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I am a Nigel Slater fan, he is such a natural cook. His recipes are British yet with inspiration from around the world. The recipes in Real Food are straight forward and easy to follow, they are practical yet inspirational. I will never tire of Nigel and his meals will always be on the menu planner and my dinner party menu's.
I would never knowingly buy a cook book from a celebrity chef. Fortunately for me, I didn't realise Nigel Slater was a celebrity chef when I bought this book!
A friend of mine gave me a recipe once for potato and smoked mackerel dauphinoise. It was really simple to make and tasted superb. The recipe was from this book and the friend recommended it, so I went out and bought it straight away.
The book is quite simple in its concept. It's a big bunch of comfort food recipes! Very good, tasty, simple recipes that can be enjoyed with minimal fuss and preparation. There's some attempt to bunch them together into sections but there's some cross over and it's mostly a delightful assortment of delicious food.
There's no attempt to be pretentious. There's no fancy ingredients or awkward preparation required. Each recipe appears to be chosen solely on its taste and ease of preparation. You could pick out any recipe at random and make it that day with ingredients available from your nearest grocery store.
Anyone could pick up this book and cook up a delicious meal with little fuss. It almost makes pre-prepared ready meals obsolete!
Very rarely does a CD come along that you love everyone of the tracks on it. There is always usually a duffer on it or one which doesn't provoke much. The closest I have come is Fleetwood Mac: Rumours. Why am I talking about Mick Fleetwood, Lindsey Buckingham & Stevie Nicks when I should be talking about Nigel Slater? Well for me the same is true of a cookbook. Very rarely does one come along that it doesn't produce at least a few mediocre meals (cooking skills aside). This book, so far has not failed to produce meal after meal of impeccable flavour and variety. I guess over time I am nearing ¾ of the recipes within and it houses several of my now tried and tested favourite recipes. Facing that everyday scenario, of when your cookery book cupboard is being held hostage by an armed intruder, this would be the one I negotiate safety. Although I would have to tear out Jamie Oliver's belly pork with fennel recipe. And Delia Smith's chocolate bread & butter pudding recipe. That goes without saying.
I can recall how I became upon this cookbook - I exchanged it following a duplicate christmas present. I was flicking through alternatives in waterstones, and came across this one which only had 8 different types of food in it: Potatoes, chicken, sausages, garlic, bread, cheese, ice cream, chocolate. This simplistic approach to recipes instead of a scattergun inclusion was refreshing. To be honest he could have scrapped 6 to leave sausage and ice cream and I would have been happy - the 2 pivotal cornerstones of a perfect diet. Each section has about 15 or so recipes within, and vary in terms of 'simple but delicious' to 'chef masterclass'. A lot of them are takes on a classic. For instance toad in the hole or a steak sandwich. Sure, we can all cook these without the assistance of Nigel, but the little twists he adds to these recipes give a delight not otherwise experienced. I will be the first to say that along with a lot of chefs and recipes, his reliance on double creams, heavy percentages of butter and all things calorific. He obviously goes by the rule, the unhealthier something is the tastier it will be. But look at it this way: if you used cook books like this for your day to day staple diet it will be the same as if you dined out every night. This is a once a week or fortnight or month cookbook. Scarce enough to keep it a treat.
I like a book which has photos. Not only because I am simplistic, but because I like to get an indication of whether my concoction looks remotely like the intended recipe. I am pleased to say that this book has photo's galore and a high majority of the recipes come with a glossy, artistic picture for comparison. The instructions are on the whole easy to follow, and don't hold any surprises; i.e. the classic Delia moment, when following a recipe for a dinner party 2 hours away, the recipe starts with "the day before your meal, make sure you...". Throughout the book flows a style of writing unique to Nigel Slater, and I felt lifted by the inclusion of occasional less than precise terminology i.e. a 'dollup' or a 'swig'. I am a bit of an experimental in quantity cook and rebel against such authoritarian dictatorship in my kitchen. An attitude which excels in a lot of culinary areas but produces spectacular flops in the pavlova department. Yes; estimating quantities there has led me to becoming a treble pavlova failure. I now shy away from all things meringue.
A couple of recipes which stand out as going beyond the call of duty and should be awarded some kind of culinary medal of sorts:
The Spicy Sausage Pasta: Using skinned Italian spicy sausages, double cream, Orecchiette pasta, wholegrain mustard, basil, white wine and chilli flakes. This one has made an outing time and time again and wowed at dinner parties for a boys night in or a more fancy evening. It actually rewards you for getting the pan too hot and the sausages sticking to the pan! Genius!
The vanilla poached pears with florentine cream, crushed brandy snaps , drizzled with chocolate. This is one of my favourite puddings ever, and the only one I'm allowed to do (my wife is head chef in the pudding department for very good reasons). The sign of a good pudding, for me has to be whether it can be eaten cold the next day. I intentionally make probably twice the amount you are supposed to of these, and they keep me going as a key element of breakfast, teabreak, lunch, tea, high tea and dinner the next day. As they are fruit, they must be good for me... right?
I could go on. and on. for 120 recipes, but both writer and reader would probably lose the will to live. To summarise, in my top ten cookbooks. this places at #1. (although to be honest, I don't even have a top 2 cook books let alone a top 10, but this is my favourite.)
I am by no means an elite cook. I hate washing up. My job/social life means that I am usually short on time when it comes to cooking meals and thanks to the credit crunch I am more likely to purchase Asda Smartprice than Sainsbury's Taste The Difference produce.
That said, as I've got older I've found that I'm not satisfied by the studenty concoctions I used to live off - pasta and a can of chopped tomatoes, beans, beans and more beans (apart from Heinz baked beans snap-pots, there are a work of genius. I must review them). I find myself wanting to cook more exciting meals with exotic/authentic produce, not only for myself but also to wow my friends/boyfriend (the way to a man's heart etc....). An invisible force now sucks me into international delis, posh cheese shops and even, dare I say it, the food halls at Selfridges and Harvey Nichols in search of a particular type of chocolate or stinky cheese I have heard about.
So what am I to do? I'm short on money and time but I have aspirations (or possibly delusions?!) of culinary grandeur. Nigel Slater's Real Fast Food is a godsend.
Be warned: this book will make you hungry. Make sure you have plenty of food in before your read it. The recipes are written in a descriptive and saliva-inducing way (good tactic Nigel) that makes you want to get cooking right away. I love the way the book is written - in fact, I've read it cover to cover and I can't say that about any of my other cook books.
The slightly odd thing about the book is that it's a paper back with no pictures. I think this boils down to the Slater's emphasis on simple food/flavours rather than presentation.
There are recipes for everything from cheese on toast to oysters and Bloody Mary's. It's organised into headings for each type of food e.g. potatoes, cheese, cabbage etc. making it easy to follow. There's commentary about how to track down the best and most ethical produce. I think this knowledge has actually saved me money - rather than going crazy in the expensive deli, I know the Italian salami I'm after and just buy that.
It's simple but inspirational, for example; there are sections headed "good things to team with eggs in a sandwich" and "good things to top a baked potato" which give you great ideas for normal but also sophisticated meals. I would never have come up with a jacket potato sprinkled with pesto and Parmesan - try it! It's so tasty.
You can get yourself a copy on Amazon for around £5.00 - it's well worth it.
I'm on a bit of a cookbook roll - have just Gordon and Delia the once-over, so now for Nige! So how does he compare?
Now the thing about Nigel Slater is, he writes beautifully, but he doesn't come across terribly well on TV - possibly why he's not on it much! I love his weekly contribution to the Observer magazine, often cutting out recipes. But even when he writes about something I hate the tast of, I love to read the article!
This quality translates into this book too. Everything just sounds so delicious in his recipes! Of course, some of this may be to do with the notoriously waist-expanding amounts of butter, cheese and cream that seem to make their way into his recipes!
Real Food is by not intended as a comprehensive cook book. Nor is it organised conventionally - there are no chapters on Starters, Soups, Desserts, Fish, Meat etc here. Instead, the chapters are organised around a select few of Nige's favourite foods - such as Cheese, Chocolate, Sausages, Bread, Potatoes (see what I mean about the un-health factor?). The Cheese chapter is a particularly interesting mix of sweet and savoury recipes. And each section is prefaced by a little essay of love to the featured ingredient.
The recipes themselves - well, in general they're easy to follow (Nige is a big one for taste rather than fancy presentation) and taste fantastic. They range from quick little snacks to efforts worthy of a dinner party. I've tried quite a few and haven't found a dud yet.
Any downside? Well, don't expect to be able to fiind a recipe for all the standards in here - but the book never promised that! It might be nice to have a few less heart-attack-inducing recipes, but then again they can be found, and I feel like I'm nit-picking! My one genuine complaint might be that Nige can be a bit excessively 'foodie' sometimes, which can make him sound a bit prescriptive - particularly in the introduction where he insist (something like) 'When I say butter, I mean unsalted, best-butter you can find; and when I say eggs, I mean organic eggs that you collected yourself this morning from a hen running free across the meadows with Mozart playing in the background....' [Before I get complaints, I'm not implying a deep love for battery farming!] - you know what I mean!
However, Nige seems free from the huge ego and determination for world domination that taints some of our other celeb-chefs, or even seems to be their raison-d'etre (step forward Mr Ramsay!). He's clearly driven by a deep love of making, and eating great food - and this book is all about spreading the love.
We are on real food today, people. Real Food. As written about by Nigel Gotta Love That Man Slater. Real Food. As cooked and eaten by Jill Loves To Feed Her Face Wherever and Whenever Humanly Possible Murphy. Real Food. Slater has divided the book into eight sections, all containing recipes based - sometimes loosely - around a particular ingredient. These are potatoes, chicken, sausages, garlic, bread, cheese, ice cream and chocolate. You will not find recipes you need to fuss over for hours. You will not find recipes with ingredients you cannot find except at outrageous prices in specialist delicatessens. However, you will find ideas for good, good food. This is the kind of food so good that you would serve it to guests but the kind of food so basic, so comforting, that you would serve it to yourself every day. Nigel Slater writes about food with enthusiasm and joy. He, like me, thinks food is an important pleasure and his words are silky, loving, sensuous... sensual, even. He is also very witty. The recipes themselves are set out in a very clear, easy-to-follow fashion. Mostly, they are simple enough for the least talented cook to follow. The chapter introductions and asides, though, are full of Slater's food loves, reminiscences, jokes and descriptions. I defy you to read him waxing lyrical about even a dish you do not think you would like and not feel hungry. Above all, Slater comes across as an enthusiastic, witty, warm man. Real Food is full of these personal touches and it more than a reference book of recipes; it is a good, amusing, inspiring and satisfying read. The first time I opened it, I did not close it again until I had read it from cover to cover. There are around one hundred and twenty recipes included, and it would b
e dull to try to précis them all. Suffice it to say that they are an eclectic mixture - some are very basic and some much more sophisticated. Toad in the hole sits next to something called Salcicce and Pepperoni. A garlicky creamed mushroom with parmesan potato crust concoction follows a chip butty. The cornflake cakes you remember from childhood are there, but turn the page and you are discovering the delights of a white chocolate mousse flavoured with cardamom. What binds these dishes together is a lack of pretension. Nothing is fiddly, nothing is over-complicated, all is mouth-watering. Slater does make clear, though, that you will need to buy good quality ingredients to get the best results: "When I say butter, I mean unsalted; when I say salt, I mean Maldon sea salt; and, when I say sugar, I mean the golden, unrefined stuff from Mauritius. Pepper is ground from a mill and not, absolutely not, bought ready-ground." So be warned! The section on chicken has been least use to me. I am a red meat aficionado, I'm afraid. Many of the recipes call for breasts, thighs, or joints and I prefer to cook a chicken whole. I have yet to find a recipe for roast chicken that improves upon Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's delicious offering with honey and couscous. I would think, though, that the many people who prefer to choose white meat where possible would find lots to choose from here. Of far more interest to me are the many possibilities Slater offers for the humble banger - a good butcher's banger though, obviously. My favourite from these is the recipe for good old Toad in the Hole, embellished with some thin slices of pancetta around the sausages and some mustard in the batter. It is by far the best Toad I have eaten. The potato section is a revelation. Follow Slater's method fo
r the most delicious, sticky-on-the-outside, fluffy-on-the-inside roast potatoes ever. Check out the wondrous variations on mashed Murphys. The star for me here is a smoked mackerel gratin ? an easy to make, one dish recipe, it is scrummy and better still, CHEAP! There is a potato pizza too, which sounds odd, but is delicious and while good and interesting enough to serve to guests, is also homely enough for a lovely weekend supper dish. And, oh, my goodness, the potato cakes with pancetta and cheese has found its way from the cheese section of Real Food onto the Murphy Weekly Menu. And then there are the sweet recipes... these will make you groan with delight. Nigella Lawson has donated a sticky chocolate pudding recipe that is to die for. I am not usually keen on Nigella, she takes that whole food-as-orgasm just one step too far for me. However, this is delicious and so easy. It is a one-bowl dish of loveliness. Every good recipe book should include something for children to make without too much cooking, and Slater comes up trumps with the richest, most scrumptious chocolate refrigerator cake we Murphys have ever tried. And we have tried a few. Do you want me to start with the ice-creams? We like the banana ice-cream and the pink grapefruit sorbet. These are both yummy and easy to make, although I must say it is so much easier with an ice-cream maker, if you have one. Slater insists ices are a doddle to make without one, but I think his enthusiasm gets the better of his common sense here. Ice-cream is a real pain to make by hand beating, whatever he says. There are some more rarefied dishes in this section too - deep-fried ice-cream and mincemeat parcels, for instance - and I do think, again, despite Nigel's nonchalance, that these are too daunting for a novice cook. Ack, though, I am picking
