Im back and so is the blog…

Yes its true im back.

Ive eaten more Pork Scratchings and drunk more bitter than is healthy for any man

so CHEERS and lets do some serious drinking…no Learning (hiccup)

Brazilians and the Environment 1

Here goes… your thoughts on the Environment and issues surrounding sustainable development in Brazil…please post some comments

Cheese Rolling

a fine sport from England … much more exciting than football – i bet Pele could never have done this!

Shepherd’s Pie

Last night i cooked a great Shepherd’s Pie …all of which got me wondering where the name comes from… here’s what i discovered.

Cottage pie, is a traditional English dish made with minced meat covered with mashed potato and often topped with cheese. The dish is traditionally made with lamb meat; when this is the case the dish is known as shepherd’s pie, though the term shepherd’s pie is often used to mean a variety made with any kind of meat. The meat used in the dish is traditionally beef or lamb though turkey is also often used today.

Traditionally, the meat is prepared by dicing or mincing, and frying with chopped onions, seasoning, and dripping (from the roast) or stock. Other ingredients can include garlic, chopped carrots, peas or other vegetables, mushrooms, herbs (such as rosemary and oregano), tomato purée, and wine. A quick version can be made using canned oxtail soup.

The meat is laid in a deep pie dish and covered with mashed potato, to which milk, butter or dripping may be added. For a decorative effect, the mashed potato can be piped onto the meat layer. The pie is then baked in the oven, making the top surface golden and crisp. Grated cheese can be sprinkled on top prior to baking.

Cottage pie and pie shepherd’s pie are traditional methods for using leftover roasted meat, either beef or mutton, using mashed potato as a convenient pie crust. In early recipes, the pie dish was lined with mashed potato as well as having a mashed potato crust on top.^[1][2]

The use of previously uncooked meat is a recent adaptation, suited to the techniques of commercial food processing companies. Early cookery writers did not use the terms “cottage pie” and “shepherd’s pie” and the terms did not appear in recipe books until the late part of the 19th century. From that time, the terms have been used interchangeably, although there is a popular tendency for “shepherd’s pie” to be used when the meat is mutton or lamb. The term “cottage pie” is known to have been in use by 1791 but it is not known to what type of dish it then referred to

A recipe – OK -

Easy Shepherd’s Pie Recipe

Filed under All Seasons, Beef, Casserole, Comfort Food, Main Course, Wheat-free

Shepherd’s Pie is an English dish, traditionally made with lamb or mutton. Americans typically make Shepherd’s Pie with beef. The English (and Australians and New Zealanders) call the beef dish a “cottage pie”. Naming conventions aside, Shepherd’s Pie is essentially a casserole, lined with cooked meat and vegetables, topped with mashed potatoes, and baked.

Here is a basic recipe for a simple ground beef Shepherd’s Pie. The original recipe comes from my friend Frances Hochschild and her mother (thanks Frannie!). We dressed it up a bit with some veggies and Worcestershire sauce.

Easy Shepherd’s Pie Recipe

INGREDIENTS

• 1 1/2 lbs ground round beef
• 1 onion chopped
• 1-2 cups vegetables – chopped carrots, corn, peas
• 1 1/2 – 2 lbs potatoes (3 big ones)
• 8 tablespoons butter (1 stick)
• 1/2 cup beef broth
• 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
• Salt, pepper, other seasonings of choice

METHOD

1 Peel and quarter potatoes, boil in salted water until tender (about 20 minutes).

2 While the potatoes are cooking, melt 4 Tablespoons butter (1/2 a stick) in large frying pan.

3 Sauté onions in butter until tender over medium heat (10 mins). If you are adding vegetables, add them according to cooking time. Put any carrots in with the onions. Add corn or peas either at the end of the cooking of the onions, or after the meat has initially cooked.

4 Add ground beef and sauté until no longer pink. Add salt and pepper. Add worcesterchire sauce. Add half a cup of beef broth and cook, uncovered, over low heat for 10 minutes, adding more beef broth as necessary to keep moist.

5 Mash potatoes in bowl with remainder of butter, season to taste.

6 Place beef and onions in baking dish. Distribute mashed potatoes on top. Rough up with a fork so that there are peaks that will brown nicely. You can use the fork to make some designs in the potatoes as well.

7 Cook in 400 degree oven until bubbling and brown (about 30 minutes). Broil for last few minutes if necessary to brown.

Serves four.

YUM!

Zico for City

Manchester City chairman Thaksin Shinawatra is lining up Fenerbahce’s Brazilian manager Zico as Eriksson’s successor. (Various English Newspapers )

In his dreams…. (Zico’s)

Last Round on the Underground

Looks like i missed the party…

Ha-Ha

The ha-ha or sunken fence is a type of boundary to a garden, pleasure-ground, or park, designed not to interrupt the view and to be invisible until closely approached. The ha-ha consists of a trench, the inner side of which is vertical and faced with stone, with the outer slope face sloped and turfed - making it in effect a sunken fence or wall.

Pronunciation Poem

find the poem here to listen to 

http://www.britishcouncil.org/learnenglish LearnEnglish Central

Poems

Pronunciation poem

Here is some pronunciation.

Ration never rhymes with nation,

Say prefer, but preferable,

Comfortable and vegetable.

B must not be heard in doubt,

Debt and dumb both leave it out.

In the words psychology,

Psychic, and psychiatry,

You must never sound the p.

Psychiatrist you call the man

Who cures the complex, if he can.

In architect, chi is k.

In arch it is the other way.

Please remember to say iron

So that it’ll rhyme with lion.

Advertisers advertise,

Advertisements will put you wise.

Time when work is done is leisure,

Fill it up with useful pleasure.

Accidental, accident,

Sound the g in ignorant.

Relative, but relation,

Then say creature, but creation.

Say the a in gas quite short,

Bought remember rhymes with thwart,

Drought must always rhyme with bout,

In daughter leave the gh out.

Wear a boot upon your foot.

Root can never rhyme with soot.

In muscle, sc is s,

In muscular, it’s sk, yes!

Choir must always rhyme with wire,

That again will rhyme with liar.

Then remember it’s address.

With an accent like posses.

G in sign must silent be,

In signature, pronounce the g.

Please remember, say towards

Just as if it rhymed with boards.

Weight’s like wait, but not like height.

Which should always rhyme with might.

Sew is just the same as so,

Tie a ribbon in a bow.

When You meet the queen you bow,

Which again must rhyme with how.

In perfect English make a start.

Learn this little rhyme by heart.

 

 

The Archers

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/archers/catch/index.shtml

if you go to this page and click on the link to Sunday you can hear the episode we discussed today

Portugues – it’s good for you!

They said so on the BBC so it must be true!

Thanks to Eduardo for sending me this link to a story about the influence of Portugues globally. 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/from_our_own_correspondent/7414375.stm

Ill keep studying OK!