Author: Scottish Mum

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Why are we so upset about eating horse meat?

Burger

With lots of jokes about the horse meat issue facing many of the suppliers of meat in our country, I’ve found myself mentally checking off the Dalepack, Findus, Tesco, Lidl and Aldi brands of any sort of meat.  I know that is actually completely ridiculous, but how many people feel the same way as I do about the horse meat scandal?

The Food Standards Agency seem to be more involved now and I hope they do decide to do mandatory tests on hospital and school meals as many of those are done on such a low price point per person when admin costs are taken off.

Those who can afford to buy proper meat from a good butcher will go and do exactly that.  Those who can’t afford to do that have no choice but to eat the cheap meat on supermarket shelves.  It always makes me cringe when I read the ingredients lists and the thought of the “pink slime” made me rightly or wrongly shy away from lots of meat products.  In my opinion cheap beefburgers probably seem to be a good place to hide undesirable ingredients.

People really don’t want to have to think that they could have eaten a former pet, discarded thoroughbred or seaside pony.  As a nation, we see horses as pets in the same way that we see dogs, cats, gerbils, rabbits, hamsters and guinea pigs.  In France, they do eat lots of horse, but I’d bet with the current state of play, they’d also be annoyed as it really isn’t about the horses.

It’s about not knowing what’s in our food.  If I knew horse or pink slime was in food, I’d rather feed my kids veggie.  The whole point is that we’ve been scammed as a nation, and that’s the most horrible thing about it all.

I want to know what is in my food, in my kids food, and in my animals food.  Criminal activity or not, someone somewhere put people at risk.

It’s been stated as not being a food health issue as if that makes it okay.  What if it hadn’t been horse?  What if it had been arsenic or poison, or something else?  Somewhere in the process and procedures, testing and quality assurance failed.

I hate the thought of mechanically processed food.  A chef once showed me the contents of a cheap commercial value pack of mince.  He rolled it out in his hand and showed me a bit of cheek and an eyelash.  I’ve never bought value mince products since that day.  He described it as the head stuck on a centrifuge and the contents forced off at speed.  Whether it was true or  false, it put me off for life.   I don’t think cheap meat is worth buying when we have no idea what it is that is actually in it.

If I couldn’t afford decent mince, I’d rather make lentil casserole instead – and I’m intolerant of lentils.  We all make our own choices, but I’d love to know how much cheap meat products have suffered this last week or so.

A dozen burgers for £1 are never going to be great quality, but the people buying them deserve to know exactly what’s in them.

 

 

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Review: The Three Stooges – Released on Blu Ray and DVD on 11th February 2013

Thank you to Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment for the review copy.  You can watch the trailer here.

We were sent a pre-release to DVD and Blu-Ray copy of the Three Stooges.  It’s a slapstick version of the version I used to watch when I was younger.   The kids were enthralled from the start as there is a lot of coshing, boshing and old-fashioned bopping on the heads.  I’ve not seen middler laugh at a film for a long time and I did worry about letting him see it, but he thoroughly enjoyed it.

It was a nice touch at the end where they showed that the hammers were soft rubber and didn’t hurt anyone at all.  I know some people will see that as pointless and irrelevant, but for my special needs boy it is something that I appreciated as it gave the slapstick a reference for being fake and not real bopping and tweaking.

Basically, it’s pretty much about three boneheads in three way comedy.   The Farrelly Brothers are the three stooges, and the film starts off with them being abandoned at the door of an orphanage.   When the home is at risk, it falls on the brothers to create a miracle to save their childhood home.  They keep getting themselves into trouble and manage to find themselves in the middle of many odd situations.

It’s not as predictable as I thought it would be, and it definitely appealed to my boys.

There are differences in the options, which are listed below.  Buying from Amazon, you can pre-order now for delivery on the 11th.