. Whatever your foodie preferences, if you like good food and you like to cook good food in a largely unpretentious, unfussy way, then Real Food is the manual for you. It is rare that more than a couple of recipes from any one cookery book make it onto my table as a staple meal cooked at least monthly. Real Food has provided me with more than any other. From the Smoked Mackerel Dauphinoise, through the Potato Pizza, the Toad in the Hole, the Grilled Marinated Lamb to the Prawns with Garlic, from the Steak Sandwich through the Potato Cakes with Pancetta and Cheese, to the ice-creams and the chocolate cakes, this is the cookery book I use most often. The recipes are clear and easy-to-follow - with the exception of a few ambitious puddings - and the accompanying blurbs never fail to make me smile and feel hungry. The photographs are enticing. What more could I ask? More interesting and less patronising than Saint Delia, less fashion-conscious and experimental than Jamie Oliver, less downright irritating than the likes of Nigella Lawson, Nigel Slater is one of the most enjoyable, inclusive and interesting cookery writers around. He is only beaten in the Murphy Food Guru League by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall. Even then, I have to say that Slater scores points over my beloved Hugh in several areas. Where Hugh could well have moved too far down the organic and self-sufficiency scale for some, Slater makes the same basic prescriptions for quality and provenance, but allows his readers to retain some sense of comfort and familiarity with his ingredients. It is unlikely that you would find a recipe for cornflake cakes in a Fearnley-Whittingstall book, for Hugh would have to make the cornflakes himself first. And Slater's recipe
s certainly assume less technical culinary knowledge. Ah, I'm rambling. Real Food is a four star cookery book - one star docked because I would prefer a section on a red meat to the one on chicken and because one or two of the puddings are a bit silly. I love Slater so much though, I am going to cheat and give him five. I just can't help it. ISBN 1-84115-144-0 £12.99
Just before I started at university a girlfriend of mine, who was older and wiser than I, gave me one of those Penguin 60s books. You remember them, those small books that cost 60p released to mark 60 years of Penguin books. The book she gave me was Nigel Slater's 30 Minute Suppers and contains about 30 or 40 different main course recipes. Inside was written "Don't cook any of it now, just keep it and one day it will serve you well." How right she was. Whilst I have always been a keen cook, I had never really heard of Nigel Slater and I didn't tuck into the book until I moved out of halls and into a place of my own. The first recipe I tried was the Warm New Potato Salad with Melted Taleggio and Rocket. It was quite delicious, dead simple and was a n instant hit with friends. In that small book Mr Slater also helped me create the perfect baked potato and taught me an easy but delicious rice pudding. It was obvious I needed to find out more from Mr Slater so I got hold of his best known work, Real Food. Real Food is 320 pages of brilliant recipes accompanied by mouth-watering pictures and entertaining and enthusiastic food writing. Mr Slater is clear what real food is "big-flavoured unpretentious cooking." And the book is a tribute to simple but fulfilling grub. It is split into esoteric chapters which revolve round a fantastic ingredient: Potatoes, Chicken, Sausages, Garlic, Bread, Cheese, Ice Cream and Chocolate. All are ingredients that Mr Slater can easily get excited about and each chapter begins with a homily to the humble spud or the noble garlic before moving onto a selection of recipes centred on the featured ingredient. Every one of the recipes is enthusiastically explained and clearly a favourite of the author. And it is Mr Slater's evangelical attitude to food that draws the whole book together and makes it such a pleasure to read and follow. He is no food snob, but he does like ev
erything to be of the highest quality and more than a little extravagant (he seems very keen on cream.) I particularly like his recipe for Pasta with Spicy Sausage, Basil and Mustard. This sublime mix of spicy sausage meat, pasta, mustard, basil, white wine and cream makes simply the most extravagant pasta sauce in the history of extravagance. If you haven't had it, you haven't lived. Other recipes with a continental flavour include the Roast Chicken with basil and Garlic (shove chicken, wine, garlic, lemon and basil in the oven all together and it creates the most remarkable flavours and sauce) and also the Potato Pizza (sounds odd, tastes delicious) always go down well. But it is his versions of the standards that really take the proverbial biscuit. Slater's Toad in the Hole is excellent, the secret is to use really good sausages, wrap them in bacon or panchetta and add some mustard to the batter. If you didn't think you needed a recipe for a steak sandwich, then prove yourself wrong and make it the Mr Slater way. Other dishes are simply original classics. The recipe for Baked Potatoes with Smoked Haddock and Mustard is as delicious as it is simple (poach the fish in cream, and scoop out the spud, mix together and put back in the skins.) And remaining on a fish theme, I heartily recommend the Toasted Smoked Mackerel Sandwich. Mr Slater's genius is his tone. He offers simple to follow recipes that are not patronising or overly detailed. He believes that the cook needs to have a feel for what they are doing and doesn't cosset in the way that, say, Delia does. That said, Slater does go back to basics and is not difficult to follow and his advice on cooking baked potatoes is valuable and useful. Slater carries the reader with his enthusiasm for simple and appetising food. He wants you to enjoy cooking and treats it as a sensual activity but also you must enjoy eating the food, otherwise there is little po
int in cooking in the first place. Mr Slater is a valuable companion in the kitchen, and if he hasn't joined you yet, I suggest you invite him in soonest. If you still need convincing that Mr Slater is worth seeking out, there is no real reason to be coy any longer. Next Sunday stride forth and get your hands on a copy of the Observer. Mr Slater is the Food editor on that grand Sunday paper and always has a lovely column accompanied by some luscious recipes. Even better, once a month the Observer publishes its "Food Monthly" which is edited by Mr Slater and makes a splendid read. Seek it out!
Crash! Rattle! KerPling! Beep, Beep! Ouch! Thump! I cook in an onomatopoeic kitchen. As I cook, the baby chases the cat, the cat knocks over a pot plant. I turn to pick up the plant and end up stepping on the cat. The baby opens a cupboard...Crash!...The cat runs off with my mint. Baby chases the cat........ Nigel Slater also cooks in an onomatopoeic kitchen. But it is nothing like mine. Nigel makes food that 'steams' and is 'sticky', 'aromatic' , 'delectable'. Nigel 'oozes' and 'goo's', he 'bubbles' and 'froths'. But we make, pretty much, the same things. I like cooking. And I'm not a bad cook. I'm one of those who never sticks to a recipe, but adds a snippet of this, and a dollop(another Nigel word) of that. Mostly it works...sometimes not, but I love food, and I love cooking it. And Nigel Slater, darn his little cotton socks, irritates me. He is Smug...(ahem)...excuse me....he oozes a delectable aroma of sticky smugness. That isn't to say that the actual recipes are bad. 'Real Food' is divided into 8 sections, devoted in turn to Potatoes, Chicken, sausages, Garlic, Bread, Cheese, Ice-cream and Chocolate. Each contains between 13 and 21 recipes, which isn't bad value for money in terms of recipes per item. Most of the recipes are useful, if some are a bit obvious ( which cook hasn't, at some point in their life, bunged a bit of chicken in the oven with some lemons and white wine anyway, without having to read how to do it). He doesn't encourage messing around with them. If Nigel says 'herbs de provence', he means 'herbs de provence', and woe betide you if you've only got a bit of manky thyme left in the garden. His culinary basics are helpful. His 'toad' has a decent batter mixture. But you've still got to de-skin the sausages a
nd wrap them in prosciutto. We are allowed an alternative here.......pancetta, serrano ham ....or...even....streaky bacon. Thanks, Nigel. We can all make toad now without having to spend 2 hours on the bus to visit the local deli. I'll say this for him, too. The recipes are clear, and the instructions are easy to follow. They are tasty, and easy to make. If you aren't counting the calories, then you could live with this book for quite a while. I like that about it. This man uses cream, butter, cheese and milk like he's supposed to be single handedly supporting the UK dairy industry. Good for Nigel. At the start of each chapter he delivers a homily on what sort of potato, or what have you, you should be eating. I like this not. Some of the information included is useful; but I don't like being told time and time over, what Nigel likes. And, I'm sorry, a raw chicken is not 'majestic'. It's a raw chicken. I do agree with some of the principles behind it , though. Eat good food, think of texture, and buy good quality. It is just that the man is so, well... smug about the whole thing. I would say that the recipes are worth a read ( especially the puddings); but I am not so sure about the book as a whole. I'm not sure who it is aimed at...maybe the man who wants to cook easy dishes, with good ingredients; or those who aren't sure what sort of sausage to buy. I've used this book quite a bit, but each time I do, I keep seeing the little face of Nigel appearing just above the cooker : 'Delectable...', he murmurs, as I fish haphazardly in the pan for the teaspoon I've just dropped. As the baby starts to eat the plant and I chase the cat for the mint(Bang....Whoosh.....Screech) Nigel watches me, aghast. I'm not sure he'd survive a week in my kitchen.
Look at me. I can't eat food for sparrows. I'm six feet 8 inches tall, I have size 14 feet and I weigh in at around 19 1/2 stone. I need nourishment or I'll waste away! I also enjoy cooking, although until I met my wife my idea of making up a recipe was frying some sausages and making some mash! She then gave me a copy of 'Nigel Slater's Real Food' (at last, I hear them sigh, he's mentioned the book he wants to write the opinion on!) I will quote from the introduction of the book: 'by real Food I mean big-flavoured, unpretentious cooking. Good ingredients made into something worth eating. Nothing extravagent, nothing careless or slapdash. just nice, uncomplicated food' And he means it! He goes through a load of simple staple ingredients and offers a plethora of recipes to make with them. My personal copy of the book has now got pages stuck togethere where I have put the tome too close to a spitting stove. The recipes are delicious. Nigel offers everything from the recipe for a great chip butty, to a really simple toad in the hole that involves wrapping bacon around the sausages (it's great, you must buy the book on the strength of this recipe alone!), to foolproof roat potatoes, to a really simple chicken dinner (it is, I use it whenever my wife informs me that I am cooking and the food is breathtaking in its simplicity and its scrumptiousness), to a great recipe from Nigella Lawson (she of 'Domestic Goddess' fame) on making a steak sandwich by using a steak mushroom and a load of garlic. I daren't give too much away. the book is in front of me as I type. Whenever I feel peckish I flick throught eh pages and my craving for food is satiated. by it. It should be a crime not to! Nigel Slater is the Patron Saint of cooking!!!
Ii thought I knew how to roast food, including vegetables, but this book, (a present from my sister who cooks well), has really made a difference. From a "simple" chicken, (although I am still also influenced by Delia on this one), to a vegetarian's selection, there are nuggets of useful info for the reader. I thought cheese and onion was a nasty artificial crisp flavour, but Nigel Slater is quite right to praise a left-over roasted onion on bread with cheddar cheese. Now I can't ever roast too many onions, just to make sure that, even though they taste great freshly roasted, there will be some left to have with cheese as a snack. Another favourite is the sauce to go with steak - Bearnaise I think. And looking at the greedy cheese-piled-on-bread on the cover is enough to get the juices going.
I had this book given to me by a female friend of mine, just after telling her that I make a damn fine enchilada sauce but I couldn't cook a roast even if the chicken came into my house and put itself in the oven! You see, my friend is 27, she works full time, she has her own house, (which she cleans everyday) and she cooks a hearty meal for her man every night. She doesn't understand how anybody else can not love cooking – I for one can't stand being in an overheated room, running about worrying if my soufflé has fallen! But I thought I would have a look at this book, just to satisfy her curiosity as to why I can't cook (or the reality of why I don't!) This book was brought out when he had a series on TV, personally I didn't see this, because like most other TV chef shows, I get very frustrated when they cook so easily and I can't! But you didn't have to see the series to buy the book, I imagine anyhow.... He has chosen eight everyday things like bread and chicken and come up with over 120 new recipes that are to show them at their best (apparently). These include 'cauliflower cheese and mustard' to 'sausage and potato hotpot'. There are other recipes such as 'Stove-top Dauphinoise with pancetta and rocket' don't ask me what this consists of but it sounds tooooo hard to make! If you're into cooking this is a good recipe book, if you're not, then it does help you to make decent roast potatoes and home made ice cream. It even has a section for CHOCOLATE! This section is by far the best used in my kitchen, from 'Chocolate Truffles' to 'Chocolate apple betty' (you've got to try this one) and the 'no-cook chocolate cake' recipe is to die for. The book is beautifully illustrated, colour photos take up whole pages and you can really see the food, but the writing is a littl
e on the small side, I don't need glasses but you may wish to borrow a pair for the recipes! On the whole a rather good 'cook-book' but I'll stick to chucking everything in a wok and seeing how it comes out!
Too many cookbooks are about showing off - impressing dinner party guests or potential partners. Nigel Slater talks about the sort of food that we eat everyday - and really (deep down) love. The chapters concentrate on one staple each- potatoes, chicken, sausages, garlic, bread, cheese, ice-cream and chocolate - nothing too unusual there. Again, most cookbooks lend themselves to you slavishly copying recipes and serving them up to impressed guests - not really cooking. In fact you are just one more step in the food production chain that starts in Sainsbury's end ends on your plate via a Delia recipe. Your not a cook, your a production worker. Nigel's book temps you to start thinking about ingredients - the basics in this case and to try to understand them. I though I knew about garlic until I read the garlic chapter - my garlic cooking has been transformed. Be a cook - not a food production slave!
Nigel Slater does not have the trendy edge and smart looks of food writers and chefs like Nigella Lawson and Jamie Oliver, but he writes the same kind of tasty, hearty recipes which have made readers and viewers of the others so happy. The typical Slater dish does not take very long, is very easy, and usually comes with an insistence that you eat it with your hands. Slater has an unforced, genuinely conversational tone, and an awareness that his readers may be staggering in after a long day at work and wanting to enjoy real food without a song and dance. My favourite meal from this book is Grilled Chicken with Chilli Lemon and Mint, but they're all absolutely fine. My girlfriend now owns The 30 Minute Cook, Real Cooking and Real Fast Food as well, becoming something of a Slater fan - it's all too easy to be seduced.
Nigel excels at recipes to be cooked on the hoof. In fact he sometimes over does it. There's lots of "I just love to eat this with a crusty roll leaning against the fridge!" - which can get a bit cheesy at times. But his recipes can be great. Personal favourite from his Quick Eats book is the Hoi Sin chicken - very simple chinese food that tastes like a quality take-away. Also the hot chicken and mayo sandwich is great if you don't mind quite lardy food! I like Slater's food cos it's by no means prissy - unlike Delia and her white muslin thingys!


