Hi everyone
If you read through this blog to the end you will find a quiz to try, and hand in, with a prize for the winner, and, for years 7 and 8, details of a lunchtime event in Food Tech.
This Sunday saw the start of the Chinese New Year. It will last for 15 days until 25th Feb. This Year is the year of the Snake.
I have been researching lots of facts about the celebration of the New Year and will enlighten you all too!
According to tales and legends, the beginning of
Chinese New Year started with the fight against a mythical beast called the Nian. Nian would come on the first day of New Year
to eat livestock, crops, and even villagers, especially children. To protect
themselves, the villagers would put food in front of their doors at the
beginning of every year. It was believed that after the Nian ate the food they
prepared, it wouldn’t attack any more people. One time, people saw that the
Nian was scared away by a little child wearing red. The villagers then
understood that the Nian was afraid of the color red. Hence, every time when
the New Year was about to come, the villagers would hang red lanterns and red
spring scrolls on windows and doors. People also used firecrackers to frighten
away the Nian. From then on, Nian never came to the village again.
On the days immediately before the New Year
celebration, Chinese families give their home a thorough cleaning. It is believed the
cleaning sweeps away the bad luck of the preceding year and makes their homes
ready for good luck. Brooms and dust pans are put away on the first day so that
the newly arrived good luck cannot be swept away. Some people give their homes,
doors and window-frames a new coat of red paint;
Some believe that the second day of the New Year is also the birthday of all dogs and
remember them with special treats!
On the 13th day people will eat pure vegetarian food to clean out their
stomach due to consuming too much food over the last two weeks.
The fifteenth day of the new year is celebrated as the Lantern
Festival (otherwise known as Chap Goh Mei .Rice dumplings,
a sweet glutinous rice ball brewed in a soup, are eaten this
day. Candles are lit outside houses as a way to guide wayward spirits home.
This day is celebrated as the Lantern
Festival, and families walk the street carrying lighted lanterns.
In Malaysia and Singapore, this
day is celebrated by individuals seeking for a love partner, a different
version of Valentine's Day.
Normally, single women would write their contact number on mandarin oranges and
throw it in a river or a lake while single men would collect them and eat the
oranges. The taste is an indication of their possible love: sweet represents a
good fate while sour represents a bad fate.
A reunion dinner is held on New
Year's Eve where members of the family gather for the celebration. The
venue will usually be in or near the home of the most senior member of the
family. The New Year's Eve dinner is very large and sumptuous and traditionally
includes dishes of meat (namely, pork and chicken) and fish. Most reunion dinners also feature a communal hot pot as it
is believed to signify the coming together of the family members for the meal.
Most reunion dinners (particularly in the Southern regions) also prominently
feature speciality meats (e.g. wax-cured meats like duck and Chinese
sausage) and seafood (e.g. lobster and abalone) that are
usually reserved for this and other special occasions during the remainder of
the year.
Red
packets for the immediate family are sometimes distributed during the
reunion dinner. These packets often contain money in certain numbers that
reflect good luck and honorability.
Red packets almost always contain money, usually varying from a couple of
dollars to several hundred. Per custom, the amount of money in the red packets
should be of even numbers, as odd numbers are associated with cash
given during funerals .The number 8 is considered lucky
The number six is also very lucky. Sometimes chocolate coins are found in the red packets.
In addition to red envelopes, which are usually given from elder to younger,
small gifts (usually of food or sweets) are also exchanged between friends or
relatives (of different households) during Chinese New Year. Gifts are usually
brought when visiting friends or relatives at their homes. Common gifts include
fruits (typically oranges, and never pears), cakes, biscuits, chocolates,
candies, or some other small gifts.
So, if you come to Food Tech on Monday 25th you can pick a red envelope. If there is an even number inside you will receive a little gift. If your number is 8 or 6 you win a Cadbury's creme egg, and if your number is divisible by both 8 and 6 you also win a prize.
Now for your quiz questions:
1. Name the 12 animals of the Chinese calendar,in order.
2. Why is the cunning Rat the first animal?
3. What is the Chinese for Happy New Year?
4. What symbolism do noodles carry?
5. When and where was Ken Hom, the famous Chinese chef, born?
TO FIND OUT MORE ABOUT MRS P's LUNCHTIME EVENT for Years 7 and 8,call in and find out.
Monday, 11 February 2013
Monday, 21 January 2013
Hi everyone!
I am taking advantage of the day off (because of the snow), to write the next blog. This week will be the last Wednesday for another cohort of 12 Year 7's to come for their first ever session of Food Tech. Then, from next week I have the pleasure of the Year 8's. The year 7's have given me much entertainment over the last few weeks; they make a lot of mistakes, but learn from them. They come out with some hilarious statements and questions, but their excitement and enthusiasm is infectious, and I thoroughly enjoy teaching them. Their motivation and enthusiasm ought to be 'bottled' and sold! They had the pleasure of making a Spicy Pasta, Chocolate Brownies and Chicken Stir Fry with Noodles. Mr Collins, as Head of Year 7, often pops in to see how they are doing, and looking for food! So, now, in order that he doesn't have to judge which boy's creation is best, they all put a spoonful of their pasta or stir fry into the same foil container so that he gets a mixture of 6 different attempts (they work in pairs, you see). That way he can only say that they are all good!
I enjoy cooking and creating recipes, so even today I have been baking and inventing! I either make a recipe up entirely, or use a recipe or idea from a book/magazine/the internet etc. and adapt it to suit - often in order to use up some foods and ingredients that I have left over in the fridge or freezer, or in the cupboard.
I love having a good sort out of my kitchen cupboards when I have time, and last night I sorted out lots of bits and pieces from my baking cupboard and today made a few cakes and some cherry and coconut scones. My husband rem,ains slim despite trying all the goodies, as he plays squash regularly!
