Dad's Cooking Tonight

Thirst for Knowledge - Consumerism in the Eastern Bloc

2012-02-27T14:59:00.000Z

I have long been an advocate of the theory that consumerism did more to end the Cold War than any amount of treaties or nuclear weapons. Certainly it would be difficult to deny that a collapsing economy in the Eastern Bloc was one of the major, underlying factors that accelerated the demise of the era of communist control.

Consumerism is strongly linked to all economies and in Eastern Europe a thriving black market was in full swing during the 1980's as the demand for western products increased. In Poland it is estimated that the rate of inflation was 1500% from 1982-1987, interestingly this is measured in US Dollars, the currency of the black market.

Now I am not suggesting that one of the world's super powers was brought to its knees by the demand for Levi jeans, but there is something in it. Placing a date on when this demise started is as difficult as saying when the Cold War became a conflict, but I think there might be a case for 1959, a year when American culture was put on show in Russia.

Kaiser Geodesic Dome, Sokolniki Park 1959
Image source: Best American Art

The 1959 Moscow Exhibition was a showcase for American culture and economic power. The opening was attended by US Vice President Richard Nixon and Soviet First Secretary of State Nikita Khrushchev, who took part in the famous Kitchen Debate, a debate in a show kitchen at the exhibition.

Pepsi breaks the ice
Image source: rferl.org

In many ways this was a political exercise, which was a result of an East-West Cultral exchange Agreement of 1958, but the products on show may have had a far greater impact than any political message. With products such as Pepsi available, the latest American cars like the Ford Thunderbird and art exhibitions it really was a taste of something different for the people, over 2 million of who attended.

The impact becomes even clearer when you fast forward a few years and look at Raisa Gorbachev, who was rather unfairly nicknamed the First Lady of Shopping. Educated, intelligent, with an interest in social and cultural affairs, she single handed did more to change peoples perception of the Soviet Union than anybody else. Certainly she was an example of how consumer power had pulled aside the Iron Curtain and in many ways a precursor to the changes that would take place.

Gardening - This year it's going to happen.

2012-02-27T11:46:00.001Z

Well as the temperature has finally returned to a level suitable for venturing outside, my mind has turned to the garden. Having moved into our current house last year, we were suddenly faced with the large garden we had always wanted. Now while this sounds great in theory, dealing with twenty years of accumulated weeds, bushes and other less easy to define things that were growing around the place was a bit of a major chore.

The crux of the problem seems to be that I have never really been a gardener, or previously felt inclined to be. However last spring, along with some help from the children and my wife, I cleared a small patch of ground and planted some seeds, promising myself that next year we would turn this into a proper vegetable patch. Needless to say I swiftly forgot about this idea, until much to my surprise, things started growing, which probably has more to do with the hardiness of the plants rather than any skill on my part. So during the summer we had a bumper crop of courgettes, runner beans and spinach, from our own garden.

I did learn a few useful things during this process, mainly that courgette plants are rather big when they grow, so need to be more spread out next time. But the main point was that this was fun, not to say healthy, as you can't beat fresh vegetables, particularly if you have grown them yourselves. So here is my dilemma, we have a patch of land about ten feet wide and thirty feet long that we are going to clear this weekend, but the question is what to plant in it.

Following their success last year we will be growing courgettes again, but what else grows fairly easily. I do fancy the idea of some root vegetables as well, along with lettuce and spinach, but is there anything else that can survive and flourish despite being tended by a gardening ignoramus? Any advice would be most welcome, as would a visit from Ground Force, in the meantime we shall clear the ground and start work, with further updates to follow.

Connor's Corner - Hockey and why it's the sport to watch

2012-02-24T11:54:00.000Z

With the Olympic Games approaching, I was quite pleased when Connor rolled up with a post about hockey, a sport that we normally have a good run at during the competition. Also having played hockey myself for several years, a long time ago, and having the opportunity to watch Connor and his brother play the sport, I can understand where he is coming from with his views.

Actually I am old enough, although this may come as a surprise, to remember the men's team winning the Gold Medal at Seoul in 1988, was it really that long ago, although the names of the team members escapes me, Sean Kerly was one. They did however beat Germany 3-1 in the final, which was a cause for great celebration, anyway over to the teenage prodigy for a more up to date run down on the sport.

The Most Entertaining Sports

It came to my attention while watching a hockey match with one of my friends involved, that hockey is full of entertainment and no boredom.

Hockey is one of the few games where it is impossible not to attack, otherwise you stand no chance. This means that great skill is required, which gives pleasure to the player when they run straight round the opposition and is an excellent source of entertainment to the spectators. There is only one downside to this as a player, that being if you play a position, like myself, such as wing back, then the end to end action means that you are so exhausted at the end of the game, all you want to do is lie down and have a drink.

My hockey is currently mixed in between the A and B teams at school, mainly due to a number of players being used from the year below. This will always happen, but to be honest it is nice to play for the second team some times as the game is more relaxed and it is easier to run round people.

Obviously it is not the only entertaining sport, but rugby often slows down and can drag on a bit, while football tends to be a passing game without the fluency of attacking play that you see in hockey and although tennis can be better the play tends to be the same. Motor sport is different as you tend to watch for the great overtaking, Kobayashi, Button and the late Marco Simoncelli, have all really added some fun to their respective sports over the past few years and team tactics can also add a twist to the races.

My experiences of sport are small, without many major ups or downs, which may influence my decision that hockey is the best spectator sport, it's also my favourite to play.

Having said all of that I forgot to mention athletics, which I don't find quite as much fun to take part in, mainly running distance events. But to watch Usain Bolt or Mo Farah is great as it really is straight into the action.

Doves Farm Fairtrade Flapjacks and Cereal Bars Reviewed

2012-02-23T15:02:00.000Z

Much to the pleasure of my children I was recently lucky enough to receive a box of Doves Farm flapjacks and cereal bars to review. The box contained five different products from their organic, Fairtrade selection which have been recently repacked in some very bright and attractive designs.

Doves Farm Flapjack and Cereal Bars

Over the years we have on some often brought cereal bars for the children, always a handy lunchbox filler, just to add a bit of extra variety, or when the baking tins are empty. I should admit that my impressions of these type of products has not always been favourable, despite the health eating claims that accompany some of them and now I know why.

Doves Farm Apple & Sultana Flapjack

It would appear that you get what you pay for in this instance, which in this case was a very tasty snack, as opposed to previous offerings from various supermarkets which generally seemed to retain the texture of an eighteenth century ships biscuit.

Doves Farm Sultana, Apricot & Apple Cereal Bar

Of the cereal bars my favourite was the banana, mango and brazil version, although they were all very good. Our nine year old daughter was also keen on this, but in her new self appointed position of professional food tester, suggested that more mango could be added to make it even better.

Doves Farm Banana, Mango & Brazil Cereal Bar

We all felt that the apple and sultana flapjack was better tasting than the standard item, which to be fair was also good, mainly I think because the extra flavours gave it that extra element and lifted it from good to excellent.

Doves Farm Butter Flapjack

Possibly the best indication of how good these really are is the fact that our eldest son has been happily working his way through them. That's right the young man who thinks that the fruit bowl is a decorative item and is distinctly suspicious of green food gave these a thumbs up, figuratively speaking.

Doves Farm Crispy Chocolate & Rice Bar

I had figured that the chocolate and rice bar would be the most popular with the children, but opinions were split on this and somewhat surprisingly they voted the fruit cereal bars as being best overall. However the final verdict was that they were all very nice indeed and some pressure is being placed upon us to buy more of them now.

A few comments

My wife said 'These are the best cereal bars I've ever tasted, I will be buying some'.

Amber, aged 9 'The chocolate and rice bars are really nice, so are the banana, mango and brazil cereal bars, but more mango please'.

Jack, aged 12 'Can I have another please'.

It's Lucy's Birthday

2012-02-23T11:25:00.000Z

That's right, our eldest daughter has reached the ripe old age of eleven, so she was up bright and early this morning, obviously a special day as Lucy and mornings don't normally mix very well. I always find this quite a special age, as it marks the final year of primary school and that rapid run in towards being a teenager, along with all of the fun that brings.

It also serves to remind that your child is growing up, for example the other day I heard her use the word cute. in relation to a boy, when talking with a friend. Since then I have been practising my 'in your dreams sunshine', glower in the mirror in anticipation of what the future holds. However that's probably enough about my insecurities as a father, it's her birthday which is all about fun and presents, with a party to follow on Saturday accompanied by a nice, complex, Zoe Clark cake that she wants me to make.

So what did the birthday girl receive on the present front? Well lots of little bits and bobs that she requested, along with a voucher from the Bank of Mum and Dad towards the Kindle that she is saving up for. Apparently it's either that, or I have to buy her another book shelf, as her current one is full, a bit of an avid reader is our Lucy. Anyway just to prove that she has far better taste than me, here are a few of the other things that were unwrapped this morning.

Stuff notebook from www.dotsandspots.co.uk

Stuff is just such a great word, especially when combined with this great design from one of Lucy's favourite designers the lovely Dots and Spots.

Brushes from Paperchase

Lucy loves to paint, she's pretty good as well, obviously taking after her mum and not me, I can only draw square stuff and quite badly at that.

Kids collection bag from Cath Kids

Actually they had stopped making the bag she originally wanted, but apparently this one is cool as well.

Notebook by Amber and Dad

It's always nice to see home made presents and Amber, one of Lucy's sisters made this for her, with some stitching together help from yours truly.

There you have it Lucy's birthday and a few of her presents. Now if you'll excuse me I need to get on and start making the cheese cake that she has ordered, before reading up on this cake that's required for the party on Saturday.

Wednesday Wheels - Youth takes over Formula 1, statistically.

2012-02-22T07:30:00.000Z

The decision of Caterham to replace Jarno Trulli at the team with Vitali Petrov, sees the departure of another very experienced driver from Formula One. As normal there have been some mutterings of money being the deciding factor in a few of these pre-season moves. This may well be the case in some circumstances, it is after all an expensive sport and the budgets of many of the smaller teams rely heavily on sponsorship.

Nevertheless I do wonder if there has not also been a change in the hiring attitudes of the teams. Certainly experience is important, with the departing Rubens Barichello and Jarno Trulli having a total of 582 Grand Prix starts between them, but when you look closely at the statistics Formula One success has started to favour the younger drivers in recent years.

I am not just talking about Sebastian Vettel's rise to prominence here, as a quick look at the statistics over the years highlights a gradual downward trend in drivers ages.

Average ages of championship winning drivers by decade.

1950 - 1959 39.6

1960 - 1969 32.6

1970 - 1979 29.4

1980 - 1989 32.1

1990 - 1999 31.2

2000 - 2009 29.4

Now while this shows that, apart from the 1970's, the last decade produced the youngest average age of winning drivers, it is only part of the bigger picture.

The trend becomes much clearer when you consider that the average age for the past ten years is 27.8. If the Michael Schumacher years are then taken out of the equation, then the last seven years throws up an average of 25.14 old, with the oldest winner being Jenson Button at 29 years of age.

So is there any hope for the older drivers, statistically speaking? Well yes in the shape of Michael Schumacher I suppose. If he was to win the championship this year. then it would push the average age for the past decade back up to 28.8 and if he stays in the sport for 2013, winning again, then the rolling average becomes 29.8.

However a lot of the smart money is backing Sebastian Vettel to win a third consecutive championship, bringing the average age down to 27 years of age. If that happens then the only saving grace is that in a few years he will also be too old to win, statistically speaking.

Thirst For Knowledge - The WWII Black Market

2012-02-21T14:02:00.002Z

The campaign to Dig For Victory during the war is well known, as are the shortages of food and other goods that occurred during this period. By its very nature the Black Market was far more secretive and as such less details are available about how widespread its effects were. However behind the scenes a thriving illegal trade was in existance, which impacted on the daily lives of the population.

Black Market activities are obviously common where ever there are restrictions on certain goods, but during the war these shortages were more extreme than normal. Rationing was introduced in 1939, the government having learnt some lessons from the First World War, for some foodstuffs, with more joining the list in March and July of 1940. Other consumables were also rationed, soap and razor blades in 1942, cosmetic prices were doubled in 1943 and clothing coupons were issued in July 1943.

With home production being channelled towards the war effort many items, such as silk which was used in parachute production, became unobtainable. The disruption of supply routes also had a dramatic effect, with many imported goods becoming hard to obtain, or in some cases disappearing from the shops altogether. Nevertheless people still wanted access to many of these products and some of this demand was met by the criminal classes and in some cases ordinary people.

It goes without saying that some of the offences committed during this period revolved around the illegal sale of stolen goods, but there were other sources of criminal activity. Under the counter trading was one of these, where special and hard to come by products were sold through retail outlets. Certainly this happened in the food industry, with butchers sometimes selling excess cuts of meat to customers without the need for ration coupons. Other foodstuffs were more readily available in the countryside, so traders like greengrocers legally collecting vegetables, might also purchase additional eggs, butter and meat for under the counter sale. It is difficult to say exactly how widespread these practises were and whether the people involved were purely after profit, or trying to help their community by this method, but it was serious enough for the government to divert resources to try and stop it.

Ration books themselves were also another area where illegal usage was common. Theft, forgery and obtaining by misrepresentation , for example where someone had died, was a major business during the war. In all probability most minor thefts probably went undetected, but large scale offences certainly attracted a lot of attention. On the occasions where huge amounts of coupons were stolen, they tended to be from government controlled establishments, such as army depots, and could be declared invalid prior to use. However it should be assumed that many of these made it into circulation as the only way to stop their use was through manual checking of issue numbers. Forgery of coupons was also rife, although this tended to be easier to detect through the quality of paper used, or in some cases poor spelling.

The sale of stolen items is not just a criminal activity during wartime, nevertheless it is possible to point at some areas where the level of thefts increased. With the railway network being the primary means of transporting large quantities of goods at this time, it was obviously subject to a good deal of attention from the criminal underworld. As always some thefts would go undetected, but just to get a feel for the scale of the problem, estimates of the value of goods stolen from the the railway, including goods yards, exceeded £1,000,000 in 1943. This was obviously a continuing problem with insurance payouts for the first nine months of 1944 topping £1,700,000, which gives some indication of the amount of goods being handled.

To combat this the Ministry of Food undertook a massive undercover campaign to try and prevent Black Market activities. These ranged from minor prosecutions for inaccurate record keeping, to what has been suggested was virtual entrapment. Certainly there are accounts of young women not registered at shops, or with claims of missed rations, persuading proprietors to sell them goods, which resulted with an immediate visit from officials after they had bee served. This use of agent provocateurs was widely denounced, but there were other examples when the use of agents prevented large scale theft. Nevertheless there seems to be little doubt that the majority of offences went largely undetected despite the best efforts of the law enforcement departments.

So it is clear that the Black Market thrived throughout the war years, indeed by the letter of the law many ordinary people were also guilty of being involved, with the swapping of rations being illegal for much of this period. It is also likely that, despite the figures involved, the vast majority of offences went undetected, making it impossible to actually know the amount of profit made through this illegal trade.

Riverford Organic Vegetables - A fruit and veg review.

2012-02-20T15:45:00.000Z

Recently I was lucky enough to be offered the opportunity to review a free box of fruit and vegetables through Riverford's affiliate network. Obviously any chance to increase the vegetable intake of the children is welcome, all though to be fair they do all eat a lot of fruit. In fact there was an air of anticipation in the house on Friday as we awaited the arrival of the boxes, with us all quite keen to see what produce would arrive.

