IT’S close to Mahatma Gandhi’s 139th birthday. Im Amritsa, the boys are playing at reincarnation; although some may not be as they claim. And in the UK: IT was Gandhi who said, ‘There are people in the world so hungry that God cannot appear to them expect in the form of bread.’ That is unlikely to apply to Robert Schofield, boss of the UK’s biggest food manufacturer, Premier Foods” – The Grocer To remember in our...

I remember once being taught how to make a face in a leaf by a girl in junior school :-and whilst it was all very clever and rather cute ... I ended up feeling a bit sorry for the leaves that were used.Unlike all the other pesky leaf face-makers (once word got round in my class of this simple trick it quickly became the No.1 activity for the girls to indulge in at playtime - other than running away from the boys or pretending that you'd just walked through a puddle after someone noticed you'd wet yourself), I started to actually study the little things that we were pulling from trees or bushes and, after observing their tiny little vein networks, beautifully glossy skins and, in some cases, little silky hairs, decided that I didnt have it in me to subject the poor things to any further...

This is my submission for 'Go Ahead Honey It's Gluten Free!', the gluten free baking event started right here on this humble lil old blog and carried aloft by the great and good of the gluten free community - God bless you every one (and all the other gods too, they bless you - and if you're Buddhist like me then you know that attachment to being blessed is counterproductive.....ah, I seem to have lost my train of thought).Ah yes, the theme this month being slow food - the kind that takes hours to meld into something way more than the sum of its parts, the kind that celebrates sitting down with family and really tasting what's on your plate, a celebration of the chef's time and talent, the kind of food that is hopefully sourced from as near your house as possible and carried home in a...

Good AdviceToday we received our free copy of Retail Express with our newspaper delivery. One of the regular features that I like to read is Nick Shanagher’s Food For Thought as his comments are always on the pulse.Today he reflects on the actions of Asda and Tesco in the light of much higher food inflation and asks:‘Now that the big grocers have started worrying, shouldn’t you be too?’Towards to end of the article he suggests that small retailer work out who their high value customers are and what it is we must do to keep them.Challenging stuff.We do newspaper home delivery so we know the addresses of many of our customers and have been targeting them with our regular flyers for the past 12 years. As we operate our store in a village with a very defined boundary we believe that...

Fresh from the clogged tubes of teh intarwubs… Plastic-munching bugs turn waste bottles into cash "The Pseudomonas strains can convert the low-grade PET plastic used in drinks bottles into a more valuable and biodegradable plastic called PHA. PHA is already used in medical applications, from artery-supporting tubes called stents to wound dressings." Tagged with: recycling • upcycling • bacteria • plastics • Sweetcron - The Automated Lifestream Blog Software This could be very very useful somewhere down the line. Tagged with: webdev • social • lifestream • open-source • CMS • RSS • software • aggregator • Poetry’s popularity soars online "The British-based Poetry Archive has released statistics...

A "Kairan Ban" [回覧板] is a folder that is passed among neighbors who are members of a Chonai Kai [町内会] or "town association." The members pay a monthly fee to the Chonai Kai leader. Paying money to the Chonai Kai is not enforced by law and the leader has no political leads - its all run separately from the government and is a tradition that goes far back. Being a member of the Chonai Kai is voluntary but everybody ends up joining - its more of an obligation/tradition. The fee paid to the Chonai Kai is decided by you - we pay about a 200 yen per month which seems to be the norm. Being a member means that you get passed one of these KaiRan Ban. "Kairan" [回覧] means "to circulate" and "Ban" [板] means board. The Kairan Ban contains information relevant to the area that...

Britain's traumatised war veterans are a suicide time bomb, SAS legend Andy McNab warned last night. He insists the NHS is incapable of helping heroes with post-traumatic stress.Read It Here (RG) sadly this is the truth over 300 of the men I served with in the Falklands War have taken their own lives. Did you know that each year an average of ten Falklands veterans commit suicide, this means that more soldiers have killed themselves since the end of that war than the fewer than two hundred and fifty eight who died during it. (Source: Times cover story 12/11/02) A high profile SAS soldier like McNab is right to bring this up especially now that many of our young men and woman are at War. Like McNab I have lost a friend and fellow Falklands veteran that served on my Rapier in the Falklands...

A few years ago you could have looked in any understairs cupboard and found a box of candles. Every kitchen cupboard had a small store of stand-bys. Every teenage girl knew how to make a simple soup or cheap vegetable stew with a few pence worth of veg and some cupboard stocks such as split peas, pearl barley or lentils. Boys knew how to build a fire or extemporise a garden bread-oven. Now there's a generation who would starve if the microwave didn't work; cooking means heating a frozen pizza, or grilling fish fingers and oven chips. And what's more dangerous, they rely wholly on the television to tell them what to do. In the event of a power outage, they'd be as helpless as babes. Boaty folk are if anything over-provided in the stand-by stakes. Paraffin lamps, calor gas, alcohol...

