St Patrick's Day Worldwide and St Patrick Who Supposedly Banished Snakes

 St Patrick's Day has been celebrated worldwide. I have seen green in the pond beside the White House in the USA.

 Parades have been held in Chicago, USA, and Montreal, Canada. New York has a St Patrick's cathedral.

Naturally, St Patrick's Day is celebrated in Northern Ireland which has the statue of St Patrick on a hilltop in Saul. Green is the colour for the celebration worldwide.

St Patrick established Christianity in Ireland. Many church windows show St Patrick. At least one shows him banishing snakes. The story goes that St Patrick banished the snakes from Ireland which is why you don't have snakes in Ireland. An archaeologist established that, indeed, since the time of St Patrick there have been no snakes. But she also found no fossils of snakes from before the time of St Patrick. As the saying goes, why let the truth get in the way of a good story.

Up north in Belfast, capital of Northern Ireland, the Titanic Belfast Museum, about the building and sinking of the Titanic ship, was bathed in green coloured light.

Down in Dublin, capital of the Republic of Ireland, celebrations feature the Irish flag, which is green, white and orange. Their dream is of reuniting with Northern Ireland. That is why their flag includes the orange colour of William of Orange, who was the king of UK and Northern Ireland. His ancestors came from Anjer in France. Nothing to do with oranges. But the word sounds like oranges in English. So by accident at first and eventually by choice the name became pronounced as orange with the orange colour to match the name.

Indians and others living in Asia see similarities between the flag of India and the flag of Ireland. Both have the colours green, white and orange. The Irish flag has three vertical bands or blocks of colour. The Indian flag has the colour horizontal, with the addition of a lozenge in the middle.

Singapore

Singapore has a Molly Malone pub. You can enjoy the Irish atmosphere all year.

Belize

Belize used to be called British Honduras and still has a British garrison. Among the British troop were some Irish troops who had enjoyed Irish food and drink in the canteen and bar. Some of the Irish soldiers retired and stayed on in the country they had lived in for years and where they felt at home. Guinness is manufactured locally, officially, under license. On St Patricks Day the locals enjoy celebrating, any excuse for a party, says my friend from Belize, Edward,but more than that, they even enjoy kilts and pipes.

The British royals, Kate and William, arrived in Belize (part of a visit around the area which would include Jamaica) in late March. On their itinerary were the popular tourist sites of the former governor's house, now the House of Culture and Museum. Out a sea, you see the Great Barrier Reef, and the Blue Hole.

Chinese New Year Delights: nut biscuits, pineapple tarts, oranges and red packets

 

Chinese New Year gift. 

CNY biscuits. Home made. Photo by Angela Sharot.

These biscuits are more nut than biscuit. Slivered white almonds, green pumpkin seeds, black seeds, in brittle sugar.

Pineapple tarts from Cold Storage, Rail Mall, 2022. Photo by Angela Lansbury.

Oranges and home made biscuits.

CNY decorations at Fairprice in Bukit Panjang.

Oranges my family bought in Fairprice supermarket, Bukit Panjang in the north west of Singapore.

These oranges from Fairprice have the Fremont label and come from Taiwan. Photo by Angela Lansbury

These oranges from Fairprice came with a packet of red packets with the word Fairprice in gold lettering on the back. The red packets are for you to give money, banknotes, to your children, grandchildren, nieces and nephews and unmarried relatives.

Youngsters complain that as soon as they get married they stop receiving money and have to start giving money.

Decorations at Rail Mall.

Big boxes of 12 oranges.

Photo by Trevor Sharot.

An IKEA leaflet in the mailbox at Singapore tells my family that at Swedish IKEA we can buy oranges and see through jars with lids for home made cookies.

Ikea advertisement leaflet. Photo by Angela.

The oranges must be Mandarin oranges which are easy peel and in season at Chinese New Year.

Pineapple tarts come in three basic shapes. The flat tarts with orange filling on top. The rolled tarts like sausage rolls with the orange filling showing at one end or both ends. The golf ball shape with pastry outside with top glazed with egg or sugar and the filling hidden until you bite them.

You should be able to buy similar goodies online, or at supermarkets in your nearest Chinatown, and in large supermarkets worldwide. You can also make your own. 

What do you need?

