KitKat Chunky peanut butter

Recently got my mitts on one of these finally. Verdict = get them if/while you can.
Just like a regular KitKat chunky, but with peanut butter in it. Bit salty though.

Who thought tinned potatoes were a good idea?

I've been wondering this for a while now. Possibly the least successful canned food out there, don't taste all that particularly great.... especially if you followed the instructions on the tin that say to empty the contents (potatoes & water) into a saucepan and heat up. If you use this method, I've found they end up tasting so bad, they bring back Vietnam-style flashbacks of childhood, of grandparents trying to wipe your face with a dishcloth that's well on its way to becoming minging, and in need of throwing out soon.

Far better to fill a saucepan with freshwater from the kitchen tap, and heat until it starts bubbling away... Then put the potatoes in there to heat up, having drained off the water in the can down the kitchen sink.

Even then, they're only really any good if you stick them in a stew / casserole, and bury them in loads of beef gravy. Or with a salad, and bury them in a load of Heinz Salad Cream, or Mayo.

They're no good at all for mashed potato.

I suppose the one redeeming feature is it saves having to wash & peel them.

Whitby's Piers are a bit more saved than they were

Work is still underway to replace the knackered footbridge over to the Pier Extension on Whitby's West Pier, with access closed off since about 11th June and work expected to be completed around 20th July 2012. Here's some pics I caught earlier in the week of the work in progress:

These images are also available to view @ the Save Whitby Piers Facebook Group.

 I've also knocked together an unofficial Whitby Piers websites @ http://www.whitbypiers.org.uk/ to better co-ordinate the Facebook campaign, a petition to save the Piers & some guides to the Piers I wrote for my Whitby Website.

Class 55 "Deltic" action this week

Ever since I was little (c. 1982 - 1985, I reckon), I've had a pretty major thing for the BR Class 55 "Deltic" locomotives, especially when visiting the nearby North Yorkshire Moors Railway at Grosmont (streetview), and they had 55009 / D9009 "Alycidon" there.

Back in 2002, a pair of them were back at the NYMR for the summer..... at exactly the same time I'd been sent there to do work experience. I even had a chance to look around inside them (on the one day I'd forgotten to bring my sodding camera with me!).

This week it seems at least one of them is back at the NYMR, having seen 55022 "Royal Scots Grey" on Monday running passenger trips to Whitby and back. I've heard it going past on the days since, too.... here's the video footage I captured..........

New version of BritishAngling.co.uk available soon

It's nearly ready to go, a new updated version of my BritishAngling.co.uk Fishing Directory & Blog.

There's more than one way to improve a railway system.....

Regardless of whether or not you agree with High Speed 2*, there are other things that need doing to improve the state of the UK's Railway system, and over on the Transport section of the ConservativeChitChat Messageboard I've been putting down some ideas I've had brewing for a few years, tagged with "Real Rail Improvements" in the topic title. A handful are new, some others I've previously submitted via the Conservative's Transport in the North commission they ran before the 2010 General Election.... and there may be more to come if / when I get round to it. Included so far:

• Re-open the Picton to Battersby Railway Line
• Re-open a line from Northallerton to Ripon, Wetherby & Tadcaster
• Bring the Esk Valley Line back to double track at Whitby, Ruswarp, Sleights & Grosmont
• Lincoln Rail Bypass
• Create a "Pickering South" Railway station to re-connect the town to York & Scarborough by Rail.

* I'm sort of in favour of HS2, but would prefer another proposal I've seen for an ULTRASPEED MagLev train.

Originally posted HERE.

Another Conservative MP enters my bad books

The latest addition is Justine Greening, having today been reported in the Telegraph & Daily Mail to be in support of increasing tax on Petrol & Diesel at a time the bloody things (remember, fuel gets taxed twice - fuel duty + V.A.T) need cutting to encourage growth & stop ripping off tax payers by charging more in tax on petrol & diesel than the actual fuel costs. The members of the public commenting below the 2 articles don't sound too chuffed with her either. So much for the potential she showed looking into the Car Insurance rip-off not so long ago.

 The previous MP to get into my bad books being Claire Perry - the one completely oblivious to products such as Net Nanny, Cyber Patrol, the filtering built into ZoneAlarm Internet Security Suite & similar products, and even Internet Browsers such as Internet Exploder & Mozilla Firefox. It's now even built into the Windows7 Operating System, for christ's sake. The one who wants ISPs to introduce porn filtering as default on their web access packages, similar to the bloody useless one VODAFONE place on their customers that discriminates against people who can only get a Debit Card, not a Credit Card (that's needed to prove age to get past the sodding filter) + blocks legitimate websites as well as dodgy ones. She was also the one who told the excellent Douglas Carswell MP to f___ off to UKIP, and previously also had an outburst against "Mr Squeaker" Bercow.

Originally posted @ http://blogs.conservativechitchat.co.uk/2012/06/25/another-conservative-mp-enters-my-bad-books/

Government department tweak idea

Bin the post of “Energy & Climate Change Minister”.
Replace with:

• Minister for Environment & Conservation
• Energy Minister / Minister for Energy & Utilities (attached to the Department for Business)

Originally posted @ http://blogs.conservativechitchat.co.uk/2012/06/25/government-department-tweak-idea/

Timewarp forward shopping

So, Friday afternoon (22nd June 2012) I was out shopping........... saw that the 2013 AA Road Atlases are out in the shops already.

Star Trek on iTunes

I recently noticed they've finally uploaded the rest of the series of

• Star Trek: Voyager
• Star Trek: Deep Space 9
• Star Trek: Enterprise

Previously they only had Voyager (series1, possibly 2 as well), Enterprise (series1), DS9 (series1-3) & The Original series on the UK iTunes store....... now they've got the rest of them up there too (but still no "Star Trek: The Next Generation"). Though the price tags are still not recommended for viewing by Pregnant Women & people with Heart conditions  @ £25 - £40 a series.

If they're a bit too eye watering for you, check out:

Fried bread trick

I used to like eating fried bread when I went away on holiday with my grandparents in the 1980's when I was still a kid, often had at breakfast with bacon + a pot of tea.
Until recently I could never get the damn stuff right myself, but now I seem to have found a way to make it without it being soggy - use a grille pan, like you can also use for cooking steak.

Set the pan to heat up with the hob on full heat until it starts smoking, get your slice(s) of bread (only space for one at a time) and butter them both sides (I've been doing it with FLORA sunflower spread).

Cook in the pan til both sides are golden brown, and it's ready.... Crispy on the outside, still soft below.... just like them frozen garlic breads you can get to finish off in your oven at home... So I reckon you could also use this trick to make your own garlic bread if you just mix some garlic in with the butter / sunflower spread before you butter both sides of the bread.

Blogger app for iPhone

Just installed this earlier today, and giving it a whirl now while I wait for dinner to finish cooking.