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Saturday, March 21, 2009
Chew Choo - Foodwishes is Taking the Train to Spring Training!
As exciting as it is getting the chance to watch my beloved San Francisco Giants prepare for another heartbreaking season, the thing I'm most pumped for is the train ride. My father worked for the Lehigh Valley Railroad and trains have always held a certain romance for me.
There's a very good chance that the train pictured here (you can see the "Finger Lakes" on the side of the engine), was probably piloted by my father John at some point (like 40 years ago). He actually met my mother Pauline while traveling along the route through western New York, one of the stops being in her hometown of Manchester.
Well, enough of the family history, I just wanted to give you all a heads-up in case you don't see any new posts for a few days, and/or I don't reply to your comments or emails in my usual timely manner.
I'm told the hotel rooms where we're staying have full kitchens, so you very well may see me work my magic from the road. Hey, if I can make a toasted cheese sandwich with an iron in Vegas, I should be able to film at least one meal there. Stay tuned!
Train photo (c) www.lvrrhs.org, glove photo (c) unknown (if it's your let me know!)
8 comments:
FYI-Looks like Senaca Harbor Station, Watkins Glen ,NY.
- March 22, 2009 at 11:07 AM
Can we expect to see recipes for nopales when you return?
Luisa Vacaville
- March 22, 2009 at 11:11 AM
I am so-o-o-o-o-o jealous!!
I love spring training!!
My husband and I were there year before last and had such fun!!!
I love baseball. I love the Mariners (even if).
Have a great time!!!
- March 22, 2009 at 11:15 AM
Sounds like a fun trip. We will miss your tutoring. Hey, everyone needs a break now and then. Enjoy.
- March 22, 2009 at 11:33 AM
- Chris K. said...
Just a suggestion -
In the Phoenix area check out Los Dos Molinos (Two Pepper Grinders). It's on Central & Baseline, fantastic New Mexican food. You will love it. I promise.
There's a taco joint in the mercado in Guadalupe that's also excellent.
Man, I miss Phoenix!
- March 23, 2009 at 12:23 AM
Have a great trip! look forward to new posts to the blog! just tried the Garlic and Walnut Pasta..(i know its an old post..but new to me!) and yes...I enjoyed it. Indescribably delicious!
Enjoy the desert and the beautiful saguaro cacti! don't eat them though!
- March 23, 2009 at 12:51 AM
- Susannah said...
I, for one, can't wait! I hope you make something with a good batter and maybe served with a pitcher of something or other. That would be really good.
- March 23, 2009 at 5:30 AM
Note to this group of visiting baseball buddies:
(using Susannah's theme)
Shortstop! No playing in the outfield, or the infield. Do not steal any bases, or run around them. There is a three strike rule, and foul balls add up. Keep your locker and your language tidy. Do not get out of rotation or throw your bat. Run your fastest, play smart and follow the rules.
We'll miss you, but hope you have fun.
Happy railroading. Three wives, left behind.
- March 23, 2009 at 12:13 PM


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Hackedbox - Summary
This project is not part of the GNU Project.
Hackedbox is a stripped down version of Blackbox, the X11 window manager. The tool bar and slit have been removed, as the goal of Hackedbox is to be a small "feature-set" window manager with no bloat. There are no plans to add any functionality, only bugfixes and speed enhancements whenever possible.
Registration Date: Sat 26 Apr 2003 05:40:29 AM UTC
License: GNU General Public License v2 or later
Development Status: 5 - Production/Stable
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subset: commoncrawl


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Saiyok Elephant Park in Thailand
( Post by Carlos Melia ) Have you ever dream on either getting up close and personal or ridding an elephant? Well it was indeed part of my bucket list, and as from today, I can say that I have done it and enjoyed very very much. Adventure ,new born elephants ,feeding them and observing Thai wisdom on how elephants and mahouts live together at Saiyok Elephant Park. You will also get to learn and spend some time with the local Mahouts. (more…)


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One-pot lentil chicken
This all-in-one, 40-minute meal makes a brilliant, fuss-free supper, and saves on the washing up too. Pair with potatoes or rice for a hearty dinner
Nutrition and extra info
- Healthy
- kcal360
- fat10g
- saturates3g
- carbs14g
- sugars0g
- fibre2.5g
- protein41g
- salt2.4g
- 1 tsp vegetable oil
- 2 rasher lean dry-cure back bacon, trimmed and chopped
- 2 large bone-in chicken thighs, skin removed
- 1 medium onion, thinly sliced
Onions are endlessly versatile and an essential ingredient in countless recipes. Native to Asia…
- 1 garlic clove, thinly sliced
- 2 tsp plain flour
- 2 tsp tomato purée
- 150ml dry white wine
- 200ml chicken stock
- 50g green lentil
The lentil plant (Lens Culinaris) originates from Asia and North Africa and is one of our oldest…
- ½ tsp dried thyme
This popular herb grows in Europe, especially the Mediterranean, and is a member of the mint…
- 85g chestnut mushroom, halved if large
Heat the oil in a non-stick wide, shallow pan, add bacon and fry briskly until lightly coloured, then lift on to a plate. Add the chicken and fry on each side until lightly brown. Set aside with the bacon. Tip onion and garlic into the pan and cook for 5 minutes. Stir in the flour and tomato purée, then stir over a low heat for 2-3 minutes. Add the wine, stock, lentils and thyme. Bring to the boil, reduce the heat, cover and simmer for 5 minutes.
Stir in the mushrooms. Add the bacon and chicken, pushing them under the liquid. Cover and simmer for 20-25 minutes, or until lentils are tender and the chicken cooked. Season with salt and pepper.


