Banana bread

‘Nana’ bread

This banana bread will stay moist and delicious for a while, best served warm! Ingredients required:

• 175g plain flour
• 2tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp bicarbonate soda
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 125g unsalted butter
• 150g sugar (less if you don’t like it too sweet
• 2 large eggs
• 4 very ripe bananas
• 1 tsp vanilla essence
• variation 1 with walnuts
• variation 2 with pecan nuts
• variation 3 with chocolate chips

1. Preheat the oven to 170 degree C or gas mark 3
2. In a medium sized bowl, add the flour, baking powder, bicarbonate and salt
3. In a separate large bowl, mix melted butter and sugar and beat until blended
4. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then add the mashed banana, optional walnuts/ pecan/ chocolate chips and vanilla essence
5. Add the flour mixture a third at a time, stirring well each time
6. Scrape into a loaf tin (alternatively I sometimes use muffin size tins to make smaller ones, note: baking time to be reduced in this case) and bake for 1-1.25 hours depending which type of oven you have. If you are baking first time, best to keep an eye on it after the initial 40mins
7. When you can see the bread has turned golden through the oven glass, insert a fine skewer into the loaf to test if the bread is ready. If the skewer comes out clean, the bread is ready
8. Leave the loaf in the tin to cool for 15-20mins before serving

Let’s go baking!

Strawberries, Strawberries, Strawberries...

It's that time of the year, just a reminder for people who likes their fruit fresh. PYO fruit at Whirlow Hall Farm is open 7 days a week from 24 June. So what are you waiting for?

Events in Sheffield

April 2009

18 April - 04 May
World Snooker Championship, Crucible Theatre

15 April - 04 May
Real Ale Festival, J D Wetherspoon

26 April
Sheffield half marathon, Don Valley Stadium

May 2009

30 April - 04 May
Continental and Craft Market, Fargate

1 May
English Heritage: Romancing the stone (Park Hill), BBC2 9pm

10 May
Living History - Medieval Life, Winter Garden

28 May
Farmers' market, Barkers Pool

June 2009

14 June
Cancer Research UK Race for Life, Don Valley Stadium

20 June
Sheffield Pride, Endcliffe Park

27 June
Sheffield Green Fair, St Mary's Community Centre

For more events, check out Event Sheffield website

Sheffield Parks and Gardens

Proud of Sheffield's parks

Sheffield is the fourth largest city in England and is located on the edge of one of the most beautiful national parks. The city is known internationally as the steel city, but there is apparently more trees per person than any other city in the whole of Europe, with over 61% of the city being green space. The city has done a lot in recent years to establish, improve and maintain its green spaces within the city itself. There are some really attractive and special parks and green spaces, each with their own unique features and characteristics. Where ever you are in Sheffield, there's sure to be a park, playground, woodland or other green spaces nearby to enjoy.


For example, Weston Park, the first municipal park in Sheffield with seven Grade II listed structures, had been recently restored to its former Victorian glory. Devonshire Green, Peace gardens, Botanical Gardens, Crookes Valley Park and St George's Church are some other good examples. Some of these spaces were once neglected, heavily vandalised but over the past decade, significant resources had been spent on transforming these back into popular, safe and high quality places enjoyed by Sheffield residents as well as by many visitors.


For information on how you can get more involved in Sheffield's parks and green spaces, check out Groundwork Sheffield, Transform it Sheffield and SCC. If you want to support and help maintaining Sheffield's beautiful environment for generations to come, check out Sheffield's Green Bond website.

For history of Weston park, click here.
For pictures of Weston park Museum during its restoration, click here.
For further details of the restoration of the bandstand and gates, click here.
For information about Sheffield and its parks generally, click here or here.

Calvin & Hobbes

CALVIN & HOBBES....they are grrrrrreat!
If you haven't come across any of their comic strips yet, better get started! They are seriously delightful and funny!

Calvin & Hobbes was series of comic strips written and illustrated by Bill Watterson. The theme was broadly about Calvin, an imaginative six-year-old boy, his friendship with Hobbes, his stuffed animal which he sees as a live tiger, his unique views of politics, society, culture and traditions, and his adventures, real or unreal.

Below are some of his cracking quotes...

'Weekends don't count unless you spend them doing something completely pointless'

'If you do a job badly enough, sometimes you don't get asked to do it again'

'Life is like topography, Hobbes. There are summits of happiness and success... flat stretches of boring routines, and valleys of frustration and failure'

'Girls are like slugs, they probably serve some purpose, but it's hard to imagine what'

'In my opinion, we don't devote nearly enough scientiific research to finding a cure for jerks'

'When I grow up, I'm not going to read teh newspaper and I'm not going to follow complex issues adn I'm not going to vote. That way I can complain when the government doesn't represent me. Then, when everything goes down the tubes, I can say the system doesn't work and justify my further lack of participation.'

'People think it must be fun to be a super genius, but they don't realise how hard it is to put up with all the idiots in the world'

For more detail on Calvin & Hobbes, go to this website.
Want more C&H adventures, mischiefs and fun, click here or here

Spring is finally here!

