How to make early season strawberries taste--well---sweet

Sometimes in my haste to get a taste of the season I buy early season strawberries. I reckon one takes a bit if a risk in doing that because they are a bit flat, tasteless and somewhat sour.

But I purchased them anyway, for a good some of money. After my healthy stir-fry, I cut the tops off the strawberries and snuck a ‘preview.’ Yip--- my suspicions were correct---they definitely needed a lift. I searched the fridge and my eyes set upon a bottle of rhubarb/strawberry syrup.

I added a generous portion of the said fluid to some sliced bananas to the new season strawberries.  Surely that would be enough but no--- I decided to ‘lift’ them further.’

Oh---right next to the bench top oven I noticed a bottle of Yeigermaster. I know—that’s not the correct spelling--- the reason for my laziness in not going and checking the correct spelling will become apparent later. In went a slosh of the 38% alcohol---getting the picture yet.

Not enough I thought. It just so happened that there was a bottle of Baileys next to the other ‘untypable’ fluid. Why not--- I love that tasty ‘B’ drink. I generously added some of that.

OK--- the taste? I’m not sure but the fumes nearly knocked me for six. (That’s a cricket term folks) The appearance--- well, I doubt that the mixture would make any recipe book for either cocktails or desserts.

The taste was interesting, but I don’t think the strawberries dominated in the slightest. I think the Baileys sort of ‘split’ too. I suspect a doubtful chemical reaction, but now, ---I kinda feel quite relaxed. Would I recommend my concoction?  Hehehhe ---ask me tomorrow.

Charter Schools, National Standards, League Tables

The list goes on and includes the privatisation of the education system. It seems that what we have built up in NZ over more than century is going to be taken down in the short space of a decade or less.

When are we going to learn that not everything that comes out of the USA is good for us? Indeed there are many Americans who doubt the legitimacy of much of what they now have posing as a healthy education system.

Charter Schools are just part of the slow eroding of the Public system of education. Just throw in National Standards, an increasingly large amount of Government and State money going into private schools and you start to see the picture that is now being mirrored in NZ.

Let’s shove it right back at the Government and make sure that opposition parties take note of our collective unease at the new direction the Government is taking.

Actually folks, they are going back to the past. Such experiments have been tried way back in our history. Such policies didn’t work then and they won’t work now. All they achieve is to exacerbate the gap between the rich and poorer segments of our society. Is not that a recipe for a fractionated and unhealthy society?

 I do not want to end with the statement---‘time will tell,’ because we do not need to continue down this path to a very different and horribly unequal NZ.

There are two worlds within New Zealand!

Most of us live in the decent world that makes New Zealand a great place to live. There is however another world, inhabited by a group of people who prey not only on one another, but also on those at the edge of the ‘nice’ world.’

These underworld inhabitants do their best to drag the vulnerable into their dark and nasty world. The news that yet another drug making hole has been uncovered in the Waikato, just exemplifies what may be so close to many of us----maybe next door.

The police are doing a fantastic job in dealing to these parasites on our society. The damage they cause to families, especially our young people cannot be overestimated. I hope that with technological advances, the police make further inroads into this twilight world. Yesterday’s announcement that crime figures are down is encouraging, highlighting the need to not cut policing resources. If that happens, the ‘beasts’ will rise again.

Keep our families and kids safe.

Avondale's big secret is out--Salvation Kitchen

Next time you are passing through Avondale----Don’t!  Stop at the newish café, Salvation Kitchen. It is easy to find and parking is OK, right across from the big police station. I have put this retro café on my list of favourite places. The food is different, beautifully presented and just something a little different. The service is friendly and the young guy serving us knew his stuff. I took the picture of the barista. He made us a lovely richly crema’d (new word?) coffee. He even let me take his picture.

Not only is the food good, but the décor takes you back. While we waited for our food we read a 1975 Women’s Weekly. Oh, I wish the prices were like that now. I didn’t try the home-made pies, but they looked incredible. I settled for a hash/bacon and salad meal. No brown bits in this salad. Next time I want to try one of their mini Pavlova deserts. Just couldn’t manage this time, but I did sneak a tiny bit of my mate’s Brownie----yummy.

