Now that I work for a Finnish company, Nokia, I am learning more and more about Finland. Today, for example, is the 70th anniversary of the Winter War.
"The Soviet Union launched attacks against Finland on November 30, 1939 after claiming Finland had shelled a border village. It was not until after the fall of the Soviet Union that Russia admitted that the shelling came from Russian territory and was used as a pretext to attack Finland.
Prior to hostilities, the then Soviet dictator Josef Stalin had demanded Finland surrender parts of Karelia in addition to some strategic locations along the Finnish south coast.
The war claimed the lives of around 23,000 Finns. After the cessation of hostilities in March 1940, some 400,000 people were evacuated from areas captured by Soviet forces. However, Finland remained an independent nation. Indeed, a survey published last week showed a majority of Finns believe the Winter War saved the nation from tyranny."
Monday, 30 November 2009
Turkish food and Christian debate
I had another great day yesterday. The Book Club went up to London to a Turkish restaurant near Oxford Street (near the main shopping area).
It is Anita's birthday today (I think she was one of the founders of the book club) so we had a cake and sang happy birthday.
The waiter brought cappucinos later and said they put the milk in as a heart because of Anita's birthday:
Non-stop rain in England. We went out to see the Christmas lights and shop a little after lunch but it was so wet and everyone's umbrellas were at war.
We got back home to Reading, wet but happy, then it was out to Wellington College to see a debate with Richard Dawkins and the Bishop of Oxford. The subject was whether atheism is the new fundamentalism.
Thousands of people were there to watch and learn.
It was a thrilling and electrifying event. I'd never been to a professional debate before. I'll put a video up of it later when it goes up on YouTube.
I think the line I'll remember most from the debate was when a Christian asked AC Grayling what the point of life was without God. He said that our purpose on Earth is to give meaning to other people's lives and to help one another.
It is Anita's birthday today (I think she was one of the founders of the book club) so we had a cake and sang happy birthday.
The waiter brought cappucinos later and said they put the milk in as a heart because of Anita's birthday:
Non-stop rain in England. We went out to see the Christmas lights and shop a little after lunch but it was so wet and everyone's umbrellas were at war.
We got back home to Reading, wet but happy, then it was out to Wellington College to see a debate with Richard Dawkins and the Bishop of Oxford. The subject was whether atheism is the new fundamentalism.
Thousands of people were there to watch and learn.
It was a thrilling and electrifying event. I'd never been to a professional debate before. I'll put a video up of it later when it goes up on YouTube.
I think the line I'll remember most from the debate was when a Christian asked AC Grayling what the point of life was without God. He said that our purpose on Earth is to give meaning to other people's lives and to help one another.
Nazis and Christmas
I read about a new exhibit in Germany that looks fascinating. I didn't know the Nazis tried to stop Christmas. See below.
Nazi Germany celebrated Christmas without Christ with the help of swastika tree baubles, 'Germanic' cookies and a host of manufactured traditions, a new exhibition has shown.
The way the celebration was gradually taken over and exploited for propaganda purposes by Hitler's Nazis is detailed in a new exhibition.
Rita Breuer has spent years scouring flea markets for old German Christmas ornaments.
She and her daughter Judith developed a fascination with the way Christmas was used by the atheist Nazis, who tried to turn it into a pagan winter solstice celebration.
Selected objects from the family's enormous collection have gone on show at the National Socialism Documentation Centre in Cologne.
'Christmas was a provocation for the Nazis - after all, the baby Jesus was a Jewish child,' Judith Breuer told the German newspaper Spiegel. 'The most important celebration in the year didn't fit with their racist beliefs so they had to react, by trying to make it less Christian.'
The exhibition includes swastika-shaped cookie-cutters and Christmas tree baubles shaped like Iron Cross medals.
The Nazis attempted to persuade housewives to bake cookies in the shape of swastikas, and they replaced the Christian figure of Saint Nicholas, who traditionally brings German children treats on December 6, with the Norse god Odin.
Nazi Germany celebrated Christmas without Christ with the help of swastika tree baubles, 'Germanic' cookies and a host of manufactured traditions, a new exhibition has shown.
The way the celebration was gradually taken over and exploited for propaganda purposes by Hitler's Nazis is detailed in a new exhibition.
Rita Breuer has spent years scouring flea markets for old German Christmas ornaments.
She and her daughter Judith developed a fascination with the way Christmas was used by the atheist Nazis, who tried to turn it into a pagan winter solstice celebration.
Selected objects from the family's enormous collection have gone on show at the National Socialism Documentation Centre in Cologne.
'Christmas was a provocation for the Nazis - after all, the baby Jesus was a Jewish child,' Judith Breuer told the German newspaper Spiegel. 'The most important celebration in the year didn't fit with their racist beliefs so they had to react, by trying to make it less Christian.'
The exhibition includes swastika-shaped cookie-cutters and Christmas tree baubles shaped like Iron Cross medals.
The Nazis attempted to persuade housewives to bake cookies in the shape of swastikas, and they replaced the Christian figure of Saint Nicholas, who traditionally brings German children treats on December 6, with the Norse god Odin.
Sunday, 29 November 2009
Church wants spiritual health care reform
Thanks to regular commenter Drew for sending this item in.
WASHINGTON - The calls come in at all hours: patients reporting broken bones, violent coughs, deep depression.
Prue Lewis listens as they explain their symptoms. Then Lewis simply says, "I'll go to work right away." She hangs up, organizes her thoughts and begins treating her clients' ailments the best way she knows how: She prays.
This is health care in the world of Christian Science, where the sick eschew conventional medicine and turn to God for healing. Christian Scientists call it "spiritual health care," and it is a practice they are battling to insert into the health-care legislation being hammered out in Congress.
Leaders of the Church of Christ, Scientist, are pushing a proposal that would help patients pay someone like Lewis for prayer by having insurers reimburse the $20 to $40 cost.
The provision was stripped from the bill the House passed this month, and church leaders are trying to get it inserted into the Senate version. And the church has powerful allies there, including Sens. John Kerry, D-Mass., who represents the state where the church is based, and Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, who said the provision would "ensure that health-care reform law does not discriminate against any religion."
WASHINGTON - The calls come in at all hours: patients reporting broken bones, violent coughs, deep depression.
Prue Lewis listens as they explain their symptoms. Then Lewis simply says, "I'll go to work right away." She hangs up, organizes her thoughts and begins treating her clients' ailments the best way she knows how: She prays.
This is health care in the world of Christian Science, where the sick eschew conventional medicine and turn to God for healing. Christian Scientists call it "spiritual health care," and it is a practice they are battling to insert into the health-care legislation being hammered out in Congress.
Leaders of the Church of Christ, Scientist, are pushing a proposal that would help patients pay someone like Lewis for prayer by having insurers reimburse the $20 to $40 cost.
The provision was stripped from the bill the House passed this month, and church leaders are trying to get it inserted into the Senate version. And the church has powerful allies there, including Sens. John Kerry, D-Mass., who represents the state where the church is based, and Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, who said the provision would "ensure that health-care reform law does not discriminate against any religion."
Saturday, 28 November 2009
Our Thanksgiving
We had a lovely Thanksgiving today. Thursday is just another work day but today all the kids were home. Before I got started on dinner, though, I made dough for gingerbread boys. The most popular part of that is the licking of the spoon and bowl after I mix the dough up.
The turkey I got was not pre-basted so I got creative trying to make sure it wasn't all dried out. I brought out a syringe and filled it with melted butter to do the basting myself.
I couldn't get it to work and ended up shooting butter all over the kitchen. Thank goodness my doctor daughter stepped in to inject the turkey (there was an air bubble in the syringe that was blocking it, she discovered). Here's a professional at work:
Katie also set the table and featured a pilgrim boy and girl that my grandmother painted years ago.
Here's my son Mikey and his friend Anna about to eat. I made everyone at the table say one thing they were thankful for this year.
Anna, from Bristol, had never been to a Thanksgiving dinner before, so Mel explained the story to her. We had a wonderful meal.
The turkey I got was not pre-basted so I got creative trying to make sure it wasn't all dried out. I brought out a syringe and filled it with melted butter to do the basting myself.
I couldn't get it to work and ended up shooting butter all over the kitchen. Thank goodness my doctor daughter stepped in to inject the turkey (there was an air bubble in the syringe that was blocking it, she discovered). Here's a professional at work:
Katie also set the table and featured a pilgrim boy and girl that my grandmother painted years ago.
Here's my son Mikey and his friend Anna about to eat. I made everyone at the table say one thing they were thankful for this year.
Anna, from Bristol, had never been to a Thanksgiving dinner before, so Mel explained the story to her. We had a wonderful meal.
A vicar's musings
More opinion from the Sherborne St John, Hampshire, vicar who has a column in the village magazine. He says we should pray that the stupid wars we are fighting end soon (because Christians are being persecuted in them), and hopefully, all of the citizens of these foreign lands will end up finding Jesus. That'll sort the problems out, for sure.
"As we consider these things we should remember that, as has been said “Prayer moves the hand that moves the world” and make full use of this weapon that the Lord Jesus has given to all who believe in him.
We need to pray both that peace and security might come and that men of violence might be restrained.
We specially need to pray for Christians caught up in this conflict and often persecuted. And we should ask God that in some way that we perhaps cannot imagine at the moment all that is happening will lead to opportunities for the gospel in these countries and so become part of God’s great plan to save."
PS
Where do these wars fit in with 'God's great plan to save?' Isn't that a funny way to go about it?
Friday, 27 November 2009
A wonderful Thanksgiving
I was sorry that I wasn't in America for Thanksgiving, but once I decided to just let it go and not try to do an imitation day, I really enjoyed myself.
