Pink Zinc here we come!!!

Slip…Slop…Slap…get ready for do all three on Friday 13 November in support of Queensland’s SunSmart Day!!!

Cancer Council Queensland runs the day each year with a focus on raising awareness and raising funds…so if you would like to contribute or show that you are SunSmart…they are urging you to break out the coloured zinc and your best sun hat!!! 

The day also serves as a launch for National  Skin Cancer Action Week.

Further details can be found via:  www.cancerqld.org.au or by calling to register on 1300 656 585.

Until next time we go wild…

The Wildfire Athletic Team 

I was interviewed for an article on dating – I considered sending them a link to this but then figured the guys wouldnt appreciate it and honestly, I like keeping my identity under wraps.  In fact the one man that did find out I was writing this bugged at a mention of himself…

Also, I accidently let it slip that I have a bad habit of booking two or three dates for the same day and average 3-5 a week.

After I meekly ask if that could be off the record… Too late but she assured me it wouldnt be printed for at least a month, so the day of 3 would not be recognizable to them. 

I promise, there will be more juicy details to come…  and follow up from recent events…

xVix

I want one of these trees. Imagine it: a beautiful, leafy yard. Lush. Inviting. And dripping with seed pods covered in sulfurous afterbirth. Come to my home, trick-or-treaters, and meet the invisible mono filament trip lines, sending you face-first into the slop. My gate is open for you, Jehovah’s Witnesses. Who will win? The fear of hell that chases you on your proselytizing route, or the tree vomit that gently coaxes your stomach’s contents to join it? I’m not stopping you, leaflet-posting-guy. Give me your best effort.

With a stand of female ginkgoes leaning over the sidewalk, passers-by will get a taste of what lurks inside the house. Most will run. But a few will not be deterred; mostly the goddamned Mormons and guys who deliver the phone books. This means that I won’t waste precious time and acid on whiny bitches who die too quickly. Give me the strong ones. The ones who have the will to live, even when I tear off their legs and pour the blood into their gaping bowels. Even when I pry out their lower jaws and use them to bite themselves. Even then.

In fact, they may force the neighbors to put their homes on the market. With piles of ginkgo shit accumulating at the edges of their property, how can they resist the promise of one-fifth the appraised value? Of course, no one will actually go to the open houses. They may try, but they’ll just puke their balls onto the sidewalk and promptly leave in an ambulance. So I guess I’ll be the only one to make a bid.

As I accumulate more and more homes, I’ll plant more and more trees, releasing more and more putrefying seeds into the world. Soon, I’ll own the entire town. The families on the perimeter won’t give a fuck because they have seven acres of soybeans or something, and they won’t smell it. But within my world, there will be no one but me and the corpses of smokers. No children. No old people. No cocksuckers who think they’re gangsters, fashion models or MMA fighters.

I’ll just lay in wait, alternately burning the houses just to watch the flames and jerk off and erecting new structures so I can say “erect.” Until I hear the telltale sound of a trespasser: “Jesus Christ! It smells like a turbo skunk with diarrhea rolled in kimchi and stuffed itself up a dead Sasquatch’s ass, then burst into flames! What the fuck?!?!” It will be like music to my ears. Fresh meat.

It’s only a matter of time before I become my own country. Then I can finally fulfill my dream of receiving an offer to join the UN. And wiping my ass with it.

So on Wednesday I posted before we finished everything we had planned, but basically all I ended up doing was helping Samuel & Addison make pig snouts to wear (Addison was afraid to put hers on. She ended up chewing on it. Ew.):

Then Thursday we went somewhere in the morning & I’m beginning to realize that if we do any out-of-the-house activity in the mornings, there probably won’t be much “school” that day!

So today Samuel traced letter “O’s” and “P’s”, made a pig puppet & read some more pig books with it, & made pig “slop”. We may do some more activities this afternoon; there are some pig games & a pig jigsaw puzzle online I may have him try. I also had a couple more games/crafts but it takes preparation & I haven’t done it yet so… dunno if I’ll get there. So here are some pictures:

Samuel’s letter “O’s” – traced with a black marker:

Pig puppet (kinda hard to see, but he colored it pink really well):

We made slop out of chocolate pudding (both kids liked stirring the milk in the mix), and here are the other ingredients we used:

Addison stirring the slop base:

Far shot of the finished product (I put the “ingredients” on a plate for them to choose which ones they wanted to put in their individual bowls. Addison mostly ate the ingredients. lol):

Sam’s pig slop, after being stirred (before it was stirred, he said his looked like they were having a Christmas party. lol I’m guessing cuz it was so colorful & fun?):

Addi’s slop:

I wonder what next week’s theme will be… Hmmm. Stay tuned!

