h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I'm sure ormskirk it's self has a MacD
lancashire near the sea

have you considered moving to Civilisation?

And with Indian food you very much do *not* just throw everything in. You wait until the mustard seeds pop and *then* throw everything in. Ah...if only you could taste my dhal. Then youd understand.

Ormskirk *does* have a branch of Satterthwaites.

http://www.satterth.co.uk/

And access to the finest black puddings.

its a quaint little village civilisation is a little too uncivilised for me

last time I cooked mustard seeds they exploded rather violently I expect they were too hot

You can also get mustard oil, which is a staple of Indian cooking.

Now. Remember back in the (?) 70s there was a scandal with contaminated olive oil that killed people in Spain? Well there was a similar issue with Indian mustard oil. The Spanish problem was sorted out and we can now eat Spanish olive oil. Indian mustard oil is still banned from import *for the purposes of consumption*.

This is why all the mustard oil in Asian shops is labelled ~For External Use Only~...even though it comes in massive gallon drums.

IIRC they mixed diesel oil or jetplane fuel (chemically ~the same) into it. Not nice.

My niece is 13, at a State school in Scotland and I LOVE her Home Ec lessons (she is not so keen!). We were chatting on Facebook tonight and she was disgusted that she was boiling up pig's trotters and marinating bits of pork. Tomorrow they will be making hot water pastry and what sounds like hand raising a pork pie (it's taken me 20 years and I still can't hand raise a pie crust - I'm OK doing it round a jam jar!).

They do a regional topic every week and she has made Indian chicken salad (murgh chaat), Thai curry, borscht, goulash, oven baked burgers & chips - there is an emphasis on healthy eating obviously, but taking into account 'proper recipes' and traditional methods of cooking. Her school has a huge brick pizza/bread oven which they use as a tandoor too, and they have had trips to the local ethnic supermarket to pick spices and learn about grinding your own seeds etc. Looking back, I would have loved those lessons, though like her I probably would have cringed at pigs trotters at 13.

At school, we started making chocolate crispies and graduated with a fry up and a quiche!

I went to a single sex school (boys) and our only teaching was

Boil Kettle

Open Pot

Pour over noodles

i went to school in scotland and we never boiled pigs trotters...
I'd love to have a go though

thats terriable airscotia pot noodles?! boys are obviously expected to get married as soon as they leave school so they won't starve

Well pot noodles was more than I was ever taught at school. And yet I can cook. Go figure.

Anthea, when in Germany try to find a restaurant that offers traditional dishes and order Eisbein.
It´s about the same and, with sauerkraut and mashed potatoes, wreaks havoc on the waistline - but worth it, promise.

also never tried sauerkraut...
boy I'm sheltered....

Good thing, sauerkraut. The peasants who ate it got through the winter in good health - the lords who didn´t got scurvy.

I don't think I'm at risk of scurvy,
it's one of those things I've assumed I would like if i tried it but haven't had much chance to

Well, you´re British, so you know better. It was the chief in Nelson´s Marine Hospital who found that the sailors disease is just a lack of vitamin C. That´s why you are called limeys=limejuicers. Sailors from other countries laughed, but without teeth.

In one of Patrick OBriens Aubrey/Maturin seafaring books, theyre stranded on a remote island north of the Antarctic. They find that Nantucket whalers have called in previously to plant cabbages to pickle for their return journey. Although if theyd listened to the Inuit theyd know that whale blubber is high in vitamin C).

Sauerkraut is dirt cheap even in British supermarkets. Do try it.

See also Kimchi.

Are the books worth reading? I have just about everything by Cornwell because he does research before he starts writing - but I´m running out of books to buy.

Oh, the books are astounding. Dont take my word - pedros a massive fan too.

I bought all mine from charity shops. Because theyre so addictive, if I came across one I wouldnt let myself buy it if it was more than two ahead of where Id already got to.

Charity shops - none such beasts here. But on ama*** one penny +p&p per seconhand book? Thanks for the tip, mates, I´ll buy.
- that means I have to find space for more bookshelves. No good deed remains unpunished.

Ive started taking a approach and recycle books back into the charidee shops. Hakuna Matata and all that. But I guess that wont work either.

(and yet peculiarly my shelves remain obscured by avalanches).