I took the day off and went to visit my daughter Katie at her med school in London.
It's such a pretty place.
I liked this statue of a man sitting down in the students' resting area but Katie said it's really scary to walk past him at night:
Borough Market is near Kings so we went there for lunch. The place was full of stalls like this one:
We have tapas for Thanksgiving
We decided to eat tapas for lunch. We ate at Tapas Brindisa -- the food was fantastic.
My son Mikey had to be in school that day so couldn't join us. I did feel a bit guilty that he wasn't there but I'm cooking a Thanksgiving meal tomorrow for the family.
Charles Dickens' house
After lunch, Mel and I went to check out Charles Dickens' house in Bloomsbury. We are thinking of renting the museum for a party for our 25th wedding anniversary next December. Here's one of the rooms. It was amazing to see his desk, and to be in the bedroom where family members lived and died. I looked in an old mirror and thought how Dickens himself would have looked in the very same mirror and seen himself reflected.
The Sacred Made Real
After the Dickens museum, Mel went home but I had to stay in London for chorus rehearsals later. So I went to the National Gallery to see a new exhibit about 17th-century Spanish religious painting and sculpture, The Sacred Made Real.
It was so interesting. Apparently the Catholic church was concerned about losing members even then so they commissioned incredibly realistic sculptures and paintings. Some of them were so grisly -- especially Jesus lying dead on a slab like he was in a mortuary. The sculptor used bull's nails for his fingers and toes, glass for his eyes and real hair. It was like one of those Twilight Zone episodes where mannequins come to life. I even dreamed about these scary sculptures and woke up thinking I was one of the undead like them.
After the National Gallery, I went to rehearsals in Fitzroy Square. I was amused when the chorus master was debating how to pronounce certain words in the music. For "Let it Snow," he mused: "I suppose it's more authentic to say poppin' instead of popping. And stoppin' instead of stopping."
Uh yeah. As the only American in the chorus, I could have told them the proper way to pronounce it.
I took the day off and went to visit my daughter Katie at her med school in London.
It's such a pretty place.
I liked this statue of a man sitting down in the students' resting area but Katie said it's really scary to walk past him at night:
Borough Market is near Kings so we went there for lunch. The place was full of stalls like this one:
We have tapas for Thanksgiving
We decided to eat tapas for lunch. We ate at Tapas Brindisa -- the food was fantastic.
My son Mikey had to be in school that day so couldn't join us. I did feel a bit guilty that he wasn't there but I'm cooking a Thanksgiving meal tomorrow for the family.
Charles Dickens' house
After lunch, Mel and I went to check out Charles Dickens' house in Bloomsbury. We are thinking of renting the museum for a party for our 25th wedding anniversary next December. Here's one of the rooms. It was amazing to see his desk, and to be in the bedroom where family members lived and died. I looked in an old mirror and thought how Dickens himself would have looked in the very same mirror and seen himself reflected.
The Sacred Made Real
After the Dickens museum, Mel went home but I had to stay in London for chorus rehearsals later. So I went to the National Gallery to see a new exhibit about 17th-century Spanish religious painting and sculpture, The Sacred Made Real.
It was so interesting. Apparently the Catholic church was concerned about losing members even then so they commissioned incredibly realistic sculptures and paintings. Some of them were so grisly -- especially Jesus lying dead on a slab like he was in a mortuary. The sculptor used bull's nails for his fingers and toes, glass for his eyes and real hair. It was like one of those Twilight Zone episodes where mannequins come to life. I even dreamed about these scary sculptures and woke up thinking I was one of the undead like them.
After the National Gallery, I went to rehearsals in Fitzroy Square. I was amused when the chorus master was debating how to pronounce certain words in the music. For "Let it Snow," he mused: "I suppose it's more authentic to say poppin' instead of popping. And stoppin' instead of stopping."
Uh yeah. As the only American in the chorus, I could have told them the proper way to pronounce it.
My daughter shows up in a London paper naked
My daughter does a lot of dubious things while ostensibly studying at Kings' in London but this is the worst so far. To be in a London paper like this -- the shame!
(Wish I'd done something fun like this when I was young. The closest I got was diving naked into the Jackson Reservoir to help scrub the hull of my aunt's boat when I was 25.)
Dozens of skinny-dipping students shock tourists punting in Cambridge
These skinny-dipping students shocked tourists punting on the river by Cambridge's historic colleges after drunkenly stripping naked and jumping in the water.
The 30 students, all rowers from King's College London (KCL), were visiting the city on a week-long tour called 'The Spy Who Ginned Me'.
The young men and women were new members of KCL's boat club and were instructed to strip and jump into the river Cam as part of a freshers' initiation on Sunday.
A barman of the nearby Mill pub said older members of the club then ran off with their peers' discarded clothes.
Staff at the Anchor, another riverside pub, were infuriated with the swimmers who they say invaded their premises, some of them still naked.
(Wish I'd done something fun like this when I was young. The closest I got was diving naked into the Jackson Reservoir to help scrub the hull of my aunt's boat when I was 25.)
Dozens of skinny-dipping students shock tourists punting in Cambridge
These skinny-dipping students shocked tourists punting on the river by Cambridge's historic colleges after drunkenly stripping naked and jumping in the water.
The 30 students, all rowers from King's College London (KCL), were visiting the city on a week-long tour called 'The Spy Who Ginned Me'.
The young men and women were new members of KCL's boat club and were instructed to strip and jump into the river Cam as part of a freshers' initiation on Sunday.
A barman of the nearby Mill pub said older members of the club then ran off with their peers' discarded clothes.
Staff at the Anchor, another riverside pub, were infuriated with the swimmers who they say invaded their premises, some of them still naked.
Top 10 stupid celebrity therapies, according to GPs
Some could be putting their health at risk by choosing 'therapies' favoured by celebrities over a visit to their GP.
Cupping, a form of acupuncture in which heated cups are placed on the skin to stimulate blood flow and ease stress and pain, tops a list of 'health hoaxes' identified by GPs.
Second on the list is colonic irrigation, in which a large, water-filled tube is used to 'cleanse' the bowel.
Actor Ben Affleck has tried it, but there is no medical or scientific evidence it works, according to the NHS Choices website.
In third place is food intolerance testing, which singer Geri Halliwell has tried. Kits can cost up to £275 but the results are said to be highly variable.
The others in the top ten are: 4 detoxing; 5 macrobiotic diets; 6 aromatherapy; 7 reflexology; 8 vitamin B12 injections; 9 extreme yoga; 10 overnight health farm stays.
The list was compiled by insurance firm Aviva from a survey of 200 GPs.
Dr Douglas Wright, of Aviva's health arm, said: 'Too many women are wasting money following health fads that have little effect.
'What's more worrying is that some are opting for treatment trends rather than seeking medical advice - they might not be fashionable but tried and tested health routes are safer and more beneficial.'
Thursday, 26 November 2009
Kahlua Pecan Pie
An expat on Facebook who will be missing Thanksgiving at home in America mentioned Kahlua Pecan Pie. That sounds so good so I looked it up to make at Christmas. As usual, am putting the recipe in my blog so I can find it easily later.
Ingredients:
1/4 cup Butter
3/4 cup Sugar
1 teaspoon Vanilla
2 tablespoons Flour
3 Eggs
1/2 cup Kahlua
1/2 cup Dark corn syrup
3/4 cup Evaporated milk
1 cup Pecan halves or pieces
1 (9 inch) pie crust -- unbaked
Whipped cream -- (optional)
Directions:
Preheat oven to 400F. In a large bowl, cream together butter, sugar, vanilla and flour. Mix well. Beat in eggs, 1 at a time. Stir in Kahlua, corn syrup, evaporated milk and pecans. Mix well and pour into crust.
Bake for 10 minutes; reduce heat to 325F and bake until firm, about 40 minutes. Refrigerate. If desired, serve with whipped cream.
Ingredients:
1/4 cup Butter
3/4 cup Sugar
1 teaspoon Vanilla
2 tablespoons Flour
3 Eggs
1/2 cup Kahlua
1/2 cup Dark corn syrup
3/4 cup Evaporated milk
1 cup Pecan halves or pieces
1 (9 inch) pie crust -- unbaked
Whipped cream -- (optional)
Directions:
Preheat oven to 400F. In a large bowl, cream together butter, sugar, vanilla and flour. Mix well. Beat in eggs, 1 at a time. Stir in Kahlua, corn syrup, evaporated milk and pecans. Mix well and pour into crust.
Bake for 10 minutes; reduce heat to 325F and bake until firm, about 40 minutes. Refrigerate. If desired, serve with whipped cream.
Fried turkey
Happy Thanksgiving Americans! Wish I could be there with you today to feast with you.
One person's view of Thanksgiving: This week is Thanksgiving in the United States. This means that over the coming weekend many Americans will be putting up Christmas decorations in and outside their houses. Many children will be putting finishing touches on their letters to Santa. The shopping malls will start to fill and while economists examine and measure the retail sales bump for signs that the world will not end, we, as a nation, will come together to incrementally crank up the material contents stored in our homes and the corresponding mass of our public landfills.
Of course a Southerner invented it -- Fried Turkey
I just read about a dish growing in popularity -- fried turkey. You just know this dish originated in my part of the world -- the Southern part of the US. We like everything fried. Is it just me or does deep frying a turkey sound repulsive?
Just in case you want to deep fry a turkey: here's how:
What you will need
In addition to a turkey, you need a 40- or 60-quart pot with a basket or turkey frying hardware, plus a propane gas tank and burner, a deep-fry thermometer, a meat thermometer and lots and lots of oil, 3 1/2 to 5 gallons depending on the size of your turkey. Be sure to use oils that have a high smoke point, such as corn, peanut or canola.
