Posts Tagged ‘ British ’

British Man Rescued from Crippled Racing Yacht in Stormy Seas

January 21, 2011
By

A fleet of sporting yachts left Bilbao, Spain, on October 22, all captained by solo sailors competing in the Velux 5 Oceans around-the-world race. Thursday evening, the defending champion in the nearly 35,000-mile Bernard Stamm was in the lead, followed by Mike Golding. British sailor Alex Thompson was closing in on Golding in the icy Southern Ocean when suddenly the keel system on his boat, the Hugo Boss, failed.

The yachts in the raced have canting keels, which use hydraulic rams to swing the keel off the center line of the boat. The swing helps to reduce the lean of the boat and improve its performance. “I was in my bunk grabbing a quick power kip when I was suddenly thrown across the cabin as the boat broached,” Thomson said. “The boat was leaning right over on its side with the spreaders in the water.”

Thomson attempted to repair his boat, was unsuccessful. At that point, Golding turned back in the heavy waves and wing to rescue his competitor. He spent the night aboard his boat, Ecover, within sight of Thomson’s boat about 1,000 miles southeast of Africa’s Cape of Good Hope. At daybreak, the two men began working to transfer Thomson to Ecover. It took nearly two hours and four attempts before Thomson was able to reach the Ecover in his life raft, because of high waves and 25 mph winds.

Dressed in a survival suit, Thomson had to let the life raft drift away from his stricken yacht before Golding could maneuver close enough to pick him up. Golding described the rescue as “very scary at times.” In a statement from organizers of the race, Thomson said, “This has been without a doubt the most terrifying and emotional experience of my life.”

Thomson was quick to acknowledge his deep appreciation for the assistance of his competitor. “I am hugely grateful to Mike for turning back to rescue me,” he said. The operation was fairly hairy and the sea was lumpy which wasn’t very pleasant for either myself or Mike,” Thomson said. “At one point I caught my hand between the life raft and Ecover and it wasn’t until this point — when I cut my hand — that I thought to myself: ‘This is actually quite scary.’”

The statement from race officials said that Golding had asked Thomson not to participate in sailing or help him in any way, because the race is for solo sailors alone, and Golding would be credited with the time he lost due to the rescue.

However, just five hours after rescuing Thomson, the mast of the Ecover buckled in two places, and Goldin had no choice but to have Thomson help him nurse his damaged 60-foot yacht through high winds, sleet, and roiling waves to Cape Town for repairs. Tim Kelly, a spokesman for the race organizers, said that because of the extremely rare circumstances, the racing federation does not plan to penalize Golding for receiving assistance from Thomson. The remaining competitors could file a protest, but according to Kelly, the likelihood of someone protesting is a slim one.

The two sailors are now continuing on the Ecover toward the finish of the first leg of the race, which ends in Fremantle, Australia, in early December. The second leg of the race begins on January 7, heading for Norfolk, VA. The race, which has been held every four years since 1982, is scheduled to finish in Bilbao in April.

Traditional British Food

September 7, 2010
By

Known for their comforting soups, mouthwatering roasts and delicious puddings, the British have several warm, comforting delicacies under their belt. Traditional British foods are simple, yet comforting, which is what makes them so unique. A typical British breakfast would consist of food items like sausages, eggs, baked beans, bacon, mushrooms, cereal, porridge or toast, washed down with a cup of coffee or a glass of orange juice. A traditional lunch menu would range from sandwiches, Ploughman’s lunch (cheese, some pickle and pickled onion, and a piece of bread), fruit and a drink. Afternoon tea is an elaborate affair with awesome scones, biscuits, buns, etc. served with a cup of hot tea. Casseroles, pies, savory puddings, roast meat, vegetables, gravy, etc. are had for dinner, which are then topped with scrumptious desserts like spotted dick, trifles, apple crumble, treacle pudding, etc. Read more on cuisine.

