Buy Polish Sweets from Wedel, White Marshmallow Covered in Caramel and Many More flavours

 If you visit Poland or anybody from Poland is visiting your country for a holiday or exhibiting at an exhibition, ask if you can try, or if they can buy you some Polish sweets. They are unlike anything you have had before. 

My Polish friends from the jewellery show in Singapore kindly gave me a box of Wedel 'chocolates'.  You might call them sweets, although several varieties are chocolate covered. 

They come in double layer boxes of small cylinders.  Three strips of six, 18 per layer, 36 to a box. That is one a day for a month, if you are living alone, or your partner does not eat them. Or one each for two of you after dinner every evening for two and a half weeks. 

They are very more-ish. As with chocolates, you need to limit yourself to none if you are trying to lose weight, one if you wish to stay the same weight, and two at a weekend or if you are happy to put on more weight or start dieting on Monday.

The Story Behind The Sweets

The Greeks started it, with their myths about bird milk. 

Shops

You can buy them in London, England, which has a large Polish community. Look for Polish shops and delis.  The supermarkets stock them too.

Online

Online I found them at assorted prices. But the cheapest ones were the same price if you had to pay high postage. So if you can get them with free postage that brings the price including postage down from a whopping 20 to a reasonable 5 (pounds or various dollars, American, Singapore, Australian).

If you look at all the varieties online, if you visit Poland, you can take your picture to compare, in supermarkets, in the duty free shops on the way out with your last cash. 

If you are not travelling but being visited by travellers, or meeting them, or are expecting to see a visitor or seller from Poland, ask them to bring you back either any variety or the one you find hardest to get or most expensive, including postage, online.

What travellers can see:

First look for the Wedel logo. An elaborate E, two letters e in the name, and a diagonal Italic f shape curve underneath.

The firm is big, huge. This is their fine factory building. The polish word for factory is similar to the English word fabric, fabryka.

However, holidaymakers are more likely to want to visit the original Wedel shop and tea place. 

Or a shop such as this one in the Intercontinental hotel in Warsaw, Poland's capital.

In the Poish language cz is pronounced like ch. The c becomes a K. The t becomes a d. Czekolada - chocolate. (Pronounced check - oh-larder.) You can translate using translate Google, and click on the symbol under the word to hear the pronunciation. 

b

Back in 2017 you could see the Wedel sweetmeats symbol on the Polish airliner or the airline LOT

Description	LOT (Ptasie Mleczko Livery), SP-LDF, Embraer ERJ-170STD
Date	29 January 2017, 09:37
Source	LOT (Ptasie Mleczko Livery), SP-LDF, Embraer ERJ-170STD
Author	Anna Zvereva from Tallinn, Estonia

Look at the picture closely and you will see the chocolates and a bird shape.

If you are ever in Russia you might see the Russian equivalents of the Polish sweets. there is also a white cake which looks a bit like cheesecake.

Useful Websites

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Ptasie-Mleczko

A useful summary of different types of Polish chocolates, their colours, ingredients and names.

https://www.polonist.com/polish-candy-sweets/

Variety Stores & Bargains and Corner Shops Worldwide

UK

In the UK, look for Tesco express and the rack there and in any supermarket with reduced prices. They might fill up the section only after 6 pm, or throughout the day, or after 6 pm with increasing bargains as the evening wears on.

Cheap sandwiches are in Tesco, Boots, Morrisons and other supermarkets, often near the entrance or the checkout. If searching, save time and beat other shoppers, ask.

In Morrisons you might find reductions on the cooked chicken and cooked meat counter at the back of the store, already packaged and labelled on the top of the counter for you to grab. 

Don't wait until the last minute. They might be clearing up half an hour before closing tf one ime.

I noticed that Waitrose in Harrow, NW London, had a section on the far right by the entrance for one person quick snacks, ideal for lunch time, because of the small size, low cost, and not taking up all your lunch hour to run around the supermarket. 

SINGAPORE

In Singapore you find branches of 7-11 on the MRT (underground and overground railway system). If you want a quick bite to eat, look for 7-11, McDonalds, and food courts, often the basement or top floor or Supermarkets. 

Fairprice in Singapore

I looked for a piece of cooked salmon, ready to eat, or ready to cook. All the pieces were large and identical prices. In London there's a whole range of prices. You can get one tiny piece for one person. Or add one piece to your packet for two to make three pieces for three persons. I don't know how they get two dozen packets of fish identical sizes and weights. I suppose it is done by machine, which saves them time. But disappointing for me as a customer. I did not buy.

