Here are some useful tips and information, and occasional articles for sale. Have something to add? Just let us know at infomisn@misn.org

 

BALLOON RIDE

Heart of England Balloons
www.ukballoons.com
01789 488 219

This company based out of the Stratford area offers morning and evening hot air balloon flights in the area from launch sites in Warwick, Stratford, the Peak District, Coventry, Banbury and the Cotswolds. Children are allowed with parents but must be over 4'6" tall.

Cost is a bit steep, at ?139 person. It includes a ride back to the launch site, certificates, and champagne.

I received the voucher as a birthday gift and we were scheduled twice for rides, but due to bad weather had the flights rescheduled. There is a phone line you can call to find out if you are flying as scheduled that day.

Once in the air, the view was great. Try to get in last and you will have a better view. The balloon held 16 people plus the pilot. The heat from the burners was a bit hot on my head, and the burners were quite loud. You may want to bring a hat and earplugs. We left from Warwick on an evening flight and landed out near Wellesbourne. We had a view of Warwick Castle, and Charlecote Park as well as the surrounding area.

Jennifer Lay-Luskin

AUCTIONS

The following is a list of upcoming auctions.

(1) The Auction House, Rugby, Monday nights 7pm, preview Sunday 11-3 & Monday 12-6, everything from housewares dishes, refig, beds, furniture) to upper-end stuff (antique furniture, china, crystal, pictures), lots of great deals. Need a paddle to bid.

(2) Bigwoods, Tiddington (near Stratford), Times vary so call for information, weekly auctions seem to be house wares BUT their Fine Arts auction has antiques, jewellery, expensive paintings, old cars, etc. Need a paddle to bid.

(3) Locke & England, Leamington Spa, Generally every Thursday at 11am (But until Christmas they are having the last Saturday on the month and NO Thursday auction that week), also, they also have Fine Arts auctions the first Thursday of the month. Preview all day Wednesday 9-7 or Friday all day 9-7, but call first. They generally have a good selection of furniture, china, crystal etc.

(4) Warwick Auction, Coventry, Wednesday 10am, preview Tuesday all day, they are very much into housewares and store clearances, some furniture.

(5) Stoneleigh, Stoneleigh Village Hall, every other Tuesday 7pm, still investigating, but it is suppose to be high-end goods.

(6) Fellows in Birmingham, Jewellery Quarter. They have great stuff. Times vary. Here is their website: www.fellows.co.uk. They have excellent catalogues online.

CLOTHES SHOPPING TRY LANDS END

Thank you Sonja Schuster for sharing this with us: Lands End has a UK catalogue and website (www.landsend.co.uk). The prices seem to just take what was listed in the US catalogue and change the dollar sign to the pound sign, but they still seemed reasonable compared to shopping on the High Street. I requested a catalogue and it came within a few days. It offered free shipping on my first order. Shipping is cheap, only 3.50 per order. I haven’t ordered anything yet, but if it is like Lands End in the US, the quality and performance will be great.

LONDON WALKING TOUR

Below is a walk in London that would replace the Hop-on, Hop-off bus tour. Give it a try and remember to wear good walking shoes!!

Start at GREEN PARK Underground Station. Walk through the gates into the park. Take the path veering to the right, which will lead you towards BUCKINGHAM PALACE. If you time it right, you may be able to catch The Changing of The Guard. Cross the street from Buckingham Gate and walk through ST. JAMES PARK leading to the street called Birdcage Walk. You will cross a bridge where you may wish to take a picture of Buckingham Palace and on the opposite side, the London Eye. Birdcage Walk will lead you towards Westminster where you can see BIG BEN, and WESTMINSTER ABBEY. Before you reach Big Ben, you will see several red phone booths. The last one makes a great photo opportunity with Big Ben in the background. Turn left from ple. London's oldest hat shop, called Loch & Company is on the way. Without diversions, this walk will likely take 2-3 hours. If you stop along the way, it could be an all day excursion. This walk is great to use as an overview for guests and return to places of interest on later days. After you have taken guests on this walk, they may not want to bother with the bus tour. You will certainly get better pictures and save 15 pounds per person as well.(Although the bus tour is great when it's raining or your company is not comfortable with this amount of walking).

MARKETPLACE

This section is our virtual marketplace, where we can advertise items or services for sale or wanted.

Please email us at infomisn@misn.org if you have anything you would like to sell
or buy.

RECIPE CORNER & MUFFIN OF THE MONTH

Recipes from Jeannee’s cooking lesson

The requested Apple and Pecan Crumble Cake recipe.

125 g (1 cup) plain flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
370 g (2 cups brown sugar
2 teaspoons cinnamon
125 g unsalted butter
125 ml (1/2 cup) milk

2 eggs
100 g (1 cup) pecan nuts, chopped
2 green apples peeled and finely sliced

Whipped cream or yoghurt

 

Preheat the oven to 1800C (3500C/ gas mark 4).  Line a 20cm(8 in) spring form tin with baking paper. Combine the flour, baking powder, sugar and cinnamon in a food processor, then add the butter and whiz until the mixture resembles bread crumbs. Put half the mixture into the lined tin.

 

Add the milk and the eggs to the processor with the remaining mixture and blend again to make the batter, then fold in the chopped pecan nuts. Scatter the sliced apple over the crumble base and cover with the batter. Bake for an hour and test with a skewer to see if the cake is cooked through.

 

Allow the cake to cool before turning it out onto a serving plate. Serve slightly warm with whipped cream or yoghurt. Serves 10

Here is Maureen's delicious dish from the Christmas lunch.