If you have not come across Riverford before they supply and deliver organic produce, on a weekly basis to homes across the country. By using a network of farms they are able to source seasonal products throughout they year from the United Kingdom, which are supplemented at certain times with organic produce from other countries, all of which meet the standard organic guidelines. The goods always arrive in a returnable box and in general no additional packaging is used, apart from some of the earth they grew in. A small newsletter accompanies each weekly delivery, normally with further details of one, or more, of the products supplied, along with some relevant recipes.

We had received an email from the local franchise operator to advise us that the delivery would be with early in the evening and true to his word he arrived on our doorstep not long after 6pm. The vegetable box was accompanied by that wonderful earthy aroma, that you only get with fresh produce and after a quick chat with the Jeremy, the local supplier, about the contents of the boxes we were left to have a good look what had been sent.

Vegetable box-containing leeks, parsnips, squash, cabbage, potatoes, onions, mushrooms, broccoli, celeriac and carrots.

Fruit box-containing apples, bananas, oranges and pineapple.

As you can see we received a nice selection, in what are a standard medium vegetable and fruit box. Obviously the contents vary throughout the year, in particular the fruit is always British when in season. The majority of the produce turned out to be things that we would normally buy, the exceptions being the squash and celeriac, but there was no denying the freshness and quality of everything.

The girls got stuck into the fruit straightaway, pronouncing the the apples were crispy and the oranges very juicy, apparently I need to get some more now. As for the vegetables, we're working our way through them rapidly as well. The parsnips, squash and celeriac have been roasted, I preferred the celeriac, while everyone else picked the squash as their favourite.

So it arrived at the expected time, the produce was fresh, good quality and to be honest quite delicious. The service really cannot be faulted and as for the all important question, well if you buy organic produce from a supermarket then you won't be disappointed as the cost is comparable, if not cheaper and these boxes travel a much more direct route to your door, meaning fresher vegetables. Otherwise I guess it's down to budget, we all buy what we can afford really, I'll be trying a box or two a month as that's what works for me, if I could it would be a weekly order, maybe soon.

Save The Children Name A Day Campaign

2012-02-17T21:39:00.000Z

This post is designed entirely with the intention of drawing your attention to a humanitarian crisis that is happening now and those who are trying to do something about it. Save the Children have released figures which show that 300 children are dying of malnutrition every hour, which is a situation which cannot possibly be allowed to continue. Right now these are the important links that you should be giving your attention to http://www.savethechildren.org.uk/name-a-day which gives you the opportunity to get involved and http://www.thepinkwhisk.co.uk run by Ruth Clemens who has just visited Rwanda, one of the countries where children are dying in large numbers.

Children are dying of malnutrition in several countries, some of which I know more about than others. One of these is Rwanda, so I thought it might help to know something about its recent past and how the international community failed its people on the last occasion.

In 1994 I was 29 years old, during this year the Rwandan Genocide took place, resulting in the mass murder of an estimated 800,000 people. I cannot remember this happening, the reason for my knowledge is purely due to studying the subject at university last year. There might be a reason for this as by far the biggest headline during the genocide was relating to O.J.Simpson, somewhere, someone decided that it was more important to sell newspapers, than it was to report the news.

Most of us are fully aware of the genocide that took place, over a number of years, during the Second World War, in Rwanda it took 100 days to kill well over half a million people, about twenty percent of the population, a large number of whom were simply hacked to death with machetes. I could quite easily describe the complex political situation within the country and how tensions were heightened following the assassination of the President, but to be frank that is what seems to be discussed by bodies such as the United Nations while people are busy dying. Many of the people being persecuted fled to safe havens, such as churches, unfortunately they were promptly given up and slaughtered without mercy.

I should probably apologise, or at least warn you, about the content of this post, but it is intended to make people understand why all these children should not be allowed to die of malnutrition anywhere and why Rwanda should not be abandoned again. Just to bring it home there are a few pictures below which you may find unpleasant and therefore should see because it makes the horror of what happened much clearer.

Nyamata Church, where an estimated 20,000 Rwandans were killed within the building and compound.

This was the recent past of Rwanda and I simply cannot believe that we are standing by watching another humanitarian crisis engulf this country, it is positively shameful. However Rwanda is only one of the countries where children are suffering and dying at the moment, Save the Children need help to assist all of them

Once again those important links which need to be followed, I would say please if it helps, but honestly this just needs sorting out and it will be peoples support which makes things happen.

http://www.savethechildren.org.uk/name-a-day

http://www.thepinkwhisk.co.uk

Friday Fun - Scrabble For Cars

2012-02-17T14:42:00.001Z

Thanks to a comment from Mr Clayton I've had a great, or quite stupid depending on your point of view, new idea for a game to while away the hours on long car journeys. Now this does require some knowledge of car types, but could be adapted to include other sites along the way.

So how about Car Scrabble, with points being scored for the letters as with the normal game. For example Ferrari Dino would be worth 15 points, which breaks down as F=4, E=1, R=1 (x 3), A=1, I=1 (x2), D=2, N=1, O=1. A slightly more common Ford Focus would by the same method be worth 18 points, which breaks down as F=4 (x2), O=1 (x2), R=1, D=2, C=3, U=1, S=1.

Now this might seem slightly complicated, but imagine the educational benefits if you play this with the children. Accurate spelling and basic mathematics all rolled into one game, with the added benefit of teaching them all about car models, very important I'm sure you will agree.

In common with the original board game it seems only fair to have an equivalent scoring method for the bonus squares, for which we have a few suggestions.

Double Letter Score (Applied to the first letter) - Car has a puncture.

Triple Letter Score (Applied to the last letter) - Police car.

Double Word Score - Has a dog hanging out of the window.

Triple Word Score - Car pulled over by police.

50 points - Car broken down with a caravan.

One of the fun things about this game is that a Honda Jazz, 38 points, is worth more than a Koenigsegg Agera, 23 points and it's got a better chance of pulling a caravan. However the Koenigsegg is in theory more likely to have been pulled over for speeding, therefore receiving a triple word score, giving it 69 points. Endless fun you see and possibly the only time the Honda Jazz will be worth more than a super car.

I will try at some stage to work out the highest scoring car, just out of interest, but in the mean time I have compiled a quick list of the letter scores, which I'm sure you will be printing out and taking with you on your next long car journey.

A=1, B=3, C=3, D=2, E=1, F=4, G=2, H=4, I=1, J=8, K=5, L=1, M=3, N=1, O=1, P=3, Q=10, R=1, S=1, T=1, U=1, V=4, W=4, X=8, Y=4, Z=10.

Planes, trains and automobiles - Of the gingerbread type

2012-02-16T16:46:00.001Z

Well half term has continued with a whirl of kitchen activity, with the able assistance of the children. Now while I cannot lay claim to being the tidiest man in the kitchen, the mess created by me pales into insignificance alongside the havoc that ensues when the children are let loose with flour, sugar and chocolate. My latest solution, which I'm sure many of you far more organised parents have already thought of, is to tailor the recipe to the appropriate child's age.

Rolling cookie dough.

Therefore today I decided that gingerbread would be a suitable kind of thing to make with my five year old assistant. Sugar, syrup, cookie dough and a smog consisting entirely of icing sugar, so much for my well thought out theory. Having said that it was great fun, baking and children seem to go together perfectly and the interaction can be quite inspiring. Sticky fingers, egg shell to be rescued and enough cake sprinkles to cover a small country are all to be expected, but as an activity it is very hard to beat, plus you get to eat whatever you end up with.

Multitasking, biscuit in one hand, cookie cutter in the other.

The great thing about gingerbread is that it always looks right at the end, even I can use a cookie cutter, whether that's people, animals or in this case planes, trains and cars.

Ready to bake.

Anyway the moral to this story, if there is one, forget about the mess and enjoy the moment, although I might not feel quite the same during six weeks of summer holiday.

Gingerbread trains, planes and automobiles.

Wednesday Wheels - Multi Car Insurance

2012-02-15T17:49:00.000Z

Choosing aninsurance policy for your car is never a fun process, but it is a necessaryone, which does require a good bit of research, particularly if you want to end up with themost effective policy possible. Then, of course, if you are trying to insuremore than one car – for example, if you are a parent and you are taking careof the insurance policies for one or more members of your family – the processbecomes even more complicated, as you have multiple vehicles to consider.Fortunately, all of this can be drastically simplified by the Aviva multicar insurance policy, which provides an easy and cost-effective way toinsure two vehicles under a single policy. There are a number of benefits ofthis offering, some of which will be expanded upon below.

To begin with, you can certainly understand the basic appeal of having just asingle set of paperwork to worry about. If you insure one car now and anothercar later, etc., you will have to go through the whole process multiple times,which can be both complicated and frustrating. However, with Aviva multicar,you will only have to work on a single policy, one time, thus saving yourself agreat deal of time and effort. Additionally, this does not mean that you haveto insure two vehicles at once. Even if you only have one vehicle about whichyou are concerned when you fill out your policy, you can set up that policy ina way that allows you to add a second car at any time. This can be greatpreparation if, for example, you want to insure your car but you know one ofyour children may have a car in the near future.

If you are a bit concerned about connecting your own vehicle’s insurance tothat of another, that is understandable – after all, it is conceivable thatissues with one vehicle may translate and reflect poorly upon both in theinsurance policy. Fortunately, in anticipation of this issue, you can choosedifferent levels of coverage for both of the vehicles on your policy, so that youcan either protect them both equally, or one more than the other. Additionally,if one of the two cars experiences some sort of accident, only its no claimsdiscount will be affected, whereas that of the other, untouched vehicle, willremain likewise untouched.

With all of this convenience available to you, it’s not difficult to see why somany car owners trust and rely upon Aviva insurance. Particularly for families,the concept of covering multiple cars under a single insurance policy can bevery appealing to parents who want close control of and convenient managementover their children’s car insurance. Furthermore, if you are already insuredthrough Aviva, and you would like to add another car to your policy but did notinitially sign up for multicar insurance, you can call your insurer andtransfer to the multicar policy moving forward. Essentially, if you ever wantto insure two cars for the hassle of one, this is the way that you should go.

This post was brought to you by Aviva.

Wednesday Wheels - Dear Renault

2012-02-15T16:30:00.000Z

Dear Renault,

My wife was very pleased to see that you had introduced a new car bearing her name. She was initially somewhat apprehensive as to whether it would reflect the sort of style that suits her, but was pleasantly surprised when the finished article was revealed.

However in future she feels it might be a good idea to run the design ideas past her first, to save any embarrassment, and obviously an invitation to the launch event, combined with a long term test car, would seem only reasonable.

Apart from that her only other concern is who will star in the new advertisements and suggests that if Thierry Henry is not available, then maybe George Clooney could fill in on this occasion, obviously she would be more than happy to assist in directing the filming.

Yours sincerely

Andy

Obviously this is intended to be slightly 'tongue in cheek', although Zoe might not agree, but amazingly is not without precedence. Indeed the BBC reported last year on the court case brought by the parents of two Renault Zoe's in France, who objected to the name being used on a car. Although unsuccessful in their attempts to get the name changed it does throw up some interesting questions.

I mean were you at school with someone called Aston Martin who you teased for being named after a super car, or how about the Volkswagen Sharan or Vauxhall Victor, the list goes on. But what name should be given to a car, if at all, a most complex question. Previously I have written about the lack of names nowadays, such as Stingray, Spitfire or Interceptor, which gave you an instant vision of what the car would be like, but what about smaller cars?

Well there used to be models such as Imp, Beetle and of course the aptly named Mini, but do you want to call a car the Small, or maybe the Frugal, probably not. Letters and numbers work and in some cases even mean something, but I would have a Daytona over an M3 any day of the week.

So Renault Zoe works quite well for me and if any manufacturers are interested in naming their new supercar after me, then I would be only to pleased to conduct some testing for them. I'm thinking along the lines of the V12 AndyBolt, or perhaps the Supercharged AndyFighter, although suggestions are welcome, I look forward to hearing from you.

Connor's Corner - Teenage Toys

2012-02-14T17:21:00.004Z

What Connor has tried to do here is put together a list of actual toys, as opposed to gadgets and computer games, that he feels are appropriate for a thirteen year old boy. Looking at the list he seems to have got a bit carried away, particularly as it is his birthday in a few months, but his choices raise an interesting question, if you remove the latest technology are teenage toys much different to things we remember from our, distant, youth.

Certainly models and Scalextric cars were always on my wish list, still are if truth be known, when it came to birthday lists, although I'm assuming that one of the models he has included is meant to be a joke, judging by the price. This will not be his list of birthday ideas, as he enjoys some of the more technological treats available as well, but I think a model might be on there and chocolate obviously.

Who wouldn’t have a good old Airfix model always a favouriteand looks great when done well. I’ve done many models, but this one looks like astep up and my uselessness at fiddly, difficult and very hard to do may makethis quite complicated to do, but always fun!

Dambusters Lancaster from Modelzone

I do like my models it seems! This one is also a huge bomber andit looks like and a very impressive thing if, you make it right. Another greatmodel, that is sadly out of my reach due to my incapability to do anythingneatly or arty. However I may still have a go for a laugh.

Dornier Do 17 Z-2 from Modelzone

You can't beat a good tank, their peculiar design and massive cannonat the front seem to appeal to my need to build one, just to add to mycollection of models. (Many have been lost in boxes and so on.) Tanks howeverare notoriously difficult to build due to their tracks!

StuG III Tank from Modelzone

Scalextric is another great toy/s as they provide endlessfun and competition to win. The various different track layouts and cars thatyou can have really add to the fun. Especially as they are really realistic fora scaled down car, and as I am learning at school incredibly hard to wire upand connect the motor!

Lola Aston Martin LMP1 from Modelzone

Who wouldn’t want a remote control car endless hours of fun.Yes this one won’t be that good outdoors but still a laugh and looks great!

Ferrari 458 Italia from Modelzone

My final one from Modelzone and a good one I believe. Thisis because helicopters provide the most fun yet the most skill required to getit right. They mesmerise me when they fly around casually in your living room.

Benma Hobby RC Mid-Size Goshawk Helicopter from Modelzone

I admit a bit expensive for a toy that to be honest, youwouldn’t play with due to the hefty price of replacing it. But still somethingthat I very much like due to the fact it’s a car and looks great but not theideal present. (I take it this is the joke at £1500, a bit out of our price range)

Crystal Mercedes Benz SLS Gullwing from Hamleys

A telescope is something that suits anyone. It lets you lookinto space and see the beautiful dazzling stars and so on. Ideal for where Ilive, in the countryside, due to clear nights and no street lights obstructingthe natural light.

Hamleys Astrolon Telescope from Hamleys

A remote control boat, always good fun (providedit’s working) performs spectacular stunts and is fun for the family. There aremany different designs mostly though they’re powerboats like this one. Thismakes them jump across the water to add to the excitement.

Remote Control Fountain Boat from Hamleys

That rounds off my toys for a thirteen year old boy. Thereare many different toys out there, it seems however that I crave models andremote controlled cars, this is easy to see by the amount on this list.

Half Term Stock Up

2012-02-13T14:44:00.000Z

Well half term is upon us,which means two phrases are already in evidence in our house that don't normally appear on a weekday. Obviously, as all parents know, the first of these is 'I'm bored, there's nothing to do'. While there is no definitive solution to this and although I am quite willing to join in some kind of activity with the children, my first idea is to point out all of the toys, books and games that fill ever corner of our house with the suggestion that they make some use of them. I realise that by Wednesday this response will meet with 'we've played/read them all', a little bit of breathing space is nice.

