RC Cola and The Really Christmassy Cocktail

For me, being a chef is all about trying out new recipes, tweaking tried and tested recipes to make them my own, and most of all enjoying the end result. Those lovely people at RC Cola have asked me to try out their new recipe, "The Ice Cream Float.... With A Festive Twist"

I wonder what Robert Green, The soda shop owner from Philadelphia who according to legend created the first Cola float back in 1874 would make of me tinkering with his recipe in a family home in Lincolnshire over 130 years later?

The Cola Float is a great treat for the kids and grown ups alike all year round, but the warm fragrant cinnamon really makes this one taste quite Christmassy. I opted for the Virgin RC^® Really Christmassy Cocktail as this one was for the children. (More about the grown up version later on!)

First things first, the ingredients (Thanks for the Cola guys BTW)- I was thrilled to actually hold a can of the iconic Cola that until now I'd only ever seen in "The Green Mile" with Tom Hanks and also in the original  1963 version of "The Nutty Professor"  film with Jerry Lewis.

Virgin RC^® Really Christmassy Cocktail

Ingredients:

Pinch ground cinnamon

150 mls RC Cola

2 scoops of vanilla ice cream

Ice:

Cubed

Garnish:

2 cinnamon sticks

2 cherries

Method:

Fill the tall glass with ice and add all the ingredients apart from the ice cream putting the RC Cola in last. Add the ice cream scoops at the top and garnish with the cinnamon sticks and cherries.

Following the ingredient list above, and the simple method we made this very festive treat in around 30 seconds! 

Achieving the same results with both Diet and Original RC Cola, and arming the children with a glass each (And a spoon!) they quickly devoured this Christmassy take on a classic drink with the following feedback....

Now just remember they are my children, aged 14, 11 and 7 -  Not Gregg Wallace and John Torode!, the following verdicts were recorded:

#1 Loved it "It definitely tastes like Christmas" and "Can we have another?"

#2 Asked immediately "Can we put the tree up, It feels like Christmas" and virtually polished the glass off too! 

and 

#3 (Once he had realised actually eating a cinnamon stick was NOT required) polished it off and also asked when we can have them again!

Sleigh Bells Ring, Are you listening??....

All in all a fair result I'd say! Minimal effort for maximum results, and a treat I'd recommend you all to try out. 

Now, hard work done, and time to relax I feel Mrs F and I may have to try the grown up version!! See below....

 RC^® Really Christmassy Cocktail

 (Please enjoy responsibly. Not suitable for persons under the age of 18)

Ingredients:

12.5mls Kahlua

37.5 mls cinnamon-infused vodka

150 mls RC Cola

2 scoops of vanilla ice cream

Ice:

Cubed

Garnish:

2 cinnamon sticks

2 cherries

Method:

Infused the vodka with cinnamon sticks by leaving the cinnamon in the vodka for 4 days

Fill a tall glass with ice and add all the ingredients apart from the ice cream putting the RC Cola in last. Add the ice cream scoops at the top and garnish with the cinnamon sticks and cherries.

Now there is a a treat for Mum and Dad alike, I may even have to leave one out for Santa this Christmas Eve! Please try it out, leave your comments for others to see, or tweet me @TfgRobFletcher and let me know your thoughts!

RC Cola has been Launched in the UK by Cott Beverages Ltd. and available exclusively in Asda stores nationwide, just visit rccola.co.uk for your local stockist.

A Rant: Hard Work Never Killed Anybody / Or Can we ban X Factor........?

Today is Sunday, a day of rest for some, well for my family and I for a start. I feel that I deserve this day of rest, throughout the week I am in work from around 0730 to at least 1700. Mrs F begins her working day around the same time, ending at 1630 before preparing the family dinner etc. A lot of our evenings and down time is willingly devoted to our 3 children, and administering a family home inhabited by all of the above.