You will probably need a fire extinguisher (and this is no joke) with plenty of pot holders close at hand. An injector to add marinades and seasonings to the meat is also good to have, but you can improvise if necessary without it.
Smaller turkeys seem to work better for frying, but certainly nothing larger than 15 pounds.
For very flavorful turkeys, you can inject the turkey before cooking with a favorite marinade. Or perhaps rub the bird with a dry spice rub.
Where to fry
Because so much oil is flammable, you should never fry a turkey indoors unless you have a cooker specially designed for this. Outdoors, place the fryer on a level dirt or grassy area. Avoid frying on wood decks, which could catch fire. You will also want to avoid concrete surfaces, unless you don’t mind oil stains. Always keep a fire extinguisher nearby.
Before beginning, (and before you even season or marinate your turkey) determine the amount of oil you’ll need by placing the turkey in the basket (or on the hanger, depending on the type of fryer you are using) and putting it in the pot. Add water until it reaches about two inches above the turkey. Remove the turkey and note the water level by using a ruler to measure the distance from the top of the pot to the surface of the water. Remove the water and thoroughly dry the pot. Now add enough oil to equal what the water level was without the turkey in the pot.
How to fry
Using a candy thermometer to determine the temperature of the oil, heat to about 325°and no higher than 350°. This usually takes about 20 to 30 minutes. When the oil is hot enough, carefully place the turkey in the basket (follow instructions that come with a turkey frying kit) and slowly lower it into the pot. Now let her fry.
With whole turkeys, you can estimate the time about three minutes per pound to cook. Remove the turkey and check the temperature with a meat thermometer. The temperature should reach 170° in the breast and 180° in the thigh.
Using an injector for marinating
An injector, which resembles a large hypodermic needle, allows you to inject a marinade directly into the bird. You can make a fried turkey without this, but it won’t be as flavorful as injecting your bird with a marinade some 30 to 40 minutes before frying. Inject both sides of the breast, the legs and the thighs of the turkey.
Eliz again:
I might have made fun of this fried turkey idea but it actually gave me a good idea -- to inject melted butter into the bird for moistness. I bought some syringes when I was in Italy last (they sell them at grocery stores -- I couldn't believe it) so I think I'll melt butter and try to shoot up my mini-turkey that I bought to cook on Saturday because it's not a self-baster.
One person's view of Thanksgiving: This week is Thanksgiving in the United States. This means that over the coming weekend many Americans will be putting up Christmas decorations in and outside their houses. Many children will be putting finishing touches on their letters to Santa. The shopping malls will start to fill and while economists examine and measure the retail sales bump for signs that the world will not end, we, as a nation, will come together to incrementally crank up the material contents stored in our homes and the corresponding mass of our public landfills.
Of course a Southerner invented it -- Fried Turkey
I just read about a dish growing in popularity -- fried turkey. You just know this dish originated in my part of the world -- the Southern part of the US. We like everything fried. Is it just me or does deep frying a turkey sound repulsive?
Just in case you want to deep fry a turkey: here's how:
What you will need
In addition to a turkey, you need a 40- or 60-quart pot with a basket or turkey frying hardware, plus a propane gas tank and burner, a deep-fry thermometer, a meat thermometer and lots and lots of oil, 3 1/2 to 5 gallons depending on the size of your turkey. Be sure to use oils that have a high smoke point, such as corn, peanut or canola.
You will probably need a fire extinguisher (and this is no joke) with plenty of pot holders close at hand. An injector to add marinades and seasonings to the meat is also good to have, but you can improvise if necessary without it.
Smaller turkeys seem to work better for frying, but certainly nothing larger than 15 pounds.
For very flavorful turkeys, you can inject the turkey before cooking with a favorite marinade. Or perhaps rub the bird with a dry spice rub.
Where to fry
Because so much oil is flammable, you should never fry a turkey indoors unless you have a cooker specially designed for this. Outdoors, place the fryer on a level dirt or grassy area. Avoid frying on wood decks, which could catch fire. You will also want to avoid concrete surfaces, unless you don’t mind oil stains. Always keep a fire extinguisher nearby.
Before beginning, (and before you even season or marinate your turkey) determine the amount of oil you’ll need by placing the turkey in the basket (or on the hanger, depending on the type of fryer you are using) and putting it in the pot. Add water until it reaches about two inches above the turkey. Remove the turkey and note the water level by using a ruler to measure the distance from the top of the pot to the surface of the water. Remove the water and thoroughly dry the pot. Now add enough oil to equal what the water level was without the turkey in the pot.
How to fry
Using a candy thermometer to determine the temperature of the oil, heat to about 325°and no higher than 350°. This usually takes about 20 to 30 minutes. When the oil is hot enough, carefully place the turkey in the basket (follow instructions that come with a turkey frying kit) and slowly lower it into the pot. Now let her fry.
With whole turkeys, you can estimate the time about three minutes per pound to cook. Remove the turkey and check the temperature with a meat thermometer. The temperature should reach 170° in the breast and 180° in the thigh.
Using an injector for marinating
An injector, which resembles a large hypodermic needle, allows you to inject a marinade directly into the bird. You can make a fried turkey without this, but it won’t be as flavorful as injecting your bird with a marinade some 30 to 40 minutes before frying. Inject both sides of the breast, the legs and the thighs of the turkey.
Eliz again:
I might have made fun of this fried turkey idea but it actually gave me a good idea -- to inject melted butter into the bird for moistness. I bought some syringes when I was in Italy last (they sell them at grocery stores -- I couldn't believe it) so I think I'll melt butter and try to shoot up my mini-turkey that I bought to cook on Saturday because it's not a self-baster.
Wednesday, 25 November 2009
Even if you live past 70, you'll have dementia
Why do I read these studies after I've just had a big lunch and a couple of pieces of chocolate?
Women who store fat on their waist in middle age are more than twice as likely to develop dementia when they get older, reveals a new study from the Sahlgrenska Academy.
The study has just been published in the scientific journal Neurology.
"Anyone carrying a lot of fat around the middle is at greater risk of dying prematurely due to a heart attack or stroke," says Deborah Gustafson, senior lecturer at the Sahlgrenska Academy. "If they nevertheless manage to live beyond 70, they run a greater risk of dementia."
But I did read some good news too:
The claim that French woman stay forever slim has been exposed as a myth after new statistics revealed that 15.1 per cent of France's women are classed as clinically obese.
Ha ha! Now quit writing those annoying books about how Frenchies can eat anything and still be svelte.
Women who store fat on their waist in middle age are more than twice as likely to develop dementia when they get older, reveals a new study from the Sahlgrenska Academy.
The study has just been published in the scientific journal Neurology.
"Anyone carrying a lot of fat around the middle is at greater risk of dying prematurely due to a heart attack or stroke," says Deborah Gustafson, senior lecturer at the Sahlgrenska Academy. "If they nevertheless manage to live beyond 70, they run a greater risk of dementia."
But I did read some good news too:
The claim that French woman stay forever slim has been exposed as a myth after new statistics revealed that 15.1 per cent of France's women are classed as clinically obese.
Ha ha! Now quit writing those annoying books about how Frenchies can eat anything and still be svelte.
Strange food that Brits eat
One of our friends spent the night last night on his way to a medical conference in Finland (he lives in Wales, and our house is closer to the airport). He had his last English meal before heading out to the land of pickled fish (I'm not sure if that's an accurate depiction of Finnish food so hope someone corrects me).
Of course he had fish and chips. What amazed me was how he asked for a bottle of vinegar and proceeded to drench his dinner with it, then put globs of ketchup on top. (I knew he was a heavy ketchup user so had two bottles on hand.)
On top of that mess, he then added a portion of mushy peas. Mushy peas are peas cooked so long that they have disintegrated into a green blobby mass. Apparently this is a delicacy! But to throw it on top of everything else -- well, I had to get a photo.
I was sitting downwind from his feast so was assaulted by vinegar and ketchup fumes until I finally had to move.
Of course he had fish and chips. What amazed me was how he asked for a bottle of vinegar and proceeded to drench his dinner with it, then put globs of ketchup on top. (I knew he was a heavy ketchup user so had two bottles on hand.)
On top of that mess, he then added a portion of mushy peas. Mushy peas are peas cooked so long that they have disintegrated into a green blobby mass. Apparently this is a delicacy! But to throw it on top of everything else -- well, I had to get a photo.
I was sitting downwind from his feast so was assaulted by vinegar and ketchup fumes until I finally had to move.
Tuesday, 24 November 2009
Tea baggers attack family
I mentioned the word 'tea bagger' in a post the other day, and non-American readers were puzzled by what I meant. Regular commenter Brody kindly sent in an article for me to post to further explain this concept:
Tea Party Patriots Attack Family Who Lost Daughter And Grandchild
A group called the Chicago Tea Party Patriots publicly heckled a grieving family and suggested that the couple fabricated their tragic story.
At a town hall held by Rep. Dan Lipinski (D-Ill.) on Nov. 14,, Dan and Midge Hough spoke about how they believed the death of their daughter-in-law and her unborn child were caused, in part, by a lack of health insurance.. Twenty-four-year old Jennifer was uninsured. According to her in-laws, she was not receiving regular prenatal care and was not properly treated when she got sick. She ended up in an emergency room with double pneumonia that developed into septic shock, had a heart attack, a brain bleed and a stroke. The baby died and Jennifer died a few weeks later.
Midge Hough was heckled by anti-reform crowd members. "You can laugh at me, that's okay," she said, crying. "But I lost two people, and I know you think that's funny, that's okay."
A local Tea Party organizer falsely claimed that the couple had made up the story and tried to justify the town hall behavior, according to the Southtown Star.