Blu-Ray from Amazon £17.50

  • Deleted / Extended Scenes
  • What’s the Big Idea? A History of The Three Stooges
  • Knuckleheads: Behind the Scenes of The Three Stooges
  • Did You Hear That? The Three Stooges Sound Effects
  • Poifect!: Casting The Three Stooges
  • The Three Stooges Mash-Up
  • Original Screen Test
  • Theatrical Trailer

DVD from Amazon – £9.99

  • Deleted / Extended Scenes
  • Knuckleheads: Behind the Scenes of The Three Stooges
  • Did You Hear That? The Three Stooges Sound Effects
  • The Three Stooges Mash-Up
  • Theatrical Trailer

 

 

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Are Scottish Bloggers Just Shy?

Update 2024. Hahahahahahaha. I am laughing at myself with this post. I wrote it so long ago, that the whole online landscape has done a backflip, forwardflip and backflip again. Bloggers aren’t young adults to middle age people any more and youngsters think they invented the world. I think I’ll be chuckling to myself the rest of the day. Scottish bloggers shy – bwahaha. They’d think I’m a dinosaur nowadays… They’d be right.

This is the question that has bothered me for a while now.  Are Scottish bloggers just shy?  Could it be how we are brought up?  I think it has something to do with the lack of regular female bloggers living and working here in the cold frozen wastes of Scottish Heathen Hinterlands, hiding under their family tartan, mud huts and cave dwellings.

Look at England, Wales and the US.  Bloggers are confidently marketing, self-promoting and selling their blogs to the world.

They display little in the way of embarrassment at any sign of success for their blogs and proudly hold their heads up and announce their success to the outside world.

Head to Scotland, and at times, I also think Ireland, we sit in our pooky wee holes and pretend that we don’t really exist to the outside world.  Yes, there are times when we have to stand up and be counted, and there is absolutely NO denying the work it takes to get to the point where Google sends you a few hundred or more visitors daily,  so why do we play down the amount of work it takes to get there?

In London, I saw the English and US bloggers sit proudly with their heads held high when they talked about their blogs.  I sat and wondered why there are so few of us in Scotland.  Perhaps the Scots are just late to the party and lots more will catch up with the blogging machine, but we’re not anywhere near matching our English compatriots yet.  It could also be a population numbers things, so bear with me.

It does have to be said, that for a group of supposedly loner bloggers who spend their isolated lives living at keyboards interacting with each other, we all have plenty to say when we meet.

I’ve gone off track, so back to the bloggers in Scotland.

In my blogging community, the majority who promote themselves in our neck of the woods are almost all either former US or English citizens with a smattering of us Scots in-between.

Is it how we’re brought up in this neck of the woods?

Are we taught to celebrate the success of others, but be eternally damned handicapped when it comes to our own?

Who knows why our humility can send us packing into the wild white yonder of icy mush while others accept their praise graciously.

Up to now, I’ve always been one of those who couldn’t accept the popularity contest thing for blogging, especially since I sometimes blog about issues that regular parenting circles just don’t want to have to listen to, but it is actually quite nice to have been nominated for something.  Instead of barring the hashtag and pretending it doesn’t matter at all, I’m going to be gracious.

The Mads is now run yearly by Sally from the Tots, in conjunction with Parentdish and a couple of people have contacted me to say they have nominated me in the food blogger category.  There are some bloggers in there who are serious foodies, unlike me, but I’d like to thank those who voted for me.

For this time round, I am going to wear my badge with pride on the blog.

I’m never one that is going to be able to put out loads of tweets, posts or messages asking people to vote for me, and neither will many other Scottish born bloggers I suspect.  I wouldn’t say no to any other nominations either, so if you’d like to give me a boost, there are still a couple more weeks to go on this round, just click on the picture.  I don’t know what happens after this, so I guess it’s a wait and see.

Thank you to all who read my blog.  I really appreciate you all.

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Slow Cooker Rice Pudding Recipe

I’ve always wondered how to make rice pudding in a slow cooker.  The slow cooker recipes I had come across all seemed to look very sweet, so I reduced the sugar in mine compared to most people, and I added my favourite cinnamon to the mix.  You need to use the proper rice pudding rice – if that makes sense.  It is shorter and dumpier than our regular meal accompaniment rice.  Short grain rice has the benefit of more starch which makes the pudding thicker, and supermarkets often sell it as pudding rice.

With this recipe, it’s all cooked in the pot, so there is no need to cook the rice separately.  My mother was here when pudding was served, and although the rest of us all ate our rice pudding from the slow cooker, she wanted hers browned in the oven.

