THE Chocolate Cake Recipe

Ingredients:

8oz butter

8oz sugar

6oz self-raising flour

2oz chocolate powder

3 eggs

Milk to loosen

Black cherry jam

For decoration:

250ml double cream

150g chocolate

Pre-heat the oven to 180c.

Cream the butter and sugar

Beat in the eggs

Fold in the chocolate powder and flour

Add milk to loosen the mixture and to creature a soft but thick batter

Divide equally between two 18 or 20cm sandwich tins

Bake in the oven for about 30 mins. Leave to cool in the tins

Once cool, spread the jam between the slices

For the gnash, heat the cream until piping hot, but not boiling

Remove from the heat and stir in the chocolate until melted

Cool until spreadable and coat the cake

Leave to set

Cake is then ready to eat. 

Enforced Vegetarianism

For Lent I've given up meat. I've already failed. Failed to the best burger known to the British Isles - a burger from Hawksmoor.

I went there last night for dinner. I went under no false illusions. There would not be a vegetarian option. It was AMAZING!!!!!!!! So moist, tender and bursting with flavour. The king of burgers! Despite the scorn thrown at me by my housemates, I have never been more contented in my life. If you're not a vegetarian, please visit Hawksmoor. You won't regret it.

Anyway, I have failed in my act of penitence. I have failed to strive for perfection, unlike St David (who's saint's day is today) who was an ardent vegetarian and teetotaller. I failed after a week. Why? Because vegetarian food is boring.

Are vegetarians boring? Some are. But the ones I know are interesting* and certainly not boring. But the food definitely is.

Go into a restaurant and the vegetarian option is invariably a salad of sorts or involves a lot of carbohydrates. Dull and starchy. Great combination!

Sandwiches from supermarkets are either egg and cress or cheese and onion but with fancier names. When shopping in Sainsbury's yesterday for luncheon I could not find a vegetarian option for their meal deal. So I opted for the £1 sandwiches. Not to be knocked but not exactly thrilling! Then again, at that price I'm not expecting a taste explosion.

Meat substitutes, like Quorn, are tasteless. Meat free sausages, burgers, chicken, fish free fish fingers etc are foul. Why go for imitation meat when you could either go for real meat of vegetables mashed together in the shape of the thing you missed (like vegetable sausages (which are pretty good)).

Vegetarians, I offer you a challenge. Find me some tantalising meals which do not require meat substitutes, salads or a lot carbohydrates and which are quick to prepare and cook.

*odd

Cornish Pancakes

This recipe was passed down to me by my mother and, presumably, from the many generations before her.

For 8 pancakes

• 2 eggs
• 280ml Milk
• 110g plain flour

Sift the flour into a bowl. Make a well in the middle. Separate the egg whites. Add the yolks, a pinch of salt and a dash of the milk. Begin by slowly mixing the flour into the centre, adding milk at the same time. Whisk to smooth. 

Stiff peak your egg whites and fold them into the batter mix.

Fry on a high heat until cooked. Serve with clotted cream.

Floella loves you!

On Saturday, I graduated from the University of Exeter with Master of Arts in History, at merit. The Chancellor of the University is Baroness Floella Benjamin, a woman who has appeared on TV for years, especially in my youth, as a presenter of nursery level education programmes.

This wonderful, inspiring woman captured my heart when I went up to receive my award. I knew from friends who had graduated in previous years that Floella's stock message was "change the world". I went up, had a hug and kisses on both cheeks. She then holds my cheek and says "Handsome. So handsome. You'll do well." She then takes my hand, gives me the stock message: "Change the world, you'll do that, won't you?" I was tongue-tied and I believe I said something like "My pleasure!" before rushing off the stage blushing.

I LOVE RECESSIONS

I love recessions, or so you would believe if you agreed with Sunny Hundal.


Sunny recently wrote a post for Labour List entitled: The reality of Gordon Brown’s spending: Black Labour can’t re-write history I wrote a comment on the post stating that Sunny was wrong and why he was wrong. 


