There no chance of anyone trespassing into my fridge. What qualifications in food nutrition do these people have? How much experience in household budgets and healthy eating can they prove? It goes without saying that they'll all try to work at weekends with the excuse that they'll catch more people in - because the rates of pay are so high - sorry, the rates that WE are paying them are so high.
If the Government is so keen on us eating healthily, wouldn't it be a better idea to send people around to food stores and restaurants to make sure that the products we are being sold are stored at the right temperatures, within their sell-by dates, with contents clearly labelled. (We've all seen Kitchen Nightmares). I can guarantee there are loads of outlets that sell unfit and contaminated foods, but as usual, they'll waste our money on what they perceive to be easy targets instead of doing something that might actually help us all.
Apart from anything else, it puts the vulnerable and elderly in our society in danger, as anyone can rig up a badge and say they have the right of entry - and then once they've gained access, rob or hurt the unsuspecting victim. This is appalling and must be stopped.
Saturday, 31 January 2009
Saturday, 24 January 2009
Irish Soda Bread
Ingredients
500g Wholemeal bread flour 1 tablespoon baking powder 225ml Buttermilk 2 tbsp groundnut oil 2 tbsp sugar 2 beaten eggs 1 tsp salt
Method
* Mix the dry ingredients together, then add the buttermilk, oil and eggs. Knead for a few mins until the dough comes together. If the dough seems a little sticky or wet, it will be fine!! Don't be tempted to add more flour.
* Set aside in a warm place for an hour.
* Put in a hot oven and cook for about 40 minutes
500g Wholemeal bread flour 1 tablespoon baking powder 225ml Buttermilk 2 tbsp groundnut oil 2 tbsp sugar 2 beaten eggs 1 tsp salt
Method
* Mix the dry ingredients together, then add the buttermilk, oil and eggs. Knead for a few mins until the dough comes together. If the dough seems a little sticky or wet, it will be fine!! Don't be tempted to add more flour.
* Set aside in a warm place for an hour.
* Put in a hot oven and cook for about 40 minutes
How to handle redundancy
How to handle redundancy
Every person facing redundancy thinks ‘why me?’
It’s not your fault, it’s a symptom of this awful economic climate. You may feel low and uncertain, stressed beyond belief, angry and hurt. These are normal reactions and you need to allow yourself a little time to accept what has happened to you.
There are plenty of online resources so that you can check your redundancy has been handled in the correct way. And now you have to take steps to minimise the impact this may have on your life.
Firstly, don’t panic
Get your finances in order by making a list of your outgoings and if there are bills you just can’t manage whilst you are out of work, contact your lenders and explain your circumstances, asking for reduced payments. Don’t be proud - find out what benefits you may be entitled to until you get your next job.
Positive action plan
• Don’t burn your bridges with your previous employers, you never know what will happen in the future
• It’s a tough market so give yourself the best chance and get your CV up to date - http://www.hotjobsinhospitality.com/making-a-cv.cms.asp
• Use online recruitment and apply to all the jobs you are suitable for
• Choose wisely where you send your CV and not to every job advertised - if you don’t have the relevant background, your CV will just go in someone’s bin and your time should be spent searching for roles you can do and want to do.
• Update your skills – this may be the ideal time to take a course which will enhance your career
• Look at re-training / cross training where you can use your knowledge in a new or related industry
• Keep busy – consider doing some voluntary work whilst you are looking for a new job
Every person facing redundancy thinks ‘why me?’
It’s not your fault, it’s a symptom of this awful economic climate. You may feel low and uncertain, stressed beyond belief, angry and hurt. These are normal reactions and you need to allow yourself a little time to accept what has happened to you.
There are plenty of online resources so that you can check your redundancy has been handled in the correct way. And now you have to take steps to minimise the impact this may have on your life.
Firstly, don’t panic
Get your finances in order by making a list of your outgoings and if there are bills you just can’t manage whilst you are out of work, contact your lenders and explain your circumstances, asking for reduced payments. Don’t be proud - find out what benefits you may be entitled to until you get your next job.