The second phrase most likely to come from my children is that they are hungry, which is something I can solve fairly easily. However this does require some organisation, because unless the cupboards are kept well stocked, they are capable of devouring a week's food shopping in two days flat.

So in an effort to keep the peace yesterday, I commenced operations Big Bake and Hide The Wagon Wheels, both of which are very important. Rosemary Shrager's foolproof book came to the rescue initially with her pork and leek sausage rolls, a good lunch supplement, and her scones which I make regularly.

Pork and leek sausage rolls

Scones

A little bit more prodding persuaded me to knock up some chocolate thins, sort of cross between a cookie and chocolate crisp, very tasty.

Chocolate thins

Obviously normal meals were also required, roast beef on this occasion, meaning that the oven stayed on most of the day, quite an achievement considering that the fan has now packed up, which makes for some very interesting cooking times.

That's it then, well stocked up for a few days you might think, but no, five children could have a serious impact on the best stocked catering establishment, let alone my kitchen. Time for some more baking, might even get a sausage roll, if they've left me any.

200 Budget Meals - Hamlyn All Colour Cook Book

2012-02-10T12:31:00.000Z

I have to admit that in the past some books of the 100 or 200 meals variety that have come into my possession have been somewhat disappointing, so there was a certain amount of trepidation in my mind as I browsed through 200 budget meals for the first time. Fortunately my fears were completely unfounded, to be fair I should have known better than to doubt the quality of a book from this publisher, and this little book is now seeing some action in our kitchen.

Obviously the book contains a large variety of recipes, from starters to desserts, the vast majority of which are not only designed to make good use of your shopping budget, but are also quite straight forward to make, always a bonus. Another great aspect is that every recipe is accompanied by a picture of the finished result, which is an absolute must for people like me who need a clue as to what the meal we have just cooked should actually look like.

I've already come across a couple of new favourites for easy after school meals, which are easy to rustle up and not to time consuming at the busiest time of day in a family home. The golden mushroom and leek pies along with Moroccan meatball tagine are both simple, filling and tasty, ideal.

Whether it fits the shoestring budget tag that is used to describe the publication is possibly open to question, but it does, without doubt, teach you how to utilise the contents of your fridge and store cupboard in the best possible way. Obviously this reduces waste and improves shopping habits, while at the same time not suggesting that you should live off lentils, quite the opposite in fact as there are some damn fine recipes in this little book, good stuff.

Simple, yet versatile - Vanilla shortbread

2012-02-09T15:41:00.002Z

I always thick it is useful to have a few simple recipes on hand for those occasions when you are short of time, or just don't want to spend too much time in the kitchen. This shortbread is a great example, being easy and quick to make, while still being very tasty, always a firm favourite in our house.

One of the brilliant things about shortbread is its versatility as it can be served up in a traditional method with a sprinkling of sugar, or coated with chocolate or icing and even decorated if you wish. In fact this is probably the most useful recipe I have ever used, having gift wrapped it for end of term gifts, birthday handouts at school or just to fill up the constantly emptying biscuit tins that we own.

Ingredients

200g Chilled butter

125g Caster sugar, golden is you have it

325g Plain Flour

2tsp Vanilla extract or a sachet of vanilla paste

2 Egg yolks

Icing sugar/chocolate as required for decoration

Technique

1. Chop the butter roughly and place in a large bowl with the flour. Rub together until you are left with a breadcrumb like mixture.

2. Add the remaining ingredients and the flavouring. Work it all together into a soft dough. Roll out into a large sausage shape, then cover and chill for at least an hour.

3. Preheat the oven to 180C/Gas Mark 4 and grease two baking trays. Remove from the fridge and cut the roll into slices, about half a centimetre thick, which should give you around 30 pieces.

Slicing the shortbread

4. Place on the prepared trays and bake for 20 minutes, until just golden. Cool on a rack.

Shortbread ready to bake

Shortbread cooling on a rack

5. Dust with icing sugar or decorate, job done.

Decorated shortbread

Wednesday Wheels - Fuel maths for family cars

2012-02-08T10:58:00.002Z

In these cost concious days, buying a new car can be quite daunting, with the initial cost, rate of depreciation, servicing prices and so on, but how about fuel economy. I am sure that most of us take time to check how many miles per gallon are prospective new stead is capable of, but do we know what that means in real terms.

Obviously this problem has brought on some serious dad maths in an attempt to make sense of the basics, for example your new car can do 45 mpg which is nice, but the garage sells fuel by the litre, so what does a gallon cost. Well this obviously varies, but for the purpose of this exercise I have used the lowest available local prices and below you can see how that works.

1 gallon = 4.546 litres

Unleaded price per litre £1.339 x 4.546 = £6.09 per gallon

Diesel price per litre £1.419 x 4.546 = £6.45 per gallon

Now while paying over £6 per gallon might bring on a desire to cycle everywhere, it's not always convenient so which car do you choose. Well I can't tell you that as obviously it's down to personal preference and your needs. However it is possible to look at the difference between petrol and diesel cars, to see whether better ecomony can overcome the higher price of fuel.

Obviously there are more considerations than just fuel economy when buying a car, but assuming these have been overcome and that the average driver covers 12000 miles in a year, I have come up with a few statistics. The majority of the economy figures used are supplied by the manufacturer, the main exceptions being the Toyota Prius+, which is not released yet and the Volvo.

Fuel costs comparison chart

Vehicle Make	Model	Fuel Type	MPG	£ per Gallon
Citroen Grand C4 Picasso	THP 155 EGS6	Petrol	40.4	£6.09
	Hdi 150 VTR+	Diesel	49.6	£6.45
Chrysler Grand Voyager	2.8 CRD LX	Diesel	33.6	£6.45
Fiat Doblo Dynamic	2.0 16V Multijet	Diesel	42.2	£6.45
Ford Grand C-MAX	1.6 EcoBoost SCTi	Petrol	42.8	£6.09
	1.6 Duratorq TDCi	Diesel	57.7	£6.45
Ford Galaxy	2.0 EcoBoost	Petrol	34.9	£6.09
	2.0 Duratorq TDCi	Diesel	49.6	£6.45
Peugeot 5008 Exclusive	Envy Vti 120	Petrol	40.9	£6.09
	Hdi 112 FAP EGC	Diesel	55.4	£6.45
Renault Espace	2.0 dCi 150 FAP	Diesel	43.5	£6.45
Seat Alhambra	1.4 TSI 150PS	Petrol	42.8	£6.09
	2.0TDI CR 170PS	Diesel	56.5	£6.45
Toyota	Prius+	Hybrid	Est. 59.0	£6.09
Volkswagen Sharan	2.0l TSI 200PS	Petrol	33.2	£6.09
	2.0l TDI 170PS	Diesel	50.4	£6.45
Volkswagen Touran	1.4l TSI 140PS	Petrol	41.5	£6.09
	SE Bluemotion 2.0l	Diesel	58.9	£6.45
Volvo XC90	D5 AWD	Diesel	34	£6.45

Vehicle Make	Gal/12000 miles	£ per 12000 miles	Over 3 Years	Over 5 Years
Citroen Grand C4 Picasso	297.03	£1,808.91	£5,426.73	£9,044.55
	241.94	£1,560.51	£4,681.53	£7,802.55
Chrysler Grand Voyager	357.14	£2,303.55	£6,910.65	£11,517.75
Fiat Doblo Dynamic	284.36	£1,834.12	£5,502.36	£9,170.60
Ford Grand C-MAX	280.37	£1,707.45	£5,122.35	£8,537.25
	207.97	£1,341.41	£4,024.23	£6,707.05
Ford Galaxy	343.84	£2,093.99	£6,281.97	£10,469.95
	241.94	£1,560.51	£4,681.53	£7,802.55
Peugeot 5008 Exclusive	293.4	£1,786.81	£5,360.43	£8,934.05
	216.61	£1,397.13	£4,191.39	£6,985.65
Renault Espace	275.86	£1,779.29	£5,337.87	£8,896.45
Seat Alhambra	280.37	£1,707.45	£5,122.35	£8,537.25
	212.39	£1,369.92	£4,109.76	£6,849.60
Toyota	203.39	£1,238.65	£3,715.95	£6,193.25
Volkswagen Sharan	332.3	£2,023.71	£6,071.13	£10,118.55
	238.1	£1,535.75	£4,607.25	£7,678.75
Volkswagen Touran	289.16	£1,760.98	£5,282.94	£8,804.90
	203.74	£1,314.12	£3,942.36	£6,570.60
Volvo XC90	352.94	£2,276.46	£6,829.38	£11,382.30

I am happy to admit that one of the main failings of this type of chart is that not all the vehicles have the same sized engines, power or performance. It does however highlight some interesting points regarding large diesel engines and how they compare. For example the petrol version of the Ford Galaxy has similar performance and power output to a diesel Chrysler Voyager, although not quite as large in interior space, yet its fuel costs are lower.

So while the comparisons are not really conclusive, due to the differences in the cars, it is interesting to see how much a gallon of fuel actually costs and how the 'real' economy of family cars varies, I hope you find it useful.

Baking Mad Valentine's Blogger Competition.

2012-02-07T19:21:00.000Z

It's true, in a weak moment I applied to take part in a baking competition to design an appealing treat for Valentine's Day. Now my expectation was that Baking Mad would have a look through the applicants and pick fifteen people who had some real talent, leaving me happy in the fact that I had entered, but without the problem of having to take part.

I was of course absolutely right, the bloggers picked have gorgeous confectioneries scattered across their sites, showing why they rightfully deserve to be in this kind of competition and then there's me. That's right, a man who willingly admits to putting taste over presentation taking part in a baking competition. Nevertheless, despite being somewhat out of my depth, I have joined in with the fun and had a go at creating something appetising and appropriate for Valentine's Day, which I hope you like.

Baking Mad supplied us all with a variety of ingredients, of which we were required to use at least three within whatever we decided to create, apart from that it was a blank canvas kind of thing. So on the basis that hearts are associated with Valentine's I decided on a cake of that design, with a vanilla sponge, lemon butter cream and a shredded chocolate covering, which is detailed below.

The VLC Cake. (Vanilla, lemon and chocolate cake, or even better The Very Loving Cake)

Sponge Cake

Ingredients

325g Caster sugar

325g Butter

6 Eggs

325g Self raising flour

1 sachet Silver Spoon vanilla paste

Technique

1. Preheat the oven to 160C/Gas Mark 3 and grease two 8 inch round cake tins.

2. Mix the butter and sugar together in a large bowl until soft and fluffy. Add the eggs gradually, beating as you go, then add the vanilla paste. Just to note that while I appreciate the vanilla paste was provided free to me, the flavour and aroma was extremely impressive, something that I may buy on some occasions in the future.

3. Add the flour, mix until almost combined, then finish off with a spoon or spatula.

4. Bake for around 40 minutes, until well risen. Check by bounce back or a clean skewer test. Remove from oven, cool in tins for 5 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely. The cakes can then be wrapped in clingfilm and refrigerated until needed, this makes them easier to work with.

5. Cut the cakes into a heart shape, I used a pre-prepared stencil, if you are lucky enough to have heart shaped cake tins then you obviously can skip this step. The butter cream and chocolate can now be prepared.

Butter Cream

Ingredients

85g Butter, softened

190g Icing sugar (I used the 125g Silver Spoon Lemon Icing Sugar and topped this up with some regular icing sugar and a few drops of lemon)

1 tbsp Water

Technique

1. Mix the butter and icing sugar together. I do this with a spoon, which takes a little while, but if you have a food mixer with a slow setting this will do fine. Any attempt to mix with a fast hand mixer will just cover the kitchen in icing sugar, beware.

2. Add the water and mix until pale and fluffy.

3. Use around a third of the butter cream to cover the top of the base cake, then sandwich together.

4. The remainder of the butter cream can now be used to cover the top and sides of the whole cake. If you have refrigerated the cake it will make this stage much easier, otherwise spreading the butter cream, particularly on the sides can be quite difficult.

Shredded Chocolate

Ingredients

300g Chocolate, plain, milk or white, depends on what you fancy, I used the large milk chocolate block that was supplied to me.

Technique

1. Melt the chocolate in a heat proof bowl over a pan of simmering water. It is probably easiest to do this in two batches.

2. Spread the chocolate on a flat surface, marble or laminate boards are good, let the chocolate set slightly, it should be soft not hard.

3. Now take a large, sharp knife and use a sawing motion while pushing along the chocolate. If you are good you can make large chocolate curls this way, on the other hand if, like me, you know your limitations then long shreds of chocolate can also be produced. Move the curled/shredded chocolate to a clean baking sheet every so often to save crowding your work surface. These can then be pressed lightly into the butter cream, covering the cake completely.

The Very Loving Cake

There you have it, one very tasty VLC and don't forget it's the thought which counts on Valentine's Day, mind you when it tastes this good who wants roses, don't answer that it's a rhetorical question.

Millionaire's Shortbread - But you don't have to be one to make it.

2012-02-06T16:34:00.004Z

The weekend is over and in common with a lot of other people we have had a few inches of snow this weekend. This brings to light an interesting fact about children, they eat even more than normal after snowball fights and sledging. So even the kitchen which never closes, mine, has been hard pressed to keep up and re-stocking of the cake tins was definitely required.

Another snow based fact is that apparently cuddly elephants do not like the cold and not wishing to fall down on my parental responsibilities I have looked after said animal all day, as instructed. Therefore while this is a useful reminder, as if you could forget, of how easy Millionaire's Shortbread is to make and how good it tastes, with a little help from Squirt.

Ingredients

Base

115g Butter

60 g Soft light brown sugar

225g Plain flour

Topping

500ml Canned condensed milk

4 tbsp Butter

60g Soft light brown sugar

150g Milk chocolate

Technique

1. Lightly grease a 23cm square cake tin and preheat the oven to 190C/Gas Mark 5.

2. Put the flour and butter into a bowl, then rub together until you are left with a mixture resembling breadcrumbs. Mix the sugar in, then work into a firm dough. This takes a few minutes, but try not to overdo it, or the shortbread will lose that lovely crumbly texture.

3. Press the dough, lightly, into the base of the prepared tin and prick all over with a fork. Bake in the oven for about 20 minutes, by which time it should be turning a light golden colour and firming up. Leave to cool in the tin.

4. When the base is cool make up the caramel topping as follows. Place the butter, condensed milk and sugar together in a non-stick pan over a low heat. Stir constantly until mixture comes to the boil, then reduce the heat, continuing to stir, until the caramel thickens up and becomes a golden colour, it should start coming away from the side of the pan at this stage.

5. Pour the caramel over the shortbread base and leave to cool.

6. Once the caramel is cool and firm, melt the chocolate in a heatproof bowl over a pan of simmering water. Then spread over the caramel and leave to cool and set completely.

7. Remove from the tin and cut into squares or slices of the size you fancy.

Simple as that and you have a lovely, delicious treat which is ideal on a chilly day for adults, children and elephants.

Millionaire's Shortbread

Wednesday Wheels - F1 cars, new and old.

2012-02-03T13:05:00.000Z

Clearly today is Friday, but as Connor's Corner was dedicated to a motor sport theme earlier in the week, I decided to delay this post for a few days. Nevertheless this has been a big week in the world of Formula 1, with the majority of the remaining teams unveiling their new cars to the world press.

