San Valentino Whatever

Note to self:  when leaving sweet chocolatey treats for one's beloved to find first thing in the morning, perhaps it's not so smart to hang them on the stove near the hob upon which said beloved will be brewing a morning cup of coffee.

Meanwhile, in this morning's English language class we learned that Saint Valentine, who may or may not have existed, apart from being the patron saint of lovers, is also the mentor of people with epilepsy and beekeepers.

Catching Up

Here are a couple of stories that I found interesting during the sad hiatus of the past week. Was just too sad to post. Better now.

1. Horror of horrors, from the Telegraph:

"Chocolate should be taxed to control obesity epidemic, doctors are told ... Chocolate should be taxed in the same way as alcohol to control Britain's obesity epidemic, a medical conference has heard"

What is wrong with people? No, let me restate that - what is going on in the UK? It seems like the government has decided to make laws to fix every problem, rather than finding ways to encourage people to fix themselves. Tax chocolate? Not while I am alive! Of course, that may not be long if I eat it since I am diabetic. Nevertheless, surely this is not the way to go:

"Dr David Walker said chocolate used to be a treat, but has become a harmful addiction, causing weight problems, diabetes, high blood pressure and back pain. Consumers are often eating more than half a day's worth of calories when they polish off a bag of chocolates in front of the television, he claimed."

Excuse me for a moment, I think there is an old piece of Ritter Sport with hazelnuts in the back of my cupboard. Back soon.

2. The Prince must be fumigated, from the Times:

This turns out to be an ecological issue, rather than a political statement.

"The normal procedure for greeting royal visitors involves a red carpet, an official welcoming committee and possibly a fanfare or two. Last night, however, the Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall received a rather less gracious reception on their arrival in the Galápagos Islands, when they were thoroughly fumigated before being allowed off the plane."

The rest of the story is here.

3. England win the World Cup of cricket, from the Telegraph:

"Charlotte Edwards thus joins Rachel Heyhoe-Flint and Karen Smithies as the only English cricketers - of either gender - to lift a global trophy, "I don't think it will sink in for a while," said Edwards afterwards, "but this is a special moment and we'll remember this for the rest of our lives. The team have been amazing."

No-one can doubt that England were the best team in a tournament they dominated from the start. They only lost one match - and that a dead rubber against Australia with qualification already guaranteed. Claire Taylor finished as the World Cup's leading run-scorer and off-spinnner Laura Marsh the leading wicket-taker, but the real quality of the squad was in its depth."

Yes, ok, I snuck a sporting reference in here at the end. However, this is a major achievement. And a major achievement for English women. So three cheers for the English cricketers: Hurrah! Hurrah! Hurrah!

the power of chocolate?

damn and blast the bbc! today they had a report online that debunks the well-known scientific fact that eating chocolate makes us feel better.

"Peter Rogers, professor of biological psychology from Bristol University who is speaking at the BA Festival of Science in York, has carried out research that suggests this is not the case.

... he suggested that chocoholics were chocoholics because their favourite food was often deemed "naughty but nice". He explained: "The nice bit is its sweet taste, lovely melt-in-the-mouth texture, and our associations that we have in our food culture - we use it as a gift, a reward and as something to treat ourselves with - which gives it extra appeal. On the negative side, it is something we shouldn't eat too much of, it's not a staple food in our diet, it is relatively high in fat and sugar, and therefore potentially unhealthy. It is this that makes us want it so much. We are wrestling with the desire to eat it because it is so nice; but we restrain ourselves, because we perceive eating it as being naughty. And this unfulfilled desire, said Professor Rogers, was experienced as a craving, which in turn is attributed to addiction.

"It is explained by culture and not chemistry," he added."

if you really want to, you may read more about this here.

english sweets aka candy bars

o my, there's a curly wurly!
today's ny times has two whole internet pages devoted to the best sweets in the world, i.e., english ones. it begins:

"A TELEVISION news producer from Atlanta recently made a deal with her boss, who was traveling in London. The producer promised she would submit her script for an investigative story ahead of deadline in exchange for two British Kit Kats and a Curly Wurly bar."

i understand this. i may be diabetic (type 2, for about 8 years) and thus must regard chocolate, especially an english cadbury's dairy milk or maltesers which are sold at stop'n'shop damn their eyes, must regard it as death-delivering poison. nevertheless, just a picture of a flake or a crunchie bar causes immediate salivation. the american cadburys do not taste the same. they are ersatz, and according to the article are actually made by hershey. sacrilege!

the whole article is here.