Dusting Off The Soapbox

http://news.bbc.co.uk/olmedia/475000/images/_476165_soapbox.jpg

Several things have caught my attention in the news and other media this week;

1) Twinings Tea at South Shields

2) The burning of the Koran in the U.S.A.

3) William Hague and his Driver

Twinings Tea in North Shields are laying off their English workforce producing their famous tea in Poland. As if this isn't bad enough, the existing staff have to train the East Europeans how to do their jobs before they are all sacked. This is disgusting, Twinings profits were up 20% to £331m this year http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/news/article.html?in_article_id=513769&in_page_id=2 , so it is just motivated by greed to move production to Poland. So I think we should all stop drinking Twinings Tea and write to them in protest.

Burning the Koran in the United States. An American Pastor, Terry Jones and a group of Evangelists plan to burn the Koran  on September 11th as a protest against terrorism. They are obviously not Christians to perform such an abysmal act. These are the same people perhaps who burnt Beatles records. Are they also the same people who burnt books in Germany in 1933? This is really an outrage. After all, don't Muslims and Christians alike worship God, albeit under different names? http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE68638K20100907

Why the fuss about William Hague? The balding, sometimes pompous balding boring Tory. These things may be true about the Richmondshire and Hambleton M.P, but I think he would have been ok as a Prime-Minister. So what's the big deal about him sharing a room with another male? Christopher Myers has been forced to resign due to pressure from the press and media on his family. Does it mean that every man who shares a room with another man is gay? That means all men must be gay then eh? Boy, the press are getting hard up for stories. http://uk.news.yahoo.com/5/20100902/tuk-hague-defends-denial-of-gay-affair-c-45dbed5.html

David Cameron - Think Before You Open Your Mouth Please

What On Earth Were You Thinking?

You may have heard, our P.M Mr Cameron made a right royal cock up by stating the following whilst on his hols in the United States;

We (Great Britain) were the junior partner in 1940 in the Second World War.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-10719739

Are you mad?

We, the British Empire, were fighting alone after Dunkirk and The Fall of France. Apart from the American pilots in the Eagle Squadrons of the Royal Air Force and American sailors on armed escort ships and merchant shipping, there were no Americans taking part in active fighting against the Axis powers. However, if it were not for America, and in particular PresidentRoosevelt we would have not received guns, tanks other essential materiel.

The U.S.A did not win the Second World War, it was a combined effort from Great Britain and the Empire, The Soviet Union and The United States. Get your facts right Cameron.

Mr Churchill would never had said anything so demeaning about this country

General Election

General Election in Great Britain tomorrow. This is where we exchange one set of clowns for another.
Unless you vote UKIP, come on folks, think outside the box, don't be scared of change.

Tax

(Photograph from:http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/8569525.stm, accessed 31/3/10)

We hate paying it. It keeps going up. It never seems to go down. Take petrol for instance. The price of a barrel of crude oil has gone down, yet the price at the pumps has gone up. In 1990 when I started buying petrol, the price for unleaded was 44.9p/litre. Now it's 117.9.

CAN THE WESTMINSTER BUREAUCRATS EXPLAIN TO US WHY IT HAS GONE UP SO MUCH?

Ronnie Trash

I love Johnny Cash. This Sesame Street clip is really funny without being disrespectful to the great Man in Black. Enjoy.

Quick Trifle

I don't know many people who dislike trifle. My Mother makes a lovely trifle, but I was looking through the school recipe books again and found this easy recipe. I made it for pudding for today's Sunday dinner.

Quick Trifle

Ingredients

4 sponge bricks or any plain sponge+2 tbsp raspberry jam or a jam swiss roll

1 pack of raspberry jelly

Tin of fruit

Custard - either a tin of Ambrosia or use custard powder

1 small carton of whipping cream or double cream

Hundreds and thousands/glace cherries or both.

2-3 tbsp sherry

Method

1)Make jelly.

2) Slit sponge bricks and put jam on or slice the swiss roll. Put in trifle dish.

3) Drain fruit over sponge and add sherry if desired.

4) Arrange fruit on sponge then pour jelly over. ( Do not pour boiling water into a glass dish - it will crack, let the jelly mixture cool a bit first).

5) Let the ingredients cool, then put into a fridge to set.

6) Make custard and let it cool, or just open a tin of Ambrosia and pour over the set ingredients

7) Whip cream and spread over trifle.

8) Decorate with hundreds and thousands or cherries.

Martin Niemoeller

(Image from: http://uboat.net/wwi/men/photos/niemoller_martin.jpg)

(Image from: http://filipspagnoli.files.wordpress.com/2009/01/martin-niemoller.jpg?w=200&h=308)

First they came for the communists, and I did not speak out because I was not a communist;

Then they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out because I was not a socialist;

Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out because I was not a trade unionist;

Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out because I was not a Jew;

Then they came for me and there was no one left to speak out for me.

by Martin Niemoeller, found at: http://www.christianethicstoday.com/Issue/009/First%20They%20Came%20for%20the%20Jews%20By%20Franklin%20H%20Littell_009_29_.htm ,accessed 28/2/10.

