The Sunday foodie Bit part 4

A Fishy on the Dishy (poor pun here)
A Mackerel is shown not a Herring, no red herrings
 intended

Started Sunday 6th February 2011  0953 GMT
Words 303

Bacon and Herring in Suffolk


Bacon and Herring were the two main protein sources  rural Suffolk used to rely on in it's daily diet.  The part of the world where I am from West Suffolk was the pig production and processing area (not quite so much as it used to be compared to even 15 years ago).  Lowestoft was one of the main East Coast centres of Herring  fishing.   A fish that provided the essential oils in the diet that now most people only experience in capsule form.

I have taken a picture of one of the plates of a non-matching set.  I bought these from the factory shop of the Jersey Pottery, they were delivered by their agents who turned out to be a major high street department store. Back then, eight or nine years ago, this was a major saving on the high street prices.  This was a spontaneous buy along with a set of soup/spaghetti bowls.  There were eight different designs showing various different types of popular seafood from around the shores of Jersey.  Herring sadly is not really commercially viable to fish as it was in the heyday of Lowestoft.  When my nephew came to Sunday Lunch he was just starting to read.  As the Roast beef was being put on his plate he noticed the picture and the script around the edge of the plate.  We then had an impromptu marine biology experience as all the plates had to then be read and commented upon.  My brother-in-law is an enthusiastic fisherman so suspect there were a few conversations going home in the car.  

In a previous blog   I detailed a Pork and Cabbage dish.  Later in the day or tomorrow a recipe for Herring and one for Mackerel will appear in the Blog for 2pointfiveageofman.net.

The Saturday Garden Shed

Started Saturday 5th February 2011  Started 0634 GMT
Words 409

Is it a shed?
This is obviously not a garden shed but an (
I'll let you think about this one.  The structure as it is not a dwelling was rambled past a few years ago.  This is the Moulton and Three churches walk (walk number 48).  The village of Moulton lies on what was the superhighway of it's day the packhorse track between Cambridge and Bury St.Edmunds and which ran south of Newmarket.  The next picture shows the packhorse bridge a triumph of medieval engineers and not a skate board ramp.  It certainly didn't wobble with the frequency of feet passing over it.

  So the shed,  this is Malt Kiln used to dry out the malt produced as the barley was malted.   This was an essential part of the local economy in the production of beer.  Beer was a relatively weak beast (< 2.5% abv) when used for everyday consumption  compared to today's brews.  The beer could also be guaranteed to be less likely to kill you than some of the drinking water of the day.

The presence of Malt kilns in the area were one of the reasons why the Abbey at Bury St Edmunds (once the resting place of England's original patron saint) was the premier medieval Abbey.  Prior to meeting at Runnymede to sign the Magna Carta, meetings were held at the Abbey.

Saturday's Gardening slot is going to be a little shorter than I intended on Monday (will have to upload missing posts over the weekend).   We have had Chinese  New  Year which is based on a Lunar Calendar (13 months).  This has been accompanied by some of the windiest weather around the world, not unrelated to the fact the moon is pretty near to the earth.

On the theme of calendars I have just received the growing year planner from the Growing Schools network.  a publication that may not be repeated as cuts bite so maybe a little fund raising for the appropriate charity that takes this in would be appropriate.

Today I have officially started trading in business.  This free blog will continue to be maintained each day.  More content will start to appear on the two blogs and sites where the information may be more economically expedient for me to place.

Tomorrow we will have a look at Roast Bacon and it's place in the Suffolk food economy.

The Friday Analysis

Started Friday 4th February 2011 0819 GMT

Wellbeing in February

Started 3rd February 2011 0651 GMT
Words
S.I.=

Wednesday and Career Change

Started Wednesday 2nd February 2011 0021 GMT
Words 311
S.I. = 62.2 %

The age of the part-time worker?

The part time worker accounted for nearly 97% of the employment opportunities taken up last year.  The time of the portfolio career is now, it is already happening without consciously or voluntarily being adopted (see previous blogs).

The worrying part of this is that the banking system has become so entrenched in offering mortgage products that rely on full-time employment (usually with both partners workers) over the now relatively short period of 25 years.  People are living longer and will have no legal compunction to retire at 65 very soon.  The state assistance, we had probably better get used to calling it that rather a pension, already does not appear to be given for post Baby Boomers (anybody born after 1962).  Even state sector (now public sector)  pensions are not as attractive a deal to compensate for the "vocational" nature of the job.

Insurance products such Mortgage Protection and Payment Protection Insurance taken out for a rainy day (or months) increasingly do not do what they claim to on the wrapper.  The future may not look so bright for many who are trapped in the house as an investment rather than a home scenario at present.  This dictates how flexible you can be in the choice of what you do to raise your happiness index to a 10.  Many people are doing this and have been doing this for sometime, I am realising that I have been speaking to them as they have been around me for a long time.

So 21st Century Working here I certainly come!  A good starting point for this is the Teleworking Association  (link to blog), a not for profit type organisation of which I became a Director at last weeks' AGM.  So if I do mention it you will know I am only promoting what I preach and practice myself.     

Web 2.0 for educators - Part 5

Started Tuesday 1st February 2011  Started 0636 GMT
Words 323
S.I. =  64.6%

Web 2.0 mirrors village life?


The Village preservation society featured in a previous blog. As I have been watching the news over the last two months parallels between village life and social networking activities.  The world has started to become a village again.

A very sweeping statement but I am of the opinion it has some anthropological basis.  A number of stories over the last few days have re-inforced the fact as people we have lived in village or small communities far longer than we have in cities.  We still have the same networking skills since they are I believe innate.

I read today about research reported in the Daily Telegraph that women of 40 or older using Facebook have more friends (up to 4 times more) than other users.  This seems to mirror the sort of informal networking groups traditionally associated with ladies that lunch or dare I say it the Women's Institute.  I  was constantly aware when I was growing up of my own mother's contacts with others and how well informed she could potentially be of what others (possibly even myself) had been up to.

The use of mobile phones and their replacement of the traditional role of  bike sheds for elicit knowledge (reported in Kindle edition of Telegraph but not website as far as I can find) by  Dr Emma Bond from University Campus Suffolk equally applies to all Web 2.0 technologies including Facebook.  Conversations I have had with friends whose children are wanting to use Facebook all centre around safety and knowing what their children are doing.  Most come to the conclusion that they also need to be a friend on the Facebook account of their child and able to see all posts.

More of  Web 2.0 and the impact of Cloud Computing for not only Educators but small business will appear on the two blogs included in the bar next to the title.

Monday Week 5

Started Monday 31st January 2011  1640 GMT