Caribbean Mutton Curry - one that isn't as hot as hell!

I have a chum, Michael, who runs a Caribbean-theme food stall at our local hawker market.

He makes an awesome goat curry! but - it's way, way, and I mean WAY, too chilli-hot for my husband and so our son can't eat it either. which is a shame :-(

When I talked to him about it he said that's just the way it is - his mum made it that way and you can't mess with it.

I love that his Jamaican-born mum taught him how to cook :-D especially because I get to eat goat (sometimes mutton, which is easier to find) anytime I like and it tastes just how I remember from the days I lived in SE25.

anyway, I decided to give it a go - a Jamaican curry that wasn't too hot so that the hubz could eat it.

ingredients:
500g mutton, bone-in, cut into cubes by a friendly wet-market butcher. I couldn't find goat meat on the day so went for sheep
vegetable oil - I don't cook with olive oil, I use that for dressings. I read somewhere that olive oil breaks down during the cooking process - if anyone knows more about this, please let me know!
1 onion, chopped
2 medium potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks
1 tsp minced garlic
1 tsp minced ginger (yes, I use the stuff that comes in jars! fresh garlic and ginger don't keep well here but fresh would be better if you live in a different climate)
couple of sprigs of thyme - it's in plastic in the picture because I took it from the freezer and I certainly didn't use all of it, just a couple of sprigs.
3 tsp curry powder
chilli pepper, chopped (diced into large pieces)
1 tin (400g) chopped tomatoes
200ml carton coconut cream
1 tsp allspice
salt and pepper

1. I heated a tablespoon, or so, of oil and added the curry powder and allspice to it and browned the meat. took about 10 minutes - I don't know why but cooking timings here are longer than in the UK. so, it would probably only have taken 5 mins.
2. remove the meat and place into a bowl. add the onions to the pan and cook for 5 or so minutes - until translucent but not browned.
3. add the chopped pepper to the pot. sprinkle on some salt and add the ginger and garlic. saute for a couple of minutes.
4. add the meat, and any juices, back into the pot. mix and add the the coconut cream, tomatoes and a couple of tablespoons of water. Add the thyme. bring to a simmer and then lower the heat and cook for around, at least, 2 hours..
5. When the meat is tender, add the potatoes and continue to cook for about 30 mins - until the potatoes are tender but not turned to mush!
6. I served it with rice and beans.

Couple of notes:
I didn't use a hot chilli, such as a habanero, but one of those large chilli peppers that aren't hot - I don't know the name for them so someone smarter than me may be able to help. They're probably not even a chilli, but some sort of capsicum.
It took a lot longer than 2 hours to cook the meat. After 3 hours of cooking, and adding more water so that it didn't dry out, I took it off the heat and put it in a bowl and put it in the 'fridge overnight. I continued cooking it and added the potatoes for around another hour! plus more water.
Taste it! often. I added more salt and pepper as the water had diluted the taste of the sauce.
I never added more chilli powder though, but you make it as hot as you want
That "trick" Mike told me about - adding 1 tsp allspice to 3 tsp of regular curry powder to make a Jamaican curry powder is brilliant. thanks, again, to Mike's mum!
It made enough for 3 portions for us and the hubz had seconds, which is always a good sign :-D

Fashion Revolution Week - 24th April 2017

Almost passed me by as well,

For those who don't know, it starts on the anniversary of the, awful, catastrophe of the collapse of the Rana Plaza in 2013. 1138 people were killed and injured.

http://fashionrevolution.org/ was launched and its ethos is to promote ethical fashion, without blame.

I became interested in this when a friend asked her facebook friends if any of them would join her in a year of not buying any new clothes. a whole year! I thought "yeah, I could do that!" and so a little group formed and we swap tales of not shopping. It's a great group that is about support and ideas and, definitely, not about blame.

I've never been a fan of clothes shopping and find the whole thing a chore - I buy clothes when I have to and always have to compromise. Its going to be too long or fit badly so I used to shop with the thoughts of "can I take it up?" or in? it's why I started sewing. BUT - a lot of people are buying clothes as an emotional outlet and I never knew that.

