As someone who is decorating a lot, this is useful:
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Life Hacks – Keeping a Paint Tin Clean
Pineapple Upsidedown Pudding
This is a favourite of mine, a winter pud thats classic. As you can see i went too big for the plate. The way this is made is that the pudding dish needs greasing, then melt 2oz of butter in a pan. When melted add 2oz of soft brown sugar and melt together, add this to the pudding dish.
Put the pineapple rings (I had chunks) into the dish on top of the butter / sugar mix.
Next cream 8oz of butter with 8oz of sugar together until light and fluffy. Then mix in 4 eggs.
Finally add 12oz of flour and fold in until mixed, If the mix is still a bit dry use some milk. Pour the mix over the pineapple and bake at 180C for about 1 hour. This is a big one, so you can halve the ingredients, but the cooking time stays the same.
Once the pudding is baked turn out onto its serving dish. Cut up and serve with icecream or custard.
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Life Hacks – Symbols Short Cuts
Ever wondered how to get all the symbols you need without going throught the mills:
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22 Psychological Tricks to help you in life
Found Poem – Bird Flu Outbreak Kills Swans
Officials are investigating a suspected outbreak of bird flu after a number of wild swans thought to be owned by the Queen reportedly died in Windsor.
Seven birds are feared to have died from H5N6 avian influenza, according to the Sun.
The Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (Defra) confirmed it was investigating a suspected outbreak of the deadly strain in Berkshire, with results expected early next week.
It did not confirm the number of birds potentially affected or the number reported to have died.
Bird flu has been detected in 75 wild birds so far in 2018, including a number of mute swans, Defra’s records show.
Recently, two mute swans tested positive in Greater London. Currently no bird flu has been detected in poultry or kept birds.
All unmarked mute swans on the River Thames, which runs through Windsor, are owned by the Queen as part of a tradition dating back to the 12th century.
The Queen’s official Swan Marker David Barber told the paper: “We are deeply saddened by the loss.”
This time last year, two swans died after 12 birds were shot with an air weapon and slingshot near to Windsor Castle.
Found Poem – Bird Flu Outbreak Kills Swans
Makes a change from Eastern Europeans eating them ( :
If they weren’t owned by the Queen , they wouldn’t have had to live in Berkshire and they wouldn’t have died.
I was due to visit England next week but after reading this bird flu story i have taken it off my holiday list.
I will be heading to Milan instead.
That’s Sunday lunch at Windsor sorted out then.
Poor thing will probably need bereavement counselling ! Maybe someone should ttell Queen Liz that some of her subjects are dying in hospital corridors on trolleys, maybe she could send their families condolences while she is eating caviar and canapes.
Doesn’t matter she has enough swans as it is.
Hans Christian Andersen might have some ugly ducklings to spare.
Poor old duck !
Geese-us Christ!
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Breakfast at Simon’s – The Homemade Way
I always like to try new things in the kitchen, so when Master Chef had the competitors making breakfast I had to try it.
The first thing to do is get a pan full of water on the boil with a good dose of vinegar, not salt! Finely chop an onion, and grate enough pre cooked potato for the hash browns.
I cooked the onion to soften it, then put it with the potato and mixed this with and egg to bind the lot together.
Streaky bacon works best, put this on with no oil in the bottom, unless it’s a crapped out pan like mine. Get the bacon until it’s just short of crispy then remove from the pan, and may it in kitchen towel to remove the oil.
Make the hash browns into cakes, then add butter to the pan and place them in and allow them to cook until brown. The butter helps them brown.
Note for the eggs, is the pan has booked and is simmering away gently, then it’s ready. Crack the eggs into the water and leave for about three minutes then remove and drain.
Put the lot together and here you are! Homemade breakfast and it’s rather yummy!
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PorterGirl – Sinister Dexter LAUNCH DAY!
If you haven’t already paid a visit to Old College – make sure you do with the Porter Girl trilogy!
Ladies and gentlemen, today the PorterGirl trilogy is completed by the release of Sinister Dexter!
Join me this evening 7pm – 8pm (UK time) for live broadcasts on Facebook and Twitter, where I will talk about the books, the real Old College and all the things that you – the readers – want to know about. This will coincide with Mumsie’s retirement do, so be prepared for some occasional randomness.