I am upping my game this term because Mr Clements is becoming something of an expert at baking breads and cakes and give me samples to try. I shall have to be careful as he might be after my job!!
I also keep making an easy but impressive dessert from the new Nigella cookbook of Italian recipes - Nigelissima. I learn several languages as a hobby and my Italian Tutor (although he is actually Polish!) has lived and worked in many regions of Italy, often as a chef, to fund his studies as he progressed through Masters/PhD's, writing a book etc. As a consequence, he is a brilliant cook, and prepares really authentic Italian dishes. He has never heard of Nigella Lawson, but accepts that it was a good idea for her to do a book about Italian Food as she has worked over there as a chambermaid during her gap year, and she is a very popular celebrity chef.
The recipe is ....Meringue Gelato Cake with Chocolate Sauce. All it is really is a mixture of crushed meringues, whipped cream and chopped chocolate that you freeze in a loaf tin lined with cling film. Nigella adds some coffee liqueur. It does't freeze solid, so you can bring it out of the freezer at the last minute, turn it out and slice it up, serving it with chocolate sauce (bought or home made), and some raspberries. It is great! Come and get the recipe from me if you want; the first 4 boys to come for the recipe can try some out of my freezer at school! I keep adapting the recipe already, eg. using half fat creme fraiche with the cream (healthier), chopped Ferero Rocher chocolates, or After Eight mints, or any leftover chocs of your choice!
I am having problems recruiting boys from Years 9, 10 and 11 to enter the heats of the Walsall Young Chef of the Year Competition - I don't know why? All contestants have to do is cook a healthy main course for 2 people for under £8. The heats will take place in the Food Tech Room after school over the next few weeks.
So, I have decided to open it up to Year 8's next. So, if anyone is interested, pop in and see me this week.
If there are too many entries, I will chose the best ideas and the other boys can take part in the School Competition later this year.
Some of you possibly listen to Steve Wright on Radio 2. He is a wacky DJ, who, in my day was a Radio 1 DJ! He has a slot on his show called 'Factoids' where he tells us amazing and weird facts about all kinds of things. I picked up a book of his at a book sale - here are one or two about food....
The record for eating 38 hard boiled eggs is 1 minute 15 seconds!
In 2007, Peter Andre was rushed to hospital in Jamaica suffering from banana poisoning. He had eaten 50 bananas the previous day and was suffering from an extreme potassium overdose!
Saffron is known as the king of spices and it's actually the world's most expensive food by weight. It takes 120,000 crocus flowers, each picked by hand to produce 1 kg of saffron from the stamens!
Following his 300 mph car crash, Top Gear's Richard Hammond developed a craving for celery. He previously wouldn't eat it.
Ready Steady Cook's Ainsley Harriott was once a ball boy at Wimbledon.
Our food is so full of preservatives these days, that it now takes 3 weeks to start rotting rather than 3 days!
Hens lay more eggs when Radio 2 is played to them!
and finally ....
A seaweed used to flavour Japanese food, called UNDARIA PINNATIFIDIA, has been shown to cause weight loss in animals, particularly around the abdomen, and might be developed into a slimming supplement. So, if you're a hippo, look out for the Undaria Pinnatifidia Weight Loss Programme, coming soon to a TV channel near you!
IF ANY OF YOU WOULD LIKE TO HELP WRITE THE BLOG, COME TO SEE ME ABOUT IT SOMETIME AND IT CAN BE ARRANGED. I WOULD APPRECIATE SOME HELP, AND IT WOULD BE A GOOD WAY OF PRACTISING YOUR ENGLISH WRITING SKILLS, WHICH WOULD LOOK GOOD TO THE ENGLISH DEPARTMENT!
I am taking advantage of the day off (because of the snow), to write the next blog. This week will be the last Wednesday for another cohort of 12 Year 7's to come for their first ever session of Food Tech. Then, from next week I have the pleasure of the Year 8's. The year 7's have given me much entertainment over the last few weeks; they make a lot of mistakes, but learn from them. They come out with some hilarious statements and questions, but their excitement and enthusiasm is infectious, and I thoroughly enjoy teaching them. Their motivation and enthusiasm ought to be 'bottled' and sold! They had the pleasure of making a Spicy Pasta, Chocolate Brownies and Chicken Stir Fry with Noodles. Mr Collins, as Head of Year 7, often pops in to see how they are doing, and looking for food! So, now, in order that he doesn't have to judge which boy's creation is best, they all put a spoonful of their pasta or stir fry into the same foil container so that he gets a mixture of 6 different attempts (they work in pairs, you see). That way he can only say that they are all good!
I enjoy cooking and creating recipes, so even today I have been baking and inventing! I either make a recipe up entirely, or use a recipe or idea from a book/magazine/the internet etc. and adapt it to suit - often in order to use up some foods and ingredients that I have left over in the fridge or freezer, or in the cupboard.
I love having a good sort out of my kitchen cupboards when I have time, and last night I sorted out lots of bits and pieces from my baking cupboard and today made a few cakes and some cherry and coconut scones. My husband rem,ains slim despite trying all the goodies, as he plays squash regularly!
I am upping my game this term because Mr Clements is becoming something of an expert at baking breads and cakes and give me samples to try. I shall have to be careful as he might be after my job!!
I also keep making an easy but impressive dessert from the new Nigella cookbook of Italian recipes - Nigelissima. I learn several languages as a hobby and my Italian Tutor (although he is actually Polish!) has lived and worked in many regions of Italy, often as a chef, to fund his studies as he progressed through Masters/PhD's, writing a book etc. As a consequence, he is a brilliant cook, and prepares really authentic Italian dishes. He has never heard of Nigella Lawson, but accepts that it was a good idea for her to do a book about Italian Food as she has worked over there as a chambermaid during her gap year, and she is a very popular celebrity chef.