Soon, if the scheme pushes through, every household will get a slop bucket (kitchen caddy) where food scraps go. And you’ll be slapped with a £80-£500 fine if you fail to recycle. Environment secretary Hilary Benn suggested this plan over the summer.

Biodegradable waste will be used for energy or processed for biofuel instead of going into the landfill.

Not sure how this is going to be enforced. Would they check my waste bin to see if Ihave dumped food scraps in there? Or am I going to be judged by my empty slop bucket? If it’s empty, it could either be I’m not recycling (so, yes slap me a fine) or I made an effort not to have food waste or I compost my own waste (no, I don’t deserve a fine).

Your thoughts?

Frightening words and scary numbers are being bandied about when it comes to the H1N1 virus, otherwise known as the “Swine Flu.” Words such as “pandemic,” “epidemic,” “surge” and “die.” The numbers range from 30 percent of the U.S. population to 50 percent, with up to 90,000 dead.

All these frightening words, all these scary numbers; yet, little evidence to back them up. More people will wind up dying out of sheer terror thinking about the swine flu than actually from the illness itself.

Tonight, the Channel 9 (ABC-Kansas City) news caught my attention with their report on the swine flu. The report said that some so-called “experts” were saying up to half of the U.S. population could be infected by the H1N1 virus this year and up to 90,000 people could die.

I then read an article by Mike Stobbe of the Associated Press that reported the findings of a ”White House expert panel” that said anywhere from 30 percent to half of Americans could be infected “during the course of this pandemic and that from 30,000 to 90,000 could die.” (1)

To that I say, prove it. To that I say, I will believe it when I see it. To that I say, stop trying to scare us to death and start governing the way you should.

We are being toyed with by this sorry excuse for a government. This is the classic trick of the illusionist, being executed on a grand scale. The trick is distraction and, sorry to say, for many it is working.

When the threat becomes one against life itself, all other threats rapidly recede into the background. Front and center is swine flu and its voracious appetite for destruction.

Economic woes are forgotton; the rising cost of energy is forgotton; the attacks on the very foundations of our society are forgotton. We are too busy sanitizing our lives, hiding behind useless masks with big deer-in-the-headlight eyes to see all that is being taken from us.

It is unbelievable to me that in the very same AP article, just a little more than a paragraph under the claim that “30,000 to 90,000″ people might die, Stobbe writes, “No cause for panic. So far, swine flu isn’t much more threatening than regular seasonal flu.”

What? Are you serious? Who is sending out the misinformation here? The White House and its “experts”? The optimists at the AP? Who are we supposed to believe?

Here’s what I believe — don’t buy into the hype, don’t believe what you hear. Use common sense and don’t allow these “experts” to frighten you to death. Let’s not repeat the big Y2K scam (invest in a generator company, anyone?)  and make the elderly rush out to purchase bubbles in which to live (if I knew what company made those bubbles, I would definitely invest!).

Since the threat of terrorism has diminished, the government needs some other way to distract us while our rights, freedoms and ethics continue to erode. This White House has found just such a threat and have given it a name.

Its name is the “Swine Flu.” I think it is just a bunch of slop.

(1) http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090901/ap_on_he_me/us_med_swine_flu10_things

At first, Christine and I were just excited to see the pregnant Chenbot’s, um…Chenbump. But now, after totally nerding out and reading way too much about the show online just now, we are literally counting the hours till the 8:00PM debut of “Big Brother 11″ tonight on CBS!

I don’t know about you guys, but, summer in our house is not complete without loads of snarky, half-naked hotties duking it out in a cool house full of cameras! And while this year’s crop of houseguests look pretty much like any other season, there are two key twists that might shake things up a bit.

One: the house will be divided into traditional high school cliques, geeks, brains, jocks, what have you. And two: there will be a 13th mystery houseguest who may (or may not) be recycled from a previous season. Awesome!! And recycling a houseguest is apparently just the beginning this year!

Jumping on the marketing bandwagon, the “BB 11″ producers have decided to “go green” this season with loads of eco-friendly touches sprinkled throughout the house. Of course, once the “Big Brother” slop starts flying, who really cares where the power comes from, just keep those cameras rolling, baby!