Obviously all of the cars look stunning, although it will be some time before we discover which team has produced the best performing model on the track. Having said that, even the official testing days are unlikely to reveal whose cars will contesting for a win in the first race of the season, as a certain amount of gamesmanship, different fuel loads and such, always goes on at this time of year.

However what is clear is that all the cars look good, almost giving an impression of speed while standing still, but they all do, in appearance at least, seem to be quite similar. Now I appreciate that the rules of Formula 1 are so precise that it makes radical change very difficult, but there were times when things were different and below you will find a few of my favourite examples.

Tyrrell P34

Image source: Conceptcarz.com

The 1976 six wheeled Tyrrell may have been a step too far, although drivers Jody Scheckter and Patrick Depailler did manage a one-two finish at the Swedish Grand Prix that year. To my knowledge this was the only six wheeler to race in F1, but Tyrrell were not the only team to build one.

Williams six wheeler

Image source: YallaF1.com

Williams and March both tried out the concept with a double rear axle and Ferrari had a double wheeled axle, although none of these eventually made it to F1.

Ferrari 312T

Image source: bittech.net

Certainly the six wheelers were very different, but there others who took an alternative route to make radical changes.

Brabham BT46B

Image source: Go-F1.com

The Brabham BT46B sported a very large fan at the rear, for cooling reasons apparently. What it actually did was hugely increase down force in an era when the car to catch was the all conquering Lotus 79. It was launched at the Swedish Grand Prix in 1978, where Niki Lauda drove it to victory, passing the championship leading Lotus around the outside, through a corner, on the way. Promptly banned after this race it still remains the only car with a one hundred percent record.

Ligier JS5

Image source: leblogauto.com

Another from 1976 was the Ligier with a giant air box, although it was changed in size for various races. Not entirely successful, Jaques Laffite managing 20 points in the season.

Arrows A2

Image source: auto123.com

The 1979 Arrows was designed as a giant wing, which unfortunately did not work quite as envisaged, finishing the season with just 5 points, 9th in the constructors championship. A very interesting looking car though.

March 711

Image source: flickr.com

Finally I have selected the March 711, with its 'tea tray' front wing, from 1971 which Ronnie Paterson took to 2nd place in the drivers championship.

So next time you think that a double diffuser or clever exhaust system is radical, just remember they may be effective, but extra wheels and giant air boxes is where it is really at.

Store Cupboard Cookies - Double Gingerbread

2012-02-02T15:26:00.000Z

One more day until the weekly food shopping arrives, restoring some kind of order to the kitchen cupboards and fridge. In the meantime the constant flow of sustenance from the kitchen must continue, my customers come home from school soon, so I have rustled up some cookies with my remaining supplies.

This is quite a simple recipe in itself, although if you are feeling artistic it is possible to make it more complicated by making the lighter cookie dough resemble a star, or such like. Obviously I settled for a more random shape, they will after all be eaten at a rate of knots without any particular interest in my 'presentation' skills. The basic idea is to make the dough in two different colours, which does not take long and then combine them at a later stage giving an interesting effect, as shown below.

Ingredients

Light Mix Dark Mix

175g Plain flour 175g Plain flour

1tsp Cinnamon 2tsp Ground mixed spice

65g Butter 75g Butter

1/4tsp Bicarbonate of soda 1/2tsp Bicarbonate of soda

Pinch of salt Pinch of salt

2tbsp Golden syrup 25g Cocoa powder

75g Caster sugar 75g Dark or light muscavado sugar

1 Egg yolk, beaten 1 Egg, beaten

Cookies cooling.

Technique

1. Make the two doughs. In both cases this is done by mixing the dry ingredients, except the sugar, then adding the butter, chopped, and rubbing it in until you are left with a bread crumby mixture. Then the sugar, egg and syrup for the light dough, are added. Mix together, you will want to get your hands in the bowl, until you are left with two firm doughs. Wrap in cling film and place in the fridge to chill for 30-40 minutes.

2. Take half of each dough, roll each out into a strip about 5cm x 30cm and then slice each piece long wise 4 or 5 times. The different colour strips can now be arranged alternatively and pushed close together.

3. Roll the remaining light dough into a sausage shape about the same length as your strips. Place the sausage on one edge of the strips and carefully roll up, leaving the core of light dough surrounded by the alternatively coloured strips. I find it useful to gently squeeze the strips together while rolling to stop them from falling apart.

4. Roll out the remaining dark dough, I am sure you know what comes next, place the coloured sausage of dough on one edge and roll up. Now slip it back in the fridge to chill for another 40 minutes.

5. Preheat the oven to 180C/Gas Mark 4 and lightly grease two baking trays. Slice your sausage of dough fairly thinly, which should give around 32 cookies and place on the prepared baking trays, with a gap between each one.

6. Bake for 12 minutes, by which time they should have coloured around the edges, remove form the oven and cool on a wire rack.

Gingerbread cookies

7. Put a nicely arranged plateful on the table for the children, then fall back to the kitchen and start eating your way through the remainder, before they notice.

Chocolate, Raisins & Hazelnuts - Must be brownie time.

2012-02-01T14:44:00.000Z

Being creatures of habit, we always do our weekly food shopping on a Friday. This is fine, until you take into account the impact that a houseful of hungry and active children can have on even the most well stocked of cupboards. The knock on effect of this is that by Wednesday we have to start being creative, with whatever they have left us, to ensure everybody is fed until the next supply convoy arrives.

So in response to the numerous requests, mainly from the same child, for some brownies to be baked, I decided to rustle some up today. Therefore today's recipe is entirely dictated by what ingredients were available to me, which is not to say that the finished result was inedible, quite the opposite in fact.

Being as how brownies do not last very long in our house and that the my newest, favourite tin is very large, I have doubled the recipe shown below which seems to work just fine.

Fresh, slightly gooey, brownie.

Ingredients

175g Chocolate, dark, milk or both in my case

175g Butter

3 Eggs

225g Caster sugar

25g Cocoa powder

30g Raisins

35g Hazelnuts

1tsp Vanilla extract

100g Plain Flour

Cocoa powder or icing sugar for dusting

Technique

1. Line or grease an 8 inch square tin and preheat the oven to 180C/Gas Mark 4.

2. Melt the butter, chocolate and cocoa powder in a bowl over a pan of simmering water.

3. Whisk the sugar, eggs and vanilla extract in another bowl for a couple of minutes, then add the chocolate mixture, while continuing to whisk until well mixed.

4. Fold in the flour, hazelnuts and raisins.

5. Pour the mixture into the prepared tin and bake for 20-25 minutes. This should leave a crispy outside and gooey inside.

6. Cool in the tin, then cut into squares and see how many you can eat before the children come home from school.

Connor's Corner - An alternative preview of the F1 Season

2012-01-31T14:08:00.000Z

Well to be fair to Connor he does watch every Grand Prix, reads the books and keeps track of all of the team developments, in short he knows his stuff. So having noticed last weeks Wednesday Wheels he seems to have decided that he may in fact know better. Obviously this does leave me in a bit of a quandary, I mean if he's right, then I'm wrong and if he's wrong then I obviously haven't taught him well enough. Anyway here's what he thinks of the teams and drivers, plus his predictions for the season, don't you just know he'll be right.

My dad has already done his pre-season predictions so I decided to do the same and see which of us is closest at mid-season and at the end.

Red Bull
Sebastian Vettel - What more can you say, a dominant season and two world titles, who wouldn't expect him to get the hat trick this year. However I expect some slip ups along the way, as the pressure did get to him on some occasions last year.
Mark Webber - I think a good season is needed, he know understands the Pirelli's better and adapted to them, certainly looking stronger at the end of last year. Personally I think if he has sorted out his tyre issues, then he will be right up there.

McLaren
Jenson Button - Another outstanding season for Jenson, really proving his worth to McLaren. Stunning overtakes expected and more mastery of tricky conditions, one of my favourites for the title.
Lewis Hamilton - A bit of a hot and cold season adapting to life in Formula 1 without his dad as manager. If he stays clear of Massa and the red mist which results in crashes, then a good season is on the way.

Lotus
Kimi Raikonnen - The Ice Man is back, adding to the cluster of world champions on the grid. My feeling is that it will take him a while to get used to the new ways of F1, expect a strong finish to the season.
Romain Grosjean - On the fence about him, a strong season in GP2, but it didn't work out in F1 last time. If the car is good he stands a good chance of reaping the rewards.

Mercedes
Nico Rosberg - Always a great qualifier, if Ross Brawn works his magic and Nico gets stuck in then a guaranteed title contender in my books.
Michael Schumacher - He has proved his quality but not yet showed that his comeback was worth it. With the right car he could get on the podium, particularly with his lightning starts.

Ferrari
Fernando Alonso - There's no doubt in my mind that is one of the best drivers around at the moment. Saying that he gave up while driving in Korea, which really just shows that however much he drove the wheels off the car, he still stood no chance. Good car = good results.
Felipe Massa - Final year at Ferrari? Looking increasingly more likely with every race, with Alonso finishing with double his points. Needs a very good performance to keep his seat.

Force India
Paul Di Resta - A super first season with a cool, calm and collected approach. This season could be the stepping stone to a bigger team now he knows the tracks better.
Nico Hulkenberg - A talented young driver, rightfully given another chance in F1 after missing out last year. If the car is good then I expect him to give Paul a very hard time at Force India.

Sauber
Kamui Kobiyashi - One of my personal favourites, with his gungho style. However mid-table is as far as he will ever reach, sadly.
Sergio Perez - Promising first year at Sauber, like Di Resta he needs to keep it up to get a seat at one of the big teams. If he's allowed to drive without the one stop strategy, then good things are on the way.

Toro Rosso
Daniel Ricciardo - A decent half season with HRT, has great potential and a real opportunity to stick the car in the top ten come the end of the season.
Jean-Eric Vergne - An opportunity to prove himself. Don't really know how well he do, but really some solid points finishes and challenging Ricciardo are my expectations.

Williams
Pastor Maldonado - A hot and cold season, with a superb drive at Monaco. Needs a better car to show his potential really.
Bruno Senna - Many things were expected of the new Senna, however I think this is the right move as it wasn't working out at Lotus. Depends on the car really, but up there!

Caterham
Heikki Kovaleinen - A true favourite, really driving the car at its best. A point or two will most likely come from him for Caterham.
Jarno Trulli - Really needs a good season or it's bye bye Formula 1. Complaints about car last year are unlikely to be tolerated again.

HRT
Pedro de la Rosa - The worst team to drive for, nothing great this year.
Vacancy - Young driver or some one well financed.

Predictions
Top four in no particular order
Jenson Button
Sebastian Vettel
Lewis Hamilton
Nico Rosberg

Rest of the top ten in no particular order
Mark Webber
Kimi Raikonnen
Paul Di Resta
Nico Hulkenberg
Daniel Ricciardo
Fernando Alonso

Madeleines, muffins & more - Another great cookery book from the AWW stable reviewed.

2012-01-30T13:21:00.000Z

During the past year I have become quite a fan of the baking publications from the Australian Women's Weekly. All of the books I have had the pleasure to review have been straight forward, well presented and full of useful recipes. Madeleines, muffins & more is a great addition to this stable of books, and continues the high standard of photography and achievable results that I have experienced in their other publications.

As normal the arrival of a new book has brought on a baking frenzy, I always try out some recipes before reviewing anything, in this case leading to the production of orange madeleines, triple-cheese muffins and gingernuts, all of which were successful and well received by the family.

Triple-cheese muffins.

There is a nice variety for both sweet and savoury tastes throughout the book, including some fun ideas such as rhubarb & custard muffins, curried chicken muffins or for those moments when you fancy something particularly sweet, Turkish delight rocky road.

Orange madeleines.

A nice sections of tips and techniques is included and also a good glossary of ingredients, which contains plenty of detail along with some alternative products which can be used, always handy if like me your cupboards never have everything you need at any given moment.

Gingernuts.

All of the recipes are accompanied by pictures, with either one or two culinary creations to each page. Overall this is a smashing book which contains some great ideas, the majority of which are achievable by anyone willing to put on an apron and have a go, recommended.

Sweet Saturday - Mini Chocolate Eclairs

2012-01-28T18:32:00.001Z

When I was a child, many years ago, we used to occasionally get the opportunity to choose a cake from the local bakery and a nice chocolate eclair, full of fresh cream, was always my favourite. My children seem to have inherited this love of sweet pastries, so it seemed like a good idea to rustle some up on a quiet Saturday afternoon.

One of the great things about making eclairs is just how simple the technique is and quick they are to make. On this occasion I have made mini eclairs, but it is just as easy to make the fully grown article if you so desire.

Ingredients

150ml water

70g plain flour

55g butter

2 eggs, beaten

For the filling

175ml double cream

85g plain chocolate

1 tbsp icing sugar

Eclairs, fresh from the oven.

Technique

1. Pre-heat the oven to 220C/Gas Mark 7, sprinkle two baking trays with water, or use non-stick lining sheets. Place the butter and water in a pan and heat gently until the butter has melted, turning up to a rolling boil at this stage.

2. Remove the pan from the heat and chuck the flour in, beating until the mixture binds together forming a ball.

3. Let it cool for a few minutes, then add the beaten eggs gradually, beating all the time until you are left with a soft, smooth and shiny dough.

4. Spoon into a piping bag, or icing gun with a 1cm nozzle and pipe 7-8cm lengths onto the prepared trays, giving you about 18-24 eclairs.

5. Bake for ten minutes at 220C/Gas Mark 7, then turn down to 190C/ Gas Mark 5 for a further 20 minutes, or until golden and crisp.

6. Remove from the oven and split each one in half , allowing the stem to escape, then place on a cooling rack.

Split eclairs on the cooling rack.

7. Whip the cream and sugar together to make the filling and spoon into the eclairs and sandwich the two halves together.

8. Melt the chocolate and spread a little on each eclair.

Chocolate eclairs, ready to eat.

9. Eat one quickly before they all disappear.

GCSE choices! - Where has the time gone.

2012-01-27T13:18:00.001Z

I was aware that our eldest son would have to make his subject choices for GCSE this year, but receiving a brochure and form from the school yesterday still came as something of a shock. Maybe it's a parent thing where you still remember the children being little and the realisation that they are growing up fast just creeps up on you.

Nevertheless decisions now needed to be made, but how best to deal with it. Well our opinion has always been that the children should have the final call in these circumstances, along with some hopefully useful advice from ourselves and their teachers. It is difficult not to over exert your influence in these situations, but I did find it useful to remind myself that trying to force him to continue with a subject he does not enjoy would not be a good idea, memories of my childhood flood back.

Fortunately in this case he had already decided on nine of his ten subjects, which made the the discussion far easier than it could have been. As time goes on though this may become more complicated as some of our children will want to take art, music or drama, which puts more pressure on which choices they make for the other academic subjects.

No one said this parenting lark was going to be easy, or that we would know all the answers, I for one will settle for my role of support and encouragement, hopefully the rest of the details will fall into place as they continue to grow up.

I might just add that History was up there on his initial list, so I'm happy anyway.

Cold and wet outside - Time for some sticky gingerbread

2012-01-26T16:21:00.000Z

This used to be one of my favourites as a child and I find it still hits the spot with everybody, particularly when the weather is chilly. Certainly the children were pleased to come in from school today and find it waiting for them, but it is also a great cake to store for a few days as it seems to taste even better then, almost like it matures a bit.