The recipe is ....Meringue Gelato Cake with Chocolate Sauce. All it is really is a mixture of crushed meringues, whipped cream and chopped chocolate that you freeze in a loaf tin lined with cling film. Nigella adds some coffee liqueur. It does't freeze solid, so you can bring it out of the freezer at the last minute, turn it out and slice it up, serving it with chocolate sauce (bought or home made), and some raspberries. It is great! Come and get the recipe from me if you want; the first 4 boys to come for the recipe can try some out of my freezer at school! I keep adapting the recipe already, eg. using half fat creme fraiche with the cream (healthier), chopped Ferero Rocher chocolates, or After Eight mints, or any leftover chocs of your choice!
I am having problems recruiting boys from Years 9, 10 and 11 to enter the heats of the Walsall Young Chef of the Year Competition - I don't know why? All contestants have to do is cook a healthy main course for 2 people for under £8. The heats will take place in the Food Tech Room after school over the next few weeks.
So, I have decided to open it up to Year 8's next. So, if anyone is interested, pop in and see me this week.
If there are too many entries, I will chose the best ideas and the other boys can take part in the School Competition later this year.
Some of you possibly listen to Steve Wright on Radio 2. He is a wacky DJ, who, in my day was a Radio 1 DJ! He has a slot on his show called 'Factoids' where he tells us amazing and weird facts about all kinds of things. I picked up a book of his at a book sale - here are one or two about food....
The record for eating 38 hard boiled eggs is 1 minute 15 seconds!
In 2007, Peter Andre was rushed to hospital in Jamaica suffering from banana poisoning. He had eaten 50 bananas the previous day and was suffering from an extreme potassium overdose!
Saffron is known as the king of spices and it's actually the world's most expensive food by weight. It takes 120,000 crocus flowers, each picked by hand to produce 1 kg of saffron from the stamens!
Following his 300 mph car crash, Top Gear's Richard Hammond developed a craving for celery. He previously wouldn't eat it.
Ready Steady Cook's Ainsley Harriott was once a ball boy at Wimbledon.
Our food is so full of preservatives these days, that it now takes 3 weeks to start rotting rather than 3 days!
Hens lay more eggs when Radio 2 is played to them!
and finally ....
A seaweed used to flavour Japanese food, called UNDARIA PINNATIFIDIA, has been shown to cause weight loss in animals, particularly around the abdomen, and might be developed into a slimming supplement. So, if you're a hippo, look out for the Undaria Pinnatifidia Weight Loss Programme, coming soon to a TV channel near you!
IF ANY OF YOU WOULD LIKE TO HELP WRITE THE BLOG, COME TO SEE ME ABOUT IT SOMETIME AND IT CAN BE ARRANGED. I WOULD APPRECIATE SOME HELP, AND IT WOULD BE A GOOD WAY OF PRACTISING YOUR ENGLISH WRITING SKILLS, WHICH WOULD LOOK GOOD TO THE ENGLISH DEPARTMENT!
Sunday, 30 December 2012
Hi Everyone
Firstly, here are the answers to the hard quiz from November - I know some people tried it but found it too tricky to submit answers to me.
1. Door locker, citrus fruit tart. ..KEY LIME PIE
2. Cooked US State BAKED ALASKA
3. American River with a silt base tart. - MISSISSIPPI MIUD PIE
4 This festive roll is not for the fire - YULE LOG
5 Dark Wooded area celebration cake - BLACK FOREST GATEAU
6. Cocoa confectionary with trainee girl guide - CHOCOLATE BROWNIES
7. What you do to start a race. - SAGO
8. Sweet Ballerina - PAVLOVA
9. One for the 25th December - CHRISTMAS PUDDING
10. Mr Clinton's daughter with a type of hair arrangement - CHELSEA BUN
11. Granny Smith's shoe repairer APPLE COBBLER
12. Public School shambles - ETON MESS
13. Espied Richard - SPOTTED DICK
14 Half a pair of long legged bloomers - with praise! - KNICKERBOCKER GLORY
15. French eat white dessert - BLANCMANGE
There - it wasn't too tricky - or was it ?
Well, I hope you had a really good Christmas, and, if you celebrate the 25th with a traditional dinner, that it all went smoothly and tasted great. I also hope that you didn't over-indulge and made yourself feel uncomfortably full all day.
A radio programme on the radio on Xmas Eve told of how the Romans actually had a building in their gardens called a VOMITARIUM for when they had overdone it on the eating and drinking - no prizes for guessing what that was there for!!
There were prizes for those boys who entered Alex and Priyesh's multiple choice Xmas quiz in their blog.
A bit suspicious though - they all had the same answer for the question about the spice used in Mulled Wine- the answer on the internet was cumin and of course that must be a mistake because I knew it was Cinnamon from the choice of answers. Suggests that the contestants had accessed the quiz on line or had bribed the 2 boys who set the quiz!!! Just warning you- if any of the boys who entered the quiz offers you a glass of traditional mulled wine that they have made - it might taste a bit like a sweet curry?!
If I am wrong, and anyone finds a recipe for mulled wine using cumin then I stand corrected and will give a prize to you if you bring me a copy of it.
It was my turn to cook on Christmas Day this year - we entertained family, and I offered a selection of starters, turkey and beef as the main course with 5 different vegetable dishes and home made stuffing.
For dessert, my sister in law brought her home made Xmas pud - delicious - and then I had also prepared other sweets - Nigella's gelato meringue dessert with chocolate sauce and fresh raspberries, a home created chocolate roulade filled with creme fraiche and cranberries, and a fresh fruit salad. Whew!
