BONFIRE NIGHT - WALNUT TREACLE TOFFEE

Chili and Walnut Treacle Toffee recipe from LEIGHROY MARSH author of the book 'Hairy Plug Monster'

LINK  to website :   http://hairyplugmonster.com

Not being particularly interested in fireworks and big huge fires, I am more inclined to stay by the outdoor buffet on November 5th -

But one thing I have noticed is that whilst fireworks have evolved, the mainstay of November 5th hasn't changed that much - I am talking about Treacle Toffee.

You know, those irregular pieces of sticky, tasteless chunks of toffee that serve only to stick your gums together and pull out most of your fillings, and generally leave you wondering "why you bothered"

However the HPM was keen to pass on this original recipe for toffee that bites back, and a perfect accompaniment to the Ginger Beer mentioned previously.

The Hairy Plug Monster Chili and Walnut Treacle Toffee 
(Caution this recipe will most definitely contain nuts - if you put them in)


50g Crushed Walnuts
1/4 Fresh medium sized red chili finely chopped   ( the strength of the toffee is dependant on your resolve - please bear in mind you are making toffee and not a Vindaloo)
450g Soft Brown Sugar
225g Black Treacle
110g Unsalted Butter
2 tbsp Water
1 tbsp White Vinegar

Place half of the butter into a heavy bottomed saucepan together with the chopped chili and crushed walnuts and warm for a few minutes on a low heat.

Then add the rest of the butter, water and vinegar and heat gently until the butter has melted.

Add the sugar and black treacle, allow to fully dissolve, this takes about 20 minutes.

Boil the mixture to a temperature of 138°C (Not having a thermometer I take my best guess at the temperature, making sure I don't burn it)

Remove from the heat, allow the bubbles to settle.

Pour the mixture into a well oiled 18cm (7 inch) sandwich tin.

When the mixture has cooled a little mark the surface into squares with a knife.

When cold break into squares, wrap in cellophane and store in an airtight container.

That's it - it might not score any brownie points with your dentist 
but your kids will love it

Posted by Kul Cuthbert      
http://hairyplugmonster.com
www.hpmmedialtd.com

AN ALL DAY EVENT - LEVENSHULME INSPIRE CENTRE - M/C

Inspire ..... how appropriate

Blogspot up date from the Author of the BOOK 'Hairy Plug Monster'   Leighroy Marsh… who was invited to read his stories and tales at the opening of Levenshulme Inspire Centre
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After several years of planning and renovation Levenshulme Inspire centre opened it's doors to the general public.  
http://www.lev-inspire.org.uk/blog/ and amongst the V.I.P's which included Sir Gerald Kaufman, and Sir Richard Leese, Myles and Connor Ryan - part of the Connected who narrowly missed winning this years Britain's Got Talent and Leighroy Marsh

In truth it was hard to compete with the twins, who were real celebrities, whereas The HPM hasn't quite got to the stage where scores of screaming girls are clamouring for a signed photo.  Nevertheless, I battled through the noise of the Face Painting table next to me and the art and craft table further along to read a couple of stories.

I did manage to hold the attention of  the audience for a while, but after a few stories it seemed that the lure of make-up was too much for the audience and one by one they slowly disappeared.

Thankfully, Karen the event organiser arranged for another reading at the front of the centre which captured a more attentive audience and once again the Hairy Plug Monster was a huge success with more than a few parents taking a signed copy home with them.


The rest of the week has been spent on other exciting projects which I will tell you more about in the next blog…
But before I go here's a little poem I wrote with Maya-Rose.

The Alien

I saw a little Alien, sat beside a tree

He was small green and slimy and really very smelly

He had a little laser gun and pointed it at me,

With a zap, zap, zap

He vaporised my welly.

sometimes you only need a few lines to get the story across"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Leighroy performed a story time at the recently renovated Levenshulme Inspire Centre - voluntary helpers at the ready! lots of fun, plenty of activities, an amazing face painting artist - beverages including tea, coffee and delicious home made cakes plus a free lunch facility that went down a treat - so you can imagine a pleasurable all day event with full on community spirit…  

Leighroy performs story time's  in  SCHOOLS and LIBRARIES

why not contact Leighroy on 

http://www.hpmmedialtd.com/contact-us.html 

he would love to hear from you -  maybe make arrangements to 

visit a SCHOOL or LIBRARY close by,   

we travel the length and breath of the UK…  

find out whats going on at  www.hpmmedialtd.com

and lets hope it stops raining very soon….

Posted by Kul Cuthbert

ANOTHER GREAT TALE...

THE STORY TELLER

LEIGHROY  MARSH    

Leighroy performs story time's  in  schools and libraries

why not contact Leighroy on 
http://www.hpmmedialtd.com/contact-us.html 

he would love to hear from you -  maybe make arrangements to visit a school or library close by,   we travel the length and breath of the UK…  

LEIGHROY WROTE THIS LITTLE BEDTIME VERSE FOR HIS DAUGHTERS ARISHA AND MAYA  back in 2008 -  and yu'what !!!!     I think it's fab…