Minimum, two Mandarin oranges. (To be generous, give more oranges, preferably in a fancy red box adorned with goodwill messages in Chinese. ( You can print these from the internet, or download them from Whatsapp). 

Or, if you are Western and can't get Chinese goodies, add a box of chocolates.

Additions: Pineapple tarts or see-through jars of cookies with a red lid and/or label and a message wishing Happy New Year in Chinese writing.

Deliver in a jar with CNY message, or a box with a CNY message,

For children, or unmarried singles, note money in a red packet.

Where will you find Chinatowns? All over the world. For example, in the UK in London and Manchester and several more. In the USA in New York and San Francisco and LA and several more. In Canada in Vancouver and several more.

 
 More pictures shortly. Stay tuned or come back.

Useful Websites

Fairprice

https://www.fairprice.com.sg/

Cold Storage

https://coldstorage.com.sg/

Recipe for pineapple tarts

https://www.singaporeanmalaysianrecipes.com/pineapple-tarts-recipe-resepi-kuih-tart/

recipe for Chinese biscuits

About the Author Angela Lansbury

BIOGRAPHY

Angela Lansbury B A Hons ACG ALB PM5 EH5 DL5 VC5 
The Author of several books including  Etiquette For Every Occasion. Wedding Speeches & Toasts. How to be the Best Man. Quick Quotations. Who Said What When.

Blogs travelwithangelalansbury.blogspot.com

dressofthedayangela.blogspot.com

translateforfun.blogspot.com

Braddell Heights Advanced Toastmasters Speakers Club Vice President Public Relations (VPPR), Previous President

Join BHA 1st Wednesday 7pm and 3rd Saturday 2 pm Singapore time 

Vice President Public Relations (VP PR) of Tampines Changkat Advanced;

Secretary of weekly online Singapore International Dynamic Toastmasters Speakers’ Club;

Member and past president of Harrovians toastmasters club, UK; Past member of HOD Toastmasters, London. Past member in Singapore of: Toastmasters Club of Singapore (TCS); Tiarel; and Senja Cashew.

More details from Toastmasters International find a club.

Regular attendee at annual Swanwick Writers’ School, England.

Regular attendee at annual Writers’ Holiday, Wales.

Contributor to poetry readings, and after tea courses on: Speaking On Radio To Promote Books; and Plots And Character.

Winner of many club and area speaking contests in the UK and Singapore.

Language advisor to Empire Toastmasters club in Indonesia.

Language and speech workshops in Singapore.

Speaker on radio and TV in England, Scotland, the USA, and Australia.

Compiler of a school course on public speaking for teachers to prepare pupils for school open days with attending ceremonies before government ministers, Singapore.

Former member of Harrow Writers’ Circle, London, and two writing groups in Singapore.

Angela is on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Twitter. She would be delighted to link up with new friends.

 Please share links to your favourite posts.

Books by Angela Lansbury
How to be the best man. (Ward Lock / Cassell.)
Wedding Speeches and Toasts.(Ward Lock / Cassell.)
Unforgettable British Weekends.
Poetry Workshop Workbook.
The Tailor and the Spy. (Lulu.)
Larry The Talking Labrador. (Lulu.)
Writing Poetry for fun.

Quick Quotations

Who Said What When

 

Chinese New Year Gifts & Festivals

 

Chinese New Year gifts at Fairprice. Photo by Trevor Sharot.

Who celebrates Chinese New Year, also called the Lunar New Year, or the Spring Festival? Apparently as many as a fifth of the world's population.

In the Singapore fruit section and by checkouts and in a whole section devoted to gifts, I see lots of oranges. Also boxes and see-through bottles containing cookies, white or brown. The bottles and boxes have red and gold labels.  Red or gold or silver tops seal the screw-top bottles.

"What do you give for New Year?" I asked a friend.

 You will see lots of boxes of oranges. 

My Singaporean friend, V, explained: "You give children red packets containing money.  As for adults, as you are a Westerner, you can give a box of chocolates. We give oranges, not the usual oranges, but Mandarin oranges, the sort you can peel."

If you have a lot of guests, you can buy hampers of snacks, or give a hamper to a client.

You can buy flower, plants, baskets of fresh fruit, cakes.

Plants

Bamboo which grows quickly is considered lucky. It is a symbol of strength.