I ran all over the shop looking for couscous. They don't stock it. Three assistants did not undertand the word. Even after I spelled it. Finally, an assistant said that they don't stock it. Any way to tell them?

At dinner time after 7 pm in Fairprice I was disappointed to not find an obvious small size counter. I was shopping for a one person snack to eat. I considered stopping at a fast food outlet, ruining my diet by eating cheesecake. I ended up in the ladies toilet, hunting through my shopping bag for something to keep me going. First I ate a couple of small carrots. Then a banana.

Everything seems designed for a family of four to eight persons. No economy of scale when I am buying for one instead of two.

Variety store chains in Asia[edit]

• In China: Miniso
• In India: US Dollar Store
• In Japan: Daiso, Daiei, Seria
• In Pakistan: Ghazali's HomeStore

Names for variety stores in Asia[edit]

• 100 fils Shop in Kuwait
• 2 riyal Shop in Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries
• 100-yen shop or one coin shop in Japan
• 10-dollar shop (US$1.28), 8-dollar shop, etc. in Hong Kong
• 1000 Won shop in South Korea
• 88 or 99 Peso store in Philippines
• 49 & 99 shop in India
• Hakol Bedollar (everything for a Dollar) in Israel
• Ghazali's HomeStore in Pakistan
• Всё по 100 рублей (English: Everything at 100 rubles) in Russia
• 10 or 20 Baht shop in Thailand
• 2-ringgit stores in Malaysia

Europe[edit]

The interior of a one-euro shop in Amsterdam, Netherlands

• In Belgium, chains include Action, HEMA, and Zeeman.
• In Denmark: føtex, Tiger, a pun on the word for the Danish ten-krone coin, opened in the mid-nineties in Copenhagen and has since spread to other countries
• In France: Action, HEMA, Monoprix, Uniprix, M. 1-2-3. Zeeman
• In Germany, there are ToBi (German: Total Billig, "Totally Inexpensive") stores where most items cost one or two Euro or less. Other chains include Action, EuroShop, HEMA, Mäc-Geiz (240 stores), Pfennigland, Pfennigpfeiffer (110 stores), TEDi (1400 stores across Europe), Thomas Philipps (200 stores), and Zeeman
• In Greece: 300 (300 drachmas, €0.90)
• In Hungary there are 100 forintos bolt ("100 forints store") stores, but they do not form a single chain, instead of being operated by small, independent companies.
• In Ireland: EuroGiant, Dealz
• In Italy: UPIM
• In Luxembourg: HEMA, Zeeman
• In Malta: Tal-Lira
• In the Netherlands: HEMA chain started in the Netherlands, sold goods using standard prices of 10, 25 or 50 cents, and later also 75 and 100 cents. After World War II, this model could not be sustained and the standard pricing system was abandoned.^[10] HEMA is the abbreviation of Hollandish standardized prices company (Dutch: Hollandse Eenheidsprijzen Maatschappij). The HEMA had some 500 Dutch stores in 2011 and also operates in Belgium, Germany, Luxembourg and France. Since 2016 the chain is expanding in to other European countries such as Spain and the United Kingdom. Other chains include Action, Big Bazar, Euroland, and Zeeman.
• In Portugal there were Trezentos shops (300 escudos, €1.50), but with the introduction of the Euro currency, this designation is not used nowadays and the terms 'bazar' or 'euro store' are preferred. Chains include Eupoupo - Tudo a €0,99 ou €1,49
• In Russia: Fixprice (50 rubles)
• Spain there are Todo a 100 shops ("everything for 100 pesetas" (€0.60)), although due to the introduction of the euro and inflation, most products cost a multiple of €0.60 or €1. Most of these shops maintain their name in pesetas, and most of them have been renamed as Casi todo a 100 ("almost everything for 100 [pesetas]"), Todo a 100, 300, 500 y más ("everything for 100, 300, 500 or more") or Todo a un euro. Colloquially, the expression todo a 100 implies that something is either cheap, kitsch or low quality.^{[citation needed]}
• In Sweden: Bubbeltian, called by some Tian, a colloquialism for ten kronor, US$1.20. Another chain that has been spreading in Sweden during the last seven years is Dollarstore, a chain where everything costs either 10, 20, 30, 40, 50 and steps of 50 up to 500 kr.
• In United Kingdom: B & M, Boyes, HEMA, Home Bargains, Poundland, Poundstretcher, Poundwise

Names for variety stores in Europe[edit]

