Show and Tel

Don't miss us feeding Sir Terry Wogan & Mason on their trip to Abergavenny. Available on BBC IPlayer http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b06b944y/terry-and-masons-great-food-trip-10-abergavenny
Posted by Hang Fire Smokehouse on Tuesday, 22 September 2015

Like the rest of the county I was saddened to hear of the passing of Sir Terry Wogan today. I noticed on Facebook however that he did not however shuffle off before he had caught up with the quite remarkably ubiquitous Hang Fire posse late last year. How on earth do they do it?

My entire life

Now onEntire Stout 4.5%A rich dark stout with a strong roasted malt flavour and a long, smooth aftertaste. Suitable for vegans.Entire Stout has an ABV of 4.5%
Posted by The Sultan, SW19 on Saturday, 30 January 2016

I had planned to end dry January tomorrow at the U15s Warlingham game, but that has been cancelled. I am very tempted to replace it with a pint of stout this afternoon, since I read the Sultan's public service announcement above in Facebook.

Bacon-Chocolate Shot Glasses

We’ve all been there before, standing at the bar, shot glass in hand, ready to throw the spirit down our gullet, when we’ve thought to ourselves “man this would really be so much better if the shot glass I’m holding was made out of bacon and dipped in chocolate.” Well wish no more, because thanks to food blog Through The Eyes Of My Belly, that dream is now a reality.

Hat tip, Marcus. As the last weekend of Dry January heaves into view I think I am starting to get delirious.

MAKE AMERICA ONE SYLLABLE

A linguistic analysis of Donald Trump shows why people like him so much.

Willy: There’s more people! That’s what’s ruining this country! Population is getting out of control. The competition is maddening! Smell the stink from that apartment house! And another one on the other side . . .

Sleeping Trees

I went to the Pleasence Theatre in Islington last night to see, friends of Spike, Sleeping Trees revisit their Edinburgh Festival show MAFIA? and managed to resist throwing my Marlon Brando impersonation and complete knowledge of the Godfather into the mix to everyone's' relief.

Radiator

As I was having one of my occasional chats with Tony Kane yesterday, he told me that his daughter, Sarah, had worked as the production designer on a film called Radiator. He has seen it, and recommended it to me.

In cinemas from 27 November. Also screening at Picturehouse Cinemas for Discover Tuesdays on 29 December.

Director: Tom Browne.

Starring: Richard Johnson, Gemma Jones, Daniel Cerqueira. UK 2014.

Careworn teacher Daniel (Cerqueira) is summoned by his elderly mother Mariah (Jones) to his parents’ remote, rubbish-filled, ramshackle cottage, where his infirm and incontinent father, Leonard (Johnson), is refusing to move from the sofa. Disapproved of as a failure by his irascible, demanding father, Daniel eventually persuades Leonard into a specially adapted bed and the care of a visiting nurse. That, in a nutshell, is the darkly amusing plot of director/co-writer Tom Browne’s film, a pithy, highly watchable account of the unravelling of a marriage held together only by fear and familiarity, albeit underscored by a son’s good intentions. As two of Britain’s most seasoned character actors, Jones and Johnson give of their terrific best, while co-writer Cerqueira emanates exactly the right degree of frustrated, put-upon affection. A joy.

I seem to have missed it at the cinemas and I can't find any trace on Amazon or iTunes yet, but I will keep an eye out; directed by a guy who shares my surname I was pleased to see.

Time takes everybody out; time's undefeated.

I went to see Creed this weekend. The LA Times said, it is a film "that is nominally a spinoff of the celebrated "Rocky" series but actually plays like something more interesting: a spiritual remake of the 1976 film that retells the original story in the kind of involving way one would not have thought possible." That is certainly true. I enjoyed it but it references the original so much I can pay tribute by reusing what I wrote about the latest Star Wars movie here.

I finally surrendered to the dark side of the zeitgeist yesterday and went along to see Star Wars: The Force Awakens Creed.

