Tag: food

Things that are useless

There are lots of useless things around at the moment. Here are just a few.

Paper straws

Who’d have thought that putting paper into liquid would make it soggy and useless? Everyone except McDonalds. I get the idea of using less plastic so it’s time to come up with something new. But PAPER straws. Not a great idea.

Easter egg packaging

Everyone goes rightly mad about cutting down waste created by too much packaging. Except at Easter, where it seems to be ok because it protects the chocolate. I’ve never seen so much plastic and cardboard. Let’s see if it’s different this year…

Some hand dryers

Hand dryers are miles better than paper towels, etc. But they actually need to blow out actual hot air. Lots these days are useless.

Amber traffic lights

What is the amber light for?

AMBER means ‘Stop’ at the stop line. You may go on only if the AMBER appears after you have crossed the stop line or are so close to it that to pull up might cause an accident

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/the-highway-code/light-signals-controlling-traffic

So actually, what’s the point in it? Everyone I know speeds up to beat the amber, or uses it as a way to pull away and get away as fast as possible. Why don’t we just go to green and red?

Cake pops

A tiny cake on a stick. Sure they look tasty. But what’s the point?

Those sauce pots at McDonalds

One is never enough. So you always need two. Just make them bigger! Although I’ve heard about this trick.

Rulers that aren’t see through

The teacher in me says that opaque rules are useless. Rulers need to be see through to measure, underline and draw accurately.

Bottled water

Full frame of still water bottles in rows

I am getting on board with this whole cutting down waste thing. Buying plastic bottles just feels wasteful these days. I now use a water bottle and try to keep that with me.

DVDs

What is the point in selling these any more? We either watch it on Sky or stream absolutely everything these days. Digital is the way. It’s time to ditch your DVDs (and Blu-Rays).

Spam Recipes

I love spam. Not the stuff that plagues my work email account. Actual spam. Check out all of these recipes on the official Spam website!

The Philly-Dilly SPAM Sandwich looks incredible!

Philly-Dilly SPAM® Sandwich.

Ingredients

Sure, the name Philly-Dilly sounds silly, but one bite and you’ll realize this sandwich makes the Philly cheesesteak look silly. It’ll also prove to you that this Philly-Dilly was definitely not put together in a willy-nilly fashion.

  • 1 340g can SPAM® Chopped Pork & Ham
  • 1 green bell pepper
  • 1 yellow bell pepper
  • 1 large yellow onion
  • 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, divided
  • 3 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
  • 1/2?1 teaspoon coarse ground black pepper
  • 2 slim French bread loaves
  • 4 slices mild cheddar cheese
  • 3 slices smoked applewood cheese
  • 2 tablespoons prepared dill veggie dip

Method

  1. 1Cut bell peppers and onions into thin slices. Sauté in a large, non-stick frying pan with 2 tablespoons butter over medium-high heat, until peppers and onions are tender, about 10 minutes.
  2. While peppers and onions cook, shave off very thin, non-uniform slices of SPAM® with a sharp knife. Remove pepper and onion mixture from frying pan. Set aside and cover.
  3. Return same frying pan to medium-high heat and add SPAM® slices in an even layer. Add Worcestershire directly on top of the SPAM®, covering each piece. Cover generously with black pepper. Let cook 4 minutes, then stir and flip the SPAM® and allow to cook for about 5 more minutes, until SPAM® is heated through and slightly crisp.
  4. Slice bread loaves most of the way through and toast in separate frying pan with remaining butter. While bread is toasting, return pepper and onion mixture to frying pan with the SPAM®. Mix together well, and then spread into an even layer. Place cheese slices evenly on top of the SPAM® mixture and reduce to medium heat. Once the cheese is melted, remove pan from heat and stir the mixture with a spatula to incorporate the cheese into the entire mixture.
  5. Place toasted bread loaves onto serving dish. Spread a very thin layer of the dill dip onto the top halves. Scoop sandwich filling onto bottom halves of bread and close. Slice into desired serving sizes and serve immediately.

New Year’s Resolutions

I am rubbish at keeping to new year’s resolutions. Lots of the promises I make to myself are immediately hard to keep for two reasons. Firstly, because it’s my birthday so early in the year, so I almost immediately break the routines I am keen to get in to. Secondly, because I have no willpower. At all.

But I am going to try to keep to these during 2020, so I am sharing them so I can remind myself about what I’m trying to do.

In no particular order:

  • Spend less money – a big one. A HUGE one. I need to do this. 2020 is about spending less money wherever possible. The things I buy need to be essentials.
  • Find out what is wrong with my stomach or at least what foods make me poorly – in the last few years I seem to have developed intolerance to certain foods – bread in particular. I can’t go on making guesses and feeling poorly. I need to get this sorted.
  • Collect stamps and coins – see, I have no willpower. I am trying to get into buying first day covers of stamps and coins (specifically 50p coins). But this is such an expensive hobby, I will need to see how it goes. If they announce, let’s say Lego stamps – I will get them. If they announce stamps with caterpillars on, I will not. Same with coins – if I’m interested, I might take the plunge. I will write about this potential hobby at some point. This will be the one treat this year. Although I will hopefully buy the Friends Lego set at some point.
  • Keep the house tidy – I can see clutter, even as I write this. But I can’t carry on having an untidy house. I need to get everywhere as straight as I can get it.
  • Use my phone for less crap and be more productive with it – I waste so much time reading social media. I want to limit this and use it for more productive things, like keeping a diary, maybe.
  • Create more social media content than I consume – I want to use social media to build a platform for this blog and for a professional blog. I also want to develop my wife’s online presence for her little craft business.
  • Go to bed earlier one night in the week – I am beginning to feel my age. I need more sleep.
  • Read more – I have found it hard to keep up with reading in 2019 for various reasons. Back on to it in 2020.
  • Regularly spend time sorting the garden – I say regularly instead of weekly as I couldn’t commit to that. Spending any time doing this at all would be an improvement compared to last year.
  • Iron once a week – hate this.
  • Eat more fruit – looking forward to this, actually.
  • Clear the garage and loft – we have so much crap that needs getting rid of. And we have so many things we could sell and generate a bit of money.
  • At work I want to be relentless in our pursuit of high standards in the school, keep everyone focused on our school development plan and avoid making errors in administration which I have managed to do this year and last.

Seven Sisters Ice Cream Farm

If you live in Cheshire East and you like ice cream then there is an absolute gem of place to visit.

Seven Sisters Ice Cream Farm is on the A50 between Knutsford and Holmes Chapel. It is near to the Radbroke Barclays Headquarters.

When you arrive at the farm there is plenty of parking for customers. You can visit the calves. Our children love to put hay in the troughs for the calves to enjoy. They also love to jump between the bales!

There is a play area which is very much suited to little ones – tyre-horse swings, stepping stones, scooters, etc. There are some nice tables outside to sit at if it’s nice.

During the summer months you can try the Maize Maze.

But it’s the ice cream at the farm which is delicious! Favourite flavours include cake batter, honeycomb, mint choc chip and activated charcoal!

You can add toppings for a small additional amount.

The waffles and milkshakes are incredible!

We bought an ice cream each and spent less than £7.

You can find the Posh Ice Cream here.