Bright Lights And Delightful Decorations In Hatch End

 

|The Moon and Sixpence pub, with festive decorations. All photos by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

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See The Tree At Heathrow Airport, London

 

Tree at heathrow airport, London. Photo by Angela Lansbury

The tree greets you on arrivals at Heathrow Airport. A spiral of purple up a cone of white fairy lights. With a five point star on top.

Not green, and not tree shape. Yet it is unmiskably a Christmas tree, or what nowadays reminisces of one. All electric. No dropping leaves nor spikes. Clean and efficient. Modern. Like a plane.

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Lights to brighten up the early nights. In Singapore dusk was at 7 pm all year. In London, England, days are shorter in winter.

Tanglin Club Singapore, Xmas tree decoration, lights, choir

Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright. 

Tree

The Tanglin Club in Singapore celebrated Xmas with a Christmas tree light-up. This year , 2023, a reinder was in blue lights. 

Santa

Santa as usual paraded around, then sat, so people could be photographed standing alongside. 

Choir

A choir sang carols from the sweeping senu curcular staircase.  

Stitl walker

Other entertainments included a stilt walker. You could be phtographed alongisde.

Photo Booth

My favourite was the photo booth. This was free. They had a series of hats and decorated glasses, headbands, beards. After having my photo taken, I went back to look at the table of accessories. I had seen somebody wearing somthing I preferred to what I had chosen. I was considering queing up again but the queue was too long. So I decided to wear it and ask somebody else to take my photo. Nobody was to hand. So I reversed the camer on my mobile phone and took a selfie.

Then I spied another head dress which I fanced wearing. Nobody in charge noticed or cared. So I took selfies of myself with all the props in turn.

Clarke Quay For Fun Fairyland evening or night lights changing from blue to magenta

The ceiling changes colour!

Seats and tables at Warehouse on the central  'square'.

Photo by Angela Lansbury.

Roof with magenta lights. The fountains are also lit. Photo by Angela Lansbury. copyright.

It is a fairyland.

About the Author

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.

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Christmas Decorations in Singapore, Free to see, Buy Paper Plates Or Gingerbread Houses

 Santa fallen over - after a heavy night in 2020. Cashew Heights condo in Singapore. Photo by Angela Lansbury.

Santa decorations and tree in Cashew Heights condo in Singapore in 2021. Photo by Angela Lansbury.

Looking carefully, I see that the Santa on the left is the same one as last year, presumably kept in storage.

Xmas decorations on sale in Fairprice supermarket, Bukit Panjang, Singapore. Photo by Trevor Sharot.

A friend in Singapore in a Whatsapp group told us that she created a lovely vase of decorations at an even better budget price from Daiso. I saw Xmas decorations in Daiso in Ion, at the central crossroads of Singapore in the middle of Orchard Road.

Free to see, decorations in Scotts Road leading to Ion Shopping Mall, far centre, at Orchard Road at lunch time in the rain. Photo by Angela Lansbury.

Ion, later the same day in the sun with Xmas lights. Corner of Orchard Road, adjoining Orchard MRT unerground railway station. Photo by Angela Lansbury.

On a budget? Paper plates for Xmas at Daiso. In Ion, Orchard Road, Singapore. Photo by Angela Lansbury.

Got cash to splash?

Gingerbread House in the Tanglin Club, Singapore. Photo by Angela Lansbury.

Useful Websites

https://www.daisosingapore.com.sg/

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

About the Author of this blog, 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.

I  also have a blog on comic poems.

 Please share links to your favourite posts.

Tree decorated with mugs - what to do to decorate dead trees

 

Tree decorated with mugs. Photo by Angela Lansbury.

Why wait for Christmas to decorate trees? The Chinese decorate miniature orange and lime trees with seasonal and goodwill messages at Chinese New Year in January or February. I saw this tree decorated with mugs in August. 

A friend commented> Many cuppas.

Angela Lansbury

What to do with your old mugs when you progress to more elegant and practical cups and saucers in sets. What to do with mug

 oddments. How to decorate a dead tree? Use the tree to display mugs.

We have a dead pear tree in London. No more pears. The tree is useless to us. Tree fellers wanted to knock it down, costing us a large sum of money. Then more money to cart it away. 

But birds enjoy hopping up and down the branches. A woodpecker with a red head was busy tapping away at the bark. We could add a bird feeder. But there is no need. We already have one on a nearby apple tree. Another resident complained that parakeets ate all her greengages and squirrel made holes in apples which they had knocked to the ground.

Some Singlish Sort Of English - to baffle Brits, amaze Americans and embarrass or enlighten English speakers

When I first arrived in Singapore I was often confused.

