Sometimes I go to our library and take out a book because it has a shiny cover. After all the cover IS what attracts you to a book. And yes this might be stupid but that's me.
Often I start to read a book that I have no great interest in and get hooked. Such is the case with a shiny new book that attracted me on the shelves last week. I always gravitate towards the history section and there it was. A book entitled The Diary Keepers by Nina Siegal. Admittedly it's not a good title IMHO, but I guess it does tell you what the book is about.
It's about diaries kept by Dutch people during the occupation of their country in the Second World War and it paints a picture of a beleaguered nation. It's not just diaries of those under occupation but also includes entries from Nazi sympathisers as well.
I have always been fascinated by people who write diaries, being one myself. When placed together side by side as in Siegal's book they paint a vivid picture of a country at war. I have never had a great interest in the history of the Netherlands but this book is very interesting.
It's written by an American with Dutch ancestors. She now lives and works in Amsterdam and has also written novels.
I never know whether to call that country The Netherlands or Holland. Apparently Holland is the more informal. Are there any countries in the world with alternative names. There's plenty of countries and cities of course that have changed their name. Constantinople became Istanbul, Leningrad has never been quite sure whether it's Leningrad or St Petersburg, Ceylon became Sri Lanka and many other cities have changed their names to reflect local dialects etc but are there any other countries with two names? And that dear bloggettes is your challenge for today.
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The first thing I used to do on getting up in the morning was to turn on Breakfast TV to catch up with the news. But it got so depressing talking about wars, COVID inquiries and how lockdown was mismanaged and a variety of illnesses that I now have my breakfast in silence. It helps me to think about the day.
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I inadvertantly watched a TV programme on air fryers on Sunday evening. How about that for a rock n roll lifestyle? I say inadvertently because the other threequarters was watching it and, as she has control of the remote, it was what we were watching.
I'm trying to invent a remote that controls human beings so that she can re-programme me. But enough of that. Let's get back to air fryers. We bought one during the year and they are impressive things. This programme cooked an entire Christmas meal using an air fryer. It couldn't deal with gravy (that's gravy and not jus). But it dealt with everything else.
I was particularly impressed at how easy it made making a Christmas pudding. Slop all the ingredients together, stick them in the air fryer for an hour and hey presto you have a freshly cooked turkey. Whoops sorry that should be a freshly cooked pudding. Even air fryers can't turn puddings into Turkeys.
I'm going to give that a go as there's nothing nicer than Chrissie pudding unless it's sticky toffee pudding with toffee sauce and ice cream or bread and butter pudding with custard or banoffee pie which incidentally was invented in a Sussex village called Jevington which we have visited on a number of occasions. Those would be my top four puddings although I do like Eaton Mess as well.
It seemed strange to have a programme about a kitchen utensil rather than the food. What next - a programme on how to use a microwave?
Whilst on the subject of food programmes, I have to say I'm getting tired of Mary Berry. Yes I know she's almost a saint but it does annoy me how she makes something, tastes it and then declares to the world how sensational it is. Not a great deal of modesty there. I might do the same with my Christmas pudding and eulogise about it to you all.
By and large I don't like celebrity chefs. Most of them are up their own drainpipes ( now there's a good turn of phrase). There are very few I can stomach but I do like the Hairy Bikers. At least they are what they say on the tin. They are hairy and they ride motorbikes. Jamie Oliver should be done under the trades descriptions act. He used to call himself the Naked Chef but his bits were never on display. Same with Chris Smith who gives us all the lowdown on viruses etc. He used to call himself the Naked Scientist.. but I think you know the rest of that sentence.
Apparently on the internet there is a naked gardener who gardens without clothes. Bloody cold in the winter I would think and think of all the places those dropping leaves could nestle in. There used to be a naked writer as well but you won't catch me writing this blog with no clothes on. The thought would be enough to put you off your air fried bits.
Was in a card shop yesterday when I was reduced to fits of giggles from two sources. Both were rather rude. I'm just trying to build up courage to tell you about them later in the week. They do need to come with a warning of smut ahead.
But enough of this pre Christmas frivolity. I feel I should finish off today with something a little more serious. But after careful consideration I've decided not to. I will leave that kind of thing to Breakfast news. I'll just say I will see you all tomorrow and thank you for all the kind comments that I continue to receive about this blog. Keep them coming and I might just turn into Mary Berry.