Sift the flour and salt into a large mixing bowl with a sieve held high above the bowl so the flour gets an airing.
Now make a well in the centre of the flour and break the eggs into it. Then begin whisking the eggs – any sort of whisk or even a fork will do – incorporating any bits of flour from around the edge of the bowl as you do so.
Next gradually add small quantities of the milk and water mixture, still whisking (don’t worry about any lumps as they will eventually disappear as you whisk).
When all the liquid has been added, use a rubber spatula to scrape any elusive bits of flour from around the edge into the centre, then whisk once more until the batter is smooth, with the consistency of thin cream.
Put the oil/lard in a pan and get it really hot, then turn the heat down to medium
As soon as the batter hits the hot pan, tip it around from side to side to get the base evenly coated with batter
Before we visited the Cheese Factory, we went for a walk with our friends along the path at Cenarth Falls. We saw a male and female mallard and a robin.
Betsan and I had fun climbing up the banks and using Betsan’s scooters on the boardwalk.
I am really interested in snakes at the moment, so mummy & I went to Plantasia to see some real snakes and other animals.
Inside there is a giant Sarcosuchus Imperator skeleton, it is huge crocodile stretching up to 40 feet long and weighing 10 tons. They are now extinct but lived approximately 145-100 million years ago.
We saw terrapins swimming in the water with lots of enormous koi carp. We also saw several different tortoises, and noticed how their shells camouflage with the rocks.
I enjoyed crawling under the meerkat enclosure and popping my head up inside the enclosure. There was a meerkat sat on the viewing dome, so I got a good look at it’s bum.
We went into the Plant house and I successfully made my way through the Venus Fly Trap maze. We saw lots of different frogs, some are very colourful and poisionous.
We also saw the Castor Bean plant which is the most poisionous plant in the world according to the Guiness Book of World Records. The seeds contain ricin which was using in the 20th centure in biological warfare.
As we approached the Checkered Garter Snakes, one of them decided to slither off it’s branch and have a swim. It swam so well, just gliding along the top of the water. I was very impressed seeing as it has no arms, legs or fins. It could also climb up the side of the aquarium, I think it was trying to say hello to me.
Next to the crocodile enclosure was a machine that measured your strength. You had to squeeze two levers together and the lights showed how many pounds per square inch (psi) you reached. I only got to 25, mummy got to 60. The fact board explained that a lions bite is 150 but a crocodiles bite is 5,000 psi! That is mind bogling.
Next we saw Rainbow the Green Wing Macaw that lives at Plantasia. We sang to her but she just carried on eating her peanut. She was my favourite animal, because my favourite toy is a cuddly Scarlet Macaw that looked quite like her. At the end of our visit there was a note station where you could write messages and leave them on a tree. I wrote a note to Rainbow telling her that she was my favourite.
On the way out, they had two ipads comparing the current weather forecast in Swansea and in the Amazon. Both had plenty of rain but the Amazon was much warmer at 27 degrees, compared to 8 degrees here in Swansea. Tropical rainforests are hot, damp places.
The last few animals were very ununusal, we saw an Axolott. We learnt they are a type of salamander that does not go through metamorphosis, i.e. it doesn’t turn into it’s adult form and just stays forever young.
My friend and I helped daddy do some garden chores. He was chopping logs with the chainsaw and we were collecting the logs and loading them into the car.
Mummy showed us some Goat Willow, the buds were really soft and velvety.
I watched a video on You Tube that taught me about snakes, specifically Cobras. I found it fascinating, so asked mummy if we could go and see one. There are only two zoos in the country that have Cobras, as they are so venomous. One is Chester Zoo, which my Aunty is taking me to later this year, and the other is London Zoo.
Mummy suggested that we visit Plantasia instead as they have other snakes, so that’s what we did last weekend.
Things Learnt from You Tube:
There are more snakes that can’t hurt you, than can hurt you.
All snakes have forked tongue, this is to help them smell the air.
Some snakes like vipers, rattlesnakes and adders can tuck their fangs in
Other snakes like cobras and taipans have fixed fangs.
Not all snakes are venomous
The venom is stored in glands behind their eyes
When a snake bites, it’s muscle squeeze the gland which sends the venom into the fangs.
There is enough poision in one bite from a king cobra to kill 1 elephant or 20 humans or 220,000 mice
The most venomous snake in the world is the Inland Taipan, which is only found in Australia. It lives in very remote places and rarely bites anyone.
ChatGPT fact Snakebites cause 80,000–140,000 deaths per year worldwide
Daddy taught me this little rhyme: red next to black is a friend of Jack but red next to yellow will kill the fellow.
My cousin is getting married later this month, so I made him and his fiancee a wedding card.
Mummy helped me use layered stencils and her distress oxides to make some flowers for the card.
I drew a picture on the front of my cousin, Luke, who is the groom (they usually wear a black suit) and his fiancee, Ellie, who is the bride (they usually wear a long white dress).
On Monday I went to The Royal Mint Experience with my friends.
We learnt that the coins are made out of various recycled metals, from things like old computer components like motherboards.
Each coin has a slightly different recipe of metals. Once processed, the prepared metal is rolled up like a big wheel. Each one can weigh 3 tonnes and extend to half a mile, if unrolled.
Another machine punches circles out of the unrolled metal to make the blank coins.
Dies are used to print the art work onto each side if the coin.
The coins have slightly raised rims to protect the art work and to make sure they stack nicely.
The factory moved from London to South Wales in 1968, ready for decimalisation, which happened in 1971. It is believed that the site in Llantrisant was chosen, as James Cullaham, who was Chancellor of the Exchequer between 1964-1967, was born in Cardiff and wanted to help the area replace the employment of rapidly declining mining industry.
In the museum at the end of the tour, they had sample Olympic medals which we could lift up. They were very heavy. There was also a real gold bar which was securely locked down, but you could put your arm through a hole to see if you could lift it. I couldn’t even lift on end of the bar!
The Royal Mint also makes a range of jewellery called 886. It’s called this as 886 was the year that the first coin was ever made.
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