A lady on the Singapore airlines plane to Singapore told me, "I live in a house with a garden which is good because of have tree children." 

I wondered how many children she had, and if they were all tomboys who liked climbing trees. 

I asked, "Boys or girls?"

She replied, "Two boys, one girl."

I exclaimed, "Three children."

She agreed, "Yes. Tree children."

Then I understood. Three.

She told me, "My brother is in Australia. He has tree houses. He lives in one, rents out the other two."

For an instant I had visions of her brother building a tree house, very big, like Robinson Crusoe. Must be in construction. Building a tree house as a home or guest house. Then renting out two more. Interesting business developing. Then I realized he was the owner of three houses. He was probably well-to-do, but not the eccentric millionaire, the ecologically minded man I had imagined.

I phoned my other friend in Singapore and asked, "When can we meet?"  

He replied, "I'm having an off day." 

I said, "I'm a bit jet lagged, not feeling too good either, so we would only make each other miserable. Why don't we meet when you are feeling better. Tomorrow?"

I was really worried when he said, "I want to meet you to die."

He meant today.

I eventually heard, "I am not working to die. To die is my off die. I am working tomorrow."

 

Another friend met me at a shopping mall and called a taxi to take us elsewhere. She said to him, "Thank you, uncle."

Afterwards I said to her, "I didn't know your uncle was a taxi driver. Did you call him specially, or was it just luck that your uncle picked us up?"

She looked puzzled, "I don't have an uncle who is a taxi driver."

I said, "But you were chatting away to him and when we out, you said,'Thank you, uncle!"

She told me, "We say auntie or uncle to strangers of an older generation who are friendly."

"Ah," I answered, "In England we do that when we are children. But not from one adult to another."

Here are some phrases you may think you hear, and what the speaker means

Phrases and Pronunciation

Singlish - English

cannot = I can't / you can't / it can't be done / it's not possible/ no/ nope

drop off = drop out (of an online event)

even = even if

kampong = (Singapore) village (primitive - cleared by government upgrading, but friendly, remembered nostalgically by residents now living in modern skyscrapers)

Kiasu - competitive, getting ahead, pushy, fear of being left behind eg getting first into lift, overtaking and pulling ahead into your lane on the near empty motorway, determined to be first

la = (exclamation) yeah/ yup / really/ is that so/ definitely/aren't you/ isn't it/don't you think so/amazing/hilarious

loyal = royal

off day = day off

off the light = turn off the light

team = theme

tree = three

uncle = friendly person of an older generation, not related

English - Singlish

bad hair day = bad day

day off = off day

drop out = drop off

even if = even

I can't = cannot

off day = bad day

one-upmanship = kiasu

royal = loyal

team = theme

turn off the light = off the light

three = tree

uncle = brother of your mother or father

village = kampong

Useful Websites

https://singlishbible.fandom.com/wiki/Genesis_1

About the Author

Angela Lansbury is British and a Singapore Permanent Resident. 

About the Author

Angela Lansbury is Vice President Public Relations of Braddell Heights Advanced, and Tampines Changkat Advanced,  speakers training club which are part of Toastmasters International. The USA has several Spanish speaking as well as the English speaking clubs. You can pick up Spanish from buying or reading online their Spanish clubs welcome pages and manuals. 

In The USA, UK, Singapore and worldwide, there are many clubs which are English speaking, as well as Mandarin, Cantonese, Japanese, French, Tamil, Malay.

The inauguration of Tampines Changkat Advanced was Tuesday 29 2021, online on  zoom. Their meetings are on the fourth Tuesday evening of the month. They hope to hold meetings with a few people meeting physically, the others online, as soon as the Covid-19 conditions allow.

You can find the club through their facebook page as well as through Toastmasters International find a club. 

https://www.facebook.com/tampineschangkatadvTMC

The meetings are free for visitors. Visitors can watch, and join in speaking by introducing themselves and volunteering to do a 2 minutes impromptu  speech in table topics.

If you wish to join for a year, it costs about 190 US dollars, to have monthly meetings online, a mentor, a magazine, and one of the 11  Pathways, consisting of 14 projects. Each project starts with 3 speeches of your choice of subject, lasting 4 to 6 minutes, then 5 to 7 minutes. The Pathways include the most popular Presentation Mastery. I chose  humorous speaking as my second Pathway, costing 20 dollars. Then my third was a leadership course. Come and see for free.

The club also has meetings in person in Singapore

You can also contact my other club, smaller Braddell Heights Advanced, which is a cosy little club with more chances to speak.

