English as what she is spoke

From a recruiters ad for an FM service delivery person.

Whisky Cabal XV: Heavyweight challenge: Ginger Ninja v the Beast of Islay

The full cabal assembled, laid out our wares, sorted out glasses and commenced the fifteenth whisky event. Admittedly none of realised that, but y'know it explains the special, almost magical vibe. That or the booze.
Where possible I'm linking to the lovely people at Good Spirits Co in Glasgow. Go spend money with them. We don't even get kick backs to say this!

121.39 SMWS Easy-drinking dram

Nose: xmas cake, ginger, sherry
Palate: warm, ginger, xmas cake, sherry
Finish: ginger, medium

The return of a cabal favourite, great stuff - and don't bother checking with SMWS there's none left. It was such a win when we tried it the first time all of us bought a bottle, and only Dr Death had some left. We've always liked Arran whiskies, but the ginger in this one makes is quite special.

8.5-9 /10

Cu bocan (Sherry Cask finish) 46%
N: rubber, dark chocolate, 'sweaty crotch', 'choc salty calls' Jayne (firefly): 'smells like crotch'
P: chocolate, peat
F: zombie finish. there's nothing there and then it sneaks up

Quaffable session whisky (will go on the now mythical pub list).
7.5 (A) - 8/10 (rest of cabal).

Provenance - Bunnahabhain dist 2001 12yo 46% sherry butt
N: chocolate, sherry, xmas cake
P: musty, sherry, xmas cake
F: med-long, very smooth

We didn't think it was a very complex whisky, but, to quote Dr Death, it was 'imminently chuggable'. I'm going to presume that puts it on our pub list too.

7 (A) - 8 /10 (rest of cabal).

Glendronach 15yo 46% Revival
N: sherry, raisins, molasses, sultanas, treacle, sherry toffee xmas cake
P: sherry, watery, strong, chocolate, long (or hairy, my notes are illegible)
F: medium

Return of the 15yo - we've had it before, and goddamnit, we'll have it again. Very very quaffable. Sadly unlikely to be a pub whisky.

7 (B) - 8/10 (rest of cabal).

Kilchoman Cask Strength 59.2% 
N: bacon, crisps, frazzles, peat smoke, rubber.
P: wow, peat, sweet, peat, bacon crisps, peat.
F: lovely as fuck, peat, sweet, bats arse mental.

Fair to say we liked this. It's the first easily available cask strength from Kilchoman and it delivers everything the new spirit I had years ago promised. It is superb.
Further research with Neil over the weekend suggests it's the cask strength version of the Coull Point as we tried the two of them and they're very similar.
Note: do not add water, it kills it something chronic and brings out a strong nose of urine. The effect was summarised as 'a night in chesterfield'.

9 (rest of cabal) - 10 (B) /10

Ardbeg Uigeadail 54.2% 
N: peat, smoke, rubber, phenol, medicinal
P: salty, long, sweet
F: long

Very quaffable, this is the sherry finish (kinda) from Ardbeg and therefore doesn't have the usual nut sack ripping qualities of Ardbeg. nice stuff.
7 - 7.5 /10

Carn Mor 17yo 46% 469 bottles, Benrinnes dist 1996 bott 2014.
N: bourbon, sweet
P: bourbon, spicy, meh
F: short-med

Benrinnes is a pretty rare distillery to find a single cask whisky from, and I think this one suffered from being drunk after two Islay monsters. I think we should revisit it, as ratings were:
6 (rest of cabal) - 7 (G) /10

SMWS: 9.68 Plentiful fruit - super charged sweetness 22yo dist 29/08/1990 188 bottles, refill hogshead, ex-bourbon 53.8%
N: mango, fruity, orange, wood glue (PVA)
P: tropical paradise in my mouth, mango
F: long sweet fruity

At the time of writing there are 8 bottles left at SMWS, and as we say to all Glen Grant bottlings from SMWS, you need this.
9/10

No bottles killed, no permanent damage to participants, it's like we're managing this quite well :)