Catherina Wojtowicz, of Chicago's Mount Greenwood community, an organizer for a Tea Party splinter group, Chicago Tea Party Patriots, falsely claimed that the Houghs fabricated their story. In an e-mail, she called them operatives of President Barack Obama who "go from event to event and (cry) the same story." [...]
By Rachel Weiner THE HUFFINGTON POST (Los Angeles) Nov 23
Tea Party Patriots Attack Family Who Lost Daughter And Grandchild
A group called the Chicago Tea Party Patriots publicly heckled a grieving family and suggested that the couple fabricated their tragic story.
At a town hall held by Rep. Dan Lipinski (D-Ill.) on Nov. 14,, Dan and Midge Hough spoke about how they believed the death of their daughter-in-law and her unborn child were caused, in part, by a lack of health insurance.. Twenty-four-year old Jennifer was uninsured. According to her in-laws, she was not receiving regular prenatal care and was not properly treated when she got sick. She ended up in an emergency room with double pneumonia that developed into septic shock, had a heart attack, a brain bleed and a stroke. The baby died and Jennifer died a few weeks later.
Midge Hough was heckled by anti-reform crowd members. "You can laugh at me, that's okay," she said, crying. "But I lost two people, and I know you think that's funny, that's okay."
A local Tea Party organizer falsely claimed that the couple had made up the story and tried to justify the town hall behavior, according to the Southtown Star.
Catherina Wojtowicz, of Chicago's Mount Greenwood community, an organizer for a Tea Party splinter group, Chicago Tea Party Patriots, falsely claimed that the Houghs fabricated their story. In an e-mail, she called them operatives of President Barack Obama who "go from event to event and (cry) the same story." [...]
By Rachel Weiner THE HUFFINGTON POST (Los Angeles) Nov 23
Only liberals are good at math?
Latest news from our 'fair and balanced' favorite Fox News:
All 193% of Republicans Support Palin, Romney and Huckabee.
All 193% of Republicans Support Palin, Romney and Huckabee.
500 pound guy waiting for God to heal him
DEVOUT Christian Tillmon Webb, who apparently weighed 550lb in March of this year, couldn’t afford medical treatment for an injured leg. So he turned instead to God for healing – and died in considerable pain after not moving from his home recliner for EIGHT MONTHS!
According to a report, Tillmon, 33, from Greenwood County, South Carolina, plonked himself down in the recliner with a Bible, and convinced himself that faith alone would be enough to heal the leg.
His wife Ada explained why her husband, covered only in a blanket, remained in the recliner until shortly before he died:
The man totally believed in God and his healing. He couldn’t do nothing for his self.
According to a report, Tillmon, 33, from Greenwood County, South Carolina, plonked himself down in the recliner with a Bible, and convinced himself that faith alone would be enough to heal the leg.
His wife Ada explained why her husband, covered only in a blanket, remained in the recliner until shortly before he died:
The man totally believed in God and his healing. He couldn’t do nothing for his self.
Monday, 23 November 2009
Man says image of Jesus appears on truck window
Thanks to regular blog commenter Drew for sending in this important news story:
JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. – Jim Stevens said he's not particularly religious and is clueless about why an image resembling Jesus Christ keeps appearing on his pickup.
Stevens, of Jonesborough, said nearly every morning, an image that looks to him like the face of Jesus Christ has appeared in the condensation on the driver's side window of his Isuzu truck. A Johnson City Press photo of the truck showed a facial image.
Stevens said when he first saw the image, he figured it would evaporate and not return. But it kept reappearing for two weeks now.
Stevens said folks at the grocery store he goes to were amazed to see the image.
He said he isn't going to wash the truck for a while.
JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. – Jim Stevens said he's not particularly religious and is clueless about why an image resembling Jesus Christ keeps appearing on his pickup.
Stevens, of Jonesborough, said nearly every morning, an image that looks to him like the face of Jesus Christ has appeared in the condensation on the driver's side window of his Isuzu truck. A Johnson City Press photo of the truck showed a facial image.
Stevens said when he first saw the image, he figured it would evaporate and not return. But it kept reappearing for two weeks now.
Stevens said folks at the grocery store he goes to were amazed to see the image.
He said he isn't going to wash the truck for a while.
Trinkets and St Petersburg
Ever since I got married, my husband has teased me about spending too much money on 'trinkets,' as he calls them. He even named one of our online bank accounts 'Elizabeth's trinkets' and says he regularly has to put money in that one because of my trinket buying.
I always argue with him that I'm not buying trinkets, but necessary essential items but yesterday, I couldn't argue with his trinkets assessment.
When I got home from a school craft fair, I was throwing paper out of my bag and saw that I had indeed bought trinkets from a shop called Trinkets.
Here's the proof (below). I'm sorry the camera in my phone doesn't take better pictures but you must believe me that the fuzzy word at the top of the receipt says TRINKETS.
I'll never live this one down.
Today I got into work to find there is no water in our building. That means no water machines, toilets won't work, you can't get coffee, etc. There are two other buildings on the Nokia campus so I can go there but what a hassle plus it's raining so will get soaked when I make a dash to them.
But I was cheered by an appearance at my desk from my Russian friend Vladimir. He's just returned from a visit to his hometown of St Petersburg and brought me this beautiful little plate of the cathedral.
Again, the picture isn't very good but I love the gold and blue. I'm going to hang it up by my bed so I can see it every morning.
I always argue with him that I'm not buying trinkets, but necessary essential items but yesterday, I couldn't argue with his trinkets assessment.
When I got home from a school craft fair, I was throwing paper out of my bag and saw that I had indeed bought trinkets from a shop called Trinkets.
Here's the proof (below). I'm sorry the camera in my phone doesn't take better pictures but you must believe me that the fuzzy word at the top of the receipt says TRINKETS.
I'll never live this one down.
Today I got into work to find there is no water in our building. That means no water machines, toilets won't work, you can't get coffee, etc. There are two other buildings on the Nokia campus so I can go there but what a hassle plus it's raining so will get soaked when I make a dash to them.
But I was cheered by an appearance at my desk from my Russian friend Vladimir. He's just returned from a visit to his hometown of St Petersburg and brought me this beautiful little plate of the cathedral.
Again, the picture isn't very good but I love the gold and blue. I'm going to hang it up by my bed so I can see it every morning.
Sunday, 22 November 2009
Eek! Time to get going with Christmas
Since we don't have Thanksgiving in England, Christmas starts early. I'm not kidding you when I say ads for Christmas start running at the end of summer. (Halloween isn't anything here either so there's nothing to celebrate between summer and Christmas.)
I'm going to be very busy in December with concerts and the kids have them too -- Katie is singing at Southwark Cathedral in early December -- so I got started on my Christmas cookies this weekend.
I got up early and rolled out and cut seven dozen of these things. My mother and grandmother both made these iced sugar cookies so if I don't make them, the tradition dies.
After I baked the cookies, I tried to go for a run but there was a downpour. I went to the gym instead. Now I'm heading out to a school Christmas fair to buy Christmas cakes (those dark English cakes made with fruit and whiskey that are made 6 weeks before Christmas) from a baker who always goes there. You are only supposed to eat Christmas cakes on the 25th, but my family and I usually start eating them early and get through at least two.
I took a shower after the gym and now my hair is totally wet. I'm going to go on to the craft fair anyway, and tell anyone who looks at me quizzically that I got caught in the rain. (I'm not one of those fussy hair-do people -- I just go out with it any old way and regret it later when I see photos.)
I'm going to be very busy in December with concerts and the kids have them too -- Katie is singing at Southwark Cathedral in early December -- so I got started on my Christmas cookies this weekend.
I got up early and rolled out and cut seven dozen of these things. My mother and grandmother both made these iced sugar cookies so if I don't make them, the tradition dies.
After I baked the cookies, I tried to go for a run but there was a downpour. I went to the gym instead. Now I'm heading out to a school Christmas fair to buy Christmas cakes (those dark English cakes made with fruit and whiskey that are made 6 weeks before Christmas) from a baker who always goes there. You are only supposed to eat Christmas cakes on the 25th, but my family and I usually start eating them early and get through at least two.
I took a shower after the gym and now my hair is totally wet. I'm going to go on to the craft fair anyway, and tell anyone who looks at me quizzically that I got caught in the rain. (I'm not one of those fussy hair-do people -- I just go out with it any old way and regret it later when I see photos.)
Saturday, 21 November 2009
More on breast cancer screening recommendations
Christopher Hughes, M.D., writes:
This week has been very disappointing, with the USPSTF breast cancer screening guidelines coming out and receiving such an intemperate analysis by virtually everyone with access to a microphone or a camera.
I'm writing this because of what it says about us as Americans and our love-hate relationship with science.
So, researchers at USPSTF have made an evaluation and recommendations that fly in the face of "common sense." Common sense in America being that more is always better, whether it be testing or surgery or whatever. You can't be overtested, there are no downsides to excessive intervention. Except when there are. I will not go into the downsides of overtesting and overdiagnosing, but it really bothers me that we look to science to advance medicine, to make breakthroughs, to guide treatment and yet, we get a recommendation that falls outside of what we "know" to be true, we flip our collective gaskets.
More here: Evidence-based Medicine and Reform
This week has been very disappointing, with the USPSTF breast cancer screening guidelines coming out and receiving such an intemperate analysis by virtually everyone with access to a microphone or a camera.
I'm writing this because of what it says about us as Americans and our love-hate relationship with science.