Ever wondered what our cousins think about us? Here's one take, courtesy of the Los Angeles Times:OUR FASCINATION with the British is Oedipal. "Murdering the King's English," my New England grandmother used to mutter in the face of bad grammar. (Clearly, it made no impression on me.)In her first book "The Anglo Files: A Field Guide to the British," Sarah Lyall -- who moved to London in the mid-1990s as a correspondent for the New York Times and married British writer-editor Robert McCrum -- tracks the odd and endearing behaviors that help us measure our own quirks and cultural obsessions."We look to the future; they look to the past," she writes. "We run for election; they stand for it. We noisily and proudly proclaim our Americanness; they shuffle their feet and apologize for their...

This is going to be an honest, therefore rather boring diary entry. I’ve taken this week off work for a basic, selfish reason, daughter has gone back to work so I am now looking after the boys, Louis and Jamie, 2 days a week, 10 hours a day. I was anticipating that I may find it ‘difficult’ but I do have to admit that it was, on the whole, easier than I thought but when it’s bad it’s really bad, they are lovely, happy babies but there are two of them, two crawling bundles of mischief. Try ‘nipping’ to the loo and it turns into some sort of Krypton Factor 3D, spatial awareness test.  Going to the bathroom involves opening and closing a stair gate before the boys get there so it’s a case of sneaking off and then problems arise when...

I was just thinking the other day about how Little Miss Manuel and I always have a good time when we go out to eat. We don't always have great meals but we always have a good laugh and a sparklingly entertaining time.It's always been like that with LMM. Wasn't always like that with my previous relationships, although relationships is probably stretching it a bit. I remember with horror the first time I took a girl out for dinner. And she was a girl and I was a boy, a boy with one thing on my mind, obviously. Oh look I'm going red as I type this, how nice.Sit back and cringe with me.I'm sooooo fucking happy......no seriouslyHer name was Linda and I worshipped her. I worshipped any girl that showed any interest in me. Hell I fell in love if they even spoke to me. I was an awkward teenager,...

Regardless of if you're a Conservative or not (many of you are not), what would you like the next Conservative government to do for you, your family and your community?And, if you're from a deprived area like Tottenham, how could Conservatives -- working in partnership with the public, private and voluntary sectors -- reduce crime, address inequalities, support businesses, create jobs and provide educational opportunities to name just a few?Here's Hunter's shopping list, sorry, top five suggestions:1. Support voluntary organisations like the London Boxing Academy, which is based here in Tottenham. It provides for young adults who do not prosper in conventional educational settings. It teaches Maths and English as well allowing people, mainly young black boys, with sporting opportunities...

I love it when British sports teams do well. We all love it when British teams do well. But it does not change society.Winning the 2003 rugby union world cup and regaining the Ashes did not change society. In fact they have barely changed rugby or cricket.So while I have been enjoying our extraordinary success in Beijing, I do not have much time for arguments like this:The Olympics ... provoke children, and adults, into running, swimming, cycling, jumping and rowing. They give the ordinary heroes, and draw us a little way after them. They remind us what hard work, dedication and skill can do. They provide stories about heartache and bravery - Paula Radcliffe - and giving something back - Kelly Holmes. And by doing that, they change millions of people's lives far away from grand...

Like most parents, we are looking forward to the return to school on Thursday with some trepidation and some joy.The children will be into new environments; with some new friends to make and some old friends to lose; new teachers; and, new challenges ahead.On the up side, (especially for working parents) the daily routine will be set for the next nine months and the almost daily need to entertain and amuse will be removed reduced. Well at least for the next seven weeks before the October holidays commence.Tonight we knocked off a bit early and went out for dinner with the kids to celebrate the end of another summer and to talk about the changes they face this week. It can't be done tomorrow, as that is a night for early to bed for us all.The serious parent-child talk was kind of lost in...

Even if you’re not a Twitter user, these awesome Twitter fortune cookies are a stroke of genius. Twitter user Neven Mrgan has decided to integrate some of the best “tweets” ever written into the crunchy interior of fortune cookies. Now we know how the Fail Whale maintains such a healthy girth! Tons and tons of cookies. Mrgan will supposedly be selling these cookies starting in September. How awesome would it be if your local chinese resturant stocked up on some of these bad boys? I think I’d order Chinese food a hell of a lot more. How would you like to break open a fortune cookie and fine the wise words of Merlin Mann or Robert Scoble? Sorry Confucius, we might be won over. Source via Neatorama[ Twitter Fortune Cookies: Sorry Confucius copyright by Coolest...

