The Maunsell Sea Forts were constructed In the Thames estuary in early WWII to protect the Southeastern coast of England from Luftwaffe raids. They were named after their designer, Guy Maunsell. The technology was later used in the construction of offshore oil rigs. The forts were armored anti-aircraft gun platforms anchored to the sea bed. The forts were decommissioned in 1957, and in the mid 60’s, became home to a series of pirate radio stations until those were outlawed by England in 1967. One of the sites, Rough’s Tower, has been occupied since 1964 and is know as the “Principality of Sealand” which claims independent nation rights as it is located in international waters, although this is unrecognized.
For more information, look here on Wikipedia. There is a current effort to restore the forts. See Project Redsand for more information.
Congrats to my sister-in-law turned dress designer Lisa Balconi and her partner Cherie Henn for getting an appearance on the NBC Today Show with Kathie Lee Gifford on August 2nd! That’s Lisa on the right in the little black dress, her latest creation. Those aren’t available yet but will be soon. Also in the picture from the left are Cherie’s daughter/model Lauren, Lisa’s partner Cherie and Kathie Lee all looking gorgeous in Lisa’s dresses. And hey, that’s Regis Philbin next to Lisa modeling the shorties! Congratulations ladies! Hope you’re ready for the wild ride you may be on now!
I also helped Lisa out a little with the art for her logo.
Don Trump, Jr. last night before his speech while he was viewing the commotion as Alaska protested the way their votes had been counted and demanded a recount.
With all the craziness going on in the world right now, there is scant media coverage of some of the really great and beautiful news events happening right now. One of those is NASA’s Juno mission to Jupiter. The Juno spacecraft is scheduled to reach Jupiter this July 4th at 8:35 p.m. PDT (earth received time). It is currently travelling at 60,000 miles per hr. relative to earth (June 25th), and was launched on August 5, 2011. The total mission miles travelled will be 2,106 million miles, and it will enter Jupiter’s orbit at 130,000 miles per hr. The mission’s goal is to understand the origin and evolution of Jupiter. The spacecraft has a suite of instruments that will “investigate the existence of a solid planetary core, map Jupiter’s intense magnetic field, measure the amount of water and ammonia in the deep atmosphere and observe the planet’s auroras.” This mission is expected to take the highest resolution photographs of Jupiter in history.
Here is a link to NASA’s Juno Mission web pages for more information.
Golf Channel just recently put this terrific tour on their Grill Room page on their website. Fascinating and makes me want to make a road trip to Latrobe!
This Winter, after reading Dr. William Davis’ book “Wheat Belly” I have decided to attempt a wheat free lifestyle! Some tried and proven wheat free recipes can be found below.
Wheat and Gluten-Free Blueberry Muffins
2015-12-14 15:33:42
Yields 8
These are terrific and you don’t need to be gluten-free to appreciate them.
Preheat Oven to 425 degrees. Place liners in 8 cups of a standard muffin pan. In a large bowl, stir together 2 cups almond flour, 1/4 cup sugar, 1 teaspoon baking powder, 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt and 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon.
In a small bowl, combine 2 large eggs, 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil , 1 teaspoon vanilla extract and 2 tablespoons plain yogurt, then stir wet mixture into dry ingredients. (It’s OK if there are lumps in the batter.) Use a rubber spatula to fold 1 cup blueberries into the batter
Spoon batter into muffin pan, filling each cup to just below the top. Bake 5 minutes, then decrease heat to 350 dgrees and continue to cook until tops of muffins are lightly golden and dry to the touch, 15 - 20 minutes more. Transfer muffins to a rack to cool.
Notes
Try ripe bananas and chopped pecans or cranberries and walnuts instead of the blueberries.
Adapted from a recipe in the Wall Street Journal
Adapted from a recipe in the Wall Street Journal
John Haskins Graphic Design http://haskinsdesign.com/
Wheat and Gluten-Free Coconut Flour Pancakes
2015-12-14 15:46:40
These are a good substitute for the real thing. Similar to buckwheat pancakes.
Preheat skillet over low heat and preheat your oven to 250F. In a large bowl, using a hand mixer, beat eggs until frothy. Mix in milk, yogurt, vanilla, honey, salt and cinnamon. Then add in coconut flour and baking soda, and blend together until you have a smooth consistency.
Grease pan with butter. Ladle approx. ¼ cup of batter into pan for each pancake. This batter will be slightly thicker than your usual pancake batter. So you will have to spread out slightly with the measuring cup or back of a spoon. The pancakes should be 2-3 inches in diameter and fairly thick.
Cook for a few minutes on each side, until the tops dry out slightly and the bottoms start to brown. Flip and cook an additional 2-3 minutes. Add butter to the pan before each new batch.
Once the pancakes are finished cooking, place them on a cookie sheet in the oven to keep warm while you cook other batches. Makes approx. 10-12 pancakes, depending on the size of your eggs.
Serve hot with butter and maple syrup.
Adapted from Nourishing Days
Adapted from Nourishing Days
John Haskins Graphic Design http://haskinsdesign.com/
Cook the cauliflower until soft, about 20 minutes. Drain the cauliflower and transfer to a large bowl. Mash until the consistency of mashed potatoes with minimal “chunks.” Add ¼ cup of the oil, the eggs, and 1 cup of the mozzarella cheese and mix well.
Preheat the oven to 350°F. Lightly coat a pizza pan or large rimmed baking sheet with about 1 tablespoon olive oil. Pour the cauliflower mixture onto the pizza pan and press the “dough” into a flat, pizzalike shape no more than ½ inch thick, mounding it up higher at the edges. Bake for 20 minutes.
If using ground meat, cook in a skillet until browned and cooked through.
Remove the pizza “crust” from the oven (leave the oven on) and spread it with pizza sauce or tomato paste, the remaining 2 cups mozzarella, vegetable and meat toppings, basil, oregano, and pepper. Drizzle with the remaining ½ cup olive oil and sprinkle with the Parmesan.
Bake until the mozzarella melts, 10 to 15 minutes.
Cut the pizza into wedges and use a spatula to transfer to plates.
Notes
The next time I make this I will cook the "crust" until it starts to brown. This is not quite wheat pizza, but a very good substitute!
Adapted from Wheat Belly
Adapted from Wheat Belly
John Haskins Graphic Design http://haskinsdesign.com/