So, researchers at USPSTF have made an evaluation and recommendations that fly in the face of "common sense." Common sense in America being that more is always better, whether it be testing or surgery or whatever. You can't be overtested, there are no downsides to excessive intervention. Except when there are. I will not go into the downsides of overtesting and overdiagnosing, but it really bothers me that we look to science to advance medicine, to make breakthroughs, to guide treatment and yet, we get a recommendation that falls outside of what we "know" to be true, we flip our collective gaskets.
More here: Evidence-based Medicine and Reform
You must eat mudpies all the time!
When I moved to England and told people I was from Mississippi, they'd say, "Oh, you must eat Mississippi Mudpies all the time!" It's a popular dessert here in American-style restaurants. But I'd never eaten that in my life. But they keep asking me so I made it my email address. Here's a pic from the supermarket this morning.
Blind faith a modern invention?
If you open Karen Armstrong's new book, The Case for God, expecting to find a list of mysterious cures, scientific curiosities, or certified miracles all pointing toward the physical presence of a divine influence in the world, you will be sorely disappointed. Armstrong has no interest in, and is in fact completely antithetical to, trying to prove God's existence.
In particular, the concept of faith comes in for a close examination. We understand faith today as a kind of blind acceptance -- like Indiana Jones stepping off into space in his quest for the Holy Grail. Religious people cheer this kind of "faith" and many Christians tout this as the one and only qualification to be among Christ's chosen. But that's not what the word translated as "faith" meant in Biblical times. It's not even what it meant when the Bible was first translated into English.
The term used in most New Testament texts (the Greek word pistis) meant something closer to loyalty or commitment, than unreasoning belief. When Jesus chastised his followers for their lack of faith, or commended a non-Jew for having faith, he wasn't talking about some unspoken creed. He certainly wasn't praising them for seeing that he was divine. He was talking about follow-through, about living up to ideas of selflessness and humbleness. Even the word "belief" has changed from a Middle English sense of "prize" to our modern idea of "accept at face value." Imagine how different every Christian creed would sound today if we replace "believe in" with "value" and "have faith in" with "commit myself to."
From Alternet.com
In particular, the concept of faith comes in for a close examination. We understand faith today as a kind of blind acceptance -- like Indiana Jones stepping off into space in his quest for the Holy Grail. Religious people cheer this kind of "faith" and many Christians tout this as the one and only qualification to be among Christ's chosen. But that's not what the word translated as "faith" meant in Biblical times. It's not even what it meant when the Bible was first translated into English.
The term used in most New Testament texts (the Greek word pistis) meant something closer to loyalty or commitment, than unreasoning belief. When Jesus chastised his followers for their lack of faith, or commended a non-Jew for having faith, he wasn't talking about some unspoken creed. He certainly wasn't praising them for seeing that he was divine. He was talking about follow-through, about living up to ideas of selflessness and humbleness. Even the word "belief" has changed from a Middle English sense of "prize" to our modern idea of "accept at face value." Imagine how different every Christian creed would sound today if we replace "believe in" with "value" and "have faith in" with "commit myself to."
From Alternet.com
Friday, 20 November 2009
Rude man giving a seat to his french fries
Up to London last night after work to start rehearsing for Christmas concerts with the chorus.
We have a ton of music to learn as the chorus is doing three concerts at various locations and with different orchestras. I opened the Christmas Oratorio by Bach and made a mess of it. The chorus master said he didn't want to hear one wrong note next week so we'd better do our homework. An example of what we are singing below.
Rude people on the train home
I caught the 9:22 train home, and it was packed full of people. All available space was taken, and we were standing in the aisles crammed together. It was very unpleasant, then I saw a man remove a bag from the seat next to him. It was an empty seat all the time but he'd been holding it with his bag from Burger King. How inconsiderate is that when everyone else is suffering from the overcrowded train?
I ran to get it but a woman had a baby stroller blocking it and the aisle. I seem to remember that when I had babies, I folded the stroller when on public transport but no, this woman was leaving hers defiantly open. I annoyed her when I asked her to move it so I could sit down. After I took my seat, the kid started screaming, and she placated him by singing loudly to him right in my ear.
I noticed the next couple of rows in the train were taken up by a family who gave each of their tiny children a seat even though they could have sat on their laps for the journey, thus enabling an adult to have that seat.
Anyway, I sat down next to the man with the bag of fries. I think he got a supersized order because he started shoving them down his mouth like a pig, elbowing me at every mouthful. I was so annoyed that I was going to say, "Your fries needed their own seat?" but I refrained. I elbowed him back when I could. You aren't supposed to eat that stinky food in an enclosed space like a train because it makes other passengers feel sick from the smell.
When the train made its first stop, and people started to get off, I stood up to get away from the French Fried Fat Ass. I made the woman move her baby carriage again and went to the opposite side. Then one of my friend's husband boarded the train unexpectedly so I began to tell him the sorry story of how I'd suffered.
"Chill out!" he advised. It was OK for him to say. He's been at an awards dinner in a ritzy part of London so had been plied with food and drink all evening.
On the rest of the way home, I was gratified to see that the woman with the immovable stroller had taken the toddler out of it and he was now terrorizing the French Fry man with abandon.
We have a ton of music to learn as the chorus is doing three concerts at various locations and with different orchestras. I opened the Christmas Oratorio by Bach and made a mess of it. The chorus master said he didn't want to hear one wrong note next week so we'd better do our homework. An example of what we are singing below.
Rude people on the train home
I caught the 9:22 train home, and it was packed full of people. All available space was taken, and we were standing in the aisles crammed together. It was very unpleasant, then I saw a man remove a bag from the seat next to him. It was an empty seat all the time but he'd been holding it with his bag from Burger King. How inconsiderate is that when everyone else is suffering from the overcrowded train?
I ran to get it but a woman had a baby stroller blocking it and the aisle. I seem to remember that when I had babies, I folded the stroller when on public transport but no, this woman was leaving hers defiantly open. I annoyed her when I asked her to move it so I could sit down. After I took my seat, the kid started screaming, and she placated him by singing loudly to him right in my ear.
I noticed the next couple of rows in the train were taken up by a family who gave each of their tiny children a seat even though they could have sat on their laps for the journey, thus enabling an adult to have that seat.
Anyway, I sat down next to the man with the bag of fries. I think he got a supersized order because he started shoving them down his mouth like a pig, elbowing me at every mouthful. I was so annoyed that I was going to say, "Your fries needed their own seat?" but I refrained. I elbowed him back when I could. You aren't supposed to eat that stinky food in an enclosed space like a train because it makes other passengers feel sick from the smell.
When the train made its first stop, and people started to get off, I stood up to get away from the French Fried Fat Ass. I made the woman move her baby carriage again and went to the opposite side. Then one of my friend's husband boarded the train unexpectedly so I began to tell him the sorry story of how I'd suffered.
"Chill out!" he advised. It was OK for him to say. He's been at an awards dinner in a ritzy part of London so had been plied with food and drink all evening.
On the rest of the way home, I was gratified to see that the woman with the immovable stroller had taken the toddler out of it and he was now terrorizing the French Fry man with abandon.
What's your place in the brave new future?
There was an interesting article in the Sunday Times last weekend -- believe me, that's saying a lot too as the Times is increasingly filled with irrelevant Murdoch-inspired stories -- anyway, it was about a futurologist who thinks the rich might become a separate species, so to speak, as they will be the only ones who can afford the technology to live longer and better.
"The future whispers,” believes Paul Saffo, Silicon Valley’s favourite futurologist, and his ability to listen has made him the first destination of anyone looking for forecasts on how technology is likely to have an impact on society.
Saffo believes we are now on the cusp of a once-in-a-generation technological revolution that will throw up more dilemmas than ever.
As the biological revolution spreads, Saffo sees many moral dilemmas ahead. For example, by using genetic testing and tailor-made drugs it may be possible to mitigate many common ailments that affect the ageing population — but such improvements will probably be available only to the super-rich.
In the future, they may be able to grow their own replacement organs, take specially designed drugs made just for them and use genetic research tools to alert them of any possible health dangers for them or their children.
“That’s social dynamite,” said Saffo. “I sometimes wonder if the very rich will become a completely separate species. Imagine if the very rich can live, on average, 20 years longer than the poor. That’s 20 more years of earning and saving. Think what that means about wealth and power and the advantages that you pass on to your children.”
"The future whispers,” believes Paul Saffo, Silicon Valley’s favourite futurologist, and his ability to listen has made him the first destination of anyone looking for forecasts on how technology is likely to have an impact on society.
Saffo believes we are now on the cusp of a once-in-a-generation technological revolution that will throw up more dilemmas than ever.
As the biological revolution spreads, Saffo sees many moral dilemmas ahead. For example, by using genetic testing and tailor-made drugs it may be possible to mitigate many common ailments that affect the ageing population — but such improvements will probably be available only to the super-rich.
In the future, they may be able to grow their own replacement organs, take specially designed drugs made just for them and use genetic research tools to alert them of any possible health dangers for them or their children.
“That’s social dynamite,” said Saffo. “I sometimes wonder if the very rich will become a completely separate species. Imagine if the very rich can live, on average, 20 years longer than the poor. That’s 20 more years of earning and saving. Think what that means about wealth and power and the advantages that you pass on to your children.”
Thursday, 19 November 2009
A little LA comes to England
Celebrity is a simpler thing in England than it is in the US. We don't get much of the extravagant star over here -- but this week we are because Mariah Carey blew into town to turn on the Christmas lights at a shopping center in London.
Yesterday she made a popular morning talk show host wait two hours until she showed up. He twittered constantly as he waited for her.
Now she's made outrageous demands like she wants to be surrounded by 20 white kittens and 100 doves as she turns on the lights. See below.
Yesterday she made a popular morning talk show host wait two hours until she showed up. He twittered constantly as he waited for her.