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Mailbox Madness at MSC excited to be joining The Sunday Post
which is hosted by Kimberly @ Kimba The Caffeinated Book Reviewer.
Mailbox Madness at MSC is also stoked to be joining Stacking the Shelves which is hosted by Tynga @ Tynga's Reviews.
April's Mailbox Madness
Village of Secrets: Defying the Nazis in Vichy France by Caroline Moorehead | Goodreads
Bittersweet by Colleen McCullough| Goodreads
Kat's Mailbox Madness
I was back at work this week – and it was insanely busy. I should say it was good to feel productive again, but that would be a lie 😉
I've also started pre-ordering new releases more often – and when I went back to work there were six book packages waiting for me. It made the fact that I'd been woken up by an alarm for the first time in over two weeks a little less painful!
The Survivors by Will Weaver |Goodreads
The Garden of Darkness by Gillian Murray Kendall |Goodreads
Forget Me by K.A. Harrington |Goodreads
The Girl from the Well by Rin Chupeco |Goodreads
Servants of the Storm by Delilah S. Dawson |Goodreads
The Islands at the End of the World by Austin Auslan |Goodreads
What's in your mailbox?
Hope you have a fabulous week!
• Please note that this post may contain affiliate links. To view our full Blog Policy, click here.

subset: commoncrawl


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UCLA fires head coach Ben Howland, according to report
UCLA has fired basketball head coach Ben Howland, reports Yahoo! Sports.
Howland's job status with the team was at risk when the team lost 83-63 to No. 11 seed Minnesota in the second round of the NCAA tournament Friday.
When asked about his job security after the loss, Howland didn't have much to say.
"I have no comment. Anything in reference to any questions concerning my job status, I just want to talk about the fact that I am so proud of these kids," he said.Howland was 230–105 in 10 seasons at UCLA with three straight Final Foul appearances in 2006-2008. He holds a record of 398-205 in 19 seasons as a coach at Northern Arizona, Pittsburgh, and UCLA.