Positive action plan
• Don’t burn your bridges with your previous employers, you never know what will happen in the future
• It’s a tough market so give yourself the best chance and get your CV up to date - http://www.hotjobsinhospitality.com/making-a-cv.cms.asp
• Use online recruitment and apply to all the jobs you are suitable for
• Choose wisely where you send your CV and not to every job advertised - if you don’t have the relevant background, your CV will just go in someone’s bin and your time should be spent searching for roles you can do and want to do.
• Update your skills – this may be the ideal time to take a course which will enhance your career
• Look at re-training / cross training where you can use your knowledge in a new or related industry
• Keep busy – consider doing some voluntary work whilst you are looking for a new job
Are you a company about to make redundancies?
Deciding who to make redundant
Never an easy choice. The payroll is usually the biggest single expense in any company - your business needs to survive and to help this happen, horrid decisions have to be made. Do you carry on with the numbers you have in your workforce hoping things will improve, knowing that if they don’t, everyone will be at risk of losing their jobs? Or, do you make the harrowing choice to cut your wage bill to the bone, so that the company has a better chance of survival?
Before pressing the redundancy buttons, you absolutely must get legal advice as the last thing your company needs is to be hauled in front of an employment tribunal. You should consider stopping overtime and retraining / redeploying your existing staff. You need to have a consultation period to tell employees what is happening, why redundancies are being made and how you are selecting people for the redundancy. You could offer voluntary redundancy as a first step and then an individual consultation which must spell out why you are making the redundancy and why that person has been selected.
For the employees, redundancy is a very traumatic experience and so this needs to be handled with the utmost sensitivity whilst following legal and your own HR procedures. Redundancy also creates a negative environment with your remaining employees who may still feel that their own jobs aren’t safe and guilty that they have retained their jobs while their friends/colleagues are now in dire straights. Morale, productivity and motivation will all be affected by the changes redundancy brings and it will take some time before things settle.
In deciding who to make redundant, you will have to take a lot of factors into consideration, including:
• How long the individual has worked for you
• What their attendance / disciplinary records show
• The skills, competencies, experience and qualifications they have
• How they performed in their duties
It’s common sense, but what you can’t do is select people for redundancy based on their gender, sexuality, race, religion or because they are pregnant. If you have another role in your company that is suitable for the person you have selected for redundancy, and they choose not to take that role, then you are then under no obligation to pay redundancy.
The first meeting should be quite short, you need to get to the point because the employee will be nervous and in turmoil. You may get all sorts of emotions or reactions, some people just go quiet, others will be understandably angry. Stay calm, measured, supportive and show compassion.
You must handle the redundancy conversation with care, show empathy and be clear. Provide the employee with information on how to respond to job adverts and on the resources available to:
• get their CV looking good - http://www.hotjobsinhospitality.com/making-a-cv.cms.asp
• and on interview techniques - http://www.hotjobsinhospitality.com/interview-tips.cms.asp
Once you have made the difficult decision on whom you will be letting go and you have followed all the correct procedures, you must also allow the employees to go out on interviews during paid working in their notice period.
Your remaining workforce needs to be reassured, so you should gather them and explain why you have taken these steps and show how valuable their role is to the future of your company. Make sure that your managers display a positive attitude and are able to cope with the changes.
Never an easy choice. The payroll is usually the biggest single expense in any company - your business needs to survive and to help this happen, horrid decisions have to be made. Do you carry on with the numbers you have in your workforce hoping things will improve, knowing that if they don’t, everyone will be at risk of losing their jobs? Or, do you make the harrowing choice to cut your wage bill to the bone, so that the company has a better chance of survival?
Before pressing the redundancy buttons, you absolutely must get legal advice as the last thing your company needs is to be hauled in front of an employment tribunal. You should consider stopping overtime and retraining / redeploying your existing staff. You need to have a consultation period to tell employees what is happening, why redundancies are being made and how you are selecting people for the redundancy. You could offer voluntary redundancy as a first step and then an individual consultation which must spell out why you are making the redundancy and why that person has been selected.