Slainte, B

Cooking with Bruce : Ginger Loaf

For the strange people out there, this one is gluten and dairy free. For the rest of us, it tastes great with cream and butter :)

Ingredients
250gm honey
50ml plain tasting oil
3 eggs
[small amount stout would work well here too]
300gm stem ginger (chopped)
3cm fresh ginger, grated
4t ground ginger
1t cinnamon
1 - 2 c gluten free flour
2t baking powder

1. Heat oven to 170C /gas 3, line loaf tin
2. Whisk eggs, honey, oil and stout (if using).
3. Stir in everything else, as different gluten free flours vary in binding ability, you'll need to judge the mixture until it's thick (mine was about 1 3/4c flour).
4. Bake for 60-70 mins.

Eat. 

Metal vids

A couple of dark metal vids that I'm liking right now.

The new Bloodbath album looks to be a winner, or rather the single is great:

And while spinning around the dark reaches of death metal, I came across the new Belphegor single 'Conjuring the Dead'. This should appeal to anyone who likes the last couple of Behemoth albums:

me x

Cooking with Bruce : Pecan Chocolate Mousse pie

Again, a fair gap between food blogs. But rest assured, I haven't starved. There is still significant (muscle) mass on the bones.

This blog gives an example of how the kitchen doesn't follow recipes - other than by utilising a few key ingredients. I had been told to make a gluten and dairy free dessert, and been sent a recipe for what was proudly (fuck knows why) called 'Gluten-free tofu peanut butter pie'.
Our kitchen doesn't respond well to being told to do anything, and I really don't like peanut butter, and putting tofu in a dessert seemed a really dumb idea. So things weren't off to a good start. I did like the concept of chocolate and maple syrup though. And so, plans were formed.

Here's what the incredibly sexy kitchen turned out:
Pecan Chocolate Mousse Pie
Base

1x pack gluten free digestives

3T cocoa powder

25gm pecans

115gm dark chocolate, melted

Combine first three in blender, mix in chocolate and pour into lined/greased cake tin. Place in fridge to chill and set.

Mousse

4 eggs separated

2t sugar

180gm dark chocolate, melted  [this gives 20gm for taste testing]

1t vanilla essence

2T maple syrup

1/4c chopped pecans  [in my case, beaten up with my fist in the plastic container]

Beat egg whites until stiff, add sugar and beat in.

Mix egg yolks and melted chocolate, add vanilla, maple syrup, and pecans. Fold in egg whites.

Pour into the base, and leave for a few hours to set.

For those of you interested in the original recipe, and no I can't remember where it came from, other than hell, it's included below (edited for brevity).

Love, B

<<<

Gluten-free tofu peanut butter pie

base

• 2 x 155g packets gluten-free, vegan ginger-nut biscuits or similar
• 6 tablespoons deodorised virgin coconut oil, melted
• 3 tablespoons cocoa powder
• 115g dark chocolate, melted
• 1/4 cup roasted, unsalted peanuts, roughly chopped

filling

• 450g silken tofu, drained and patted dry
• 2/3 cup natural smooth peanut butter
• pinch sea salt
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla essence
• 2 tablespoons maple syrup or runny honey (if not vegan)
• 145g dark chocolate, melted
• 1/4 cup roasted, unsalted peanuts, roughly chopped

Line the base of a 22cm (9-inch) cake tin with baking paper (parchment). 

Place the biscuits and cocoa into the bowl of a food processor. Pulse a few times before blending on high until finely ground. Add the melted coconut oil and blend until well incorporated. Press mixture into the lined cake tin, lining the base and coming up the sides by approximately 5 cm. Spread the melted chocolate over the base and spread a little up the sides too. Sprinkle with peanuts and set aside.

Place the tofu, peanut butter, a pinch of sea salt, vanilla essence and maple syrup into the food processor bowl (cleaned), blend on high until smooth, scrapping down the sides at least once to make sure it's all incorporated.  Add the melted chocolate and blend until evenly distributed. Pour mixture into the pie case, smoothing off the top as you go. Chill in the fridge for at least 3-4 hours, preferably overnight.

