo and myself returned from Italy and our epic journey driving across Europe and all my intentions of doing several Italy posts seemed to fade in the midst of moving house and spending time without internet but finally I’m getting around to it!

Although I’ve not done masses of travelling abroad I think it’s easy to find yourself a Britain away from Britain in a typically Peter Kay style book it, pack it and leave holiday however to many extents I think it’s sad that we feel the need to create a Britain away from Britain. One of the most exciting things about being in an uncomercialised part of Italy (and indeed driving through so many countries on the way) was that you begin to get a feel for the culture, you see what a typical Italian village is like, you see the sorts of shops they have and the lifestyle of the people.

The Italians seem to have this fantastic idea of family values, every afternoon from about half 12 until 4 the shops close and traditionally they have a family meal and family time…there seems to be this real sense of family before work which is fantastic and something I wish Britain had.

The contrast to this lifestyle was when we visited Florence and Assisi, both of which are far more commercial and with very different priorities, the shops stayed open and a lot was in English not to mention miles of stereotypical tourist junk with shops reminding me of Regent Street (aka tacky street) in Great Yarmouth.

All that aside though as a whole Italy is a stunning country, there’s some fantastic views, miles of open countryside and some brilliant places to visit. They have a public transport system that runs on time and everyone seems far more relaxed, family orientated and friendly… not to mention the wine is very cheap!

As I previously blogged driving somewhere really does open your eyes, you see much more through your car driving across a country than you do flying into a commercial airport and staying in a British hotel and it gives you ideas of other places to visit… not to mention it makes an exciting road trip to tell people about!