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Saturday, 31 January 2009
Sticky apple gingerbread pudding
Apple and gingerbread is not a combination I have ever tasted before but as soon as I read this recipe I knew it would work – I could taste the sweet, sticky gingerbread with its kick of heat and the acidity of the apple cutting through it.
The other reason I picked this recipe is because I am a sucker for a cake that's made in a saucepan – it just feels so wrong! The whole gingerbread is made in one saucepan; how cool is that? I was tempted to try baking it in the saucepan too but realised that the handle meant it wouldn't fit in any of my air tight containers for storing overnight.
One thing I will say about this, so you don't panic when you make it, is that the batter is UGLY. I mean ug-ly. It looked most unsavoury – it was lumpy and runny and well, I won't even describe it the way I want to lest I turn your stomachs.
The CCB (Caked Crusader's Brother) claimed it was "a perfect winter pud" in a way that made it sound like he was desperate to be quoted. We all mocked him but I'm quoting him anyway because he was right. It's warming and tasty and comforting.
125g unsalted butter
125g caster sugar
350g golden syrup
2 eggs
250g plain flour
3 heaped teaspoons ground ginger
1 level teaspoon mixed spice
1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
250ml hot water
3 small eating apples, peeled, cored and diced
To serve: custard, ice cream or cream
How to make:
- Preheat oven to 160°C/fan oven 140°C/315°F/ Gas mark 2-3. (Note: if I made this again I would do it on 180°C as, in my oven, this took too long and started to dry the apple out)
- Grease a 2ocm square loose bottom tin and line the base.
- Put the butter, sugar and golden syrup into a saucepan – make sure the saucepan is large enough to hold all the other ingredients. Heat gently until the butter and sugar have melted and you have a smooth, thick mixture. (My tip for weighing out golden syrup, treacle or anything sticky like that is to put the bowl or saucepan on the scales and pour it straight into that, rather than weigh in the scales' pan and then have to scrape it out into the other bowl).
- Remove the saucepan from the heat and allow to cool slightly.
- While the mixture is cooling weigh out all the dry ingredients i.e. flour, ginger, spice, bicarbonate of soda, and prepare your apples.
- Using a wire whisk, beat the two eggs into the butter mixture.
- Sieve half of the dry ingredients into the butter mixture and stir in.
- Add half of the hot water and stir in.
- Stir in the rest of the dry ingredients, followed by the rest of the water.
- At this point the mixture will be fizzing due to the bicarbonate of soda and it is quite hard to get the wet and dry ingredients to mix. Be gentle and stop stirring as soon as they are combined; over-mixing will make the gingerbread tough.
- Pour the ugly, lumpy batter into the prepared tin and scatter the chopped apples over the top.
- Bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes but check after 1 hour. It is ready when a skewer inserted into the gingerbread comes out cleanly. Mine took 1 hour and 45 minutes and, because of this, the apple started to dry a little on the top – next time I would bake at a higher temperature.
- Leave in the tin and cool completely on a wire rack. This pudding is better if made a day in advance as it becomes fuller flavoured and stickier overnight.
- Cover with foil and reheat in a gentle oven – approximately 160°C/fan oven 140°C/315°F/ Gas mark 2-3 for 20 minutes and serve with custard, cream or ice cream.
- Bask in glory at the wonderful thing you have made.
- Eat.
Madeira cake
There isn't really much you can say about Madeira cake. There are only five ingredients – it's simple and plain yet it's perfection in cake form. The buttery soft sponge is both satisfying and easy to eat; no need for forks or spoons or cream accompaniments. If contentment were a cake it would be a Madeira. Who am I kidding??? Of course contentment is a cake....it might well be this actual one:
Traditionally Madeira cake is flavoured with lemon. This is a vanilla version but you could easily substitute the vanilla with the same volume of lemon juice and some finely grated zest.
The cake isn't named after the Madeira islands but rather the wine that was served with it. See? This site is educational; it's not all about lusting at cake. (Official stats just in: site is 0.5% educational, 99.5% lusting at cake)
One interesting serving suggestion is to submerge stale Madeira cake in piping hot custard. The only problem I foresee is that I can't ever imagine having any stale Madeira cake; believe me, this is not a cake that hangs around for long!
Look at the luscious crusty sugar topping:
180g unsalted butter, at room temperature
175g caster sugar plus an additional 2 tablespoons for sprinkling on top
3 eggs
165g self raising flour
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
How to make:
- Preheat the oven to 160°C/fan oven 140°C/315°F/Gas mark 2-3.
- Line a 20cm springform tin with baking paper.
- Start by beating together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
- Beat in the eggs gradually, adding a little of the flour if the mix looks like it's curdling.
- Beat in the vanilla.
- Fold in the flour.
- Spoon into the prepared tin and level the surface.
- Sprinkle the additional caster sugar over the top.
- Bake for approximately 1 hour or until a skewer inserted into the cake comes out clean. Mine took 55 minutes.
- Leave to cool for 20 minutes in the tin before turning out and allowing to cool completely on a wire rack.
- Bask in glory at the wonderful thing you have made.
- Eat.
Sunday, 25 January 2009
Chocolate and custard sponge sandwich
This recipe caught my eye because it looked like my favourite type of doughnut – custard filled with chocolate icing – but in a sponge sandwich format. Try as I might, and I've given it a lot of thought, that remains the best way to describe this cake!
Ah, the sponge sandwich; just typing those two words makes me feel happy...and hungry. It's so perfect – two layers of lovely sponge with something delicious in between (and on top too if you're lucky).
The sponge is very yellow because of the addition of custard powder to the batter.
My favourite part of this recipe was actually the glaze which was quite the tastiest I've had. It's sweet and smooth but retains an intensely chocolate flavour. I will certainly be using it to top cupcakes in the future.
The glaze drips down the side of the cake and puddles invitingly at the base:
The glaze does set but remains soft and luscious – you can see what I mean from this slice:
UPDATE: OK, there have been a few comments enquiring whether I have breached my own commandments regarding the daisies. I can assure you all that the daisies are 100% edible and are made from a rice papery/wafery substance.
For the cakes:
200 plain flour
200g caster sugar
½ teaspoons bicarbonate of soda
2 teaspoon baking powder
225g unsalted butter, at room temperature
4 eggs
3 tablespoons custard powder (I used Bird's)
2-3 tablespoons milk
For the buttercream:
125g icing sugar
4 teaspoons custard powder
75g unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 ½ teaspoons boiling water
For the chocolate glaze:
60ml water
2 tablespoons golden syrup
125g caster sugar (50g only if using milk chocolate)
175g dark or milk chocolate
Sprinkles of your choice – I used chocolate vermicelli
How to make:
- Preheat the oven to 180°C/fan oven 160°C/350°F/Gas mark 4.
- Line two 20cm loose bottomed sandwich tins with baking paper making sure that the paper comes up 2-3cm above the top of the tin.
- Start by making the cake: Place all the ingredients, except the milk, in a mixing bowl and beat until smooth and well combined. You can also do this in a food processor.
- Add the milk a tablespoon at a time until you have a batter that drops from the spoon easily. You may not need all the milk.
- Divide the batter between the two prepared tins and level the surface.
- Bake for approximately 20 minutes or until a skewer comes out cleanly. Mine took 30 minutes. The sponge will be quite puffy because of the cornflour in the custard powder.
- Let the cakes cool for 15 minutes in the tin before turning out and leaving to cool completely on a wire rack. The cakes can be made a day in advance and kept in an airtight container.
- Now make the buttercream: this can be done with either a stand mixer or in a food processor. Sieve the icing sugar and custard powder together into a bowl.
- Beat in the butter.
- Beat in the boiling water.
- Use the buttercream to sandwich together the two sponges.
- Now make the chocolate glaze: Put the water, golden syrup and sugar together in a saucepan and stir, over a low heat until the sugar has dissolved.
- Let the mix come to the boil and then remove the pan from the heat.
- Cut the chocolate into small pieces and add to the pan. Stir a little to ensure that all the chocolate is covered by the hot liquid.
- Leave to melt for a few minutes before whisking into a smooth and shiny glaze. Whisk for a good few minutes, because if you pour over the cake when it's too runny you will lose it all down the sides!
- Pour over the buttercream filled cake and let it run down the sides.
- Sprinkle with the decoration of your choice before the icing sets.
- Bask in glory at the wonderful thing you have made.
- Eat.
Vanilla butter biscuits
I used vanilla to flavour these but the basic butter biscuit recipe would suit any flavour. You could use any flavoured sugars instead of plain caster sugar, and when baked there are infinite ways you could decorate these. You could even make a buttercream and sandwich two of the biscuits together.
The biscuits are crumbly and buttery like shortbread, but unlike some shortbreads they are not gritty.
As the recipe included quantities in cups, I have set them out in the ingredients list below.
115g (1.5 cups) unsalted butter, at room temperature
3 tablespoons icing sugar
150g (1.25 cups) plain flour
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
To sprinkle on top before baking: 4 teaspoons vanilla sugar
How to make:
- Preheat the oven to 180°C/fan oven 160°C/350°F/Gas mark 4.
- Line two baking trays with baking paper.
- Beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. This will take a few minutes so don't skimp!
- Beat in the flour and vanilla and mix until you have a dough.
- Take teaspoons of the dough and roll into balls. Put a maximum of 12 balls on each baking sheet as the biscuits expand a little when baking.
- Using a fork, gently press down onto the biscuit balls to flatten. Don't press too hard.
- Sprinkle the vanilla sugar over the biscuits making sure that some settles into the grooves left by the fork.
- Bake for 15-20 minutes or until the biscuits are golden brown. Mine took 18 minutes.
- Leave to cool on the baking sheet for 10 minutes before moving onto a wire rack to cool completely. This is because biscuits are always fragile straight from the oven and need to harden up.
- Bask in glory at the wonderful thing you have made.
- Eat.
Thursday, 22 January 2009
The Caked Crusader's 10 Commandments of Cake & Desserts
The CCB (Caked Crusader's Brother), in one of his more inspired moments, challenged me to come up with my "10 Commandments of Cake & Desserts".
Never one to shy away from a challenge I came up with the following:
1. No low fat substitute products
2. Fruits should always be stoned or de-pipped
3. If you can't eat it, it shouldn't be on the plate
4. Always custard, never crème anglaise
5. Always make enough so everybody can have seconds
6. You can never have enough cake tins or recipe books
7. A mint sprig is a problem, not a garnish
8. Extract = good; essence = evil
9. Invest in a good spatula and use it often
10. Cake is a baton – pass it on
Now to expand on my views just so you know where I'm coming from with regard to these bold statements:
1. No low fat substitute products
Why would you? You've obviously decided you're having some cake/dessert so why spoil the treat? Would you go to the cinema and decide to sit with your eyes closed all through the film? Of course not; it would lessen the enjoyment you got from your treat. So why lessen the deliciousness of a cake/dessert by using something ghastly like low-fat cream cheese? Just typing "low fat" brings me out in a shiver.
2. Fruits should always be stoned or de-pipped
I don't care if you warn everyone the cherries still contain their stones – no one biting into a piece of something lovely wants to suddenly feel that their tooth has shattered on impact with a pip. Plus it creates problems – what are people meant to do with the pips they've got in their mouth? Spit them out? Leave them on the plate? Choke on them? Until I get some sort of commission deal in place with a local dentist all my fruits shall be de-pipped.
3. If you can't eat it, it shouldn't be on the plate
Birthday and Christmas decorations are lovely but, by the time a slice of something is served to a recipient, all such frippery should be removed. This also goes for artistic swirls of peel, stalks left on cherries and those wizened, crispy brown leaves that physalis (cape gooseberries) come in. On a side note, I always have to be careful when mentioning physalis as my instinct is to call them syphilis. Obviously, one should never serve anyone a plate of anything containing syphilis – not even Heston Blumenthal has tried that yet.
4. Always custard, never crème anglaise
I defy anyone to convince me that crème anglaise is anything other than a watered down version of custard - an ugly show pony that thinks just because it has a few vanilla seeds in it it's somehow haute cuisine. Trading standards punish pubs who sell watered down drinks, so why aren't they tackling the important issue of diluted custard? Where's a policeman when you need one? Officer – arrest this chef, a crime has been committed.
Custard is glorious and thick and yellow; it coats the spoon and creates a sense of wellbeing. Crème anglaise is mean and thin; it runs off the spoon like watery gruel. Do not allow it to taint your baking.
5. Always make enough so that everyone can have seconds….
….then, cajole everyone into having seconds. Aside from no cake (which is always the default worst position), there is nothing worse than being given a meagre slice of cake in the knowledge that there is no more. Further, if there are unexpected guests or you merely misjudge how many slices a cake will yield, someone will go without. View this CAFTA winner to see the misery this causes.
6. You can never have enough cake tins or recipe books
Despite what anyone tells you, even when your cupboards are packed tighter than a rush hour tube train and you're too afraid to open the door in case you cause a landslide of aluminium and steel, you do not have enough cake tins. You don't have to use them; picking them up occasionally and stroking them a la Gollum and the Ring is more than adequate reason to buy them.
Rev. Sydney Smith once said "there is no furniture so charming as books" and he was almost right. There is no furniture so charming as recipe books, particularly cake and dessert recipe books.
7. A mint sprig is a problem, not a garnish
Be honest now, when a dessert is put in front of you I bet the first thing you do is pick up the mint sprig and place it on the side of the plate. As far away from the main attraction as you can lest your spoon accidentally makes contact with it again. I know of but one person who has ever eaten the mint garnish (you know who you are!) and that was only because he had vowed to eat everything capable of being eaten on his plate for a week; even he found the mint garnish tough work. What is its purpose? It doesn't look pretty, it doesn't taste nice and – if eaten – overpowers everything else on the plate. Begone foul leaf!
8. Extract = good; essence = evil
The benefit of home baking is that you can control exactly what goes into your cakes/dessert. No additives, no nasty ingredients, no things beginning with E that sound like they shouldn't exist outside a laboratory. Extract comes directly from the actual item i.e. vanilla extract is made from vanilla beans, almond extract from almonds. Essence is padded out with water and alcohol and other nasties. Admittedly, extract is more expensive but you use less of it; further (and this is the clincher for me) the flavour of extract is far superior to any essence.
9. Invest in a good spatula and use it often
It breaks my heart to see cake batter left in the bowl or on beaters – even on TV shows where they claim they don't have the time to scrape it all out. The cake batter left in the bowl is identical to the batter in the cake tin so why leave it out? Suppose you had your cake batter in the tin, were just about to put it in the oven and I came along asking if I could take a tablespoon of mix out and throw it away? Apart from asking me how I got in your kitchen, I suspect you would say "no, that's good mix, I need it". Point made.
10. Cake is a baton – pass it on
Far too many people have never known the delight of home made cake or, if they have, it is a fond-yet-distant memory usually involving a grandma or two. If those of us who bake don't share the joy it brings or the divine results we cannot convert others. OK, this is starting to sound a bit cult-like. What I mean is offer to teach someone else how to bake – even if it's just a plain fairy cake – share your recipes, share your baking. Once people have tasted good home baking they will be more critical of shop bought cakes that use inferior ingredients and are not always made with care. We are cake evangelists and must spread the word!
So, that's my 10 Commandments. Are there any you disagree with or have I missed out on a key issue?
Sunday, 18 January 2009
Rhubarb and apple streusel
I hate the name forced rhubarb, as it sounds a bit violent – I always wonder what the poor rhubarb was forced to do. Of course, I'm being silly; "forced" in this context means that it is grown out of season and indoors - it is also the most glorious shade of pink imaginable. Usually all my cakes are made with garden (free range?) rhubarb which is a summer crop.
This is an interesting cake as there isn't actually any 'cake' part to the dish! It's fruit sandwiched between crumbly streusel, the bottom layer of which bakes down into a base that is part cakey and part biscuity and totally delicious. You can see what I mean in these photos:
As it bakes the fruit releases juices into the bottom layer of crumble. In order not to lose any of these I used a cake tin liner which is an all in one liner i.e. no joins or gaps. It's a good idea to use one of these not only to catch all the fruity juices but also because this type of cake is always quite fragile until it has cooled and a liner makes it easier to pick up and move.
The other curious thing with this cake is that it's bigger going into the oven than coming out – which is the opposite of practically every other cake. Going into the oven the cake is piled up to the top of the tin, but as it cooks the fruit breaks down.
The cake is so packed with fruit you can see it trying to burst free in this photo:
The tart acidity of the rhubarb teamed with the sweet apple and almond crumble is a delightful combination. You could serve the cake warm with custard for dessert or at room temperature with whipped cream. I added a little custard to my cream as rhubarb and custard is a classic that must be adhered to whenever possible.
For the fruit:
4 eating apples, peeled, cored and diced
300g rhubarb
80g golden caster sugar
For the streusel:
250g plain flour
125g ground almonds
125g golden caster sugar
250g unsalted butter, diced – use it straight from the fridge, the colder the better
To serve: custard or cream
How to make:
- Preheat oven to 190°C/fan oven 170°C/375°F/ Gas mark 5.
- Line a 20cm round springform tin.
- Chop the rhubarb into approximately 3cm chunks and place in a bowl with the diced apple.
- Sprinkle over the sugar and stir through the fruit so all of it is coated. Put to one side.
- Put all the ingredients for the streusel into the bowl of a food processor and blitz to fine crumbs. It is vital that the butter is cold otherwise you will get a dough rather than a crumble. If this does happen, all is not lost – simply refrigerate and then grate.
- Press a smidgen over half of the streusel mix into the prepared cake tin.
- Place the rest of the streusel in the fridge – I found this stopped it getting warm and clumpy.
- Tip all the fruit on top and then, using the palm of your hand, press down quite firmly. There is a lot of fruit and you need to compress it in order to fit the rest of the streusel on top.
- Scatter the remaining streusel on top. It should come up to the very brim of the tin.
- Bake for approximately 1 hour or until the top is golden and crispy and you can see juices bubbling up. Mine took a little longer at 1 hour and 20 minutes.
- Leave to cool in the tin on a wire rack.
- Serve either at room temperature with some whipped cream or warm with custard.
- Bask in glory at the wonderful thing you have made.
- Eat.
Buttermilk spice cake
There is something eternally inviting about a simple butter cake packed with spicy warmth. This is such a cake. It's just a good honest cake that is lovely to tuck into alongside a nice mug of tea.
You can vary the spices to suit your tastes but I stuck with cinnamon, nutmeg and mixed spice. Spooning different spices into the cake bowl always makes me feel like a sorceress (some may say 'witch' was a better description!) concocting a potion – I think it's all the little jars and a teaspoon of one, half a teaspoon of another etc. It's practically alchemy!
I added a sugar topping to the cake; the original recipe didn't have one. Sugar sprinkled on top and allowed to bake into the cake is delicious and gives an extra texture to the cake – an almost crumbly crust.
Many people describe cakes like this as a "cut and come again cake" and it's the perfect description. There's no messy filling, it's easy to eat, doesn't need anything with it and is packed with flavour. Plus, how easy is it to make? Look at how brief the recipe instructions are!
300g plain flour
225g caster sugar
1 ½ teaspoons bicarbonate of soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon mixed spice
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
100g unsalted butter, melted
350ml buttermilk
2 eggs
Optional topping: 3 tablespoons brown sugar (I used cinnamon infused sugar)
How to make:
- Preheat the oven to 180°C/fan oven 160°C/350°F/Gas mark 4.
- Line a 20cm springform cake tin with baking paper making sure that the paper comes up 2-3cm above the top of the tin.
- Place all the dry ingredients (i.e. the first seven items on the list) in a bowl and mix.
- To the dry ingredients add the melted butter, buttermilk and eggs and beat until smooth and combined.
- Pour the batter into the prepared tin and bake for approximately 40 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre of the cake comes out cleanly. Mine took 50 minutes.
- Leave to cool, in the tin, on a wire rack until cold enough to handle. Then remove the tin and leave to cool completely.
- Bask in glory at the wonderful thing you have made.
- Eat.
Sunday, 11 January 2009
Sticky toffee pudding
There seems to be something about Christmas-time in Britain that makes everyone wildly over-estimate the amount of dates their guests will wish to eat. Most of us can happily get through the year without thinking much, if at all, about eating dates but, come December we're buying boxes of the things as if Christmas would be ruined without them. I can hear the CCM (Caked Crusader's Ma) bristling whilst reading this so I'd better confess – it was me who grossly over-bought dates this year. But who could blame me - aren't they beautiful?
This was my thought process: it's colder than Antarctica in England this week and I need to get rid of lots of dates. Voila! Sticky toffee pudding. If there was ever a better reason to stock pile dates I'm interested to hear it!
Here's the cake fresh from the oven:
I can't even try to argue any health benefits on this one; it's as sinful as pudding can be. The sweet, light sponge is dotted with dates, releasing their beautiful toffee flavour in every mouthful. Add to that the thick, creamy sauce stoked up with brown sugar and black treacle and it's an assault on the taste buds! Yum.
A piece of cake....
...only truly becomes sticky toffee pudding once the sauce is added:
For the cake:
175g stoned and chopped dates (I used Medjool)
300ml water
1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
50g unsalted butter
175g caster sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 eggs
175g self raising flour
For the sauce:
300ml double cream
50g Demerara sugar
2 heaped teaspoons black treacle
How to make:
- Preheat oven to 180°C/fan oven 160°C/350°F/ Gas mark 4
- Grease a 22cm square tin.
- Boil the dates in the water for 5 minutes until the dates are soft. Make sure you use a large saucepan – larger than you think you need.
- Stir in the bicarbonate of soda. It will bubble up a lot, hence the need for a large saucepan. Put to one side until needed.
- Cream together the butter and sugar until well combined. It won't become light and fluffy because the sugar far outweighs the butter.
- Beat in the vanilla extract.
- Beat in the eggs one at a time.
- Stir in the flour.
- Pour in the contents of the saucepan i.e. dates AND liquid.
- Stir until well combined. The batter will be very runny so don't panic.
- Pour into the prepared tin and bake for 35-40 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre of the sponge comes out cleanly.
- Leave to cool on a wire rack.
- Now make the sauce: put all the ingredients into a saucepan and stir, over a low heat, until smooth.
- Bring to the boil.
- Cut the sponge into squares and ladle the sauce over the top. Serve with either ice cream (my favourite) or custard.
- You can make both the sponge and the sauce in advance and re-heat when required. I re-heated the sponge, still in the tin, in a fan oven temperature of 130°C . The sauce can be re-heated in a saucepan on the hob – simply stir until smooth and then bring to the boil.
- Bask in glory at the wonderful thing you have made.
- Eat.
Mint choc chip cupcakes
We all know the benefits of peppermint. Depending on who you listen to it will cure just about any ailment going as well as making your teeth smell nice. However, if you're anything like me (lucky, lucky you!), you would probably rather eat your own feet than drink peppermint tea. I have tried, I really have but as soon as that cup of watery, green tinged minty infusion assails my nostrils I start to feel it wasn't a good idea; if it gets as far as my mouth my gag reflex kicks in and I have to pour it down the sink and make a proper brew. And yet I love peppermint; I can eat more After Eights than should be humanly possible.
These cupcakes could be the solution to increasing my intake of peppermint. I really liked them but they seemed to get an almost Marmite-like love-hate reaction from my eatership; they are clearly an acquired taste – I always feel it's important to point things like this out to you!
The rich, chocolate cupcakes would be lovely on their own or with other buttercreams. As they use both cocoa and chocolate chips you get a double whammy of chocolate in both taste and texture.
The dominant flavour is the mint buttercream icing. Normally I'm not a fan of colourings but I think it's necessary here. After all, would mint choc chip ice cream have the same allure without it's mad greenness?
The peppermint extract should be used sparingly unless you want your buttercream to taste like toothpaste. Now there's an idea – a cupcake that cleans your teeth as you eat it.......we would all be cavity free in no time!
Footnote: Having just eaten one of these a day after making, I would advise you all to make the buttercream a day in advance. It's definitely mellowed into a fuller, lovely mint flavour whereas on the day it was a bit harsh.
For the cupcakes:
125g unsalted butter
125g caster sugar
2 eggs
2 tablespoons milk (whole or semi skimmed)
20g cocoa powder
105g self raising flour
¼ teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
100g milk chocolate chips
For the buttercream:
100g unsalted butter
200g icing sugar
1-2 tablespoons milk (whole or semi skimmed)
3-4 drops peppermint extract
Green colouring
For decoration: chocolate buttons or sprinkles
How to make:
- Preheat the oven to 180°C/fan oven 160°C/350°F/Gas mark 4.
- Line a cupcake tin with 12 paper cases.
- Cream together the butter and sugar until it is pale, light and fluffy.
- Beat in the eggs one by one.
- Beat in the milk.
- Beat in the cocoa powder, flour and bicarbonate of soda.
- Stir in the chocolate chips.
- Spoon into the 12 paper cases. Don't worry about levelling the surface – this will happen when they go into the oven.
- Bake for 20-25 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the centre of the cakes comes out cleanly. Mine took 20 minutes.
- Leave to cool, still in the tin, on a wire rack for 10 minutes or so before removing from the tin and leaving to cool completely.
- Now make the buttercream: beat the butter until it turns a lighter shade and looks fluffy and light.
- Add half of the icing sugar and beat.
- Add the rest of the icing sugar and beat until you have a light buttercream.
- Beat in one tablespoon of milk. You're looking for a light, spreadable consistency but not runny. If necessary beat in a second tablespoon of milk.
- Beat in the peppermint extract. Start with a couple of drops and taste before you add any more. It's down to your personal taste whether you decide to add more but I warn you that it's easy to add too much and ruin your buttercream. You can always add more but you can't take it out once it's added!
- Beat in the green colouring.
- Spread the buttercream over the top of the cupcakes and top with the chocolate decoration of your choice.
- Bask in glory at the wonderful thing you have made.
- Eat.
Tuesday, 6 January 2009
The award is for "Cake almost stealing the scene from everyone's favourite Timelord" (I admit it's quite a narrow category) and goes to the pretty little cupcake that Rose gives The Doctor at the end of the episode "Fear Her" (Episode 12, Series 2).
Rose offers him the cake -she seems to be missing her little finger (this is not part of the plot, just an observation of mine):
He not only accepts but tucks in (good man):
The happiness a good cupcake brings (OK, so it's a totally gratuitous photo but it was too cute not to include, and he is actually looking at the cake which is just out of shot):
This leads to one of The Doctor's wisest observations yet: "Ballbearings you can eat – masterpiece!"
Sunday, 4 January 2009
A little bit of nonsense
more animals
Saturday, 3 January 2009
Cherry Meringue pies
We're all being (rightly) encouraged to waste less food so I pondered how to use the leftover sponge. Raiding my store cupboard I found some tinned cherries, and, after making my custard tarts I had lots of leftover egg whites. At this point a lightbulb switched on in my brain and cherry meringue tarts were born!
I layered the cherries onto the sponge. Tinned cherries are lovely - a real success story; so often we think of tinned fruit as inferior to fresh, but I think these cherries are proof that it's not always true:
A layer of meringue and – voila!
They are beautiful and certainly don't look like a creation borne of leftovers:
I was on a roll at this point; the creative juices were certainly flowing (it doesn't happen very often so I enjoy it when it does!). I didn't use all of the tinned cherries. Again, not wanting to waste them, I pureed them and served them with the pies as a fruit coulis:
Using up offcuts from other recipes never tasted so good:
This is the last of my Christmas posts – business as usual resumes next week!
8 discs of Genoese sponge – for the recipe click here
2 tins of cherries
6 egg whites
375g caster sugar
½ teaspoon cornflour
How to make:
- Preheat the oven to 220°C/fan oven 200°C/425°F/Gas mark 7.
- On a baking sheet, lay out the cooked sponge discs.
- Place some cherries on top of each sponge. Don't go right to the edge because you want the meringue to sit on the sponge.
- Put the egg whites and sugar in a bowl and whisk until the mixture turns thick and glossy. This will take quite a long time – mine took over 10 minutes.
- Whisk in the cornflour.
- Either pipe or simply spread the meringue over the cherries and sponge.
- Bake for 5-10 minutes or until the meringue is just starting to brown. Check after 5 minutes as the meringue can burn very quickly.
- Leave to cool on a wire rack before serving.
- Bask in glory at the wonderful thing you have made.
- Eat.