Most of you reading this will relate to that, some will probably think that that is luxury compared to their own work-life patterns, others may be a few years away from this but are looking forward to it. Some of you my squirm in fear at all of that, but it is My Utopia.
Those fitting into none of the above categories are those I find myself ranting about on a now near daily basis. "The Wannabes"


Those who feel the country owes them a living, those that feel that they can conquer the world without having ever done an honest days work in their lives, those just like the ones we see on shows like "X Factor" who feel the need to parade themselves on our TV screens, and in certain red top newspapers in a bid to whore themselves to a media willing to pay for every dirty secret, the more sinister the better.
It disgusts me that this "Great" Britain condones and supports this new low. I mean, what concept of reality do some of these kids have? how can they possibly grow up to become valued and respected figures if they know not what it is to contribute to the working world? For every one with a natural talent (Whom I admire greatly), there are 10000 or more of these wannabes with no respect for their leaders, their peers or each other. They are so sadly disillusioned to the fact that they can actually behave how they do, snarl in the face of the rest of the rat race, demand thousands of pounds for achieving nothing and generally walk around with the nonchalance that we all love to hate; In fact I don't love to hate it, i really do HATE it!


It is not entirely the fault of the individual either. As I said before, this "Great" Britain seems to support and promote this pathetic example of setting many a young boy or girl up for a serious reality check cum fall. Ask the generation aged 6-16 now what they would like to be when older, and I guarantee that there will be more of them than when I was that age who seriously think they have a chance of becoming a multi millionaire star, or a WAG as they have seen it on the TV, been fed the false hope that you do not have to work for a living in this new world in which we live.  


When I was a boy the delusions of grandeur extended to probably one in 20 with a serious talent for football or the like, some of which I know made it, but most of which landed with a bump but did actually settle in to full time paid employment. I believe the generation of today are being damaged by this false hope that shows like X Factor offer, and are being led into a world where they dont have to try hard, or listen, or be respectful to those in authority.


The phrase "Hard work never killed anybody" is often used by the generations before me, but I feel it needs a new airing. 


Man up Great Britain, stop pretending it's OK to push your children into a world where they don't have to work to earn their living, into a world where they can support mummy and daddy when they become famous.
Support your children and encourage them to do well and get "A proper job" It's not easy, children can be challenging, children naturally will not see the benefits of working hard at school at such a young age, but as parents it's up to us to work hard, and not take the easy way out, not let them think they can be a pop star if they really don't have one iota of talent. 


All you trash tabloids, grow a set!! Report on successes, not on which 17 year old is sha**ing which footballer and then PAYING her for her dirty secrets! Stop showing our younger generation it is OK or funny to behave like a spoilt diva who has never known what it is like to struggle for money. Be proud of a Great Britain that can be great, not of one that condones this superficial image of a youth that is destined for nothing other than a bumpy landing and ultimately failure. 


I hear the phrase Broken Britain regularly, I'm not sure if this applies to the above, but if it does fall into that pigeon hole, I can begin to see why. 

Ben Shaws Soft Drinks.... My Memories

I have to admit..... Until recently I may have slightly forgotten that Ben Shaws Drinks existed. Shame on me! You wouldn't (Shouldn't) forget a mates birthday, so you can imagine my shock when I realised I nearly missed the 140th Birthday of this great soft drink producing company, whose products I have known, tasted and loved since the late seventies. 
Roles reversed a little.... I did not get them a card or present, on the contrary; They sent ME a wonderful selection of my childhood favourite drinks, balloons and badges, and a great bag for the wife to take to the market! 

As soon as I saw the classic design of the cans, it evoked memories of being a small boy, in the East End of Lincoln and one of my my very first memories of these classic flavours. I remember being able to choose a can of pop from the corner shop, before I went to Derby from Lincoln to visit some relations of my Grandparents. In the fridge were the usual suspects, who's brands and logos were plastered everywhere from motor racing circuits to parasols outside bars, but I always remember seeing the Ben Shaws logo, it's classically signed name  and purely out of objectionable curiosity I had to have one of those. A Pepsi or Fanta would have been most kids choice, the safe option, but my chain of thought was "If that drink has been around all of these years, and can sit in the fridge next to brands that were more in your face; then it must be a good drink"! Quite a lot of thinking for a 7ish year old boy!!


Cloudy lemonade was the first flavour I ever tried. I remember asking what was different about it, and my Gran would just say that "That is what lemonade is meant to be like". Good enough for me!! Every time I see it It takes me right back to travelling in the back of my Grandad's Austin Maxi, sliding on the vinyl seats as it turned corners. No seatbelts in the back..... Yes, it actually happened!