Ryan Coogler JJ Abrams et al seem to have solved the problem of coming up with a plot for Episode VII, by - to all intents and purposes - remaking the original Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope Rocky.

"Daddy issues" from The Empire Strikes Back have also been grafted on to the new film.

Spookily accurate.

Dan Young RIP

Sunday is rugby day for the Ruts' minis and juniors and we have found out that behind the headline Morden tube station murder: University lecturer Daniel Young stabbed to death on first day of dream job is one of our own. What a terrible thing.

Foodie

In this richly penetrating documentary odyssey, Pulitzer Prize-winning food critic Jonathan Gold shows us a Los Angeles where ethnic cooking is a kaleidoscopic portal to the mysteries of an unwieldy city and the soul of America. Combing through colorful neighborhoods in his green pickup truck, Gold is sniffing out his next strip-mall discovery—whether Oaxacan grasshopper soup, hand-cut tonkotsu ramen, or a particularly unctuous pad see ew. As piping-hot platters are served up, so are stories of immigrants whose secret family recipes are like sacred offerings pledged for the opportunity to build their American Dream. With eternal curiosity, razor-sharp intellect, and existential longing, Gold is a culinary geographer taking us where no critic has gone before.

This movie isn't out in theatres in the States until March 11, but I stumbled on it free via Amazon Prime yesterday. Well worth a look.

While I have got my Amazon foodie head on, the Hang Fire girls' (though they don't like to be called that) book is now available for pre-order.

Barbecue is a serious business. And for anyone who thought barbecue was about big, bearded blokes toiling over hot coals, think again: the Hang Fire girls are the real experts.In 2012 Sam and Shauna ditched their jobs and embarked on a 6-month road trip around the best barbecue joints in the southern United States. From Texas to Tallahassee, they learned the insider secrets of what makes barbecue great, were captivated by the thrill of smoke and fire, and back home in Cardiff they set out their meat manifesto in the form of Hang Fire Smokehouse.Now they sell out week after week from their street-food stall as customers flock to Hang Fire for stunning dishes including smoked brisket, ultimate pork 'n' slaw and tailgate hot-wings. This cookbook reveals how they make their delicious recipes and the secrets behind the perfect smoke and BBQ. Sam and Shauna explain the basics of getting started with a home smoker and different types of wood, and what rubs, cures and brines work best with certain types of meat. Hang Fire's approach is simple: get the best ingredients, cook them low 'n' slow, and tuck in.

Chicks dig it

AWS Certificate Manager is a service that lets you easily provision, manage, and deploy Secure Sockets Layer/Transport Layer Security (SSL/TLS) certificates for use with AWS services. SSL/TLS certificates are used to secure network communications and establish the identity of websites over the Internet. AWS Certificate Manager removes the time-consuming manual process of purchasing, uploading, and renewing SSL/TLS certificates. With AWS Certificate Manager, you can quickly request a certificate, deploy it on AWS resources such as Elastic Load Balancers or Amazon CloudFront distributions, and let AWS Certificate Manager handle certificate renewals. SSL/TLS certificates provisioned through AWS Certificate Manager are free. You pay only for the AWS resources you create to run your application.

This kind of thing is my bag.

Unlock the power of your emails with schema.org

Email is an important part of how we get things done -- from planning an event with friends to organizing a trip to Paris. So much information is contained inside emails -- like the details of a dinner party or travel itinerary -- and so many emails require action -- like RSVP, or flight checkin.

By adding schema.org markup to the emails you send your users, you can make that information available across their Google experience, and make it easy for users to take quick action. Inbox, Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Search, and Google Now all already use this structured data.

Schema.org is a markup vocabulary that is standardized and managed as a collaboration of Google and other companies. By working with schema.org, we are creating an open standard, so that the markup you embed can be used by any email product that receives them.

Prodnose: http://schema.org/docs/schemas.html

Myself: [to Vanessa] That's not mine.

Prodnose: https://moz.com/blog/markup-for-emails

Myself: I'm telling ya baby, that's not mine.