I was told by Sunny that it was a 'ridiculous attack' and that it was implied that I love recessions. For a start, it wasn't an attack. It was a comment pointing out that he was wrong and why he was wrong. Do I love recessions? Does anyone love recessions? The answer to that is no. However, I realise the value that come out of recessions, like an innovated economy and an eradication of the weak(er) sections of the economy. This creates a more balanced economy. Good things, no?


Instead, Sunny would probably seek to spend and spend and spend, ignoring the fact that recessions are actually healthy for an economy and perpetuating any future crisis.


Anyway, the argument is purely academic as one cannot change the course of history. One can, however, change the course of the future. 

My Day as a Union Activist

On the 30^th November 2011, I began the process to Unionise my workforce. The process was started in the morning of that day. I arrived into work to the sound of colleagues discussing the strikes by public sector workers. Like many in the private sector, the perception of the public sector was negative.

After listening to their concerns I suggested that perhaps the reason why the public sector had better working conditions was because it was unionised. Having listened to my arguments about the positive effects of trade unionism, and specifying the negative ones too, I had a willing recruitment pool. Over the course of the day, I had got three of my colleagues to join a trade union. The goal is to have a fully unionised workforce by the end of the year.

“Why unionise a workforce?” I hear you ask. Well, as someone with a fairly important remit in a SME unionising the workforce would appear on surface to be self-defeating. On the contrary, a unionisation of the workforce has lots of benefits. Many trade unions provide members with healthcare schemes, death in service benefits etc. We provide all those benefits too. Membership of a trade union also provides access to extra training, yet necessary training, such as first aid certificates. These services either cost SMEs or the individual lots of money. Money saved can then be ploughed back into remuneration for employees, either in increased wages or better employer contributions to pensions.

Industrial action is incredibly unlikely as the ownership is not divorced from the management and management is not divorced from the workforce. The (re-)unionisation of the private sector is often overlooked for reasons I am ignorant of, but it has benefits for everyone including employers. 

Why TfL Might not be so bad

As an adopted Londoner (I use the London greeting of "f*** off" more than necessary) I have grumbled a lot about TfL. Tubes and buses run late, by a few minutes, the drivers are paid more than me for an easier job and I pay a lot for travel - admittedly infrequent travel but travel nonetheless.

I have had problems with the night buses in that they don't arrive when they are scheduled to and somehow they can drive past full when you're quite near the start of the route. To a country boy this is baffling - full buses?!

Tubes... the drivers, in my opinion, are overpaid (and I am jealous). The Northern Line is always a constant 30 degrees celsius regardless of season. Trains go through stations declaring 'Not In Service' and yet alight at the station. Trains will also terminate a stop or two from the end of the line - this always confuses me even though I never need to go the end of the line.

Tourists! The bane of any journey. Stopping at the top of escalators to fiddle with their bags or standing on the left hand side of the escalator. Even though they are only indirectly linked to the problems of TfL, they are a problem nonetheless.

So, I've listed the things that annoy me about TfL. Now for some good things.

As mentioned earlier, I'm from a provincial city - we'll call it "Exeter" for arguments sake. Now, Exeter has a public transport system provided by Stagecoach and First Great Western. Be careful you don't splutter what ever it is you're drinking over your computer, but that is the sad nature of the system.

I was at home over the weekend and, as someone who doesn't drive, relied on public transport. Buses are expensive, more so than London, infrequent and smaller than the latest bus model that services the streets of London. Trains are even worse! Top it all off, there is no Oyster Card system which means that passengers are inconvenienced as someone fishes in their wallets, purses and pockets for change. My time is precious and it was squandered in a wasteful orgy of inefficiencies. I still resent this.

On Sunday evening/night my train from Exeter to Paddington broke down outside Westbury. The train, if you're unfamiliar with the line, was supplied by First Great Western - the great practitioner of railway failure. What should have been a 2.5 hour journey was magically transformed into a 6 hour journey getting into Paddington just in time to catch the last tube home. Credit to TfL - everything arrived on time and without glitch. I was very grateful at some time past midnight to not have any further problems with transport.

The announcement lady on the tubes and buses amuses me with her posh accent, until she gets to Canning Town that is.

By all means complain about TfL but always remember that even on its worst day, TFL is by far better than any other transport service in the country.