Login through bha.learncool.sg/meet/bha 

That will link you through to Zoom or googlemeet. 2 pm to 5 pm.

BHA meets the first Wednesday evening each month, starting at 7 pm Singapore time. 

Then an extra meeting on the 3rd Saturday afternoon, starting at 2 pm Singapore time.

To check your time zone,  

https://24timezones.com/difference/singapore/ 

Meetings will be on Wed July 7th and  Saturday July 17th.

Contact either of these or other clubs through Toastmasters International Find a Club.

Learn Languages From The Family Names Of Famous People And Friends - German

Flag of Germany. Black, red, yellow.

(Not to be confused with the flag of Belgium which is similar, wuth twith the colours horizontal>)

An amazing number of German names are known to English speakers. Jung and Freud.
You can keep yourself amused for hours with the website on German names.

Here is a handy list:
Adler - eagle
Baum - tree
Bayer - Bavarian
Beethoven - beetroot farms (composer)
Berg - mountain
Bieber - beaver / industrious (singer)
Blau - blue
Bosch - bush (kitchen equipemnt, white goods)
Braun - brown
Eichmann - oak man (Notorious Nazi put on trial)
Engel - angel (economic, social and political revolutionary theory, friend of Karl Marx)
Cassell - castle (as in the publishers' name)
Goldschmidt - goldsmith
Jung - young - (psychology)
Faber - smith (Publishers Faber and Faber)
Faust - fist (Legendary character based on real man, inspiring Goethe and others)
Fisher/Fischer - fisherman
Freud - joy (pschology, Austrian family, Sigmund; Clement, others)
Fuchs - fox
Hertz - heart (Car hire)
Jaegar - hunter (Clothes shop, UK and worldwide)
Keller - cellar (As in Helen Keller, who was deaf and blind)
Neumann - new man
Oster - East or Easter
Rothschild - red shield (Bankers and wine makers)
Sanger - singer
Schmidt - smith
Schneider - tailor
Schwartz - black (Elizabeth Schwartzkopf opera singer)
Strauss - bouquet (Johann Strauss Junior wrote waltzes; Richard Strauss, composer of fanfare music used in the film/movie 2001 Space Odyssey)
Wagner - wagon maker or driver (Composer Richard Wagner)

Johann is John.
Karl is Charles.

https://www.thoughtco.com/german-last-names-and-english-meanings-4066939
About the Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer

How Chinese Writing Evolved From Drawings And Pictures To Stick Figures and Symbols

The third sign along from the left in the Chinese characters means exit.
Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

Problem
I can see how the Western alphabet evolved from the symbols for words, becoming the initial letters. T for taurus was the sign of the bull's horns. But what about Chinese?

Answer
Chinese evolved similarly. Just as we have created compound words in English such as telephone, from distant and phonos for sound,

In Chinese one stick drawing of  tree is the word tree. Three stick trees are a forest.

Useful Websites

www.china-learn.info/Hanyu/Flashcard_Menu.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_character_classification
www.duolingo.com Chinese

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, teacher of English and languages, in person and by email and Skype, workshops for individuals and business.

Growi Your Own Vine And Make Your Own Wine Before Taking These Vineyard Tours

Grapes grown in garden. Photo by Angela Lansbury.

Problem
I've been to dozens of vineyard and winery visits and lots of the terms are highly technical.

Answers
I recommend that you plant grape vines in your garden, (or visit a friend's garden with vines) just to learn about what the importance of the terroir (meaning land or territory and fertility of the land).

If possible help pick the grapes. Many people go to vineyards and volunteer to help. If they only want professional pickers in the vineyards, they might want help in the office with answering the phone or translating visitors' letters.

Now that I've picked and packed grapes and helped start winemaking, the whole process and the technical terms are all much clearer. I'll explain it to you

Planting Grapes
First, we researched which vines grow well in our country and soil (which was London, England. We chose red and white wines. A friend of ours has half a dozen vines all together in one area of his garden, another half a zen in another area. Another has three vines, one over the conservatory, decorative, two others in different parts of the garden.

We planted the vines. You pick a good spot. One half of the garden was in the shade, the other in the sun. We chose the sunny side to ripen the grapes. Because of numerous trees and existing bushes, we had all our vines in one unshaded area. We bought six different plants to see which would do best.

After the grafted seedlings from the nursery arrived, we cleared the ground and dug holes for the stakes. The angle irons (metal stakes) already had holes for whatever you need holes for, so we threaded through the supports.

We planted three reds at the back, three whites at the front.