text:
Meeting Charles Fréger
Charles Fréger, Vatican 6, from the series Empire, 2007 / courtesy of the artist
Joanna: You've grown up in analogue photography, now you work with digital. How does this affect your work?
Charles Fréger: It's a question of editing. The main problem with the analogue is that the great producers like Fuji or Kodak are not experimenting anymore. So they are not improving the quality of the films anymore. So I found it pointless. It's more difficult to find the lab to produce some analog prints of good quality, there are less and less labs. They still do that, but still often the solution is to get the scan of the film. (…) I work in series so I have a lab-series, interactive lab. I'm more flexible now about…
J: A quantity?
Charles Fréger: Not about the quantity, because when I was working on films, I had the same quantity of pictures. It's more that I'm the only one to interact with my pictures, only one person decides how to print my pictures. And this is really difficult, it took me one year to find the way how to print my pictures.
Charles Fréger, from the series Water-polo, 2000 / courtesy of the artist
J: Because of the control of the material?
Charles Fréger: The picture you get, the RAW you get from the digital camera, a very high quality camera, the picture is very average. You neet to – kind of – optimize the colours, with greys, blacks. It's a decision of making digital piture, being used to analog, my eyes are used to analog, I have to find kind of a compromise with the pure digital.
J: Why do you choose to make colour photography?
Charles Fréger: It's not a choice. I've worked in black&white for 2 or 3 years, and then I've jumped on color photography. Color works better with my subject. There's no "why". I just like colour photography for my work, I like it to be in colour.
J: I believe it's common for photography today to go beyond boundaries, out of cliches and styles. Out of specialization. And you specialise in portrait photography, how do you feel about it?
Charles Fréger: I think it's easier, it's a choice. Like I've said before to one of the students, I'm not happy when photographer is going in many directions. I mean it's not that exactly bad. I prefer to be specialised in portrait, than trying to do a lot of other stuff at the same time. Portrait is like a door open, through portrait I do something else, but it's always starting from portrait.
J: And now are you going to specialise in performing arts?
Charles Fréger: No, no! I just push the portrait experimentations like the idea of getting into the group, sometimes experimenting on myself in wearing the costume, but the main story is always the portrait.
J: Have you ever experienced the closeness of the group, the lines and rules you simply can't cross?
Charles Fréger: Always, actually. I always get to the limits of the group, like the passion of the group, there are some steps they don't want me to photograph. I like to compromise with that, there are some strict rules of the groups and I can't jump over them.
Charles Fréger, San Marino 1, from the series Empire, 2007 / courtesy of the artist
J: You're making some sort of anthropological research. Do you feel like modern anthropologist?
Charles Fréger: No, I'm not. My work is used by some anthropologists and sociologists. There are many, many kinds of people that are using my work: fasion, costume makers, some uniforms specialists. Sometimes they are using my work as a documentary, kind of research on community. But that doesn't make me anthropologist. It is used by anthropologist, but I'm really not one of them.
J: How do you find your groups?
Charles Fréger: It's just like that I sometime meet somebody who tells me about something, and this is exactely what I wanted to photograph. Actually I can't define what I want to photograph, I know what I want, but I can't define it in words. At the moment I've pushed some research in Indonesia. And there is someone making research for me. I cannot say I want to photograph this and that in Indonesia. It's more that she's making the research and telling me what I can do there.
Charles Fréger, from the series Wilder-men, 2010 / courtesy of the artist
J: Where you found the idea of making "The Wild Men"?
Charles Fréger: I was invited by a choreographer who was making a show about that. In her show was two "Wilder mann", heroes called "Krampus". This was extremely fascinating! So I asked what is was, she told me about the tradition in Austria. So I decided to go to Austria and photograph these "Wilderman". When I got there I discovered that there were plenty other groups like that. I decided to accumulate them.
J: In the end of this series, are you going to make your own costume, too?
Charles Fréger: During my next trip, I'm going to reproduce some gestures to create some costume, I'm on my way to some countries, I need to stop on the road and try to get something. But this doesn't mean I would show this. This is more like a personal experience.
Charles Fréger as LU QIAN REN, Nang Jing Opera, 2009 / courtesy of the artist
J: What is your favorite way to contact the viewer: in a show, exhibition, a book, a website?
Charles Fréger: Books are really important objects for me. More and more I like the meetings, conferences, workshops, where you can really exchange the ideas. The traditional show I like to twist, to make it different, I try to find different way to interact with people.
J: When you make a collection of pictures, you make some sort of inventory, it's very categorised and objective – sort of objective photography, as much as possible. And then you're crossing the line, you're becoming part of the group, you have personal attitude towards the group. What is more important afterwards: objective or personal?
Charles Fréger: I don't care about objectivity; I'm fed up with objectivity! It's not necessary to be objective. It's more about the experience around it. When I go to some places I can have a zero experience and still I can do good images. Maybe now, the experience is more important to me, in my way of living with my photographic work and my research in general...
Charles Fréger, Hereros 16 (up), Hereros 28 (down), from the series Hereros, 2007 / courtesy of the artist
J: Your pictures are typological, to make some categorisations. What does August Sander means to you?
Charles Fréger: It's more about the way of working, an attitude, more about that ethic. First, Sander is very close to us because he used this very typological approach in his portraits. But also the attitude toward a person, a certain ethic, the representation of humanity, and so on. For example to photograph everybody in the same way was really important. It's extremely problematic how the photographer is treating the poor and the rich when he photographs them. Like with the rich he will be really carefull. I think it is important to be the same for everybody.
J: Please, tell me more about Piece of Cake.
Charles Fréger: It's a network of photographers created in 2002. I created it, because I didn't appreciate the fact that photographers are working alone and not sharing their work. I invited 25 artists to join me for a first workshop in my hometown… And from that first workshop, we really developed POC as network, with a real family spirit. We started to find a way to interact with each other. We meet twice a year now, in different capitals of Europe for three-five days. We discuss our work. We exchange our information and technical problems. We share our experience about being a photographer/artist.
J: Sort of photographical family?
Charles Fréger: Yes, you can call it like that.
J: Is there anything common within artists in Piece of Cake?
Charles Fréger: All the photographers have in common the use of something "documentary" in photography. The majority of members have something to do with documentary and also poetic work. And it evolves: the new members bring some change, of course.
J: I've read in interview with you that you wanted to make a film on "Majorettes". How is it?
Charles Fréger: It was two years ago and the film is not done yet. And I'm not sure I'd be able to do it. It's a long, long, long preparation and we have still some money missing. In three months I will know if I can do it or not, but I'm really pessimistic about it.
J: I'll keep my fingers crossed for this! Thank you.
Charles Fréger during the lecture in Warsaw. 1/10/10 photo: JK
Piece of Cake: http://www.pocproject.com/
Charles Fréger was invited to run workshops on portrait photography by Akademia Fotografii school in Warsaw. Thanks to Katarzyna Majak for coordination and help. Thanks to Magdalena Wajda-Kacmajor for editing. 2.10.10 / Warszawa


