by Fern Shaw | Dec 24, 2014 | water cooler, Water Coolers
The Tradition of the Christmas Pudding
We all should know by now that I have a great love of food, celebration, festivals, traditions – I can wax lyrical for hours. Waxing the floor (i.e. domestic work), not so much.
I was hard pressed to choose what Christmas dish to blog about, but seeing as there are so many, I had to choose, so I girlied up and made a decision.
*Christmas (or Plum) Pudding is the traditional end to the British Christmas dinner. But what we think of as Christmas Pudding, is not what it was originally like.
Christmas pudding originated as a 14th century porridge called ‘frumenty’ that was made of beef and mutton with raisins, currants, prunes, wines and spices. This would often be more like soup and was eaten as a fasting meal in preparation for the Christmas festivities.
By 1595, frumenty was slowly changing into a plum pudding, having been thickened with eggs, breadcrumbs, and dried fruit and given more flavour with the addition of beer and spirits. It became the customary Christmas dessert around 1650, but in 1664 the Puritans banned it as a bad custom.
In 1714, King George I re-established it as part of the Christmas meal, having tasted and enjoyed Plum Pudding. By Victorian times, Christmas Puddings had changed into something similar to the ones that are eaten today.
Although Christmas Puddings are eaten at Christmas, some customs associated with the pudding are about Easter. The decorative sprig of holly on the top of the pudding is a reminder of Jesus’ Crown of Thorns that he wore when he was killed. Brandy or another alcoholic drink is sometimes poured over the pudding and lit at the table to make a spectacular display. This is said to represent Jesus’ love and power.
In the Middle Ages, holly was also thought to bring good luck and to have healing powers. It was often planted near houses in the belief that it protected the inhabitants.
During Victorian times, puddings in big and rich houses were often cooked in fancy moulds, like those one would pour jelly into. These were often in the shapes of towers or castles. Normal people just had puddings in the shape of balls. If the pudding was a bit heavy, they were called cannonballs.
Putting a silver coin in the pudding is another age-old custom that is said to bring luck to the person that finds it. In the UK the coin traditionally used was silver ‘six pence’.
The tradition seems to date back to the Twelfth Night Cake which was eaten during the festivities on the ‘Twelfth Night’ of Christmas (the official end of the Christmas celebrations). Originally a dried pea or bean was baked in the cake and whoever got it, was ‘king or queen’ for the night. There are records of this practice going back to the court of Edward II (early 1300s). The bean was also sometimes a silver ring of small crown. The first coins used were a Silver Farthing or penny. After WW1 it became a threepenny bit and then a sixpence.
I remember with great fondness, the pouring and lighting of the brandy over the Christmas Pud (only time I could ever stomach brandy) and then the anticipation of carefully searching your slice to see if you had the lucky silver piece in it. I’ve put the suggestion forward to HOD, Mrs Furtheringstoke, to see if we could have a Christmas pud lighting ritual around the water cooler before we close up shop this year, but, meanie that she is, as soon as she heard me mention ‘brandy’ and ‘set the pud alight’, she deep sixed that idea. Pfft! It’s fine though, I’ve already started up a secret society of the Papa Uniform Delta. Instructions to follow. Foxtrot, Echo, Romeo, November, out.
*excerpts from a delightful article at Why Christmas
by Fern Shaw | Nov 7, 2014 | Water Coolers
I read this article a while ago:
*‘US-born neuroscientist John O’Keefe has jointly won the 2014 Nobel Prize for medicine for discovering the brain’s navigation system. Is it any surprise then that he loves Ordnance Survey maps, writes Luke Jones.
O’Keefe came to the UK from the US in the late 1960s. He was supposed to stay for only two years as part of post-doctoral study. He decided to relocate for good.
The 74-year-old told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that he was “very attracted to many aspects of British culture”.
Two aspects that he named were the NHS and the Ordnance Survey map. “I like walking on the weekends and finding my way around,” said the professor who found that the brain has an “inner GPS system” in 1971 by discovering nerve cells that help create maps.
Simon Garfield, author of On the Map, agrees with O’Keefe that OS maps are an integral part of British culture.
“Ordnance Survey maps were originally inspired by 18th Century cartography in France,” he says. “But they’ve been associated with sodden walks in the Cairngorms and the Lakeland Fells for so long that they’ll always be thought of as British as roast beef and Big Daddy. What else makes them so? Their indefatigable finicky detail and their historic quirkiness. The maps show bracken and drinking fountains, not something you see much of on satnav.”