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Answers Home
» Breeds
» Breeds J-Z
What to do if I want to update the list of my cats, but I can't because there aren't the breed of them?
My cats are Kurilian (Kurilean) Bobtail breed. There are some breed that I hear & see for the first time, but as I was looking over & over for my cats' breed I couldn't find it on this website.
On this website there is lot of information about the breed of my cats www.goldenlook.eu
Asked by
Member 1104138
on Jun 18th 2013
in Breeds J-Z
- Cast your vote for which answer you think is best!
You may want to contact Catster HQ, which you can do by scrolling to the bottom of this page and looking for "contact us". I'm sure they would be happy to add the breed to this website, and they are the only ones who can add it.
Izadore (Izzie) answered on 6/19/13. Helpful? / 0


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Nothing but problems pt2
View Single Post
Focus Enthusiast
Join Date: Mar 2012
Fan#: 95846
Location: Houston, TX
What I Drive: 2012 Kona Blue Metallic SE-Sport
Posts: 151
FF Reputation:
Buy-Sell-Trade Rating: (
Originally Posted by
Not really. The "channel" here is "Third Generation Ford Focus (2012)" and there is plenty of discussion of these issues in earlier threads. You're not reaching a new audience by starting a new thread. Starting new threads about the same issue only serves to make information harder to find for people who take the time to search for it.
If you look at the frost page of this forum right now there are two threads relating to transmission noises, one being the hopeful sticky that betadnb created. If you search only this forum for transmission, you get a page with 25 results, only 3 of which are actually talking about the transmission. I don't think that having a new thread really hurts the search, as the search returns a ton of results that are irrelevant to the search itself.
Now on the other hand if I bought a Focus two weeks ago and I heard it make a transmission noise, and I came here, it would be refreshing to see a post on the front page concerning the transmission, and maybe even having the same problem as I am.
Please do not misunderstand me, I'm all for having a stickied thread where this can all be discussed as a replacement for making new threads. As long as Ford sees it. But until a thread on this matter is stickied, new threads are a good way to make this problem known and hopefully addressed.
I knew going into that analogy that someone was going to poke at it
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Home > Academics > Colleges > Natural Sciences and Mathematics > Geoscience > News
Department of Geoscience
The Joseph C. Clark Scholarship Fund was established to recognize and honor Dr. Clark's distinguished career and his dedication to the Geoscience Department and its students. This fund will be used to provide annual scholarship awards and support for student-faculty research projects.
Dr. Clark was a faculty member at IUP from 1972 to 2004. He taught courses in Environmental Geology and Subsurface Geology and contributed significantly to our understanding of California Fault Zone geology and earthquake hazards through his work with the U.S. Geological Survey. He was a role model to faculty colleagues and students alike with his devotion to learning and his integrity to research science. His mentorship guided many students into graduate programs and into professional careers as geologists.
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text: It appears that the first week of competition for the Beijing Olympics will see athletes contend with fog, rain, and warm/humid conditions. Forecasted highs range through the 80s F, with overnight lows in the 70s F and daily chances for showers and thunderstorms. I find it rather interesting that the Chinese Meteorological Service calls for Read more →


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Update: It appears the sales price for the JBL J55 Headphones is $29.95 while supplies last.
Update 2: The $29.95 sales price was the door buster price. The sales price has jumped to $49.95, while remaining supplies last.
Day Eleven has arrived for Microsoft's 12 Days of Deals promotion with the savings spotlight being cast on the JBL J55 On-Ear Headphones. It may not be as exciting of a deal as yesterday's free AT&T Nokia Lumia 1520, but if you are in the market for a Bluetooth speaker, it could save you a few bucks.
As with all the 12 Days of Deals specials, the sale begins at 7am PST/10am EST. We expect the first twenty customers at participating Microsoft Stores (US/Canada) and the first one hundred online customers should be able to pick the JBL Headphones for a steal of a price. After the initial door buster deals are gone, the headphones will be priced at a considerable savings while supplies last.


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Ukulele 123
Under Construction!
What's it like being a ukulele enthusiast living on the other side of the world? It ain't easy, but having a uke or twenty sure makes it fun! I have gained a lot of insight into the manufacturing business while here and have made local contacts with a number of ukulele manufacturers of some of the top brands in the world! Need a man in the ukulele field to keep an eye on your ukulele interests in South China? Drop me a line and let's talk!
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The Zeroes: My Misadventures in
the Decade Wall Street Went Insane
By Randall Lane
Portfolio, 359 pp, $27.95
Nearly a decade ago, former Forbes bureau chief Randall Lane spotted the beginnings of a new culture devoted to the notion that 26-year-olds with a gift for swapping financial assets could be able to make as much in a few months of trading as an average person makes in a career. Lane launched a series of magazines devoted to glorifying this culture—publications with names like Trader Monthly and Dealmaker—that specialized in stroking the emerging plutocracy of hedge fund managers, traders, and private equity speculators.
Lane believed he would make his own fortune by giving luxury advertisers a forum to reach this small but growing mob of ultrarich arrivistes. Unfortunately he chose a medium that would prove to be a surefire prophylactic against profits. Despite zealously attempting to sell out, Lane couldn't make a buck. When stock markets collapsed in 2008, so did his publishing empire.
At least he got a great story out of it. His new book begins by sticking a snazzy label—the Zeroes—on the decade just past. It then proceeds to trash most of the people that Lane spent the Zeroes glamorizing. If you want to know what hedge fund managers consider "a proper night out" (translation: a $10,000 excursion to an upscale strip club), this is the book for you. Ditto if you're looking for the nasty on John Travolta or Lenny Dykstra, the baseball star-turned-financial-impresario.
As Lane tells the story, he was the guy in the frayed suit, with the dented '97 Subaru Outback, trying to make his way in the world of the superrich, all the while casting a skeptical eye on their rituals of conspicuous consumption. While the Wall Street crowd dined on $175 Kobe beef burgers, Lane chowed down on a tub of Costco (COST) peanut butter. While hedge fund managers dropped tens of millions on gated-and-walled family compounds in Greenwich, Conn., Lane and his wife and two daughters endured a cramped apartment in Manhattan, where the kitchen doubled as the office.
So endless are Lane's assertions of his relative poverty that it's easy to miss that he was just as hungry for money as anyone else. If things had turned out differently, and Lane's publishing endeavors had gushed profits instead of bled red ink, his ethical sensibilities might not have been so offended by the thought of the $1,000 lobster-and-caviar pizza at Nino's Bellissima. Heck, Lane probably would have enjoyed a slice himself.
Perhaps as a result, The Zeroes is marvelously readable, and also misleading. As Lane deplores "the kind of greedfest that comes along only once every thousand years," most readers will be led to conclude that the financial meltdown was the result of an unprecedented outbreak of heretofore unknown avarice on Wall Street.
There are a couple of problems with this simplistic moralizing. The first is that we've heard it too many times before. After every financial crisis, whether it be the junk-bond collapse of the late 1980s, the dot-com bubble of the '90s, or the 2008 financial crash, there are books (often by Michael Lewis) blaming the collapse on Wall Street's uncontrolled lust for money. The purported evidence for this chain of causation goes something like this: Before the economy cratered, financiers were demonstrating unmistakable signs of greed. Ergo, greed caused the crash.
What this glib explanation misses is that greed isn't a variable in the markets—it's a constant. The traders and hedge fund managers that Lane captures so well in his book are a grasping, materialistic lot, devoted to buying flashy watches and expensive rides—and so were their predecessors, going back to when the stock exchange was founded under a buttonwood tree. If you're going to indict this long line of greedy so-and-sos for causing financial crashes, you also have to credit them with all the intervening periods of prosperity. No historian of Wall Street has ever detected an Age of Altruism.
Lane attempts to draw a line between Wall Street's present and its past—"when it was a well-paying career providing the lifeblood of capitalism, rather than an absurd casino promoting perilous, systemic risk"—but the distinction doesn't hold for a number of reasons.
Probe Wall Street's history and you turn up various characters ranging from Jay Gould to Joe Kennedy, all of whom made fortunes with then-legal scams that would have landed them in jail today. By comparison, the traders and hedge fund speculators that Lane pursued so avidly in the Zeroes wind up looking, on some levels at least, like surprisingly decent folks.
Many of them—the "quants"—held advanced degrees in math or physics. They showed up in laughably large numbers for charity events. Steve Cohen of SAC Capital Advisors, the reigning king of the traders during much of the Zeroes, didn't squander the hundreds of millions he earned on chasing women or racing fast cars. He spent his money collecting Picassos and Pollocks. (Why, the effrontery of the man! That sounds nearly...tasteful.)
In attempting to make the case that the past decade constituted a bacchanalia of greed, Lane's strongest evidence is the spiraling salaries of the financial elite. Midway through the Zeroes, top traders and dealmakers were earning amounts that made a successful career in, say, cardiac surgery or corporate law look like a sucker's bet.
Lane could hardly believe the amounts reported in his company's annual list of the top 100 traders: By 2004, a trader needed to earn tens of millions of dollars a year to be considered in the upper tier. At the top of the list were people such as Cohen and James Simons, of Renaissance Technologies, who were taking home around half a billion each.
Lane suggests these salaries were sure signs that Wall Street had lost its sanity. He implies that such superabundance must be followed by an inevitable crisis. In discussing the compensation of most hedge fund managers, he fumes that "the most ridiculous pay scale ever devised came into widespread acceptance at the exact same time that electronic trading turned the entire world into a free-for-all global casino."
Really? Pro athletes also earn far more than they used to, but Eli Manning's $98 million contract doesn't mean that the NFL has lost its mind, or that it faces collapse, or that it has turned itself into a crap game. What seems more likely is that both athletes and traders have benefited from a cluster of lucky breaks that have put them—at least temporarily and probably undeservedly—at the sweet spot of the economy.
Thanks to television and the Internet, athletes can cater to larger audiences and capitalize on many more commercial tie-ins than previously. Thanks to electronic trading, 24-hour global markets, and larger and larger pools of mobile capital, traders can move more quickly and in larger volume than they ever could before.
None of this is to deny that there were problems with banks and with the financial system during the Zeroes. But suggesting that traders' unprecedented incomes were the result of some type of fundamental moral breakdown just seems too easy.
During the Zeroes, Lane thunders, "Wall Street's breathless pursuit of zeroes, that easy-money mentality, had permeated every aspect of our culture." Wall Street and the larger culture have always been money-mad. All that happened during the Zeroes was that we discovered ever more elaborate, high-tech ways to amplify our same basic avarice. Sure, billionaire traders felt the greed—but then so did peanut butter-eating magazine publishers.