text:
This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2012, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
A proposed water-sharing agreement between Utah and Nevada is a raw deal for Utah that could deplete ancient aquifers under the West Desert's Snake Valley, ruining its fragile ecosystem and a local economy based on ranching and tourism.
That's according to a consortium of environmental groups and Snake Valley residents who urged Utah Gov. Gary Herbert on Tuesday to renegotiate the contract hammered out more than three years ago.
The agreement spells out how much water the Southern Nevada Water Authority may pump once it completes a 300-mile pipeline to deliver groundwater from the Snake and four other valleys to the rapidly growing Las Vegas metropolis.
But the agency has yet to acquire the Snake Valley water rights or the public right of way necessary to advance the $15.5 billion project, said Steve Erickson, a Salt Lake City activist who sits on the board of the Great Basin Water Network.
The agreement is predicated on assumptions about the valley's hydrology which new research suggests are erroneous, setting up the possibility that Southern Nevada's pumping scheme may actually "mine" water that could take decades to be recharged, according to the letter to Herbert signed by 18 environmental groups.
"We concur with [Utah's] Millard, Juab and Tooele counties that, contrary to [legal] advice you are receiving, the division of the shared aquifer is not fair or equitable," the letter states. "We would argue that Equitable Apportionment would favor Utah because the location of the headwaters or source of recharge is irrelevant in considering the equities involved, most of Snake Valley is in Utah and most of the current and historic water use is in Utah, the water supply is limited and water tables are already decreasing, and the potential for injury in Snake Valley is significant."
The governor welcomed the letter as "positive input," according to Herbert's environmental adviser Alan Matheson.
"We are reaching out to experts and affected citizens to ensure that any decision made is in the long-term interests of the state," he said. "The agreement is certainly not perfect, but it was the product of hard negotiations and there are positive things in there. We have to look at what would happen without it."
The Snake Valley lies to the east of the Snake Range, Nevada's highest, which contains Great Basin National Park and an a complex of caves. The scientific discussion centers on the amount of "interbasin flow" from Spring Valley, which sits to the west of and 1,000 feet higher than Snake Valley.
The environmental consortium contends that project planners overestimated the volume of inflow to the Snake Valley by as much as 30,000 acre-feet per year. More recent studies vary widely on their estimates, suggesting smaller or even negligible flows between basins.
"You have all these different flows, none of which are measurable. These estimates are going to be plus or minus 30 or 40 percent," said Reno-based hydrologist Tom Myers, who acts as a consultant for the Great Basin Water Network.
"This is an arid place and it gets drier every year," said Kirk Robinson of the Western Wildlife Conservancy. "All wildlife species depends on seeps and springs. If the water table drops, those seeps and springs will dry up."
Given such uncertainty it would be foolish to commit to a water-sharing agreement that could suck between 80,000 and 125,000 acre feet from the valley, Erickson said. The consortium proposes "a monitored, phased-in pumping program done in small increments over time."
"Why cede the water to Southern Nevada when this project is still decades off from being a reality," Erickson said. "We have plenty of time to do further science and assess future impacts."
The proposed interstate deal is fair to Utah, according to water authority spokesman J.C. Davis.
"The majority of recharge comes from the Nevada side. Nevada is not asking the 70-30 split in line with recharge values, but a 50-50 split," Davis said. "This isn't about waiting for additional data. This is about seeing if they [opponents] can put it off until infinity."
A panel of water-law experts has advised Herbert to sign the agreement to get protections locked in place, rather than risk losing them in future lawsuits.
"The agreement provides that there can be no action on the pipeline for 10 years after it is signed so additional studies can be done," Matheson said. "It can be modified over time to reflect new information generated."
Salt Lake County Mayor Peter Corroon said he appreciated the governor's "predicament," but signed the environmentalists' letter because of concerns that dust blowing off a dewatered Snake Valley could further compromise air quality on the Wasatch Front's urban corridor.
"If it's signed we lose the ability to stay strong on the concerns we've had," Corroon said. "Once you find out about significant impacts, it's too late you can't turn back the clock."