The highlight of the meal though was the Xmas Crackers that my brother in law had sourced - each contained a wind up reindeer named after one of Santas 8. In the cracker box was a little race track which you put in the middle of the dining table. Then we raced our own reindeer against the others! It was hilarious. Below are pictures to illustrate the game. You can buy them for half price now on Amazon - get some for next year!
We had a few foodie presents in our household this Christmas. My husband bought me a Stove top smoker - its really good. You fill it with a choice of wood chips, place the items to be smoked on a rack in the smoker, then close the lid and put it on the hob. It smokes food brilliantly. So far I have done trout, salmon and chicken but I shall be trying out lots more things when I have some spare time. The wood chips he bought me included apple, cherry, oak, alder, hickory,
I bought my husband a George Forman grill, family size, for him to grill a variety of stuff for us all.
I have yet to try out my yoghurt maker, which I bought on special offer at the Good Food Show. I do make my own yoghurt using a vacum flask but this kit has a much bigger, wider 'flask' to cultivate the yoghurt in, so you get more at one time, and its easy to clean. The Show was really enjoyable - we left at 3pm after 5 hours there - we sampled loads of yummy products including cheeses, sausages, dips and sauces, wines and punch, coffees and chocolates, breads and oils etc. etc. We went into the demonstrating theatre to see James Martin - that was really good. He is a classic car fanatic these days and owns several special cars himself, but he actually drove onto the stage in the world's smallest car, which is manufactured in GB. He had to roll out of it because he was almost stuck inside!
The one really interesting display at the show was this huge range of cheeses on tables in a cordonned-off area of the Hall where, during the week, a cheese tasting event had taken place. There were cheeses of all shapes, sizes and varieties on display that had been judged; their makers had been awarded prizes and certificates.
There were cheeses from all over the globe. The over all winner was a manchego cheese from Spain.
One cheese that I definitely wouldn't have wanted to sample was 'sticky toffee pudding cheddar'!
The entries from South Africa were huge whole cheeses in their rinds, and the rinds were designed to resemble the patterns on the skins of giraffes, cheetahs, leopards etc.! Brilliant!
The sad and disappointing thing though was that, because the cheeses had been out at Room Temperature for over 4 hours, they were labelled 'unfit for human consumption' and could not be sampled by or sold to the general public at the Show. They would all have to be 'binned' at the end of the day! Food Safety Regulations I know, as I am a Food Safety Trainer, but honestly, it was such a waste of wonderful products.
So, the quiz this week is to find out which country the following cheeses come from:-
(Tip - consult wikipedia list of world cheeses....)
MQUNDU
PANEER
MAJDOULE
RUBING
TYROLEAN GREY
HALLOUMI
SAGA
EPAISSES
RAUCHKASE
FETA
RICOTTA
LEERDAMMER
MANCHEGO
GOLKA
DOVEDALE
OAXACA
MONTEREY JACK
WAIRUA
QUESO DE MANO
UGLICHSKY
Bring the answers to me when school starts - a prize for the winner.
SIGNING OFF.....MRS P
Firstly, here are the answers to the hard quiz from November - I know some people tried it but found it too tricky to submit answers to me.
1. Door locker, citrus fruit tart. ..KEY LIME PIE
2. Cooked US State BAKED ALASKA
3. American River with a silt base tart. - MISSISSIPPI MIUD PIE
4 This festive roll is not for the fire - YULE LOG
5 Dark Wooded area celebration cake - BLACK FOREST GATEAU
6. Cocoa confectionary with trainee girl guide - CHOCOLATE BROWNIES
7. What you do to start a race. - SAGO
8. Sweet Ballerina - PAVLOVA
9. One for the 25th December - CHRISTMAS PUDDING
10. Mr Clinton's daughter with a type of hair arrangement - CHELSEA BUN
11. Granny Smith's shoe repairer APPLE COBBLER
12. Public School shambles - ETON MESS
13. Espied Richard - SPOTTED DICK
14 Half a pair of long legged bloomers - with praise! - KNICKERBOCKER GLORY
15. French eat white dessert - BLANCMANGE
There - it wasn't too tricky - or was it ?
Well, I hope you had a really good Christmas, and, if you celebrate the 25th with a traditional dinner, that it all went smoothly and tasted great. I also hope that you didn't over-indulge and made yourself feel uncomfortably full all day.
A radio programme on the radio on Xmas Eve told of how the Romans actually had a building in their gardens called a VOMITARIUM for when they had overdone it on the eating and drinking - no prizes for guessing what that was there for!!
There were prizes for those boys who entered Alex and Priyesh's multiple choice Xmas quiz in their blog.
A bit suspicious though - they all had the same answer for the question about the spice used in Mulled Wine- the answer on the internet was cumin and of course that must be a mistake because I knew it was Cinnamon from the choice of answers. Suggests that the contestants had accessed the quiz on line or had bribed the 2 boys who set the quiz!!! Just warning you- if any of the boys who entered the quiz offers you a glass of traditional mulled wine that they have made - it might taste a bit like a sweet curry?!
If I am wrong, and anyone finds a recipe for mulled wine using cumin then I stand corrected and will give a prize to you if you bring me a copy of it.
It was my turn to cook on Christmas Day this year - we entertained family, and I offered a selection of starters, turkey and beef as the main course with 5 different vegetable dishes and home made stuffing.
For dessert, my sister in law brought her home made Xmas pud - delicious - and then I had also prepared other sweets - Nigella's gelato meringue dessert with chocolate sauce and fresh raspberries, a home created chocolate roulade filled with creme fraiche and cranberries, and a fresh fruit salad. Whew!
The highlight of the meal though was the Xmas Crackers that my brother in law had sourced - each contained a wind up reindeer named after one of Santas 8. In the cracker box was a little race track which you put in the middle of the dining table. Then we raced our own reindeer against the others! It was hilarious. Below are pictures to illustrate the game. You can buy them for half price now on Amazon - get some for next year!