Some Traditional British Food Dishes and Recipes

Fish and Chips
This is one of the popular, traditional British food starters that has been pacifying scores of taste buds for generations together. Fresh Fishes like cod, huss, plaice or haddock are battered and deep fried and served with mashed peas and French fries.

Ingredients

1 pound fresh fish fillets
1 cup all purpose flour
1 cup beer or milk
¼ tsp salt
½ tsp baking powder
Cooking oil
3 medium potatoes
Preparation Procedure

For preparing the fish batter take flour, baking powder, and salt in a medium sized mixing bowl. Add the beer or milk to it and prepare a smooth batter. Dip the fish fillets into the batter and fry it in a pan of hot oil. Fry each side till it becomes golden brown. For the chips, cut the potatoes into long fries like pieces and dunk them into the hot oil. Fry them till they become golden brown and serve fish and chips with mashed peas on the side and a dip. Read more on fish and chips recipes.

Shepherd’s Pie
According to a survey carried out in London, it was found that Britons considered Shepherd’s pie to be their favorite home cooked meal. Let’s have a look at how to make it.

Ingredients
500 g minced lamb
100 g frozen peas
1 large onion finely sliced
1 can tomatoes (natural juice)
4 large potatoes
2 cloves garlic (crushed)
Pinch of mixed herbs
Carrots
Dash of Worcestershire sauce
Dash of red wine
Salt & pepper to taste
Grated Cheddar Cheese
Preparation Procedure

Boil the potatoes, mash them and add butter, milk and seasoning to it. Set it aside. Preheat the oven at 180 degrees. Then take a pan and add minced lamb into it and fry until brown. Since the lamb has its own fat, there is no need to add extra oil. The excess fat should be drained out and have the lamb transferred to a plate. In another pan, fry the onions, garlic with slight amount of oil. Sauté them and then add the carrots and peas and fry a little more. Then add the browned lamb mince to it and stir a little more.

Mix evenly and add tomatoes, mixed herbs, peas, carrots, worcestershire sauce and mix well. Allow it to simmer for 10 minutes. Then add red wine and stir again. Transfer the contents to an oven dish and dollop out the mashed potato on top of it. Sprinkle grated Cheddar cheese and bake it in the preheated oven for 40 minutes or till the cheese turns golden brown.

Yorkshire Pudding
Also the name of this dish contains the word ‘pudding’, this dish is not consumed as dessert, in fact is eaten as a part of the main course or even had as a starter. This dish is more like a cross between a soufflé and a cheese puff.
Ingredients
1 cup flour
1 cup milk
2 Tbsp melted butter
2 beaten eggs
½ teaspoon salt
3-4 tbs of roast drippings
Preparation Procedure

In a large bowl sift the salt and flour. Make a well in the flour-salt mountain and pour in milk, melted butter and eggs. Beat the mixture with a beater, until you obtain a smooth batter. Make sure there are no lumps floating around. In a preheated oven of 450 degrees F, place a ceramic casserole dish with the roast drippings in it and heat it in the oven for 10 minutes. Then pour the batter into this pan with roast dripping and cook for 15 minutes in the oven at 450 degrees F. After which reduce the temperature to 350 degrees F and cook for another 20 minutes or till it turns golden brown.

Spotted Dick
This steamed pudding is very simple to prepare and quite wonderful as comforting dessert.

Ingredients
100 g self raising flour
75 g shredded suet
75 g breadcrumbs
50 g caster sugar
175 g currants
Lemon zest (1 lemon)
5 tbsp milk
Pinch of salt
Preparation Procedure

In a large mixing bowl place the flour, breadcrumbs, sugar, salt, suet, currants and lemon zest. In the mound make a well with your hand and pour in the milk. Knead and form a soft dough. Take a large sheet of greaseproof paper on a flat surface and roll out the dough on it slowly, with the help of a rolling pin. Make sure there is space for expansion. Wrap the rolled dough in it loosely, however, do tie each end with a string. Now place it on a piece of foil and seal it completely. Now place this foil enveloped dough in a steamer and steam for 2 hours. Slice the pudding and serve with custard.