text:
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text:
A single-vehicle crash Monday morning left a man dead and hospitalized his passenger with severe injuries after their car veered off the freeway in Vacaville and slammed into a tree, officials said.
The victim, identified by the Solano County Coroner"s Office as Brandon Bernier, 25, of San Francisco, was driving westbound on Interstate 80 between the Allison Drive overpass and Mason Street offramp just before
8:25 a.m., said California Highway Patrol Officer Peter Vaneckehardt.
For unknown reasons, Bernier lost control of the silver 2012 Mitsubishi Gallant, which drove off the right-hand shoulder and plowed into a grove of eucalyptus trees, authorities said.
Emergency personnel responded to the scene after receiving reports of two unconscious individuals who were trapped inside a vehicle, Vaneckehardt said.
The impact tore the front engine block completely away from the vehicle, and it was lying about 10 feet away from the car when authorities arrived at the scene, said Steve Bowman, battalion chief for the Vacaville Fire Department. The front grill was also flung 30 to 40 feet away from the rest of the wreckage, he noted.
"It was a very violent crash," Bowman said.
He speculated that the snowboard-laden car was returning from a weekend at the slopes and the driver may have dozed off.
"There was no indication that they attempted to brake," he observed.
Bowman went on to encourage motorists to make sure they are well rested before taking to the roadway.
Just days earlier, CHP officers cleared a homeless encampment from the same grove of trees the car crashed into — a move Bowman said likely prevented a number of additional injuries or deaths.
Vacaville firefighters worked for approximately 20 minutes to extricate the female passenger, who suffered major injuries, Bowman said. She was taken by ambulance to a grassy field on nearby Depot Street, where she was loaded into a Calstar air ambulance and flown to John Muir Medical Center in Walnut Creek.
Bernier died at the scene, Vaneckehardt said. Fire personnel had to wait for the arrival of the coroner, who reached the scene around 9:18 a.m., before beginning to extricate Bernier from the wreckage, Bowman said.
An autopsy to determine his cause of death has been scheduled for today, said Sheriff"s Deputy Jackson Harris with the coroner"s office.
The slow lane was closed for several hours while the scene was investigated and cleared, Bowman said.
The CHP-issued SigAlert was canceled around 11:17 a.m., Vaneckehardt said. The CHP is continuing to investigate the crash.
Follow Staff Writer Catherine Bowen at Twitter.com/cbowen4.


