Wednesday, November 29, 2006
The Golden Spurtle
November 29th. 21.55
This is of course a food orientated blog, even though it may not seem like it at times. The other day, a girl in Brighton mentioned porridge and although I see porridge almost every day at work, it hadn't crossed my mind to eat any until that moment. I therefore bought some Scott's oats which still has the kilted shot putter on the box and for some reason it reminds me of ads from the fifties. Strangely it also has porage not porridge. This may be a very healthy food but I believe it is best eaten with golden syrup and cream, so it does not turn out to be an ideal food for the serious diet. I was surprised that Google threw up, if that's the right phrase, 3,010,000 results when I typed in Porridge.( in 0.13 secs.). You may not be aware that 'The Golden Spurtle' was awarded to the recent winner of the World Porridge Making Championships held in Invernessshire. A spurtle is usually a wooden instrument shaped like a thistle for stirring the oats while they are cooking without scratching the pan, so a golden spurtle would seem to be rather counter productive. Personally, I use a wooden spoon.
Google amazes me. Why do they mention how many hundredths of a second it takes to find its results? At random I typed in a few other things just to see how many results it came up with and how long it took. 'Unbelievable' produced about 25,ooo,ooo results in 0.19 secs. 'Ratcatchers' produced 18,900 results in0.2 secs.. 'Cornish pasties' 332,000 in 0.15 secs. 'Roofing materials'
1,940,ooo results in0.21 secs, though when I looked through them it got bored after about eight hundred and seventy and told me it had edited out entries which seemed repetitive but could produce them if I wanted! 'Spurtle' got 32,900 results!
I had actually also looked up 'chestnuts' and was alarmed to find an article on the threat to Britain's horse chetnut trees. The trees at Kew have been weakened by drought and attacked by the leaf miner moth and by bleeding canker whichspreads around the trunk or branches until the limbs fall off or the tree falls over. The trees where I live seem very healthy and produced a reasonable crop of conkers but I haven't checked the trunks. I think they are more at risk from the developers who want to cut them down. I must check that a preservation order is slapped on them though that won't protect them from the leaf miner moth. Until trees are cut down one doesn't realise what an important part they play in the appearance of this "green and pleasant land" so today I offer ten of my favourite native trees ( so the chestnut doesn't get included I'm afraid):-
91. Ash
92. Beech
93. Common Oak
94. Hawthorn
95. Hazel
96. Holly
97. Rowan
98. Scots Pine
99. Silver Birch
100. Yew
I did come across a method of cooking the best roast chestnuts through the Google results but it is seriously flawed because the chestnut is cut in half and then cooked under a grill with the cut surface facing down. Surely the roast chestnut should be whole and when adequately cooked will be easily removed from its wrapping? Furthermore, I haven't got a grill! Today's menu included ten roast chestnuts (cooked in the oven), a slab of Gruyere, half a cold chicken and two tomatoes. Weight loss-nil; weight gain - nil. An honourable draw I feel.
This is of course a food orientated blog, even though it may not seem like it at times. The other day, a girl in Brighton mentioned porridge and although I see porridge almost every day at work, it hadn't crossed my mind to eat any until that moment. I therefore bought some Scott's oats which still has the kilted shot putter on the box and for some reason it reminds me of ads from the fifties. Strangely it also has porage not porridge. This may be a very healthy food but I believe it is best eaten with golden syrup and cream, so it does not turn out to be an ideal food for the serious diet. I was surprised that Google threw up, if that's the right phrase, 3,010,000 results when I typed in Porridge.( in 0.13 secs.). You may not be aware that 'The Golden Spurtle' was awarded to the recent winner of the World Porridge Making Championships held in Invernessshire. A spurtle is usually a wooden instrument shaped like a thistle for stirring the oats while they are cooking without scratching the pan, so a golden spurtle would seem to be rather counter productive. Personally, I use a wooden spoon.
Google amazes me. Why do they mention how many hundredths of a second it takes to find its results? At random I typed in a few other things just to see how many results it came up with and how long it took. 'Unbelievable' produced about 25,ooo,ooo results in 0.19 secs. 'Ratcatchers' produced 18,900 results in0.2 secs.. 'Cornish pasties' 332,000 in 0.15 secs. 'Roofing materials'
1,940,ooo results in0.21 secs, though when I looked through them it got bored after about eight hundred and seventy and told me it had edited out entries which seemed repetitive but could produce them if I wanted! 'Spurtle' got 32,900 results!
I had actually also looked up 'chestnuts' and was alarmed to find an article on the threat to Britain's horse chetnut trees. The trees at Kew have been weakened by drought and attacked by the leaf miner moth and by bleeding canker whichspreads around the trunk or branches until the limbs fall off or the tree falls over. The trees where I live seem very healthy and produced a reasonable crop of conkers but I haven't checked the trunks. I think they are more at risk from the developers who want to cut them down. I must check that a preservation order is slapped on them though that won't protect them from the leaf miner moth. Until trees are cut down one doesn't realise what an important part they play in the appearance of this "green and pleasant land" so today I offer ten of my favourite native trees ( so the chestnut doesn't get included I'm afraid):-
91. Ash
92. Beech
93. Common Oak
94. Hawthorn
95. Hazel
96. Holly
97. Rowan
98. Scots Pine
99. Silver Birch
100. Yew
I did come across a method of cooking the best roast chestnuts through the Google results but it is seriously flawed because the chestnut is cut in half and then cooked under a grill with the cut surface facing down. Surely the roast chestnut should be whole and when adequately cooked will be easily removed from its wrapping? Furthermore, I haven't got a grill! Today's menu included ten roast chestnuts (cooked in the oven), a slab of Gruyere, half a cold chicken and two tomatoes. Weight loss-nil; weight gain - nil. An honourable draw I feel.
# posted by Bob @ 1:54 pm 