It was recommended to the group to watch the documentary "The True Cost", not a particularly 'easy watch' and I came out at the end wondering what kind of person wouldn't pay an extra 20p on the cost of a t-shirt if it meant the maker got a fair wage! https://truecostmovie.com/

I didn't see any publicity of it being Fashion Revolution Week, and no mention on any radio broadcast that I listen to - did I miss any?

I found out about it through that facebook group and, have since, read a bunch of blog posts and on-line articles. I liked this one: The Good Outfit Challenge

She was honest, although anyone that buys clothes and then writes about it for a living seems, at first glance at least, part of the problem and not the solution! There are a lot of posts 'out there...' where the writer seems to be halfheartedly interested in ethical fashion - "ooh, it's a hot topic at the moment, so I must write about it. hhhm, how to sound as if I do care???"

Then, there is this one of the Huff Post: Can a fast fashion detox change our shopping habits? but, the writer works for a clothing exchange so I already know how the article concludes before I even read it - I don't mind that, I didn't go to read it because i'd run out of Miss Marple's but the writer has a vested interest, albeit for good reasons.

I was interested in the Fashion Transparency Index: why-transparency-matters and i'm now interested in the work the organisation is doing so will follow them.

I'm going to pick-up "are leather trousers ethical" point that I made in a post in December last year - so, I was interested in ethical clothing before that FB group and I didn't realise it.

There is The Good Trade : http://www.thegoodtrade.com/fashion/ but how much is paid advertising compared to actual caring?

but, I found this, too: Katherine Hamnet - 25 years in ethical fashion

and I had forgotten her designer stuff back in the 80s! remember those WHAM! t-shirts??? she's still going strong with the ethical clothing and I wonder how many other designers are genuinely committed to the ethical fashion.

Let me know if you find any other good/useful links

In other news, I made a noodle-joy bowl for lunch:

Leftover Plums into plum-jammy-cake

So, having taken inspiration from Jack Monroe and her A to Z of leftovers blog posting (link in case you need it: https://cookingonabootstrap.com/2016/02/08/dont-throw-that-away-an-a-z-of-leftovers-tired-veg-etc-and-what-to-do-with-them/), I had half a dozen plums left over and, after a plum a day in his lunch box, my son was fed-up with them.

I made a cake! 'cos we all love cake :-)

I even made a note of the ingredients - see, i'm getting better at this lark

150g butter
150g caster sugar
drop vanilla essence
3 medium eggs
250g plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
4 tbsp milk
plums

for icing:
icing sugar, 100g desicated cocnut and pink food colouring

1. I melted the butter in the microwave and sliced the plums
2. added the flour, sugar into a bowl ; stir-in the melted butter, eggs, milk, baking powder & vanilla and mixed to make a cake batter
3. spread 1/2 into a cake pan - I used my loaf pan
4. scatter over the sliced plums and topped with the remaining cake batter

I baked in the oven, at 180 deg C for around 30 minutes - my oven, here in Singapore, is not known for being reliable so I checked it after 20 minutes, inserted a tooth pick and it didn't come out clean so I left it for another 10 minutes and checked it again.

After it had cooled, I made some icing with a drop or so of pink food colouring, poured it over the cake and sprinkled on the coconut. The plums went all jammy:

and my son had it with cream   😃

because this is Singapore, you can get anything, pretty much, even if you have to travel to get it. So, I'm lucky to have a local supermarket that sells Waitrose products so am able to get natural food colouring and vanilla essence - most products sold here are full of preservatives and bad stuff! 

Singapore hasn't fully embraced the whole organic, natural ingredients idea in their food 

using up some leftovers - thank you Jack! (and others)

I've been trying to reduce the throw-aways from the 'fridge and turned to good 'ol internet for inspiration

OK, so, there isn't a definitive resource for "recipes for all your left overs" but I guess there will be one day

I wanted to use up some raw chicken, half a tin of pizza sauce, half a pot of sour cream, a large carrot and an orange...

I found this recipe: http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2014/11/mashed-potato-casserole-crispy-baked-potato-topping.html

but as it serves 10 to 15 people(!) I had to reduce the ingredients by a large amount. It's handy, though, because I also had some sad looking spring onions lurking in the 'fridge.