text:
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- How we do it
We team globally to create more innovative answers for our clients. The unique collaboration between EY consultants and our clients results in better working businesses.
The true value we bring you is our ability to unite a huge range of skills and knowledge derived from experience and leading practices across sectors, cultures and countries.
- What we do
We help solve big, complex issues and capitalize on opportunities to help our clients grow, optimize and protect their businesses now and in the future.
Your needs change in line with how your business model is changing. By looking at people as part of an integrated business strategy, we help you gain a competitive people advantage, ane we connect the work EY does in other areas such as supply chain, technology, finance or tax to help make your business objectives a human reality.
Our global ecosystem of consultants and industry professionals includes subject-matter resources in: Performance,Talent, Systems, Reward, Mobility and Analytics —all with a shared sense of purpose and values. The diversity of our talent, global connectivity and collaborative philosophy means we're inspired to ask better questions to help organizations design better outcomes, deliver long-lasting results and achieve a competitive advantage.
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Our offerings cover six different HR-relevant categories providing flexibility for our clients defining and executing a people agenda on an integrated or a stand-alone basis. We leave a legacy of embedded capability, to address the issues of today and tomorrow.
We provide end-to-end services that are differentiated for sector, geographical and cultural requirements. Our business alliances allow us to bring our clients leading edge thinking and solutions to help solve their problems.
We bring to engagements a vast bank of knowledge, experience and IP that we've developed across sectors, countries and cultures combined with proven methods and tools.
We can help you effectively manage change and your organizational design. We provide insights on the design of HR operating models, improvement of HR process efficiency, management people risk and effective integration of transactions.
We help you develop data-supported workforce strategies and employee value propositions. We help you manage talent, address people risk, develop capability at all levels, and focus on organizational development activities, including culture change.
We support your evolving HR technical strategies, integrate and support appropriate and HR information systems/software, which in turn support your broader business initiatives.
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We support you in all aspects of your mobility programs. We are developing integrated offerings that span strategy through to regulatory compliance.
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We make use of advanced analytics to help you gain a "people advantage" by setting and comparing metrics, supporting sophisticated reporting, and addressing workforce costs and HR processes.
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Who we are
We are a diverse team of 10,000 consultants and industry professionals with a global mindset and a collaborative culture.
We include engineers, psychologists, PhDs and Masters, lawyers and chemists.
We work hard to understand our clients' issues and are driven to ask better questions in the pursuit of helping them make their businesses work better.
Questions like:
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- How do you get the best people in the right place, behaving in the right way, for the right cost?
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- How do you develop a relevant and flexible tax-compliant remuneration for your company?
- How do you drive mobility programs throughout your organization?
- How do you gain "people advantages" by setting and comparing metrics, supporting sophisticated reporting and addressing workforce costs and HR processes?


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My name is Craig Adam Siulinski. I am named after my paternal grandfather whose parents emigrated from Poland around 1900. I have a lot of work to do in order to locate the Polish town where Adam's parents (Albert and Bessie) came from. It will most likely require a visit to upstate New York to search the repositories in the area of Schenectady which is the town where my grandfather grew up. Adam moved to Portland, Maine in the late 20's and met the woman to be his wife named Ouida Dykeman recently transplanted from New Brunswick, Canada. It was here they raised their family and this is the area I am from. My birthplace was Westbrook, Maine located ten miles from Portland.
Today I live in Oakland, California – a much diversified suburban area of San Francisco. I am lucky enough to live down the street from a great resource for genealogy, the California Genealogical Society. Besides research and education, this organization is invaluable for the networking that occurs with other members. My genealogical research began in 2007 when I attended a monthly genealogy meeting in the complex where my brother lives in Brevard, North Carolina. Thanks to Carl, Ann, Ken and Richard for sparking my initial excitement in genealogy!


text: Just got wind of a awesome deal today from AT&T. They are offering the Torch 9860, Torch 9800, Curve 3G, and Pearl 3G for only $.01 with 2 year contract! We've seen these penny deals before and they are a great time to take advantage of a new device, especially that OS 7 device, the Torch 9860. Let us know if you take advantage of this deal!


