Glaswegian Advent Calendar

Glaswegian Advent Calendar

Butterbean Gratin

350g Butter Beans (if dried, soak overnight)
1 onion chopped
2 cloves
1 celery stalk chopped
2 carrots chopped
1 bay leaf
1L water
bunch chopped parsley
75g butter
1 tbsp plain flour
300ml milk
125g grated cheese
100g breadcrumbs

Put water, beans, onion, cloves, celery, carrot and bay leaf in pan and bring to the boil. Cover & simmer for 1 hour 15 mins.

In small pan, melt butter & take off heat. Stir in flour then milk & thicken over low heat. Add half the cheese, all parsley. Season slightly.

Drain the beans and combine with sauce in a large ovenproof dish. Sprinkle with breadcrumbs and remaining cheese, season and place in hot oven (200C) for 15 mins until browned.

(recipe from back of Asda butterbean packet!)

Easy White Bread Recipe

http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2009/sep/10/bake-your-own-bread

"Dan Lepard's failsafe white bread recipe

You can conjure an impressive loaf with little effort and barely any kneading. Toss in up to 200g of cubed cheddar, crispy bacon, or well-drained pitted olives and some chopped herbs and you will have one of those "wow" breads you see in magazines.
Takes three or four hours.

400g strong white flour, plus more for shaping
1 tsp dry instant yeast, from a sachet
1 tsp fine salt
300ml warm water
oil for kneading

Put the flour, yeast and salt in a bowl, pour in the water (and add any optional extras) then stir into a sticky mass. Cover the bowl with a cloth and leave for 10 minutes. Lightly oil your worktop and hands. Knead the dough for 10 seconds and return it to the bowl. Repeat twice more at 10-minute intervals, then leave in the bowl for 45 minutes. Wipe the worktop, dust it with flour then pat the dough into a rough oblong. Roll it up tightly, pinch each end to keep it neat then place seam-side down on a floured tray. Cover with a cloth and leave for 45 minutes or until the dough has expanded by a half. Flour the top of the dough, cut a slash down the middle and bake at 220°C/fan 200°C/425°F/gas 7 for 35-40 minutes."

Cheese Review - Danish Blue

Very tangy Blue cheese. I found it heftier than Roquefort, despite it being supposedly milder.

8/10

Cheese Review - Ossau-Iraty

Very nice, mellow, sheepy-cheese. Like some Swiss ones I've tried but creamier and actually has some flavour!

8/10

Cheese Review - 2

St Agur
A blue cheese, so a lot like the other blueys. Aged in cellars rather than caves.

As it says here, is creamier & milder than Stilton, and less salty than Roquefort.

Veggie Shepherd's Pie

adapted from
http://www.veggiefoodguide.co.uk/in/show.php?id=12

Ingredients:

3-5 medium size potatoes
1 small onion
2 small cloves of garlic
5-6 medium sized mushrooms [note: works fine without em]
Half a small packet of quorn mince (or substitute)
1 tin tomatoes
2 veggie stock cubes
Dessert spoon light soy sauce.
Tablespoon olive oil
Pepper to taste
Tsp nutmeg
Tsp paprika
Enough med/strong grated cheddar to cover top of mash
Margerine

Chop onions and saute in oil with crushed garlic on low heat.

Peel potatoes and chop into smallish pieces.

When onions transparent add quorn and lightly fry until lightly browned. Alternatively, and the way I did it, simmer the frozen quorn mince in vegetable stock for the recommended cooking time first and skip the frying of it - then add it into the mix after the line ending 'paprika' below.

Boil kettle for water for potatoes

Add tomatoes, mushrooms and stock cubes.

Stir in pepper, soy sauce, nutmeg, paprika.

Simmer on low heat, adding water if needed.

Put potatoes in pan with water and boil on medium heat until soft enough to mash.

Mash potatoes with marge and seasoning. Add blob of mustard if you want.

Fill an oven dish (enough for two/three) with mince to halfway. Cover with mash. Cover with cheese and cook in oven on Gas mark 5/6 or 190% until cheese browned.

Cheese Review - pt 1

Roquefort - 9/10
Like an oily salty stilton. Aged in caves. Unsettling texture (bat shit?) but spreadable. Very nice.

Bleu D'Auvergne - 9/10
Another bluey, very close to stilton, but milder.

Demi Pont L'eveque - 4/10
One of those gooey French creamy cheeses that smell a bit sweaty. Half of this is rind, which I'm not sure you can eat so went in the bin. Not massively unpleasant but boring processed dairylea tastes better.

