Angela Reed-Fox

Emotional Branding – Daryl Travis

AngelaReedFox — Mon, 20 May 2013 12:23:13 +0000

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

AngelaReedFox — Sun, 19 May 2013 19:36:30 +0000

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

AngelaReedFox — Sat, 18 May 2013 12:34:00 +0000

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

AngelaReedFox — Sat, 11 May 2013 21:15:44 +0000

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

AngelaReedFox — Mon, 08 Apr 2013 18:41:02 +0000

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

AngelaReedFox — Sat, 16 Mar 2013 16:32:04 +0000

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

AngelaReedFox — Wed, 27 Feb 2013 18:47:09 +0000

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…

Schmetterling und Taucherglocke – Jean-Dominique Bauby

AngelaReedFox — Mon, 19 Nov 2012 08:06:33 +0000

This is the most beautiful book in the world.

Chocolate and Banana Cookies

AngelaReedFox — Sat, 17 Nov 2012 19:26:58 +0000

Ingredients

115g butter, melted
40g sugar
40g banana milkshake powder
250g self-raising flour
100ml golden syrup
150g chocolate left in large squares

Method

Preheat the oven to 180°C/Gas Mark 4.

Mix the butter, banana powder and sugar together.

Add the remainder of the ingredients. If the mixture isn’t very stiff, add more flour.

Form into balls and place on either a greased baking tray or silicon sheet. There should be one piece of chocolate to each ball. (Or put extra in if you’re feeling abundant…)

Bake for about 10 minutes – but feel free to keep checking, hey, every oven’s different.

Remove from the oven and leave to cool for a few minutes, the chocolate will still be melted and the biscuits will be warm. Serve with a glass of milk.

Churches Beware (a modern edition of ‘Warnings to the Churches’) – J.C. Ryle

AngelaReedFox — Sat, 20 Oct 2012 11:52:09 +0000

Mr Ryle was the first bishop of Liverpool. And a very sensible man. He said such inifinitely wise things as: ‘But it is useless ot expect attachment ot the local parish church, when the local minister is ignorant of the gospel or a lover of the world. In such a case we must never be surprised if men forsake their local parish church, and seek truth wherever truth is to be found.’ Wise words. However, writing in the nineteenth century, he could not have foreseen a time when such churches still had people in them despite the gospel not having been preached in living memory. He could not therefore have foreseen a time when the membership of some churches was predominantly made up by people who show all the signs of not being saved.

It’s a great book, but you could argue it’s out of date. A lot of the things he was warning the churches about has already happened. Still, Mr Ryle is a top chap.