Martin Niemoeller was a decorated U-boat Captain in World War 1. By the time Hitler came to power he was a staunch Protestant and opponent of Hitler. Hitler ordered his incarceration in a concentration camp, but Niemoeller survived the war.

I really like the quote at the top of the post. I feel there are too many people resembling ostriches nowadays. Common things I hear are; 'What can I do?', 'What difference can I make?', 'What's it got to do with us?'

If all Hitler's opponents had stood up and done something, would there have been a World War 2?

Fruit Crumble

This was the first recipe we made when we started the Allertonshire School in 1982. I made this yesterday and used tinned pears. You can also use apple, bramble and apple, fruit cocktail etc.

Crumble

4 oz plain/S.R flour

2oz sugar

2oz margarine/butter

Filling

1 lb cooking apples or any other fruit

3oz sugar

OR 1 tin of fruit/ frozen fruit/1 tin of pie filling

Oven 190 Celsius for 20 -40 minutes until brown.

Method

1) Put prepared fruit into dish.

2) Rub fat into flour into sugar until like breadcrumbs.

3) Cover fruit with mixture and bake.

This is traditionally served with custard hot, and also tastes nice with ice cream or cream, hot or cold.

Buns - Rubbing - in Method

Another recipe from school, 1982. These taste really good and are ideal for when you have visitors.

Plain Buns

4 oz S.R flour

2 oz sugar

2 oz margarine

1 large/2 small eggs

1/8 pint milk

12 bun cases

Chocolate Buns

Sieve 1 rounded tablespoon of cocoa with flour.

Fruit or Nut Buns

Stir in 2oz currants, raisins, nuts, cherrries, chocolate bits or coconut after rubbing in.

Oven 190 degrees C ,or 15-20 mins until risen, golden brown and springy to the touch.

Method

1) Oven on, put paper cases into bun tins.

2) Rub fat into flour and sugar until like breadcrumbs.

3) Mix to a very soft dropping consistency with the egg and milk.

4)Put mixture into bun cases and bake.

When they are baked, put them on a wire rack to cool, then store in an airtight tin.

Music

MICK MARS

Image found at: http://www.metalsludge.tv/home/images/stories/Mick%20Mars%20Motley/mick_hat.jpg

The above image of Mick Mars of Motley Crue is cool. Mick , the man who thought of the band's name is someone I admire for his guitar playing skill, listen to any Motley Crue album and be blown away. My favourite songs include Dr Feelgood and Home Sweet Home. What I like most about Mick is his attitude to music. This quote from the band's autobiography, Dirt sums it up best;

If you're at home playing a good album, and some nosy ass neighbour claims he can't hear his TV, why does your music have to suffer so he can watch his TV?I say 'Too bad for the neighbour'.( The Dirt, Motley Crue & Strauss, N, p.123, New York, (2002).

In reality none of us like to fall out with the neighbours, but he has a point.

School Recipes - Savoury Layer Potatoes

I loved the cookery lessons at the Allertonshire School, Brompton Road, Northallerton. I attended this school from 1982-1985 and had cookery lessons with Mrs Drury, Mrs Garlic and Mrs Pennock. I still use the recipe books today and thought I would share them with people online. Please try them out and let me know what you think.

Savoury Layer Potatoes

Ingredients

1lb potatoes

1 onion

1oz butter/margarine

salt+pepper

1/4 pt of milk/stock

OR miss out milk and add 4 tomatoes or 4oz of cheese or both. The onion can be missed out.

You will neeed a dish and lid or foil for the oven.

Oven - 190 c for 90 minutes or use your microwave, I use it for 20 minutes at full power (800 watt microwave.)

Method

1) Oven on, grease dish.

2) Peel and slice potatoes and onion.

3) Layer ingredients in dish with slat and pepper (add milk if used).

4) Dot with butter, cover and bake.

This is nice on its own or with sausage, bacon or baked beans or even all three.

Noddy

Image courtesy of: http://www.wmc.org.uk/htmlarea3/clientImages/NEWSHOWS20OCT/noddy_main.jpg

My little lad is obsessed with Noddy. He reads Noddy, watches Noddy on T.V and video, wears a hat his Nana knitted him which is blue and has a jingly bell. He has Noddy cars, soft Noddy toys and if given the chance, talks about nothing else.

He is not the only child to develop a craze about a fictional character, but it proves that Enid Blyton wrote children's books that have lasted the course of time. It is rather sad that Golliwogs were removed on the assumption (by the politically daft mob) that they were racist. I never associated them with black people, I always thought they were another soft toy like a teddy bear.They have left the main characters in, of course, but I have noticed Big Ears is appearing less than he used to on the T.V show and Mr Sparks the mechanic has been replaced by a robot. Shame.

On a more positive note Noddy has got some really good new vehicles including a monster truck and submarine. May it never leave the T.V screen.

Have a look at:

http://www.thetoyreview.com/wiki/Noddy#The_History_of_Noddy, http://www.enidblytonsociety.co.uk/noddy.php