So perhaps these are two of the many reasons that we enjoy maps so much. I have a third – the idea of being lost and ‘seeing where the day takes me’ has never really appealed to me all that much. I like to know where I am and if I have a destination, I like to see how I’m going to get there. So having a map is really important to me.
With this in mind, I’m staging a little experiment the next time I’m at our water cooler. I’m going to unfold a map and ask all those that approach if they can find a point on the map and see the reactions. Will it be the time old chestnut where the men will harrumph and pore eagerly over the map eschewing any help and the women will refuse to even look at it or will I be surprised? I shall report back anon. J
*excerpt from an article in the BBC Magazine Monitor
by Fern Shaw | Oct 23, 2014 | Water, Water Coolers
Recently a real and FB friend posted something on my page about listing your top 10 books to read ever or that had a huge influence on your life.
Now as a complete and utter bookworm, believe it or not, I was stumped. A wee bit ironic, that – a wordsmith / blogista without words. Why though? Well, I suppose it’s a little like this – bookworm envy I’d call it. When I read through said friend’s list of what her top 10 were, I saw how inspirational and life affecting they all were. My top 10, not so much.
The reasons are that I have an attention span of a goldfish or what the purported memory span of a goldfish is – 5 seconds … sorry, what? See, like that.
Somehow, my goldfish brain made the connection between water and books and The Wind in the Willows (author – Kenneth Grahame). I was very fortunate to grow up in a household of bookworms, and British classics abounded. The book I had was illustrated by the incredibly gifted E. H. Shepard and his illustrations just brought the magic of the book to life even more.
Anyhow, once my brain had made this wind, willows and water connection I started wondering about the volume of books (fiction) had water in the title. Even specifying fiction, it soon became apparent that I’d bitten off far more than I could digest. Digest, geddit? As in Reader’s Digest. Before your time? Sorry for you as they say in my neck of the woods.
From Like Water for Chocolate to Ring of Bright Water, there are thousands of watery books, more than you can shake a stick at. I’m not even going to go there.
I think I’ll rowboat race my office chair down to around the water cooler and compile my 10 best ever list there. Not a Herculean task as watery books, but close.
by Fern Shaw | Oct 23, 2014 | Water Coolers
Once upon a time there was a planet called Pluto, and a cartoon character dog too, lest we forget. Then, the powers that be decided that Pluto wasn’t a planet and it was demoted. I thought that this must’ve been very demoralising for said planet, to be a former planet and now just a …?
Apparently, in order for an object to be a planet, you would need a satellite or moon orbiting around you, but both Venus and Mercury don’t have moons and it’s not the size of the planet that counts, so I wasn’t sure what the issue was.
What happened when Pluto was discovered?
In 1930 staff at the Lowell Observatory issued a circular entitled “Discovery of a solar system body apparently trans-neptunian” for distribution to astronomers around the world. The announcement describes a new “object” and makes no claim of a planet discovery. This object later became known as Pluto.
There are many things that make Pluto quite different from the planets Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. But one difference is truly fundamental, and it explains why Pluto is not classified as a planet. Unlike any of the planets, Pluto is embedded in a vast swarm of bodies similar to itself. Pluto is therefore analogous to the asteroid Ceres in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. Pluto has many friends orbiting nearby, which is not the case for any of the planets. The planets accumulate, eject, or otherwise control all the mass in their immediate proximity. Pluto and Ceres are not able to do that; therefore they belong to a class that is really quite distinct from the eight planets.
In August of 2006, the International Astronomical Union (IAU) voted to update the definition of what makes a planet. According to their decision a planet must satisfy the following three criteria:
- It must be an object which independently orbits the Sun;
- It must have enough mass so that gravity pulls it into a roughly spheroidal shape;
- It must be large enough to ‘dominate’ its orbit (i.e. its mass must be much larger than anything else which crosses its orbit).
And Bob’s your uncle, Pluto was no longer a planet. Pluto the Dog’s still going strong though, so there’s that. What does this inter planetary sojourn have to do with all things water, you ask? Well, seeing as I’m literally lurking at the water cooler harassing, listening for ideas most of the working day, that’s as close as dammit. In my not so humble opinion.
by Fern Shaw | Oct 8, 2014 | Charity, water cooler, Water Coolers
When you type blogs in English English (not a typo), but your Office is set to American English (default for the globe it would seem) you very quickly develop a sense of humour or humor, with all the typo’s in the different spellings e.g. organise vs. organize; and then with measurements – litres or liters vs. gallons, etcetera, etcetera.
