On reflection

I'm sat here watching "Ade in Adland", and thinking back, some of these adverts we used to discuss and have a good laugh about, during form period.
He does point out that many women went out to work who would have normally stayed at home.  They were able to do this and still produce meals with the help of fridges, convenience food.
If you follow this blog you'll know I work at a school and one of the things that is now on the curriculum is being able to produce simple home cooking, as part of the government's push towards healthier eating. 
It is true some families do opt for "convenience foods and takeaways, sometimes for speed, and sometimes because the person in charge of putting a meal on the table knows no different.
I think it is probably time people took much more notice of what food they actually put into their bodies. 
I am willing to accept that making a meal from scratch takes more time to make, but you ensure that your meal is as healthy, or unhealthy as you want it.  And I know everyone is different, but testing out a new recipe and seeing it well received by my family is reward enough for me.
I hope it's this makes sense, my thoughts have just connected in a chain that although logical to me, might not be to the reader.  If it doesn't quite make sense to you, I'm sorry.

Early birthday pressie

Thanks to Samantha, John, Oliver, Edwin and Becki for taking me to Saffron tonight for a meal.
It was an early birthday pressie, and Samantha rang me on Wednesday asking me what I was doing Friday night....When I said nothing much she told me she'd booked a table at Saffron on Friday night, and she was treating me for my birthday!
***Happy Dance***
I really do like Indian food.  Saffron is a "BYOB" place, with a corkage charge.
We had a lovely evening, and I did wonder if Oliver would come as he is off to Italy next weekend.
***Smiley face*** Yes, he did, he has brought me a tiny owl ornament from his trip to Japan.
Right now I am full of delicious food, and happy

Is this advert being straight with us?

There is an advert on TV at the moment for a chain store called "The Range".
Fair enough I hear you say, but their tagline is, "if we don't sell it, you don't need it!"
I've looked on their website, and they sell a vast variety f goods.
Fine, I hear you all say....but! if they only stock things a person needs, why no food?
After all, food and drink are the premier needs of your average homosapiens.  So a company that advertises itself  with the tagline "if we don't sell it, you don't need it!", should cover all bases? Apparently not.
So I would like to ask "The Range", why don't you stock food, because everyone NEEDS it, yet you don't sell it, why?

Body spray?

When I was little I used to watch Mum and Dad putting the finishing touches before they went out. Make up, the bare minimum in Mum's case and just a splash of aftershave for Dad.
What I do remember is that they used "just a splash" as too much can be overwhelming.  Also, I was told if you are eating out you should keep perfume, (aftershave in the man's case,) to a bare minimum so as not to spoil the food.
Why am I musing about this?
Because it now seems to be the norm to douse yourself in it, or the body sprays.  I think some of the young people today use it in place of having a good wash.
I hate it when they do this at school, as it is very cloying and makes me have to use my inhaler.  The worst of it is when they blithely spray in the food room, disregarding the fact you shouldn't spray near foods and the fact both myself and the teacher have asthma.  (We have even dismissed certain cleaning products as they make us both cough and wheeze.)
Body spray, perfume and aftershave are meant to help attract the opposite sex, not repel.  And I am well aware that some people douse themselves in order to disguise the smell of cigarette smoke. I've got a better idea, don't smoke!
And the other point is, if you have a good quality aroma, you only need too use a little as it stays around for longer.  In fact I have a perfume that I can still smell the day after, and after I have washed.

Horsemeat contamination

So, over the past few weeks the general public have found out that there has been horsemeat in certain pre-prepared food products...i.e. convenience foods.
I can see why a single person would pick up a frozen lasanga for one, rather than make it for themselves....BUT, if they went to the trouble, in my case, pleasure, of making their own bolognese sauce.  They could then make it into lasanga for one meal, spaghetti bolognese for another, and maybe add some herbs and spies to make it into chilli for another meal, and cottage pie for a fourth meal.  That is four decent meals from 450g of minced beef, which has to be minced beef or the supplier gets into trouble for selling things under false pretences. 
Similarly, you can quickly and easily make your own burgers. OK they might not be as firm and compact as commercial ones, but just what do they put in them to achieve the firmness?
As I've said before..part of my job is in the food room room at a local high school, and the burgers...when the pupils make their own, do have bits break off them during cooking, but only disintegrate if they are continually flipped.
The question is....Do you want to know what exactly is in your food, or do you want to survive on "convenience foods"?
I know which I would rather do.

