What is it? Coffee maker part

I should start a new blog called what is it.

Every so often I find an item I cannot identify.

Today I recognised one. It was a square plastic tray with the corner cut out. It was the drip tray from the back of the base of a coffee maker, where it catches the coffee capsules. Mystery solved.

What's the problem? What's bleeping in the kitchen?

What's bleeping? Your microwave? Your oven. Your watch. Your phone. The smoke detector? A reversing vehicle? The fridge door left ajar - that was it!

Cakes with marzipan and icing top needed for a photo cake for a birthday

Fruit cakes with marzipan topping and white icing like wedding cakes are widely available at Xmas. I looked at my favourite supplier, Marks & Spencer, because I wanted a proper fruit cake with marzipan and solid icing on top so I could order an edible photo and put it on top.
   I have a supplier of a sponge cake, plain sponge or chocolate sponge, with a great photo. But the topping is solid sugar and it's really not ideal in a family where people have had diabetes and cancer caused by a high sugar and junk food diet. Anyway, I just like nuts and marzipan.
   I found a German maker of marzipan cakes in Lubeck, a city known for marzipan, but the reviewer said the cake is tiny, only a one person size, not a birthday cake size for four or more people. So I am still searching.

   

Birthday cakes - more research on ice cream

   For another birthday and a wedding anniversary this year I am continuing to research birthday cakes.

   Baskin Robbins in the UK makes cakes. Today they showed me the latest which is a small ice cream cake in four slices of separate colours (and I presume different flavours). That costs about £21 on special offer as it has just been introduced in March 2014.
   You can order a cake and have a special message on it. 72 hours notice is needed.

More information from www.baskinrobbins.co.uk

For cakes with marzipan see next blog.

Dog Walking: Samoyed; Cockerpoodle; Tibetan Terrier

You don't need to walk a dog to meet dog-owners and get chatting. All you need is a camera. I say, "Oh, what a lovely dog. May I take a photo? "

The reply is, "Of course you may."

What kind of dog is this beauty?

A samoyed.

What kind of dog is this one?

A cross between a cocker spaniel and a poodle.

Called a cocker poodle or cocka-poo.

Look at the camera!

(No, this ball is much more interesting.)

And what is this little darling?

A Tibetan terrier.

Making Popcorn - Easy!

 Are you at home watching a movie? or just wanting a quick snack?

 I was amazed how easy it is to make popcorn. Buy corn in a supermarket or deli or ethnic food shop.

Store in a lidded container in your fridge because a spoon of it goes a long way.

My chef gave me these instructions:

"Put the oil in the pan, maybe with butter for more flavour. Put the pan at the back of the hob, heat it gently. Get a pan cover ready and gently slide in the corn. Don't turn the heat full on yet because you don't want it to shoot out into your eye and all over the floor. Cover pan with a glass lid and turn up the heat until the corn starts popping. Don't let it get too hot - once the first ones are popping turn the heat down so they don't burn and go black. If you can see lots have not popped, give the pan a gentle shake in case they are in a cold spot. Some won't pop. When you have finished popping turn off the heat and wait a minute or two until you are sure the popping has stopped. Then pour out your corn. You can add salt or sugar after. Don't remove the lid while corn is popping - it's too dangerous." 

Chew carefully - some half cooked bits may be hard and you want to preserve your teeth. Enjoy.  

Photo Birthday Or Mother's Day Cakes & Edible Printing

Wedding caterers at wedding shows in hotels in springtime show elaborate cakes, often three tiers or round or square cakes. I saw three round cakes mounted on top of each other (no wobbly pillars!). Around the outside was a spiral chute turning the cake into a helper skelter (what the Americans calla   with Ice mountains on a sloping cake and teeny model skiers - that's what I ordered for my son's thirteenth birthday cake. Photo cakes can be made for your family or business all over the world.
I've mislaid the old photo so I looked on the web. I found a spiral bar mitzvah ski cake from sweet grace.net of New Jersey, USA.
        