Ben Shaws was not just about slidey journeys in Austin Maxis, or Austin Princesses for that matter, but for a lot of my pre double figure years were spent with my Dad, the then Labour leader for Lincoln City Council. With great power came great responsibility.... well, not really, but a lot of his time was spent in conflab or meetings with other socialists at  Grafton House, the Lincoln Labour Club. I liked it there. He would be talking about how to oust Maggie Thatcher or something, I would be sat with other kids in a similar position in the back room, plied with crisps, video cartoons, and ....... Ben Shaws (From a bottle this time) on the slate! Me and my brother used to drink ice cold, from a Wellington glass  typically Bitter Shandy! Was this my first taste of alcohol in a licensed premises??..... We used to feel so grown up, we could go to the little bar in the back room, ask for a glass of shandy and get the sweetest bitter shandy from Barbara or Christine behind the bar! I really don't think things like that could happen these days, H&S, PC etc blah blah blah! 


I have vivid memories of Dandelion and Burdock too. I remember now the first time I tasted it. Nigel Lacey's birthday party, at a house off Monks Road, Lincoln. There were a selection of pop bottles on the table, and his dad asked me what I would like to drink. "We have Orange, Cola, Lemonade, and Dandelion & Burdock" I had NEVER heard of this before now! What if I said yes, but didn't like it...? I asked what it was like, I don't remember his response, but I ended up with a glass of it anyway! I remember the Ben Shaws label, so I knew it was "Safe".... If they sold it in Ray's corner shop, it must have been "Safe"! A child's innocence eh?? It was unlike any other drink I had ever tried. It was probably the first "Unique" taste I can remember. So sweet, slightly aniseed flavoured I thought (Hey, I could be a wine critic next lol!) And I remember when I got back home it was the first thing I told my parents about! This "New" drink, it was almost as if I was the first person to have ever tasted it! I felt quite special after that! I now know it is a classic, and millions had tasted (And probably felt the same as me) for years before. I was still confused that my parents knew what it was... I thought I WAS the first!! 


When I was discussing Ben Shaws Birthday with my wife a few weeks ago, she thought she could remember them, but wasn't sure. That soon changed when the Party Pack arrived! BANG.... (It wasn't a parcel bomb!).. that was Mrs F taken straight back to the married quarter at RAF Leeming, where she lived with her family (My now In-Laws) whilst her dad was serving there in the RAF. Straight away after seeing the Cream Soda she recalled tales of the "Chip Van" that used to visit this remote RAF station, delivering fish, chips, crisps sweets and pop to the families living there every Friday tea time. She told me how they would get their tea, and she would get cream soda, her sister would get Bitter Shandy and they would take them back to the quarter for tea. That chip van was a treat for Mrs F and her family. With neither of her parents driving, and fast food outlets on RAF stations non existent in those days, it must have been quite something to get hot fish and chips, and the obligatory can of Cream Soda virtually "Delivered" to your door! There's a tip Ben Shaws... Branded mobile shops.... You can have that ;-)


I've loved tasting all of the products again. Vivid memories came flooding back, the minute that flavour hit my mouth, I was transported almost 30 years back, to an age of innocence and simplicity. I've loved helping out, I've remembered things that I never could have without tasting Ben Shaws drinks again. 


So here's to "Innocence and Simplicity" and I'll raise a glass of Ben Shaws Bitter Shandy to you all!


Here's to the next 140 years!! http://www.benshawsdrinks.co.uk/

Why I LOVE Twitter.....

I have been planning to write this piece for a while, and today it seemed more pertinent as I found out this morning it is my 2 year anniversary on Twitter! 


In that time, I have sent 19523 tweets, which equates to an average of 26.7 tweets per day. That's roughly 351,000 words!! or about 936 sides of A4 Paper!!!!


This seems a lot, but from a mobile device, (I prefer Dabr from my mobile phone) it soon mounts up. I use the PC when at home, and tend to use the phone when the kids are busy on the computer, or if I am out. 