Kumquats, orange colour, or orange coloured limes, on small or large trees, the trees shaped into spheres or ovals, symbolize prosperity. You see the colourful trees outside hotels and public buildings, either side of the entrance or both sides.

Food

Drink

Baiju Chinese wine.

 Mixed chocolates, including Durian flavour.

Mooncakes - not only for autumn festivals. All flavours.

Useful Websites

https://www.fnp.sg/blog/lunar-new-year-celebrations-around-the-world

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_New_Year

https://www.lazada.sg/products/chinese-spicesmid-autumn-festival-360g-gift-box-multi-flavored-liquid-moon-cakes-old-fashioned-traditional-moon-cakes-i2023354104-s11030818190.html?exlaz=d_1:mm_

About the Author

BIOGRAPHY

Angela Lansbury B A Hons ACG ALB PM5 EH5 DL5 VC5 
The Author of several books including  Etiquette For Every Occasion. Wedding Speeches & Toasts. How to be the Best Man. Quick Quotations. Who Said What When.

Blogs travelwithangelalansbury.blogspot.com

dressofthedayangela.blogspot.com

translateforfun.blogspot.com

Braddell Heights Advanced Toastmasters Speakers Club Vice President Public Relations (VPPR), Previous President

Join BHA 1st Wednesday 7pm and 3rd Saturday 2 pm Singapore time 

Vice President Public Relations (VP PR) of Tampines Changkat Advanced;

Secretary of weekly online Singapore International Dynamic Toastmasters Speakers’ Club;

Member and past president of Harrovians toastmasters club, UK; Past member of HOD Toastmasters, London. Past member in Singapore of: Toastmasters Club of Singapore (TCS); Tiarel; and Senja Cashew.

More details from Toastmasters International find a club.

Regular attendee at annual Swanwick Writers’ School, England.

Regular attendee at annual Writers’ Holiday, Wales.

Contributor to poetry readings, and after tea courses on: Speaking On Radio To Promote Books; and Plots And Character.

Winner of many club and area speaking contests in the UK and Singapore.

Language advisor to Empire Toastmasters club in Indonesia.

Language and speech workshops in Singapore.

Speaker on radio and TV in England, Scotland, the USA, and Australia.

Compiler of a school course on public speaking for teachers to prepare pupils for school open days with attending ceremonies before government ministers, Singapore.

Former member of Harrow Writers’ Circle, London, and two writing groups in Singapore.

Angela is on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Twitter. She would be delighted to link up with new friends.

 Please share links to your favourite posts.

Books by Angela Lansbury
How to be the best man. (Ward Lock / Cassell.)
Wedding Speeches and Toasts.(Ward Lock / Cassell.)
Unforgettable British Weekends.
Poetry Workshop Workbook.
The Tailor and the Spy. (Lulu.)
Larry The Talking Labrador. (Lulu.)
Writing Poetry for fun.

Quick Quotations

Who Said What When

Chinese New Year Food: Oranges, Yu Sheng, and home made pineapple pastries

 

Oranges are sold in large quantities to give to friends and family and neighbours. I took two to give to a Chinese friend who met us for a day before Chinese New Year Reunion lunch on their day off work. I gave her the two oranges. She looked extremely pleased and then gave them back to me. Apparently that is ok, to reciprocate with the same, even passing back the same set. It is like replying to a Christmas greeting, or sending a Christmas card when one is sent to you.

We bought the Yu Sheng, a Singaporean custom. In the time before Covid-19, the Toastmasters club meetings used to have Yu Sheng in the food break.

Now in 2021 because of Covid-19, we are fanned from tossing the food in the air with the chopsticks (for good luck) and shouting greetings.

We bought Yu Sheng from the supermarket. It is delicious. So many ingredients, all different colours. Crunch sesame seeds. Sweet sauce. Shredded vegetables. 

Fish of your choice. We added smoked salmon on the second day.

We gave two oranges as a greeting to our Chinese neighbours in Singapore.

They reciprocated with pineapple tarts, home made by a family member.

Pineapple decoration in the condo complex by the swimming pool.

Pineapple tarts sold in bakeries and supermarkets.

 Pastry balls with pineapple filling.

We looked up the recipe on line. One pineapple can make as many as 50 to 100 tarts! You put ten in a box, so that would be 5 to 10 boxes to give to family and friends.