• 100 forintos bolt in Hungary
• 3,8 RON shop in Romania
• Всичко по 1 лев in Bulgaria
• Euro store, €2 store, etc. in the Eurozone
• Euroland (formerly known as knaakland) in the Netherlands
• Euroshop or 1-Euro-Shop in Germany
• Loja dos 300 in Portugal 300 escudos = 1.5 Eur
• Magasin à prix unique (English: one price store) in France
• Max20 (kroner) in Norway
• Pound shop, 99p shop, etc. in the United Kingdom
• Sve po 8/10/12 kuna in Croatia
• Sve za 79/99/100 dinara (Everything for 79/99/100 dinars) in Serbia
• Tal-Lira in Malta (Lira was Malta's old currency before transitioning to Euro)
• Todo a 100, 20 duros and SuperCien in Spain (former cien = 100 pesetas = €0.60)
• Wszystko za 5 złotych in Poland

South America[edit]

In Argentina, variety stores are called todo por dos pesos (everything for 2 pesos).

Brazilians sometimes use the expression um e noventa e nove (R$ 1,99) to refer to cheap, low quality things or even people.

In Chile, they are called todo a mil (referring to the one thousand Chilean pesos banknote). They are commonly located in middle-class neighbourhoods where big retail stores don't usually venture and in small commercial districts like the ones in Santiago.

In South America, variety stores may be known as:

• Dolarazo (US$1.00) and Cincuentazo (US$0.50) in Ecuador
• Loja de 1,99 (R$ 1,99 = US$1.07) in Brazil
• Todo por 23 pesos in Uruguay (23 pesos = US$1)
• Todo por dos Pesos in Argentina (1 peso = US$0.32)

Africa[edit]

• In Egypt, a variety store may be called a 2.5 LE shop

 

Singapore - lockdown? When?

Singapore flag
I just watched the recording of the Singapore minister's speech. It is all happening from next Tuesday and Wednesday. Businesses will be affected from Tuesday April 7 2020.

Schools are going online Wednesday of next week, from Wednesday April 8 2020. After the trial run of one day this week.

Kindergardens, also.

Basically, food places can serve take away food but no sitting down.

Today, Friday April 3 2020, the supermarkets were super busy.



UK flag
My family in the UK said, "Official instructions are to avoid hoarding. However, in London toilet paper is like money."

I wrote on Facebook:

In a condo where friends and families live, not just swimming pools cordoned off but outdoor seating in a condo. I watched a recording of the announcement which was in English, afterwards in Malay and Mandarin.

To sum up the major points: Workplaces are to send people home except food shops, banks and essential services. Supermarkets and hospitals will be open. Places can deliver food and serve take away but no sitting and eating.

We have the weekend and Monday to make arrangements. Changing to home working from Tuesday.

Schools will be changed to home learning from next Wednesday. Kindergardens too. Except for children of essential workers where the family cannot make other arrangement. For one month minimum.

For exact dates and details you can read government websites
download their apps
or link to the Singapore government on Facebook.

https://www.straitstimes.com/politics/pm-lee-to-address-nation-at-4pm-on-covid-19-situation
https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/live-blog-pm-lee-ministerial-task-force-address-nation-on-covid-19-situation
https://www.facebook.com/hashtag/sgunited?fref=mentions

How To Make A Flag Cake For the USA, UK, Italy or Singapore

Make A Cake
American

American Flag
Earlier in July I wondered how to make a cake for July 4th and the whole month at my Toastmasters Club meetings showing the American flag. I now know you can use raspberries or strawberries and white icing, and red food colouring. (For an American or UK flag for the blue add blueberries.)

Singapore Flag

Singapore
Cheapest, smallest, simplest. Buy a cupcake. Cover half with white frosting. Put red jam or dyed red over the other half. (Or red foil taken off a wrapped chocolate.) Cut white frosting into a crescent and five small five point stars. And / or add the letters Sg. And place the cake on a large plate on a print out of the Singapore flag.

Italian Rainbow cake
Making a cake with a design on top is relatively easy. More time is needed to bake a cake with colour all the way through. rainbow cakes are popular and impressive. The easiest mutlicolour cakes are two colour or three colour.

For example, the red, white and green of the Italian flag.

Italian red, white and green food, in colours of the national flag. Photo by Exapler from Wikipedia.

Multi-Colour Sandwiches
I have also at the World Travel market in London, England, in November, seen multicolour sandwiches, layers of different coloured bread, celebrating a national flag.

Red Food Colouring
When I looked at rainbow cakes most cooks said that natural dyes such as beetroot and strawberry gave very pale colours and you would get better results from food colouring.