A year later we had teeny grapes on long branches. We set up wires to train the branches horizontally, picking the strongest shoots and getting rid of the weaker ones which would just take up space and light and divert the plant's energy from the better ones.

Netting
We bought netting to protect the grapes from predators. (Anti-hail netting in the commercial vineyards is now allowed by law since 2018 so they will be using that in France and Europe from next year, 2019. that's a good thing, because the netting doesn't change the flavour, and hail is an increasing problem with global warming and climate change and increasing numbers of countries and vineyards and production.)

First Fruit
20015 we bought the seedling vines.

We had tiny baby fruit the first two years.
Proper fruit year four 2018 (counting the year we bought them as year zero). If you counted the year we bought as year one it would be year four. A one-year-old baby is in their second year of life, same issue. (The Koreans say you are born aged one because you were planted in the mother the previous year. I found this out when I was teaching English and asked a Korean pupil his age. He replied that he was seventeen - in Korean - but sixteen in English counting.)

PICKING
I saw that it was about to rain and decided to pick the grapes earlier than I had been asked. I did it for the wrong reasons. I didn't want to go out in the rain and get wet and slip around in the mud. However, picking the fruit before it rains is the right thing to do.

We printed labels to remind ourselves which wines went where. If we did it again, we would plant them alphabetically.

When the grapes appeared in late August in London, England, it was obvious which were the red grapes and which were the white grapes. The so-called white grapes were green.

The red grapes for the red wines were two shades of 'red', one being almost black.

Saint LAURENT HAD NO FRUIT! We are thinking of sending photos to the nursery to ask why.

PLANNING PICKING
I was instructed to put a label inside each bag, not outside where it could fall off.

When I picked, I labelled each bag with the position of the vine. And took photos.

I had to look at the potential harvest, and ensure I had enough zip-lock bags.

I trotted off with my bags and secateurs. I had found my gardening gloves to protect my hands.

I was surprised how long it took to pick. First I had to disentangle the netting and lift it in order to reach the bunches of grapes. Then I had to locate the stalk to cut it - often around the back.

I had to hold the bag exactly under the grapes with the bag's mouth open to catch the grape bunch. I did not want the grapes to fall on the dirty ground.

I soon felt pricking in my ankles. When I got back Indoors I found I had been badly bitten.

I now have a much greater interest in which grapes are planted, which variety produces most fruit, whether you go for a bigger yield or better flavour, and when in the season you have to pick. Apparently, the commercial vineyard owner or manager listens to the weather forecast, the three-day forecast. As soon as they hear rain predicted, they contact the pickers.

Starting the Winemaking
Sorting table, training and trellising, vendange (not vendage which is selling but French for harvest), must (not a verb but a noun) and sulphite (not sulphide) fermentation, refractometer (which tells you how much sugar there is so you ferment until there isn't wany if you want a dry wine.

Starting the wine-making process at home involved orting table, de-stemming and crushing (with feet); adding potassium metabisulphite to sterilise equipment and must.

We expect to get only two and half bottles. Very little wine considering the time spent and the money on the vines and stakes and wine-making equipment, plus our time. However, the knowledge of the wine-making process has helped enormously in choosing wines from a menu, on vineyard tours, winery tours, and looking at plants growing in the wild and in botanical gardens and friends' gardens.

Gowing a vine is a bit like walking a dog. You suddenly have a shared interest with people all over the world, and a non-stop topic of conversation.

The Chinese say: "The best time to plant a tree was twenty years ago. The second best time is now."

Grapes for wine-making have thick skins, because the skins add the flavour as well as the colour to red wines. Eating grapes or dessert grapes have thinner skins. I was pleasantly surprised that the grapes were edible, slightly sweet, not bitter at all. If we hadn't wanted to spend the time and trouble and money making wine, we could have turned them into grape juice or just eaten them.

Technical Terms
millerandage - (French pronounce it meal-er, (pronunciation according to website forvo) condition of grapes in which there are many teeny seedless berries (causes include bad weather at flowering time) or shot berries
shot berries - small berries, rock hard like grapeshot, you can't crush them
chicken berries  - normal berries are called chicken berries

Now, after understanding all that, you can go back to re-visit some of the world's great vineyards. My favourites are:


UK flag

Denbies has entertainment for everyone, offers both indoor and outdoor tours (pay for a combined ticket), a large supermarket and a cafeteria downstairs beside the supermarket and a fine dining restaurant on the top floor.


USA Flag

California - drive north from San Francisco until you reach the winery region, several wineries have supermarket size shops, and assorted tours. Calculate driving times and book a tour.

Plan now, or for next summer. The northern and summer hemispheres are different so somebody is running or booking tours somewhere.