Useful Websites

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yusheng

 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pineapple_tart

https://www.womensweekly.com.sg/gallery/food/festive-food/types-of-mandarin-oranges/

About the Author

Angela Lansbury teacher of English (advanced and English as a Second Language or English as a Foreign Language, French and other languages, aspiring polyglot.

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. Member of many toastmasters  speaker training clubs and speaking contest judge.

Angela Lansbury, the author of 20 books including Wedding Speeches & Toasts, and Quick Quotations, has lived in the USA, Spain and Singapore. 

She  has several blogs and writes daily on at least two of the following:

travelwithangelalansbury.blogspot.com

dressofthedayangela.blogspot.com

translateforfun.blogspot.com

 Please share links to your favourite posts.

How to grow fruit, herbs and plants to eat on a balcony, patio or windowsill

Rosemary
Rosemary is cheap to buy from a garden centre, or a supermarket, or ask a neighbour.

In the UK my greatest success was with the herb rosemary.

Watering
You are suposed to water them. If you are watering anyway, good. If not, and you keep doing this, every day, or every time you pick rosemary to go on roast lamb, one day you will be lucky and the rain will do the job for you.

Apples
All the gardens on a housing estate had been plated with apple and pear trees. However isolated you were, if you were stuck in snow, or down with the flu, at least you had an apple a day throughout the winter.

Then we moved to Singapore. New climate. Living in a condo. The estate had allotments but we never managed to locate the person allocating them. We had a balcony. In fact, three balconies. One on the living room. A second smaller one by the bedroom. A third utility area in shade containng a washing machine at the back.

I visited a friend's apartment in another condo. She had every blacony filled like sardines with flower pots. More all around everywhere. Teeny cacti on the tiny windows at the tops of showers. flower pots on brackets on an inside wall over the piano. A jungle. A graden centre. Made our bare balconies look bare.




In Singapore the greatest success has been aloe vera. It was abandoned the first time for three week or nearly a month, we returned to find not the dead aloe vera we had feared to find, but a defiant doubled in size monster. It even had a baby aloe vera gowing innocently at the far end of the trough.

'Orange' tree
My second success was with what I thought was a miniature orange tree. It was identified by a local garden centre as lime. It certainly tasted bitter.

We loved our cheerful little 'oranges'.

We thought about it and commented that the oranges were bitter like Seville oranges used to make marmalade. Ah - marmalade. We used our 'oranges' to make marmalade, with one large ordinary supermarket orange added to the mixture.

That was in November 2019. By March 2020 the little tree has its second crop.

If I had more money than time, I would invest in buying a set of three miniature fruit trees in pots from a garden centre. These are sold online for delivery in the UK, and other countries. Whichever country your laptop or ipod or phone is operating in, you are likely to get ads for the same country.

But you can try planting seeds from the fruit you eat. Why grow them in water in the kitchen before planting them out? To be sure a keen gardener does not pull out the tiny shoots thinking they are weeds. Use a wooden lolly stick or improvised flag to alert yourself and anybody else that a shoot alongside is not a weed from seeds blown in or dropped by birds but a deliverately planted vegetable.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-8151513/How-grow-vegetables-balcony-plant-what.html?ns_mchannel=rss&ico=taboola_feed

Oranges and Orange Trees For Chinese New Year

Chinese lunar New Year - when is it? You probably have it marked in your diary, in small print on the dates, and in a listing at the front, or the back page of a 2019 calendar or diary which has a page for dates the following year.

If you are travelling or staying home or watching TV on your screen or iphone or airplane screen you are likely to see buildings decorated in advance of Chinese New Year. Chinese New Year is a lunar calendar New Year celebrated by countries with Chinese populations and visitors and other countries in Asia and the world.

Flag of Malaysia

For example, China, Vietnam, Singapore, Taiwan, Malaysia (Chinese businesses) Hong Kong, Chinatown in London, England, Chinatown in Manchester, England, Chinatown in San Francisco, USA and Chinese restaurants in high streets (which Americans call main streets), plus airports such as Changi airport in Singapore.


Flag of Singapore

Expect meetings to be cancelled because workers and staff are away travelling. Expect airports, planes and restaurants to be busy. Expect to see lovely decorations everywhere, and Chinese foods in enticing packaging in supermarkets, stores and shops.