I use a fairly simple recipe, which has been kicking around for so long I'm not even sure where it came from originally, but does always seem to produce good results. It also has the advantage of being quick to prepare with a fairly long, not too critical, baking time.

Sticky Gingerbread straight from the oven

Ingredients

3 tsp ground ginger

1 tsp ground mixed spice

1 tsp bicarbonate of soda

250g plain flour

125g butter

125g golden syrup

75g treacle

50g soft brown sugar

2 eggs beaten

150ml milk

2 eggs, beaten

25g shredded or chopped almonds to decorate

Gingerbread and scones, perfect afternoon snack

Preparation and cooking

1. Grease and line an 7 inch square cake tin, (mine is actually 8 inches, but is seems to work fine), and pre-heat the oven to 160C/ Gas Mark 3.

2. Sift the dry ingredients into a mixing bowl.

3. Put the treacle, sugar, butter and syrup into a small pan and heat gently, stirring occasionally until melted and blended together.

4. Cool slightly, then add to the dried ingredients, along with the milk and eggs and mix thoroughly.

5. Pour the mixture into the prepared cake tin, adding the almonds to the top for decoration.

6. Bake for 11/2 - 2 hours, until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.

7. Leave to cool for 15-20 minutes, then turn out onto cooling rack.

8. Slice and eat or store in an air tight tin, it's good for several days.

Wednesday Wheels - The Formula 1 season starts here.

2012-01-25T15:01:00.000Z

To be fair the racing does not actually start until the weekend of 16th-18th March, when the Australian Grand Prix kicks off the season in Melbourne. However the teams have their drivers signed up, with the exception of HRT who still have one seat available. New cars are ready to be released, Caterham have launched theirs today, so the build up starts now.

This season sees the arrival of some new drivers and the departure of some well known names. Rubens Barrichello appears to have finished his F1 career and I am sure he will be sadly missed by all following the long years of entertainment he has provided us with. The Torro Rosso team has also changed both of its drivers, Vitaly Petrov lost his Renault drive and Adrian Sutil is also without a drive at present. I have to say that it seems a shame for Sutil, who had one of his best seasons in my opinion. Certainly there was a stage when his overtaking manoeuvres seemed to signal an impending accident to viewers in our house, but in the 2011 season he seemed to have started to make his mark as decent driver, so hopefully he will manage to return in the near future.

How is the new season going to go? Well that is a very difficult question to answer until the red lights go out at Melbourne we will not know how good the new cars are in a racing situation. Sure there will have been some official testing, but it is almost impossible to tell how relative performance will translate over a full race, but for what it's worth here is my run down of the teams and drivers.

Red Bull

Sebastion Vettel - Well given that he has won the championship for the past two seasons, you really wouldn't want to bet against him. Last year he looked particularly good and it seems a fair assumption that if the latest Adrian Newey designed car is decent, then he will be right in the mix for another championship.

Mark Webber - It looks like a bit of a make or break year for Mark Webber this year, he didn't seem to be able to match his team mate's pace last year and with the normal cluster of young Red Bull drivers waiting in the wings, I would same that he needs to produce the goods this year to keep his seat.

McLaren

Jenson Button - Had a great season in 2011 really proving his racing ability, not that there should have been any doubt, and produced more overtaking manoeuvres than any other driver, I believe. He also out scored his team mate and seems very at ease with the team. Give him a car he likes and he will be in the top three at the end of the season.

Lewis Hamilton - 2011 was not his best season, although he managed some great individual race performances. However there were signs that he was returning to his best form near the end of the season. If he can steer clear of the stewards, and Felipe Massa, then he could well be the man to challenge Sebastion Vettel's dominance, certainly there is little doubt that he's just as quick.

Ferrari

Fernando Alonso - Out performed his car last season and reminded us of just how good he really is, finishing the season in fourth with over double the points of his team mate. Ferrari need to give him a car that compete at the front and then they might just get another drivers championship.

Felipe Massa - Even ignoring the spats with Lewis Hamilton he still had a poor season. Just doesn't seem to be as competitive anymore, probably his last season with Ferrari I feel.

Mercedes

Michael Schumacher - Still shows signs of his previous brilliance, but doesn't seem to be able to produce it at every race, struggles a bit in qualifying as well, which is not helping. I would love to see him back on the podium and he is probably still capable if the car turns out to be good enough. Last season in F1, I imagine so.

Nico Rosberg - He looks pretty good, out qualifies his team mate a lot and finishes reasonably most of the time, but needs to be getting into the fight at the front more regularly. Needs a good car from Mercedes to further his career.

Lotus

Kimi Raikkonen - Well 'The Iceman', as Lotus seem to have named him, is back. A lot is going to depend on his motivation and whether he can adapt back into F1 easily, or not. Could be right up there if he has retained his talent during his rallying sojourn, needs the team to produce a good car and continue it's development throughout the season. Could be a comeback hero, but I don't think so, be lucky to finish the season in the top six.

Romain Grosjean - Didn't work out for him with Renault in 2009, so he went back to GP2 in which he won the championship convincingly and picked up the GP2 Asia Series championship as well. probably in the form of his life last year, can he do it in an F1 car, possibly, it will either be very good or very bad, not much middle ground I fear.

Force India

Paul Di Resta - Had a very good first season last year and has the look of a man on the move. Needs to make the best of the car this year, particularly as he knows the circuits now, which could put him in the frame for a shift to a front running team in 2013. He will want to finish the season in the top ten and has a good chance of managing it.

Nico Hulkenburg - I felt he was unlucky not to have been driving last season, having been dropped by Williams, so it is good to see him back on the track. Must grasp this chance with both hands to stay in F1 and give his team mate a hard time, could work out very well for Force India.

Sauber

Kamui Kobayashi - He can be stunning or instantly forgettable. Sauber need to produce a car that works and stop trying to do every race with one stop, it doesn't work. Hopefully a half decent car will arrive and we can see how good he really is.

Sergio Perez - Looked OK last year, but not good enough to substantiate the move to Ferrari rumours. Lots of points finishes should be his aim for this year, but the jury is still out on whether he can manage.

Torro Rosso

Daniel Ricciardo - Could prove interesting, managed to drag the horrible HRT round the track last year and held in high regard at Red Bull. Career progression should see him as Sebastian Vettel's next team mate if all goes to plan, it's going to be good to see what he can do with a decent car this year.

Jean-Eric Vergne - Probably secured the best drive of all of the new young drivers, which gives him a good chance to showcase his talent. Second in last years Formula Renault 3.5 Championship, if he can get near to Daniel Ricciardo he will be doing very well indeed.

Williams

Pastor Maldonado - Thought he looked pretty good early in the season, but his performances seemed to tail off after that, mind you the car wasn't the best to ever come out of the Williams factory. Feel like flipping a coin with this one, but unless the car is very good I'm not expecting much, be good to be proved wrong though.

Bruno Senna - Got in the Renault at Monaco last year and had a great qualifying and I thought this is it, a bit disappointing in the end. Pleased that he has got a chance with Williams, but he must make the grade this year or that will be it.

Caterham

Heikki Kovalainen - Well apart from Jenson Button and Sebastian Vettel he certainly looked like the driver who was having most fun last year. Drove the wheels of the car in qualifying and was by far the most entertaining of the drivers in the tail end teams last year. Hopefully the car will give him a chance of breaking into the mid field this year.

Jarno Trulli - A good 2012 or goodbye I suspect. Didn't really get hold of the car last year and got out performed by his team mate.

HRT

Pedro de la Rosa - If there can be a bad place to be in F1 then this is it. You needed to very special to make this car look good last year and he didn't manage, don't hold your breath.

Vacancy - Young driver, good sponsorship, pay as you go?

Marussia

Timo Glock - A good driver in a bad car last year. There has been a lot of talk about moving forward and tie ups with McLaren for this year, needs a good season to keep in the series.

Charles Pic - Fourth in GP2 in 2011, picking up two wins along the way. Actually looks good and exciting, so hopefully this will be the springboard to greater things for him.

Predictions

Well I'm sure there will be those who say that Sebastian Vettel won last year because he had the best car, but lets not forget that he once won a race in a Torro Rosso. So I predict the following and I'm sure I'll be shot down in flames, but here we go.

Top 4 in no particular order

Jenson Button

Lewis Hamilton

Sebastian Vettel

Fernando Alonso

Rest of the top 10 no particular order

Mark Webber

Felipe Massa

Paul di Resta

Daniel Ricciardo

Kimi Kaikkonen

Nico Rosberg

I've been watching F1 since the mid seventies and have never managed a correct prediction yet, so expect to see a completely different finishing order, so I'll see just how wrong I was at the end of the season.

Having a Rachel Allen day - Fudge & Chocolate Cake

2012-01-24T17:48:00.001Z

I'm a bit of a fan of Rachel Allen's books, Bake and Home Cooking both amongst the regularly used cookbooks in my large collection. The recipes she writes are straight forward to follow and always seem to produce good results, which quite frankly is what these books should be like. So as it was a pretty grim looking outside today and given that the children had been bugging me to make some fudge, I decided to slink off to the kitchen for a few hours.

Making fudge is a fairly simple procedure, I mean with four ingredients how hard can it be, but does require a bit of care and attention. The main things are not to let the sugar burn and to get the final temperature right, that's soft-ball stage if you know your stuff, or 235'F for those of us who are never quite sure.

Fudge Mixture - Looks suspiciously like curry in this picture!

Despite the mixture looking a bit strange at this stage I assure you that with a little bit of whisking and a cooling off period you will end up with a lovely, crumbly fudge.

Dark Chocolate Fudge

Just to be clear, the recipe in Rachel Allen's - Home Cooking is for white chocolate fudge, I just didn't have any in the cupboard. As for the chocolate cake, well it is a super moist recipe, making it suitable as a dessert if you should so wish. The page in my copy of Bake is covered in spots of chocolate, wonder how that would work if you use an iPad for recipes?, which is an indication of how often it has graced our table.

Chocolate Cake

Might have got a bit over excited with the cocoa powder, nevertheless it was definitely a Rachel Allen kind of day, well worth the effort.

Connor's Corner - WRC2 FIA World Rally Championship

2012-01-24T08:47:00.000Z

I received this game for Christmas, having considered buying it earlier in the year, and have been very pleased with it so far. The game seems very well thought out with many different features, one of the best of these has to be the road to WRC. This lets you run a team, earn sponsorship and manage research amongst other things.

The driving side of the game is very realistic allowing you to throw the car into a drift, catch it and fly around the corner with consummate ease. The graphics are also very good, showing every little detail of the car, road and background. Another great feature is head to head, one at a time racing for everyone in the room to have a go at each stage. In our family this is a great laugh as you get to see everyone barrel roll and crash the car.

Overall WRC2 is a very good game with decent graphics, sound quality and driving experiences as well, bring on the next one!

Just as a footnote I would have to say that this is a vast improvement over the old game we used to play on the PS2, my only complaint being that now Connor is older he seems to be able to beat me far more easily, grrr.

The Junior Chef from The Australian Women's Weekly

2012-01-23T12:26:00.000Z

The Junior Chef is aimed at encouraging children in the kitchen, so it seemed appropriate to give it to one of our tribe to review from a child's point of view. The recipient, Lucy, is ten years old, loves to cook, bake and generally take over my kitchen whenever she can. As an avid watcher of Masterchef, The Great British Bake Off and any thing with Heston in, her cooking hero, it's easy to see why this book was ideal for her.

Since Christmas we have been treated to guacamole with potato wedges, meatballs napoletana, coconut ice cupcakes and most recently yogurt, berry and white chocolate muffins. She has managed all of these by working from the excellent, clear and easily understood recipes in the book with a minimum of assistance, which in itself is a recommendation for this publication and goes to show how well designed it is for the younger age group. So here's a few words from Lucy, along with some photographs of her creating white chocolate muffins.

I've been helping my dad in the kitchen since I was able to hold a spoon and eat properly. So when I found the Australian Women's Weekly kids cookbook in my stocking at Christmas I was very pleased and wanted to be in the kitchen baking everything right away. Not only are they fun recipes, but they are really simple and of course tasty.

Although I did need some help with the oven and cutting onions, the rest of it was really easy, good fun and tasty. There are a few recipes that I have tried, including meatballs, guacamole and mixed berry muffins and I would thoroughly recommend this book to anyone over eight who is willing to cook.

Motoring views - The new Toyota Prius Plus

2012-01-22T13:18:00.000Z

The plan was to relaunch this blog at the beginning of February, after a short layoff for various reasons, to include all of the more popular sections from its previous incarnation, plus a few new ideas.

However after reading a review in the Telegraph of the new Toyota Prius Plus I decided that it was time to strike while the iron was hot, so to speak. I have vented my frustration with road tests of family cars before and this turned out to be a prime example of the inadequate type of reporting that exists within the motoring fraternity. Don't get me wrong here because if I was in the market for a sports car, then I would be particularly interested in acceleration and top speed figures, but with a family seven seater then I am far more interested in the car's performance when fully loaded with people.

In fairness some space was devoted to the interior versatility of the car and the standard of the trim, although the writer did assume that seven seats are not needed all of the time, not necessarily true for those of us with large families I can assure you. He also seemed to take some umbrage with the fuel consumption not being much better than some of the diesel MPV models currently available. Surely a more positive spin would be that the fuel consumption IS better that a diesel MPV, which surely is an innovative move in the right direction. In the current economy every little helps and it might be useful for motoring journalists to realise that most of us who require seven seat vehicles have children, which requires an ever increasing number of trips as they get older, delivering them to school functions, parties, sports events and the rest.

So I'm not really interested in whether the Saturday Telegraph reporter was not impressed, or not, as I would like to see reviews of these sort of cars written with the purpose of the vehicle and the life it will live fully taken into account. Comments regarding the rear seats only being suitable for short people makes me wonder whether I should send a picture of a child to the reporter, as he appears to be slightly confused about who the passengers will be in the back of a people carrier, and the word safety, well I've read the article four times and still can't see it.

Therefore, although I am tempted to just give up and ignore this type of review, I would like to request that someone out there in the world of motoring journalism employs a reporter who knows what a child looks like to review family cars. As for Toyota, well done, whether the car is perfect or not it is a step in the right direction and I for one will be very interested to see how the car performs in the long term.

KA'LIDE from Imagination Games

2011-10-06T21:30:00.001+01:00

Once again I have been lucky enough to receive a game to review through Blog-Match, who link up suitable bloggers with companies needing their latest products to be tested. In this instance the company involved was Imagination Games who supplied me with a copy of KA'LIDE to have a go with.

The game itself consists of a playing mat, which is colour coded with clear scoring areas, and twelve magnetic pucks, which add an extra element to the contest.

As far as playing goes the objective is to flick your pucks into the scoring zone on the opponents side of the mat. Obviously this give great scope for banging the other player's pieces of the mat, either by physical contact or through utilising the repellent properties of the magnets. The magnets add a real element of skill to the game, as careful placement can also push your pieces into scoring positions.

Overall we quite liked the game, it can be played with skill, or brute force, and quickly brings out a competitive streak amongst the players. It's also simple to understand, very easy to pick up and can be played by children and adults alike.