Now she's made outrageous demands like she wants to be surrounded by 20 white kittens and 100 doves as she turns on the lights. See below.
Movie popcorn has shocking amount of fat and calories
This is upsetting news for me. The best part of going to a movie is eating popcorn. I had no idea the damage I was doing to my body.
"Ordering a medium popcorn and soda combo from a major national movie theater chain is the equivalent of eating three McDonald's Quarter Pounders with 12 pats of butter, according to a new study by the Center for Science in the Public Interest.
According to laboratory analysis conducted by the Center for Science and Public Interest (CSPI), the concessions from Regal, the country's biggest movie chain, have 1,160 calories and three days worth - 60 grams - of fat. Regal said that the medium popcorn had 720 calories and the large had 960, but CSPI's tests found those numbers to be understated. A small popcorn at Regal had 670 calories - the same as a Pizza Hut Personal Pepperoni Pan Pizza. Even if you share a small popcorn - it's still about a day's worth of saturated fat per person, according to CSPI.
"It’s hard enough for Americans to maintain a healthy weight even when limiting their eating to breakfast, lunch, and dinner," said CSPI senior nutritionist Jayne Hurley. "Who realizes that they might be taking in a meal’s worth of calories during a movie? Splitting a medium popcorn with two other people sounds like a reasonable thing to do, but who would think they’re getting an entire day’s worth of saturated fat?"
Grooving to Vatican tunes
You know, I don't know how these people doing music for the Virgin Mary happened to e-mail me (I figure that jokester Catholic on our blog, BWJ, did it) but boy, do they have the wrong person. I'll put it up though just in case you feel like grooving to some Vatican tunes.
Greetings!
My name is Peter Ruppert, I am a practicing Catholic and I am currently working on a music project on behalf of Geffen/Universal. The project is called Music From The Vatican http://www.musicfromthevatican.com
The album is entitled Alma Mater and is recorded in the honor of the Virgin Mary.
We would like you to talk about it in your Blog!
Wednesday, 18 November 2009
American breast guidelines change
A reader sent an article to me this morning from the New York Times, with this comment:
I found this really interesting - blogworthy? In Britain, and presumably in other places, this has been standard practice for years, but American doctors are resisting the change. Funny how it would reduce their billings too, but I'm sure that has nothing to do with it.
From the NYT:
Despite new recommendations that most women start breast screening at 50 rather than 40, many doctors said Tuesday that they were simply not ready to make such a drastic change.
“It’s kind of hard to suggest that we should stop examining our patients and screening them,” said Dr. Annekathryn Goodman, director of the fellowship program in gynecological oncology at Massachusetts General Hospital. “I would be cautious about changing a practice that seems to work.”
The recommendations, issued Monday by a federal advisory panel, reversed widely promoted guidelines and were intended to reduce overtreatment. The panel said the benefits of screening women in their 40s — saving one life for every 1,904 women screened for 10 years — were outweighed by the potential for unnecessary tests and treatment, and the accompanying anxiety. Women considered at high risk should continue to have early screening, the panel said.
Several doctors said that while they understood the panel’s risk-benefit analysis, their patients would not see it that way. “My patients tell me they can live with a little anxiety and distress but they can’t live with a little cancer,” said Dr. Carolyn Runowicz, director of the Neag Comprehensive Cancer Center at the University of Connecticut.
Eliz again: It's interesting that the New York Times didn't present an opposite point of view in this article. The Times in London today gave some balance:
In February, 23 leading health professionals wrote to The Times criticising the Government’s “unethical” failure to provide women with the full facts in the NHS programme of checks for all women. The signatories said that many healthy women are subjected to overdiagnosis of benign conditions and may undergo unnecessary surgery, radiotherapy or chemotherapy. If cancers diagnosed by screening were left to their own devices, many “might never appear in a woman’s natural lifespan”, they added.
I found this really interesting - blogworthy? In Britain, and presumably in other places, this has been standard practice for years, but American doctors are resisting the change. Funny how it would reduce their billings too, but I'm sure that has nothing to do with it.
From the NYT:
Despite new recommendations that most women start breast screening at 50 rather than 40, many doctors said Tuesday that they were simply not ready to make such a drastic change.
“It’s kind of hard to suggest that we should stop examining our patients and screening them,” said Dr. Annekathryn Goodman, director of the fellowship program in gynecological oncology at Massachusetts General Hospital. “I would be cautious about changing a practice that seems to work.”
The recommendations, issued Monday by a federal advisory panel, reversed widely promoted guidelines and were intended to reduce overtreatment. The panel said the benefits of screening women in their 40s — saving one life for every 1,904 women screened for 10 years — were outweighed by the potential for unnecessary tests and treatment, and the accompanying anxiety. Women considered at high risk should continue to have early screening, the panel said.
Several doctors said that while they understood the panel’s risk-benefit analysis, their patients would not see it that way. “My patients tell me they can live with a little anxiety and distress but they can’t live with a little cancer,” said Dr. Carolyn Runowicz, director of the Neag Comprehensive Cancer Center at the University of Connecticut.
Eliz again: It's interesting that the New York Times didn't present an opposite point of view in this article. The Times in London today gave some balance:
In February, 23 leading health professionals wrote to The Times criticising the Government’s “unethical” failure to provide women with the full facts in the NHS programme of checks for all women. The signatories said that many healthy women are subjected to overdiagnosis of benign conditions and may undergo unnecessary surgery, radiotherapy or chemotherapy. If cancers diagnosed by screening were left to their own devices, many “might never appear in a woman’s natural lifespan”, they added.
We walked to save money
My daughter came home last night for a flying visit. I think she just wanted a good dinner (the last homemade pesto from the summer) and for me to wash all of her clothes. Which of course I did. I am happy to be useful to her.
She is going to a '60s party this weekend and showed us her costume. She had no idea how the scarf attachment worked so we told her. Here she is:
When I was driving her and my husband to the train station on my way to work this morning, she mentioned that she'd had tea at Liberty's (an expensive London department store) last weekend.
I was impressed but...."Why didn't you ask your old mother to come?" I asked. (I wasn't doing anything last weekend and got kind of bored.)
"It was not planned," she said. "My friend and I were walking in London to save money, rather than taking the underground (here my husband and I laughed because saving money is a concept that Katie has never expressed much interest in), and we walked past Liberty's and decided to stop there for a cream tea."
Ha! That is a fantastic money-saving plan. Save £3 on underground charges then stop at Liberty's for a £25 cream tea.
She is really her mother's daughter. One time I bought a tube of Chanel handcream and proudly told Mel how much I'd save on the underground parking because of my purchase.
She is going to a '60s party this weekend and showed us her costume. She had no idea how the scarf attachment worked so we told her. Here she is:
When I was driving her and my husband to the train station on my way to work this morning, she mentioned that she'd had tea at Liberty's (an expensive London department store) last weekend.
I was impressed but...."Why didn't you ask your old mother to come?" I asked. (I wasn't doing anything last weekend and got kind of bored.)
"It was not planned," she said. "My friend and I were walking in London to save money, rather than taking the underground (here my husband and I laughed because saving money is a concept that Katie has never expressed much interest in), and we walked past Liberty's and decided to stop there for a cream tea."
Ha! That is a fantastic money-saving plan. Save £3 on underground charges then stop at Liberty's for a £25 cream tea.
She is really her mother's daughter. One time I bought a tube of Chanel handcream and proudly told Mel how much I'd save on the underground parking because of my purchase.
Another stoopid thing from my calendar
I can't stop ranting about my stoopid calendar for 'women who do too much.' It's filled with idiocy.
Today's page says:
My great-grandmother wore starched ruffles on her camisole to cover her flat chest. She was tiny all over, yet wanted to be a buxom Gibson Girl. She would have made a good model today.
Why are women unappy with their bodies the way they are?
Well, DUH! I don't know why women today still don't want to be Gibson Girls! Could it be that nowadays we see images in ads and mags that tell us thin is best?
Who writes this crap?
Today's page says:
My great-grandmother wore starched ruffles on her camisole to cover her flat chest. She was tiny all over, yet wanted to be a buxom Gibson Girl. She would have made a good model today.
Why are women unappy with their bodies the way they are?
Well, DUH! I don't know why women today still don't want to be Gibson Girls! Could it be that nowadays we see images in ads and mags that tell us thin is best?
Who writes this crap?
Tuesday, 17 November 2009
Something from the Oven
I've been reading an interesting book by Laura Shapiro called Something from the Oven: Reinventing Dinner in 1950s America. Shapiro writes about how changes in the food industry and advertising changed the way America cooked. She writes about the decade where women were supposed to be domestic angels:
Women who confined their lives and minds to the home were vital to the nation's prosperity. If they ever started asking themselves whether they actually cared about cleaner laundry, quicker casseroles, or redder lipsticks, the cash registers might stop ringing. Betty Friedan wrote: "Somehow, somewhere, someone must have figured out that women will buy more things if they are kept in the under-used, nameless-yearning, energy-to-get-rid-of state of being housewives."
Remember after 9/11 when President Bush told us all to get out and keep shopping? Someone has to be around during the day to buy things. Our manufacturing industry has been greatly reduced in both the US and the UK, so our economies are fuelled by the consumer. I figured this out after I had my first child and wasn't working. My big adventure out with the baby was going to a shopping center.
The Steakinator
I love the site This is Why You're Fat. One of the recent funny additions is this one:
2 8oz Prime Angus steaks with braised short rib, cheddar cheese, bacon and a fried egg on a toasted cheese and garlic sourdough bun.
2 8oz Prime Angus steaks with braised short rib, cheddar cheese, bacon and a fried egg on a toasted cheese and garlic sourdough bun.