The Sheraton towers hotel had 'orange' trees inside and out.

'Orange' tree outside entrance to the Sheraton Towers Hotel, Singapore
Photo by Angela Lansbury. copyright.

Decorations
Orange, oranges.
You can buy boxes of oranges from supermarkets in decorative boxes tied with orange or red ribbon.

Gifts
Oranges. On New Year's day you give two oranges to the friends and family you have arranged to meet. We were given oranges by shop staff.

You are supposed to return the compliment with another pair of oranges. (A bit like exchanging Xmas cards. It's the thought that counts.)

You might be given old, dry oranges. Never mind. It's the goodwill that counts.

Bags and Tags
Bags and tags carry the words Happy Chinese New Year. The Chinese writing is usually in gold. (See below).


Oranges on red packets. Photo by Angela Lansbury.

Greetings
Chinese signs meaning Double Happiness.

Useful Websites
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_New_Year
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lunar_New_Year

Singapore Airlines
singaporeair.com

To learn (Mandarin) Chinese
Duolingo
duolingo.com



See next post on red packets. 

About The Author
I have more posts on Singapore, China and learning languages.
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. Please share links to your favourite posts.

Orange Surprise - making home made marmalade from a balcony plant

Miniature potted orange tree. Photos by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

Orange Surprise

Our latest success with growing a tiny tree and cooking home made food from our plants was with oranges. 

When I saw the orange tree I thought it would have sweet oranges you could eat. I tried one and it was bitter. What a disappointment!  Was it poisonous? However, my husband explained, "It's a bitter orange, and you use bitter oranges to make marmalade, which is simple jam from bitter oranges. Like the oranges from Seville." 


Seville in Spain. The word orange is said to come from the Spanish for orange, naranja. 

At first our family chef said he would not bother to use the little oranges to make marmalade.
He said, "It's too much time and effort. Not worth the trouble." 

Then he decided to remove the shrivelling oranges, to encourage the new small green wines to ripen. With a bowl of oranges in his hand, he decided to use them.

He said, "It seems a shame to waste them. I'll use them to make marmalade."

He found an online recipe. The English language websites have many recipes.



He often goes to a French recipe site in addition. He translates the recipes using Google translate.

He found the perfect recipe. But the quantity of fruit he had was under the required amount. So he added an ordinary (sweet) orange.

Recipe
First you cut up the oranges and separate the inside from the peel. Separate but save the pips. 

Next remove the peel. Turn over the pieces of peel and and removed, scrape off, pith (white part underneath).

The membranes (bits separating the inside of the fruit) can go with the pips, or be discarded.

Place the pips in a muslin bag so you can later remove them from your boiled mixture.
Put pips in a muslin bag and crush with pestle and mortar and add to mixture to add pectin.

Boil

Boil the bitter oranges (everything except the bitter pith) until peel softens and becomes translucent. (About an hour.) 

After an hour or so bring up the temperature. the temperature is raised to about 104 centigrade, above the boiling point of water, 10c, to set the pectin to make it gel instead of just being a runny orange flavoured sauce.

Bottling
Then leave to cool and put it in a sterile, lidded jar in your fridge. You cannot handle the scalding hot glass, even be careful with the lid just out of sterilising scalding hot steam or water. Use a clean oven glove and clean towel, one to hold the glass and one to hold the lid. 

Labelling By Hand When cooled you can add a label. take an address label (a roll bought cheaply from a cheap shop or stationers. Draw a neat border using a ruler. Draw a pencil line for the name of the product. Mark the number of letters in m a r m a l a d e. (Nine dots, one in the centre, four on both sides. And/or add your name or surname or a brand name. For example, Mark's Marmalade or Mum's Marmalade or Mama Mary Home Made Marmalade. Use dots so you don't get to the end of the word and find the last letter won't fit on. Copy a calligraphy font in pencil. 

How To Print Two Labels
Alternative print a label with a pretty font. Cut the edges with serrated paper scissors. Or use a guillotine. Measure the edges and cut off sticky tape to the right length and attach the label to the jar. Add a second label to the back, either with the ingredients to look professional, or simply to be sure you can always see the label if you are not religious about putting things in the fridge with the labels at the front and visible. 