I bought myself a good book just before Christmas, after hearing it serialized on the radio. It is called The Horologican . I think you know that I am very interested in the history of the English Language, and this book – a book of hours - gives you many long-forgotten
extraordinary words in the English language, arranged according to the hour of
the day when you really need them.
On the food side, let’s look at one or two breakfasty
words….
The study of breakfast is called ARISTOLOGY, and an
aristologist would have even studied the 19th book of the Iliad – a
famous Greek epic written by Homer. The whole 19th book is given
over to the subject of whether to eat breakfast or not! Agamemnon gives a long
speech commanding the Greeks to JENTICULATE – eat breakfast- whilst Achilles
gives an even longer speech pointing out that it will make them late for work
(ie. Killing Trojans!) Had Achilles been more reasonable he would have settled
for a quick CHOTA HAZRI – a brief
breakfast just enough to keep you going til elevenses! It’s a Hindi work for
little breakfast, and was even used in a story about a chap who, in 1886 spent
the night up a tree with a tiger, and, when he returned at dawn simply wanted a
chota hazri before he would tell them of his adventures!
Eggs, in the eighteenth century were actually called
CACKLING FARTS on the basis that chickens cackled all the time and eggs came
out of the back of them!
A lovely onomatopoeic word for a rashly roasted rasher of
bacon is BRIZZLED - scorched near to burning. We had a few foodie presents in our household this Christmas. My husband bought me a Stove top smoker - its really good. You fill it with a choice of wood chips, place the items to be smoked on a rack in the smoker, then close the lid and put it on the hob. It smokes food brilliantly. So far I have done trout, salmon and chicken but I shall be trying out lots more things when I have some spare time. The wood chips he bought me included apple, cherry, oak, alder, hickory,
I bought my husband a George Forman grill, family size, for him to grill a variety of stuff for us all.
I have yet to try out my yoghurt maker, which I bought on special offer at the Good Food Show. I do make my own yoghurt using a vacum flask but this kit has a much bigger, wider 'flask' to cultivate the yoghurt in, so you get more at one time, and its easy to clean. The Show was really enjoyable - we left at 3pm after 5 hours there - we sampled loads of yummy products including cheeses, sausages, dips and sauces, wines and punch, coffees and chocolates, breads and oils etc. etc. We went into the demonstrating theatre to see James Martin - that was really good. He is a classic car fanatic these days and owns several special cars himself, but he actually drove onto the stage in the world's smallest car, which is manufactured in GB. He had to roll out of it because he was almost stuck inside!
The one really interesting display at the show was this huge range of cheeses on tables in a cordonned-off area of the Hall where, during the week, a cheese tasting event had taken place. There were cheeses of all shapes, sizes and varieties on display that had been judged; their makers had been awarded prizes and certificates.
There were cheeses from all over the globe. The over all winner was a manchego cheese from Spain.
One cheese that I definitely wouldn't have wanted to sample was 'sticky toffee pudding cheddar'!
The entries from South Africa were huge whole cheeses in their rinds, and the rinds were designed to resemble the patterns on the skins of giraffes, cheetahs, leopards etc.! Brilliant!
The sad and disappointing thing though was that, because the cheeses had been out at Room Temperature for over 4 hours, they were labelled 'unfit for human consumption' and could not be sampled by or sold to the general public at the Show. They would all have to be 'binned' at the end of the day! Food Safety Regulations I know, as I am a Food Safety Trainer, but honestly, it was such a waste of wonderful products.
So, the quiz this week is to find out which country the following cheeses come from:-
(Tip - consult wikipedia list of world cheeses....)
MQUNDU
PANEER
MAJDOULE
RUBING
TYROLEAN GREY
HALLOUMI
SAGA
EPAISSES
RAUCHKASE
FETA
RICOTTA
LEERDAMMER
MANCHEGO
GOLKA
DOVEDALE
OAXACA
MONTEREY JACK
WAIRUA
QUESO DE MANO
UGLICHSKY
Bring the answers to me when school starts - a prize for the winner.
SIGNING OFF.....MRS P
Monday, 10 December 2012
Mrs P here. I am having a bit of a break from writing the blogs as you know; this week it's 2 more
pupils from 8P who are having a go. They created this blog all by
themselves, and with a bit of tweaking by me have published it for you below.. Do take time to read it through and have a go at the multiple choice quiz
at the bottom of the page No one entered last week's quiz; so the chocs
go into the roll-over and get added to the prizes for this week. That
means there will be a runner up too, rather than just one winner..
Hey guys, I’m Alex and this is Priyesh, from 8P. This week we are blogging about potatoes, and how they are humble. We’ve found 48 synonyms for humble. We had to go through a lot of websites and thesauruses to get them. Some of them are: obliging, obsequious, reverential, self-conscious, self-effacing, subservient, supplicatory, unambitious, unostentatious, unpretentious. All relevant to the spud, don't you agree?
Hey guys, I’m Alex and this is Priyesh, from 8P. This week we are blogging about potatoes, and how they are humble. We’ve found 48 synonyms for humble. We had to go through a lot of websites and thesauruses to get them. Some of them are: obliging, obsequious, reverential, self-conscious, self-effacing, subservient, supplicatory, unambitious, unostentatious, unpretentious. All relevant to the spud, don't you agree?
In the English dictionary, it said ‘also called Irish
potato, white potato. The edible tuber of a cultivated plant, Solanum Tuberosum, of the nightshade
family.’
Potato in Gujarati is ‘batako’.
If you want to play some Christmas games, just go to:
INTERESTING SPUD FACTS
·
Children get more
vitamin C, B1, B6, Folate,Iron, Magnesium and Potassium from potatoes than beetroot,
bananas, nuts, broccoli and avocado all combined.
