Obviously it’s more than a logo, and this book contains a lot of stuff that people should just know if they have a business. But there are some excellent examples of things that have worked, despite everyone thinking they wouldn’t. This is the sort of book that you read with a highlighter, pencil or notebook in the other. It’s highly readable, but it is the sort of book that you’d need to come back to to keep reapplying the principles.
Mince Pie Cake
A great way to use that left over mincemeat that you’re never sure what to do with.
Ingredients
- 70g brown sugar, soft
- 50g butter
- 150g self raising flour
- 1 egg
- splosh of rum or whiskey, or whatever tipple you fancy
- 100g mincemeat (you can add more depending on consistency of cake mixture)
Method
Preheat oven to 160°C
Mix the butter, sugar and rum (or alternative) together.
Add the flour and egg, and then finally add the mincemeat. Add more mincemeat so the mixture is firm but still sticky.
Add to a greased tin or silicone container.
Spread a thin layer of mincemeat over the top.
Bake for 30 mins. (But keep checking, might need more or less, depending on your oven).
Mmmm. Enjoy.
A History of Modern Britain – Andrew Marr
Huge book to get one’s teeth into. What’s a bit scary is what’s written about in the later chapters is weirdly familiar and it’s strange to see it written about as history.
Best bit about the book? Excellent photo caption facing page 407, and brilliant subtitles such as ‘The Killer Cows of Old England’, ‘The Tartan Pizza’ and ‘The Stairs Were on Fire’. Mr Marr is wasted on TV.
Marie Antoinette: the journey – Antonia Fraser
This a beautifully sympathetic book. Well-researched, and containing lots of personal details and anecdotes to add understanding of the character and person of Marie Antoinette. What a person, and what unfortunate circumstances. Fills another gap in my knowledge of history. This is one of those books (because of the character of the Queen herself) that when finished, leaves an empty space. I don’t know what to do now.
The Warrior Queens: Boadicea’s Chariot – Antonia Fraser
An interesting and well-researched book, as one would expect. Discusses the different aspects of a ‘warrior queen’; shame syndrome, weak woman syndrome, appendage syndrome, voracity syndrome, tomboy syndrome, better-man syndrome et al.
Pineapple and Banana Cake
Ingredients
- 50g butter
- 75g brown sugar
- 150g self-raising flour
- 1 egg
- 1 banana, mashed
- Slices or chunks of pineapple to top with (fresh or tinned in juice – thoroughly dried with kitchen paper)
- A couple of generous dollops of golden syrup
Method
Preheat oven to about 180°C.
Mix butter and sugar together to form a paste. Add the banana, egg, and flour and mix thoroughly.
Turn out into either a pre-greased cake tin or a silicon one.
Top with pineapple, and a liberal dosing of golden syrup
Cook for about 30 minutes, but turn after 15 minutes and keep checking.
Allow to cool in the tin, and then turn out.
Lock the doors, close the curtains, hide behind the sofa and enjoy.
Suckers: how alternative medicine makes fools of us all – Rose Shapiro
This is an eye-opening and well-researched book. Very readable, but at the same time shocking to consider that so much money has been spent on treatments that don’t work – just because they’re trendy and people like them. In fact, what I found was the most disturbing was that the people who lay into Western medicine as being ‘artificial’ and dangerous are precisely the same people who reject the scientific approach of randomised controlled trials (the most rigorous form of evidence) because they ‘don’t work’ on complementary therapy. That’s probably all you need to know…