When I was organising a family 60th birthday party in Singapore I asked the caterer for a cake featuring the four hobbies or interests of the birthday boy - motorcycling, mountains (climbing/trekking), playing cards (bridge), and running through jungles (Hash House Harriers paper chase).
          I thought I would get a slope or conical tower with tiny models of motorcyclist as the bottom, and climber half way up, and a playing card such as the King of hearts on the top. However, the caterer asked me to send me photos. He wanted my chosen mountain, which was Everest. The correct motorcycle.
         My first thought was that the ideal bike would be a Harley. However, my biker had never owned a Harley. So he considered a that novelty bike for showoffs.  Instead, to be safe and certain of pleasing him, I needed a picture of the current bike. But birthday to be boy was either between bikes or the bike was in the garage for repairs. Or he was elsewhere, or the bike was in another country to the birthday boy. So I opted for an old picture showing birthday boy on his most recent bike.
       Next, which card. Surely, just any pack of cards. No. The caterer did not want to show a pack of cards but just one desired card. I had to specify which card.
     What about the birthday date, day or month? Some think 13 is unlucky, so is 4 which is unlucky in Chinese. In Chinese 8 and 88 would be lucky.After many more phone calls and conversations we opted for an ace. Ace of hearts was too girly for our boy. But I had to avoid the Ace of Spades symbolising death.   That left the ace of clubs.    Birthday boy could respond to the demand to cut the cake and answer the call for 'Speech!' by mentioning playing cards, and membership of a club.
      To my surprise the cake was just an oblong cake with one photo on the top showing my own four pictures. I had wanted a 3D cake but everybody seemed happy with the result. The flat top layer was removed and saved for later, whilst the oblong cake was cut up to eat. It was  a huge cake. We put the leftovers in the freezer and went on eating a tiny finger size slice for tea at Sunday lunch on weekends for months afterwards.
    When it came to my recent birthday in 2014, in the previous days I had seen lots of cakes featuring the birthday girls. I wanted a birthday cake with a photo of myself with one of my books.
    As an author I wanted a cake in the shape of a book - quite a common design, I thought, which would be widely available, for weddings and bar mitzvahs.
   The birthday cakes made like wedding cakes with fruit cake containing fruits and nuts, with marzipan on top, were three figure sums

For my birthday I asked for a cake with a photo of myself and my books. Time was running out. I settled for a card showing books, and my face on a cake.

   Now I'm investigating photo cakes and edible photo machines. Here are some findings:

Edible printer
www.sugarshack.co.uk
Printer, ink, and edible sheets £150-£175.
Packs of edible icing sheets (25 in a pack) £25
Edible inks £45.
Customer Service: 44 (0)20 8204 2994

So if you have three or more celebrations in a year, it might be worthwhile investing in a kit.
Read more by Angela Lansbury, author, poet, travel writer:
YouTube; LinkedIn; Facebook; Lulu.com

Never mind Pythagorus. Please Pension us in school maths lessons and exams.

   How many people use Pythagorus at least once after leaving school? Did you, do you or will you? How many have a pension after leaving school? Did you, do you or will you? How many do a tax return? Did you, do you or will you?

   Never mind pythagor-us. Let's have pension us. Teach pensions in maths lessons at school. Keep exam questions all about managing your money.
   I've just retired. I had hoped to do nothing. But I'm totally baffled by a tax return. Please teach us about pensions and tax returns in school. And when unemployed. And when retiring. 

What women really want?

Warning - spoiler. Fifty Shades of Grey ends with the shy girl thinking she's had enough and walking out. Violence and pain is not what she wants, just love and attention and stimulation, so the minute he stops sticking her to her fantasy and goes into his own and hurts her - she's out.

Mother's Day photo cakes from caketoppers

You can buy a whole flat top cake printed with a photo of the mother, or her with the family, or a collection of cupcakes. I had the sponge cake with a photo on top for my birthday. Many people would prefer a chocolate cake.