·
All the nuts,
seeds and nut products eaten by children provide kids in the UK with less
selenium than potatoes.
·
The record number
of chip portions sold in a fish & chip shop, in a day, is 4000
·
¼ of all potatoes
grown in Britain are made into chips. That’s around 1.5 million tons each year,
or nearly the same weight as 125,000 full double decker buses.
CHRISTMAS FOOD FACTS
· One notable medieval English
Christmas celebration featured a giant 165-pound pie.
The giant pie was nine feet in diameter. Its ingredients included:
* 2 bushels of flour
* 20 pounds of butter
* 4 geese
* 2 rabbits
* 4 wild ducks
* 2 woodcocks
* 6 snipes
* 4 partridges
* 2 neats' tongues
* 2 curlews
* 6 pigeons
* 7 blackbirds.
The giant pie was nine feet in diameter. Its ingredients included:
* 2 bushels of flour
* 20 pounds of butter
* 4 geese
* 2 rabbits
* 4 wild ducks
* 2 woodcocks
* 6 snipes
* 4 partridges
* 2 neats' tongues
* 2 curlews
* 6 pigeons
* 7 blackbirds.
· In the Ukraine, they bake a
traditional Christmas bread called "kolach". This bread is braided
into a ring, and three such rings are placed one on top of the other, with a
candle in the center of the top one. The three rings symbolize the Holy
Trinity.They also set the table for Christmas Eve dinner with two tablecloths:
one for the ancestors of the family, the other for the living members as in
pagan times, ancestors were believed to be benevolent spirits who, when shown
respect, brought good fortune. The Ukrainians also prepare a traditional
twelve-course meal at Christmas time. A family's youngest child watches through
the window for the evening star to appear, a signal that the feast can begin.
· The inventor of the Christmas cracker
or bon-bon was Tom Smith who owned a sweet shop in London.
Visiting France in the 1840's, while Tom was in France, he came across sweets wrapped in a twist of paper. As they were quite popular, he began to copy the idea.When Tom noticed that young men were buying them to give to their sweethearts, he began to place "love mottoes" on small slips of paper inside the sweet wrapping.Later in 1846, and thinking about Christmas, Tom's thoughts turned towards placing toys and novelties inside the twisted wrapping. He experimented with this and invented the idea of producing a wrapping that could be pulled apart. Voila! The humble Christmas cracker!
Visiting France in the 1840's, while Tom was in France, he came across sweets wrapped in a twist of paper. As they were quite popular, he began to copy the idea.When Tom noticed that young men were buying them to give to their sweethearts, he began to place "love mottoes" on small slips of paper inside the sweet wrapping.Later in 1846, and thinking about Christmas, Tom's thoughts turned towards placing toys and novelties inside the twisted wrapping. He experimented with this and invented the idea of producing a wrapping that could be pulled apart. Voila! The humble Christmas cracker!
A fun christmas quiz - Mrs P has the answers locked away in the Food Tech safe. Print off your responses, hand them in this week, and win a Christmas selection box! If no one enters, the 2 bloggers get the chocs!!
1Mince
pies used to be oblong with a pastry figure on top. Who did this symbolise?
Jesus
Rudolf
Noddy Holder
2
Brussels sprouts got their name because
They
were called russels, but this was mispronounced
They were popular in
Brussels
Little cabbages was
deemed too long a name
3 How
many mince pies should you eat for luck?
3
6
12
52
4 When
did good king Wenceslas step out?
On
the eve of Christmas
On the feast of Stephen
To the tune of Jingle
Bell Rock
5 In
which direction should you stir mincemeat?
Clockwise
Anticlockwise
6 Who
first tucked into turkey in Britain?
Henry
VIII
Charles I
Oliver Cromwell
Queen Victoria
7 Which
spice would you not normally use when mulling wine?
Cinnamon
Cloves
Nutmeg
Cumin
8 What
might have been served as a traditional Christmas dinner in early Britain?
Lancashire
hotpot
A mustard-smothered
pig's head
Black pudding
9 What
might you find running through the middle of stollen?
Chestnuts
Marzipan
Gold
More cake
10 Which
of the following is a traditional flavouring for bread sauce?
Sage
Cloves
Star
anise
11 The
first mince pies actually contained meat as well as fruit.
True
False
12 What
do Germans cook their Brussels sprouts in?
Water
Apple juice
Beer
Schnapps
Mrs P here. I am having a bit of a break from writing the blogs as you know; this week it's 2 more pupils from 8P who are having a go. They created this blog all by themselves, and with a bit of tweaking by me have published it for you below.. Do take time to read it through and have a go at the multiple choice quiz at the bottom of the page No one entered last week's quiz; so the chocs go into the roll-over and get added to the prizes for this week. That means there will be a runner up too, rather than just one winner..
Hey guys, I’m Alex and this is Priyesh, from 8P. This week we are blogging about potatoes, and how they are humble. We’ve found 48 synonyms for humble. We had to go through a lot of websites and thesauruses to get them. Some of them are: obliging, obsequious, reverential, self-conscious, self-effacing, subservient, supplicatory, unambitious, unostentatious, unpretentious. All relevant to the spud, don't you agree?
Hey guys, I’m Alex and this is Priyesh, from 8P. This week we are blogging about potatoes, and how they are humble. We’ve found 48 synonyms for humble. We had to go through a lot of websites and thesauruses to get them. Some of them are: obliging, obsequious, reverential, self-conscious, self-effacing, subservient, supplicatory, unambitious, unostentatious, unpretentious. All relevant to the spud, don't you agree?
In the English dictionary, it said ‘also called Irish
potato, white potato. The edible tuber of a cultivated plant, Solanum Tuberosum, of the nightshade
family.’
Potato in Gujarati is ‘batako’.