Homemade rice pudding can be as creamy or as plain as you choose.  Just replace some of the milk with condensed milk or cream if you like your slow cooker puddings extra creamy.

Serving hot or cold, rice pudding is a very versatile dish.  To add the healthy touch to the dessert, just top it with some fruit to make the most of it.

Lesley Smith

Slow Cooker Rice Pudding

4 from 1 vote
Print Recipe Pin Recipe
Prep Time 2 minutes
Cook Time 4 hours
Total Time 4 hours 2 minutes
Servings: 6 -8
Course: Dessert
Ingredients Method

Ingredients
  

  • 200 g Pudding Rice
  • 60 g Sugar
  • 50 g Butter
  • 1.5 l Milk
  • 1 teaspoon Nutmeg
  • 1 teaspoon Cinnamon

Method
 

  1. This has got to be one of the simplest things to make, anywhere. Pop all the ingredients into a pre-heated slow cooker.
  2. Cook for 8 hours on low, or 4 hours on high. Give it a little stir after an hour or so, to mix the sugar and butter. Keep an eye on it, and add a little more milk if needed.
  3. Serve with a sprinkling of nutmeg, cinnamon or chocolate powder.

 

 

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8×8 Project – A crafty piece of art to improve a child’s life after a brain tumour.

Charity seems to be the order of the week this week.  Following on from the bloggers visiting Ghana, I am asking if you could you do a small thing to support the recovery of Children with Brain Tumours.

eightAs part of the work done by Camilles Appeal, they have launched a Call to Artists programme to help donate a little to help a lot. The appeal works to support children aged 0-5 with brain tumours and their families.  In the UK, these children will have multiple treatments including surgery, chemotherapy and radiation which can make their lives very difficult.  The appeal aims to help those families live as close to a normal life as possible.

Rather than asking for your cash, project 8×8 is looking for a little of your time and creativity.  And if you can’t give that, what about your own blog post to help send it round the blogosphere.

How you can help:8x8

If you are a crafter, you are likely to make some fantastic pieces of handmade art which could be mounted on an 8″ x 8″ mount.   Suggestions and possibilities could be handmade dolls, papercraft, jewellery and much more.

Social Media
Spread the word and encourage submissions from artists to the project, give this post a tweet or a like, and pass it on.

Buy an 8 x 8 Picture
Get a fabulous work in return for supporting the project.

Donate a Piece of Art
As a group, we can always achieve more than people on their own.   You don’t have to be a formally recognised artist to take part.

The official CALL TO ARTISTS is as follows:

The eightbyeight Project are inviting donations of 8×8” sized work (or small 3D creations) to take pride of place in our exhibition in support of Camille’s Appeal, the children’s brain tumour charity.

We are seeking diverse and exciting donations from professional, non-professional and student artists, painters, printmakers, illustrators, photographers, digital artists, paper crafters, those working with yarn and textiles, ceramics, glass, jewellery, small sculpture, etc inspired by the exhibition theme, ‘Childhood Explored’.

Through coming together as creatives, we hope to raise the profile, and improve the lives of young children with brain tumours and their families.

If you’re creative, why not “create and donate to 8 by 8.”

If you’re not, like me, give it a share so that artists can find it.

You can also find them on Facebook and Twitter.

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#teamhonk #goodwork #Ghana #comicrelief

Red Nose Day began on the 5th Feb, 25 years ago.  To mark the anniversary, Comic Relief wanted to show the progress in Africa and the difference that money raised has made, both here and in Africa.

To raise the awareness, 3 bloggers from our community are visiting four projects in Ghana on the 4th and 5th of February to see the difference the UK Red Nose money has made.

They will tweet and blog through their stay, and everyone can follow their progress as they go.

The 3 bloggers are:

  • Annie from Mammasaurus
  • Tanya from Mummy Barrow
  • Penny from Alexander Residence

They will visit the:

Virtuous Womens Bakery
Skilling women to bake breads, cakes and pies and establish an industry around it.

African Outreach
Agbobloshie with many inhabitants faces issues around sanitation and housing.  With the project, the community is being skilled to help themselves.