My family now has home made marmalade and home made bread. What about butter? 

Home Made Marmalade Verdict
I don't normally like marmalade. It is too bitter. And too sweet. However, the home made version was aromatic and tangy.

We declared, "This marmalade is better than shop bought marmalade!?"
I asked, "Are you sure it was worth the time and trouble?"
"Sure. I could eat three slices, but I won't."
"Because we only have a jar and a half or because you are watching your diet and calorie count?"
"Both." 
"Will you do it again?"
"Yes. And I shall add extra ingredients."

Alternative Ingredients
"What have you learned?"
"My hobby is good. I could use oranges, lemons, or another local fruit called calamansi, which is made into a drink in Singapore."

Flavours To Add
"I don't like whisky. How about something healthy?"
We bought some fancy jams in Seam Reap in Cambodia and more from the Shangri La hotel food shop in Singapore.
Next time we will add ginger.

So, now you know. Whether or not you grow food on your windowsill or balcony, at least you know how to make marmalade.

About the Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. See my other posts on growing food, learning languages and more.

Please share links to your favourite posts.

How To Organise a Halloween Celebration And Cut A Pumpkin

 Last Year's Halloween - Pumpkins for the house of garden, in the home or garden section of a supermarket such as Waitrose.

Clothes and accessories under £2.

Biscuits and cakes under £2.

This year's Halloween
My Tesco Trident, £2 or less.

Plastic trident from Tesco Express

Problem
How do I buy and cut a pumpkin to make a display? What do I need?

Answer
You have a choice. Buy a fresh pumpkin and enjoy eating it as well as having a display. Or buy a plastic pumpkin, ready-made, and store it for next year.

Where to buy? In the UK I saw fresh pumpkins in Waitrose, synthetic 'toy' pumpkins in Tesco Express.

You can buy a pumpkin cutting kit with instructions.

Cutting A Pumpkin
My friend says:
Slice the top off the pumpkin horizontally.

Scoop out the inside.

Draw the face on a sheet of paper. Either draw it yourself or copy from a picture on the internet or from the packaging with your pumpkin. Decide whether to use circles or triangles, small or large, what distance apart. Trace or copy onto the outside of the pumpkin with pencil, so you can work out the spacing and decide what looks best.
Cut three triangles, two for the eyes

Use it to eat fresh, make a pumpkin drink or heat it up as a soup. Recipes all over the internet. You can also make a pumpkin tart.

Set up outdoors by the gate or doorway, on the ground or perhaps on a small table to welcome guests.  This can be done at a home or public meeting. (We did it at a Toastmasters International Speakers' Club in London, at a church hall beside a cemetery!

Place a tea light inside. After everybody has arrived and the meeting is about to start, extinguish the light for safety when moving. Carry the pumpkin indoors. Set it up and re-light the candle.

If you are really crafty in the kitchen, bake a Halloween cake. Orange icing. A black witches' hat on top.  If not, go to an organized event.

Bake a cake. Instructions on craft site.

Story - Memories of Pumpkin Dinner
I had a delicious pumpkin meal at the American Club in Singapore. I was a member of the American Women's Association. We had pumpkin soup as a starter, a main course with pumpkin mixed in with the salad, and a choice of a pumpkin 'pudding', meaning a kind of mousse, or pumpkin tart.

To complete the look: orange paper napkins and an orange centrepiece.

Offer leftover fresh pumpkin display to somebody who has children. Save a plastic pumpkin for next year in your basement or attic. Note where it is stored by sending yourself a picture in an email in the storage place in your laptop or phone or computer. Copy details of where to find it into your online diary for a week before next year's Halloween. Send duplicate to spouse or other family member, or to shared calendar, so they don't waste money by duplicating purchases. You are also set for your next event.

If you missed having a Halloween party this year, prices come down in supermarkets the day or week afterwards. You can stock up with paperwear for next year.

What can you buy?
Paper cups.
A plastic tablecloth.
Plastic pumpkins.
Orange decorations and clothes.
Face paints. Masks. Fingernails.
Note any Halloween stories to tell.

Halloween Tablecloth

Lessons Learned
The organizers of our party were brilliant. The Toastmaster of the evening wore an outfit. One person brought cakes. Another brought decorations. What else could we have done? Phoned each member personally the weekend before and on the day and asked them to wear either fancy dress or black and white and orange.

