The Good Stuff
All the little things
(funny, important, fascinating)
that people should tell you,
but don't
(funny, important, fascinating)
that people should tell you,
but don't
And great body too!It seems that the world of wine tasting is RIPE with innuendo (or is it just me?)
But there is one thing so commonly MISUNDERSTOOD that it has to be cleared up.. LEGS (as in, the transparent 'slick' left on the glass after you swirl it around) are NOT a sign of QUALITY! I have seen people drool over 'the legs' on a wine (usually men, it has to be said), but really all that this shows is the amount of ALCOHOL or SUGAR (or both) in the wine. Put simply, the thicker and more and more viscous the slick left behind, the higher the alcohol (or sugar) content.
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'Tis the Season to be 'jolly'...And for me, that most definitely involves a tipple (or two). After nearly 10 years of wine study and many exams, I feel it only fair to summarise what I've picked up into something more digestible! There is a whole WORLD of wine out there, and I remember well adopting that rather 'glazed over' look after 20 minutes of weighing up the 'deals' on offer in the wine aisle.. So, to save time, money, and bad choices, head to grapesmith.co.uk FOR QUAFFING FOR ENTERTAINING
FOR CHRISTMAS TURKEY
OTHER NEED-TO-KNOW TIPS
Why do we have Goose at Christmas..?It's almost like we're just meant to eat goose at Christmas.
Evolution has designed the bird so that it's tender and ready to eat at eight or nine months old, and since it hatches in spring, Christmas is the best time to 'gobble' it (forgive the pun..) The goose is a solar bird, and the tradition of eating it at this time of year is as old as the pagan sun festival onto which Christmas piggybacked when it reached the British Isles. When the harvest was done, geese would traditionally roam over the stubble-plains and fatten on fallen corn; windfall apples could be made into sauce, and sage dried from the summer was perfect for a stuffing. Once you start noticing, there are many lovely synchronicities between the passing of the seasons and the rumbling of stomachs... ...I don't know about you, but I find can no good words to describe this picture...
Fish farms are the factory farms we don't see, and are one of the fastest growing sectors of intensive animal rearing. Around 100 billion farmed fish are being produced each year. And don't be fooled into thinking we are 'protecting wild stocks' by these practices - far from it. It takes between 3-5 tonnes of small fish to produce 1 tonne of farmed fish. Not off-cuts either - most fishmeal is made from highly nutritious small fish that could be (and were being) eaten by people. These industries are a law unto themselves. Literally plundering the traditional food sources of countries all over the world to feed these grotesque methods of farming. And that's just the tip of the iceberg.. Remember having to do that when you were little..?Ever wondered why we don't have to do that anymore? Oh you know? Because it's HOMOGENISED .. But do you know what that means for YOU? Homogenised milk has basically had the fat particles blasted to a tenth of their original size, meaning they stay suspended in the milk, rather than rising to the top. It's a boon for supermarkets, because the milk has a longer shelf life, but those fat particles are now small enough to pass through our intestinal walls undigested, meaning they instead build up on arterial walls. TASTY! In fact, the whole chemical structure of the fat and protein in the milk is altered, meaning we are not getting the best of either, because our bodies essentially don't recognise the particles, and hence, don't assimilate and use them properly. DUCHY milk is the only non-homgensied milk I can find in a UK supermarket. So I'm glad there is a Waitrose near me! I consider the few pence extra a worthy health investment - wouldn't you..? That's the approximate number of products in a big-ass supermarket these days.
(Tesco Extra, I'm looking at you..) WHO NEEDS 30,000 products, for Christ's sake?! If we consider that around 75% of this figure are the 'food' items (used in the loosest sense) that makes for a hell of of lot of junk food. (Try naming 20,000+ actual foods without using a brand name..) Wouldn't we all be a little better off - in a financial, health, climate & energy sense - if we just got rid of this stuff..? The only thing that these products really 'feeding' is the wealth of massive corporations. It solves money hunger, not food hunger. Well yes - if it's wild. If it's FARMED then it's actually GREY and the nice healthy pink colour gets added, to make it still look appetising.. Still fancy Salmon for Supper? Shouldn't we be outraged that this is even allowed, let alone not advertised??
Just another example of how good food - and hence, good health, is jeopardised by making the food system a global enterprise, controlled by the hands of a few.. Ever wondered what is most worth the little paying extra for?
PAN UK's worst ten foods for Pesticide residues flour potatoes bread apples pears grapes strawberries green beans tomatoes cucumber When you consider the huge percentage of bread and potatoes in our national (and particularly, children's) diet, it's alarming to think of the potential cumulative effect of these residues.. MAKE YOUR DAILY BREAD ORGANIC, or if you can find the time, make your own with organic flour. Many other things on that list can be home grown. You can't afford to buy anything ORGANIC? We all make choices about what we can and can't afford 20 times a day. Think of it as an investment in your health. Skip one trip to Costa Coffee per week; that should easily cover the difference in price. There are a few reasons for this, but simply; If you WATER FROM THE BOTTOM, not the top, it'll last for months! Stand the pot in saucer and pour water into that when needed. Water on top every couple of weeks, to stop soil shrinking in from the edges of the pot, but otherwise, its BOTTOM ALL THE WAY! And if you're feeling bold... Pot the whole thing on into a pot one size up and it'll go on even longer! |
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January 2016
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