If you want to play some Christmas games, just go to:
INTERESTING SPUD FACTS
·
Children get more
vitamin C, B1, B6, Folate,Iron, Magnesium and Potassium from potatoes than beetroot,
bananas, nuts, broccoli and avocado all combined.
·
All the nuts,
seeds and nut products eaten by children provide kids in the UK with less
selenium than potatoes.
·
The record number
of chip portions sold in a fish & chip shop, in a day, is 4000
·
¼ of all potatoes
grown in Britain are made into chips. That’s around 1.5 million tons each year,
or nearly the same weight as 125,000 full double decker buses.
CHRISTMAS FOOD FACTS
· One notable medieval English
Christmas celebration featured a giant 165-pound pie.
The giant pie was nine feet in diameter. Its ingredients included:
* 2 bushels of flour
* 20 pounds of butter
* 4 geese
* 2 rabbits
* 4 wild ducks
* 2 woodcocks
* 6 snipes
* 4 partridges
* 2 neats' tongues
* 2 curlews
* 6 pigeons
* 7 blackbirds.
The giant pie was nine feet in diameter. Its ingredients included:
* 2 bushels of flour
* 20 pounds of butter
* 4 geese
* 2 rabbits
* 4 wild ducks
* 2 woodcocks
* 6 snipes
* 4 partridges
* 2 neats' tongues
* 2 curlews
* 6 pigeons
* 7 blackbirds.
· In the Ukraine, they bake a
traditional Christmas bread called "kolach". This bread is braided
into a ring, and three such rings are placed one on top of the other, with a
candle in the center of the top one. The three rings symbolize the Holy
Trinity.They also set the table for Christmas Eve dinner with two tablecloths:
one for the ancestors of the family, the other for the living members as in
pagan times, ancestors were believed to be benevolent spirits who, when shown
respect, brought good fortune. The Ukrainians also prepare a traditional
twelve-course meal at Christmas time. A family's youngest child watches through
the window for the evening star to appear, a signal that the feast can begin.
· The inventor of the Christmas cracker
or bon-bon was Tom Smith who owned a sweet shop in London.
Visiting France in the 1840's, while Tom was in France, he came across sweets wrapped in a twist of paper. As they were quite popular, he began to copy the idea.When Tom noticed that young men were buying them to give to their sweethearts, he began to place "love mottoes" on small slips of paper inside the sweet wrapping.Later in 1846, and thinking about Christmas, Tom's thoughts turned towards placing toys and novelties inside the twisted wrapping. He experimented with this and invented the idea of producing a wrapping that could be pulled apart. Voila! The humble Christmas cracker!
Visiting France in the 1840's, while Tom was in France, he came across sweets wrapped in a twist of paper. As they were quite popular, he began to copy the idea.When Tom noticed that young men were buying them to give to their sweethearts, he began to place "love mottoes" on small slips of paper inside the sweet wrapping.Later in 1846, and thinking about Christmas, Tom's thoughts turned towards placing toys and novelties inside the twisted wrapping. He experimented with this and invented the idea of producing a wrapping that could be pulled apart. Voila! The humble Christmas cracker!
A fun christmas quiz - Mrs P has the answers locked away in the Food Tech safe. Print off your responses, hand them in this week, and win a Christmas selection box! If no one enters, the 2 bloggers get the chocs!!
1Mince
pies used to be oblong with a pastry figure on top. Who did this symbolise?
Jesus
Rudolf
Noddy Holder
2
Brussels sprouts got their name because
They
were called russels, but this was mispronounced
They were popular in
Brussels
Little cabbages was
deemed too long a name
3 How
many mince pies should you eat for luck?
3
6
12
52
4 When
did good king Wenceslas step out?
On
the eve of Christmas
On the feast of Stephen
To the tune of Jingle
Bell Rock
5 In
which direction should you stir mincemeat?
Clockwise
Anticlockwise
6 Who
first tucked into turkey in Britain?
Henry
VIII
Charles I
Oliver Cromwell
Queen Victoria
7 Which
spice would you not normally use when mulling wine?
Cinnamon
Cloves
Nutmeg
Cumin
8 What
might have been served as a traditional Christmas dinner in early Britain?
Lancashire
hotpot
A mustard-smothered
pig's head
Black pudding
9 What
might you find running through the middle of stollen?
Chestnuts
Marzipan
Gold
More cake
10 Which
of the following is a traditional flavouring for bread sauce?
Sage
Cloves
Star
anise
11 The
first mince pies actually contained meat as well as fruit.
True
False
12 What
do Germans cook their Brussels sprouts in?
Water
Apple juice
Beer
Schnapps
Wednesday, 28 November 2012
Hi Guys
Mitul Patel here. 8P. Blog Publicity Representative.
This week it's my turn to write the blog! I hope you have read the blog from last week. We have had some hits already. No time now to enter the Chip Quiz. A couple of Year 7's entered, but so did I and I got full marks - no cheating I promise! So I claim the chocolate bar - those year 7's who submitted answers can still go to Mrs P for a mini mars bar as a consolation prize.
The quiz this week is totally different - a bit tricky but I bet your parents will know some of the answers - especially if they like cakes, puddings and desserts! You'll find the quiz at the bottom of the page.
Last term, in English Support lessons, some of us researched the potato.
We called the projest 'The Humble Potato' because humble is an adjective - a describing word - and here we are describing the good old spud. Synonyms for 'humble' include - modest, not - boastful, reserved.
The spud doesn't show off - it just gets on with its job Yet, it's really versatile. You can use it in lots of different recipes. Mrs P has even got a recipe from Cadbury's where you use istant mashed potato in a chocolate cake - it is a starch after all and you just use it instead of flour! We'll publish the recipe next week for you to try
Potatoes have a lot of history behind them, they are full of nutrients, are easy to grow, and so much more.