I adjusted the recipe by using 3 potatoes:

I didn't weigh the rest of the ingredients, just used a small bunch of spring onions and a couple of slices of bacon and used-up a small lump of cheese.
Oh, and panko breadcrumbs - this is where Jack Malone comes into this - I didn't go and buy a bag of breadcrumbs. This is on Jack's blog:https://cookingonabootstrap.com/2016/02/08/dont-throw-that-away-an-a-z-of-leftovers-tired-veg-etc-and-what-to-do-with-them/
OK, so looking back through the A to Z I can't find the bit where Jack says to not throw away the discarded toasted bread crusts your child refuses to eat but to put them in a bag and keep them in the freezer and then blitz into breadcrumbs. I did that. It's fine

I made a "pizza chicken" using this as inspiration : https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/1267633/chicken-parmigiana
with as above, for the breadcrumbs and the left over pizza sauce instead of making it as described in the recipe link.

We got pudding too!:

I made some carrot and orange muffins, there are chocolate chips in them too because I had some in the cupboard.
Years ago (probably 20!) Tesco used to sell carrot and orange muffins and I loved them, then, one day, they stopped. So, I took a box of chocolate chip muffin mix and added a grated carrot and the grated rind of an orange and, yay! happy muffins. I used SR flour from the store cupboard for this batch, though, and not a box

happy cooking :-)

"those" leather trousers...

‘those’ trousers

20^th December 2016

In November Theresa May gave an “at home” interview to the Sunday Times¹. As it happens, I enjoyed reading it, but this isn’t about the interview, it’s about ‘those’ trousers.

I’m interested in why they caused so much reaction but also their heritage and, further, Mrs May’s choice to wear them – are PMs known for their clothing choices? Have we often scrutinised their choices?

The interview quotes “she loves the finer things in life, slipping into a khaki cashmere sweater, brown leather trousers and Burberry trainers for the more downtime part of our interview” 1. So, we’re told the trainers are Burberry but nothing about the sweater or trousers. According to a partner-article in The Sun², the sweater and trousers are both by designer Amanda Wakeley and the trousers, reputedly, cost £995.

So, we know the trousers are from Amanda Wakeley³, what about the cost? I found a pair for sale on the US site Lyst.com4 for $1233 US and, yep, that’s around £995. No idea about the sweater, though. The Sun posted an article that they were selling out on the Amanda Wakeley site² so someone can afford the price tag.

Why did a pair of trousers cause such reaction, though? Is it simply the cost of them? It would be a factor for her opposition – recently the PM has been saying the Conservative party wants to do more for those families that are “just about managing”. Such a family will not be purchasing £1000 pairs of trousers! Also, they’re leather and that is going to offend some faiths and those whose conscience prevents them from the wearing of clothing made from animal skin. I’m not going to go into the whole Nicky Morgan spat as I’m not interested in her handbag, regardless of its age or cost⁵. Boosh – you’ve upset a percentage of the population already and they haven’t even read a word of what you have to say. Public outrage at the use of animal fat in the recently released £5 was enough to get the Bank of England to look at changing their recipe, so public opinion can change the minds of the establishment⁶. I am interested in to know whether a pair of leather trousers is more ethical than a PVC pair so might look into that.

Not a wise choice, then, even if the interview is about you and being at home as opposed to your day job. Why, then, pick them? In several interviews (refer to see link 1 and also, going back to November 2014 when the, then RH Theresa May, was on Desert Island Discs⁷, she mentions that she has ‘a shop <she> always goes to’ where they know what she likes. Turns out, it’s an independent boutique in Henley-on-Thames⁸. If that is the case then it could explain why she has been seen in Wakeley on a fair few occasions.

Figure 1 - credit PA

Wakeley was historically known for dresses and smart suits worn by Princess Diana, i.e this bottle green 2-piece drape jacket with black velvet collar, and pencil skirt, worn by Diana in 1995. Wakeley has no formal training in tailoring or design and, yet, has a 25-year career in the industry. She is keen to emphasise that she always sewed – making extra money at her school (Cheltenham Ladies College) by making clothes for her fellow students3; I’m interested to know more about those clothes – what kind of clothing to students of an elitist boarding school want made for them? (they couldn’t have got their wealthy parents to buy clothes for them? Or, were the items a glimpse of the future Wakeley brand? Do any of them still exist?).