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LadyIlene put a thread on there a week or so ago stating she would like a "quilting buddy" from her area. We got together for lunch yesterday and had a delightful time(well, I am sure I did and hope she did too). She brought me two lovely paper pieced pattens! She also brought some wonderful dinosauer blocks she is working on for a quilt for her grandson.
We went to two local thrift shops and found a few bargains! We hope to get together soon for some quilting.
Isnt this board great! I am looking forward to a meeting in April with some other quilters from the board! So much fun to put faces with the names you see.


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Sponsored Stories
Don't miss a story. Like us on Facebook. Like Dallas News' Facebook Page
How long does it take for a charm offensive to wear thin?
By the end of a long week of glad-handing last week at the U.N., even Iran's new president, Hasan Rouhani, was beginning to sound a little tired of his hazy talking points.
Rouhani's main message to the U.S. and the rest of the world was undeniably refreshing: Iran wants to work quickly and seriously to end the dangerous confrontation over its nuclear programs. But when it came to specifics — what concrete steps is Iran prepared to take to meet the rest of the world's concerns? — Rouhani was just as vague as his predecessors. When pressed, he either ducked the question or retreated to Iran's insistence that it has the same right to enrich uranium for peaceful purposes as any other country.
He said Iran wants to enrich enough uranium to provide a reliable fuel supply for at least one nuclear power reactor. But if Iran insists on that, it will be a major sticking point in negotiations. "That would require tens of thousands more centrifuges than they have now," warned Gary Samore, a former Obama administration official who was in the meeting. "That wouldn't provide the assurance we need that they couldn't move toward nuclear weapons. I went in pretty skeptical, and my skepticism was reinforced."
Of course, Rouhani didn't want to make concessions in advance of real negotiations. But on other issues, too, the professorial president bumped into the limits on the amount of charm his boss, supreme leader Ali Khamenei, had authorized him to employ.
He bobbled the predictable question about Iran's past Holocaust denial. And he backed out of an opportunity to shake hands with President Barack Obama. Still, he did talk with Obama for about 15 minutes by phone Friday — the first such contact between Iranian and American leaders since the 1979 revolution.
Those were mostly symbolic issues, but they revealed the constraints on Rouhani's running room.
The more impressive charm offensive, in fact, came not from Rouhani but from his ebullient foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif. After finishing a half-hour one-on-one session with Secretary of State John Kerry, Zarif announced that they had agreed to the shape of talks that could resolve the nuclear issue within a year.
"I'm optimistic," Zarif proclaimed in the fluent English he perfected during five years as his country's representative in New York. "We will move forward, but we will test each other as we go along."
A U.S. diplomat said Zarif's description was a little exaggerated but added: "In the two years I've been doing this, no Iranian I've met with has sat down and said in such expansive terms, 'Here's what we're willing to talk about.'"
Another cause for optimism is that neither side is making this an all-or-nothing proposition, leaving open the possibility of smaller steps in hopes that they lead to a comprehensive deal.
And it's very good news that Rouhani wants to move fast, even if that's only because Khamenei has given him limited time to prove that sanctions will ever be relaxed. Until now, the U.S., Israel and their allies feared that the Iranians were merely playing for time to work toward a nuclear weapon while the diplomats talked. If Iran's leaders agree that time is short and act accordingly, real progress is possible.
For all the haziness of Rouhani's rhetoric, at least one of his bromides was true: This is a window of opportunity, and we should seize it — if only to determine whether there's substance behind the charm.
Doyle McManus is a columnist for the Los Angeles Times. His email address is email@example.com.


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FONTANA, Calif. – Carlos Munoz scored his second Firestone Indy Lights Series victory of the year in a wire-to-wire effort Saturday at Auto Club Speedway.
Munoz started second and took the lead on the opening lap. He was never seriously challenged throughout the 50-lap event that saw one caution for five laps.
"It was a very nice race today from the beginning to end. I had a fantastic car and have to thank my Andretti Autosport crew for that. They have worked very hard this whole weekend," Munoz said after his second victory of the year. "It is great to finish the season with a win. I think this has been a pretty good year of learning. I have to thank my family, all of my sponsors and Colombia for their support. It is unfortunate what happened to Sebastian (Saavedra) on the first lap because we could have had a really nice race between us."
David Ostella charged from eighth on the starting grid to finish second at the two-mile oval. Esteban Guerrieri, Tristan Vautier and Victor Carbone completed the top five.
Sebastian Saavedra qualified on the pole but failed to complete a lap after suffering a mechanical failure.
Vautier claimed the series championship and thus earned a scholarship that will help him make his IZOD IndyCar Series debut next year. He won the Star Mazda Championship Series title last year.


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Fuel was delivered on Saturday in New York and the lower Manhattan skyline lit up for the first time since superstorm Sandy slammed into the East Coast. People in devastated coastal areas endured more hardship, however, and the death toll rose to 110.
Another 28 million gallons would be delivered this weekend, said Governor Andrew Cuomo, restoring supplies to a region experiencing rationing and long lines at gas stations reminiscent of the energy shortage of the 1970s.
Cuomo also announced five mobile petrol station would be set up in the metropolitan area, providing people with up to 10 gallons of free petrol.
Even so, the long, arduous recovery was proving a strain on victims and emergency services, strained by a week of difficulties, while a heating oil shortage and widespread power cuts meant some homes could go cold as wintry weather sets in.
The death toll rose to at least 110 with nine more deaths reported in New Jersey today, raising the total in that state to 22. New York revised its total down by one to 40.
New York City gave its overstretched police a break by abruptly reversing course on Friday and canceling Sunday's marathon, a beloved annual race that had become a lightning rod for critics concerned it was a diversion of resources.
"How long can the NYPD go at full throttle like this is the big question," said Gene O'Donnell, a former New York Police Department officer and professor of policing studies at John Jay College of Criminal Justice. "The longer it goes, the more they get stretched."
In a sign of security worries a hard-hit Queens neighborhood, one garage full of debris stood open with a sign next to it reading: "LOOTERS WILL BE CRUCIFIED - GOD HELP YOU."
Fuel rationing has tested the patience of drivers - fist fights have broken out in mile-long lines of cars - and the National Guard has been called out to prevent looting.
"Hurricanes can be the stress equivalent of cancer," said David Yusko, assistant clinical director at the Center for the Treatment and Study of Anxiety at the University of Pennsylvania.
Music stars offered a diversion from the disaster with a televised benefit concert on Friday night featuring New Jersey natives Bruce Springsteen and Jon Bon Jovi and Staten Island-born Christina Aguilera.
"We will not leave anyone behind," said Aguilera, whose native borough accounted for 22 of New York City's 40 deaths from the storm.
President Barack Obama won early praise for the federal response to Sandy, but continued television and newspaper images of upset storm victims could hurt the Democrat, who is locked in a virtual draw with Republican challenger Mitt Romney going into Tuesday's election.
Before heading to the Midwest on Saturday for a final weekend of campaigning, Obama visited Federal Emergency Management Agency headquarters in Washington for a briefing, and told officials to cut through government "red tape" to help storm-ravaged areas.
"There's nothing more important than getting this right," the president said.
Power utility Consolidated Edison, battling what it called the worst natural disaster in the company's 180-year history, restored electricity to Manhattan neighborhoods such as Wall Street, Chinatown and Greenwich Village in the pre-dawn hours, leaving 11,000 customers in Manhattan without service.
Con Ed said it had restored power to 70 per cent of the 916,000 customers in the New York City area who were cut off.
"There's enough light and activity to get a lot of people on the street and get rid of that movie set look as if were in some kind of ghost town or horror movie," Con Ed spokesman Bob McGee told NY1 television.
In New Jersey, the utility PSE&G said 607,000 customers were still without lights after power to 1 million had been restored.
The US Coast Guard reopened New York Harbor on Friday, allowing tankers in and out.
Moving to ease fuel shortages, the Obama administration directed the purchase of up to 12 million gallons of unleaded fuel and 10 million gallons of diesel, to be trucked to New York and New Jersey for distribution.
A cold snap in the New York City area was forecast early next week with daily low temperatures expected to drop to 2-4C.
"There's no heating oil around," said Vincent Savino, the president Statewide Oil and Heating, which usually supplies some 2,000 buildings across New York City. "I don't know how much fuel we have left: maybe a day or two."
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Jilbere jilbere de Paris Ergo-Grip 5 1/2" Shear| Tool
Product UPC: 843327000977
see all Jilbere products
Click to leave a review
A professional hair cutting tool made to provide a lifetime of precision cutting. The ergonomically designed handle for less tension on your hand.
Ingredient Attributes:
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Date of Stay: July, 2015
This campground is CROWDED. Granted we were there July 4th weekend, but the place was packed. If you have a golf cart, and don't mind nonstop golf cart (at all hours) noise then this place might be for you. Quiet hours were not enforced. Lots of permanent sites. Playgrounds are not suitable for younger kids. The restrooms were amazingly clean, probably the most clean ive ever seen. I did send an email to the campground a week prior for help finding things to do in the area and got no response. It wasnt a horrible campground, but we wouldnt stay here again.
Date of Stay: August, 2011
We loved this park! We were in site 100 which was a two tiered camp site. The sites are very large, and kept nicely. We did have a "water view" but at the very end of the cove and the water levels are very low. No real trails at this campground, so bring equipment for fun on the water.
Date of Stay: August, 2011
We enjoyed this park for just a one night stay while passing through on our way home. The park is nice and well kept but is very busy. The sites feel isolated, but the crowd noise reminds you that it is not. I caution people on the "pull thru" sites. We had problems in a site in the B loop getting in (and out) in our 24' motor home. I would call ahead if you are in a big rig and reserve a spot that way. We ended up in E94- Nice spot and close to a bath house for restroom facilities. Generator hours are limited, so keep that in mind if you have a medical need that would require longer use. Over all it is a nice park and we would stay here again.