Read more on :
Afternoon Tea Menu
Pie Recipes
Dessert Recipes
The above mentioned traditional British food recipes were only one from each category. There are scores of other famous traditional British food dishes such as steak and kidney pie, cumberland sausage, dover sole, toad in the hole, steak and oyster pie, potted shrimps, bakewell tart, English pancakes, etc. and the list is endless.

Battle for Body of Punjab’s Last British Priest

July 30, 2010
By

To his family and friends in England and North America, Father Mark Barnes was a gentle giant of a man, a priest who visited only to sell rosary beads and raise donations for poor villagers in rural Punjab.

But to the Catholic church in India’s north-western state he was a rogue cleric who had absented himself from the diocese and acted as a lightning rod for dissent among Punjabi Christians.

Although the priest died nearly four months ago, a bitter fight for his body rages between the Catholic diocese and his Punjabi followers. The roots of the dispute can be traced to the cleric’s attempt to train “Punjabi” priests and nuns from poverty-stricken villages. In defiance of the bishop, he started building churches, convents and seminaries. This was an anathema to the church, whose clergy is drawn from upper caste southern Christians.

Even at the age of 72, Father Mark whizzed along the flat fields of Punjab on a red 250cc motorbike, living and working among the poor. He was born in British India and, though the family returned to the UK after partition, Father Mark always hankered to go “home”. Fluent in Punjabi and Hindi, he was a crack shot who often disappeared into the elephant grass to hunt partridges with local farmers. He apparently blew himself up while grinding gunpowder in his room.

A pile of bricks stacked along the baked ground is all that remains of the grave in his church compound in the shabby Gumtala village on the edge of Amritsar.

Thousands of his followers attended the cleric’s burial in February, mobbing his younger sister, Anne Wakeling, who had flown from Britain for the funeral. But that night 70 men, some wearing police uniforms, dug up the coffin and dumped it in a nearby field.

The body of Punjab’s last British priest lies today covered only in acrimony, legal writs and mud. The church wants the body removed to its main cemetery in Jullundur, 60 miles away. The priest’s followers say the church wants land that the priest had distributed to the poor and to regain control of the seminaries and convents.

“It is a scandal,” Ms Wakeling says. “Mark only wanted to help the poor and it was their request to have his body in a place near to where they lived because they cannot afford to travel. I thought that was right but the Catholic church in Punjab does not.” The priest’s sister lives in Kent but has spent “months trying to get this sorted in the Punjab courts”.

She adds: “I am a Catholic but the cold-blooded way these priests have talked to me, it makes my blood boil.” Punjab’s high court will hear the arguments next month.

Father Mark arrived in 1964 in Punjab. Two decades living among the downtrodden transformed him into a social activist who believed that people should “free” themselves from poverty. It was an Indian version of liberation theology, a doctrine developed by South American Catholic priests which advocates fighting against political systems they believe are at the root of poverty. The Indian Catholic church has worked hard to prevent congregations being swayed by the doctrine.

Father Mark’s flock came from the lawless border belt around Ajnala in Punjab, which divides India from Pakistan. Almost all his congregation were from an untouchable caste who converted first to Islam to escape stigma and then became Christians during partition in 1947 so they could remain in their historic homeland.

Until Father Mark arrived, they made a living by stealing and smuggling. But the priest cleared and cultivated government land, handing over plots so that families could depend on farming.

“He was an independent missionary who took 5,000 acres lying barren and then cleared it, tilled it, farmed it and then handed over plots of 10 acres to the poor. He was a messiah to them,” said Kanwal Bakshi, a local Christian politician.

In the hamlet of Skih Bhatti, five miles from the border, villagers’ eyes fill with tears at the mention of Father Mark.

“He was a holy man, a spiritual man,” says Clara Massih, leading the way to her home built with the money from Father Mark’s gift of 10 acres. “Without the plot of land we would never have this.”