This café has won awards and I am not surprised. It is a good use of an old petrol station. That big overhang is perfect for getting out of the weather.

We will be back! b

Good one guys!

Stop making Kim Dotcom a star---he's not!

I am sickened by the idea of our PM apologising to Kim Dotcom. Why the hell should he? I am also sick of the idiots who think the same man is some sort of hero. In my books he is not. Anyone, even if they find a spurious legal method of uploading material and then making money out of it, is not a hero.

I write books in my spare time and the very idea of that material being sold without me getting anything is repugnant. I make a huge enough loss as it is. Of course he hasn’t, but it’s the possibility of that happening that gets to me.

I know he has brought to the public’s notice the ineptitude of our security services and I think that as a result we may see better safeguards re privacy for NZ citizens. I grudgingly thank him for that.

I would love to be a ‘fly on the wall,’ when this ‘hero’ is discussing the events of the last year or so. I bet he is laughing his large tits off at the stupidity of our services and politicians.

 I am happy to see Mr Peters has finally gotten into the framework and started his own campaign against Kim Dotcom and his like. This time I am actually behind Mr Peters. If anyone can get to the bottom of the whole issue, he can. There are just too many unanswered questions about the Kim Dotcom affair that need addressing, right from the way he managed to get residency, while there were so many ‘stinky herrings.’ I guess we are going to once again find out that there are rules for the rich and others for the rest of us. Time will tell and remember---‘what goes around comes around.’

MMMM I can feel a story coming on about this affair!  ‘The Kimtwatcom affair!

www.authorneilcoleman.com

So we haven't got enough tradeswomen and men!

Why do we always have to be reinventing the wheel? By that, I mean, let’s learn from the past instead of going off in directions that history has taught us just doesn’t work.

I am trying to make a link between the shortages of trades people, especially given the huge need for such people in the rebuilding of Christchurch. Those NZers who are joining the many from overseas are going to cause a drawing skilled people from other areas of NZ, thus exacerbating an already difficult situation.

 Right we agree? ---- We need tradespeople in a number of occupations. Then why not go back to the past when a good deal of the training was done on the job, with a small portion of the training done in Technical Institutes. We don’t need builders, plumbers etc. with degrees (certainly not at entry level). We need skilled tradespeople, who have learnt from their peers. Sure there were some dodgy ones in the past but a robust system would soon remove the capacity of such businesses to ‘train.’

I can hear businesses saying that it is draining their already stretched resources and that the training should be done as it is now, with a major part of the training occurring in tertiary institutes. Well, if these businesses want to thrive, then they need to take a longer term view and accept the responsibility to bring in new blood and nurture the tradesmen and women for the future. Combine this with a ‘bonding scheme’ and we may even keep more from fleeing over the waves.

Let’s train our people and keep them---for a few years at least. Maybe they will see a reason to stay and not have a huge student loan for an area of study where the jobs just don’t exist.

The 'Brain Drain to Aussie and beyond--a solution!

Read the article in the NZ Herald today about the bourgeoning problem re the flight of ‘skilled’ Kiwis across the Tasman. By skilled now, we don’t just mean those highly educated individuals who have left in the past. Yes, they are still leaving, but it is the ‘Trades-skilled,’ that has been identified as the latest outflow of NZers.

We need these people, not only for the rebuilding of earthquake ravaged Christchurch, but for the economy in general. We do not want to rely on immigration to keep our stock of skilled people high enough to drive our economy, because let’s face it; they too will join the ‘flow.’

It is time that we came up with an answer. Actually, it has been obvious for many years and it is no more than going back to the past to find it. When I trained to be a teacher many years ago, I was ‘bonded’ to work for three years (or so a stint of ‘country service). That meant I did not have to pay for my training and I received a liveable, albeit a frugal allowance. I did not have to pay that back, unless I left the job before the bonding period was up.

Bring back this scheme, but extend it to a wide range of Trades and other much needed vocations. It will cost a great deal, but if we continue to lose our skilled people, then the cost for our economy will be far more. Bite the bullet now and the message to our politicians is to see beyond the short three years you may inhabit the Beehive (Parliament).

Of course such a scheme would allow those who currently find it difficult to enter into a trade or other vocation, because they lack the money to pay for the training. That can only benefit us all in the long term.