Troubling products
Mattel is accepting pre-orders for the April 2010 release of the newest doll in the Barbie/Ken line, the spiffily dressed Palm Beach Sugar Daddy Ken (apparently to be showcased with a much younger, trophy-type Barbie).
EntertainmentEarth.com, 10-28-09
People will put anything up for sale
People list things for sale at work on our office bulletin board. Some of the things they try to sell are so ridiculous. Here are my top stupid items for sale at work in October:
For Sale
Floor Tile Adjesive & Grout £8
I have the remains (at least 50%) of a tub of Wicks "Flexible Ceramic Floor Tile Adhesive & Grout" left over from some tiling. It is grey in colour. I have the adhesive available immediately.
Who wants half a tub of used grout that isn't even in a handy color like white? And he wants £8 for it!
HURRY
Selling this New, never been used GREY Color body waist wallet for only 5£
A must for all Travellers. Not only this wallet will keep your valueables discrete & out of sight but also keep them dry.
ASKING ONLY 5£
HURRY
It's so useful (that it's never been used) there's bound to be a lot of people fighting over it so HURRY and buy it before someone else gets there first!
Accommodation - Modern Apartment to let
Please call to arrange a private viewing Mr Lakhani
Wow! A MODERN apartment to rent. How rare is that?
AB SHAPER PRO EXERCISER BENCH
This Abs shaper exercise machine is on sale. Hardly used for 3 weeks. On sale
in excellent condition.
Hardly used for three weeks! I'm sure he can ask full price for it.
For Sale
Red rug
Next brand. 160 x 230 cm. Stain resistant and hardwearing. 100% polypropylene. Dark red. £50
Just buy my red rug for £50. I'm not going to tell you if it's new, used or AS NEW --I won't even put a picture up of it, just buy it sight unseen for £50.
My friend at the office Jax and I regularly point out these silliest items for sale to each other. She wants to email them to ask for a follow up too. She wants to send an email to the grout seller, for example, to ask if people were beating his door down to buy his used half-empty product.
For Sale
Floor Tile Adjesive & Grout £8
I have the remains (at least 50%) of a tub of Wicks "Flexible Ceramic Floor Tile Adhesive & Grout" left over from some tiling. It is grey in colour. I have the adhesive available immediately.
Who wants half a tub of used grout that isn't even in a handy color like white? And he wants £8 for it!
HURRY
Selling this New, never been used GREY Color body waist wallet for only 5£
A must for all Travellers. Not only this wallet will keep your valueables discrete & out of sight but also keep them dry.
ASKING ONLY 5£
HURRY
It's so useful (that it's never been used) there's bound to be a lot of people fighting over it so HURRY and buy it before someone else gets there first!
Accommodation - Modern Apartment to let
Please call to arrange a private viewing Mr Lakhani
Wow! A MODERN apartment to rent. How rare is that?
AB SHAPER PRO EXERCISER BENCH
This Abs shaper exercise machine is on sale. Hardly used for 3 weeks. On sale
in excellent condition.
Hardly used for three weeks! I'm sure he can ask full price for it.
For Sale
Red rug
Next brand. 160 x 230 cm. Stain resistant and hardwearing. 100% polypropylene. Dark red. £50
Just buy my red rug for £50. I'm not going to tell you if it's new, used or AS NEW --I won't even put a picture up of it, just buy it sight unseen for £50.
My friend at the office Jax and I regularly point out these silliest items for sale to each other. She wants to email them to ask for a follow up too. She wants to send an email to the grout seller, for example, to ask if people were beating his door down to buy his used half-empty product.
Monday, 16 November 2009
Woodie Assaf asked my mother for a date
I grew up watching Woodie Assaf do the weather reports in Jackson, Mississippi. He was on the air for over 50 years. He seemed to always be there when you switched on the TV. Even when I left Mississippi and lived elsewhere when I came home for a visit, there Woodie would be on the television. He would do Christmas Eve weather reports to let the kids know what sort of weather Santa would experience when he came to Mississippi to bring our presents to us.
He died on Friday, aged 92, and it feels like a grandfather has died. Isn't that odd how you grow to love people that you see on TV for years? (Just like Ben Cartwright.)
I was saying in Facebook that I was sad about Woodie dying, and my aunt in New Orleans put a comment in that he had once asked my mother for a date.
The news sent my imagination into overdrive. Just think if my mother had accepted that date and later married Woodie Assaf. I would have been Elizabeth Assaf, and I might have had a happy childhood rather than the awful one I had with the person my mother chose to marry instead.
Then I probably wouldn't have felt compelled to flee Mississippi to escape -- and maybe would now be a contented ex-Southern Belle, instead of the yearning expat I am today. Maybe I would have felt like I belonged somewhere, rather than feeling like an outsider.
He died on Friday, aged 92, and it feels like a grandfather has died. Isn't that odd how you grow to love people that you see on TV for years? (Just like Ben Cartwright.)
I was saying in Facebook that I was sad about Woodie dying, and my aunt in New Orleans put a comment in that he had once asked my mother for a date.
The news sent my imagination into overdrive. Just think if my mother had accepted that date and later married Woodie Assaf. I would have been Elizabeth Assaf, and I might have had a happy childhood rather than the awful one I had with the person my mother chose to marry instead.
Then I probably wouldn't have felt compelled to flee Mississippi to escape -- and maybe would now be a contented ex-Southern Belle, instead of the yearning expat I am today. Maybe I would have felt like I belonged somewhere, rather than feeling like an outsider.
Sunday, 15 November 2009
I'm febrile
I was reading an interesting book about the 1950s in which Julia Child said she was 'febrile' and I thought that word applied to me too. I can't stand a lazy Sunday afternoon doing nothing in the winter when there's not much light. I get cabin fever by 6:30. The sun is setting now, and it's only 3:30. I ran this morning, and later I'm going to go for a 30-minute walk so I don't go insane from being cooped up indoors. (I can't go out to a store or anything because I just bought Ugg boots yesterday so no more spending for me. There aren't any museums in Reading so I can't improve my mind that way either.)
My son has been ill for a week so he can't do anything but watch TV. Earlier we watched a documentary about a woman named Ruby who used to weigh 715 pounds and wants to get down to 155. Good luck to her. She lives in Georgia and eats Southern cooking -- fried chicken, pies, macaroni and cheese as a side dish -- well, you get the picture. Here she is:
We also watched a little Nosferatu, the first horror movie from 1922. Mikey patiently explained to me why it was a work of genius but I kept saying stupid things like, "Why does the guy stay in the castle day after day to get bitten? Why doesn't he just run off?"
See what you think.
Thank you so much for reading my ramblings. I feel so much better after I talk to you all out in cyberspace. Tell me about your day in the Comments section.
My son has been ill for a week so he can't do anything but watch TV. Earlier we watched a documentary about a woman named Ruby who used to weigh 715 pounds and wants to get down to 155. Good luck to her. She lives in Georgia and eats Southern cooking -- fried chicken, pies, macaroni and cheese as a side dish -- well, you get the picture. Here she is:
We also watched a little Nosferatu, the first horror movie from 1922. Mikey patiently explained to me why it was a work of genius but I kept saying stupid things like, "Why does the guy stay in the castle day after day to get bitten? Why doesn't he just run off?"
See what you think.
Thank you so much for reading my ramblings. I feel so much better after I talk to you all out in cyberspace. Tell me about your day in the Comments section.
Christians get their own exclusive prison
An interesting article on the Alternet website:
At first glance, I thought this story was good news: Oklahoma is going to build a Christian prison! About time, I thought, I can think of a few Christians who deserve a few years for faith-abuse. But no…it's a prison to be administered by Christians to give Christian criminals special privileges. Not quite as appropriate, but more in line with what we've gotten used to from our dominant faith tradition.
We're getting more of the same from Congress, too. Religion is being given permission to intrude on science once again, with the sanctimonious Orrin Hatch (abetted by a pair of Democrats, Kerry and Kennedy) sponsoring a provision in the mangled health care football to allow prayer to count as medicine. It's specifically a sop to Christian Science, that nonsensical superstition that believes that medicine is a betrayal of faith and that wants to charge sick people money to pray over them…and also get reimbursement from the government. Let the Christian Scientists get a foot in the door and official recognition of mumbling to Jesus as a billable service, and you know the Scientologists and Jehovah's Witnesses and Amish and Mormons and, of course, the Catholics will be surging through to take advantage of the opportunities.
I may just have to convert to Catholicism under this bill so I can charge the US and my insurance provider to cover my near-sightedness treatments at Lourdes. And the French Riviera.
by PZ Myers on Pharyngula
At first glance, I thought this story was good news: Oklahoma is going to build a Christian prison! About time, I thought, I can think of a few Christians who deserve a few years for faith-abuse. But no…it's a prison to be administered by Christians to give Christian criminals special privileges. Not quite as appropriate, but more in line with what we've gotten used to from our dominant faith tradition.
We're getting more of the same from Congress, too. Religion is being given permission to intrude on science once again, with the sanctimonious Orrin Hatch (abetted by a pair of Democrats, Kerry and Kennedy) sponsoring a provision in the mangled health care football to allow prayer to count as medicine. It's specifically a sop to Christian Science, that nonsensical superstition that believes that medicine is a betrayal of faith and that wants to charge sick people money to pray over them…and also get reimbursement from the government. Let the Christian Scientists get a foot in the door and official recognition of mumbling to Jesus as a billable service, and you know the Scientologists and Jehovah's Witnesses and Amish and Mormons and, of course, the Catholics will be surging through to take advantage of the opportunities.