It was the growing empowerment of village life, say Father Mark’s supporters, that provoked the ire of the church. In Punjab, the church’s priesthood is dominated by men from the state of Kerala in southern India. About 85% of the clergy are southerners.

“All these Keralites have come here and taken over,” says Sister Sabha, a nun from Father Mark’s convent in Gumtala. “They do not speak our language or respect us. They just look down upon us.”

But the chances of Father Mark’s followers getting their wishes appear slim. “The problem is that Father Mark would not obey the Bishop of Jullundur’s orders. The bishop wanted Mark to move away from Amritsar and he refused,” says Father John Mankuzhichalil, the priest in charge of Amritsar.

“But Mark remained a priest and that means we became his family. His sister and brothers cannot now claim what they no longer own.”

British Break Duck Without Hammy

March 23, 2010
By

It may have lacked the sheer drama surrounding England’s 5-1 World Cup win in Munich last September, but for Britain’s curling team the victory over table-topping Germany at the Winter Olympics was just as important.

The 7-6 win was the team’s first in four matches and kept alive their slim hopes of qualifying for the semi-final and remaining in contention for a medal. It was achieved with out the rink’s skip Hammy McMillan, who dropped himself because he had been so badly out of form in the first three matches.

McMillan replaced himself with Warwick Smith and brought in Norman Brown for his first match. “I’m very happy that we’ve got our first win under our belts,” said McMillan, the 1999 world champion. “It was me who was struggling in the first three games, so the decision had to be made.”

Britain now face Finland and Denmark knowing that defeat by either will virtually end their chances of progressing in a tournament they were considered one of the favourites to win.

The women, in contrast, are looking much more like serious contenders for a medal. Rhona Martin’s rink won their third match in four last night when they beat Russia 8-5. It followed Wednesday night’s thumping 9-1 win over Japan.

It completed a happy Valentine’s Day for the 26-year-old Ewan MacDonald, a member of the men’s curling team, and his 27-year-old wife Fiona, who is competing for the women. They are the first married couple to represent Britain at the same games.

Britain’s Jayne Torvill has backed claims that the result of the Olympic pairs figure skating competition should be overturned after a French judge admitted that she had been under pressure to vote for the Russian couple even though the Canadians skated better.

Marie-Reine Le Gougne was one of five judges who favoured Yelena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze des pite the couple’s obvious technical error on Monday. That was enough for a 5-4 decision that gave the Russians the gold over Canada’s Jamie Salé and David Pelletier.

“The Canadian duo were clearly better than their Russian rivals,” said Torvill, who together with her partner Christopher Dean won the Olympic gold medal in ice pairs at Sarajevo in 1984. “Salé and Pelletier did not make a single mistake. It was a disgraceful result. The Canadians are the people’s champions.”

Didier Gailhaguet, the head of the French skating federation, said Le Gougne “has been somewhat manipulated”, but he denied any wrongdoing by his organisation. It has been alleged that Le Gougne voted for the Russians in return for their scoring favourably for the French couple in the ice dance competition, which starts today.

“Some people close to the judge have acted badly and have put someone who is honest and upright but emotionally fragile under pressure,” Gailhaguet said. “We cannot continue to let our judge be lambasted in this way. What is true is that Marie-Reine has been put under pressure, which pushed her to act in a certain way.”

Spain’s Johan Muehlegg claimed his second gold medal of the games when he won the men’s 10km classical cross-country race to take the medal in the cross-country skiing combined pursuit. On Saturday Muehlegg had blown away the field to win the 30km freestyle mass start.

But the more important race to many was the one to see who would finish last among the 83 entrants as this was the event that had attracted the most entries from countries with no tradition in winter sports.

It was a challenge won by Cameroon’s Isaac Menyoli, who has used the media coverage he has generated here to press home to Africans the dangers of Aids. He finished nine minutes behind Muehlegg. Philip Boit, formerly one of Kenya’s top runners who turned to cross-country skiing four years ago and finished last in the Nagano games, came home in 80th place, a relative triumph.


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