My cake came with discount code card which had to be used soon afterwards. So if you've another birthday or arriver say coming up, wait for your discount card and then order again from the same people. They also do corporate cakes.

Here's my birthday cake.

If you slice off the top, you can keep it for a second party next day or for two parties, one of adults and one for children.
more details from
www.caketoppers.co.uk
For books by Angela Lansbury go to Lulu.com
I also have several blogs, one on travel, more books, and videos on you tube. I am on LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter.

Birthday cake showing photo of Author Angela Lansbury

We ordered the birthday cake from caketoppers.co.uk because I wanted a cake with a photo on top. The cake cost about £30. It was sent with a code for a discount off another order within a month. The choose of cakes was plain sponge or chocolate sponge. I would have preferred a fruit cake or a healthier cake with an almond marzipan but we opted for the cheapest cake with a photo on top, as my first choice was a cake in the shape of a book, but you had to pay at least a hundred pounds for the ones we found on line and all I wanted was an amusing cake with something personal on it for my birthday. I could have ordered or bought a second cake made of fruit with a marzipan topping and served that separately, or moved the cake topping onto another cake.

More information on cakes from: cake toppers.co.uk

More information on Angela Lansbury author on Facebook, linkedIn, You Tube and books by Angela Lansury on Lulu.com

Beds and mattresses needed in a hurry

Lots of sites offer next day delivery of beds and mattresses. But you may have to order before midnight, before 6 pm, or before 4 pm,or before 11 am. You might have to pay extra for weekend delivery. If you want something special such as a 7 foot mattress, they may need two or three weeks as it may be made specially.
   One of my favourite shops is IKEA. But not ideal for beds, if you are moving into a new place and need a bed tomorrow.

Angela Lansbury's note
Yes, I sometimes upload posts and revise and update the same day.

    You may wonder why I did not wait until I had finished, then put up a proper post. That's because first time around I spent ages checking facts and revising.  But then a timeout or failure meant I lost all my work. I had wasted time.
   So now I upload early, so if I lose a connection or get called away, at least some of my post. If you come back later you may be rewarded by updates.

Write Your Life Story And Obituary

I just read that Walter George Bruhl Jnr surprised his family by writing his own obituary. Great idea. Write your own obituary and life story. That way you can save everybody time, get the facts right, and know what will be said about you. 
    By the way, my obit in summary: great author, 20 books, blogs, witty, wonderful, reliable family member and friend to the world.

Pancakes

THE HISTORY OF PANCAKE DAY
Why make pancakes on Pancake Day? If you are religious, it is a religious Christian custom to give things up for Lent. You give up goodies for Lent by having them for the last time the day before, called Shrove Tuesday.
    I watched a Discovery programme about the Ten Plagues and Pharaoh and the death of the first-born. Detectives were brought in to analyse why the firstborn died. Impossible for assassins to have entered every house, undetected, and never to have killed anybody else. That leaves disease and poison. Poison could be deliberate or accidental.
   Why would a poison affect the firstborn more than others. Firstborn are older, often one year, two years, or four years older. They are given double portions, the only portion if there is not enough food to go round. (And it occurs to me that toddlers and babies may be drinking milk only, breastfeeding, in Ancient times.)
    Why would one group be affected and not another? Different grains eaten. The rich in one area eat one type of stored grain. The poor slaves living in another area eat another grain and do not grow or gather or save enough to have stores.
    What causes widespread poisoning? In the USA rural communities in previous centuries suffered from St Vitus dance. This was caused by a ind of mildew affecting stored grain when you had an unusually rainy season.
    Farming communities learned to clear out the old, diseased grain in the spring before the new harvest.
   In ancient times you could not persuade people to follow health and safety rules. They were lazy or thought if they could get away with ignoring the rule once they would try to get away with ignoring the rule as often as they could. The only way to make them obey a safety rule was to make the rule a ritual, a habit, a rule, a superstition. God said do it. You did it to celebrate a famous event.
   So the ancient Hebrew communities celebrated not dying from the plague by have the Seder night. Seder means order. Passover - when the angel of death passed over. You get rid of all the flour in the house. (You can't eat moist bread. Only matzoh, dry flat crackers.)
    The Last Supper of Jesus was according to some historians a Passover meal.
    When Christians took over the custom, they gave it a new meaning. Lent. You may or may not like this version of the history of pancake day. If you have an alternative version, and/or more stories to add, I'd be glad to hear them.
 