Thirst for Knowledge - Doctor Carrot and Potato Pete

2011-10-06T14:42:00.001+01:00

'Carrots keep you healthy and help you see in the blackout'

This was one of the many slogans used by the Ministry of Food during the Second World War to encourage the population to make use of foodstuffs that were still plentiful. Rationing had been introduced in 1939 for some foods and more joined the list during the 1940's in response to further shortages which were exaberated by the disruption to normal supply routes.

There were several side effects of these measures including a thriving Black Market, leading to profiteering by ordinary people and professional criminals, the use of entrapment schemes by the Ministry of Food and advertising campaigns to raise morale amongst the general public. All of these have been the subject of in depth studies, some of which are on going, but I thought it would be interesting to show a few of the more amusing food related adverts today.

Image source: Imperial War Museum

Potato Pete and Doctor Carrot were used in a series of adverts encouraging people to make use of the produce.

Image source: Carrot Museum

Although I am not completely conviced about the popularity of carrot lollies, but it does bring home some of the hardships that were suffered during this period.

Image source: Imperial War Museum

It is also interesting to see that recycling is not a modern idea and that in fact its origins come from times of hardship, rather than prosperity.

Image source: National Archives

This is just a taste of the vast amount of posters and advertisements that were produced during the war for morale or propaganda purposes, many of which are now preserved in various achives.

Wednesday Wheels - The Nautilus Car

2011-10-05T15:25:00.000+01:00

Although I don't watch a vast amount of television programs, it would be true to say that I'm a bit of a film buff, time permitting. Actually I'll watch almost any film at least once, from the latest blockbuster to some really awful 'B' movies that pop up from time to time. Therefore I found myself watching The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen a few nights ago, not for the first time by the way, when during a scene set in Venice a car appeared from the Nautilus submarine, accompanied by the unmistakable sound of a V8 engine, an investigation was definitely warranted.

Now I have seen plenty of lists regarding cars in films, some of which focus around famous film car chases like the 1968 Ford Mustang GT390 used by Steve McQueen in Bullit or the 1970 Dodge Challenger from Vanishing Point. In others the car is the star in many respect, such as the DeLoren DMC-12 in Back to the Future and then of course there are the Bond cars, the Aston Martin DB5 from Goldfinger or maybe you prefer the Lotus Esprit from The Spy Who Loved Me.

Image source: www.lotusespritworld.com

However the Nautilus car does not really fit into these kind of lists, it's a special build vehicle based on a Land Rover chassis. At 22 feet long and 9 feet wide with its crackle white paint job and Victorian type fittings, it is also quite eye catching, and if you like the burble of a V8, then it's not to bad on the ear either, did I mention it has 6 wheels as well.

Image source: www.propstore.com

In fact it fits in with another genre of film cars altogether really, which I think should be called the specials, here's a couple more to get you started and please let me know if you are aware of any others, there must be loads.

Image source: www.landroverclub.net

How about a Taxi Cab from Judge Dread, possibly not the best ever film, but I did warn you I'll watch anything. Another Land Rover based machine, this one appears to have been made road legal after being bought from the film company.

Image source: http://entertainment.howstuffworks.com

The Batmobile from Batman Begins is another huge vehicle, 9 feet 4 inches wide for starters, with its own specially designed chassis and a Chevy V8 engine giving the power. It also has a reputed top speed of 100 mph and was designed to be capable of some enormous jumps without being damaged.

Icing cakes - I need lessons

2011-10-05T11:04:00.001+01:00

Last night I managed to succeed in gaining ownership of the television for a short time which allowed me to watch the final of the Great British Bake Off. Now as someone who bakes regularly I always find it interesting to see how other people get on with various bakes and this series has been particularly good fun to watch, as the participants are regular folk who cook at home, rather than professionals.

Nevertheless although I have very few disasters in the kitchen, it is clear that to me that my cake decorating skills are sorely lacking, how do people make these things look so good. To be fair I always think that taste is more important than style, but wonder if this is just my own safety blanket to cover up a lack of talent.

I mean whisking up two dozen buns is not a problem,

and although I can use an icing bag, this new multi purpose gun thingy that I received on my birthday is pretty easy to use.

But actually decorating a cake well seems to be beyond my talent, or if I get one bun just right then the next one looks completely different.

However I will continue to persevere, although in the back of my mind will always be the question, how do they do that?

WorldFoods Global Challenge Number Two - Pad Thai

2011-10-03T21:27:00.000+01:00

This week we are coming to you from Thailand on our virtual cooking tour of Asia and one of the options we had available to serve up was Pad Thai. Having prepared this with prawns for the original Fusion Taste Team earlier in the year, I decided to go with chicken on this occasion to see if the family liked this as much as the first version.

This is a nice quick meal to cook using WorldFoods Pad Thai Sauce, just ensure that your wok is nice and hot and it really is easy. I blanched my noodles at the same time as frying the chicken, and making an omelet I might add, multi tasking to a new level previously unknown in my kitchen. Then it really is a matter of tossing it all together, it's not meant to be a work of art, just a thoroughly enjoyable meal.

Our Pad Thai was topped off with crushed peanut and thin strips of the afore mentioned omlet, we didn't use chives on this occasion, mainly because they were missed out of our supermarket delivery and also because the village shop mainly deals in fresh local produce, or tins.

Nevertheless the meal lived up to all of our expectations and was described by my ten year old daughter as delicious. If you think this might be an exageration please check out the photographs below, because as any parent will know a good meal is anything healthy that you can get the children to eat.

Lucy's meal

Showing off her chopstick technique

Not bad, especially as she pinched some of my noodles as well.

What you need and how to make it.

Pad Thai, by May Foong

Serves 2-3 people

Ingredients:
100g (or any combination of) Prawns / Chicken / Tofu
20g Chives, cut into 2” length
100g Bean sprouts
80g Flat rice noodles (information here: http://bit.ly/qU8WIl you can substitute with other noodles if you wish)
1 bottle WORLDFOODS Thai ‘Pad Thai’ Noodle Sauce
2 tbsp cooking oil

Optional - add eggs (within the stir fry or as an omelette), spring onions, fish sauce, extra chilli pepper into the stir fry

Garnishing:
Pounded roasted peanuts
Coriander
Lime wedges
Chilli flakes
Sugar optional (palm sugar traditionally added in Thailand)

Cooking Instructions:
1. Blanch the noodles in boiling water for 3 minutes untill semi-soft. Drain and set aside.
2. Heat flavourless oil such as groundnut oil in a wok and pan fry the prawns until they turn pink, and set aside.
3. Pour in WORLDFOODS Thai ‘Pad Thai’ Noodle Sauce and bring to boil.
4. Add in the noodles and prawns and toss gently till well mixed.
5. Plate up the noodles and prawns, and add the chives and bean sprouts.
6. Garnish with roasted peanuts, chili flakes and lime wedges.
7. Enjoy!

Connor's Corner - F1 2011 for PlayStation reviewed.

2011-10-03T14:51:00.000+01:00

Well here it is the first post, of a regular series, by my thirteen year old son. As I stated last week he has an opinion, plays a lot of sport, studies far more than I ever did and still manages to find time to play numerous computer games. For his first post he has decided to review the latest game he has saved up for, (that's how it works), which is F1 2011 for the PlayStation, created by Codemasters. So if you want to hear what the game is really like, in the words of a teenager who knows how these things work, please read on.

At first, particularly for a new gamer, looking at the controls it may seem very daunting with the amount of buttons that you have to press. But it is in fact only slightly changed from last year, with the introduction of the glorious DRS and KERS being the main differences.

The co-op mode is a great new feature, which allows you to compete with a friend or family member in the living room. I know Codemasters wanted to make online play more exciting and can confidently say they have succeeded in making it much more enjoyable an competitive. The graphics are also much improved, with a smooth experience and good screen layout.

I have yet to complete a long race, over 20%, but it is clear that strategy is very important, with the new Pirelli tyres and fuel adding to the tactical side, which makes it more enjoyable for experienced players. The career mode is also improved, although my only complaint is that you start with better teams and are quick instantly, which is a shame as I used to enjoy the challenge of working up to this level. However the artificial intelligence is improved, making it harder to overtake and manic at the start, with no concertina effect.

Overall though I think that the game has improved greatly and with Codemasters pushing for DLC content, with past tracks and racers, it makes it all very exciting. All credit to Codemasters for making another great game, can't wait for F1 2012 and probably DIRT4.

So there you go, Connor's first post and review. He would be interested in what you think, please remember he is only thirteen, and is looking forward to writing on a weekly basis, including more reviews, when he's saved up again, and plenty of other articles, I hope you all enjoyed his first effort.

Kitchen Jealousy - More Virtual Shopping

2011-09-30T15:16:00.000+01:00

It's that time of month where a lot of homes magazines seem to find their way into our house, full of lovely sparkly stuff. For obvious reasons I am quite often drawn to the kitchen sections and what sort of items are on the worktops. Why I continue to torture myself in this manner is not clear to me, but every month I am reminded of new accessories that would fit into our kitchen very nicely.

There are a fair few gadgets which I would like, but short of the money tree in the garden bearing fruit, am unlikely to ever get. Actually this 'kitchenalia condition' was made even worse this week following a long conversation on Twitter, when I discovered that you can make Fusili with a KitchenAid mixer and attachment.

So I thought that it would be fun to share some of the items that are on my very long and constantly expanding wish list with everybody. Please feel free to let me know if I'm missing any really good gadgets, my condition needs to be fed regularly.

KitchenAid Artisan Stand Mixer

I thought, having already mentioned them, that it would be appropriate to start with a KitchenAid mixer. Now I am aware that Kenwood also make some very nice mixers and to be honest I'm not sure which type is best. However I do a lot of baking and a good stand mixer would be a excellent addition to my kitchen. Assuming that the products from the two main brands are similar in performance, then I would have to go for the KitchenAid for the variety of colours available if nothing else, but if the baking fairy is reading this please be aware that I'm not that fussy, either would do very nicely.

Salter Sweetie Kitchen Scales

Obviously I do have some kitchen scales, but they don't look like these and I love that sort of sweet shop image that is brought to mind by this model.

Kuhn Rikon Frosting Deco Pen

It's not just big things that I hanker after, icing is one of those things that I can never get quite right, probably something to do with my complete lack of artistic talent, so these might help. Especially this weekend when I have to create a fire engine cake, but that's another story, which I may tell, depending on how well it works.

Le Creuset Toughened Non-Stick Saucepan Set

I know these are just pans, but most of ours look very much the worse for wear after three or four years. The Le Creuset bake ware that we own on the other hand is still going strong and will undoubtedly continue to do so for several more years. Therefore I am drawn to these because of my trust in the manufacturer, plus they're oven safe which is always a bonus.

Falcon Continental 1092 EISS/C-EU Induction Hob Range Cooker

Finally, for today at least, I want one of these. It wouldn't actually fit in my kitchen without some major redesigning, but I don't care.

BigJigs Kitchenware Set from Wooden Toyshop

2011-09-29T12:23:00.000+01:00

I was recently very fortunate to receive the opportunity to test a product from Wooden Toyshop's vast range of modern, classic and traditional toys. Being given the chance to choose what to review made my job quite difficult, particularly as they stock some lovely wooden play sets, but being a kitchen kind of guy I couldn't resist this stainless steel kitchenware set.

Manufactured by BigJigs the set is of a very high quality, superior to some of the equipment in my kitchen, and is designed for use with most of the play food sets that are available. It's arrival was certainly met with some enthusiasm when my youngest daughter arrived home from school, the only question being whether she would be able to hang onto the set, when her older siblings spotted it.

After persuading her to change, the lounge was rapidly turned into a make shift kitchen, with a shoe box doubling up nicely as an oven. That's not to say that she doesn't have a play kitchen, but as it lives in the play house there was, apparently, not time to fetch it.

One of the great things about this kind of set is how it encourages children to use there imagination, in this case acting out the kind of meals that they see their parents cooking, although I should point out that bacon, cake and ice cream is not a regular menu in our house.

Overall these are a fine set of kitchen pans and utensils, the quality of which suggests that they will last the test of time very well. I have had cause to cut short our eldest daughter's use of them as an impromptu drum set, but they don't appear to have suffered any damage from this additional use.

The Wooden Toyshop also stocks a large range of accessories that could be used alongside this set, including cookers and a variety of play food. I really have no hesitation in recommending this product, especially as it is well made and reasonably priced, all I need now is a full sized version for my kitchen.

Wednesday Wheels - A World Champion

2011-09-28T20:44:00.002+01:00

That's right, this weekend a British World Champion was crowned, not in any of the motor sport categories that I often write about, but wheels were still involved as it was cycling another sport and hobby that is close to my heart. So this weekend Mark Cavendish won the World Road Race Championship in Copenhagen and lets not forget his Green Jersey, (points), victory in the Tour De France this year as well.

Hopefully this will add to the growing enthusiastic following that cycling now has, certainly the recent Tour of Britain was a huge success and large crowds were in evidence in Suffolk where I reside. The last Olympic Games also saw a good haul of medals for both female and male riders and an air of anticipation surrounds how well they will do next year in London. My boys also avidly follow the Tour De France coverage each year, with much the same enthusiasm that they normally reserve for Rugby or Formula One and are keen to be out cycling.

So has all this British success changed how the sport is perceived? Well I would like to think so and certainly in my part of the world there seems to be an increasing number of cyclists on the road having fun, commuting or training, but media coverage of the sport still plays second fiddle to mainstream events like rugby and football, even on weekends when a British World Champion is crowned.

Personally my enjoyment of cycling is being rapidly rekindled by my children getting older and being able to come on the kind of longer rides that I remember taking in my youth. Obviously this has lead to me hankering after a new road bike and maybe a really decent off road one as well, so I thought a little bit of virtual shopping would finish this piece off nicely.

Bianchi VVIA Nirone 7 Xenon Compact 2011 Road Bike

I used to own a Bianchi many years ago, they look fabulous and this one is my favorite.

Specialized Rockhopper

I've just always hankered after one of these, that is all, no excuse.

Ridgeback Panorama

I used to dream about doing a decent European tour and if it ever comes about this baby should do the job perfectly.

So there you have it, cycling is back in the big time, people want to be fit, petrol costs are astronomic and it's good fun. I know the bike never went away, but welcome back you're here to stay now.

Chocolate Marble Cake recommended by Squirt, he's an elephant.

2011-09-28T14:46:00.001+01:00

I was joined yesterday in my regular routine of cooking and writing by Squirt, a mischievous cuddly elephant belonging to one of my daughters. Having been reliably informed that he would want to bake a cake the two of us rustled through a few of the recipes on my desk and decided that a chocolate marble cake would be fun to make together.

It is quite a straight forward recipe to make, even when your helper has a long trunk that he insists on sticking into bowl of cake mixture, and the result is a nice looking, elephant sized snack, although he was eventually persuaded to share.

Ingredients

225g softened butter

225g caster sugar

225g self raising flour

4 eggs

3 tbsp milk

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 tbsp cocoa powder

Instructions

1. Pre-heat oven to 180C or 160C-ish if your fan oven is as old as ours. Grease and line a 20cm tin, quite a deep one as it's a big cake.

2. Beat the butter and sugar together, then gradually add the eggs and beat until reasonably smooth.

3. Add the flour, milk and extract, folding in as you go until the mixture is smooth.

4. Split the mixture between two bowls and stir the cocoa powder into one of them, leaving you with two different colour mixtures.

5. Alternatively spoon the mixtures into the prepared tin and then swirl the mixture around with a skewer, or your trunk, to give a marbled effect.