Either way, kudos to “Big Brother” for rocking some pretty cool eco-friendly decor this year — I love that wall of recycled bottles, cans and cardboard and stuff below — and, as always, all hail the Chenbot!

]]> http://failblog.org/2009/07/07/dump-truck-fail/ Tue, 07 Jul 2009 17:00:48 +0000 pizzaburger http://failblog.org/2009/07/07/dump-truck-fail/

Submitted by Chris J

Editor’s Note: We’re currently having issues with Youtube, so we’ve uploaded our videos onto Viddler instead for now while the issue with Youtube is being resolved.

I’d love to be able to garden in a vintage English tea dress, with a woolly cardigan and comfy Wellington boots, in the style of the women in ‘Edge of Love‘. (A film about Dylan Thomas). In reality I slip on a teal Hard Yakka men’s work shirt and an old, trusty pair of khaki Colorado shorts. Big M jokes that I look like a rubbish collection man.

I slap on wide brimmed floppy navy hat. I should slop on some sunscreen, but my olive skin doesn’t burn easily and we usually only garden early in the morning or late at dusk, so instead I have to use mozzie repellent. I currently have a nicely developed thong (aka flip flop) tan, which is slightly less embarrassing than the sock tan I used to have at high school. Sometimes I use my broken-buckled crocs, but I wish I’d bought the ones without holes as the dirt gets in easily. One day soon I’ll splash out some fancy boots to wear to a rock concert a la Kate Moss – either some pretty Plueys or royal Hunters, and of course I’ll garden in them…..

Well, we’ve arrived in Hawke’s Bay, (I’m told NOT to say ‘the Hawke’s Bay, just ‘the Bay or Hawke’s Bay’. To do otherwise advertises my Auckland refugee status.) and it is fantastic. We settled into the house within a week, which means the furniture was in place, the pictures were hung, and the inflatable pool was sitting under the pergola.  The dogs were contained in their section of the yard, and one cat adjusted while the other suffered a nervous breakdown. A breakdown severe enough to require cat  prozac. She has yet to spend more than 3 minutes in the yard, and has taken to sleeping under the sink in the laundry room. We’ve already had more visitors in 4 weeks than we had in 14 years in Auckland, two of them relatives who lived in the same city.

Because we decided to forgo our annual holidays in favor of moving, we decided to splash out and buy tickets for the Lionel Ritchie concert at the Mission Winery. Rather, I decided to buy tickets. I hadn’t seen him in Auckland. I was too busy packing boxes. So, when the opportunity to buy two seated tickets at a reduced price on Trade-me came up, I snatched it. And won the auction.  Hooray! I was going to be dancing on the ceiling. Or in this case, under the stars. I couldn’t wait.

It was hot and sunny for a month leading up to the concert, then the Great Dark Cloud of Doom blew in from the South.

The morning of the concert was only slightly wet. There was hope. The afternoon was wetter, but hope still survived. By the time we left to go to the shuttle bus, it was pouring, and only grim determination  demanded, ‘Say you, Say me.  Get on that bus, that’s the way it will be.’

Just as we arrived at the concert venue, Brian decided he needed to go back and make sure he’d turned the car lights off. I forged ahead, flashing my wristband, clutching my tarpaulin, umbrella, blanket, and my Grain Wave Sour Cream & Chive chips. The cooler of wine and food would arrive with my Beloved.

 People were wet  and loopy, but they were cheerful, and the variety of wet weather gear was inspirational. We had the ‘Australian’ look, that Man from Snowy River Bone Dry slicker and hat combo, there was the flourescent rain jacket genre, a look to which I subscribed, and there was the black plastic garbage bag and Subway sandwich wrapper around shoes fashion. Gumboots were everywhere. The most inventive outfit was worn by a woman sporting dive goggles and swim flippers. The fans were anticipatory. I wondered what was taking Brian so long. The rain continued to pour. Then came the announcement:  The concert had been cancelled. Lionel wasn’t Easy Like Sunday Morning, he wasn’t even showing up.  Safety reasons, the organisers said. Too many drunk people in danger of slipping down the hill and wiping out the entire seated section, I guess.