Denbies in Surrey, England, has events all year including wine and cheese making days, autumn marathon, Christmas. Sign up for their newsletter.

Useful Website
Victoriana Nursery
https://www.victoriananursery.co.uk/Grape_Vines/
top vineyards around the USA
https://www.travelandleisure.com/food-drink/wine/best-vineyards-yelp
visittheusa.co.uk
visitbritain.com
visitengland.com
https://www.denbies.co.uk/tours-and-experiences/
https://www.denbies.co.uk/events/forthcoming-events/

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker
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See the Mural of tree and birds, Botanical Gardens, Singapore station

Singapore's Botanical Gardens is the MRT underground railway station under the main entrance to the Botanical Gardens. If you are a tourist, on a fine day in good weather get off the train here and go up to the Botanical Gardens which is free. 

Many local residents rush to work or meetings, busy talking to friends, mostly on smart phones. As a result it is easy to miss the enhancements to the huge station complex. However, if you pass this way and have a moment, enjoy this mural of a tree which is home to several birds. You find this mural ahead of you as you walk towards the Downtown line descending escalator. 

If you are going in the other direction coming up the escalator from the Downtown line, the mural is on your right.

Useful websites

https://www.transitlink.com.sg/images/eguide/mrt_sys_map

visitsingapore.com

Saving Breakfast and Other Recipes For Holidays And For Students And Second Homes

Problems Of Lost Recipes
1
Mother's Recipe Book
After my mother died I wished I had had her recipes.

2
Granny's Recipes Never Written down
I never had the recipe for my paternal grandma's crispy biscuits. She would not have needed to write it down. She would have had a standard recipe When I was a child and a teenager I visited her every Sunday afternoon and the biscuits were always the same.

Answers
A
Many months after mother died, at the back of the kitchen utility cupboard, I found a battered old recipe book (the classic Florence Greenberg). Old newspaper cuttings of recipes were folded inside the back cover. On the notes pages and flyleaf were recipes written out by hand by my mother, spidery almost Italic writing. She had compiled the recipes for herself, not for me. However, it was very useful and nostalgic for me.\

To be sure I could find mother's book in a hurry, and to ensure the book was not thrown out or given away by my family after I died, I pasted a photo of my mother on the cover.

Angela's Mother Netta's Recipe book. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

B
Classic Biscuit Recipe
When I described my granny's 'crispy biscuits' to a friend, Gene, at a book group, she said that like British scones, crispy biscuits were a staple of Poland or Eastern Europe. Therefore I could probably find two or three recipes online.

Biscuit Oven Temperature
The recipe must suit my oven temperature and type. I have a fan assisted oven.

Biscuit Texture

My friend, Gene, pointed out that I would have to try them out until I found one which was right. I could adapt it to the right crispiness and brittleness to suit myself.

What texture would suit me now? I don't like chewy biscuits because I think they pull out fillings. Crispy items which don't melt annoy me because they stick in my teeth. A biscuit which is crisp at first bite, yet melts in the mouth would be right.

Biscuit Ingredients
I imagine the biscuits would be made with butter, not margarine. Being poor, my maternal granny would have bought food at the market, not in a shop. (Aside. I remember eating waxy chocolate, which my paternal grandparents bought in the market. I now know how the recipe would have been different from the milk-based chocolate I was used to, made by Cadbury's.) However, I imagine her recipe would probably be from her mother or mother-in-law and pre-date margarine.

Saving Your Recipes
The question now arises, how to save the recipes from the major cook in your family. In our case, it is my husband who cooks. When he is in one country and I am in another, how can I reproduce the recipes and pass them on to our son, and our yet unborn grandchildren?

Compiling A Family Recipe Book
I have asked my husband to collect together his recipes and make them into a book for me for my birthday and for our son for his birthday. This involves collecting together all the recipes. Add a photo of the family eating, or my husband at the stove or oven cooking (on the front cover), and bringing the food to the table (back cover).

He has agreed, but he agreed last year. He was too busy writing a technical book requiring research. It never happened.

Making Notes
The answer is for me to do it. If he hasn't time, I must ask him questions and surreptitiously make notes. I shall do it the way I wrote my mother-in-law's life story for her 90th birthday.

For a year in advance, each time we met for Sunday lunch or dinner, or Saturday night or Friday night dinner, I would ask her a question. I would dash to the toilet and write up her answer on a piece of paper. Later, at home, I stapled the notes into my diary. If possible, within 24 hours, I wrote my notes out neatly. Then, within a week, I typed them up. When my diary got too full, the written recordings went into a notebook. (You could also do a video recording each week of your granny, grandad, mother or father cooking.