Vaccination Clinic
This speaks for itself.

Basic Needs UK Trust
Mental health problems in Ghana being addressed and helped to improve their lives.

All in all, it sounds like it will be a packed programme of events, and if you want to follow the chat, simply watch the #teamhonk hashtag for more information and to keep up with what the ladies are doing.  Bloggers are becoming more and more involved in world events and charity programmes.

We need to support each other as we work through the charity connections.

Best wishes to all in #teamhonk and a safe journey to you all.

If you want to follow their progress, simply click on the badge picture and it will take you to the blog about the adventure ahead.

x

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Thank you Warner Bros. for the film “Now Is Good” with Dakota Fanning

Thank you to Warner Bros. for providing me the perfect film for this weekend coming – Now Is Good.

I’ve had the disk for a wee while, and I have a night this weekend when the man is out, and I can watch it in peace when I can get a hold of the remote control.  I’m looking forward to some me time with the TV.

Now Is Good 2

It will be interesting to see Dakota Fanning act as an adult, as I’ve only ever seen her in her child roles.

The film is about seventeen year old Tessa, who is diagnosed with a terminal illness.  She decides to use every moment and compiles a catalogue of things that normal teenagers would experience.  With the help of her friend, she starts to work through her list while her family deals with fear and grief.

She explores a whole new world, falls in love which wasn’t on her list, but proves to be the most exhilarating experience of her life.

The pack includes the ever useful Ultraviolet to instantly stream and download onto our computers, tablets and smartphones.   I also suspect I’ll need a pack of handkerchiefs as it could be a real tear-jerker.

Up for sale, I’d always buy films from Amazon these days for physical versions.  Now is Good is £12 from Amazon at the moment.

Now Is Good 3

 

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10 Tips For Burns Night, any Night on a Budget

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Haggis, Neeps and Tatties

Haggis, Neeps and Tatties are not just for Burns Night.

Burns Nights can be so much fun – there’s merriment, celebration, great food, dancing, poetry, singing… and maybe just a dash of whisky, but we don’t have to limit it just to the birthday of the bard.

If you’ve had the honour of hosting a Burns Supper, you’ll know there is a lot to organise, and perhaps a lot to pay for too, but Burns Night fare is good enough for any dinner party.

So how can you throw an enjoyable Burns Supper, any night, without blowing your budget?

Here are ten tips that could help you.

  1. Shopping around for your haggis could reap you benefits and work out much cheaper in the long run.  You could get several haggis cheaper than one hefty one and there may be some good deals on.
  2. Consider buying a smaller haggis and serving it as a starter with a smaller serving of neeps and tatties.  Then serve something less expensive – like a good value beef joint or whole fish – for the main.
  3. If you buy a big haggis, don’t waste the leftovers. Keep it and make some haggis-based dishes for the rest of the week – for example haggis lasagne.  Or serve some the next day in a Scottish breakfast if you have guests who stay over.
  4. Buy cheaper whisky and use it to make a pitcher of Hot Toddy. Your guests are unlikely to taste the difference – especially as the night goes on!
  5. Encourage guests to bring their own drinks – especially if they’re quite particular about their brand of Scotch.
  6. Propose that guests bring their own starters or desserts – to cut down on preparation time and cost for you, and to give the supper more diversity.
  7. For next year, consider having your Burns Nights later – some retailers may bring down the price of any leftover Burns Night food on their shelves after the 25th January.
  8. Grow your own potatoes and turnips.  You’ve plenty of time to prepare for 2014.  Here’s how to grow potatoes and turnips. A good crop will last you for Burns Night and beyond.
  9. A Burns Supper wouldn’t be complete without songs and poems from Robbie Burns himself.  Rabbie-Burns.com has a timetable for the evening – including links to the essential poems and songs – for free.
  10. If you’d like your singers, speakers and other entertainers to read from a book, you could borrow one from your local library.

by the Debt Advisory Centre Scotland.  We hope you had a great Burns Night last week and will continue to enjoy haggis throughout the next year as one of your staple foods!

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Fresh Limeade Recipe

Crisp and refreshing.