Back to the bus. Pure chaos. One group of women had set up a sidewalk pub, and were commenting on the shuttle bus schedules. Another man offered to pour me a glass of wine if the next bus took more than 30 minutes. The woman in the swim fins tripped on the curb. Later, she sang, ‘The Wheels On The Bus’ for 45 wet and soggy passengers. At least it was a concert.

I’ll never see my money again. The man who sold me the ticket bought it from someone who bought it from someone, and the refund was only guaranteed at the point of purchase, wherever that is.

Lionel, you broke my heart. I hope you read this and refund my money out of the goodness of your own heart and pocket. But if you don’t just remember that I’m Three Times A Lady, and Mitre-10, with whom I am developing a relationship, will marry me if I buy the electric start lawnmower.

It’s 12:17am. Spring break has been over for nearly 20 minutes.

I don’t know where the week went, to be honest. I remember on the first day Bear was sick, so we spent the day claiming leg room on the couch under blankets watching super hero movies. The second day escapes me. I think it was Tuesday that we headed up the hill to vacation at the Castle Arroyo. Finally fulfilled my craving for dad’s “slop”. One day of racketball with Pigeon, a good two hours of hard smacking and bending over – for the ball, of course. Slept a lot. Saw a couple movies. Did some photography. Spent some quality time with Bear. Overall, for having absolutely no money to spend, I can’t complain.

And now, time to light that fire.

I’ve decided to set up an occasional e-slop bucket. I’ll pour into it stories of sloppy and slapdash behaviour by National government ministers. Two ‘SL’ words to add to slippery (for saying one thing whilst thinking another) and slashing (sweeping and random cuts).

The first motion of excrement is Nick Smith’s  two-week lapse of reason and his bizarre behavior over ACC.

• ACC privatisation by stealth for spurious reasons – softening up the voters by undermining the corporation. Using ACC levy increases, the ‘black hole’ funding story, hinting at (but failing to promise)  cheaper private accident insurance premiums, suggesting ACC is affecting NZ’s credit rating, etc. All with very little basis in fact. 
• Botched sacking of Ross Wilson merely for political reasons. We know that because by all accounts Ross Wilson was a highly competent chair of the board. Smith replaces Wilson with John Judge, one of the owners of Health TV, citing Judge’s business acumen. (Thinks: is Health TV a business seccess story? Also, Health TV is a health product promotion/advertorial vehicle; does Mr Judge have a conflict of interest?). John Judge goes in all guns blazing looking for commie gooks in the ACC jungle, grilling other board members and sizing them up for sackings, only to find he has no ammo because he was never really appointed in the first place. That’s because Nick Smith botched the questionable sacking of Ross Wilson.
• Bully.  Gatecrashes select committee hearing on ACC’s financial reporting.  Most media describe this as ‘”bizzarre” behaviour. Smith bullies Chief Executive Jan White and answers questions to project his lies, rather than allow any provision of evidence that could be used to challenge his privatization agenda. 

It’s my second bloom day! I actually have some blooms outside, so that’s exciting. One thing that is definitely NOT in bloom is my cyclamen that was beautiful on Valentine’s Day when my husband got it for me. It’s just too warm in my house at 70°, I guess. So it slowly yellowed and I cut it down and put it outside. I’ll plant it when it gets warmer, and hopefully it’ll come back outside next year. Now on to things that ARE blooming on this rainy day.

crocus in the rain

raindrops on a daffodil

quince w/raindrop

And as a grand finale, the mystery bulb does appear to be a daffodil (look towards the bottom of the pic below). If that one stays, I might have to plant to friends there for it this year. Not a bad spot for some daffs, anyway, and I do have a pot coming in next week from the Daffodil Days for Cancer thing I sponsored at work this year (must remember to post about that when they come in – will have to sneak some pics at work!). The daylilies are also coming up! The bed looks pretty sparse now, but it fills in fairly well, and hopefully the stuff I’ve ordered from Bluestone will also help with that. Also I really need to get to weeing and put in an order for a couple truckloads of mulch with the nursery that is conveniently located about a mile from my house. If only it would stay warm so I can feel good about removing all the old foliage that provides a bit of protection. Come on, weather!

Signs of spring making themselves obvious.

Also, to end the post, a confession. I planted my daffodils and tulips in SLOP. They line the front of the “driveway bed.” Sigh. What can I say. I suppose I planted them before I knew that this was an affliction. But I’ve since planted more bulbs around them, and they should still clump up fairly nicely as time goes on and I add more in. Please don’t hold this against me. More details on the condition as more blooms arrive.

