Fudging it up

This year we are pretty short on pennies (nothing new there then) so I have invested some money and time into making home made gifts. Initially I wanted to give chocolates and truffles but they don't have a very long shelf life so I would have to make them on demand which is hassle I don't need as Christmas. So I thought that fudge would be a better choice.

I bought some flat pack gift boxes and have already started assembling them. adding ribbons and labels, soon I'll start making job lots of fudge to fill them. It wont be long intill I start giving them out with as a dose of Christmas cheer :)

Here is my recipe for delicious Scottish tablet which is a crumbly fudge that melts in your mouth.

Vanilla Scottish tablet
1 400g tin of condensed milk
500 grams of granulated sugar
50 grams of butter

Put all ingrediants into a pan on the hob and mix. When it has been at a steady rolling boil for 5 minutes it should be ready. Check the temp with a confectionery thermometer or if you don't have one try the soft ball test like I do. Take a tea spoon of hot mixture and drop it into a class of cold water. if it is firm ball when you lift it out then its ready.

Place into a foil lined container to cool at room temperature. When it is firm but not hard score the fudge into cubes. Cool for a few hours (over night is best) and when stored in a sealed container it should last for weeks. That s if it doesn't all get eaten before then!

If you would like variations, once the mixture is ready you can add chopped nuts and chunky peanut butter or even dried fruit and chocolate chips without changing the recipe above. I used creamed coconut in the mix with 20grams less sugar, adding dessicated coconut on top when it is starting to set. Enjoy :)

Sunscreen

Although its been raining here in Essex I thought I take the chance to comment on sunscreen before the summer kicks in in the south, and believe me it is going to be a scorcher! With everyone broke there will be less holidays and after lots of health risks for teenagers on sunbeds i'm sure many more people will be out worshiping the sun in thier gardens this year.



Its surprises me that today there are still modern forward thinking people who don't wear sunscreen. They might put it on if they were sunbathing or on holiday but usually the UK is too over cast to warrant needing it everyday. And if they do put it on often its only once and not reapplied. Some people think a high SPF will protect you for longer, but anything from 15 up is fine and it does not get that much better UVB (Harmful suns rays that damage your skin) coverage the higher you go.

Did you know sunscreen takes 30minutes to start work? You should put it on before you go out and not just when you think you may be sitting in the sun. The UK is a granny state and with a heat wave impending the labour party will put out dangerous warnings and health risks concerning the sun, some people will say this is ridiculous and patronising but most people don't bother wearing a hat or sunscreen so I think although patronising its also nessceray.

Where ever you are lobster is not a good look, no to mention the difference it will make once you meet middle aged, when the sun tan fades the damage is ther for good and gets continually worse. So slap it on girls and boys and dont forget your hat : )

MSN virus and BCC

In the midst of the worm virus which 4 of my friends have now suffered with in the last month I have decided to blog about it. This worm is not damaging but more annoying. It logs into your msn account on messenger for a few seconds and sends links to people in your lists. It often says something like “this is funny” or “photo of you” followed by a link. In one case I experienced it then download a worm (I didn’t luckily) to your pc causing damage but this most recent one simply asks you to log into msn and stealing your log in details.

A simple way to slow down virus and nuisance scams is to use blind carbon copy when you send out forwarding bulk emails. Bcc send emails without letting a 3rd party know all of the address, avoiding the risk of viruses and scammers getting hold of these addresses. It also makes the emails easier to read for recipients, without having to scroll past the hundreds of addresses before reaching the message.

I myself was ignorant to this feature intill recently and have since taken it on bored when ever I send emails. I know how easy it is for viruses to spread and if I had one on my pc they would steal the addresses as they were sent electronically, just some thing to think about!