Little Black Higgs Boson

Todays blog includes literature, racism, and physics.

In 1899 Helen Bannerman published Little Black Sambo. A book I had read to me, as did the siblings. It's frequently banned as 'sambo' is classed a racial slur.
For those of you interested in the full version, with pictures, it's available on Project Gutenberg here. (that links to the HTML version, there's epub etc available as well).

It turns out she's also the grandmother (or rather, was) of Prof. Tom Kibble who discovered the Higgs boson.

Which is just the bestest random link.

B

The Premier League

Yes, let's take a moment to reflect on this. I'm posting on football. This has been prompted by the season kicking off yesterday, and my general disinterest, verging on hatred, of it.

I'm not against football, indeed I follow the Bundesliga and try to watch as much of the World Cup as I can. Facts which seem to surprise work colleagues who are well aware of my dedicated passion for rugby, any rugby, well ok, any rugby that's not the dire English game.
So why the dislike for the Premier League? I used to watch it religiously on Sunday lunchtime, so what's changed? I think it's all tied to the money and the stupidity of the performers.

Unlike most sports who are desperate to get punters through the gates to fund the team, the Premier League doesn't need punters. Their money is made through TV sponsorship and related merchandising sales. Sure having a strong fan base is probably good for image, but with the astronomical sums paid for TV rights, whatever gate takings make they are still effectively loose change. Therefore the clubs don't need to care, and so can charge whatever they want knowing their prodcut will sell - and if it doesn't, meh, who cares. Still got the monies coming in.

Therefore the clubs can afford to buy in the best talent (I'd prefer the word, twats, but eh), to ensure success. This is an approach that i think causes the biggest problems for the English game. There's no shared experience for the game as they spend all their time playing with bought in players. This differs from the German, Dutch, Belgian etc experience who play with national team members more often. A situation very similar to rugby (especially NZ) selection policies where foreign based players are ineligible for national selection. That creates more value for the product (All Blacks) and ensures a strong local game. But with the greater money on offer for English football, that becomes irrelevant. Yeah ok, chicken and egg, TV or bought in players, but the end result is the same. The most marketed football league in the world.

Then the players themselves. It seems to me that the Premier league suffers from celebrity-itis. A bunch of overpaid people who kick a small ball around, held up as the pinnacle of sporting achievement in a culture which apparently values that.
Sure rugby players are recognised, idolised even, but they've grown up in the communities (or at least the same country) and so have some level of shared value system - and currently are not paid the astronomical amounts that footballers are, so appear to be more grounded. That might also be a reflection of having the crap kicked out of you in rucks/scrums makes it very hard to maintain a lofty position...

It seems that paying your players that much, takes the power from the team/manager and down to the individual. Which maybe socialist (except with the amount they're paid), but doesn't make much business sense as the bargaining position is too skewed.

I can't see it happening but the following could help:

• reduce pay to players
• focus on club, not individual
• reduce numbers of foreign players - cap? 

All seems quite similar to how southern hemisphere rugby works, whereas the English game seems to follow the football, without the astronomical pay. Meaning the players dictate to the national organisation, which is not in the national teams best interest.

Which leads me back to the Bundesliga, the game play appears quicker, there's more focus on the football - less on appearance and dives - and although there are international stars there, they don't have the name recognition (or at least don't to me), as the premier league eejits.

And, apparently tickets are much cheaper.

But back to rugby for me.

News of note

Today's national news section had two rather excellent articles, which deserve a wider audience:

Man who pretended to be a ghost fined £35.
Who-ever wrote the headline was obviously enjoying themselves, but it was topped by the subheading  of the online article (which wasn't in the paper version):
Police spokesman says witnesses complained about Anthony Stallard 'throwing his arms in the air and saying woooooo'
More here.