Lesley S Smith

Fresh Limeade Recipe

Print Recipe Pin Recipe
Prep Time 2 minutes
Cook Time 3 minutes
Total Time 5 minutes
Servings: 4
Course: Beverage
Ingredients Method

Ingredients
  

  • 2.5 Fresh Limes Quartered
  • 0.5 Fresh Lime Slicing
  • 1 l Water
  • 250 ml Crushed Ice
  • 250 g Sugar or equivalent sweetner (I used Stevia alternative sweetner)

Method
 

  1. Wash the skin of the limes for the lime juice. We're adding everything to the blender, so don't worry about peeling. Cut the limes into quarters and take out any seeds.
  2. Put the limes, water and crushed ice into the blender. Blend for at least a couple of minutes. Taste the liquid and if it's too tart for you, add in sugar or sweetener to taste - up to 250g of sugar and equivalents of sweeteners.
  3. Strain the lime juice mix to get a lovely coloured lime juice.
  4. Optionally, use a soda charger, or a sodastream to give your lime juice a little fizz and turn it into limeade.

 

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Cervical Cancer Prevention Week – Why would women put their daughters off having the vaccine?

http://vimeo.com/10110907

Cervical Cancer Prevention week is: 20 – 26 January 2013

I really had to get involved with this one. I really had no right to let it go past.

I’m not going to go in detail with the symptoms of cervical cancer as this is prevention week, but if you want to find out more about what could indicate cervical cancer, please head on over to Jo’s Cervical Cancer Trust.

Twenty years ago (yes, I am that old) I finally went for my first smear. I’d put it off as I had severe endometriosis and pain was often so incredible that I couldn’t touch my stomach from the outside, let alone have something shoved up my inside. I watched a programme which put the fear of death into me and decided I’d have a try.

Two nurses, a doctor, and yes, a lot of pain later, they finally got my smear. With the endometriosis damaging my cervix, they couldn’t even see it.

It came back with severe abnormal cells – Cin 3.

Another year and I probably wouldn’t have been here today. I was lucky.

After a few weeks nervous wait to see if it was confirmed, it was on to the laser treatment, which was not as bad as I thought it would be, but then again, I think they inject enough freeze into the cervix to stun an elephant. The injection to freeze is a little like the dentist freezing the roof of your mouth, but just a bit more stingy. Thankfully, after that, there was no pain. The burning smell is not too clever though, and does make you realise that they really are burning off the bad cells.

I really want to take the mothers who persuade their kids not to have the vaccination and shake their shoulders. How stupidly silly can they be? A simple vaccination and their daughters are protected.

Do they really want their daughters to go through the nightmare of results, re-smear, laser treatment and then the constant smears afterwards to make sure it hasn’t crept back?

Do they really want their daughters to risk cervical cancer?

Why are they not persuading their daughters to do it?

There’s nothing “seedy” about it.

I just don’t understand it.

Most cervical cancers are caused by a common virus – (HPV) human papilloma virus. Some women are susceptible to it, and others are not. Changes can show as abnormalities of the cells of the cervix and when they become severe, they can develop into cancer.

Jo's cervical cancer trust

Cervical screening detects early changes in cells, and although the vaccination for HPV can only prevent infection from two of the 20 highest risk strains, to me, it’s not worth the risk of not taking it.

Far too many girls and women are not getting screened when they are at the age to be screened. I wish they would screen every girl from the year she begins to become sexually active, but sadly, that is never going to be the case.

The UK scheme offers girls the vaccination programme from age 12 – 18. If I had girls, I’d be beating down the door of anywhere that they could get the vaccination done.

The choice for me would be simple – an injection into the arm to reduce the potential of having the stress of tests or nether regions burned by a laser, or even worse – living and fighting cervical cancer.

Vaccines are given by injection into the muscle, usually the upper arm. Three separate doses are needed. The second does is given one or two months and six months after the first dose. It’s not a guarantee, but it removes a high factor of the risk.

A lovely and very young lady who used to be on Twitter had advanced cervical cancer. She was pilloried, given a hard time and abused to the point of having to leave. Those of us who used to chat to her, miss her. She was hounded and treated like rubbish by other women. There is absolutely NOTHING to be ashamed of in having pre-cancerous cells or cervical cancer. The time between smears, and the age of screening means that at times, it may be too far advanced before abnormal cells get picked up, even if women have had all their smears.