"Easy Chicken Divan"

4 - 5 whole chicken breasts-steamed
3 pkg. frozen broccoli chopped (probably about 24 oz total)
2 cans cream of chicken soup (condensed)
1 cup mayonnaise
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 cup sharp (mature) grated cheddar cheese
1/2 cup bread crumbs
butter

Cook the chicken and broccoli. Cut chicken into chunks and layer with broccoli in 3 qt. casserole. Mix soup, mayo and juice and spread over chicken and broccoli. Sprinkle with cheese and bread crumbs. Dot with butter. Bake for 30 minutes and 350 degrees F.

Thank-you Maureen Schaaf for the recipe!

Hot Nacho Dip
Ingredients - cream cheese, small jar of salsa, 1 can of refried beans, shredded cheddar cheese. Just spread the cream cheese in a oven safe dish, then the refried beans on top followed by the salsa. Finally cover with shredded cheddar and place in a hot oven (about 350 F) for about 25 -30 mins. Serve with Nacho chips and enjoy.

Several of you asked for the Oriental chicken salad recipe that Tammy made for the MISN family night. Here it is. Enjoy!!

Oriental Chicken Salad

4 large chicken breasts, cooked and cubed
1 large head of cabbage shredded
8 green onions, chopped including tops
3/4 C. sliced almonds
1/2 C. sunflower seeds
2 packages instant noodles, chicken flavour uncooked and crushed

Toss above ingredients in large bowl. Stir the following for the dressing:
6 TBSP. sugar
2 tsp. salt
1 C. salad oil
7 TBSP rice vinegar
2 flavour packets from the noodles

Pour dressing over salad and mix. This should be made the night before serving to enable the noodles to soften and the flavours to blend. Enjoy!!

Thank you Tammy Huff for the recipe!


This crab dip was a favourite in the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum's Best
Ever Crab Recipe Contest.

Thank-you to Jennifer Lay-Luskin for making it for Marianne's luncheon.
Everyone enjoyed it!

CRAB DIP
28 ounces cream cheese, softened
1 cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, divided
1/2 teaspoon lemon juice
4 tablespoons mayonnaise
1 teaspoon garlic salt or 1 clove crushed garlic
1 pound crab meat (I used 3 cans instead)


In a bowl, mix everything but the crab meat, saving a little of the grated
cheese for the top. Add the crab meat and mix thoroughly. Place in a
baking dish and top with the remaining grated cheese. Bake at 350 degrees
for 30 minutes. Serve with tortilla chips.

MUFFIN OF THE MONTH

Apple Muffins
1/4 cup margarine
3/4 cup white sugar
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1 egg beaten
1 cup all purpose flour
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
1 1/2 cup chopped apples
1 tbsp. cream

Cream margarine and sugar. Add vanilla and beaten egg. Stir together dry ingredients and add, stirring just to moisten. Add apples and cream gently. Fill greased muffin cups and bake 350 for 20-25 mins.

For baking conversions Please see our FAQ.

Please send in your favourite recipes. Baking, vegetarian, favourites for entertaining; any recipe is welcome. Please email recipes to infomisn@misn.org and look for yours in upcoming newsletters.

RHODES, GREECE TRAVEL LOG


Sonja Schuster sends us this wonderful travel log:
If you are looking for sunshine, Rhodes may be the answer. Rhodes has over 320 sunny days a year. According to the literature, it has more hours of sunshine annually than any other Mediterranean island.

My husband and I spent five days at the Hilton Rhodes Resort (www.hilton.com) in June. For 109 euros a night, we had a large room (with a large balcony) with beautiful views of the Aegean Sea and the mountains of Turkey. That rate also included a wonderful buffet breakfast and dinner. (The ?spring package deal? ran from the end of March until the end of June. Rates go up in July and August.)

The resort includes three swimming pools, tennis and squash courts, Kids Club, an (ok) fitness centre, and a private beach. A busy road backs the beach, but there is an underpass from the hotel. Even though the cars were close, the beach is set down from the road and the traffic noise wasn?t bad.

The staff was friendly and helpful. We arrived at the hotel at 6:30am and they managed to have us in a room by 9:00am. We flew British Air to Athens and then Olympic to Rhodes. (I believe that there are charter flights directly to Rhodes.) Taxis were cheap and plentiful.

There is plenty to do on the island. There is medieval, walled Rhodes Town with its narrow cobbled streets and the Palace of the Grand Masters to explore. There is Lindos, with its spectacular church, labyrinth of tiny downtown streets, and the Acropolis. There are also many beaches, villages, museums, and nearby islands to explore.

We picked up the Globetrotter Travel Guide and the AA Essential Rhodes books. We found them both helpful.

SKYCO (American food distributor)

Skyco could be described as an American food distributor. There are no refrigerated items. They carry things from the boxed macaroni and cheese mixes to Halloween candy corn. They also carry baking items such as baking powder and soda and lots of boxed cake and muffin mixes. It is well worth a visit by an American with children!

The Daily Telegraph had an article recently of some websites that carry American food. When comparing the article's listed prices it was found that Skyco was cheaper on every one. They didn't carry all the food some of the other websites had however.www.skyco.uk.com


WRITERS NEEDED

Help this newsletter to grow! We need people to contribute to this collaborative effort and we welcome your input. You don't have to be Shakespeare to be published. Simply put your ideas on paper or email them to infomisn@misn.org

Subjects of interest could include (but are not limited to):


travel experiences good or bad
theatre, book, restaurant, and entertainment reviews
your experiences living in England
consumer information - i.e. "how to find a plumber"
your observations in general