ANY CHILD CAN MAKE PANCAKES - MY CHILD DID!
    Belatedly I celebrated pancake day with pancakes for breakfast. the recipe for pancakes is easy. My son learned it from his maternal grandmother, my mother. He was a schoolboy. He asked a friend's mother for pancakes and she apologised because she had run out of pancake packet mix. He claims he astonished her by making up pancake mix and cooking her family pancakes.
   As keen cooks will know, the main ingredients of pancakes (like the four ingredient quick sponge cake) are flour, milk, egg, with a little oil. (If you like, add a pinch of salt. Or oil. We are going easy on suspect salt and sugar.)

PANCAKE INGREDIENTS
   I egg, 150 ml/gram milk, fifty mil/gram for flour.

A millilitre is a thousandth of a litre (litre ending re in England er in America), a centilitre is hundredth and a decilitre is a tenth. Wine bottles are 75 cl, three quarters of a liter - the word is abbreviated to make more room on the label.
   For water or milk you can say mils or grams. Depending on density - mil is a volume, and a mil of water weighs a gram. But a mil of light, less dense oil weighs less than a gram. Oil may look thick, but oil spills float on the sea. If you have a balsamic vinegar mix, the ingredients separate and the oil floats on top of the vinegar. A mil of honey weighs more than a gram. Vinegar is the same density as water and goes to the bottom of your sauce jug.

PANCAKE TOPPING(S)
Lemon
Sugar
Cinnamon
Jam
Or other sweet/savoury topping
Traditionally lemon juice and white sugar. But the latest research suggests that for health and dieting sugar is bad whilst cinnamon is good. You might also like to use up old jam.

Utensils needed:
Bowl for flour.
Weighing scales (We use a flat scale.)
Stirring spoon
Sieve
Non-stick frying pan (the size of pancake)
Non stick spatula for turning pancake
Plate (dinner plate or at least the size of frying pan for serving pancake
(Smaller side plate will do if you serve the pancakes folded)
Knife and fork to eat pancake
Small spoon to serve jam from jar

METHOD
1 Sieve your flour into a bowl so flour does not make lumps.
2 Stir in egg. Mixture becomes thick like a solid dumpling.
3 Add milk slowly, stirring gradually to be sure you do not make lumps. I got fed up with this and used a blender.
4 Add small amount of oil to frying pan. Pour back excess and/or wipe off excess.
5 Turn heat under pan to low.
6 Pour in enough batter to cover surface.
7 When batter is turning solid, turn upside down with non-stick spatula in order to cook the other side.
8 When both sides are cooked, turn off heat.
9 Remove pancake with spatula to plate.
10 Add topping to pancake or serve to guests and allow them to choose their own toppings.
11 Host/cook. Ask guests to help clear and wash up. (Or say, 'Don't worry. I'll clear up.')
12 Guest. (If it's your turn to be the guest. Compliment cook and thank host/householder. Smile at children and nudge or tap their toes to encourage them to copy your thanks. Nod and grin when they do!)

   Can you store extra/surplus pancake mix? It contains fresh egg.
Some people make a stack of pancakes and turn them into a cake, with chocolate or other sandwiching ingredient. Or serve with fruit after dinner.

Crying Babies

You can silence a crying baby but keep it alive. A crying baby wants attention, warmth, rest, distraction, food or drink. You hug it, keep it warm, jiggle it, wave something in front of it, feed it milk. Put a finger or nipple or baby milk feeder or pacifier in its mouth to give it something to suck.