Get your smears on time and get the vaccination if you are eligible for it. Your life may just depend on it.

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Nurse Suspended for Protecting Boy in Aberdeen

I read the news this morning, and I really couldn’t believe what I was reading.

The Scottish Daily Express reported that a community nurse was suspended for taking a boy aged between 3 and 5 and keeping him safe.

She had spotted him jumping in and out of a car but with no adult around.    She had an appointment, so left a note on the car to say where they were and went round the corner, taking him with her.  A few minutes later, the boys dad showed up to pick him up.  He was grateful to her for looking after his boy, as he had been away from his car longer than he anticipated.

Now apart from the dad being one massive idiot, it’s not an uncommon thing for parents to leave their little kids in cars to pop to shops.  It might be silly, or reckless, or any number of things, but parents still keep on doing it.  This boy had got himself out of the car and was jumping around near a busy road.

According to the report the nurse had “displayed serious failings in child protection.”

The article says that she stayed with the boy for a while, but being late for an appointment round the corner, she felt she had to go.  Rather than abandoning the wee boy, she took him with her for a couple of minutes.

It also said that she told her bosses what had happened, and then the police were involved and she was signed off work and not allowed back.    She was handed a 6 month ban and will have conditions imposed when she gets back to work for 18 months, until “she is deemed to no longer be a risk to the public.”

Yes, I know there are societal rules to follow when we deal with the public, and no, perhaps she shouldn’t have taken the wee boy to her next appointment and should have phoned employer and police instead, but her sense of justice in not being late for a client is the same sense of decency that she displayed by not wanting to leave the boy alone, or have her client think she hadn’t turned up.

I also know that there are ways that the medical profession are probably told to deal with protection issues, but for heaven’s sake, in an emergency, surely there should be a little leeway and sense to allow a good Samaritan for taking care of a wee one that could have put himself in danger.

It was a bit silly to take the boy away from the car, and yes, she should have called the police, but in the heat of the moment, sometimes we just have to trust in other people.  Common sense has to prevail somewhere in this.  I can’t see how any of it makes her a potential risk to the public.   Possibly a disciplinary matter for removing from scene and taking to a client, but danger to the public is a bit strong.

No wonder so many people just walk on by and leave ill people or lost kids to their fates.

 

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Funky Foodies January 2012

STAR RECIPE WINNER – for November was : Coombemill with her Apple and Cinnamon Festive Cakes as they look like something that we would love to eat all year round.

Funky Foodies took a break in December, and is now open for Janary 2013.   Only 10 days to add your recipes, so get clicking.

THIS MONTHS FUNKY FOODIES LINKY IS OPEN AND THERE MUST BE LOADS OF RECIPES TO CHOOSE FROM.  We didn’t run at Xmas, so feel free to add your xmas recipes too.

  • Is a monthly linkie, which will close on the last day of the month.
  • A medal will be awarded for the Star Recipe every month, and the fabulous trophy in the blog badge will be awarded at the end of a whole year of the Funky Foodies. If you want to find out more about it, read here.
  • All you have to do is share as many recipes from your own blog a month as you’d like. If you struggle to add your recipe, send me your link and I’ll add it for you.
  • Try to pop around and share the comment love with other funky foodies. We all like a little love and might come across some fabulous recipes.
If you want to host the linkie on your own blog as a blog hop, get the code here :

Simply add the link to your recipe on your own blog, and share your latest recipe with everyone taking part. If you don’t want to miss the linkie being opened, subscribe to RSS or by email in the blog header.

I’ll add recipes of mine to share, although I don’t count in the recipe challenge.

Feel free to copy the badge or use the html in the widget at the bottom of the page to add the small blog badge to your own blog / post. It makes finding you easier for other funky foodies.

Funky Foodies

<img src=” http://scottishmum.com/wp-content/uploads/100-funky-foodies.jpg” border=”0″ alt=”Funky Foodies” />

If you want to add the blog hop to your own website,  get the InLinkz code