Totem Tomatoes

http://www.garden4less.co.uk/proddetail.asp?prod=xTM269
These produce loads of tomatoes in a small space.

Marrow and Roasted Garlic Soup

from http://www.telegraph.co.uk/foodanddrink/recipes/3292157/Readersrecipes-marrow.html

• 1 large head of garlic
• 4 fl oz/110ml olive oil
• 1 marrow (mine weighed about 3lb/1.5kg)
• 2oz/60g butter
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 1.5 pints/850ml chicken stock (ideally homemade, otherwise half-strength stock cube)
• Salt and pepper
• 5 fl oz/140ml single cream
• snipped chives (optional)

Heat the oven to 400F/200C/Gas mark 6.

Break the garlic into cloves, leaving on the skins. Put the oil in an ovenproof dish and turn the garlic cloves in it until they are coated. It may seem a lot of oil, but any less and you risk burning the garlic. Roast for 15 minutes. [note: They were a bit overdone when I did this, maybe try 12 mins] Cool slightly, then press out the pulp and mash it. Discard the skin and any hard or coloured bits of garlic. If one or two cloves burst in the oven, they will have to be thrown away, too, unless you can salvage the soft, creamy white part. Strain the oil and use it for other cooking.

While the garlic is cooking, peel, deseed and chop the marrow. Melt the butter in a large saucepan and soften the onion without letting it brown. Add the marrow, stock, garlic pulp, salt and pepper. Cover and simmer gently until the marrow is soft. Cool, liquidise until smooth and sieve. Reheat gently, without boiling, and stir in the cream [Note: Don't overdo it! + if freezing any, do before adding cream]. Scatter on a few chives before serving if you like.

Jolokia comparison

Jolokia chilli comparison

Easy Courgette Recipe

From www.twowests.co.uk/weblog/archives/2006/07/growing_courget.html

"What you do with large courgettes is you cut them lengthwise in half, scrape out the seed and seed fiber with a spoon. Then you get some tomatoes and onions or salsa, or precooked rice, or anything you like cept peanut butter and you stuff the hollwed out inside of your courgette. Then you add olive oil or butter if you insist to your stuffing as a drizzle and then you put the other half back on top and bake at about 375F for about 45 minutes or until its done. Its done when poking it with a fork is really easy. You have enough courgette to feed about 4 people if its 12 inches long and you stuffed it astutely so what you do is ask some friends over who like wine and tell them to bring something you have never tasted before. You then drink wine and have supper and drink more wine. A proper ale is okay too but it is illegal to have stuffed courgette with an american brand of beer."

Big Fish, Little Fish, Cardboard Box

...is a dance to this tune

Used a lot at UK holiday camps (eg. Haven, Park Resorts).
Quite surreal when you've had a few drinks.

This is how you do the first part of the dance - link
Here's Bob the Builder's version - lyrics altered though (shame!)

60s dance crazes illustrated

http://www.sixtiescity.com/Culture/dance.shtm

Arthur Worsley - Ventriloquist

Arthur Worsley - Ventriloquist act - via WFMU

Veg soup recipe

Veg soup recipe

Makes 4-6 bowls

* Splash of Olive Oil

* 1 Onion, finely chopped

* 1 garlic clove, finely chopped

* 1 celery stick and/or carrot, chopped

* 1kg vegetables (cooked or uncooked), chopped

* about 1.5L vegetable stock or water

* salt and pepper

- Heat oil in a large pan, add the Onion, garlic and celery and/or carrot and cook gently, covered, for 5 to 7 minutes

- Add the vegetables, stir around and cook for five minutes. Add enough stock Or water just to cover, plus some salt and pepper then simmer gently for 10 minutes, if using cooked vegetables, or about 20 minutes for raw vegetables.

- Allow the soup to cool a little and then blitz to a creamy smoothness with a hand-held blender or in a liquidiser. Adjust the seasoning. Reheat in a clean saucepan to serve.

Chilli Notes

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080211185645AAApyCz

http://www.chillies-down-under.com/pickling-chillies.html

saving chili seeds

http://www.g6csy.net/chile/growing.html

http://www.canningpantry.com/pickling-chili-peppers.html

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20070509043514AAlTlqa

Belle Isle Middle School being pulled down

http://www.leodis.net/display.aspx?resourceIdentifier=20081016_167554&DISPLAY=FULL

http://www.leodis.net/display.aspx?resourceIdentifier=20081016_167556&DISPLAY=FULL

http://www.leodis.net/display.aspx?resourceIdentifier=20081016_167559&DISPLAY=FULL

ARMCHAIR THRILLER

ARMCHAIR THRILLER