Some snaps from my garden...these are going to keep the bees and birds busy for a while!

The Joker song

Original by Steve Miller Band



An alternative by Fatboy Slim
click here

It's Chinese New Year 2009!

Year of the Ox

The Chinese year 4706 begins on 26 Jan 2009, apparently. So bye bye to Year of the Rat... the year of wealth?!?

Some people asked why just the twelve animals??

Legend has it that in ancient times, Buddha asked all the animals to meet him on Chinese New Year. Twelve came, and Buddha named a year after each one in the order they arrived. He announced that the people born in each animal's year would have some traits of that animal's personality. Those born in ox years tend to be painters, engineers, and architects. They are stable, fearless, obstinate, hard-working and friendly. Jack Nicholson, Jane Fonda, Walt Disney, Barack Obama and Anthony Hopkins were apparently all born in the year of the stubborn ox.

Want to see some funny New Year celebrations with pandas humping balls? Click here
Or alternatively there are some good videos to do with cows... Option 1 or Option 2 - the choice is yours!

Gake no ue no Ponyo

New film by Hayao Miyazaki!

If you look at my earlier posts, you will notice that I have an immense appreciation for Hayao Miyazaki's animation. His latest film - Ponyo on the cliff by the sea - written and directed by Miyazaki animated at Studio Ghibli, tells the story of a 5-year-old Japanese boy, Sosuke, and his relationship with the goldfish princess after he rescued her...

Weird Pictures?

Strange and weird piccies by John B

Nobody/animals were harmed during the making of these pictures...

SNOW!

Snowy Sheffield at the start of 2009

Many Sheffielders going back to work for the new year woke up to snow-covered streets this morning. Some places in Yorkshire and Humberside had been recorded to reach -8 last night, and weather experts predicted that Monday night/ Tuesday morning would feel even colder, with temperature plunging as low as -10 degree C!














I was rather chuffed to see the snow, thinking what a good start to the year, but not many shared my excitement as driving conditions were poor and the commuting problems were exacerbated by rail cancellations...

...but Weston Park did look very pretty, and I bet the Peaks would have looked even better!
The Times reported that "so far Scotland had borne the brunt of the cold weather, with the Highlands recording temperatures as low as minus 13C one night last week, but Met Office forecasts suggest that England and Wales are about to suffer the worst temperatures, with a similar freeze on Wednesday night across Wales and southern England. Even during the day, temperatures are unlikely to rise above 0C in many places. "

oOooo wonder if Kinder Downfall would freeze this winter? It has been a long time since it was last frozen...

Great Anime

Simply the best... which one is your favourite?

STUDIO GHIBLI/ Hayao Miyazaki

Studio Ghibli was established in 1985, following the success of Nausicca of the Valley of the Wind. The studio became a forerunner in animation, producing features loved in Japan and beyond. For more information, see the Studio Ghibli Collection.

Earthsea, Howls Moving Castle, The Cat Returns, Spirited Away, My Neighbours the Yamadas, Princess Mononoke, Whisper of the Heart, Pom Poko, Porco Rosso, Only Yesterday, KiKi's Delivery Service, Grave of the Fireflies, My Neighbour Totoro, Laputa Castle in the Sky, Nausicca of the Valley of the Wind, Lupin III
























WALLACE & GROMIT/ Nick Park - Aardman Animations
Wallace and Gromit are the main characters in a series of British animated short films. All of them are adventures of Wallace, an absent-minded inventor and a cheese (Wensleydale) enthusiast, and Gromit, his doggy companion (who happens to be a bit more intelligent than his master!)

A Matter of Loaf and Death, The Curse of the Were-Rabbit, Shaun the Sheep, A Close Shave, The Wrong Trousers, A Grand Day Out













Shaun the sheep does not form part of the Wallace & Gromit series of films, but a children's television series for CBBC produced by Aardman Animations. Shaun the sheep first appeared in Wallace & Gromit's A Close Shave.

Fab Music

Some great music (for this festive season?)

Jona Lewie - Stop the Cavalry



Flying Pickets - Only You



Gordon Giltrap - Drifter



Mike Oldfield - Tubular Bells 1973



Gordon Giltrap & Martin Taylor - Empty

click here




Mike Oldfield - Moonlight Shadow



Van Morrison - Brown eyed girl



Enigma - Return to Innocence



Eels - P.S. You rock my world



Kimya Dawson - Tire Swing



Eels - I need some sleep



Fantasia/ Stravinsky - Firebird

Happy and healthy New Year!

Been a little bit hectic these last couple of months...but I am back now!
So what did you guys get up to at Christmas? Ate loads? Drank loads and watched Wallace & Gromit? I did! Slightly late... but have a good Christmas and healthy New Year all of you!

Mushroom...how to identify?

CAN ANYBODY IDENTIFY THIS MUSHROOM?

Found this mushroom near a tree stump but have no idea what type it is, or whether it's edible?

Does anybody know?
Looks a bit like oyster mushroom or 'chicken of the woods'...
I have looked on wildmushroomonline.co.uk and rogersmushrooms.com but without success, would be nice to be able to identify it.