If you have not yet paid a visit to the notorious Old College (where have you been?!) then today is the perfect day to make the trip – first novel in the series First Lady Of The Keys is available FREE on e-book for a limited time only. Welcome to Old College – it’s quite an education!
The PorterGirl Trilogy
The beautiful English lakes – a look back in time
Over the last weekend I visited the Lake District again, it had been the first time in about 12 years I had been there. This part of the world is one of those places that is stuck in a time warp. Nothing changes it seems or at least very little does.
From the rolling hills and craggy outcrops, to the lakes and even the town centre. It was like I had never been gone. I can imagine that there is a lot of work that goes into keeping things the same and progress is stunted at every opportunity.
It some ways it must be frustrating but that is part of the beauty of this place.
Anyway, this weekend was more than just a flying visit, but that’s all I’ll say on that subject. With feeding birds by the lake and some beautiful walks I wanted to share with you bloggies the pictures that brought it all back.
Beware the smart toaster: 18 tips for surviving the surveillance age
We’ve come a long way since the web was just a fun place to share cat gifs – now it’s a place mostly dedicated to finding and selling your personal info. Here’s what you need to know in this new era.
On the internet, the adage goes, nobody knows you’re a dog. That joke is only 15 years old, but seems as if it is from an entirely different era. Once upon a time the internet was associated with anonymity; today it is synonymous with surveillance. Not only do modern technology companies know full well you’re not a dog (not even an extremely precocious poodle), they know whether you own a dog and what sort of dog it is. And, based on your preferred category of canine, they can go a long way to inferring – and influencing – your political views.
Just over a week ago, the Observer broke a story about how Facebook had failed to protect the personal information of tens of millions of its users. The revelations sparked a #DeleteFacebook movement and some people downloaded their Facebook data before removing themselves from the social network. During this process, many of these users were shocked to see just how much intel about them the internet behemoth had accumulated. If you use Facebook apps on Android, for example – and, even inadvertently, gave it permission – it seems the company has been collecting your call and text data for years.
It’s not me, it’s you! So Facebook protested, in the wake of widespread anger about its data-collection practices. You acquiesced to our opaque privacy policies. You agreed to let us mine and monetise the minutiae of your existence. Why are you so upset?
Facebook’s surprise at our outrage is not unreasonable. For years, technology companies have faced very little scrutiny as they mushroomed in size and power. Finally, however, the tide is turning. We seem to have reached a watershed moment when it comes to public attitudes towards the use of our private information. We are more aware of the implications of our online behaviour than ever before.
Awareness of our digital footprint is one thing, but what are we to do about it? In the wake of the Facebook revelations, it’s clear that we can’t all keep clicking as usual if we value our privacy or our democracy. It’s still relatively early in the internet era and we are all still figuring it out as we go along. However, best practices when it comes to security and online etiquette are starting to emerge. Here’s a guide to some of the new rules of the internet.
1. Download all the information Google has on you
This post has not been written by me – Credit to The Guardian (written by Alex Hern and Arwa Mahdahwi)
Original Article: Beware the smart toaster: 18 tips for surviving the surveillance age
How to Bake it – Apple Tar Tatin
Fo ages I’ve been wondering what Tar Tatin actually is, thinking it was this mega complex thing until I saw Mark Berry making it. Seriously this isn’t hard. So passing this onto you bloggies this is how I baked my first Apple Tar Tatin.
Put 6 oz of granulated sugar into a stainless steel saucepan with 6 tablespoons of water. Heat this on a low heat until the sugar is dissolved.
When it’s all dissolved, removed the spoon and turn the heat up a little (don’t go nuts) wait for the sugar and water to boil and turn a straw colour. When this has happened pour into a 9 inch or 23cm baking dish or tin.
Peel, core and cut two bramley apples into sections as shown and arrange. I sprinkled some sugar over this to make sure the apples didn’t turn out too tart.
Roll out half a block of puff pastry and cover the apples, I tucked the sides of the pastry over.
Bake for about 30 – 45 minutes until golden brown. Remove from the oven and while still warm place the serving plate over the tin and turn over.
Serve with cream or ice cream… yummy!
It’s all gone now so there’s none to share I’m afraid so you’ll have to make your own and let me know what you think!