For the employees, redundancy is a very traumatic experience and so this needs to be handled with the utmost sensitivity whilst following legal and your own HR procedures. Redundancy also creates a negative environment with your remaining employees who may still feel that their own jobs aren’t safe and guilty that they have retained their jobs while their friends/colleagues are now in dire straights. Morale, productivity and motivation will all be affected by the changes redundancy brings and it will take some time before things settle.
In deciding who to make redundant, you will have to take a lot of factors into consideration, including:
• How long the individual has worked for you
• What their attendance / disciplinary records show
• The skills, competencies, experience and qualifications they have
• How they performed in their duties
It’s common sense, but what you can’t do is select people for redundancy based on their gender, sexuality, race, religion or because they are pregnant. If you have another role in your company that is suitable for the person you have selected for redundancy, and they choose not to take that role, then you are then under no obligation to pay redundancy.
The first meeting should be quite short, you need to get to the point because the employee will be nervous and in turmoil. You may get all sorts of emotions or reactions, some people just go quiet, others will be understandably angry. Stay calm, measured, supportive and show compassion.
You must handle the redundancy conversation with care, show empathy and be clear. Provide the employee with information on how to respond to job adverts and on the resources available to:
• get their CV looking good - http://www.hotjobsinhospitality.com/making-a-cv.cms.asp
• and on interview techniques - http://www.hotjobsinhospitality.com/interview-tips.cms.asp
Once you have made the difficult decision on whom you will be letting go and you have followed all the correct procedures, you must also allow the employees to go out on interviews during paid working in their notice period.
Your remaining workforce needs to be reassured, so you should gather them and explain why you have taken these steps and show how valuable their role is to the future of your company. Make sure that your managers display a positive attitude and are able to cope with the changes.
Friday, 23 January 2009
Shannon Matthews ‘mother’ – sentence must be the full weight of the law
This despicable excuse for a human being is due for sentencing today and nothing less than the maximum penalty for each offence it (yes, it) committed must be applied for this the most heinous of crimes. I don’t want to hear excuses about her circumstances or her background being used to soften the sentence. This act was pre-meditated, planned out and played out. It knew exactly what it was doing and this was no random act of madness. So Mr Judge, me along with millions of others no doubt, will be judging you today.
C(?)BB - The best finale!
A far more entertaining way to end the show would be for ALL those egos dressed up and waiting to see who is the most popular, to be asked by BB to go through the diary room and out through the other door, where awaits them some tea and biscuits and after about an hour of them speculating, an announcement being made that they can now all leave the building - no build up, no audience, no moment of glory, just the back gate and a few taxis. Their expressions and comments would be priceless and far more entertaining than the usual bland interviews we've been subjected to. Go on C4, I dare you!
Monday, 19 January 2009
Chicken Soup
This tasty soup can also be the basis for any stock or soup recipe and freezes really well ...
For the soup
1 Chicken, quartered
3 peeled cloves garlic
2 large finely chopped onions
4 finely chopped carrots
4 sticks celery finely chopped
1 each turnip, parsnip finely chopped
4 Bay leaves
2 tsp coarse ground black pepper
50g salt
4 pints water
Method
* Put all the ingredients in a large pot, bring to the boil, skim off any surface scum, boil on high heat for about 1 hour.
* Reduce the heat and cook for a further 1 hour.
* Taste and adjust seasoning if required.
* Ladle off as much of the surface fat as you can.
Lochshen - 25g per person of vermicelli
* Bring a pan of water to the boil, put in vermicelli and cook for 3 mins.
* Drain and divide between the soup bowls.
Kreplach
* 75g Medium Motza meal
* 75g ground almonds
* ½ tsp each salt & pepper
* ¼ tsp each ground ginger & cinnamon
* 25g melted butter
* 1 beaten egg
* 1 chicken stock cube
Method
* Mix all ingredients together and if a little dry, add some of the chicken soup a spoon at a time. The consistency should be very slightly sloppy.