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Get an overview of this hotel4-star Okehampton guesthouse in Dartmoor with free breakfast
Collect 200 Nectar points!
Simply enter your Nectar card number when you check out. Your points will be credited 35 days after you return from your trip.*Offers may apply
Popular property highlights
Located in Dartmoor, this guesthouse is 3.8 mi (6.1 km) from Museum of Dartmoor Life and within 12 mi (20 km) of Okehampton Castle and Lydford Gorge. Brent Tor and Castle Drogo are also within 20 mi (32 km).
Property Features
A bar/lounge, free breakfast, and free self parking are available at this smoke-free guesthouse. WiFi in public areas is free.
Room Amenities
All 9 rooms offer free WiFi, coffee makers, and TVs with digital channels. Other amenities available to guests include DVD players, hair dryers, and safes.Information missing or incorrect? Tell us!Opens in a new window
Fairway Lodge - Guest house
Guest House Amenities
Guest House Amenities
A bar/lounge is on site where guests can unwind with a drink. Guests can enjoy a complimentary breakfast each morning. Public areas are equipped with complimentary wireless Internet access.
Onsite self parking is complimentary.
Fairway Lodge - Guest house is a smoke-free property.
- Total number of rooms - 9
- Number of floors - 2
- Bar/lounge
- Free breakfast
- Free WiFi
- Free self parking
- Smoke-free property
- Number of buildings/towers - 1
Family Friendly Amenities
- Family Hotel
- Free Wi-Fi
- Cribs/infant beds (complimentary)
- DVD player
Available in all rooms: Free WiFi
Available in some public areas: Free WiFi
Free self parking
Room Amenities
- DVD player
- Coffee/tea maker
- Hair dryer
- In-room safe
- Television
- Digital TV service
- Free WiFi
- Free cribs/infant beds
Where to Eat
Guests are offered a complimentary full breakfast each morning.
Guest House Policies
Check-in time ends at 10 PM
Check-in time starts at 3 PM
Check-out time is 11 AM
Payment types
Children and extra beds
- Children are welcome.
- Free cribs (infant beds)!
- Pets allowed for an extra charge of GBP 5 per night
You need to know
Extra-person charges may apply and vary depending on property policy.
Government-issued photo identification and a credit card or cash deposit are required at check-in for incidental charges.
Special requests are subject to availability upon check-in and may incur additional charges. Special requests cannot be guaranteed.
No rollaway/extra beds available
Optional extras
Guest house Name
- Fairway Lodge Guest house Okehampton
- Fairway Okehampton
- Fairway Lodge Guest house
National Rating
This establishment has received its official star rating from VisitEngland, the National Tourist Board for England.


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#Techdrinkup Presents: #ImOnABender - The Sunday Football Party
Michael Gold
Sunday, October 2, 2011 from 4:00 PM to 11:00 PM (EDT)
Your pals at #techdrinkup set up a re-dic-u-lously good food and bar deal at POP Burger to create the killer Sunday afternoon of football and good times!
Who We Are:
Tech Drinkup is a party for NYC's brightest and savviest people in tech to get together at exclusive NYC venues and mingle over drinks and food.
Tech Drinkup is not for everyone. Here are the people who should attend:
Check out what people are saying in our Meetup group
10 ways to rock #techdrinkup:
Check out pics from our last party on our facebook page
In order to purchase these tickets in installments, you'll need an Eventbrite account. Log in or sign up for a free account to continue.


text:
Christmas Parties, the British Museum and More
Trip Start Dec 01, 2008
43Trip End May 21, 2009
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The first week I got here was the staff Christmas party. Our bosses, Jackie and Stuart, are a married couple who live beside the pub as well. They also have a teenage daughter who goes to boarding school but sometimes works in the pub. Since we normally have Sundays off, this Sunday was our Christmas party. Unfortunately, some of us ended up having to work first. The rest of the staff started partying much earlier.
By the time the party got started, some people were already drunk! Our party was in the pub with free drinks and lots and lots of food made by our bosses. It was really good and I really like lamb. It was very English as we had Christmas crackers with paper crowns in them.
After the party, we went out to some bars and clubs. It was a lot of fun but since we started so early, we were home by midnight.
While everyone was working hungover the next day, I had the afternoon off. I decided to wander around the city. I followed signs from near my housing and ended up at the British museum. I spent some time there and managed to see the Parthenon (all the major statues are in the British museum, not in Greece) and some of the Egyptian art though I didn't see all the mummies yet. As the British museum is free and about 10 minutes away, I'm sure I'll be back soon.
I decided to try and walk to the river from there. I never actually made it. I somehow made my way back to Oxford Street while first hitting Picadilly Circus and the theater district. There are so many good musicals playing right now. I'm hoping to go to one over Christmas when we have time off. I also took pictures of all the Christmas decorations around Picadilly Circus so check them out in the album.


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Article Preview
Advertising: Putting Applesauce on the Air; Drive to Open Nov. 1
By PHILIP H. DOUGHERTY ();
October 12, 1966,
, Section , Page 56, Column , words
Applesauce! Applesauce in print and satu rating the radiowaves. But not just plain applesauce, 100 per cent McIntosh applesauce made grandma's way by the Seneca Grape Juice Corporation.
October 12, 1966
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New and Improved Sputum Bowl
October 5, 2012
If you read your September issue of AARC Times, you know the Sputum Bowl you'll see in New Orleans isn't going to be the same Sputum Bowl you've been used to all these years.
Thanks to some creative thinking on the part of the Sputum Bowl Committee, the Bowl is undergoing a major facelift designed to bring it into the 21st century. It's all about more audience participation, new ways to answer questions, better use of interactive technology, and some fun Finals Night features sure to amp up the excitement!
But you don't have to wait for AARC Congress 2012 to get a firsthand look at our innovative changes. Check out this video for a sneak peak at what awaits you in New Orleans!
Check back every couple of weeks as more Sputum Bowl videos will be added.


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New Jersey Estate Wedding by Shira Weinberger PhotographyIf ever there was a wedding with drop dead gorgeous florals, this my friends, is that wedding! I seriously want to print these puppies out and hang them on my wall. They are that stunning. I also love that the
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text: Covers: Walter Geovani (50%), John Watson (50%) Writer: Eric Trautmann Artist: Walter Geovani The final, bloody showdown over the cursed Horn of Nergal is at hand! To stand fast against an army of Stygian assassins, and the sinister machinations of the Priestess Azanathi, will require all of Red Sonja's considerable skill. But is the She-Devil's martial prowess enough to win the day, and perhaps, a measure of redemption, or will the Horn's curse cost Sonja everything? Cover price $3.99.


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As in so many industries, the pet industry is constantly alive with fresh ideas for products and inventions that are designed to make the lives of pets and their owners more comfortable or enjoyable. Whilst many of these inventions are introduced by established brands with large research and development budgets, many come directly from entrepreneurial pet owners who, through their own experiences, have been able to identify a particular area of pet care that shows room for improvement.
As is the case with so many inventions, high start-up costs, lack of demand and the difficulties of securing stockists means that many pet products never see the light of day. There is however, an encouraging number of companies in the UK that have successfully managed to develop a product far enough to bring it to market - and we're delighted to celebrate these companies below.
MD10 dog grooming shampoo and conditioners are used by professional groomers.
Manufactures a large range of pet identification tags which are sold with a lifetime guarantee.
Creates cotton dog carriers in multiple designs and colours worn on back or front.
Sells quality dog hampers, cat hampers, kitten hampers, new puppy hampers and much more.
High quality LED dog collars, leads and harnesses for peace of mind during nighttime walks.


