Dundee Cake This delicious afternoon cake is best served
with a hunk of cheese and a hot cup of tea.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/dundee_cake_22157 A traditional Dundee cake comes from, no surprises,
Dundee in Scotland. The cake is
distinctive alongside other rich fruit cakes by circles of blanched almonds on
the surface of the cake. Dundee is also
the birthplace of British marmalade thanks to the Keiller family who are generally
credited with making the first commercially available, breakfast
preserve. As such, a pure and true Dundee cake will include the zest of
an orange thus linking it to the marmalade making in the town. This recipe includes a little of both and
so has quite a citrus tang to it. As
this is also a Scottish cake, traditionally, a malt whisky would be used to
flavor the cake. However, if whisky is
not your tipple, then feel free to use brandy or even sherry. Elaine
Lemm https://www.thespruce.com/traditional-scottish-dundee-cake-recipe-435067
Poppy Adams is a British television documentary
director/producer and novelist. Adams
attended the Dragon School in Oxford. Later she received a degree
in Natural Sciences from Durham University. Adams has made films for the BBC, Channel 4 and The Discovery Channel. Her first novel, The Behaviour of
Moths, was shortlisted for the Costa First Novel
Award in the 2008 Costa Book
Awards.
Uluru/Ayers
Rock,
giant monolith, one of the tors (isolated masses of
weathered rock) in southwestern Northern Territory, central Australia. It has long
been revered by a variety of Australian Aboriginal peoples of the region, who call it Uluru. The rock was sighted in 1872 by explorer
Ernest Giles and was first visited by a European the following year, when
surveyor William Gosse named it for Sir Henry Ayers, a former South Australian
premier. It is the world’s second
largest monolith, surpassed in size only by Mount Augustus (Burringurrah)
in Western Australia. Read more and see pictures at https://www.britannica.com/place/Uluru-Ayers-Rock
What exactly is a monolith? The word
monolith comes from the Greek word “monolithos”, derived from mono (“one” or
“single”) and lithos (“stone”). In the
context of this top 10 list it refers to a geological feature such as a
mountain, consisting of a single massive stone or rock. A problem with finding the largest monolith
is that the term “monolith” is somewhat ambiguous. Geologists therefore often prefer the terms
monadnock or inselberg (literally “island mountain”) to describe an isolated
hill or a lone mountain that rises above the surrounding area. Most monoliths in this top 10 are inselbergs,
although not every inselberg is a monolith.
For example, Mount Augustus in western Australia is often called a
monolith but it is actually a monocline, an exposed piece of rock belonging to a layer
beneath. In other words a monocline is
not a single piece of rock although the distinction isn’t always clear. Another problem is that many rocks and
mountains are called the largest monolith in the world but
these claims are rarely backed up by geological information and may be based
upon a single dimension such as height or circumference. Furthermore, height may be measured above sea
level or the surrounding ground. https://www.touropia.com/largest-monoliths-in-the-world/
Singapore’s black and white houses are colonial bungalows built between the late 19th
century up until the pre-war era of the 1930s.
They get their name from the dark timber beams and whitewashed walls
that were prevalent in their construction.
The black and white houses were originally built by British colonial
families. The design, sometimes referred
to as Tudorbethan Style, combines tropical and art deco elements with a
traditional Victorian style home.
Inspired by the Malay practice of building homes on stilts, the black
and white houses sit on elevated platforms--this was popular with British
expats who wanted to distance themselves from dangerous tropical insects and
also alleviated concerns about flooding during the rainy season. Other elements that are characteristic of the
black and white houses are large verandas and overhanging roofs. The houses were designed with high ceilings,
shutter-style windows and open-concept layouts in order to amplify any breeze
that passed through the house. Prianka Ghosh See pictures at https://theculturetrip.com/asia/singapore/articles/a-brief-history-of-singapores-black-and-white-houses/ See also https://untouristsingapore.wordpress.com/2014/06/03/singapores-black-and-white-houses-colonial-splendour-with-a-dash-of-history/
and https://thehoneycombers.com/singapore/black-and-white-houses-in-singapore/
November 29, 2018 Outdoor
brand Patagonia has announced that it will donate $10 million to help combat climate
change. The number wasn't plucked
out of thin air--it's how much Patagonia saved in 2017 after Donald Trump cut
how much tax US corporations have to pay from 35% to 21%. "Taxes protect the most vulnerable in
our society, our public lands and other life-giving resources," said Patagonia's CEO Rose Marcario. Donald Trump's December 2017 tax cuts meant
huge savings for some of the biggest businesses in the world. The highest-earning individuals in the US
also got a tax cut from 39.6% to 37%. The
US economy grew at its quickest pace in nearly four years following the tax
cuts. https://www.bbc.com/news/newsbeat-46386147
The earliest citation for “shambolic” in the Oxford English Dictionary is
from the June 18, 1970, issue of the Times of London: “His office in Printing House Square is so
impeccably tidy that it is … a standing reproach to the standard image of
shambolic newspaper offices.” Oxford describes
“shambolic” as colloquial, and defines it as “chaotic, disorderly,
undisciplined.” It suggests that the
word may have been influenced by the adjective “symbolic.” The word “shambolic” is derived from the noun
“shambles,” which showed up in Old English in the 800s as a singular word
for a footstool and later a table for selling goods. By the early 1300s, according to OED citations,
the noun “shamble” (schamil in Middle English) referred to “a table
or stall for the sale of meat.” In the
1400s, English speakers began using the word in the plural for a butcher shop
or a meat market. And in the 1500s, the
plural was used for a slaughterhouse. By
the late 1500s, Oxford says, the word “shambles” came to mean
“a place of carnage or wholesale slaughter; a scene of blood.” In the early 20th century, according to
the OED, the word “shambles” took on its modern sense of “a scene
of disorder or devastation; a ruin; a mess.”
https://www.grammarphobia.com/blog/2013/12/shambolic.html
A peck is a measurement of dry volume, equal to 1/4 of
a bushel and 16 pints. Two pecks make a kenning, and 4 pecks make a
bushel. A peck is a unit used in the
U.S. customary and imperial systems of measurement. The word "peck" is of unknown
origin, dating back to the late 13th century. Historically, this unit was used chiefly as a
measure of oats for horses. Although not
commonly used today, the unit is still used to measure produce. The peck is also the standard unit of weight
for rocks and minerals. https://www.quora.com/How-many-pecks-in-a-quart
In Scotland, the peck was used as a dry measure until the introduction
of imperial units as a result of the Weights and
Measures Act of 1824. The peck was equal to about 9 litres (1.98 Imp gal) (in the case of certain crops, such as
wheat, peas, beans and meal) and about 13 litres (2.86 Imp gal) (in the case of
barley, oats and malt). A firlot was equal to 4 pecks. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peck
"A Bushel and a Peck" is a popular song written by Frank Loesser and published in 1950. The song was
introduced in the Broadway musical Guys and Dolls, which opened at
the 46th Street Theater on November 24, 1950. It was performed on stage by Vivian Blaine, who later reprised her role as Miss Adelaide in the 1955 film
version of the play. "A Bushel and a Peck," however, was
not included in the film, and instead replaced by a new song, titled "Pet
Me, Poppa." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Bushel_and_a_Peck
http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com November 30, 2018 Issue 1995
334th day of the year
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