Man critically ill after three bites from snake
Which, on the face of it, isn't comedy. Except when you consider the facts:

• the UK has one native venomous snake, the adder
• the last death was a 5yo in 1975, previous to that there had been 14 deaths in 100 years

The gentleman in question was bitten "...by an adder that he had picked up." (italics mine). The Darwin Awards wait with baited breath...

More here.

B

Cooking with Bruce : Fennel and Blue Cheese Souffle Tart

This is fantastic. And even better cold. Just make it. It also allowed me to deliver the line "look, the kitchen is not your place".

Ingredients
large head of fennel (or 2), chopped into sixths
olive oil
cup of milk
1T of butter
1T (heaped) of flour
3 eggs, separated
1/2c greek yoghurt
1t Dijon mustard
zest of lemon
40gm of grated parmesan
200gm (ish) of blue cheese (or even better, gorgonzola)
50gm toasted walnuts (ie cooked gently in butter/olive oil for 3-4mins) and broken up
Pastry (puff)

Method

• Preheat oven to 180C/Gas5
• Blanch fennel heads in boiling water for 2mins then roast in oven with olive oil, salt, pepper until browning and caramelising
• Melt butter in small pan, stir in flour until thick, add the milk slowly - stop when reasonably thick roux (was around 3/4c for me)
• Mix egg yolks, yoghurt, mustard, zest and add to roux with salt and pepper
• Grease tin, and cover with pastry, sprinkle parmesan over the base, chopped fennel, and walnuts
• Beat egg whites until stuff, and fold into roux. Spoon over the base. 
• Bake until 30min until set.

It's 27 years of Sin

My Record Collector calendar (which came free with the Jan edition before you accuse me of being old and stuck in the past etc. -I prefer to phrase it as hipster chic), reveals that today (4th July) in 1987 the Pet Shop Boys hit number 1 with "It's a Sin". Ok, so the 27th anniversary isn't really that significant, but y'know ...

It is one of my favourite tracks. Perfect. And definitely on the playlist should I ever die :) Which raised the valid question of which 12" version (thanks Neil), and so has prompted the following Collection of Sin. A far more fun version of the Axis of Evil.

There's an Ian Levine mix released on 12" single which I haven't been able to track down, or rather I cna't find it on YouTube - pretty sure it's sitting at home. And Neil, can't find any record of the Shep Pettibone mix...

The Official Video

The Disco Mix

The Phil Harding PWL Miami Mix

But like all great tracks, there are covers. And that's really the point of this post.

First up, GammaRay, a German power metal band who Neil (yes, he does appear to be featuring far too much in this post) thought I'd like. In a gorgonzola way. He's right. But while googling, I found out they did a cover of It's a Sin, and it's genius. Starts of pretty much like the original, just more guitar, and then dissolves into power metal. Brilliant.

What's that? Bit safe? Why yes, I'd have to agree with you. Don't worry, those wacky Italian black metal kiddiwinks, Graveworm, have a real treat for you:

Like those two, but need some middle ground? By god sonny jim, you're in luck - more Italian metal, this time from the delightfully named Lord Vampyr. Useful Wiki fact, Lord Vampyr graduated with a degree in Psychology. His band, and album, names are good enough I sense myself spinning some shortly (I've got some theatres des vampires somewhere, no, I don't know why either). 

That's the metal kids happy then, what about the emo's? Always remember, emo's have feelings too. Why just yesterday I was listening to MCR, and it never occurred to me that a MCR or GreenDay type band covering It's a Sin could be brilliant.

Thankfully the Finnish band The Jade, have a full video for you. All floppy hair, disaffected glances, peeling wallpaper, and black jackets with fabulously shiny buttons.

I did scan through the rest of the covers, and decided to not inflict anything that started with 'My interpretation...', although I will note that anyone who decides they have to describe themselves as a transgender musician, rather than a musician, probably isn't good enough to be called a musician. It's not like I describe myself as a cynical-fuck-blogger is it?

There are a worrying number of hard rock covers of It's a Sin. None add anything more than those above. And so, to end this momentous day with something more civilised, the LSO version.

Happy Sin Day !!!