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The value of social capital, to put it simplistically, lies in the collective. You've probably heard it before: "we're stronger as a group."
Typically, I rebel against this idea. That's just not my style. I'm more of the lone wolf type of person: I rely on myself and myself only, if I can help it. Playing through the first two episodes of The Walking Dead has made it clear to me that in the zombie apocalypse, relying on strangers is equally as necessary as it is risky. Worse: developing feelings for strangers may be unavoidable, regardless of how reckless it is.
The first episode begins with Lee, the protagonist, taking a little girl called Clementine under his wing. She's alone, scared, and despite being clever—she hides in a treehouse to keep herself safe—helpless. She's just a kid, you know? In first grade. There's no way she could make it on her own.
Still, my first instinct when Lee decides to take her with him was outrage. I thought to myself, Lee, you idiot! Don't you see? This girl right here is a liability—one that you don't need. What if you get attached and she turns? Can you deal with that? Every person out there is a potential liability. You can't risk taking care of someone else. You've got to look after yourself. Nobody else will—a common theme of the 'zombie genre,' after all, is that dire circumstances make humans turn into monsters worse than the undead.
So I decided I'm going to keep my distance in the game. People don't need to know who I am, where I've come from, who my family is. I'll detach myself from it all, because I figured that was the best way to ensure survival.
That was my personal code at the start of the game: self interest above all else. Screw other people. It's difficult not to resort to that type of thinking, to not acquiesce to the idea that you selfishly 'have to do what you have to do' in order to survive—regardless of who you harm in the process.
They're not real people, right? This is a game.
That was my personal code at the start of the game: self interest above all else. Screw other people.
I optimize as best I can when I play a game, even if it means, say, accusing a poor little boy of being bitten though I'm not 100% sure that this is the case. Might as well be on the safe side, right? Hell, I found myself annoyed when that same boy survived an attack and not another adult—the kid just weighs us down, he's not as valuable!
Admittedly, a bit of my personal ethos bled into my play style. With the exception of close friends, which are scarce, a series of letdowns from people plus the social climate have created an utter cynic who is wary of other folk.
My identity is a commodity for businesses, there's no shortage of entities who want me to be a slave to debt or to fall victim to vice, and a lot of people and causes aren't heroes we can believe in, but rather salesmen marketing the idea we all so desperately wish we could believe in. I grew up on a street where I could watch women getting raped between cars on a nightly basis, or someone dying on the corner. Often, I fell asleep to gunshots.
When people ask me where I'm from, I say "the Internet"—and that's a place where people like to trick others to click on horrible things, as if on a hunt to assimilate those few idealists and dreamers who haven't given in to the suffocation of the blase yet. As if optimism is a virtue that's just waiting to be squashed, as if the only way to survive in this world is to perpetuate that terrible environment. We all know the zombie axiom well, really: eat or be eaten.
I feel more comfortable in my alienation, in my disconnect, than I do with the idea of trust—because it keeps me safe. I'm harder to take advantage of, even if maybe I'm unhappier for it.
But when the entire world has gone to hell, relying on yourself may not be a gamble you want to take. With others, you can take turns taking watch, or raid a zombie infested location, and if you're ever in trouble, perhaps someone would put their neck out there for you.
People are useful, but they won't run to help you if you're not willing to help them, too—in an honest way. Self-interest is easy to spot, and if anyone thinks you're only sticking around for as long as it's useful, they're less willing to trust you. Sentimentality turns out to be a more beneficial quality than anything else, and you can't fake that sort of thing easily.
I didn't warm up to this idea of letting other people 'in' in the game by choice. It was that little girl, that damn little girl who 'ruined' everything with her innocence. I have to give Telltale props, they wrote her character really well. Taking care of Clementine made it so that she tugged at my heartstrings with ease, even if I didn't want that to happen.
She gazes as her shoes when she speaks, and I can see her Ash Ketchum-like hat waver back and forth as she asks me about her parents. Deep down, I think, there's no way they're coming back. I figure the world out there is much uglier than this truth, so I lay it on her—not too monstrously, I hope.
Tact is important with kids.
It was that little girl, that damn little girl who 'ruined' everything with her innocence.
I know this because I had a Clementine of my own to take care of growing up. Someone whose morality and character were a Tabula Rasa I was responsible for. My sister was born when I was eight, and she was only about a month old before it fell on me to take care of her while my mother worked evenings and nights at a bar as a waitress.
She's a teenager now, in that place where it's impossible to have a conversation with her because 'nobody gets it' and we all 'just hate her'—she doesn't remember or recall the childhood I personally gave up to make sure she was safe and had everything she needed.
"So, what do you want to be when you grow up?"
"I don't know. What does it matter? Do I even have a future? Why should I finish high school. Nobody out there can get a job and I'm not smart enough to go to college anyways. Fuck it."
She says this to me with a conviction that seems overly rehearsed, as if this is all something she's trying to convince both of us of. As if she's trying to play the part of world-weary know-it-all who can't be touched by the disappointments of life. She already anticipates it, after all—so if and when it happens, it can't touch her anymore. She's safe.
And me, the only thing I can think of is, jesus, this is my fault. For all the times that I told her "that's just the way things are" when her parents fought, or to explain why we were so poor, or for her to see me lash out at things when I didn't know how to cope with responsibilities I shouldn't have had at that age or....no, cripes, this is my fault. She doesn't deserve to feel that way, but I raised her, and she turned out like me. Jaded.
I think about this as I try to take care of Clementine. I think of all the things I can't shield her from, regardless of how hard I try. She likes soccer, like I do. She spends her time coloring. Kid stuff, you know? Stuff that she'd indulge in if she had a normal life, stuff that she would still do if I could create this perfect little bubble where she didn't have to see what the world has become.
To me, she is a reminder of something—someone—that I've forgotten how to be. She's watched me kill other men in the name of survival, but even so, it's clear that there's still this sliver of untarnished humanity that I'd like to keep intact if I can. I'm not sure if I can do it, but I've resolved to put my life on the line in the game to try—regardless of how much of a damper on my survivability it puts. I figure, if the world is ever going to change back, it's not going to need people like me. It's going to need people like her.
Maybe this realization has come too late.
My girl, she asked me if things were going to get better.
Me, the cynic, the one who wished she wasn't my responsibility then, I say no.
I wish I could take it back.