Here are a few things I found out...
There is a picture of the potato tubers growing on Columbia in 1999 below:
Mrs P googled 'spuds in space' and there were lots of other interesting web links.
A school in Idaho, some years later, were allowed to send potatoes up on the space shuttle to see if they would be able to grow on Mars They use soil that contained the same sort of stuff as would be found on the surface of Mars. The spuds did grow!
Another website showed a potato dressed as Santa that was launched into 'space' by some school children in Devon, who attached the mini Santa Shuttle to a helium weather balloon. It was up for over 2 hours at 90,000 metres, before the balloon exploded, letting the santa shuttle float back to earth attached to a parachute! It landed, appropriately in a field of Xmas trees, being grown ready for the festive season!
You can see a picture of SPUDNIK below. Read more about these things on the web for yourselves.
Now here's this week's quiz.......
The answers are Cakes, Puddings or desserts. eg. A mere thing .answer..TRIFLE
Have a go - even if you can't answer all of them you still might win! The prize is a Christmas selection box!
1. Door locker, citrus fruit tart.
2. Cooked US State
3. American River with a silt base tart.
4 This festive roll is not for the fire
5 Dark Wooded area celebration cake.
6. Cocoa confectionary with trainee girl guide.
7. What you do to start a race.
8. Sweet Ballerina.
9. One for the 25th December.
10. Mr Clinton's daughter with a type of hair arrangement.
11. Granny Smith's shoe repairer.
12. Public School shambles
13. Espied Richard
14 Half a pair of long legged bloomers - with praise!
15. French eat white dessert.
Mitul Patel here. 8P. Blog Publicity Representative.
This week it's my turn to write the blog! I hope you have read the blog from last week. We have had some hits already. No time now to enter the Chip Quiz. A couple of Year 7's entered, but so did I and I got full marks - no cheating I promise! So I claim the chocolate bar - those year 7's who submitted answers can still go to Mrs P for a mini mars bar as a consolation prize.
The quiz this week is totally different - a bit tricky but I bet your parents will know some of the answers - especially if they like cakes, puddings and desserts! You'll find the quiz at the bottom of the page.
Last term, in English Support lessons, some of us researched the potato.
We called the projest 'The Humble Potato' because humble is an adjective - a describing word - and here we are describing the good old spud. Synonyms for 'humble' include - modest, not - boastful, reserved.
The spud doesn't show off - it just gets on with its job Yet, it's really versatile. You can use it in lots of different recipes. Mrs P has even got a recipe from Cadbury's where you use istant mashed potato in a chocolate cake - it is a starch after all and you just use it instead of flour! We'll publish the recipe next week for you to try
Potatoes have a lot of history behind them, they are full of nutrients, are easy to grow, and so much more.
Here are a few things I found out...
The
Humble Potato
1. The word for potato in French is
pomme de terre and the reason why it’s
called that is because pomme means apple ,and de terre means from the ground .The
meaning of pomme de terre literally means apple from the ground.
2. In the Indian culture we use
potatoes in potato pukaras’s
3. Fun Facts
about potatoes
· Brits
are the third largest consumers of potatoes in Europe. Only the Portuguese and the Irish eat more
than us.
· Fredrick
Lord Woolton, once a Minister of Food, may be remembered as the most popular
government minister ever. During the Second World War he declared that fish
& chips were the only food not to be rationed.
4.
2 Interesting Facts about the chip shop
A quarter of all potatoes grown in Britain are
made into chips – that’s around 1.5million tonnes each year, or nearly the same
weight as 125,000 full double decker buses .
The
World’s largest fish and chip portion was made in July 2011 at the Wensleydale
Heifer Fayre.
I
asked my Dad a fact about a potato, and
he told me that the potato skin has lots of vitamins, so we should always eat
the skin too.
5. Remember
one thing about Spuds in Space
Did you know that in 1995, potatoes were
taken into space aboard the shuttle Columbia.This is the first time that food
had ever been grown in space. The experiment was to see if potatoes would grow in micro gravity like on spacecrafts. If we are to send astronauts on longer space journeys in the future they will need to grow some of their own food. The spuds did grow, the roots grew in all directions as there was no gravity, and they grew longer and faster than the 'control' ones growing normally in a lab at the Kennedy Space Lab on earth.
There is a picture of the potato tubers growing on Columbia in 1999 below:
Mrs P googled 'spuds in space' and there were lots of other interesting web links.
A school in Idaho, some years later, were allowed to send potatoes up on the space shuttle to see if they would be able to grow on Mars They use soil that contained the same sort of stuff as would be found on the surface of Mars. The spuds did grow!
Another website showed a potato dressed as Santa that was launched into 'space' by some school children in Devon, who attached the mini Santa Shuttle to a helium weather balloon. It was up for over 2 hours at 90,000 metres, before the balloon exploded, letting the santa shuttle float back to earth attached to a parachute! It landed, appropriately in a field of Xmas trees, being grown ready for the festive season!
You can see a picture of SPUDNIK below. Read more about these things on the web for yourselves.
Now here's this week's quiz.......
The answers are Cakes, Puddings or desserts. eg. A mere thing .answer..TRIFLE
Have a go - even if you can't answer all of them you still might win! The prize is a Christmas selection box!
1. Door locker, citrus fruit tart.
2. Cooked US State
3. American River with a silt base tart.
4 This festive roll is not for the fire
5 Dark Wooded area celebration cake.
6. Cocoa confectionary with trainee girl guide.
7. What you do to start a race.
8. Sweet Ballerina.
9. One for the 25th December.
10. Mr Clinton's daughter with a type of hair arrangement.
11. Granny Smith's shoe repairer.
12. Public School shambles
13. Espied Richard
14 Half a pair of long legged bloomers - with praise!
15. French eat white dessert.
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