Food and Fruit
The halloween cakes looked great.

Our cakes and biscuits were an overdose of sugar. We could have brought orange fruit as an alternative for those on health food diets. That's easy. Oranges, ideally slices or in segments. Oranges. Satsumas. Mandarins. Apricots.

White hard boiled eggs on orange plates, or white plates with orange napkins alongside or under the plates.

Peanuts or black fruits such as black grapes or raisins in white bowls on orange paper napkins.

Invitations
Halloween invitations asking guests to wear outfits or white tee-shirts or orange ties and jewellery.

Useful Websites
Morrisons www.morrisons.co.uk
Tesco www.tesco.com
Waitrose www.waitrose.com

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.

Spring Breaks: Flowers and Fruit in France in February

Problem
Where can I find flower and fruit festivals? Where can I go in February? To the south east of France. You could drive to the south west, then across to the south east and do two coasts.

Answers
Lemon Festival
Menton in France for orange and lemon festival. Menton is 'the lemon festival capital of the world'. You mean there are more? Yes, California, of course.

Lemon Festival, Fete du Citron, Menton, France. Photos by Bohyunlee from Wikipedia.

Mimosa festival in France in a whole string of towns and villages.

Story
A friend of mine, call him Richard (he's shy about being named) books every year. His top tips:
"France is not great for anybody who keeps kosher or is vegetarian or vegan. If you want vegetarian, you are better off in America or Italy.

Kosher Restaurants
"If you want kosher restaurants in France, try Nice and Cannes. In these seaside resorts you will find two or three, one opposite a Chabad place. But they are pricey.

"In France non meat eaters can eat risotto and tuna and tuna sushi. But that does get monotonous afer a while if you are staying for a week or two in summer. Okay for a long weekend spring break."

What's Free or Cheaper
"The festivals charge for seats to watch the parades. Quite expensive.

Budget Accommodation
"To economise, instead of hotels, opt for airb and b. Or bed and breakfast.

"But the French in bed and breakfast places in the south don't speak much English. Fine if you speak French."

Brush up on your French with Dulingo.com free online language courses.

White Clouds and blue skies from a plane window. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

Cheap Flights
What about cheaper flights? What about Ryanair?

I am very happy with Ryanair prices.

However, my friend says, "I wouldn't go on them if you paid me. I prefer Easy Jet."

He says, "I pay extra for more leg room (he is over six foot tall) and extra luggage and seating together. Even so, my wife and I pay no more than £200,  return fares from England to France, for the two of us."

Any other advice on bargains. What about late booking?

"That's great if you just want a holiday at a reduced price, and don't mind where. But if you have a specific destination in mind, book early to get the best fares."

What to see in Menton
Jean Cocteau Museum

Jean Cocteau Museum, Menton, France. Photo by Paolo Schubert in Wikipedia.

Jean Cocteau sculpture, Villefranche-sur-mer, next along from Nice, France.

Travel Tips From These Handy Websites:
https://wikitravel.org/en/Menton
http://uk.france.fr
https://www.tourisme-menton.fr/-Menton-French-Riviera-.html?lang=en
https://www.ryanair.com/gb/en/
https://www.easyjet.com/en/

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. Please share links to your favourite posts. For more on Jean-Cocteau, see next post.

Carnivals, Festivals and Feasts With Fruit and Flowers

Where was that parade, or festival, the one with the fruit or vegetables and flowers?

By Country

GERMANY
Stuttgart Beer Festival or Autumn Fair, 17 day festival with a fruit column, fireworks. Starts late September until mid-October.
 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cannstatter_Volksfest

ECUADOR
The name Ecuador means Equator, a hot country.
http://www.ecuador.com/blog/the-festival-of-fruit-and-flowers-in-ambato

ITALY
The Battle Of The Oranges
Culminates in a fruit throwing festival. Wear clothes which don't matter and look for designated areas of refuge.
January at Ivrea, near Turin, Italy.

http://news.opodo.co.uk/NewsDetails/2007-01-16/Battle_of_Oranges_at_Italian_carnival

Umbria - see previous posts.