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20th Century Parlor Games
Mary Mason Wright
AbeBooks Seller Since November 19, 2007Quantity Available: 1
AbeBooks Seller Since November 19, 2007Quantity Available: 1
About this Item
Bibliographic Details
Title: 20th Century Parlor Games
Publisher: David McKay, Publishers
Publication Date: 1914
Binding: Hardcover
Book Condition: Very Good
Dust Jacket Condition: Dust Jacket Included
Book Type: Games
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text:
Mini-Camp Underway
For the Phillies, 42 players were chosen in the three-day draft last week. Those who sign soon begin their professional careers right away in a mini-camp that began yesterday at Carpenter Complex.
With spring training for minor leaguers, extended spring training, the fall instructional league program, the Gulf Coast League and a Class A team in the Florida State League, young prospects can spend a lot of time in Clearwater while on the road to Citizens Bank Park.
For some new signees, Clearwater will be their new home for the summer as members of the Gulf Coast League Phillies. Others may wind up in Williamsport, PA and if advanced enough, Lakewood or Clearwater. For many, this will be the first time away from home for an extended period of time, a huge adjustment.
New players underwent physicals at 7 a.m. yesterday and then worked out along with the players from extended spring training. Photo day is 7 a.m. tomorrow. Nothing like trying to look away for cameras early in the morning.
Workouts continue until Friday when rosters for Williamsport and Gulf Coast League Phillies will have been determined. That afternoon, Williamsport will fly to Philadelphia and then bus to their summer homes in Williamsport.
Williamsport Crosscutters
Season opener is 7 p.m., Monday, June 18, against the State College Spikes at Bowman Field. Williamsport is in the Pinckney Division of the New York-Penn League.
Season: 76-game schedule concludes September 4.
Staff: Andy Tracy, manager; Rafael DeLima, coach; Aaron Fultz, pitching coach; Takayuki Sakurai, athletic trainer.
Gulf Coast League Phillies
Season opener is 12 noon, Monday, June 18, against the Tigers at Carpenter Complex. Phillies are in the North Division.
Season: 60-game schedule concludes August 25.
Staff: Roly deArmas, manager; Kevin Jordan, coach; Les Lancaster, pitching coach; Troy Hoffert, athletic trainer.
There is no admission fee for Gulf Coast League games that are played at 12 noon or 10 a.m. Games are not scheduled on Sundays. Fans are urged to wear hats because of the strong summer sun and the potential of droppings from flocks of seagulls.
Major league and minor league injured players on rehab are assigned to the Clearwater facilities.
Staff: James, Ready, minor league athletic training and rehabilitation coordinator; Paul Fournier, minor league strength and conditioning coordinator; Carlos Arroyo, rehab pitching coach.
Chase is beginning a rehab assignment tonight with the Threshers. Howard, Stutes, Herndon and Nix are also part of the program and could eventually begin rehab assignments soon. At some point, the potential exists that Halladay will also report to Clearwater.
Down On The Farm
**Lehigh Valley was a 4-1 winner at Syracuse. RHS Tyler Cloyd (5-1) gave up one first-inning run in seven innings and added an RBI single (hitting .364). Including Reading, Cloyd is 9-1 this year, pushing his career total to 42-22.
**Reading, scheduled to begin a series in Binghamton tonight, spent a day off in Cooperstown touring the Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum.
**Clearwater won, 7-2, at Dunedin. SS Edgar Duran had a pair of hits and three RBI. RHS Perci Garner (3-3), allowed one run in six innings.
**Lakewood split a doubleheader with Delmarva. Game #1, 2-1 win behind All-Star RHS Colin Kleven (4-5). Game #2, 6-4 loss in 11 innings.
June 12, 1939: Grover Cleveland Alexander of the Phillies is among the first group of players inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, NY.
For news, notes and photos of Phillies alumni check out www.phillies.com/alumni.


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At Sundance London, James Bond composer David Arnold talked about his big break, discovering music for Independence Day in his dreams and if he'll return to the 007 franchise.
David Arnold, the composer behind five James Bond films and the opening ceremony of the London Olympics, entertained a rapt audience at Sundance London with stories from his career.
Growing up in Luton, Arnold recalled his initial inspiration for perusing a career in composition.
"I saw You Only Live Twice, The Jungle Book and Oliver! all within a few months of each other when I was seven," he said. "Each was incredibly powerful both visually and musically, and rammed with amazing songs. From the point on I wanted to be a part of that."
Big break
Looking back on his portfolio of around 30 movies, he pinpointed his "big break" as meeting director Danny Cannon as a teenager.
"I'd made student films with Danny for about eight years, when there was literally no money and I was living at home with my parents," he recalled.
"After he graduated from the National Films and Television School, he got a small feature financed called The Young Americans. I did the music and the end title song called Play Dead, which I did with Bjork who lived two streets away from the flat I was sharing with the director.
"People sometimes ask me about my big break. Was it doing Stargate or Bond? I think my big break was meeting Danny when I was 19 and he was 16. He was someone who ended up making a feature film 11 years later and asked me to do it. You can directly connect to those things.
"As people wanting to make it in the media, one of the most important things to do is make friends and work with people at the same level as you."
The Young Americans got the attention of producers who hired Arnold to write the music to 1994 sci-fi blockbuster Stargate.
"I moved to Los Angeles for six months and lived in a hotel room, where I wrote the whole thing in a similar way to how I wrote The Young Americans, which was at the foot of my bed in a rented flat in Camden with very little equipment," said Arnold.
"That equipment came out to LA, where I sat at the foot of the bed and I did the whole thing from there."
Independence Day
The success of Stargate led to director Roland Emmerich and producer Dean Devlin hiring Arnold again for 1996 smash Independence Day.
Arnold recalled how inspiration can come from unusual places. "There's a theme in Independence Day that I dreamt," he said.
"It's when the aliens first invade, turning up over New York. I had a dream that I went into a shop and someone demo'd me a synth which had a preset of 'alien invasion music'. I pressed it and that's what it played."
He also revealed that he came up with the music to Stargate driving past Toddington Services on the M1 and the melody to Frank Oz's The Stepford Wives driving over Hammersmith Bridge.
"It's weird but you need to have your aerials out," he added. "I think stuff floats around a bit. I don't know what it is. Sometimes it gets gifted to you like that."
His next big score came for 1997 James Bond film Tomorrow Never Dies. Arnold originally thought he was hired as a result of his work on US blockbusters coupled with his work on an album of James Bond covers.
But producer Barbara Broccoli later revealed it was an assistant at a London record shop that recommended him.
The invitation was exciting and intimidating. "It's a bit like wanting to climb Everest. The idea of climbing it and actually climbing it is very different," he explained.
"I had always wanted to do a Bond film and envisaged myself having finished it but I didn't know what the journey would be like from start to finish.
"And there are a lot of considerations, not least the historical implications. The blueprint is John Barry so I wanted to be respectful of that but offer a contemporary take.
"With each film we were able to move a little bit further away each time and do something different."
Skyfall / Olympics
After scoring five Bond movies, Arnold stepped aside and Thomas Newman was hired to compose music for the latest instalment, Skyfall.
"It was slightly odd watching it from a distance, having been involved since 1997, but I was in the middle of doing the Olympics, which was such an overwhelming experience," he said.
"I was on that for the best part of 20 months solid and – for the last few weeks – sleeping two/three hours a night. But it was an amazing experience that I don't think could be bettered by any other."
When asked if Arnold would return to the franchise, he answered: "It's always been the same for me. If they ask me, I'd love to do it – but there are never any guarantees."
Arnold is currently writing a musical adaptation of Made in Dagenham, the 2010 British drama based on the 1968 strike at a Ford car plant where female worked walked out in protest against sexual discrimination.


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Jess Posgate has sent this news to us, and I thought that you may wish to know about it -
Newmarket Public Library has completed digitizing their newspaper collection, making 125 years of The Era available online with highlighted keyword searching, and it's available at http://news.ourontario.ca/newmarket
Whitby Public Library digitized an index of vital statistics and have linked them to page images from 140 years of various newspaper titles from the Whitby area. The OCR full text search will be available before the end of the year at http://vitacollections.ca/whitbynews
Further to these, the City of Kawartha Lakes Public Library digitized a catalogue of WWII records, including clippings, photos and vital statistics, and have launched that collection online as well at http://vitacollections.ca/ckl-digitalcollection
The Multicultural History Society of Ontario (MHSO) is at the first stages of a major digitization project and marked the first year by launching a large portion of their oral history collection, including more than 100 interviews with Canadians from a diverse range of ethnic backgrounds, with ongoing transcription underway for full text searches.
The MHSO is working toward digitizing more oral histories as well as hundreds--even thousands--of photographs over the next year is available at http://vitacollections.ca/mhso
You an contact them at http://ourdigitalworld.org


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DURHAM – High school juniors and seniors and their families are invited to a college fair sponsored by the New England Association for College Admissions Counseling Thursday, Sept. 26, from 7-9 p.m. and Friday, Sept. 27, from 9-11 a.m. at the Field House on the University of New Hampshire campus. The fair brings representatives of more than 230 universities and colleges together.
Representatives of participating colleges and universities from throughout the United States and Canada will be available to talk with prospective students, provide information about their institutions, and answer questions. The fair also includes representatives from New England Board of Higher Education and the New Hampshire Higher Education Assistance Foundation.
"This is a great opportunity for college-bound high school students and their parents to meet with college representatives about admissions criteria, academic programs, and costs," said Elisabeth Williams, senior assistant director of admissions and UNH College Fair coordinator. "Guidance counselors from area high schools and representatives from federal and state education funding sources will also be available to answer questions."
Students are advised to meet with their school guidance counselor prior to discussing what type of higher education they are interested in pursuing and possible major areas of study. The fair is expected to attract thousands of students, so arriving well-prepared will make for a more rewarding experience.
A wide variety of schools participate from large universities such as Northeastern, Boston University and the six public state universities in New England to small, liberal-arts colleges such as Simmons, Colby-Sawyer and Maine Maritime Academy. Rochester and Wentworth Institutes of Technology will attend, as well as colleges within the Community College System of New Hampshire. For a complete listing of the colleges registered to participate in the college fair visit http://admissions.unh.edu/unh-college-fair.
For more information, contact Elisabeth Williams at (603) 862-2875, or call the guidance office of your local high school