Bacon; the good, the bad, and the ugly.

I don't buy cheap bacon, but here in the UK it hardly seems to matter what one buys, as it all contains water and 'gunk'. I have never seen so much white 'gunk' coming from a frying rasher of bacon as I see here. It really is quite disgusting.

When frying most UK bacon, both water and 'gunk' flood out, leaving a watery white goo in the pan (see below). This is easily removed, but why is it there in the first place?

In France I can buy superb bacon, but I often make my own. I buy a large slab of Belly Pork, cover in salt, sugar, and freshly ground pepper, leave for about 4 days, then brush away all the salt and hang in an airy place for a few weeks (below in our fireplace). Yes, it really is that simple!

The resulting bacon (pancetta) is delicious, and no 'gunk' appears when frying.

If you have a reliable source of good quality Belly Pork, and you eat bacon regularly, then this is a good method to provide yourself with the cheapest and best (see below).

I seem to remember that Hugh Fearnley-Thing gave a simple recipe for home-made bacon in his first River Cottage book.

Here's one I made earlier (below).

 

The Communards - Don't Leave Me This Way

This song from 1986 features Jimmy Somerville and guest singer Sarah Jane Morris.

The Communards were very much a major part of 'The Sound of the 80's', and this particular song is a classic of its era.  Jimmy's falsetto voice was unmistakable.

A slightly strange video; but they all were in the 80's.

You may not have heard this for a while; so, enjoy!

All Change.

We have received news from across the pond. The world is changing fast, and this is how North America will soon look.

I can hardly remember how it used to be last year, but this is how it will soon be.

Canada is, of course, part of The Commonwealth, and King Charles 111 of Canada is the current 'nominal' sovereign.

So, the whole of North America is now back under UK sovereignty; just as it always was.

I'm not sure if I approve of The Gulf of Brighton being renamed The Gulf of Canada, but the rest is OK. We'll send Penny Mordaunt over to be the next Canadian President.

 

It works!!!

I've been meaning to try this for ages, so yesterday morning I threw caution to the winds, and had a go.

Everyone has been telling me that I should stop frying eggs, but poach them instead. I've always been very fond of poached eggs, so I really don't understand why I haven't tried this method before.

You fill a mug with boiling water, drop in your egg, and zap in the microwave for a minute. Hey Presto, your egg is done.

Well I followed the instructions and out came my lovely looking poached egg. Unfortunately it was slightly overcooked; I think I should have zapped for 40 seconds. Otherwise it was delicious, and I have yet to glow in the dark.

However, there was one small hiccup. There was some sort of explosion half way through the cooking time. I have no idea what happened, but it required a certain amount of cleaning later (see below).

The yolk remained intact. It was the white that exploded.

                                         

All in all it was a success. Next time I shall reduce the cooking time, and be ready for that BANG.

Maybe the explosion is all part of the fun experience; have you had the same thing happen? And how does one avoid it?

The Repair Shop.

The Repair Shop usually comes from Sussex's 'Weald and Downland Museum', but yesterday (for us) it came from The Brighton Dome.

We really had no idea what to expect, and made a point of not trying to find out. It would have ruined the surprise.

It turned-out to be a 'meet the craftsmen/women' type of show, with many of the main suspects on stage. Steve Fletcher and his sister Suzie, Will Kirk, Lucia Scalisi, and Kirsten Ramsay.

The first thing I said to Lady M, as we sat down, was "What do you think the average age of the audience is?" "About 60?" she replied. "More like 70 or 80" I said "look at all the grey or balding heads in front of us".

It certainly wasn't a show for a young audience.

Brighton was the first show of a nation-wide tour. The production team are based here, and several of the cast members live here, so a perfect spot to kick off. The Repair Shop barn isn't far away.

No Teddies were re-furred, no clocks repaired, and no smashed pots re-assembled, but we really enjoyed ourselves. 

A great afternoon. It was raining slightly when we came out, so we made a quick dash for home.

If you're a fan of the show, you'd enjoy it. No point going if you're not. The theatre was packed!

So, what happened this last week?

 

It's been a funny old week in The People's Republic of Great Britain.

Wes Streeting, our current Health Minister, is looking to imitate Gordon Brown's disastrous privatisation schemes (PFI) for the NHS, and is suggesting that he will invite yet more private money into the system.

Since Gordon Brown's days we still owe £160 Billion on private investments worth £57 Billion. A disaster in anyone's language. Yet Streeting intends to lumber the British taxpayer with even more privatisation debt of the same ilk. I can remember when Labour used to constantly accuse the Tories of wishing to privatise the NHS. What a joke!

An Algerian Asylum-Seeker, Khaled Aribi, was found dead this week, suspended from a skylight in a house he'd broken into. Aribi broke into the uninhabited house through the roof, and became suspended from the Velux-type skylight. Unable to free himself he died several days later, suspended in the air. An estate agent, who was showing some potential buyers around the home, discovered his lifeless body. Don't laugh!

The leader of the Conservative Party, Kemi Badenoch, has blasted 'The UK government's poisonous woke culture', and the Left's 'useful idiots' who promote it. She has warned Britain that "The very fabric of Western Civilisation could soon be lost". Well, Kemi, I think you might be a tad too late dear. The damage has been done, and cannot be undone. Warnings were given, and ignored. There is little point giving even more warnings after the horse has bolted. Even over in the USA, J D Vance asked the question "Which will be the first Muslim country to have a nuclear weapon?". His answer... "The UK". 

A whole week couldn't go by without news of more disasters from Downing Street. 'Rachel from Accounts' new Education Tax is apparently predicted to send inflation soaring to a 10 month high, and dear Angela Rayner's new Workers Rights Bill is set to make 1/3rd of small business-owners reduce their staff. 

And we now hear that it's not only the fragrant 'Reeves and Rayner' who have been caught lying about their qualifications. Jonathan Reynolds MP (also Socialist) has always claimed to have been a Solicitor before becoming an MP; it seems he 'made a mistake'. It doesn't get any better, does it!

And finally, the whole world has been watching the Russia/Ukraine War talks unfold, and maybe I have the solution. Perhaps Putin could be persuaded to keep the areas of Ukraine that he has totally destroyed, and let Zelensky keep the parts that are still untouched and habitable; what's left of them. Sounds fair to me!

Tears of Blood (A Sunday Special)

It has to be said that all religions are based on spurious claims, speculation, and fraud. I think that everyone knows this, but some still enjoy the comfort of a mutual 'believers club'. Frankly, if a belief is based on a handful of 'invisibles', it's for a reason; and it usually means they don't exist.

From the Shroud of Turin, to apparitions at Lourdes, the fakery continues apace, and each bit of nonsense has its devotees.

One of the more recent 'miracles' has been The Madonna di Trevignano; a small statue of the virgin Mary, the owner of which claims to regularly cry tears of blood. Since 2016 the small figure has been placed in front of the much bigger statue (below) once a month, and devotees are invited to witness the 'miracle' (and presumably make donations).

Gisella Cardia who owns the statue has been accepting donations since she revealed the miraculous 'bleeding', and has been under investigation as a result. The Vatican has already declared it a fraud. The fragrant Ms Cardia had previously been found guilty of bank fraud. Naughty!

It was originally thought that the blood was Pig's blood, but recent DNA investigations have revealed that it was, in fact, Gisella's own. Visitors (donors) were invited to see the statue on the 3rd day of every month. Probably what she saw as her 'pay day'.

Local police who went to arrest her have now revealed that Ms Cardia has miraculously disappeared. I wonder why?