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Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
After 10 miserable years with his aunt and uncle, Harry Potter is invited to attend Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Each book follows another year in Harry's education while more of his frightening destiny is revealed.
Author: Rowling, J. K.
Language: English | Copyright: 1999 |
Vocabulary Words
The Lexile "Power V™" Word Selector identifies up to 10 challenging words in each book that are important for students to know. Read more about the PowerV Word Selector.
- parch
- bemusedly
- tureens
- antidotes
- dormitory
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- broomstick
- sickles
- expel
- ejecting
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Within a range from 100L below to 50L above his or her Lexile measure, a reader is expected to comprehend the text well enough to understand it, while still experiencing some reading challenge.


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ED Magedson – Founder
Ripoff Report
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Recent Posts
- To the stars! Endless Space 2 now available for PC
- Utawarerumono: Mask of Truth hitting PS4, PS Vita this September
- The court calls! Windjammers open beta kicking off in June for PS4
- Time to eXterminate your enemies in new Endless Space 2 trailer
- Destiny 2 livestream reveals Guided Games, Countdown, new screens
Fancy A Date?
Daily Archives: December 5, 2013
Sega launches 3D Sonic the Hedgehog, 3D Altered Beast on eShop
New 3D versions of Sonic the Hedgehog and Altered Beast have been released on eShop for 3DS. The $5.99 downloads include extra features in addition to the extra dimension, including the option for classic graphics (re: pre-flatscreen curved edges), local multiplayer for Altered Beast, and zone select for Sonic. Sega has also posted an excellent lengthy interview about these latest remakes with developer M2 on their official blog.
Covenant combat revealed in new Dark Souls II screenshots
A dozen new screenshots from Dark Souls II have been posted showing off the Covenant system. As a member of a covenant, players will be able to receive assistance from others against invading players (Way of Blue), automatically summon assistance from others (Blue Sentinels), offer sacrifice to the god of war Nahr Alma by invading other players' worlds (Brotherhood of Blood), worship the sun by assisting others (Heirs to the Sun), and guard those bonded together (Bell Keepers). More covenants will be announced closer to launch.


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You're right - that's what I was talking about. If I hadn't lost
what passed for my mind some time ago, I might have remembered the
article I wrote about this genus 2 years ago...complete with pix,
including your 'Goldsmith' AND the info. that 'Goldsmith' does not
get as large as 'Axminster Gold'...sigh...here's the URL to that
I got 'Axminster Gold' from Ellen Hornig ( Seneca Hill
Perennials)...have not checked her site lately, but she still may
have it. I see you found a source for 'Goldsmith' for Chris. I
think that these variegated plants may be a bit iffy to propagate.
Seem to remember Ellen telling me this; that if you don't take
cuttings from the right part of the plant, the resulting plants will
not be variegated. Now, if my mind is not up to its usual tricks, I
think she's also the one who said you could - or needed to - take
cuttings from the blooming stems to assure variegation. Could be
Greer did not do this or whoever they got the plants from did not and
that's why you ended up with a plain Jane.
I remember my first foray into a variegated comfrey gave me the same
sort of result - no variegation and 'oh, it will show up next year' -
this was years ago with a shorter version of the plant and some
nursery up in New England whose name I don't recall, but that's OK as
they aren't in business now anyway:-)
As for the height on my 'Axminster Gold'...I am not sure if it would
get this tall in more sun or maybe a cooler climate?
I'm not really sick of all the water we've had. It's made it a tad
difficult to do some of the major digging I had planned, but after 5
years of drought, I am not going to complain about one wet year. I
could have lived without that damn hail, tho'!
Marge Talt, zone 7 Maryland
Editor: Gardening in Shade
Current Article: Variegation on the Green Theme - Part One
Complete Index of Articles by Category and Date
All Suite101.com garden topics :
> From: email@example.com
> Marge,
> I think you might mean Symphytum x uplandicum 'Variegatum'. Does
look lovely,
> will have to check around for a source. I tried hort.net's gallery
to see
> Chris' pics, but I think hort.net has the flu. fount another site
with a pic.
> My S. 'Goldsmith' never gets tall like your 'Axminster', just sort
of mounds.
> Mine is in dry shade. I also have the plain comfrey in another
shade spot; it
> also mounds. (Greer sent me the plain one and when I called, they
said, "Oh
> wait until next year, the variegation will show up then." ???Ha! I
suppose they
> thought I'd forget, but I called them the next year and said nope,
still plain
> green, so they re-sent my ordered 'Goldsmith')
> We also have the plain and Goldsmith at the Display Gardens,
growing in part
> sun, and t,hey too, only mound. Never saw any height on any
Comfrey until
> yours.
> Sorry to hear about all the damage you sustained. I'm sick and
tired of all the
> moisture around here, but I haven't had to put up with a lot of the
> many of our list members have. I've occasionally had to hand water
a couple of
> things that are more demanding, but otherwise, no hose-hauling here
> Kitty
To sign-off this list, send email to email@example.com with the
message text UNSUBSCRIBE GARDENCHAT