Alternative, a son or daughter or student grandchild can show a widowed grandparent how to cook simple meals. Wouldn't you think anybody can cook a boiled egg or a piece of fish in a microwave oven?

Who Needs Your Help?
My stay at home mother had done all the cooking for my father, her working husband. After she died, aged 89, my retired father, also aged 89, kept phoning me asking how to cook.
'How do you boil a soft-boiled egg? The first time I did it in a saucepan with water and got a hard-boiled egg. The second time I put it in the microwave and it exploded and made a mess."
"How do I cook a piece of fish in a microwave oven?"

You might not yet know who is going to need your family recipes. By the time you discover that a widow or a student grandchild wants a recipe, it might be too late. Your parent or spouse or friend may have moved away to a different time zone or passed away.

Collecting Spoken Records
I shall do the same surreptitious collecting as I did for my mother-in-law with my husband's recipes.
Today I got the home made Museli-style breakfast fruit, nuts and cereal recipe.

My husband said:
(Answering, 'What are the ingredients?) "The ingredients are porrige oats, apples, sultanas and milk. (I asked, "How do you make it?) The night before you take porridge oats, 25 grams, the same as you would cook in the morning, not 25 grams each, 25 grams for two. Add in two good (heaped) spoons (dessert spoons) of grated apple. Then sultanas. Finally, some milk. Leave overnight in the fridge.

Hot or Cold Breakfast?
A soaked oats breakfast takes time to prepare the night before. However, it saves time and energy in the morning.

Slow Mornings and Quick Starts
Good for night owls. Good for both slow and quick starts. Good for a lazy start, no work making breakfast. Also good for a quick departure - if you are self-catering on holiday and need to rush off for a coach tour or day out.

You are using porridge oats, but unlike porridge, no need to heat it up. (Good for summer, or hot countries such as Singapore, maybe in Florida or the south.) Good when you are happy to eat a cold breakfast, and don't want cooking making your hot kitchen even hotter.

Mixed Fruit Breakfast
This is a filling breakfast we devised with fresh fruit as a recovery diet after cancer when with a compromised immune system we could not risk meat products and preservatives. No more bacon and eggs nor full English breakfast with sausages at home nor at hotels.

Fruit and Cereal and Yogurt Breakfast
Chop bite size pieces of apple. Add small segments of orange fruit such as madarines or s , two prunes (plate on one side for the stones), apple chopped into bite size slices or cubes. Add yogurt. Sprinkle on top small nuts such as almonds, flaked almonds, broken walnuts, pine nuts, hazel nuts. On weekends or when you have time, or failing all else, halved fresh brazil nuts (time and mess from breaking them open).

I add milk as well as yogurt, for extra water, extra calcium, and teeth whitening after prunes.

Nuts or Not Nuts?
Obviously, but worth a reminder, you leave out nuts if anybody is allergic to nuts. So if you don't know your house guests, leave off the nuts until you have checked they are not allergic to nuts.

Cereal or Porridge
Either add half a piece of Weetabix or follow with a plate of heated up (in a saucpan) salted porridge with milk. (We add an 'unhealthy' teaspoon of maple syrup.) You could add

Mail Recipes
If you have a child such as one at boarding school or university, or at home when you are away on business, or living as an ex-pat, and your offspring who likes to receive recipes, or whatever you send, you could email a recipe every week. At the end of the year make a collection.

Time For Compiling, Proof-reading, Printing, Posting twice
 Allow time to sort out the book structure and cover and for the book to be mailed back. Also, allow time for the proof-reading. If the book has a mistake, such as a blank page in the middle, you might keep that copy for yourself as a spare and send off for another correct copy as a gift.

So you should start compiling a month earlier for a birthday or anniversary, two months earlier for Christmas, especially if you have Christmas recipes to use at Christmas time, or want the gift in time for Christmas and not delayed in the post arriving just in time for New Year!

If the book is posted to you, then posted by you to the recipient, or recipients, that is another double postage time. As they say about vines and trees, "The time to plant a vine/tree is twenty years ago. If that's not possible, start today."

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

Why You Should Not Feed Monkeys

Problem
Children were shrieking, running after a monkey which ran up a tree. The girls were trying to feed the monkey. A boy was chasing the monkey with a stick.

I said to one of the girls: "You're are frightening it. There are twenty of you twice its size."

She replied, "I'm trying to feed it."

I said, "You shouldn't feed monkeys. They will attack you."

She retorted: "We fed it and it didn't attack us."