Baking

I am constantly amazed by the people who praise my baking, following their comment with the comment.  "I always make a mess of things when I try"
I just don't get this.  OK, I have been baking from a very early age, being fortunate enough to have a grandma who had been a confectioner as a profession, but I still don't understand why people say they can't bake. Cookery and baking are a type of science, and this is where I suspect the people making the comment they do, go wrong.
After all if you were trying to make soap in a laboratory, and was given a list of supplies, and they had specific amounts...you wouldn't change them.  Believe me, having made soap at school in Chemistry there are reasons why you wouldn't mess around with the quantities.
So why when people are baking do they think the amount/quantities don't matter.  Baking is a chemical process.  The mixing of ingredients is essential to ensure the reaction works properly.
As regular readers will know, I work in a school, and am food technician.  I am constantly amazed that the pupils think that steam coming off the food, or from the oven is wrong, even ones who are good at science.  Perhaps they might understand better if they had the chemical reaction written out for them. Although I suspect it would look far too complicated. I don't think eggs have a simple chemical formula.
I know, I'll ask one of the Chemistry teachers. I bet it's something they have never been asked.

Really?

I was very surprised to read this article.
Apparently "cash strapped Bits" can't afford to eat healthily.
I'm sorry, but it should say lazy Brits can't afford to eat healthily. During my adult life there have been several times when cash has been tight, but I have always been able to put a decent meal on the table.
I will hazard a guess that it a question of priorities.
When I was young, my parents weren't flush, but they got by. Mum and Dad's first priority was that we ate well.  This was put before other luxuries.  There was always enough food, even if we didn't have the latest trend in clothes, or any other consumer "must haves", that are only "must haves" due to advertising bombardment for the particular product.
I am so glad my parents had this outlook on life, as it rubbed off on me.
At one time whilst I was married my husband was made redundant, and it was a good three months before we were in a position where we absolutely had to go shopping for store cupboard staples, thanks to a chest freezer and a garage where we stocked sacks of veg, and fruit.  We also grew veg in our garden, and soft fruits.
All the meals I made were from basic ingredients, the only tinned products I regularly used were tinned tomatoes, and my children did like the occasional meal of baked beans.
It is a myth that baking meals from scratch is expensive.  Granted setting up a store cupboard takes time and doesn't happen over night, but I suspect the people who opt for ready meals are lazy, or were not brought up with the same basic principles I was.
In answer to your question, did I take cookery as an exam subject, the answer is no. Taking food/cookery as an exam is a whole different blog post.
The government have scrapped their "license to cook scheme" which is a great pity.  Our food teacher still follows the rough guidelines, but then again, she was on the right track before it was introduced. Again, another topic for another post.

Changing governments = changing policies

I am not going to cover the normal gripes most people have about "changing policies", however, I sometimes wonder about the thinking behind the decisions.
Back in 2008 the government started to roll out a new initiative in secondary education. The initiative was called "License to cook", and the idea behind it was that from ages 11-14 pupils would learn a variety of skills used in cooking, and make good consumable foods using these skills. I went with our food teacher to a meeting about this. And since then we have been using the recipes in the school I work in. The recipe cover basic "pizza toasts" and smoothies, up to making curries and pizzas. In other words, the full range of cooking is covered. These lessons have been very popular with the children, meaning that they are making foods they know and love for themselves.
Sounds great doesn't it, and this September the initiative was to become compulsory for all 11-14 year olds. The upshot being, no child would leave school unable to make their own meals. There were to be nationally recognised certificates at the end of each year, so that children who didn't wish to take food education any further would still have a sound basic education and certificates to prove it.
You probably think there is nothing wrong with that idea at all, and especially at a time when less and less people seem to be capable of cooking a meal for themselves, preferring to buy ready meals or takeaways. I agree, it WAS a great idea..........
SO......
That will be why the current government have decided to shut down the website, and no longer make the teaching of certain food skills in schools compulsory. At the school I work at, this isn't a problem, but in areas where the initiative never even started, those children are missing out, especially if they don't have an inspirational food teacher, like the one I am technician for.

The government have possibly contributed to health problems in the future by scrapping this scheme.
There is no active link, to the recipes etc any more. Oliver took a copy of the disc I had been given, with him to university, and managed to self-cater for himself throughout his Masters, and when he was at the school I work at he cooked four times, in two years, making very unappetising dishes (It was a different teacher then)

New baby

My neighbour has had her baby. It's her second and she's been lucky in having a girl this time. I know she wanted a girl. So now I have to sew buttons on one of the baby jackets I have been making. Also another colleague has had her baby, another girl, and another neighbour has had a baby girl, too. Later on I'll post on my craft blog Fidgetty Fingers with a picture
There is a picture of the baby hats I have been making. As Edwin is having a "get together" tonight I may get around to posting a picture later on today, because at 18, I think they don't really need me around so much....perhaps just to produce a bit of something to eat around 10pm.