I’m also interested in how you rise in the fashion design industry, and stay there for 25 years, with no formal training but, again a question for a different day – is this Mrs Beckham’s inspiration?

Wakeley is a UK brand (is it? – the label received financial backing in 2012 from a, predominately, middle-eastern equity company named AGC Equity Partners, but is that unusual in this type of worldwide industry?) but, May could be seen as promoting a British designer.

Also, the brand is part of the establishment – as is Mrs May.

She has history of wearing the label, too – there was a blue and yellow coat she wore when she arrived at No.10. Wakeley, again. Although ‘borrowed’ but I couldn’t find from whom.

Figure 2 - credit PA

l Figure 3 - credit PA

PRIDE OF Britain Awards – again, in Wakeley.

Anyway, back to the trousers… Looking at an image for them, from the Wakeley website

Is that a thigh gap? Is that normal for designer trousers?

The Wakeley brand has moved into more leisure-wear since the cash injection in 2012, and in the media is lately written as ‘the Wakeley brand’ as opposed to Amanda Wakeley the designer – to me, this implies she is no longer the main designer. Perhaps you disagree. Could that have been a stipulation of the cash injection? To get actual designers to design the clothing? <- this is only a question from me, I don’t know the answer!

Choosing these trousers, and a complimentary sweater, would be a “one-stop shop” for a busy woman, who is part of the establishment, about to accept the top job in politics, who wants to be seen as promoting British design. OK, I get that point of the choice – well, the point of why she was steered toward it. That also makes me think the fact that they are leather, and any offence that may cause, would not have been one of the reasons for choice. Perhaps we’ll never seen them again.

She obviously likes clothes and has said so⁵ and throughout her political career her shoes have been, frequently, mentioned – mostly fabulous, in my opinion; except the leopard-print ones, all of them (she has at least 3 separate pairs of leopard-print shoes, that I can tell), just not my ‘thing’.

From a few internet searches I found David Cameron was having his suits made in Saville Row, at around £2000 a time – I don’t know how many, seemingly near identical, suits Mr Cameron has but is the cost so dissimilar to that of Mrs May’s outfits? Probably not – especially if she has borrowed items. I just don’t imagine a stylist trying to blag a suit on behalf of a male, UK, prime minister1 am I wrong – if you know otherwise, please get in touch as I’d love to know more.

So, it is thinly-veiled sexism aimed at May – we weren’t interested in the outfits worn by Cameron even though they cost around the same.

I found it difficult to find information on the clothes of previous Prime Ministers – there were a few snippets on Thatcher but, again, if anyone know where I can find out more please get in touch!

Links

1.       http://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/the-interview-theresa-may-hmpg0m2lg

2.       https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/2275758/theresa-may-reveals-her-soft-side-and-hubby-philips-great-eye-for-handbags-in-first-at-home-interview/

3.       https://www.amandawakeley.com/desert-leather-pant-khaki

4.       https://www.lyst.com/shop/amanda-wakeley-pants/

5.       http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-38287637

6.       http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/new-5-pound-note-animal-fat-fiver-bank-of-england-vegetarians-a7445221.html

7.       http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b04pr6rz

8.       http://www.telegraph.co.uk/women/politics/theresa-may-boutique/

9.       http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/you/article-3135851/Amanda-Wakeley-shares-highs-lows-25-years-business.html

http://www.popsugar.com/fashion/British-Prime-Minister-Theresa-May-Style-41965525#photo-41965525

So, the move to Singapore

Local, long-term ex-pats, say that October is a better time to move here as it gives you longer to adjust to the weather. Well, I guess we got lucky! We got to move at the end of October.

It's hot and so if this is winter then I'm starting to understand Singaporean's rolling their eye-balls at me saying 'I like the weather!' 