I didn't have a fun weekend. I never really got my groove on at any point. It felt long and it felt more arduous than it should have. It was like being forced to watch Adam Sandler playing that one role he has, you know the likable dim witted hero who fucks up for 85 minutes but wins the girl/the trust of his father/the game for the team in the last five minutes. It was that shit of a weekend and I yearned for it to be over. Much like watching Chuck & Larry.But we all love a little drama from time to time, whether it be in films, books, TV, even online. Oh yes a little drama is a good thing. But drama has it's place, particularly amateur dramatics. And a restaurant is no place for amateur dramatics. Such things should be left to the professionals, professionals like me.boo fucking...

Hooray!New laptop delivered and have spent a few hours this evening loading software and files. Hail Household Insurance! No time for blogging though as Sullen son decides that he's camping out tonight with 3 friends and its left to me and Hazel to do all the preparations. What is it with teenage boys? I'm not going to dwell on the fact that they've decided to erect the tent 3 feet away from two ponds and the fact that its going to be pitch black soon. One of them bought a barbecue but no food. Good job I bought them some sandwiches, crisps and snacks. And drinks. They're camping next to a field full of sheep and are really worried they will be charged at in the night and trampled to death. Funny really to have a group of streetwise kids, capable of handling themselves and full of bravado...

I'm told the following was used in Socialist Sunday Schools (a little thin on the ground, nowadays) around 1900, to be committed to memory by the children.Love your school companions, who will be your co-workers in life.Love learning, which is the food of the mind, be as grateful to your teachers as to your parents.Make every day holy by good and useful deeds, and kindly actions.Honour good men and women, be courteous to all; and bow down to none.Do not hate or speak evil of anyone; do not be revengeful, but stand up for your rights and resist oppression.Do not be cowardly. Be a friend to the weak, and love justice.Remember that all good things of the earth are produced by labour. Whoever enjoys them without working for them is stealing the bread of the workers.Observe and think in order...

My sources within the Rochdale Libdemologist cult tell me that for the second time in a year David "call me Dave" Hennigan is planning to desert the sinking ship that is Lib Dem Rochdale, specifically perhaps deserting the dysfunctional MP Paul Rowen - the worst parliamentary representative in the town's history, and that includes the bare-lost-boys-arse-slapping, hang Stephan Kisko, asbestos-is-food-of-the-gods bully and half-sharp Lib Dem "hero" Cyril Smith. The first time Dave started bragging of his imminent promotion of course was after W Menzies Campbell identified the frequent inebriate Hennigan as a Cowley Street recruit, shortly before Ming's sad demise. This time we're told there is another fool in London ready to risk all on this reprobate. Perhaps it is Rowen offering potty...

i'm sure these signs never used to give the reason.  or perhaps i've only just spotted they do.  anyway, this is ideal if you want to see the curry boys being filmed.  whatever that is.  (i think it's unrelated to the advert being filmed a few streets away).  there was also some filming trucks and food place next to the Royal Albert Hall yesterday.  no idea if it's related.  sorry for my lack of knowledge.  i do my best, but you know.  sometimes.  it's just not good enough. link | Comments (0) | celebrity interest...

Understanding what's going on in Zimbabwe is a tall order, but an article in today's Guardian (20/6/2008) about who might follow Mugabe with a description of the present locus of power illustrates one aspect. The military became involved in politics after 2000 when a possible alternative to Zanu PF appeared. What the successive generals made clear is that they were not prepared to see a reversal of what they considered they had won through the liberation struggles. In this regard socialists might have sympathies, particularly if it was clearly a peoples' struggle. However it seems most people are seen as the enemy now and a powerful elite has emerged enjoying the privileges brought with it. "On January 9 2002, the then Zimbabwe Defence Forces (ZDF) commander Vitalis Zvinavashe declared...

Night out with the boys last night. The first one for an age. And it must have been good because Mrs S isn’t talking to me this morning. God knows why she has to be like that, I didn’t arrive home drunk and I don’t think I was particularly noisy when I did arrive back to what I loosely call home, in the early hours (with two friends). Anyway, a great night. A meal at my beloved Vintner plus the added surprise from one of my mates who thought we were having the meal to mark the occasion of my birthday. It was nice to receive a present a month early. After the food and quite a lot of drink we then moved on to The Dirty Duck where I think I might have been a little mouthy. I’m afraid an apology might be necessary to Sam the Landlord. All in all an hugely enjoyable night. online...

We're ready. I've packed for sun, rain, hail and wind. We've got sandals, wellies and trainers. The dogs have those peg lead things so they can all sit outside the caravan without wandering off round the site. I have plenty of books and David has his walking shoes and those ridiculous three quarter length trouser things that he tends to wear when at the seaside. Mac has paddling pool for the decking, plenty of puzzles and books for when he's "sitting on the beach mummy". We have enough food to last a week and every available inch of the cars will be crammed full.Bea is suitably horrified at the words "weekend at a caravan" and is trying to talk me out of it. "Darling, let the boys stay at the caravan and you could stay at the Burstin, I've heard good things about it. You could commute in...