6. Bake for around 50 minutes or until a skewer, not your trunk Squirt it's hot, comes out clean. Turn out and leave to cool.

You can now cut a slice out to see the marbled effect that you have created, just don't turn your back if there's a hungry elephant in the kitchen!

Pirates and Dragons from TACTIC

2011-09-28T13:46:00.000+01:00

I was recently lucky enough to receive two family games to review through the Blog-Match network, which links up suitable bloggers with brands wishing to promote their products.

The two games both come from TACTIC a Finnish company who produce board games suitable for all ages. In common with most parents I have an attachment to BC, (before computers), methods of entertainment and the interaction that this allows in a family setting and as the children seemed very enthusiastic we started playing straight away.

We choose to start with Roll For Gold, a dice based game during which you have to try and collect Blackbeard's treasure, in the form of gold Guineas. It is aimed at an age group of 7+, but our five year old soon got the hang of the game and showed some startlingly good addition skills. While an element of luck is involved with the use of dice, this does not detract from a certain amount of tactical skill that is also required, as you have the opportunity throughout the game to effect the progress of other players.

Overall we had a great time with Roll For Gold, it's fun, competitive and can cause some of those great arguments that you always get with a good board game. It is also simple to play, helped no end by the very clear instructions which accompany the game.

Our second game was Draco, which involves a wooden dragon and firing discs. The aim of the game is to spin your wooden discs at the 'Great Beast' in the middle to collect the body parts needed to create your own dragon. Aim is all important in this game, as you can be penalised for knocking down the head or tale of the 'Great Beast'. An additional source of fun is the ability to shoot at your opponent's dragon and steal body parts from them.

I found this to be a fun game to enjoy with the younger members of the family and increasing competitive as the age group was raised, not a bad thing at all.

Both games were very enjoyable and Roll For Gold in particular has gained instant popularity in our household.

Left over quiche ingredients leads to perfect meringues.

2011-09-26T15:54:00.001+01:00

I had cause to make a Quiche Lorraine the other day for the visiting ladies who lunch, which fortunately was a great success. However this did leave me with four unused egg whites sitting in a cup, so rather than let them go to waste I had a quick search to see what they could be used to make.

It soon became clear that I had one third of the ingredients required for the creation of meringues, something I had never tried making before, so out came the electric whisk for some exercise. With my normal 'how hard can it be' attitude I launched into whisking and folding with some gusto and was pleasantly surprised to get the same results that were pictured in The Good Food Cook Book that I was using.

Then it was into the oven for 1 1/2 hours, while wondering whether the final result would be a success. Actually it was, although I did discover that meringues are quite hard to unstick from greaseproof paper. Once they were free and cooled down I just whisked some double cream and served as dessert with our evening meal.

I often wonder what to do with leftovers and I think this might be a new favorite for me, particularly as it only uses three ingredients, egg whites, caster sugar and icing sugar. Now I just need an excuse to make another quiche.

WorldFoods Global Challenge Number One - Chinese Ginger & Chilli Stir Fry

2011-09-26T12:11:00.000+01:00

The first of the culinary challenges given to the global team was the creation of a dish using WorldFoods Chinese Ginger Garlic Chilli Sauce. One of the recommended recipes was for a prawn stir fry, always popular in our house, so that's the direction I went in.

As with all of the challenges that WorldFoods give us there is a huge element of freedom with the recipes that we are given, as the substitution of ingredients is viewed as part of the experience. So due my my normal inefficient shopping methods I ended up utilising an entirely different batch of vegetables to those suggested.

However the meal was certainly none the worse for my experimenting, which meant that the prawns were accompanied by julienned courgette, carrot and red pepper, along with a few mushrooms. I had been warned that the sauce might be a bit hot for our younger children and had prepared some extra prawns separately to cater for this eventuality. This turned out to be completely unnecessary as even the four year old coped quite happily with the 'prawns in nice sauce' that she was given.

The sauce itself has some quite strong flavours, but the way they are blended ensures a pleasant flavour, rather than an overly hot experience. It was also an easy meal to prepare and cook, which can be produced quite rapidly, particularly if you are using a wok which speeds up the cooking process no end.

The finished product is extremely nice and as you can see ours was served with noodles, although you could quite happily use rice.

Prawn ginger and chilli stir fry (serves 4)

Ingredients

1 jar WorldFoods Chinese ginger garlic chilli sauce.

250g prawns

20g sweet basil leaves

5 kaffir lime leaves, ripped

5 clusters green peppercorns

20g chillies, sliced

4 stems galangal, julienned

Instructions

1. Heat WorldFoods Chinese ginger garlic chilli sauce in the pan.

2. Add in prawns and stir until they are cooked. Follow with the other ingredients, stirring occasionally until cooked.

3. Serve with jasmine rice or rice noodles.

It's as simple as that, a quick, tasty meal which, even with my photography, looks very nice.

Connor's Corner

2011-09-25T20:37:00.004+01:00

He's thirteen and has an opinion, yes my eldest son has decided that he wants his own page on the blog where he can regularly post about the things that matter to him. I have a feeling that this will follow his main interests of sport, both watching and participating, computer games and chocolate, but you might get a bit of politics thrown in, like I said he has an opinion, on almost everything as it happens.

I have decided to give him a fairly free hand with his page, although the use of Latin or generally appearing more intelligent than me will result in some select editing. This week Connor is planning on posting a review of F1 2011 for the PlayStation, which should arrive in a few days. So if you want to get an idea of what it's really like make sure to catch his write up, he knows his stuff and nobody is paying him to write about it, certainly not me anyway.

So there you have it, a regular teenage column by a teenager. He eats chocolate, isn't sure about green food, plays rugby and has a brain the size of a small planet, just your average kid really, oh did I mention he likes cars, a lot.

Chocolate from The Australian Women's Weekly

2011-09-22T11:05:00.000+01:00

I am an enthusiastic, if not terribly talented, baker of cakes, cookies and sweets, so the arrival of the updated version of Chocolate from Octopus Publishing this week was something that I had been eagerly anticipating.

This is one of the many excellent books to come from the Australian Women's Weekly, all of which contain easy to follow and interesting recipes. I am pleased to say that Chocolate is not an exception to the rule and if anything is the best presented of their publications that has come into my ownership.

The book is laid out into five chapters covering chocolate related themes from cakes to truffles. All of the recipes are accompanied by clear instructions and photographs, half or full page, which are particularly useful for someone like myself to whom presentation does not come naturally. The majority of the ninety five recipes have ingredients that are standard store cupboard stock for the average baking enthusiast and the variety of ideas means that there is something here for anyone with a sweet tooth.

I received my copy of Chocolate two days ago and have already felt the need to try three of the recipes. All of these turned out well, the cookies were an especially big hit with the children, and although my skills, both baking and photography, have some limitations, I have included a few images below.

Chocolate Almond Tart

This was really simple to produce and even looks something like the picture in the book. It also caused a bit on confusion amongst my children who thought it looked like a sausage plait to start with, they soon cottoned on once they could smell it cooking though.

Triple-Choc Cookies

There is not much that beats a good batch of freshly made cookies and these with their mixture of dark, milk and white chocolate went down very well indeed.

Chocolate Nut Slice

This refrigerator cake finished off my supplies of chocolate, but the result was well worth it. Apart from melting some chocolate this is a no cook recipe and simple enough for anyone to make. I had also become a bit short of nuts by this stage and used cut fruit peel as a partial substitute, which worked pretty well actually.

Overall I am very impressed with the content of the book and have several requests from the younger members of the family who have been eagerly browsing through the pictures.

WorldFoods Global Fusion Taste Team

2011-09-21T21:26:00.001+01:00

Well it's true we're back for another series of WorldFoods challenges and this time we have a global team of bloggers taking part. For those of you who followed our journey last time will know that the participants complete a set meal each week, to the best of our ability, followed by a review explaining how we got on and what we thought of the WorldFoods product that we used.

This time the format is the same, but as I have mentioned we have plenty of new bloggers from around the world and a few of us from the original batch. We will be taking a nine week virtual journey around South East Asia, including China this week and others such as Indonesia and Vietnam.

Hopefully you will enjoy our antics, we are all cooks of different abilities, and you can keep track of our journey on the Fusion Taste Team Facebook page, http://www.facebook.com/WORLDFOODSfusionofflavours , don't forget to like it as I'm sure there will be a few give aways as well.

So by the end of the week you should see the first reports on our initial challenge coming through and in the mean time if you want to check out some of the other bloggers taking part here is our hall of fame.

http://mummymusings.co.uk

http://comfortbites.blogspot.com

http://www.dadscookingtonight.blogspot.com

http://mollyandtheprincess.com

http://awannabefoodie.wordpress.com

http://fussfreeflavours.com

http://curlyandcandid.co.uk

http://www.therecipeblog.co.uk

http://hotcooking.co.uk

http://giventodistractingothers.blogspot.com

http://utterlyscrummy.blogspot.com

http://www.susankmann.com

http://penelopespantry.blogspot.com

http://jessiescrazykitchen.blogspot.com

http://www.planetveggie.co.uk

http://www.mrs-flams.blogspot.com

http://www.pipigscorner.com

http://casaveneracion.com

http://homecookingrocks.com

http://noobcook.com

http://fakeginger.com

http://thefoodduo.blogspot/com

http://undermyknife.com

http://queensnotebook.com/category/cooking

http://asianinamericamag.com

Wednesday Wheels - Scalextric, still going strong.

2011-09-21T13:10:00.001+01:00

As a child I was never lucky enough to have my own Scalextric set, although fortunately several of my friends did, meaning that there were plenty of places to race the cars that I purchased with pocket money and paper round savings. My memories are full of time spent crouched in lofts and bedrooms, fitting different track layouts together so that we could race our crackling cars against each other. Between us we owned a variety of cars from old Vanwall racers through to the latest Mini's and Escorts of the time.

Image source: www.mycollectorscorner.com

We also used to build our own cars, utilising old parts and fitting them into 1:32 scale model cars. This required some serious craft knife work and the use of cut down bicycle spokes as prop shafts. Obviously these cars were very light, so some complex weight distribution work, lumps of Placticine, was needed to get them round the track in one piece, important as they were somewhat fragile.

Image Source: www.home.alphalink.com

Although I moved away from this hobby/sport/engineering apprenticeship during my late teens, the arrival of my first child thirteen odd years ago reignited my interest. I'm aware that young babies and slot racing do not mix that well, but this is no excuse for not starting to build up a huge Scalextric set ready for when they are old enough to play with it. In the mean time it would obviously be a shame not to make use of the cars and track, plus it's always good to get some practise in as I assure you there is a competitive edge to playing this game.

Image source: www.retrorides.proboards.com

Rather than being a fixed track, ours tends to be built when the urge to race comes upon the children, partly due to the space it takes up, but also because they have a variety of other electronic games to use which did not exist during my childhood years. However it still gets used and is guaranteed to provide plenty of fun and a few arguments when it is set up.

Scalextric is still going strong as a brand and releases new models throughout the year. There is also a thriving secondhand market on Ebay which shows no sign of declining. Hopefully this is a sign that it's longevity will continue, certainly my boys still buy cars from time to time and there are a Ferrari and a Williams sat on my desk awaiting repair, along with a Jordan F197 in perfect working condition, just need to put the track up again now.

Top presents for a ten year old girl by Lucy, aged ten.

2011-09-19T11:13:00.000+01:00

I have a poorly daughter at home today, a bit pale and feeling sorry for herself, so obviously it seemed like a good idea to put her to work. Actually I'm not completely heartless, but I figured that she might enjoy a bit of virtual shopping to keep her mind off things.

Lucy has quite firm views about what she likes and has selected a variety of items that are bound to make an appearance on a forthcoming Christmas list. Having said that they are equally well suited to being stylish birthday presents for girls of this age. You will notice that these all come from small craft suppliers, but as mummy works and writes about this industry it is hardly surprising that Lucy, an artistic and crafty soul herself, tends to look in this direction for presents and gifts for her friends.

So without further ado, here is my ten year old daughter's guide to shopping for a ten year old.

Vintage Musical Note Notebook by Bombus

Lucy says - I like this because of the musical notes on the cover and as I love to draw.

Hairclip Holder by Sally Shufflepants

Lucy says - These are really cute and useful as I'm always losing my hairclips.

On The Shelf Postcards by Dots and Spots

Lucy says - I collect lots of pretty postcards and these are fab.

Jam Embroidered Badge by Snapdragon

Lucy says - I like this more than any of my Paperchase badges and I do have a lot!

Fat Chocolate Snowman by Madame Oiseau Fine Chocolates

Lucy says - A girl needs chocolate and these look very nice.

So there you have it, a new list of potential presents from my daughter, all of which are quite individual and guaranteed to please the recipient. I suspect that further lists will soon be provided by my younger daughters as well when they discover that Lucy has done this.

Chocolate torte - Not for me unfortunately

2011-09-16T17:05:00.000+01:00

Tonight is the big Welcome Gig at our village primary school, a big fundraiser organised by the PTA of which my wife is a member. The evening includes a barbecue, bar and a few bands, including the dads band. The music is nothing to do with me I should add, as I'm the one member of our family with absolutely no musical talent and the bands really are very good.

Obviously running an event of this size, 200+ tickets sold, requires a fair bit of organisation and some willing helpers. I'll be doing my bit early on flipping some burgers, before getting the opportunity to slope off to the bar. There will also be a dessert table, they take entertainment seriously in our village, which brings me nicely onto the chocolate torte that I have just made, but cannot eat, which will be a major source of disappointment for my eldest son.

I have used a simple 'no cook' recipe for this, which seems to have worked rather well and contains cream, golden syrup, coffee, cinnamon and plenty of chocolate. All the preparation required is a bit of whisking and the melting of chocolate, before pouring it into a prepared tin.

Pop it in the fridge for a couple of hours to chill, then sprinkle with cocoa powder and the job is done.

Still not entirely happy about not being able to eat it myself, but it is for a good cause and you never know I might be able to nab a slice.

Chocolate brownies ready for the hungry children.

2011-09-15T14:43:00.000+01:00

It's Thursday and the cupboards are looking a bit empty, so I thought it might be time to do a bit of baking. A quick browse of the Good Food Cook Book turned up a decent looking brownie recipe, which will no doubt be very popular with my children. As I have recently been followed by a dentist on Twitter, maybe I should make it clear that my children eat a fairly balanced diet, it just looks like I feed them cake all the time because baking is one of my hobbies.

So now I have hopefully put off any dental plan emails, onto the brownies. To be honest I don't have a one hundred percent record with brownies, so I'm always on the lookout for different recipies to try out. As always when I scanned the ingredients the realisation dawned that there was no white chocolate in the house, so it was promptly substitued with the milk version, still tastes good, apart from this everything was as suggested below.

Ingredients

185g butter

185g dark chocolate

3 eggs

275g golden caster sugar

40g cocoa powder

85g plain flour

50g plain chocolate, chopped

50g white chocolate, chopped

This is quite a straight forward recipe to follow, always a good thing, and turned out to be very easy to create, with good results.

1. Pre-heat the oven to 180C/160C fan. Grease and line a 20cm square tin. Melt the butter and chocolate together, I did this over a pan of water as the suggested microwave has yet to appear in my kitchen. Remove from heat when melted and leave to cool a little.

2. In the mean time whisk the eggs and sugar together, these should double in size and look pale. Add the melted chocolate and butter, folding in with a spatula. Sift the flour and cocoa powder over the top and fold in. Add the chopped chocolate and stir in.