Days later I spoke to a security guard who said:

"Yes, we know all about the monkey. We think it got separated from a group. Lots of monkeys live on Bukit Timah. (Central Singapore.) We called the NEA. The National Environment Agency. We aren't allowed to kill it. We have to catch it and release it.

"We've been trying to catch it for days. But it's too clever. We put food down in the open to lure it, and more food inside a cage. It took the food from the open but would not go inside the cage. Would you go inside a cage? I wouldn't. We are supposed to be descended from monkeys but monkeys are cleverer than we are.

"The reason you're not supposed to feed monkeys is that it stops them being able to fend for themselves. They aren't born knowing how to catch food. They learn from their elders. If you stop a baby monkey learning, it doesn't know how to survive and can't teach its children.

"Once a monkey learns that it gets food where humans live it hangs around. If it gets food three or four times it waits for some more. Then if somebody comes back from shopping with food in a bag the monkey will try to take it.

"We had one monkey climbing up the balconies to one of the upper flats. Luckily it didn't get inside. A monkey indoors creates havoc, hundreds of pounds worth of damage, a huge insurance claim."

A biker who is also a hasher (a member of a worldwide running group which in Singapore runs through the jungle) told me"
"We see the monkeys if we have a run through Bukit Timah. Th government used to put up little signs asking you not to feed damage. Now the signs are huge. Monkeys can be very aggressive and destructive. They can get on your bike and tear the saddle."

Angela Lansbury
Travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.
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Lovely lights at Edgware's Broadwalk Shopping Mall

Problem
Where to park in Edgware? It's free on Sunday but quite pricey in the week. You have to decide whether to park in the supermarket's car park or the long stay car park. We were travelling into town and opted for the long stay and assumed we might be longer than expected. We were stuck in traffic jams at the cross roads, and feared that we would not find a space.

Answer
We successfully parked at Edgware car park behind the bus and train station and the Broadwalk Shopping centre for over four hours (cost £4).

Story
I lived in Edgware as a child, with fond memories of eating cannelloni in Dino's every Saturday lunch time with my mother. Alas Dino's has now gone. Edgware now has Nando's and several other restaurants.
In the centre of the car park was an illuminated Xmas tree. Only later, after pausing to take a photograph, did I realise that it changed colour. First I thought it was blue, which looked odd. I assumed it was either Israeli colours, or politically correct.

However, when we returned later in the day, the tree had turned rad.

We drove around the car park and saw it again at another angle. Was it really the same tree? It was white.

Having paid for long-term parking, in order to have lunch in central London, we had time to go shopping on the way back. We then discovered that with the winter lights, the shopping centre is very attractive.

The lights within the shopping mall also change colour, red, magenta, green blue, white, and multi-coloured. Angels in white are at the corner of the central area which has a Costa in the middle.

The shopping mall has a handy mix of shops, ranging from Poundland to Marks and Spencer, Smiths, and Boots. Sainsbury's is at the back.

Tip
1 Poundland has two queues for payment. The one on the left is for self-service checkout.
2 Check for the current free car parking hours - parking used to be free on Sundays.
3 Remember to validate your car park ticket at the machine before driving out. You cannot pay at the exit point. The barrier lifts when you insert a ticket which has been validated.
4 B & K restaurant, my favourite place in Edgware, is closed on Monday. Check their opening times (which varying seasonally according to holidays).
B and K Salt Beef Bar, 11 Lanson House, Whitchurch Ln, Edgware, London HA8 6NL
Phone:020 8952 8204

Action
For opening times, see their website:
www.thebroadwalkcentre.co.uk/

The pictures in this post are of the inside and from the car park at the back.
My photo in a previous post shows a Christmas tree at the front of the mall.
All photos by Angela Lansbury, copyright 2016.
Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer.

Stanmore Lights, Xmas tree in 2016, Xmas trees delivered or make your own

I had another look at the Stanmore lights. Yes, the Christmas tree or Norway Spruce is there.


Many businesses also have decorated trees. I remember a Christmas tree in Sainsbury's in Stanmore last year.

You see trees everywhere. This year I can confirm that Fitz Gym in Harrow has a tree with baubles.

You could go out and about and print out a Christmas card of your local lights to decorate the table. Alternatively email a card of local lights to family and friends overseas.




http://www.sainsburysmagazine.co.uk/recipes/baking/biscuits-and-cookies/item/christmas-cookie-tree

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.
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Station Decoration in Singapore

This seat looks like a four leaf clover with a green spike in the middle.

This attractive mural shows a tree and leaves.

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

Christmas Trees and Stars Quiz

Here's a Christmas Tree quiz for Christmas Day for adults or children or both. It's entertaining, informative, educational and fun.