So, imagine my delight when I was advised that the AquaAid Group were water winging their way across the Atlantic and opening up a bottleless water cooler company in the States. The United States of America that is. This meant that for once, when I typed a blog, my spell and grammar check would take seconds instead of minutes.
Even more amazing is that their flagship company HQ is in the City of Luuurve, San Francisco. We will be supplying bottles water coolers all around the San Francisco and (can it even get any better!) San José and Sacramento, all in the (uno momento as I remap my map brain to see states vs. counties) very fabulous (translate), rather marvelous State of Californ I A. Yessiree Bob, we’ve arrived!
Before you get all worked up and think your fave blogista is in town, sadly, this is not the case. When I heard that AquaAid was opening up in the City of Love, I did suggest that perhaps I should be on the scouting party list, but I gathered from the deafening silence that this was unlikely to happen. That’s OH KAY though, as I get to be involved in the manner that I’m best accustomed to – in cyberspace.
As you may have noticed from the different spelling in the logo above, AquAid in the States will be known as AquaAid, to avoid any confusion as to its pronunciation.
As Uffe Hansen, Group Manager of AquAid, says, “We really believe that our mix of high quality products, great service and charitable donations will be a winner in the US Market, as it has been in the UK. We are starting with one office in San Francisco, but hope to open a second in Los Angeles within 18 months”,
More relevant information about us:
Water coolers are our business, and making the world a better place is our passion. That’s what drives us to deliver exceptional products and service to all of our customers.
The AquaAid Group has been supplying bottleless water coolers since its foundation in 1998. Today, we supply an estimated 30,000 customers with 55,000 water coolers from 26 depots.
Our day to day focus is based on solid business principles:
- High quality water coolers, from US manufacturers.
- Environmentally friendly products, removing the need for deliveries of bottled water around the country.
- Most advanced filtration in the bottleless water cooler industry.
- Six-monthly servicing of water coolers, offering peace of mind that your water cooler will always dispense the highest quality water.
- Next day call-outs in the rare event your water cooler develops a fault.
- Local service. No call centers, no sub-contract engineers, just good honest service from a company you can trust.
So, there you have it – we’ve gone Stateside. If you’re planning to relocate to the States, you can now ‘take’ AquAid or AquaAid, rather, with you. If you’re already there, get in touch, we have a dynamic team happy to assist.
by Fern Shaw | Sep 2, 2014 | water cooler, Water Coolers
I’ve hit a bit of creative burnout, people. Happens to the best of us. It may have something to do with that inevitable, eventual information overload, or the hailstorm I slid through yesterday, or the fact that I’ve not been getting my full 6 hours sleep a night. Who knows? So here I slump. Hence the title, ‘slumping at the water cooler’. It goes without saying that the HOD and her gang are casting dark looks at me, but I’ve sort of perfected the ‘speak to the hand’ ignore – when I’m not slumping or draping myself over the bottle fed, I upend myself (a little like the water bottle does) and hang upside down, trapeze like. If anyone approaches with a battle light in their eyes, I just lift my top lip, showing my fangs, uhh, canines, ever so slightly. Works like a charm I tell you.
So, the idea today is all about free association, which as you may have twigged by now, is rather a speciality of mine. Before you chip in, no, you can’t play – this is a game I play all on my ownsome. Off we go:
Penguins – Opus & Bill – fabulous, fabulous cartoon from Berkeley Breathed circa the ‘80’s. I passed my passion for Opus onto a dear friend of mine who named his cat after him.
Cat on a hot tin roof – Fiddler on the Roof – To Kill a Mockingbird: A life changing novel by Harper Lee. Cannot even begin to explain the connection there.
Wacky Wicks – Beechies – Strawberry Beechies and that bubble-gum smell. Still a favourite.
Nosferatu – Dracul – Dracula – Nazgul (the winged creatures from The Lord of the Rings). Okay, that one, perhaps, is not so difficult to figure out.
So, there you have it, dear people, plenty of brain fodder for you to go and eddicate yourselves with. Pleasure.
Psst. The photo of the penguin baba was initially chose for no reason at all – just because it’s a really good photo and also because it’s of a cute, fluffy, baby penguin. This of course started the Penguin – Opus etc. association. Powerful stuff, eh?