I may just have to convert to Catholicism under this bill so I can charge the US and my insurance provider to cover my near-sightedness treatments at Lourdes. And the French Riviera.
by PZ Myers on Pharyngula
Saturday, 14 November 2009
I'm going to be first in line to buy this new yogurt
Bugs that live in our stomachs could be causing us to get fat, research suggests.
Scientists have shown that the type of bugs in our gut change depending on the food we eat. And bacteria that thrives on junk food may make it easier for us to pile on the pounds.
The discovery, by U.S. scientists, suggests that bugs found in the digestive tract are helping fuel the obesity epidemic.
The research could also open the way to designing probiotic yoghurts to combat weight gain.
The link between bugs and weight gain was discovered when the researchers gave mice 'transplants' of bugs among the trillions normally found in the human gut. A junk food binge rapidly altered the make-up of the bugs, with some types thriving and others
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1227068/Yoghurt-drinks-beat-bugs-pile-weight-on.html#ixzz0WdIgk3PL
Scientists have shown that the type of bugs in our gut change depending on the food we eat. And bacteria that thrives on junk food may make it easier for us to pile on the pounds.
The discovery, by U.S. scientists, suggests that bugs found in the digestive tract are helping fuel the obesity epidemic.
The research could also open the way to designing probiotic yoghurts to combat weight gain.
The link between bugs and weight gain was discovered when the researchers gave mice 'transplants' of bugs among the trillions normally found in the human gut. A junk food binge rapidly altered the make-up of the bugs, with some types thriving and others
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1227068/Yoghurt-drinks-beat-bugs-pile-weight-on.html#ixzz0WdIgk3PL
Saturday chores
I hope your Saturday has been more intellectually challenging than mine so far. I've just stopped to say hello on my way to hang up a bunch of clothes and change the sheets on the bed.
This morning we went out and got the tires changed on the car, driving through heavy rain and gales. Very odd weather we are having in England -- it's like End of the World weather.
Now I've just been in the kitchen wrestling with a two-ton pumpkin. I hated to throw him away without using him so I'm going to attempt to roast him and make him into soup. What a kerfuffle though with all the seeds and strings and gunk to get out of his innards first. (We don't have canned pumpkin in the UK, before you ask).
And I haven't even gotten to changing the kitty litter yet. It's out there waiting for me.
What are you doing today? Please tell me that your day has been more interesting than mine!
PS
Oh I forgot one thing. CostCo had a sale on Ugg boots when we were there getting the tires changed. They were really cheap for Uggs, and I've only ever had the cheap ripoff Uggs in my life.
I tried them on, debated, fretted, and called my daughter. "You will be so SAD a person if you get those," she declared. "Do not get them. Only losers wear those."
"But I am sad already," I said. "I have no fash sense. What difference will it make if I wear them?" She conceded I had a point.
But when my husband saw them, he threw up his hands in disgust. "You're just buying the name!" he said. "It's too expensive."
"But I have on these cheap imitation ones now," I said, "and I can't wear them because there is no base to the shoe -- it's just like cardboard." He protested vehemently, so I stormed over to the display and threw the box back.
By time we got to the checkout, he said they could be my Christmas present. I got the cardie ones -- they were much much cheaper than the original Ugg design. It's like wearing slippers. I just love them.
PPS
I could blog about something really good today if only my friend Elise would let me. She's out in Thailand and has sworn me to silence, even though what she doesn't want me to blog or Facebook about is in the public domain already. Doesn't it KILL you to lose great blog topics because of privacy issues?? :)
This morning we went out and got the tires changed on the car, driving through heavy rain and gales. Very odd weather we are having in England -- it's like End of the World weather.
Now I've just been in the kitchen wrestling with a two-ton pumpkin. I hated to throw him away without using him so I'm going to attempt to roast him and make him into soup. What a kerfuffle though with all the seeds and strings and gunk to get out of his innards first. (We don't have canned pumpkin in the UK, before you ask).
And I haven't even gotten to changing the kitty litter yet. It's out there waiting for me.
What are you doing today? Please tell me that your day has been more interesting than mine!
PS
Oh I forgot one thing. CostCo had a sale on Ugg boots when we were there getting the tires changed. They were really cheap for Uggs, and I've only ever had the cheap ripoff Uggs in my life.
I tried them on, debated, fretted, and called my daughter. "You will be so SAD a person if you get those," she declared. "Do not get them. Only losers wear those."
"But I am sad already," I said. "I have no fash sense. What difference will it make if I wear them?" She conceded I had a point.
But when my husband saw them, he threw up his hands in disgust. "You're just buying the name!" he said. "It's too expensive."
"But I have on these cheap imitation ones now," I said, "and I can't wear them because there is no base to the shoe -- it's just like cardboard." He protested vehemently, so I stormed over to the display and threw the box back.
By time we got to the checkout, he said they could be my Christmas present. I got the cardie ones -- they were much much cheaper than the original Ugg design. It's like wearing slippers. I just love them.
PPS
I could blog about something really good today if only my friend Elise would let me. She's out in Thailand and has sworn me to silence, even though what she doesn't want me to blog or Facebook about is in the public domain already. Doesn't it KILL you to lose great blog topics because of privacy issues?? :)
My Krystal memories
I'm forever writing about Krystal hamburgers (my last post about Krystals is here), a little mouthful of Heaven found in the Southern American states, and my daughter found my whining mentioned in the official Krystal blog:
After reading today’s Tennessean article, “Almost Every Southerner Has a Krystal Story”, it’s pretty clear that the paper was on to something. Just ask local Southerners Margaret Shutt, Denise Volz, Aimee Jackson Fortney or Alice Hernandez who are among the many Krystal Lovers quoted in the editorial. Or check out Elizabeth Scanlon Thomas’ blog, which picked up the story and sparked her to reminisce about personal tales of Krystal comfort as well.
Don’t worry – as the article states, you still have a chance to share your Krystal Story and unite with fellow Krystal Lovers. You can visit Krystal.com to learn more about the Krystal Hall of Fame and how to be considered for induction next year.
Here's the full article:
Krystal Stories
After reading today’s Tennessean article, “Almost Every Southerner Has a Krystal Story”, it’s pretty clear that the paper was on to something. Just ask local Southerners Margaret Shutt, Denise Volz, Aimee Jackson Fortney or Alice Hernandez who are among the many Krystal Lovers quoted in the editorial. Or check out Elizabeth Scanlon Thomas’ blog, which picked up the story and sparked her to reminisce about personal tales of Krystal comfort as well.
Don’t worry – as the article states, you still have a chance to share your Krystal Story and unite with fellow Krystal Lovers. You can visit Krystal.com to learn more about the Krystal Hall of Fame and how to be considered for induction next year.
Here's the full article:
Krystal Stories
Friday, 13 November 2009
Mahiki's secret cocktail recipes (SHHH! don't tell)
I told you last week how my friends and I went to the incredibly trendy Mahiki bar in London to celebrate a couple of birthdays. The cocktails were so delicious that I wanted to know how to make them myself. Here's what I found (don't get too tipsy trying them out):
Mahiki is currently one of the top bars in London for the young and wealthy.
Maybe you can't get there this weekend since you don't live anywhere nearby. Why not recreate it at your own home tiki bar? Here is the skinny on some of their house recipes. I was fortunate enough to stumble upon the website of a couple of gents calling themselves the SoulShakers who developed these drinks and were good enough to put the recipes online.
The only downside for some is that the measurements and temperatures are in metric units. 30ml is approximately 1 fluid oz. 150C is approximately 300F.
MAHIKI
An interesting variation of the Champagne Punch using vanilla, pear and gold rum, it is the eponymous cocktail of Mahiki in Mayfair.
25ml Gold Rum
5ml Sailor Jerry's
15ml Pear Puree
10mlStrawberry Puree
25ml lemon juice
10ml Fraise de Bois
20ml Simple syrup
75ml Sparkling wine
Method
Shake and strain the first 7 ingredients over cubed ice in a tall Tiki mug, top with sparkling wine and garnish with a pineapple leaf.
BARON SAMEDI'S BREW
A hardcore celebration of a classic Tiki ingredient - honey cream which is equal parts of brown sugar, honey and unsalted butter blended together. A great drink to have if you only have time for a quick one.
60ml Mahiki Grog (Light, golden, Demerara, overproof and anejo rum blend)
20ml Honey cream
20ml lime juice
1 dash Angostura
60ml ginger beer
5ml absinthe
Method
Shake and strain the first 5 ingredients over cubed ice in a tall Tiki mug, top with ginger beer and a dash of absinthe, no garnish.
ULTIMATE MAI TAI
Short of using ultra expensive rum we have tried to create a drink that while less classically correct as some, is still a complex and exquisite drink.
40ml Appleton Extra
15ml Creole Schrubb Orange liqueur
10ml Orgeat
25ml lime juice
1 dash Angostura
3 chunks Pisco roasted pineapple
10ml Woods 100
Method
Cut up a pineapple into skinless chunks and place in a roasting pan, dust with brown sugar, pour in 50ml Pisco and place in a low oven with the door open for five minutes, then raise to 150 degrees close door and roast for 20 minutes until the pineapple starts to break down and the sugar begins to caramelise.
Once cool, muddle the pieces, add other ingredients except Woods, shake and strain over cubed ice in a double old-fashioned glass, float Woods 100, garnish with a fresh pineapple chunk, lime wedge and mint sprig.
COCONUT GRENADE
A quick solution to party hordes, pre-make loads of these coconuts in advance to slake their thirst quickly.
40ml Gold rum
10ml Passionfruit syrup
1 dash Angostura
10ml lime juice
20ml water
1 coconut
Method
Drill a hole in the eye of a coconut and empty out the milk. Mix this with the other ingredients and pour back into the coconut through a straw. Chill in the freezer for 1 hour, shake and then serve.
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