Scotland Thread

[The_Munchmaster]

18th Annual Golden Spurtle World Porridge Making Championship

 

John Boa Wins Golden Spurtle Trophy

 

 

A Gaelic singer from Strathglass has won the highly-coveted Golden Spurtle, the prize for winning the World Porridge Championship 2011. The first time entrant but life long porridge maker was commended today in Carrbridge, where the event is held, for his outstanding porridge by the judges in the cook-off. Competitors’ porridge was judged on consistency, taste and colour.

 

John used medium oatmeal from Hamlyns of Scotland, a local oat mill, tap water from Carrbridge and salt. “There is no secret to my success, it is just knowing what good porridge looks like and stirring constantly until it is properly thick, when I then add the correct amount of salt,“ he explained.

 

An accomplished gaelic singer and gold medal finalist at the National Mod, John sings with Lothian Gaelic Choir. He enjoys cycle touring and has twice cycled between Land’s End and John o’ Groats, once in each direction. On each trip he carried oatmeal, salt and a spurtle to make a sustaining breakfast every day saying “I was undoubtedly helped along the way by a morning intake of porridge. The simplicity of using just one main ingredient makes it the only choice for cycle touring – it’s easy to carry enough to do breakfast for the whole weekâ€.

 

Winner of the Speciality competition – where contestants are free to add other ingredients to porridge – was 2010 Golden Spurtle winner Neal Robertson owner and chef of Tannochbrae Tea-room, Auchtermuchty, who produced a Winter Spiced Porridge with blueberries, sugar and heather honey.

 

Neal said “I am absolutely delighted to win the Speciality Porridge Making Competition and can’t believe I have now won both competitions on back to back years. Having won the Golden Spurtle Trophy in 2010 my aim this year was to win the Speciality competition so I am over the moon to have carried off the title and reach the final for the main competition once again. To celebrate my win I will be having another tatoo done to match my 2010 tattoo, much to my wife, Jane’s disapproval.â€

 

The event attracted porridge makers from around the globe with competitors from Sweden, Ireland, America and the UK, and from all walks of life, including an astrophysics student; a high flying managing director; a mill owner; mother of four, professional chefs and bed & breakfast proprietors.

 

Judging was done by two professional Masterchefs of Great Britain, George McIvor and Colin Bussey along with celebrity judge, Karen Mackenzie, producer and co-host of the Fred MacAulay Show on BBC Radio Scotland.

[Flashermac]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eIwGD_XQNSM&feature=related

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[The_Munchmaster]

Crane lift for eel as 'love congers all' in Macduff

 

Rip the conger eel will be released from Macduff Marine Aquarium

 

An operation to release a 6ft conger eel to the wild so he can find love is due to get underway.

 

Rip will leave Macduff Marine Aquarium in Moray to swim to the Atlantic.

 

Rip has become restless, leading staff to recognise typical signs meaning time had come for a 2,000-mile migration to the Atlantic.

 

The eels are known to congregate in deep water, where they spawn before dying. A crane will be needed for Operation Rip Tide on Monday afternoon.

 

Rip has been at the aquarium since 2004.

 

'Be happy'

 

The aim is to use a large bag to catch the conger eel in and a crane to hoist him out, lowering him into sea, where divers will open the bag.

 

Claire Matthews, the aquarium manager, said: "We have everything in place for operation Rip Tide - divers, a lifting bag, crane and a high tide.

 

"We just hope that Rip realises we're helping him and is cooperative.

 

"We hope Rip makes it to the Azores, but of course the sad part of the story is that he will die after it all - but at least he'll be happy."

 

In 2001, Chippie the conger eel was released at the aquarium for the same journey in Operation Amour.

[Flashermac]

What a life, you finally get laid and then snuff it.

[The_Munchmaster]

There are worse ways to go I suppose.

[The_Munchmaster]

Giant pandas arrive in Edinburgh from China

 

Yang Guang settles into his new enclosure at Edinburgh Zoo

 

Two giant pandas are settling in "very well" in their new home at Edinburgh Zoo but are "jet lagged", officials have confirmed.

 

Pandas Arriving

 

Tian Tian and Yang Guang, who arrived from China on Sunday by specially-chartered jet, are the first giant pandas to live in the UK for 17 years.

 

They have been sleeping and eating in a two-hour sequence in a bid to recover from their long journey.

 

They go on public display from Friday 16 December.

 

First Minister Alex Salmond has met Chinese vice-premier Li Keqiang in China to discuss further business links, and has personally thanked him for sending the pandas Tian Tian and Yang Guang.

 

Gary Wilson, Edinburgh Zoo's director of business operations, said: "They are getting on very well. We were really surprised how well they settled into their enclosure.