3. Pour into the prepared tin and bake for 25 minutes. The top will go shiny and the cake should have started to pull away from the sides of the tin. Now the hard bit, leave it to cool completely in the tin while fending off small and larger hands, this smells seriously good. Remove from the tin and cut into squares, then triangles. Stand back and watch it disappear.

The result is delicious, with a slightly gooey centre and soft texture. Ideal as a cake or dessert with a dollop of cream maybe, guaranteed to increase my popularity with the children, well for as long as it takes them to eat it at least.

Wednesday Wheels - Car names, what happened?

2011-09-14T16:40:00.001+01:00

Some manufacturers have always used numbers to designate different models of their cars, while others use names, Citroen obviously have never quite made their mind up which way to go. But it's the names that bother me, I mean when did someone decide that these should all be toned down.

In the past we had cars named after things like planes, weapons and snakes, the Bristol Beaufighter, Jowett Javelin and AC Cobra, things have certainly changed. Obviously there were examples of toned down names in the past, certainly Ford in the United Kingdom never quite got the hang of using an aggressive title to help you envisage their models, Escort and Fiesta don't really do it for me. But it seems even worse now with names like Yaris, Golf, Focus or Galaxy hardly being likely to give you a rush of blood, actually Galaxy kind of works as it's big, just like the.. well you get the idea.

So as the manufacturers seem to have abandoned this policy, I decided to cast my mind back and dig up a few examples of 'proper' names, the cars didn't always live up to them, but they all sounded good.

Image source: www.mlkshk.com

Jensen Interceptor

Image source: www.classicandsportscar.ltd.uk

Triumph Spitfire

Image source: www.carpictures.com

Reliant Scimitar

Image Source: www.remarkablecars.com

Corvette Stingray

Image source: www.ned.ronet.ru

Sunbeam Rapier

There are plenty more examples of these types of names being used, but the tradition seems to have mainly died out now, although TVR did a good job with mythical monsters. I quite miss being able to say that I drive a Spitfire, it has echoes of daring do about it, not something you would associate with Punto or Corsa and yes I am aware that Reliant produced the Kitten, although I'm not quite sure of the significance.

Back to School and a New Season of Rugby

2011-09-14T12:22:00.000+01:00

All of our children are now back into the swing of a new school term, getting acquainted with new teachers and generally settling back into some sort of routine after the long summer holiday. For the two boys we have at senior school this means the return of regular homework to help fill out their evenings, but most importantly to them is the start of a new school rugby season.

Never having really played rugby myself, I don't have the build or inclination, my knowledge of the sport was limited to catching the odd match on television until the boys started to play. Their involvement with the sport started with the local club, which is well organised and supported. This involved plenty of opportunities for me to stand around in freezing weather cheering them on, while they burnt off some energy in the muddy atmosphere that tends to surround rugby pitches throughout the winter months.

Since moving up to senior school, they're years 8 & 9 now, our free time has become more limited and they now just play for the school itself. Now I am always keen to encourage any of the sporting endeavours that my children undertake, but standing on the touchline in the past week I have started to notice a change in the game that the boys are playing. When they originally started playing they were much smaller, the game had a bit of roughness involved and although winning was important a lot of emphasis was put on taking part and having fun.

Watching them play last weekend I wondered what had happened, maybe the rules had changed, but no they've just got a lot bigger. All of a sudden the game seems to have changed, becoming ultra competitive and from where I was standing it looked positively dangerous. However much as I wince when watching some of the collisions that they are involved in, and subsequent minor injuries that result from their participation, I still encourage their enthusiasm for the sport. It is a well disciplined sport and the referees marshall any excessive aggression very well, without allowing it to get out of hand. There is no argument about debatable decisions, or hard feelings once the match is over. The parents who turn up to watch encourage the teams without putting any undue pressure on their own children, which all helps to make this an enjoyable event to attend.

Having never played any sport more combative than mixed hockey, I still have the scars thank you ladies, watching the boys play rugby has come as a shock to the system. Nevertheless they enjoy the game, it's outside in the fresh air and regardless of any injuries they have received, as soon as the match is over they start talking about the next fixture. Obviously not all children want to take part and there are other options available at the school for those who have different interests. Despite this I'm fairly sure that I have a few more years watching from the touchline as their enthusiasm shows no sign of diminishing.

Comfort & Spice: Recipes for Modern Living by Niamh Shields

2011-09-12T16:11:00.000+01:00

Since discovering Niamh's fantastic blog, http://www.eatlikeagirl.com, a few months ago, I have been waiting with some anticipation for the release of her first book. Therefore I was delighted last week when a review copy of Comfort & Spice was delivered from Quadrille Books.

There is always a slight concern surrounding how a popular online writer will translate to a printed book, but in this case I should not have worried as the text is pure Niamh, reflecting all of the enthusiasm, humour and skill that is visible in everything that she turns her hand to.

The book itself contains a wide variety of interesting recipes, making use of a diverse mixture of different ingredients and including cuisines from several countries. One of the many appealing aspects of this publication is the uncomplicated manner in which these meals are presented, guaranteed to add some excitement to the cooking repertoire of anybody willing to step into a kitchen.

Hints and tips are included within many of the recipes, combined with easy to understand descriptions of the techniques required, making even the most impressive looking meals relatively simple to produce. Savory, sweet and even ideas for leftovers are included within the book, all presented with Niamh's wonderful writing style, which almost makes it feel like she's in the kitchen with you.

Calamari, Chorizo in Cider and Chocolate Mousse with Honeycomb are just a smattering of the mouth watering ideas included, in this comprehensive book which seems to have something for everyone, thoroughly recommended.

Armadillo's and a Helter Skelter - I've been virtual shopping for the kitchen, again.

2011-09-08T12:21:00.000+01:00

My wife is a great fan of the online showcase Not on the High Street and I have myself browsed through some of the products occasionally, purchasing a notebook on one occasion. However it recently came to my attention that there is a kitchen section on the site, one of my few shopping weaknesses.

I approached this with some trepidation, my mind filled with images of knitted tea cosies and painted mugs, but my cynicism was ill founded, indeed I was so impressed by my discoveries that this may well become my first port of call when searching for new products to fill up the kitchen.

There are without any question a large number of tea towels and aprons on the site, all of which look very well made I should add, but what really caught my eye was the number of stylish accessories that were available, so here's a few of my favorites.

Armadillo Bread Bin by Bodie and Fou

I know it's just for putting bread in, but it looks fabulous and is shaped like an Armadillo. Why something shaped like an armour plated animal appeals to me so much is difficult to explain, mainly I just like the shape, but deep in the trivia recesses of my mind is a Dime Bar advert of many years ago, subliminal advertising wins again.

Eggskelter by Lytton and Lily Vintage

A Helter Skelter for eggs how cool is that! Obviously you could just put them in a basket, but where's the fun in that when a fairground ride for your baking supplies is available.

Olive Wood 45cm Carving Board by The Rustic Dish

Slightly more practical is this bread carving board complete with handles and knife holder. There's something reassuring about wooden products in our technological world and this is an attractive example of what is available, with the fabulous grain patterns clearly visible.

Utility Bucket by Garden Trading

I have been informed that cleaning fairies do not exist, but if they did surely one of these would make their lives easier. More seriously this is a useful item, even if just to tidy up that cupboard under the sink where all those different cleaning products live.

So there you go an online haven of all things kitchen, I just need to pop back on now and check out the solid wood wine rack that caught my eye earlier, put me down as a convert.

Wednesday Wheels - Red Team's Going To Win

2011-09-07T13:36:00.001+01:00

My children spend a lot of time charging around the garden playing games, they use the trampoline, play a lot of sport, enjoy board games, cards and reading. They also watch television and, although I hesitate to mention this considering some of the adverse press it gets, play computer games.

Now I remember my parents playing everything from Rummy to Monopoly with us as children and these are things that we still do now with our own children, but it is difficult to ignore the impact of the computer on the current generation of youngsters. Our solution has been to embrace this extra outlet for their energies and enthusiasm, (although we do keep a close eye on the content and age rating of games), it does not seem to stop them from wanting to read or be outside in the fresh air, in fact it is just one more aspect of modern childhood.

The boys, being older, enjoy some of the Rally and Formula One games on offer, but the one game that the whole family enjoy playing together is Mario Kart on the Wii. I remember enjoying some of the earliest video games, including Binatone Tennis and later on Donkey Kong, which is where the Mario characters have evolved from, but motion control and advanced graphics are a far cry from anything that was available in the seventies and eighties.

Image source: Nukoda.com/gaming

Quite frankly this game is a lot of fun, it's racing, competitive and can be played by anyone from four to ninety, on a fairly equal footing. There are plenty of characters to choose from and sixteen tracks, although these can also be played in 'mirror mode', effectively doubling the number. There is no violent content, OK you can shoot a shell or throw a banana at somebody, but nothing explodes in a cloud of gore or anything of that manner.

There are various challenges to be undertaken, which unlock further parts of the game and if you are so inclined online play is available, allowing competitors around the world to race each other. You can also play battle modes, don't get confused by the name, which revolve around collecting coins or balloons in different stadiums and buildings.

Obviously not everyone will agree, but in someways this is a board game for the 21st Century, it's fun and the whole family can play it. I am in no way suggesting that this should replace other activities, but see no reason why it cannot be enjoyed in tandem with more traditional games that we as parents remember. That is the crux of it I suppose, it's a good game and our family enjoy it. I'm not an expert, just a parent who can see no harm in a balanced upbringing for children. Mario Kart a virtual Wednesday Wheels.

In At The Deep End: Cooking Fish, Venice To Tokyo by Jake Tilson

2011-09-05T12:52:00.000+01:00

I am quite a fan of real life travels of adventure and also innovative cookery books, so to find both within a single publication was a marvelous discovery. When this turned out to be combined with a photographic journey around the globe and an engaging writing style, the realisation dawned that I had found something special.

Mr Tilson's motivation for his journey into all things fishy, is driven by an underlying fear of seafood which he feels that he must overcome. To do this he immerses himself in the history, sources, preparation and cooking of produce harvested from the oceans across the world. With destinations ranging from Venice to Tokyo there is certainly a taste of the exotic within the pages, but more local experiences are not excluded, with Aberdeen and London also claiming chapters of their own.

The impact of this book should not be underestimated, as it is equally at home in the kitchen or on your bedside table, for some late night reading. The journey and encounters that Mr Tilson describes are both interesting and enthralling in equal parts, while many of the recipes can be be replicated from local sustainable sources.

Even as someone who has lived close to the sea for most of his life, and spent many hours fishing from the beach, I can still relate to the confusion that even a trip to a fish market can cause. Hopefully this book should help to take away some of the mystery that surrounds the purchase and cooking of seafood to those that read it, certainly I would recommend it on that basis alone, if not just enjoy the adventure contained within, great writing, great pictures, great story.

Wednesday Wheels - Seventies Super Cars

2011-08-31T17:02:00.000+01:00

I happened to watch a repeat of Top Gear last night, during which the three presenters each purchased an Italian mid-engined super car for £10,000. Obviously this lead to much hilarity, mainly caused by various reliability issues. To be fair most of these kind of cars are now well looked after and immaculately turned out by enthusiasts, lets face it when was the last time you saw a seventies Lamborghini or Ferrari broken down on the side of the road.

However seeing these cars again reminded me of my youth in the seventies, in particular it brought back memories of the original Top Trumps cards that we used to play with. So purely from memory, which after this length of time is getting as unreliable as Jeremy's Maserati, here are a few of the cars you wanted to have in your deck.

Image source: www.mcsmk8.com

A 1972 Cadillac Eldorado probably does not spring to mind as a car with the ability to beat a Ferrari hands down and on the road this might well be true, but in Top Trump land it had one redeeming feature which could not be beaten, an 8.2l engine. That's right a 500 cubic inch lump wins the engine capacity class over all others, not even the Aston Martin's of the day could top that.

Image source: www.taringa.net

The Monteverdi Hai is not exactly what you would call a main stream sports car, but in the early seventies there were still plenty of small manufacturers turning out interesting looking models. Monteverdi were based in Switzerland, but the car itself had a seven litre V8 tucked under the bodywork turning out some serious power. Its party trick in the game was an unbeatable 450 bhp, but the seven litre engine and 180 mph top speed also made it a good all round card.

Image source: www.kiefcars.co.za

A Lamborghini Countach needs little introduction and its estimated top speed was the feature which made it the most coveted of cards. If my memory serves me right, there was little to choose between this and the Ferrari 512 BB in the game, but with its stunningly wild styling the Countach was the most popular of the two.

There were plenty of other fabulous cards in the 1970's Top Trumps pack, the Maserati Bora and DeTomaso Pantera for example, along with a few slightly more normal models. For me these cards, combined with a late sixties Observer Book of Cars, helped to 'drive' my early passion cor the motoring world, seems to have stuck with me as well.

Simple Sunday - Toad in the Hole

2011-08-28T21:26:00.000+01:00

Spending the best part of two hours watching the Belgium Grand Prix, followed by a trip to the local park meant that a simple meal was required this evening. The choice was somewhat narrowed as closer inspection of the fridge revealed that the only meat contained within was sausages.

Fortunately, considering the size of our family, our local butcher currently 'bangs out bangers', (see what I did there), at twenty for a fiver. So I decided that Toad in the Hole was the order of the day, although to be fair one of my daughters had mentioned that she would like this meal a couple of times, well about 132 times in the last two weeks actually.

So classic Toad in the Hole for seven, which obviously involves two dishes and plenty of batter, was swiftly arranged. There seems to be a variety of slightly different recipes for this simple dish and I'm sure mine varies each time, but for what it's worth here's what I used today.

16 Bangers

250g Plain Flour

5 Medium Eggs

200ml Milk

A Pinch of Salt

A Good Sprinkle of Mixed Herbs

Couple of Glugs of Oil

Method

1. Sausages in the oven for about 30 minutes at 170 degrees centigrade in a fan oven, turning them half way through.

2. Meanwhile rustle up the batter, flour, salt and herbs in the mixing bowl first. Make a small well in the centre, add the eggs and mix. Then gradually mix in the milk, creating a nice smooth batter.

3. Add the oil to the sausages and return to the oven for a couple of minutes to heat up. Then pour the batter into the pans and return to the oven for between 30-40 minutes, depending on just how hot your oven actually is. Do not open the oven in the first 30 minutes as this can result in the rising process being adversely affected.

4. Remove from the oven and serve with fresh vegetables and gravy if you so wish.

The result is never what you call classically attractive, but it works for me and tastes damn fine, if I say so myself.

Another day, another birthday.

2011-08-27T21:57:00.000+01:00

Yes it's true, one of my children has a birthday the day after me, to be exact he was born at quarter past midnight, so you can guess where I was on my birthday twelve years ago. To be honest it has always been quite nice having his birthday follow mine, as it helps draw attention from how old I am getting, but as with all parents it seems to bring back memories of when he was younger.

I suppose it's a case of how many things have changed over the years, no longer is he satisfied with some Lego or a few cars, his tastes are now somewhat more expensive and why not really. He is also a lot bigger now, rapidly closing in on my height, which means that he eats a lot more, which really is the point of this brief post.

In common with most parents with give the birthday child their choice of meal and as we were eating at home this year that required more activity in the kitchen. So I thought I would just share the ribs, home made chips and burgers that were requested, oh he came back for seconds too.