Prodnose: https://developers.google.com/gmail/markup/reference/

Myself: I don't even know what this is! This sort of thing ain't my bag, baby.

Velindre

A thank you letter to David Bowie from a palliative care doctor. https://t.co/ibFYRY8wc1 - thanks for sharing @DrMarkTaubert

— Marie Curie (@mariecurieuk) January 17, 2016

David Bowie's son retweeted this.

Oh no, don’t say it’s true – whilst realization of your death was sinking in during those grey, cold January days of 2016, many of us went on with our day jobs. At the beginning of that week I had a discussion with a hospital patient, facing the end of her life. We discussed your death and your music, and it got us talking about numerous weighty subjects, that are not always straightforward to discuss with someone facing their own demise. In fact, your story became a way for us to communicate very openly about death, something many doctors and nurses struggle to introduce as a topic of conversation. But before I delve further into the aforementioned exchange, I’d like to get a few other things off my chest, and I hope you don’t find them a saddening bore ..........

Dr Mark Taubert is a palliative care consultant at Velindre in Cardiff. That is the hospital where cancer took my brother in law David from my sister and their three children in the middle of 2004. I was there when he died. It was a terrible day. Anything that can make such a thing, if not easier then at least, less difficult is good.

To travel hopefully ....

It has been my invariable habit for years now to post once and once only here each  day and then to let the chips fall where they may.

Yesterday, however, Andy Howell published an article called The players who caught Warren Gatland's eye on the final weekend before Six Nations selection, in Wales Online.

On possible eye-catcher, I was pleased to note, was Dan Fish:

Although Dan Evans at the Ospreys has had more headlines this season, the slippery Fish has been a creative influence for Cardiff Blues with the counter-attacking ability which has netted him a new contract and saw him touch down twice at Harlequins.

Wales’ full-back worries may have eased at the weekend with Gareth Anscombe making a successful return to combat, albeit at outside-half, but Fish could be among those in the swim for a place if Liam Williams was to be ruled out.

Warren Gatland will announce his squad for the 2016 RBS 6 Nations at noon today. This post will be updated after that. Until then, we live in hope.

Update 12:00: Nothing Fishy about this.

Warren Gatland has named a 37-man squad for the 2016 RBS 6 Nations that features one uncapped player in scrum-half Aled Davies and squad recalls for Tom James and Josh Turnbull.

Cardiff Blues pair James and Turnbull last played for Wales in 2010 and 2014 respectively, though James was part of Wales' 2015 Rugby World Cup training squad before withdrawing through injury.

The experienced squad includes 31 players who featured for Wales in the 2015 Rugby World Cup and will be led by Wales' most experienced captain Sam Warburton.
The front-row contingent is made up of props Gethin Jenkins, Paul James and Rob Evans, along with Samson Lee, Tomas Francis and Aaron Jarvis.

Scott Baldwin, Ken Owens and Kristian Dacey are named as the hookers.

Alun Wyn Jones, who today it was announced signed a new long-term National Dual Contract, is named along with Luke Charteris, Dominic Day, Bradley Davies, Jake Ball and Josh Turnbull.

Four British and Irish Lions are named in the back-row, captain Sam Warburton, Dan Lydiate, Justin Tipuric and Taulupe Faletau. They are joined by James King and Ross Moriarty.

Uncapped scrum half Aled Davies is joined by regional team-mate Gareth Davies and Lloyd Williams. Dan Biggar and Rhys Priestland are named as the fly-halves. Jonathan Davies, who missed the RWC through injury, returns alongside Jamie Roberts, Cory Allen and Tyler Morgan in the centres. The back three players include Tom James, Hallam Amos, George North, Alex Cuthbert, Gareth Anscombe, Matthew Morgan and Liam Williams.

"We have selected a squad that rewards players form as well as picking a lot of experience and that continuity is important to us," said Gatland.

"We have picked a larger squad than normal, we have a few injuries at the moment, those players aren't too far away from getting back on the field so we are happy with the mix.

"Aled (Davies) is someone who has been on the radar the last couple of years and his selection is reward for his form.