COMING SOON - another great verse from Leighroy
A Marvellous Monocled Mouse


There’s a Marvellous Monocled Mouse that I know

Who lives in cupboard quite high

Each night with delight, he goes for a walk and

Counts all the stars in the sky

By his side is his bride, and the mouse that he loves

With whiskers so fine and so fair

Who sings to the children each night before bed

While she rocks in a lavender chair

One day said the mouse, there’s no food in the house

We are down to our last piece of cheese

We must go to explore, on the old kitchen floor

For carrots or biscuits or peas

Agreed said  his wife and the love of his life

As they opened the old cupboard door

 he undid his coat and he pulled out a rope

And then lowered himself to the floor

They soon hit the ground , and looked all around

But there just was no food to be had

He looked at his wife, the love of his life

And exclaimed to her “things are quite bad”

Have no fear, husband  dear 

for I’ve heard of a place

Where the cheese almost reaches the sky

We can get there quite soon if we travel by moon

If we don’t we will probably die…..  


there are more verses to this great tale…  
OH YES!  YOU'LL HAVE TO WAIT AND SEE…

  

KEEPING YOU INFORMED ABOUT NEWS, 

EVENTS, AND UPDATES 

visit our website

www.hpmmedialtd.com  

and see whats going on… 

make a comment

let us know what you think!

Posted by Kul Cuthbert

BOOKS, BOOKS, BOOKS….

THE STORY TELLER
LEIGHROY  MARSH    

Leighroy performs story time's  in  schools and libraries
why not contact Leighroy on  http://www.hpmmedialtd.com/contact-us.html
he would love to hear from you maybe make arrangements to visit a school or library close by,   we travel the length and breath of the UK…  




a little note from me….
It's very important that your child reads books and listens to story's   
what with the internet, emails, texting, computer games like nintendo and other games - it's endless what's available plus quite an expensive hobby as there's so much out there and children in general want more than one game or want to spend hours on the internet - distraction are every where and if were not careful we will end up with a nation of none readers!   
this is why when I post Leighroy's  short  STORIE'S, TALES and forthcoming BOOKS that I enjoy (I might add)  - i'm hoping it brings a lot of pleasure and fun to all you readers… encouraging you and your children to go to your local bookstore or nearby library to hire or buy books - also would be an inexpensive pastime - there are some great books in the market place suited for all age groups! 
anyway moving on!!!!   so instead of waffling on  I will carry on with todays post!  a few verses to the follow up of the Hairy Plug Monster |  link to website www.hairyplugmonster.com   we're sure you'll like it...


kul cuthbert… 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
the Hairy Plug Monster Goes to Town,

“We’ve ran out of biscuits

and chocolate éclairs!”

Dad called up to Maya

From the foot of the stairs

“Get your coat and your hat

And we’ll walk into town

We can do all the shopping

While mum’s not around”

Maya looked at her toys

At the foot of the bed

“Can I bring a friend

Maybe dolly or Ted?”

“Yes” replied Dad

As he stood in the hall

“If you like, grab your bag

And you can  - bring them all”

So she picked up her bag

That was hung from her bed

Then  In went the dolly

And  in went her Ted

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

like I said,   don't want to give to much away - you'll have to wait for the book to be published which will be very soon - 

in the meantime keeping you up to-date

visit our website

www.hpmmedialtd.com  

and see whats going on… News and Events 

make a comment

let us know what you think!

and to all of you out there  - have a good evening from all at HPM Media 

CHILDRENS BOOKS

Leighroy is available for Story Times at Schools and Library's
If you would like more information about this service
link to our contact page:-
www.hpmmedialtd.com/contact-us.html

OH YES…  we have another  Children's tale soon to be published in our new BOOK  -   SPOOKY TALES...

AND HERE IT IS  - A COUPLE OF CHAPTERS OF
ONE LEGGED STEVE 
WRITTEN BY LEIGHROY MARSH

There is an old pirate called One legged Steve

Who lives in the same part of town that I do

There’s a sad sorry tale behind the strange name

And the reason that Stephen needs only one shoe!

Was it eaten by sharks?

Or 

Lost in the park?

Or 

Dropped down a well that was cold, wet and dark

No!

The truth is more scary, 
And really quite sad

And once you have heard it, 
you may understand

How  this unlucky pirate, who wasn’t all bad

Never again set foot off dry land.

Are you with me my crew ?   (arrgh) 

Well listen close

And I’ll tell you of One legged Steve and the Ghost

On a  dark stormy night, far out in the sea

Cap’n Steven was leaving the heaving to me,

I heaved and I ho’d like a good pirate should

But the storm was too fierce, and it split both the masts

Are you with me my crew?   (arrrgh) they all said

And off we were carried, away from our course

Whilst I and the Captain held tight and stood fast

All through the night, the stormy wind blew

It took us away from the places we knew

Until close to an island our good ship did sink

And the captain and crew ended up  in the sea

Swimming for shore, as fast as we could

With the clothes on our back and the shoes on our feet

But with nothing to drink - and no food to eat

As I gathered the crew  who lay on the  beach

Capt’n Stev’n was grieving his loss to the sea

Its time to set forth and find us some bread

Are you with me my crew? (arrrgh) they all said.

But none of us knew - which way we should go.

Some headed East and some headed West 

While another 5 pirates headed straight for the trees

With the Capt’n and I as  we thought that was best


OMG  this Book could be a bit of a nail-biter !!!
we'll have to wait and see..


send Leighroy a comment @ 
www.hpmmedialtd.com/contact-us.html

take a look at :  www.hairyplugmonster.com
and for a signed copy of this book click on the link
to our purchase page - 

http://www.hairyplugmonster.com/purchase.html