This is our 6th week. One thing I will say we did right is to not stay in a hotel for longer than is ABSOLUTELY necessary. That goes for serviced apartments as well. It sounds luxury, staying in a hotel, but when you have no work/school and you're in one room for weeks. It's tiring!

OK, some people are fortunate enough that their husband/wife/partner can get shipped out before-hand and find your family somewhere to live. We didn't have that and left together - in some ways, that is much more practical, as I don't have a job here and so could do the home-hunting stuff and the child care. We were fortunate to be put in contact with an agent who can be so much more helpful than just apartment viewings - they're local and work with the companies your other half is working for. Hugely helpful but be honest with them - if you can't live there, then say so. You need to be near a transport link - well, we do.

Myths about living in Singapore:

1. 'It only takes half an hour to get from one side of the island to the other'
is nonsense. Whilst Singapore is reckoned to be about the size of greater London and the MRT (the equivalent of the underground) is SO much better than the tube, it is nonsense to think you can get around that quickly.
2. 'it's a 15 min walk'
Yeah, but that will probably be in 30 degree heat, with the possibility of rain. Bizarrely, I now walk much more than I did in England. However, you need to factor in the heat.
3. 'It's cheap'
no it isn't - you need 3 months up-front for everything - rent, apartment utilities, 'TV/phone and school. groceries are comparable in cost.
If you get any belongings shipped then there is a) the fact it will take 8 weeks and b) you will (may?) have to pay the apartment block $1000 SG for use of the lift - check with your shipping company!
4. 'I'll get a car'
go you! - no new cars can be imported if they are more than 3 years old. Your import cost is 150% of the cost of the new car. The rush hour traffic is island wide, there are tolls and parking costs to factor in - no, I'll not bother working out the cost because we'll not be bothering with a car here
5. 'buy, buy. buy'
yeah, it's all about buying stuff

But...

The weather can be lovely - you can leave your apartment in shorts
It is a muli-cultural nation, which I'm enjoying because I've found England (UK) right-now so openly aggressive
We're actively learning languages - Singlish, Mandarin, Tamil and another dialect of Chinese and you don't get that in the UK
the food can be AMAZING - OK, it's no new news that I'm a foodie and a fan of Asian dishes and i'm trying to learn alot - only to be dashed by their overt use of boxed kits! :-(

But!

1. sort out your Singpass - even if you have a dependent pass. do it. could take you 2 hours.
Oh, before you do this, you need to register and get your EP (FIN) and you need it for all sorts of stuff - it's an identity card
2. as a dependent you need to produce your passport for most stuff and have the person you are dependent upon present to get some stuff done (yeah! new for me!)
3. you'll probably need a local bank account - could take you 2 hours once you turn-up at the bank. You need your passport, your EP and the person you are dependent on.
4. you'd think SG is a really advanced nation - WiFi/4G everywhere=yes but you still get asked for a cheque and no bank will now issue you with a bank account that has a cheque book. welcome to the world of the mysterious GIRO
5. Mold - clothes and food go moldy here much more quickly than in the UK. I'm making a whole new post about local food though! You'll need hanging silica gel sachets for your wardrobes and I've also put some of the 'block' moisture traps in wardrobes and other cupboards

less can be more

well, not mathematically, but...

This was our drawing pens box;

all the pens, pencils, crayons were in one ice cream tub. After the recent 'mark making to writing' session, I have now spilt them

(crayons are now in the box labelled crayons, by the way!)

so, we have 1 for pens and 1 for crayons and I made a 3rd for pencils. all the spares are out of the way.

The session was great (I've already bleated-on in a previous post) and it gave me lots of ideas. One thing the trainer said is "less is more", so 1 colour of each pen, that works!, in a pot, is more inviting to a child than the big mixed box - unsharpened pencils, pens that don't work and broken crayons do not encourage little hands.Oh, and 1 pair of (child's) scissors is all that is needed. I check the pots weekly and sharpen pencils and remove any broken pens or crayons - i've kept the broken crayons as I've seen a few posts on Pinterest about melting them into new ones.

The felt pens pot - I made it as a cutlery holder for a Dino Dig party we had last year. Took yonks to make! (made from a baked bean tin, covered with paper mache and then painted green)