From Planet Skaro Via Your Toy Shop

How cool is this, as mentioned in today's Daily Mail newspaper? It's battery powered dontchaknow.

A real chance to get in touch with your inner Davros* and take over the Universe. Oh to still be working in the toy industry LOL...





*Fictional creator of the DALEKS.

Pud

Today's kitchen attempt: Bread pudding.

Much like Bread and Butter pudding but with far less egg and milk. And oh yes, the bread is broken up into much smaller pieces.

Mmm. Want some?

7

Happy birthday son.

Speech Therapy

Have just got back from seeing The King's Speech. What a great film- so moving and funny all in one go, with strong performances from an excellent cast. I came away from the cinema saying I'd be quite happy to stay and watch it over again.

Visitor

Thought I would share these images of a visitor I had in the garden today. Isn't he or she lovely?

Nice to see you, Woody.

Lisp

He's now got both top front teeth missing. Poor kid and it's nearly his birthday too LOL.

Upload

For the interested few, I've just uploaded some new images of my ceramic work to Webshots. To whet your appetite, here's a sample:

FAB

You can tell it's the New Year: many of the TV shows I love have premièred the first episodes or two of their new seasons this past week to 10 days. Let me see: There's Hustle (series 7) on BBC 1 and NCIS (also on series 7) on Five, long running Scottish crime series Taggart returns over on ITV 1 starting a new run of six stories. And let's not forget the second series of Nurse Jackie appearing very soon on BBC 2.

However the new series I thought I'd never get to see (and the whole point of this TV-geek themed posting) is still just out of reach but perhaps a step closer to making it to our screens. Today's Daily Telegraph has carried the news that the master of "Supermarionation" himself, Gerry Anderson, has announced a new series of Thunderbirds is actively being planned. I grew up on the 32 episodes of puppet escapism and yes I do own them on DVD. But even 45 years after the last adventure was made*, there is still something special about the exploits of the Tracey brothers, Lady Penelope and all their fabulous crafts. 

All together now, "5, 4, 3, 2, 1. Thunderbirds are GO!"

Hero worship.












*The Jonathan Frakes directed big screen travesty doesn't count. Mr Anderson was not involved in any way with it's production and you can tell. It was rubbish.

Bread And Butter

What better way to ward off the post-Christmas, Winter blues than a home-made pudding? Well the proof as they say will be in the eating but in the mean time may I present my very own Bread and Butter Pudding with Orange Marmalade...

For those unfamiliar with this particular dessert let me explain. (This is my own variation of the recipe so I only have myself to blame) I used 5 slices of bread with the crusts removed which were buttered (and in this case also a generous serving of marmalade was applied). Each slice was divided into quarters and layered into the dish. To this I sprinkled around 70 grams of sultanas. Three large eggs were then combined with about half a litre of milk, two tablespoons of sugar and a healthy amount (about one teaspoon) of ground cinnamon. This was poured over the bread and allowed to stand for 30 minutes. A little bit more sugar was sprinkled over before finally it was baked in a pre-heated oven set to gas mark 4 (about 180C, 350F) for up to an hour, basically when the top appeared golden and crunchy.

Should serve four. We'll see. Anyone brave enough to pop round and sample?

And you never know, it might just take my mind off the rather large repair estimate for my car I've just been presented with LOL.


26 Dec Reading 4 - 1 Bristol City
28 Dec Hull 1 - 1 Reading
1 Jan Swansea 1 - 0 Reading
3 Jan Reading 2 - 1 Burnley

What The..?

The shops are selling chocolate Easter eggs already. Grr.

Too much chocolate can do this to you. Apparently.