Plane Concert, Dog Potty, Jelly Fish

I don’t know if you saw it over the weekend, but a plane was stuck on the tarmac for 3 hours in Beijing so a quartet from the Philadelphia orchestra decided to take matters into their own hands.
Reports said the plane was still stuck for another 4 hours. They played American Quartet by Dvorak, they were interrupted once by a cell phone ringing!!!


I thought I had seen everything until I saw this ad for a dog potty. I wondered how on earth you could persuade your dog to do its business on this piece of synthetic turf.
As you can see, there is a catch pan underneath and according to the ad, you can pour a gallon of water on the ‘grass’ and it goes right through, it is also odourless. So, all you dog lovers, rush out and buy one, do. I am sure Spot and Rover will be delighted. I suppose if you can get your pooch to use it, it will save a lot of accidents whilst you are out, but….. I also suppose if your canine friend wants to use it for more serious deposits, you can clean it up easily as well. One thing I don’t get, what about your male pooches? Shouldn’t it be provided with a small fire hydrant?

Rather a worrying story about the sickness of our oceans. The jelly fish blooms which have occurred over the last 10 years is a good indication that the oceans are out of balance. Overfishing, rising water temperatures and ocean acidification create ideal environments for these sea creatures to thrive and multiply, Lisa-ann Gershwin explains. Jelly fish are like the canaries in mines but whereas the canaries die, jelly fish increase. She also says Unfortunately, the rise in jellyfish numbers is far from benign. Gershwin said that jellyfish are able to “take this damaged ecosystem and actually drive it to a much worst state.” The article is certainly worth reading where she explains what jelly fish are capable of.

Another British recipe using asparagus. Once again, read shrimp for prawns,  this recipe uses the huge shrimp we see here which are sometimes called Tiger Shrimp.

Tempura Tiger Prawns with Soy and Sesame Asparagus
Marcus Bean - British Asparagus


"This is ideal for an easy starter for a dinner party, prawns in crispy batter with the soy and sesame asparagus is a lovely alternative way of serving asparagus that’s so easy and looks great."

Serves: 2

You'll need:
8-10 stems of asparagus
10 tiger prawns fresh (or defrosted)
100g self raising flour
50g of corn starch
50g or 50ml of cold sparkling water (more if batter is too thick)
Salt and pepper
1 tbsp of sesame seeds
50ml of good quality soy sauce (more for dipping)

What to do:

1
To cook the asparagus, trim the ends then place into boiling water for 1-2 minutes until cooked but still with a bit of bite (al dente). Then remove from the water and put into ice water to stop it cooking anymore and keep that nice green colour.
2
Now make the batter for the prawns by mixing the self raising flour and corn starch together, then add the sparkling water and whisk with a fork, the batter should be fairly light and not too thick. Add more water if it’s too thick, season with salt and pepper and set aside.
3
To cook the prawns heat some vegetable oil to 180c or use a small deep fat fryer.
4
Now pat the prawns down with a little kitchen towel to remove any moisture, then place in batter mix and drop into the oil, when golden in colour remove and place on paper towel until dry. For the asparagus, get your stems and slice each stem into 4 smaller pieces, then heat a pan, add a little oil and then the asparagus, sauté in the pan for a minute, add your soy sauce. Then your sesame seeds, cook for another minute, remove from the pan and serve straight away with your tempura prawns and extra soy sauce for dipping.

Have a great day