"Tom (James) is playing very well for the Blues and we have been impressed with Josh's (Turnbull) performances recently.

"It is always exciting when the Six Nations comes around and we are looking forward to meeting up next Monday."

Wales kick off their 2016 campaign away to reigning champions Ireland on Sunday February 7th before welcoming Scotland to Principality Stadium on Saturday February 13th.

WALES' 2016 RBS 6 NATIONS SQUAD: (37 Players)
Forwards:
Rob Evans (Scarlets), Paul James (Ospreys), Gethin Jenkins (Cardiff Blues), Tomas Francis (Exeter Chiefs), Aaron Jarvis (Ospreys), Samson Lee (Scarlets), Scott Baldwin (Ospreys), Kristian Dacey (Cardiff Blues), Ken Owens (Scarlets), Jake Ball (Scarlets), Luke Charteris (Racing 92), Bradley Davies (Wasps), Dominic Day (Bath Rugby), Alun Wyn Jones (Ospreys), Josh Turnbull (Cardiff Blues), Taulupe Faletau (Newport Gwent Dragons), James King (Ospreys), Dan Lydiate (Ospreys), Ross Moriarty (Gloucester Rugby), Justin Tipuric (Ospreys), Sam Warburton (CAPT) (Cardiff Blues).
Backs:
Aled Davies (Scarlets) *, Gareth Davies (Scarlets), Lloyd Williams (Cardiff Blues) Dan Biggar (Ospreys), Rhys Priestland (Bath Rugby), Cory Allen (Cardiff Blues), Jonathan Davies (Clermont Auvergne), Tyler Morgan (Newport Gwent Dragons), Jamie Roberts (Harlequins), Hallam Amos (Newport Gwent Dragons), Alex Cuthbert (Cardiff Blues), Tom James (Cardiff Blues), George North (Northampton Saints), Gareth Anscombe (Cardiff Blues), Matthew Morgan (Bristol Rugby), Liam Williams (Scarlets).
* Denotes uncapped player

Déjà vu

half time
Harlequins 28 Cardiff Blues 0
Carolina Panthers 31 Seattle Seahawks 0

full time
Harlequins 34 Cardiff Blues 26
Carolina Panthers 31 Seattle Seahawks 24

Yesterday's six hour Sky Sports marathon ran from three in the afternoon until nine in the evening and consisted of the same roller coaster ride repeated twice with my team battered in the first half then fighting back in the second only to fail narrowly at the death.

So it's goodbye to the Seahawks for another season, and almost certainly (though there are mathematical possibilities of qualification) farewell to any Blues' ambitions in the European Challenge Cup.

On the bright side, Dan Fish got two of Cardiff's four second half tries and was - for me and the Bomber at least - arguably their best player.

Also, I managed to catch quite a lot of Richmond WRFC claiming the Women's Premiership title as they powered to a 28-17 win over Saracens in the final at the Twickenham Stoop. (It followed the 'Quins Cardiff game at the same venue.) They are coached by Liam Shanahan (Ben's head of rugby in school) so kudos to him.

Total Ankle Replacement Versus Arthrodesis

Well, this seems to be the rock and a hard place choice for mum. I need to read the whole website before I can even start contemplating an opinion.

filial piety

The funk legend that is MISTER FRED WESLEY returns with his GENERATIONS project. Fred funking on the T-Bone with Leonardo Corradi on Hammond plus bass pedals and the groove machine that is Tony Match on drums...ripping up the rule book and exploding the grooves of Jimmy Smith plus some huge funk treats...DO NOT MISS!!

The only trouble is I DO MISS, as Fred has returned to the Hideaway in Streatham (a stone's throw away from my London gaff) while I have returned to Cardiff to see how mum and dad are getting on. Ships that pass in the night.

Legendary bandleader and trombonist Fred Wesley is one of the forefathers of funk and he is still setting the standard for others to follow. As music director for James Brown and the JBs, arranger for P-Funk and one third of the amazing JB Horns, he secured his place in funk history forever!