I apologise that this post will only really benefit those students studying in London, UK but I hope it can also provide you with an idea for something similar in your area. When I went to University, I suddenly found myself surrounded by girls, girls and more girls! Not because I was particularly attractive or anything but because the previous school I went to for a boys school…. I was also there for 4 years. I remember that there was a female French teacher who had an affair with one of the boys but other than that, nothing, zilch.. no females at all. So, when I became a University student, the vast proportion of them were single (at least, in the first term anyway). As a student, I didn’t have much money so I would think of where to take them on dates… needless to...

I know, it has been a while since I posted. But your going to really enjoy this one.Ok, so my husband has this friend. We will call him Jim.You see Jim is, what he claims to be, is an earth person, living off the land and building from the forest around him. He uses an underground spring for water and hunts for his meat.Sounds great huh? NOT!He seems like a nice guy and you think, upon first meeting him, that he has his life together. But when you get to really know him, you find him to be a 42 year old man, living in the middle of the forest, 2 kids that he has nothing much to do with and refuses to work for a living.Jim smokes only when someone is visiting and they smoke, he drinks but only when someone visiting has drinks. He is a class act mooch!He has 2 boys, one has been living...

I came across this weeks interviewee whilst browsing great good blogs. Cath’s blog talks about great home cooking, not fancy stuff, just the stuff you really fancy eating. Oh, and it looks like she makes really great cakes too. Have a read of The Distracted Housewife here, and find out below what makes her tick, foodwise.  Cath, how would you describe yourself?  As a good-humoured, sometimes harassed, always busy mum who (sometimes) still feels as though she’s only pretending to be a grown-up!  It’s really important to me that we eat well, as a family, and I truly believe that time spent cooking is time well spent.  Not to mention time spent eating…   How and when did you get into cooking, and how would you describe your style of cooking? I’ve...

Rice rationing has begun to bite in Britain and the US only a couple of days after my post on food security. In Britain rice is being rationed by shopkeepers in Asian neighbourhoods to prevent hoarding. Tilda, the biggest importer of basmati rice, said that its buyers — who sell to the curry and Chinese restaurant trade as well as to families — are restricting customers to two bags per person. It is the first time that US retailer Wal-Mart, the world’s biggest retailer which owns Asda, has introduced rationing in the US. While Americans suffered some rationing during the Second World War for items such as petrol, light bulbs and stockings, they have never had to limit consumption of a key food item. I hope international food aid programmes will be able to reach those...

Thames Valley Police have been asked to investigate an event which took place very recently at the Pakistan Community Centre in east Reading. It was billed as some kind of birthday party or private event, and perhaps it was. But it was attended by councillors Dictatorship Dave and Hartley, and by the Reading West MP (in whose constituency it is not), and not by elected representatives from any other party. Speeches were made, by the Reading West MP telling the community assembled there to vote Labour, and by Dictatorship Dave saying "Vote for me, I gave you the mosque", and a lavish buffet was consumed. If it was a private party election speeches should not have been made. If it was an election meeting then the food, and the premises, count towards election expenses. If people were...

The producers have surpassed themselves. Every target of watercooler hatred is here. The dickhead sales managers; the "project managers" who spend their time in meetings or writing motivational speeches, and Vicky Pollard's cousin!This week, evil ginger stringbean Ms Celeriac is first to the emailer phone (yes, I did used to work with someone like her, and yes, the feeling was mutual), and gleefully passes on SirAlan's summons to the 4th floor of the Tate - some crazy metaphor about regeneration. SirAlan wants the candidates to "regenerate" the urban pub trade, with a day of gastropubbery in Islington. I note that La Celeriac appears to wear one of her nasty air-hostess type scarves even to bed. Does she have really awful prison style neck tattoos or something?Strangely shiny mandroid Ian...

It's not exactly organising a p*ss-up in a brewery, but this week the teams have to sell pub food.Fourteen candidates.They meet surallen, Margaret and Nick in the fantastic Tate Modern.The girls go for a Bollywood theme in the King's Head in Islington, while the boys choose to cook Italian food.Kevin Shaw is made head chef and claims to be happy.Early tensions when the boys buy the food.With the girls, Nick Hewer looks like he sat on a mousetrap when Sara Dhada (project leader) and Claire Young argue about food.Lunch not ready for the ladies' team.A waiter from a nearby resturant claims to be a Bollywood dancer and is asked to perform.Cringeworthy personal introductions between waitresses and guests.Overlong pep talk by Kevin outside of the kitchen "Big drive".Pizzas are halved as they...