Where is this artificial palm tree?

1 Lakeside shopping centre, Essex, England
2 Brent Cross Shopping Centre, Hendon, England
3 Intu shopping mall, Watford, England
4 Edmonton Shopping Mall, Alberta, Canada
5 Outside the White House, USA
6 Gardens by the Bay, Singapore
7 Outside 10 Downing Street, London
8 St George's, Harrow, England
(Hint. Answer in my previous posts.)
.............................

The Christmas Tree in Trafalgar Square London, England, is given in thanks since the end of WWII by
1 Germany
2 The USA
3 Finland
4 Norway
5 Denmark
6 Canada
7 Sweden
8 Scotland
.......................................

The Christmas tree is Trafalgar Square is a
1 Norway Spruce from Norway
2 Scottish Pine from Scotland
3 Monkey Puzzle from China
4 Dutch Elm from Holland
5 Douglas Fir from Canada
6 Pine Tree from Germany
7 Banyan tree from Florida
8 Sequoia from the USA
.........................................

This tree is raising cash for:
1 Cancer Research
2 RSPB (Royal Society for the Protection of Birds)
3 Ali's Dream (research into preventing brain tumours)
4 RSPCA Royal Society For the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals
5 The Salvation Army
6 Save the Whale
7 RNLA Royal National Lifeboat Association
8 YMCA
...................
(Hint. See one of my recent previous posts.)

The Spring cherry blossom trees in Washington DC were given as a peace offering after WWII by
1 Germany
2 Japan
3 China
4 Italy
5 Taiwan
6 Russia
7 Canada
8 Italy
.........................
Hint. If you can't guess, you'll find the answer on the internet.

The star on top of the Christmas tree is usually
1 The four point star representing the Southern Cross of New Zealand and Australia
2 An eight point star sacred to Hindus
3 The five point star symbolising the star over Bethlehem where Jesus was born
4 The five point star revered by Moslems, reprinting the five pillars of Islam
5 The six point Star of David revered by Jews
6 The six point Star of Solomon revered by Moslems
7 The symbol of Peter Pan
8 The Moscow Kremlin symbol
..............................

Easy one for the little ones / anybody who speaks English as a foreign language. If you can't answer question one, do the others and come back to question one.

What do we get/eat/make from these trees:
1 Norway spruce
2 Coconut palm
3 Rubber palm tree
4 Oil palm tree
5 Horse Chestnut tree (hint, not chestnuts)
6 Plum tree
7 Apple tree
8 Pear tree
9 Cherry tree
10 Oak tree
...................................

I suggest you print off copies.Write your name on your question paper.  Swap papers to mark them. Mark them and debate them yourselves. Dad or Mum had the casting vote.
I'll repost with answers later today or tomorrow.

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

Fellini Fun For Christmas - Lights

Fellini caffe and restaurant, Hatch End, serves breakfast, lunch, dinner, coffee, cake ice cream. Also Christmas dinners and New Year's Eve celebrations and other events.

http://www.felliniacaffe.co.uk

Lovely website, plays music.

What's the song on the website?

http://mashable.com/2010/03/30/identify-song-apps/#VZEK1tpQbkqI

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer.

Christmas Cakes to buy or order or to inspire you, from Hatch End

Christmas cakes as you see can be round or six sided, with icing in white, blue or vivid red. The words Happy christmas can also be written red on white to match.

At a wedding show I saw a cake made with skiers spiralling around the outside of a cone shaped cake. For our son's 13th birthday party I asked the caterer for a ski cake. He did not have a conical mould but suggested making a hill with a square cake base and a triangular sloping top making a diagonal.

We had the square fruit cake underneath cut up for the event. We kept the top intact for a party with neighbours the next day.
The pieces from the cake base and later the top kept in the freezer and were used for teatimes for weeks afterwards. To make your own, search the internet for ski cake to see pictures. On ebay I found sets of edible rice paper or wafer pictures to stick on cupcakes. Also silicon moulds on the theme of skiers, to use for marzipan, icing, or chocolate.

Genuine Cakes

411 Uxbridge Rd, Hatch End, Pinner Middx HA5 4JR

Phone:020 8428 8585.

Identifying Trees - Red bark, Japanese cherry

This tree is in London.

I tried googling red bark and my first foray was through the website of the Royal Horticultural Society. I was progressing through the leaves and got as far as leaves alternating.

I eventually found a picture of the bark on a Natural History Museum website.
http://www.nhm.ac.uk/resources-rx/files/urban-tree-survey-key-69444.pdf