You can also get red and white colours using Jello (American brand of jelly).


UK Flag
If you are in London you could make an England cake which is much easier. the England glag or St Goerge's cross is a red cross of plus sign on a white background.



England flags are sold off in supermarkets the day after an England football match.  (The Swiss flag is white cross on red.) the Red Cross ambulance is a thick red cross in the centre of white background with a large white surround.

DIY & BOUGHT FLAG CAKES
Simple flag cakes in red and white
https://www.straitstimes.com/lifestyle/food/a-slice-of-patriotism
https://bakeavenue.com/products/singapore-flag-cake
Elaborate cakes showing flags, personalities, landmarks, Merlions and more
https://mothership.sg/2015/08/this-is-the-amazeball-result-when-19-super-creative-patissiers-bake-birthday-cakes-for-singapore/
YouTube How to make a flag cake (for a US flag)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=svRuAovIfmI
How to bake a green pandan cake with red and white Singapore flag topping using cream cheese.
http://www.foodiebaker.com/pandan-coconut-cake-with-cream-cheese-frosting/
Edible photo topping on backing sheet you peel off, From UK, free shipping to UK and can be posted worldwide:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Birthday-Cake-Edible-Image-Printed-Topper-Decoration-PERSONALISED-Mobile-Phone

About the Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker, teacher of English and other languages.

Rats and Weil's Disease - and why you should cover fruit - and what restaurants should do

Problem
You have food outdoors or indoors and think you might have rats. Does it matter?

Answer
Yes. In the UK restaurants are told by health authorifies that food should not be left in open topped containers or exposed to the air on shelves. At night nice and rats and pigeons and insects such as cockroaches can crawl across. When they eat they excrete. Any time they feel like it they can urinate on food.

Apart from changing the flavour, this spreads disease.

That's the theory. Has it ever happened? Yes. Here's the evidence.

I had known that restaurants need to cover exposed foods especially outdoors and indoors at night. I had not thought about supermarkets, empty containers, rotting fruit which won't be consumed, or people disposing of rubbish.

Fruit
 Now you know to keep the fruit such as apples laid out on shelves, covered. And I would always wash off windfalls. You see birds and squarrels scampering about your garden in the daytime. At night we have foxes and holes in the lawn.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5499849/Tesco-delivery-driver-Weils-disease-rat-urine-wins-payout.html

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

St George's Day Sunday 23rd April 2017

Problem
How do you spell George and how do I remember. What to do? Where to go?

Answers
Spelling George
I keep mis-typing George and the word is highlighted by typo checkers. Easy to remember, the e is attached to the g to make a soft sound like a J.

Flying Flags
St George's Day is the day to find and dust off a St George's Day or England flag, which is a red cross on a white background, beloved by football team supporters. The flag forms part of the Union Jack. If you've spent money on a flag previously, now is the time to get more value for your money by using it again.

Where to get one? Kiosks all over London will be selling flags.

Buying Flags and Bargains
Supermarkets also stock flags, small ones for your hand, larger flags to attach to cars, big banners, and face paints. A day or two later the leftover flags will be sold off by supermarkets, at first a ten per cent reduction, then maybe more.

You can also buy flags and face make up from party shops. Party shops online have a huge selection.

How to fly flags
Most hand held flags are fixed correctly. If you are flying flags you have to fly them correctly. Make sure you hoist it all the way up. A flag at half mast is a sign of mourning, generally for the death of royalty or national tragedy. At sea an upside down (Union Jack) flag is a signal requesting help, indicating a disaster.

How do you know which was is up for a Union Jack? Ask a boy scout.

Beef Lunches
I am being emailed by restaurants offering beef lunches. Cobb Farm has sent me information.

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. Please share my posts.

Umbrellas - buying and repairing

Problems
1 I need an umbrella every day in some months in Singapore. So I carry one for use as both umbrella and parasol. But a small umbrella easily blows inside out and breaks. It's heavy to carry. So sometimes I go without.

Answers
I often look around and see an umbrella lying on the ground. At first I was reluctant to touch one. Maybe somebody had dropped it and would come back, so glad that everybody was honest and nobody had touched it.

Then I thought, I'll just pick it up and have a look. Invariably the discarded umbrella was broken. Somebody had chucked it away, even beside a bin but not obstructing the bin by putting it inside.

Great, good enough for a bit of protection for myself and the papers and books I was carrying. I could discard it once I got home - or at the destination, not wanting to look like a person who could not afford a new umbrella.

However, having got the broken umbrellas home, I soon acquired a set of three or more. What to do with them? Some were retrieved. Others were my own, lovely umbrellas I did not want to throw away.