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FACTORY IN CHINA: A SUCCESS STORY; Enamel Plant of Ex-Soldiers Has Become a Showpiece
1964 by The Globe and Mail ();
January 09, 1965,
, Section , Page 2, Column , words
SIAN, China -- In the beginning, there were 140 Chinese soldiers. Released in 1949 from the victorious People's Liberation Army, they had followed new orders by working on farms and building sites.
January 09, 1965
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Posted by Augie Ray on July 30, 2010
As you probably know, Facebook and Amazon are allowing consumers to connect the two sites. What I find most interesting is the care Amazon is taking to inform consumers what this will mean to them and why they should do it. Given Facebook's repeated stumbles on issues of consumer privacy, the approach being taken by Amazon is one every marketer should note and consider. What's important about Amazon's approach is that it's not simply leaving the communication of important information to Facebook.
CNN, for example, lets Facebook do the talking. Below is Facebook's standard "Request for Permission" page, which is the message consumers receive when they click the button to connect CNN with their Facebook profile. What does it tell users? CNN can "access my basic information," but what will they do with it? Will they share or sell it further? Will it be made available to marketers or other users? Will my list of friends -- one of the items mentioned in the list of basic information that will be shared -- receive information from CNN as a result of my actions? And what information will CNN send to Facebook -- every page I visit or only the ones I "like"?
Posted by Reineke Reitsma on July 23, 2010
Most companies are now building a social media strategy, with a presence on Facebook, Twitter and/or YouTube. At the same time there's much debate over the value of a "Facebook fan." In this whole discussion I was wondering which consumers are most likely to become fans of a brand. Our Technographics survey data shows that about 13% of European online adults have become "fans" of a brand, company, or product they liked recently. About 10% were interested in interacting with companies through social media but haven't done so yet. The first group we called "brand fans," the other "aspiring brand fans." How do the two compare?
Aspiring brand fans have a more mainstream online profile: Half of them are male, and they are older in general. Brand fans, on the other hand, are more likely to be female, and two-thirds are younger than 35 years old. And 20% of these Europeans who are fans of a brand say they are more likely to recommend the brand that they are "friends" with to their network of friends over any other brand. And this is exactly where the value of the Facebook fan lies. As my colleague Augie Ray said in his blog post: "Facebook fans have little actual value until they are activated by the brand."
Posted by Nigel Fenwick on July 22, 2010
This week, Jive Software, a leading player in social technology, announced it has closed $30 million in Series C financing, with Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers (KPCB) joining Sequoia Capital as the company's venture investors.
So what does this mean for CIOs and IT, the custodians of enterprise technology architecture?
It is clear Jive wants to play with the big boys in the enterprise software space. To date, many Jive deployments have not involved IT. This ability to deploy its technology without IT's involvement has no doubt helped Jive to this point. Of course, having market-leading functionality hasn't hurt. (Jive has featured highly in recent Forrester Wave reports).
At the recent Enterprise 2.0 conference in Boston, I sat down with Jive's new CEO, Tony Zingale, to explore the company strategy. From our discussion, it was apparent that Jive intends to compete for a big slice of the enterprise collaboration marketplace. Fundamentally, this is the right direction for Jive, but I foresee some big challenges for the company along the way.
Posted by Augie Ray on July 20, 2010
We humans can have all sorts of addictions. Some researchers believe that addictions may be positive -- such as to jogging or meditation -- but of course many addictions are negative.
What about Facebook? There is no doubt that Facebook is addicting -- according to Nielsen, users spend as much time on Facebook as they do Google, Yahoo, YouTube, Wikipedia and eBay combined. But is this a positive addiction or a negative one? Is Facebook jogging, or is it heroin?
The American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) may give us a clue; the annual review of brand customer satisfaction put Facebook in the bottom five percent of private sector companies. The social network is "in the same range as the IRS tax e-filing system, airlines and cable companies." ForeSee Results, which worked on the ACSI survey, reported that privacy concerns, frequent changes to the Web site, and commercialization and advertising adversely affect the consumer experience. (And Facebook is about to get further PR problems in the form of a new David Fincher/Aaron Sorkin movie, "The Social Network," which has a plot that is said to "unabashedly attack" Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg.)
Posted by Augie Ray on July 19, 2010
Brands are making plenty of money in social media: Dell Outlet's Twitter account has generated millions for Dell, the Intel Channel Voice community has decreased costs by eliminating the need for expensive in-person events and P&G used media mix modeling to demonstrate that the BeingGirl.com community is several times more effective at driving sales than the brands' television ads.
Many marketers can draw a straight line between investments in social media marketing and financial results, but many more cannot. This doesn't mean social media marketing is ineffective; it just means that marketers have to recognize benefits beyond dollars and cents. Facebook fans, retweets, site visits, video views, positive ratings and vibrant communities are not financial assets -- they aren't reflected on the balance sheet and can't be counted on an income statement -- but that doesn't mean they are valueless. Instead, these are leading indicators that the brand is doing something to create value that can lead to financial results in the future.
Posted by Augie Ray on July 13, 2010
Microsoft has announced the release of Microsoft Outlook Social Connector, which will bring friends' data from Facebook, LinkedIn and MySpace into users' Outlook 2003, 2007 and 2010. Before anyone says "Buzz" and discounts the value of this offering from Microsoft, I think we need to consider this not from the angle of yet another social platform or social aggregation tool but as a means of making our daily activities richer and more social.
The Microsoft Outlook Social Connector won't change the social networking world, but it isn't designed to do so. The Outlook Social Connector won't replace any social networking behavior that we already have; you'll still check Facebook.com, use Facebook's mobile site and apps and make status updates via Tweetdeck and Hootsuite. Instead of competing with existing tools, Microsoft's new plug-in is another step toward a more social experience where social data is organically integrated into our daily habits and activities.
Posted by Zach Hofer-Shall on July 12, 2010
The listening platform landscape is vast, fragmented, and confusing. As a result, I handle more client inquiries around vendor selection than any other single topic. Companies want to track customer conversations, monitor their brands and competitors, measure their social marketing, learn from online discussion, identify customers online, and more. And they need technology help getting there but don't always know where to turn.
To address these questions, we've just published The Forrester Wave: Listening Platforms, Q3 2010. This research is the result of nearly four months of vendor interviews, product demos, lab evaluations, reference checks, client interviews, and customer surveys. All in all, we evaluated nine leading vendors across 76 criteria, talked to dozens of buyers, and surveyed nearly 200 customers to determine the state of the listening platform market today.
This Wave covers vendors that best address an enterprise's Social Intelligence technology needs, through a listening platform's three main steps: social media data retrieval, unstructured text processing, and insight delivery. Each vendor has its own technology platform and professional services team for consulting and can scale to meet vast enterprise needs, both in a large installation-base and between different parts of the organization -- such as marketing, PR, market research, and/or customer support. We evaluated the following vendors: Alterian (SM2), Collective Intellect, Converseon, Cymfony, Dow Jones, Evolve24, Nielsen, Radian6, and Visible Technologies.
You'll have to read the full report to see how the vendors match up, but from my evaluation I uncovered a few emerging trends:
Posted by Augie Ray on July 9, 2010
The other day I authored a blog post many found interesting, infuriating or both: What Is The Value Of A Facebook Fan? Zero! I appreciate the great dialogue from the folks who offered feedback in blog comments and on Twitter. Because this is such a hot topic and because the feedback was so thoughtful, this seemed worth further exploration.
In that blog post, I suggested that marketers approach the question of how much a Facebook fan is worth as if the answer is zero. I said, "It is what companies do with fans that creates value, not merely that a brand has fans." I went on to suggest that marketers should recognize a difference between potential value and real value. Like a coil that is compressed to store energy (an apt metaphor from my Twitter friend, Blair Goldberg), Facebook fans have little actual value until they are activated by the brand, just like releasing a compressed coil.
Posted by Augie Ray on July 8, 2010
It is a question I hear several times a week: What is the value of a Facebook Fan? I've seen answers ranging from $136.38 to $3.60. I can't blame vendors, agencies and consultants for trying to answer the question -- the hunger from clients is so great that anyone promising a simple answer is likely to get attention. The problem is that there is no simple answer to such a complex question. In fact, it may be best if marketers approached this question as if the answer is zero -- unless and until the brand does something to create value with Facebook Fans.
There are numerous reasons the question of Facebook fan valuation is problematic:
Posted by James Kobielus on July 7, 2010
As an industry analyst, I'm part of the professional class that delights in defining standard marketplace terminology. More than that, many of us spend our working lives coaxing industry to march under marketing banners aligned with our pet definitions.
Yes, indeed, each analyst likes to feel that his or her marketecture terminology should rule school. Last month I did a Forrester podcast on a topic that's extremely hot right now: leveraging the power of social media and social networks to manage your brand, drive marketing and sales campaigns, and manage ongoing customer relationships. In that session, I discussed the role of analytics in social media for multichannel customer relationship management (CRM).
My initial impetus for the podcast was to spell out the chief distinctions between two terms that, on first glance, appear almost synonymous: social media analytics and social network analysis. During the podcast I also trucked in another related closely related term—social media monitoring—and even alluded to social intelligence and other phrases that have gained currency.
What follows, for those of you who don't listen to podcasts, or can't find them, is the gist of what I said on this topic:


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Profit warnings fall to three year low in 2013 but late spike takes shine off listed businesses' performance with FTSE 350 bearing the brunt
26 January 2014
- Last quarter spike sees 73 warnings – a 30% rise on previous quarter
- FTSE 350 issued as many profit warnings in the final quarter as in Q4 2008
- Support service sectors lead profit warnings in 2013 while consumer-facing sectors issue record low number
UK profit warnings fell to a three-year low in 2013 but the year ended with a bitter twist that saw 73 warnings issued in the final quarter – a rise of 30% on the previous quarter – according to EY's latest Profit Warnings report.
This late spike appears in contrast to improving economic data and UK plc certainly started the second half of 2013 with high hopes. However, late summer tensions in global markets reduced expectations, with downgrades spilling into Q4.
In total, UK quoted companies - Main Market and AIM listed – issued 255 warnings in 2013, compared to 287 in 2012. The FTSE 350 felt the brunt of the headwinds, issuing 31 warnings in Q4 2013, as many profit warnings in the final quarter as in Q4 2008, the height of the financial crisis.
The sectors with the highest number of companies issuing profit warnings in Q4 2013 were FTSE Support Services (14), FTSE Software & Computer Services (7), Aerospace & Defence, Media and Technology Hardware & Equipment (all with 5).
Profit warnings from business services, industrial sectors and companies exposed to volatile natural resources markets and the US shutdown led the way in Q4 and 2013 as a whole. The sectors with the highest proportion of companies issuing profit warnings in 2013 were Aerospace & Defence (55%) and General Industrials (54%).
Improving economy but challenges lie ahead
Keith McGregor, EY's Capital Transformation Leader for Europe, Middle East, India and Africa, says, "The 30% quarterly rise in UK profit warnings in the final quarter of last year seems incongruous next to improving economic data, but global growth anxieties reduced profit expectations in late summer, with earnings downgrades continuing into the final quarter of 2013
"An improving economic outlook should see profit warnings fall in 2014, although perhaps by less than the pace of recovery might suggest. The year has started with a faster pace of alerts than 2013, with companies still feeling the impact of slower global markets, with the added complication of weaker currency translation as sterling strengthens in anticipation of higher UK interest rates."
Support service sectors lead profit warnings in 2013
An improving economy and rising activity is no guarantee of falling profit warnings. The number of profit warnings from FTSE Support Services companies stayed within a whisker of 2012's figure, despite rapidly improving industry surveys. Support Services is the UK's largest FTSE industry group, but 45 warnings from 37 companies still equates to almost one quarter of the sector warning in 2013.
Alan Hudson, EY's head of restructuring for UK & Ireland, says, "The FTSE Support Services sector continues to issue a high number of warnings, despite a rapid improvement in industry surveys. Volumes may be increasing, but public and private sector alike are keeping a tight control on costs, resulting in tight margins, intense competition and little room for error for many in the sector."
Warnings low across consumer-facing sectors
In contrast, the substantial consumer and housing revival kept profit warnings low across consumer-facing sectors in 2013. FTSE General Retailers are particular notable by their absence in the top five sectors warning. In 2011, the sector led the way with 39 warnings, compared with a record low of nine in 2013.
The FTSE General Retailers sector issued two profit warnings in the final quarter of 2013, with one further warning a piece for the FTSE General Retailers and FTSE Food & Drug Retailers sectors in the first three weeks of 2014. This compares with four warnings from all retail sectors in Q4 2012 and six in Q1 2013.
Hudson continues, "It was a mixed Christmas for retailers, with a broad spectrum of results. There were certainly many retailers reporting much-improved sales, who outperformed the market. Overall, sales were up and retail profit warnings dropped back to their lowest Q4 level for four years, albeit helped by weak surveys that dampened market expectations.
"However, trading statements also tell a story of a bruising Christmas for retailers who didn't get their proposition and strategy right. The winners generally had one or more of three linked elements: they held their nerve on pricing, they balanced bricks and clicks and they hit the 'value for money' or brand sweet spot."
The beginning of the end for monetary stimulus
Concluding, McGregor said, "Overall, it is an improving picture, but with clear challenges ahead for companies in the next stage of the cycle. Monetary stimulus pulled economies back from the brink in 2008–09 and has since smoothed the path to recovery; but persisting with low interest rates creates its own dangers. In this context, the Fed move to taper is small, but symbolic. It marks a shift to a new stage where companies are thinking about how they grow using their own mettle and get ready for the end of cheap and ready credit.
"In the UK, low inflationary pressure should delay monetary tightening to 2015, but the countdown has begun. Central banks have smoothed the path to recovery for many years, but that era is slowly concluding and companies need to be fit for the next stage of the recovery as more options open up for stakeholders.
"The improving outlook also gives stakeholders greater ability to address underperforming assets. What we are beginning to see is companies thinking about their capital needs and allocation, as well as operational financial fitness. For those seeking growth, deal and IPO markets are opening up and companies should be looking to take full advantage."


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