I will also admit a Freudian Slip. When I first write this post and went to preview it to make edits, I realized I’d titled it “Bloom Day – May 2009.” Sigh. Wishful thinking? On Bloom Day in May, I’ll actually be in Hawaii, and my mom will be looking after my plants for a week!

Edwin Mascarenhas, Chicalim

With reference to the news item, ‘Development of Dabolim land comes under scanner’ (Herald, 23 Feb), which listed the irregularities pertaining to development of the green hill slope surveyed under No 43/1, of Dabolim Village, I would like to point out that on obtaining the licenses, the land and the licenses have been sold and transferred lock, stock and barrel to a Delhi-based builder. Housing projects are to come up on this land.
It is well established that our state is going through severe water shortage and there is also a resource crunch in the power department. Sewage spewing out of the high-rise colonies into the village wells below is a serious health hazard and the less spoken about garbage the better.
The erosion of our already diluted cultural heritage is also a matter of great concern with the inflow of moneybags, who will inhabit these high-priced apartments, save for a few Goans who may afford but may not be inclined to live in such a socially and culturally diverse environment.
Is our aam aadmi CM willing to examine the procedures adopted for granting these licenses to strict scrutiny of legal, technical, environmental, public health and planning parameters? If my request is heeded, the right answers will emerge which by themselves, and shall prompt you to revoke the licenses without any loss to the builder as the construction is yet to begin.
Last but not the least, it will clear Mr Parrikar’s doubts on why Goans are opposing the kind of haphazard and illegal development ‘development’ being practiced in Goa.

“FUCK THIS!”

Descriptions:
Stock photos: iStockphoto Dollar Bin files, your last chance at these images, give them a chance!
Small fluffy animals will be harmed if you don’t buy these shots

• Clock tower with blue sky background
• Vandalised sign post and iron gate into field
• Washed ashore after a high stormy tide
• Closer shot of a washed up fishing net on the beach
• Bent nail in a piece of drift wood
• Composited version scans of charcoal mark making
• Volcanic thermal mud, Rotorua, New Zealand
• Paint texture printed onto white coated paper with Gouache
• Printed with gouache and scanned
• Grungy scratched texture in Mono
• Cruising down a Klong (canal) around Bangkok, a typical canal-side Thai house
• Fallen Leaf with shadows from fence
• Blue Swirl weird background texture
• The view down the jetty from Wanaka in New Zealand, near to Queenstown

Keywords:
Outdoors,Day,Clear Sky,Bell Tower,Clock,Tower,Time,Weather,Roof,Blue,Sky,Hexagon,Wind,Built Structure,Intricacy,Majestic,o’clock,Horse,Sign,Green,Bicycle,Riding,Riding,Gate,Iron,Grass,Tree,Stone,Stone,Stile,Bollard,Text,Vandalism,Spray,Paint,Information Medium,Data,Field,Blue,SandBeach,flotsome,jetsome,Hole,Pebble,Abstract,Rope,Trapped,Woven,Tangled,Nautical Vessel,Rusty,Hole,Plank,flotsome,jetsome,Close-up,Snowdrift,Beach,drift-wood,Rough,Pattern,charcole,Expressing Positivity,Dark,Kaleidoscope,Psychedelic,Three-dimensional Shape,Rug,magic-carpet,Backgrounds,Hot Spring,Mud,Heat,Volcanic Landscape,Splattered,slop,Messy,Zealand,Rotorua,Wet,Steam,Sulphur,New Zealand,Purple,Mottled,Abstract,splodge,Chance,Multi-Layered Effect,Monoprint,Gouache,Paint,Blue,Chaos,Textured,Textured Effect,Backgrounds,Dirty,Grunge,Scratched,Bakelite,Old,Monochrome,Unhygienic,Raw,Multi-Layered Effect,Black,White,Decline,Scoring,Thailand,Bangkok,Canal,Beaten Up,klong,Traditional Culture,River,chao-phraya,waterside,Leaf,Falling,Autumn,Shed,Jetty,Lake,Morning,Snow,Wood,Zealand,Wanaka,Peacefull,New Zealand

Preheat oven to 375
BRUSH
4 lbs chicken breast pieces with olive oil

In large zipper bag
COMBINE
1/2 cup bread crumbs
1/4 tsp thyme
1/2 tsp paprika
1/4 tsp kosher salt
1/4 tsp marjoram
1/4 tsp celery seed
1/4 tsp ground pepper

Dredge or shake chicken in coating.
Arrange them on a non-stick cooking sheet.
Bake at 375 for 45 minutes, until crisp on the outside.

