Whodunnit?

 

1) TV suggestion, 2) Site for free ebooks 3) Recipe of the Week, 4) off the needles

How many times do you hear the plaintiff cry “There is nothing any good on the tv”, this of course despite the fact that there are numerous channels to surf in the vain hope that something will appeal.  Well, for pure entertainment, especially of the Whodunnit* genre, its worth tuning in to the Parliament Channel. Don’t dismiss it as “boring”, it is an eye opener. I have been surprised how engaging it is! The stars of the show never fail to impress in the way they can totally obfuscate any issue presented to them.  I often wonder if the Job spec reads “Can you fail to give a straight answer to a straight question?  Can you deviate without hesititation?  Can you churn out the party line and loads of statistics that bear no relevance to the matter in hand?  If you can answer “yes” to all these, than a post on the front benches awaits you.   Which considering how much they bang on about “transparency” is rich.  Each office has specified question time in the house, and its better than most quiz shows as the viewer wonders which side of the house will win today. 

*Whodunnit…..well, that is for the viewer to decide, because many Ministers are past masters at the “not me guv” technique. 

  More info can be found here  http://www.parliamentlive.tv/Main/Home.aspx

There is stuff on there going bak years, and if you miss something you can “catch up”.

If you really want to know what your own MP does (or does not do) for you, check out their voting record here http://www.theyworkforyou.com/ This site is really informative about each individual MP. If you really get hooked (how sad), then you can even have an email regularly telling you of their activities, (in some case their inactivity).

2)FREE EBOOKS

Trying to find free ebooks for the Kindle can sometimes result in “same old, same old”, and this site http://www.ereaderiq.com/free/  has some really interesting content.  I have used it successfully, and it even has a number of books for children which is not always the case on other sites.

3) RECIPE: Hearty Tomato Pasta

(Honestly, it tastes better than the pic suggests!) As always, ingredients are usually in the larder, easy to make, and of course tasty!  Make it prior and it can be reheated later if required, cannot spoil by long cooking.  Do check that the maker of the sausage doesn’t advise against reheating, in which case only add them prior to eating.

Hearty tomato pasta Ingredients:  1 chopped onion, 1 tin chopped tomatoes, 1tbs oil (olive prefereably) 1 tbs tomato puree, 1 tsp sugar, 1 crushed clove of garlic, seasoning, 4 oz macaroni or pasta twists or penne,  4  sliced vegetarian sausages cooked or ready to eat type.

Whilst the pasta is cooked according to the instructions on the packet, make a tomato sauce by putting garlic and oil in a saucepan and cooking the onions till soft.  Add the tomatoes, puree, sugar and seasoning and cook for about 5 mins. Then add the sausages. 

When the pasta is cooked, drain it and add it to the tomato sauce.  At this point it can either be eaten or put aside for eating when reheated later.

4) OFF THE NEEDLES

Kiri from www.alltangledup.com  an excellent free pattern, which is particularly appealing as the knitter can decide the size as the project is knitted, whereas many shawls start with hundreds of stitches and decrease down to the base, which does not afford the knitter with any size choice.  Kiri starts from the point and works up.  I could have done a shawlette with just 2 balls of the Rowan Kidsilk Haze, but decided to do a full size one which meant starting on a third ball.