Month: November 2016
Champagne goggles
Bean, in the Champagne/Cava/Prosecco section of Aligro.
Martha & Snoop’s Potluck Dinner Party
Must. Watch. This.
Fo’ schizzle!
We know this is intentionally exaggerated but still love the juxtaposition. Martha’s side of the adjoining kitchen is outfitted in tasteful white and copper, and her fridge plays opera when opened. Snoop’s side is decked out in purple and gold and decorated with the front grill of a ’64 Impala, and his fridge plays rap when opened.
[recipe] Rocky Road bars
125 grams soft butter
300 grams best-quality dark chocolate (minimum 70% cocoa solids) broken into pieces
3 tablespoons golden syrup
200 grams rich tea biscuits
100 grams mini marshmallows
2 teaspoons icing sugar (for dusting)
Melt the butter, chocolate and golden syrup in a heavy-based saucepan. Scoop out about 125ml of this melted mixture and put to one side.
Put the biscuits into a freezer bag and then bash them with a rolling pin. You are aiming for both crumbs and pieces of biscuits.
Fold the biscuit pieces and crumbs into the melted chocolate mixture in the saucepan, and then add the marshmallows.
Tip into a foil tray (24cm / 9 inch square); flatten as best you can with a spatula. Pour the reserved 125ml of melted chocolate mixture over the marshmallow mixture and smooth the top.
Refrigerate for about 2 hours or overnight.
Cut into 24 fingers and dust with icing sugar by pushing it gently through a tea strainer or small sieve.
Nana went to cook this recipe at Bean’s school. It was a huge hit.
Raclette!
Cheese, dried meats, grilled chicken, grilled courgette, boiled potatoes, pickled vegetables and laughter. Good meal!
Trump Vs Science
Trump has indicated little respect for the findings of science. He has openly repeated the long and frequently debunked suggestion that vaccines can induce autism. He’s said that the climate consensus generated by the international scientific community is little more than a plot by the Chinese to hamper other economies. His science policy plans, where they exist, completely reflect this disdain. For energy, he plans to do the exact opposite of what would be required to address climate change by lifting restrictions on the production of shale, oil, natural gas and clean coal, and he plans to seek a wholesale culling of federal regulation regardless of whether there’s a scientific basis for the rules. He has also said that wind farms are “disgusting looking” and claimed they’re “bad for people’s health” which there is no evidence for.
The new Vice President also has some questionable views on science. It could be said that Mike Pence’s conservative and religious views have coloured his perceptions of science. In 2009, he wrote that embryonic stem cell research is “obsolete” and has claimed that smoking doesn’t cause cancer. He’s a proponent of guy conversion therapy (cure the gay away), which is ineffective and illegal in several states. He also believes that creationism is a legitimate scientific theory.
It’s now being murmured that Ben Carson, the man who shattered the stereotype that brain surgeons were intelligent, has been put forward as Education Secretary. Carson is a young Earth creationist and adheres to the idea that the Earth is somewhere between 6,000 and 10,000 years old, and that evolutionary biology is essentially hocus pocus. He is on record stating that the Big Bang is a fairy tale. He has previously spoken out against free college education, and also once claimed that the Biblical figure Joseph built Egypt’s Great Pyramids in order to store grain and is under the impression that scientists believe that aliens built them.
This picture says it all
At the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month
John McCrae, May 1915
In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.
We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.
Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.
Christmas display, Swiss 2016 editionÂ
I’m really happy with the end result . There’s one or two details that need polishing , but that’ll be for next year.
The border will be closed until November 4, 2020.
There will be a review on that date to see if things have gotten saner.