 

"They are obviously quite jet lagged.

 

"They are in a strange sequence of sleeping for two hours and eating for two hours, a bit like most humans when they fly half way around the world.

 

"They are very active within the internal area, they are walking around, they are doing a lot of eating of bamboo, scenting the area and getting familiarised, just like when you have a new home yourself."

 

A panda cam is set to start beaming live pictures from their enclosure in the next few days.

 

During their nine-hour flight to Edinburgh by FedEx Express, the pair ate in-flight meals of bamboo, apples, carrots, a special panda cake and mineral water.

 

They were accompanied by a vet and two animal handlers from Edinburgh Zoo and the Bifengxia Panda Base.

 

Crowds gathered at the zoo to welcome the pandas as they arrived.

 

Tian Tian, meaning "sweetie", and Yang Guang, meaning "sunshine", will have two weeks to settle in to their new enclosure before going on display to the public.

 

Darren McGarry, head of animals at Edinburgh Zoo, told BBC Scotland: "Tian Tian is a bit of a sweetie, she is much more relaxed. She is a smaller panda, she likes to spend a lot of time away from the keepers.

 

"Yang Guang is a big ray of sunshine. He's a huge panda, really impressive.

 

"He spent a lot of time eating last night and seemed really happy as he was scent-marking his enclosure to say this is my territory.

 

"He is a big gregarious panda so I know he is going to be really popular with the visitors."

 

The pandas' new £250,000 home at the zoo includes two separate enclosures.

 

When Tian Tian comes into season the pair will be introduced to each other - possibly in February or March.

 

Tian Tian has had twin cubs in the past, and Yang Guang has also fathered cubs - though not as a pair together.

 

Animal welfare campaigners have criticised the zoo for accepting the pandas, saying it is a "primarily commercial deal".

 

They claim it is not a credible way to go about saving the giant panda.

 

Bringing the pandas to Edinburgh has involved a five-year effort by the zoo.

 

The eight-year-old pair will stay at the zoo for at least 10 years.

 

First Minister Alex Salmond thanked Chinese Vice Premier Li Keqiang for the "generous gift" of the pandas when they met on Monday during his visit to China.

 

The meeting in Beijing looked at how to build on the business and cultural links already established between the two countries.

[Flashermac]

And in return Scotland is sending China a pair of Glaswegians for the Beijing Zoo.

[Mekong]

[The_Munchmaster]

And in return Scotland is sending China a pair of Glaswegians for the Beijing Zoo.

 

That would be quite appropriate actually, as long as they were Glasgow Rangers supporters (who are often referred to as Bears after the clubs nickname, The Teddy Bears).

[The_Munchmaster]

The Forth Bridge (rail bridge) is my favourite structure in the world but every time I've been home for the past ten years it's been covered in scaffolding and protective sheeting, like this

 

 

thus making taking pics of it fairly pointless, but now it's all over it will look like this again

 

 

so I'll be paying it a visit in the summer.

 

 

Forth Bridge painting completed

 

 

The painting of the Forth Bridge has finally been completed and the structure is now scaffold-free for the first time in a decade.

 

The repair and repainting project to paint the rail bridge took 10 years and cost £130m.

 

It has been claimed it will not now need another paint job for at least 25 years. New techniques and products have been are behind the project's success.

 

A 400-strong team applied a triple layer of new glass flake epoxy paint.

 

It creates a chemical bond to provide a virtually impenetrable layer to protect the bridge's steel work from the weather.

 

The project, delivered by Network Rail and main contractor Balfour Beatty Regional Civil Engineering, involved encasing the bridge in up to 4,000 tonnes of scaffolding, painting over 230,000sqm of steel and all 6.5 million rivets in the structure.

 

Over the life of the project more than 1,500 people worked on the structure, with up to 400 people a day on the bridge at the height of the refurbishment works.

 

A 400-strong team applied a triple layer of new glass flake epoxy paint David Simpson, Network Rail route managing director for Scotland, said: "The completion of this refurbishment will safeguard the future of one of the country's most famous landmarks.

 

 

"Repainting the bridge has long been considered one of the world's never-ending tasks, and the refurbishment programme we have just completed has been one of the biggest engineering challenges Network Rail has faced.

 

"Our staff and contractors can take real pride in their achievements on this project, not least in the fact that through their efforts this amazing structure will remain free of major maintenance work for at least two decades."

 

The bridge, which was built between 1883 and 1890, is 1.5 miles long.

 

The track is about 150ft (45m) above the water level and the bridge reaches 330ft (100m) at the tops of the towers.

 

The steel structure contains more than 6.5 million rivets.