In London there's a repair shop. Problems, first it is not cheap. Second, it's not a while you wait service. So you have to leave it to be repaired. It takes two trips into town. You must visit in daylight hours at times when it is open, and I mostly go into the city for an evening meal or show.

Finally I am likely to lose the reclaim ticket, forget or go overseas. They probably say if you haven't collected within three months they will discard it.

DIY repair of covers
How about a DIY repair? Surely I could combine the lovely top of one which had broken spokes, with another which had intact spokes but a stained cover?

Sometimes you can remove the end from the tip of the spokes. I discovered that many are attached just bey a triple thread through a hole, which is why they come apart. The end is sometimes sealed on with a cap, which also is easily detached - just clip it or slide it back on - or lost.

Unfortunately you may find that the centre of the cover is sealed into the top end of the upright trunk. You could cut around it neatly in a circle If you are good at cutting circles. Then stick it down on top of another cover. That might even look pretty. Hm?

Next step is to look online. Sure enough, there are guides to repairing umbrellas on YouTube and Wikihow. Who writes these articles? My first thought was it must be in the USA (largest numbers of people and therefore internet users). Maybe on isolated farms, like New Zealand, people far from city shops, with low incomes, used to repairing items.

My next thought was that there is an army, a human forest, of DIY res and people who (even though they might be able to afford a new umbrella - will spend more on repair tools than on new goods because like challenges.

The common elements of repair are that a wire along from the tip will support the spokes, both as prevention and as cure.

The second weak point is the link between the bending spokes. It's like links in a bracelet, which so often go when one circle breaks. It can be connected up or replaced with another circle or rather a piece of C shape metal whose ends are pinched together until the gap is so small or negligible that the circle of metal links the two other circles or straight pieces.

I learned the technical terms which is handy when seeking advice on repairs of buying parts; Umbrella canopy.

You can even buy an umbrella repair kit.

So there you have it. I hear thunder.

Tips
REPAIRING
http://www.umbrellify.net/how-to-repair-an-umbrella/
http://global.rakuten.com/en/store/cogit/item/020365/?sclid=a_sg_dsa_google_paid_nonbrand_rakutencbtglobal_sgdsaen_en_rlsa_nonpromo

BUYING

ONLINE
https://www.knirps.com.sg/?gclid=CKGLq_KjstMCFcWOaAodDSMOXw In my view expensive at $69 (free delivery in my area) but useful video on how they test umbrellas with a wind tunnel to be sure of durability.
Umbrellas can be customised and bought in bulk for conferences, companies, colleges or weddings. Large 'golfing umbrellas are used by hotels and are often on loan or used by chauffeur driven cars.

UK/USA
On ebay for delivery to UK and the USA you can be all kinds of designs such as Union Jacks, dogs, cats, chickens, clouds, hearts and seasonal designs as well as joke umbrellas, umbrella hats which sit on your head, so long as you don't nod.
Small umbrellas are usually for sale in supermarkets (such as Morrisons in the UK) and pharmacies (US called drug stores).

SINGAPORE
In Singapore try Cold Storage supermarket, Watsons and Guardian pharmacies. Remember your discount card from the company or your Passion card from the Community Centre membership when buying in supermarkets and pharmacies. Isetan used to have a huge department display of umbrellas in the ground floor along with shoes and bags. Umbrellas are probably displayed more in rainy season.

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.
Please share your favourite posts.

Beaujolais Nouveau in Waitrose South Harrow

I'd been disappointed not to find the Nouveau Beaujolais in Morrisons, Hatch End, and Tesco's smaller branches in Hatch End and Watford. But here is the Nouveau Beaujolais from Waitrose

Just arrived in London in November 2015. How far does the Beaujolais Nouveau travel? Not just to London, England.

How long does it remain 'nouveau' new? Until the next one is 2016? 

I was told that Beaujolais Nouveau of the most recent year was seen as late as June the following year in Jasons in Singapore a few years ago. ((NB In Tanglin Mall and Hillview II are the Market Place shops, linked other brands of the Jasons group.)

What is made from? Gamay grapes.

Glossary 

French- English

à - at

Appel - name (Je m'appel - I call myself or my name is)

Appellation - name / brand name

arrivée - arrived

Beau - beautiful

Beaujolais - a district in France

bouteille - bottle

controllée - controlled

de - of

en - in

est - is

Jean - John

le - the

mis - put / placed

pour - for

produit - product

village(s) - village(s)

Photo by Angela Lansbury