During the 1960s and 1970s he was a pivotal member of James Brown's bands, playing on many hit recordings including "Say it Loud - I'm Black and I'm Proud", "Mother Popcorn" and co-writing tunes such as "Hot Pants". His slippery riffs and pungent, precise solos, complementing those of saxophonist Maceo Parker, gave Brown's R&B, soul, and funk tunes their instrumental punch. In the 1970s he also served as band leader and musical director of Brown's band the J.B.'s and did much of the composing and arranging for the group. His name was credited on 'Fred Wesley & the J.B.'s' recording of "Doing It to Death", which sold over one million copies, and was awarded a gold disc by the R.I.A.A. in July 1973. He left Brown's band in 1975 and spent several years playing with George Clinton's various Parliament-Funkadelic projects, even recording a couple of albums as the leader of a spin-off group, The Horny Horns.

Wesley became a force in jazz in 1978 when he joined the Count Basie Orchestra. He released his first jazz album as a leader, To Someone in 1988. It was followed by New Friends in 1990, Comme Ci Comme Ca in 1991, the live album Swing and Be Funky, and Amalgamation in 1994.

In the early 1990s Wesley toured with his colleagues from the James Brown band, Pee Wee Ellis and Maceo Parker, as the JB Horns. With the departure of Ellis the band became The Maceo Parker Band. Wesley was featured trombonist with Parker until 1996 when he formed his own band, The Fred Wesley Group, now known as Fred Wesley and the New JBs.

Wesley's 35-year career includes playing with and arranging for a wide variety of other artist such as Ray Charles, Lionel Hampton, Randy Crawford, Vanessa Williams, The SOS Band, Cameo, Van Morrison, Socalled and rappers De La Soul, to name a few. Many other artists have sampled his work.

Line Up: Fred Wesley (trombone and vocals), Leonardo Corradi (Hammond and bass pedals), Tony Match (drums)

Creed is right, Creed works

Creed is released in UK cinemas today.

Adonis Johnson never knew his famous father, boxing champion Apollo Creed, who died before Adonis was born. However, boxing is in his blood, so he seeks out Rocky Balboa and asks the retired champ to be his trainer. Rocky sees much of Apollo in Adonis, and agrees to mentor him, even as he battles an opponent deadlier than any in the ring. With Rocky's help, Adonis soon gets a title shot, but whether he has the true heart of a fighter remains to be seen.

Rocky completist I am, but I won't be able to catch it until next week as I am driving to Cardiff after work.

I had sworn never to watch The Jonathan Ross Show ever again, but if Sly Stallone can be persuaded to do his Les Dawson impression when he appears on it promoting the movie on Saturday I will break my vow and tune in.

Dr Strabismus gets religion

Biblezon is the First Catholic Tablet that will help you focus on your Catholic Faith. It is safe, secure and Holy. No Distractions! (Wi-Fi required).

I remember that time in the Standard when it gradually dawned, I forget why or how, on Andy H that everyone else around the table was raised a left footer, and that we were - to his astonishment - almost like normal people.

Dry January: Day 13

Hungover Bear and Friends is an ongoing comic by Ali Fitzgerald about animals and feelings. The main character is not an anti-hero, he’s just a bear in a sweater trying to make it all work.

RIP: Wild Eyed Boy from Freecloud

It is fair to say I was something of a Bowie casualty back in the day. I had every one of his first nineteen albums before bailing out on Tin Machine II, twenty two years into his career.

Let's record a generous gesture rather than the music per se to celebrate the great man. Bowie's cover, on Let's Dance, of Iggy Pop's China Girl from The Idiot, generated enough royalties for the guy known to his mum and dad as James Newell Osterberg, Jr. to pay a three quarters of a million dollar IRS tax bill and saved him from bankruptcy and penury.

I have never read that the recording's purpose was to pull Iggy out of the fire, but I bet it was. Pure class. Letting Mr. Pop earn the the money was even better, and in a strange way more selfless even, than giving it to him as charity.