SPAIN
La Tomatino is a festival which culminates in a tomato fight. The last Wednesday in August and the preceding week. In Buñol near Valencia.
https://www.spanish-fiestas.com/festivals/la-tomatina/

UK -
Cheese rolling
Pancakes - Shrove Tuesday, Pancake Day nationwide, offers in supermarkets and recipes in newspapers; pancake races, with pancakes in frying pans

USA
Parade of the Roses, Jan 1st? California?

Angela Lansbury
Travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.

Welsh Words List Expanded For Holidays In Wales With Writers

Problem
1 How do I learn Welsh?
2 Do I stop and keep repeating the difficult words and sentences until I get them right? Or just keep going, hoping eventually repetition will make whole phrases and sentences stick?
3 Why Welsh?

Answers
Duo lingo
1 I am learning though Duolingo. I've tried several systems. They are all good.

Earworms
I like Ear-worms. You can listen to while tidying up, or on car journeys.

Babbel
B a b b e l is good and thorough . If you need a language for work or get a subsidy from your employer it might be worthwhile doing their free starter and then paying for the later more advanced course.

But for me right now Duolingo is best. It offers lots of languages. It is quick. You can just do five minutes a day. It's something you can do on the computer when you need a break. You can see at a glance where you were last time.

2 At the beginning I used to do everything methodically. I completed the review. Each time I got something wrong I did the entire review start to finish - sometimes just eight words, sometimes 12, 16 or more.

When you are in a hurry because your holiday is imminent, it might be better to add five new words, instantly recognisable and easy to remember words. rather than spending time practising one you keep forgetting. If you are tired and easily discouraged or doing it more for run than to pass an exam, just plough on.

Secrets Update
I used to 'cheat' by looking words up on google translate. That way I got everything right first time.

Today I made a list of all the words. I planned to write this blog post on all my words up to date.  My first thought was that neither I nor you wanted to see the same old words again. I could save time by not repeating words from the last lesson.

My second thought was that the reputation would be good for me, and you.

Then I found that my writing the words in a list, my notes helped with later translations. At the end of the exercise, you get asked to translate the other way. Recognising the Welsh is easier than remembering the Welsh when given the English word to translate into Welsh.

Welsh - English
B
b y r g e r - burger
C
c a t h - cat (first three letters are the same) Memory aid 'a (Welsh) cat - huh/uh!'
chocolate - c i o c l e d (memory aid - the first and third letters are the same, c and o, then both s and l appear, t and d sound similar)
cawl - soup (Memory aid. Like Porthcawl, the Welsh place on the southern coast. P o r t h is port or harbour.  Cawl might be related to the word Ghaul, says Wikipedia. But I think of it as a harbour of soup or soupy water!
c y r i - curry
L
lemon - lemon
M
mel - honey
O
oren - orange
orennau - oranges
P
pasta - pasta
pel - ball
pitsa - pizza
R
reis - rice
S
s i o c l e d - chocolate (s pronounced like SH as in the name Sean pronounced Shawn)
tatwys - potatoes (like the Scottish mashed neaps and t a t t i e s, meaning mashed turnips and potatoes)
sudd - juice
T
tost - toast
toy - t e g a n

English - Welsh
B
ball - pel
burger - b y r g e r
C
cat - cath
chocolate - c i o c l e d
curry - c y r i
H
honey - mel
J
juice - s u d d
L
lemon - lemon
O
orange - o r e n
oranges - o r e n n a u
P
pasta - pasta
pizza - pitsa
potatoes - tatwys

R
rice - r e i s
S
soup - cawl
T
toy - t e g a n

Language Insights
Welsh has no words for a/an. the same applies to several other languages. If your native language has no a nor an and you struggle with English, you will find Welsh easier than English speakers who keep searching for a and an.

Why Learn Welsh
Why not? If you are going to drive into Wales, you might as well. If you want a holiday in Wales,

Writers and Artists In Wales
Writers Holiday has spring breaks, a summer week, and an autumn break in Fishguard Wales at a hotel overlooking the harbour. On the summer course you can also spend time on painting. (See my previous posts and their website.)

If you have no plans to go to Wales, it's still useful to spot a few Welsh words on the map of Great Britain.

Tips
duo lingo
www.visitwales.com
writers holiday.net

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. I have posts on languages and menus and restaurants hotels and attractions in Wales, the UK, Europe, the USA, Asia and worldwide. Please share links to your favourite posts.