* Put in the fridge for at least an hour and then roll into small balls.
* Mix the stock cub in a saucepan with about 750ml water, bring to the boil and add the Kreplach balls.
* When the kreplach has come back to the boil, reduce heat and simmer for 20 mins. Once cooked, add to the bowls with lochshen.
* All that remains now is for you to ladle the soup over the lochshen and kreplach and serve.
For the soup
1 Chicken, quartered
3 peeled cloves garlic
2 large finely chopped onions
4 finely chopped carrots
4 sticks celery finely chopped
1 each turnip, parsnip finely chopped
4 Bay leaves
2 tsp coarse ground black pepper
50g salt
4 pints water
Method
* Put all the ingredients in a large pot, bring to the boil, skim off any surface scum, boil on high heat for about 1 hour.
* Reduce the heat and cook for a further 1 hour.
* Taste and adjust seasoning if required.
* Ladle off as much of the surface fat as you can.
Lochshen - 25g per person of vermicelli
* Bring a pan of water to the boil, put in vermicelli and cook for 3 mins.
* Drain and divide between the soup bowls.
Kreplach
* 75g Medium Motza meal
* 75g ground almonds
* ½ tsp each salt & pepper
* ¼ tsp each ground ginger & cinnamon
* 25g melted butter
* 1 beaten egg
* 1 chicken stock cube
Method
* Mix all ingredients together and if a little dry, add some of the chicken soup a spoon at a time. The consistency should be very slightly sloppy.
* Put in the fridge for at least an hour and then roll into small balls.
* Mix the stock cub in a saucepan with about 750ml water, bring to the boil and add the Kreplach balls.
* When the kreplach has come back to the boil, reduce heat and simmer for 20 mins. Once cooked, add to the bowls with lochshen.
* All that remains now is for you to ladle the soup over the lochshen and kreplach and serve.
Jade Goody - how can you not show empathy?
I’m fed up reading posts from people who think that it’s a good idea to have a swipe at a young mother in a tragic situation. There’s a lot of talk about a lack of dignity – well each person handles things in different ways, so let’s not judge or say there’s right or wrong way to display your emotions and grief. Jade has a right to choose how she wants to deal with it and you have the right not to read her articles or switch off the TV when her face appears. Yes, Jade’s been lippy and thoughtless in the past, but to some degree, haven’t we all? Some people are criticising her saying she’s trying to make a buck out of her illness. Her job involves being in the public eye and remember, she has two small children to think about. If she can make some money which will secure their futures, should the unthinkable happen, then all credit to her for having the sense to plan ahead despite the bitterness shown toward her. Come down from your ivory towers and get some common sense - she’s just doing her job as long as she can and getting paid for it to secure her kids. So my message to Jade is, go girl and keep strong.
CBB - Was Tina the right person to go???!!!
Yes, so that I can never again be subjected to the sight of her biting her own toenails!
Or should someone else have gone - what do you think?!!
Or should someone else have gone - what do you think?!!
Friday, 16 January 2009
Recipe for Potato Latkas
Potato Latkas
Ingredients
- 150g fresh white breadcrumbs
- 150g fine motza meal
- 1 tbsp groundnut oil plus about 1ltr groundnut oil for frying
- 4 beaten eggs
- 1 tsp salt
- ½ tsp pepper
- 1 grated dessert apple
- 1 grated onion
- 4-6 potatoes finely grated and squeezed to remove excess liquid
Method
- Mix the potatoes, onions, salt & pepper with the apple, 1 tbsp groundnut oil and beaten eggs.
- Then add the breadcrumbs and motza meal and mix well.
- Heat the remaining oil, take a handful of the mix, roll into a ball and flatten down to about 1cm thickness, repeat and fry for about 5 mins each side or until golden brown. Drain on kitchen paper.
- These keep well in a low heat warm oven whilst cooking batches if you are serving straight away.
- The mixture can also be prepared a day ahead if you cover it well. It may discolour slightly but this won’t affect the end result!
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