Serve with Broccoli Spears or Brussels Sprouts and fresh tomato slices with mozzarella cheese.

Shirley’s Éclair Cake

4 sm or 2 lg boxes of French Vanilla instant pudding mix (can use sugar-free)

7 cups of cold milk

2 boxes Graham Crackers

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 bowl cool whip

1 tub of Chocolate Frosting

• In the microwave place the open container of chocolate topping; melt for 35 to 45 seconds (runny – try not to get it too hot) and leave until ready to use.
• Spray lasagna pan with butter flavored non-stick spray (optional).
• Layer crackers on the bottom of pan (*completely covering bottom).
• Mix pudding, milk and vanilla for 2 minutes.
• Spread 1/3 of the pudding over crackers.
• Layer of crackers – sides touching, lightly pressing into layer of pudding.
• Spread with 1/3 pudding mix.
• Layer another complete layer of crackers.
• With the remaining 1/3 pudding mixture, fold in cool whip and spread over crackers.
• Place last layer of crackers, pressing down a little on each as you go.
• Get frosting out of the microwave with an oven mitt. Pour and spread chocolate frosting over the last cracker layer.
• Cover pan with a layer of plastic wrap. (It will stick to dessert – that’s okay) press down on dessert.
• Cover all with foil – make sure no foil is allowed to touch the dessert.
• Refrigerate immediately for 2.5 hours or over night.

*Note: Some crackers may need to be split to place side by-side as to completely cover pan. 

Tuna and Noodles

1 can tuna, in water
1 box of small pasta shells (any macaroni item will do)
8 slices of cheese
1tbsp flour
1tbsp margarine
1 cup milk
2 dashes Tabasco Sauce
dash of pepper (optional)

Boil noodles in large pot and drain in colander and set aside, in same pot you cooked your pasta; melt margarine and add flour. Slowly add milk and bring to a boil. Add Tabasco and cheese slices to make a nice sauce then add the tuna. Return pasta to the pot and stir.

Serve with peas and applesauce.

Corn Chowder

2 cups diced raw potatoes

½ cup diced onion

1 cup diced celery

2 cups boiling water

¼ lb bacon

¼ lb mushrooms, sliced

¼ cup diced green pepper

1 can cream-style corn

3 cups milk

2 ½ teaspoons salt

Dash of fresh ground pepper

Peel and dice potatoes. Add to onions, celery and water in top of 2 ¼ quart double boiler. Heat to boiling over direct heat, cover, reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes. Meanwhile pan-fry bacon. Drain on paper towel. Sauté the mushrooms and green pepper in ¼ cup of the bacon drippings for 5 minutes. Add this and remaining ingredients to the cooked vegetables and thin liquid. Reheat over boiling water. Stir gently to mix well. Serve piping hot garnished with bacon. Broken into bits. Makes 8 cups.

French Onion Soup

2 ½ lb veal knuckle

1 ½ quarts boiling water

4 teaspoons salt (or less)

2 cups sliced onions

2 tbsp butter or margarine

1 cup of diced celery

5 slices of French bread

Parmesan cheese

Have knuckle cracked into pieces. Wipe with damp cloth. Put into soup kettle, add water and salt, cover and simmer 1 hour. Sauté onions in butter until lightly browned. Add onions and celery to the soup pot and simmer until both onions and celery are soft, about 1 hour. Remove the bone and season soup to taste.  If desired a kitchen bouquet or a little *caramel can be added for more color. Toast bread, leave crusts on and float on top of bowlfuls of soup. Sprinkle grated parmesan cheese generously over toast. Serves 5.

Note: Slices of hard rolls may be used instead of French bread. The cooked meat may be stripped from the bone and used to make sandwich fillings. Serve with the soup.

• PREPARING CARAMEL
• Sift granulated sugar slowly into a moderately hot skillet, stirring constantly until the sugar is melted into a light amber colored liquid. Carefully add 1 ½ cups boiling water, stir and simmer until caramel is dissolved and is of typical syrup consistency. Cool and store in a covered jar to use as coloring for soups, stews and gravies, as a delicious sweetening for custards, ice cream or candy, and as a luscious sauce for ice creams or puddings.