Whether telling people what I am up to, @ replying to people, or posting a picture, they all add up, and I have had so much joy and use from it all! Amongst my memorable interactions on twitter, I have:

• Live tweeted (the backing of the amazing  Kevin Cecil  or @kevcecil as I know him) a Christmas recipe, while Twitter folk (Including a few celebs!) cooked along with me. I'm aware that Sainsburys now provide this service, however I DID IT FIRST!! Grrrr damn you supermarket!!
• Provided countless snippets of advice to fellow twitterers about cooking, ingredients and recipes etc.
• Live tweeted info of road closures, traffic build up etc to the local radio station to be read out to the listeners.
• Joined in conversations about a particular event at that time using. #HashTags.  It's like being in the biggest pub in the world, socialising with like minded people about a common denominating factor. Now that sounds posh, but that factor could be that nights Coronation Street, A seasonal greeting, or an uprising in another country, such as we have just witnessed in Egypt. The beauty of it is, you have a virtually unlimited source of opinion at the click of a mouse. Where else could you get such diverse instant interaction?
• I have received live football match updates through the medium of Twitter whilst in the middle of a shopping centre, and tweeted live football updates from my own PC for those in similar situations!
• I have sought advice, from a dodgy washing machine to the best place to buy the latest iPod, and I have at my disposal Millions of people (The power of re-tweeting) to offer me their opinion on what I need!
• I have been cheered up when I'm feeling down, laughed at the comical offerings of my "friends" and done the same for my "Followers"! when the situation dictated. 
• I have riled people with my opinion, had my ideas scoffed at, and most definitely done the same to others! But that's healthy idea sharing and two way conversation. It'd be no fun if we were all the same now would it? 
• I get short snippets of information, and links to the information I want to read. As a subscriber, or "Follower" I choose whether or not to read someone's updates, or "Tweets" and I can read them at my leisure. Whether that be updates from my chosen football teams, or BBC News, I can keep up to date at the click of a button.
• I have linked other parts of my on line world to Twitter. By following me on twitter you can now see What I am Listening to (Last.FM) or on Spotify , you can see what I am Photographing to share with the world, you can also see my Project 365 Photographs  as when I interact with these other sites, they interact with YOU via my Twitter feed! 
• I have chatted to a few celebrities on Twitter, exchanged opinions on subjects ranging from "The Apprentice" (Jonathan Ross) to performing at a local venue (Jason Manford) who's tweets have now sadly disappeared, but we'll not go in to that! I have had feedback on my live tweet recipe from Tony Gardner  too! There are lots of people who just use Twitter to "Stalk" celebs, and that's fine, but it does not float my boat. In my opinion they rarely interact (Unless you are bombarding them with mentions until they do!) and are not good "Value for money" twitterers. I would much rather exchange opinion with like minded normal folk! In fact at the last time of checking, I think I only "Follow" around 3 celebrities from my list of 450 "Friends" on Twitter! 

I have found so much use for Twitter I probably could not live without it! If that is an addiction, well I'll manage it! But until then, when I hit publish post at the bottom of this blog entry I will be adding to my ever growing list of online drivel that nobody ever reads..... ;-) .....Although secretly I REALLY hope they do, and I hope they like it too!

Project 365 Blog

Starting on the 1st January 2011 I have embarked on a new blogging project. "Project 365" can be found HERE and is basically one entry per day for the whole of 2011. There are a lot of Project 365's out there, mine will only differ in the sense that some days I may not post a photo, but it may be a video, or even a sound clip - from that day.
It will kind of chart my life, through a multimedia snippet, over the next year, and I hope it offers some interest along the way.
If there is something you would like to see added, let me know!

Again - "TFGRobFletcher's Project 365"

Follow & Enjoy!

#FindBritain - A Modern Day Domesday Book.

I have just embarked on a new and exciting journey to play my part in #FindBritain. Headed up by Glenn Le Santo or @lesanto if you are a twitterer, it is a modern day media rich chronicle of Britain as it stands today. My particular effort can be found at TFGRobFletcher's Posterous Blog  and that is where I will be storing all of my pictures, movies, sound bites and other media to help historians of the future catalogue the way we were back in 2010. 
Please read Glen Le Santo's description of what is #FindBritain  as he has described it far better than I ever could. 
Until then, do your bit. If it reflects Britain in 2010 then record it! Twitpics, AudioBoos, Ipadios, A Posterous Blog works really well for me, or you may want an online photo gallery. It's so easy to do, and if you own a mobile phone then you quite possibly have all the equipment you need! 
That is what I'M doing. What are YOU going to do?