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Games – Scrabble

Games,

The popularity of scrabble has not waned in the 70 plus years since it was invented.  Scrabble is one of those games that becomes a little bit addictive once you start playing and you just have to keep playing to see if you can better your scores and score more bingos (7 letter words).

In the last few years it has become possible for players to play scrabble online and there are various online scrabble clubs where you can play against friends and complete strangers around the world.

One of the keys to playing a good game of scrabble is to know the short words that can be used – so you really need to memorise the 2 and 3 letter words that are allowable. There are obviously a lot of 3 letter words so that is going to be a harder task than remembering the 2 letter scrabble words which are (and these differ depending on if you use US or UK English):

Aa, ab, ad, ae, ag, ah, ai, al, am, an, ar, as, at, aw, ax, ay

Ba, be, bi, bo, by, de, do, ed, ef, eh, el, em, en, er, es, et, ex

Fa, fe, go, ha, he, hi, hm, ho, id, if, in, is, it, jo, ka, ki

La, li, lo, ma, me, mi, mm, mo, mu, my

Na, ne, no, nu, od, oe, of, oh, oi, om, on, op, or, os, ow, ox, oy

Pa, pe, pi, qi, re, sh, si, so, ta, ti, to, uh, um, un, up, us, ut

We, wo, xi, xu, ya, ye, yo, za

The most important ones I find to remember are qi, xi, xu, za, hm, sh as these can be really useful when you have high scoring letters and you want to place a word both vertically and horizontally.

Another tip to remember in playing scrabble is to always use your S advisedly as it can really get a you a good cross score – don’t waste it on a single word but instead use it to pluralize another word while  also setting up your own word.

 

Rachel Ray – Food and Chat Show

Food & Drink, ,

Rachel Ray has for quite a number of years had a daytime chat show which also includes a large element of cooking. Rachel Ray takes a lot of her food influences from her Italian background and not only does her food look great on her program, it is usually very easy to make and everyday type of food that people would definitely try to make themselves. The show combines both the recipes and chat with celebrities and others and works well.

So after years of enjoying the daytime slot both at home and abroad, WTAE, who broadcast the show, have moved her slot so that the Rachael Ray show will no be on at 1.05am. This is surely a kick in the teeth for Ray, who will be replaced by Nate Berkus (who was a frequent contributor to the Oprah show)  with a home based show in the 10am slot in the Autumn schedules.

Rachael Ray has had a lot of celebrity guests on her show and is not only popular with the viewing public but also with the celebrities themselves. It will be interesting to see how the ratings go once the show has been moved to the much later slot.

 

Pizza, Sangria and Wine!

Food & Drink, ,

Is there anything better to eat and drink than a great pizza and some wine? Obviously your choice of pizza is key here and you need to go quality and possibly even home made to get the very best pizza. However, although wine is a great drink to go with pizza, have you thought of maybe changing it up a bit? By mixing your own Sangria you have a great alternative to go with pizza and also have a taste of Spain to go with the taste of Italy!

Sangria is made by mixing red wine with some brandy and adding fruit and some other kind of sweetener, often orange juice.  The good thing about Sangria is that you can make it from your everyday cheap wine  and so you don’t need to splash out on something expensive. Make a pitcher of sangria with a dash of brandy and a dose of orange juice and then add plenty of chopped fruit.

Sangria and pizza is a great mix if you have a bunch of friends round and you want to have a casual, perhaps buffet style meal – you can create your own pizza flavours and serve them in slices and people can help themselves to a glass of sangria too.

How To Make Your Own Cup Cakes – Recipe

Food & Drink, , ,

Cup cakes have become all of the rage in recent years and they are no longer the simple and plain small sponge cake that they used to be but instead have become elaborately decorated treats for adults and children alike.

In the UK cupcakes used to be known as fairy cakes and there is really not much difference between a traditional fairy cake recipe and cup cakes.

So if you are looking for a recipe for how to make cup cakes then they are really pretty simple in terms of the ingredients although the execution of the baking of cup cakes is a bit of a master art.

There are a lot of different cup cake recipes out there and the quantities of the ingredients varies between bakers – some will have equal quantities of butter, flour and sugar but others will have mixed quantities. For a simple cup cake recipe you will need:

4oz self raising flour
3oz castor sugar
2 eggs
3oz butter

To really get the best cup cakes you need to experiment with relative quantities so that you get a mix that works well for you and the flavour of cup cake that you are making.

For some cup cakes you will also add vanilla essence and for chocolate cup cakes you can substitute cocoa powder for some of the flour, etc. So use this base to work out what works best for you in making your own cup cake recipe.

You can use the all in one method which involves just basically adding all the ingredients together and mixing, or you can use the traditional method of creaming the butter and the sugar together, adding the eggs slowly and then folding in the flour. Spoon the cup cake mixture into small cake cases and cook in a medium oven (180 C)  for 12-15 minutes.

The main art of making cup cakes these days seems to be the frosting – this can be a cream cheese frosting or a butter icing – there are many recipes and you just need to google cup cake recipes or cup cake icing and you will get a wealth of choices.  Personally I cream together butter and icing sugar and add colouring as necessary (or maybe some flavouring if required).

Many people have turned their love for baking into a cup cake business in their spare time and are making some extra income at home by doing this.

Warren Buffett and Bank of America

Finance & Insurance,

Warren Buffett is someone that a lot of people look up to when trying to decide where to invest their money. In fact some people believe that Warren Buffett has far too much control and influence over the financial health of the US and beyond, too much for any one person anyway.

But last month he came to the rescue of Bank of America by investing $5bn pounds in the company. The fact that so much confidence was shown in Bank of America can only help it’s position and give investors the impetus to also show their confidence in the bank.

Warren Buffett is generally regarded as one of the most successful investors in the world and is the Chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway. Anything that Warren Buffett invests in therefore comes under huge scrutiny and there are always scores of people ready to follow suit and invest in a similar fashion.

However, the deal to invest in Bank of America was said to be more of a long term thing and perhaps would not be the same as buying Bank of America shares for the short term.  In any investment it is worthwhile looking at your own situation with regards to the possibilities and to get advice to see if a perticular investment will suit your portfolio.

So just following the investments of Warren Buffett as they occur may not reap you exactly the rewards that you are looking for!