Made in Mumbles Website goes live

Another quick post, this time to announce that my wifes website has finally gone live.

Her business Made in Mumbles, offers a wide range of fresh flower arrangements for any occasion delivered to anywhere in Swansea.

She is also running a series of Christmas flower arranging courses, throughout November

How to stop people tagging you in Facebook Photos

If you'd prefer all of your friends on Facebook not to be informed when someone else tags you, follow these simple instructions.

Unfortunately there is no way to stop people from tagging you apart from leaving Facebook

1) Goto Account > Privacy Settings

2) Select the Customise Options at the bottom

3) Select Photos and videos you're tagged in option halfway down the page

4) Select the Customise Option

5) Select Only Me


6) Select Save Settings

It's good to be blogging again

Not much has been happening on this blog recently as I've been devoting my attention to my new company blog Always Be Testing which contains lot of useful hints and tips about internet marketing

Got 12 posts under my belt so far and determined to keep up the momentum

Helping Small Business

In these tough times, it's even harder for small businesses to find the money to either build or maintain a website.

We've been testing out a new framework for the Wordpress platform called Thesis to create a website that can be quickly and easily updated by our clients.

We're pleased to announce the launch of our first one. Built for John Roberts who runs wine tasting courses and events in swansea, it allow him to quickly edit the pages and he'll be writing a blog shortly

Brined & Roasted Pork Belly

This recipe is adapted from the one out of the excellent Nose to Tail Eating by Fergus Henderson. I've reduced the amount of brine and cut the brining time down to 1 day.

The brine

• 200g caster sugar
• 300g sea salt
• 6 cloves
• 6 black peppercorns
• 3 bay leaves
• 2 litres water

Bring all the brine ingredients together in a pot and bring to the boil so the sugar and salt melt. Pour into a container and allow to cool.

The Recipe

• 2kg piece of pork belly, with skin on
• 2 onions,
• splash of olive oil
• a pinch of coarse sea salt

1. Get your butcher to score the rind of a 1.5kg to 2kg pork belly or do it yourself with a sharp stanley knife
2. Place the pork belly into a large piece of tupperware (Lakeland Plastics 6 Litre containers are great for this)
3. Cover with the brine and leave in the fridge for 24 hours
4. Chop the onions and pace on the base of a roasting tray.
5. Lay the belly on top. Rub the skin with a little oil and then the salt.
6. Place in a medium to hot oven for approximately 1.5-2 hours.
7. When cooked you should have crispy skin on top of soft and giving fatty flesh.
8. Lift off the onions and serve.

Flatbreads Cooked On A Barbecue / BBQ

The basic recipe comes from the second Moro cookbook - Casa Moro and while they talk about cooking it in your oven, I think its even better cooked over a charcoal BBQ

Ingredients

• 450g strong white bread flour
• 3/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
• 1/2 teaspoon dried yeast
• 300ml warm water
• 2 tablespoons olive oil

1. Place the flour and salt in a large mixing bowl.
2. Dissolve the yeast in the water and pour into the flour a bit at a time while mixing. You can do this by hand, or in a food processor with a dough hook
3. When all the water has been incorporated, add the olive oil and knead it in. Now transfer the dough to a floured surface and continue to knead well for about 5 minutes until the dough is no longer tacky, but soft, elastic and smooth.
4. Add more flour a little at a time if it is too sticky. Set aside, covered by a cloth,' to rest for an hour on the floured surface.
5. Divide the dough into four and, on a very well floured surface, roll out each piece into a rough circle 3mm thick.
   

If cooking on a BBQ

1. Get your charcoal really hot - you need a good red glow from them and you shouldn't be able to hold your hand over them for more than a second
2. Put your circles onto the griddle and watch like a hawk - after a couple of minutes the bottoms will start to crisp up and you'll need to flip them over to avoid them getting too burnt
   

If cooking in the oven

1. Transfer to two large baking sheets that have been lightly floured.
2. Put in the oven immediately and bake for 5-10 minutes until the bread is cooked.
3. Each bread should partially bubble up and colour slightly, yet not be totally crisp.

America... Wake Up and Listen to Warren

It seems if you want to polarise America, get people talking about reforming the healthcare system.

Now one of the richest and most succesful men in America, Warren Buffet has waded in.

He has compared the runaway cost of heathcare to an economic tapeworm and pointed out that America spends 17% of its GDP on healthcare wheras other countries with more centralised healthcare systems only spend 9%

Tricky one for the Republicans / Right wingers / Tea party folk who've been using term socalised medicine to imply its socalism via the backdoor.

When someone such as Warren Buffet who is:

1) Very successful investor and businessman

2) Clearly not a socialist

Says something needs to be done, it'll be interesting to see how the right counters this