Authentic English Triffle

We are so ready for this...

According to Amanda’s Cooking, the English didn’t “invent” the trifle, the Scottish did. The Scots have recipes that date back to the late 1500’s.

But, since Scotland and England united to become the United Kingdom, calling the trifle “English” is accurate it seems.

This recipe is wonderful, borrowed from Amanda’s Cooking at:

Amanda's Cooking

Traditional English Trifle

Ingredients

CUSTARD LAYER

4 cups whole milk

1/2 cup heavy cream

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

8 egg yolks

4 tablespoons sugar

2 tablespoon cornstarch

CAKE LAYER

9x13 white or yellow cake, baked and cooled

1/2 cup cream sherry

3 heaping tablespoons seedless red raspberry jam or preserves

FRUIT LAYER

2 cups sliced fresh strawberries

1 cup fresh raspberries

1 tablespoon cream sherry

1 tablespoon sugar

WHIPPED CREAM

1 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream

1 teaspoon powdered sugar

Instructions

For the Custard

Combine the milk, heavy cream and vanilla in a heavy bottomed medium saucepan, stirring frequently. 

Heat the milk mixture over low-medium heat until it just begins to simmer and steam rises from the surface.

Meanwhile, mix the sugar and cornstarch together with a fork. 

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the egg yolks and the sugar mixture until light and smooth.

HINT: I use my KitchenAid for this, but only as a stand. 

I hand whisk but use the bowl of the mixer attached to the machine so that I don't have to hold the bowl as well. 

This allows me to whisk and pour at the same time, which is needed in the next step.

Remove the warmed milk from the stove and while whisking the egg yolks constantly, dribble a few drops at a time into the yolks. 

Adding the hot liquid very, very slowly in the beginning will temper the eggs, allowing them to warm gradually so that they don't curdle, or worse, scramble! 

Once you have dribbled in a good amount you can increase the amount of liquid you add at a time, whisking continuously until all the milk has been added.

Pour the contents of the mixer bowl into the saucepan and heat over medium, stirring constantly. 

Keep stirring, ensuring that the milk mixture does not stick to the bottom of the pan, until thickened, anywhere from 2-6 minutes. 

Custard will be thick and smooth. Pour into a shallow bowl and cover the top with plastic wrap so that the plastic is touching the surface of the custard. 

This will prevent a skin from forming on top. Cool in the refrigerator until chilled.

For the Cake

Cut the cake into large manageable squares. 

Cut those squares in half horizontally. Open the squares so that the cut sides are facing up. 

Brush the cake with the cream sherry. 

Spread the sherries cake with the raspberry jam. 

Cut the cake into cubes.

For the Fruit

In a medium bowl, combine the strawberries, raspberries, sherry and sugar. 

Stir to coat and allow to macerate. Keep in the refrigerator until ready to assemble the trifle.

For the Whipped Cream

Combine the heavy whipping cream and the powdered sugar in a larger mixer bowl. 

Beat on high for 2 minutes, or until stiff peaks form. Keep chilled in the refrigerator until ready to assemble.

Assemble the Trifle

Place 1/3 of the cake cubes in the bottom of the trifle dish, jam side up. 

Top the cake cubes with 1/3 of the fruit, followed by 1/3 of the custard and finally with 1/3 of the whipped cream. 

Repeat layers two more times. 

Decorate the top with fresh fruit. 

Keep chilled until ready to serve.

Mandatory Religious Education in Wales

It seems that students will be forced by the Welch Government to take part in religious education classes and parents will have no say in the matter.

Parents' right to withdraw their children from religion lessons will be removed under Wales' new curriculum.

But Sir Malcolm Evans (photo below) said this could lead to parents taking legal action.

The Welsh Government keeps insisting the indoctrination would not breach human rights.

Currently parents are able to request their children do not take part in religious education, under an opt-out arrangement.

But under the new curriculum, set to be rolled out in schools from September 2022, the lessons will be compulsory, regardless of parental objections.

Under the changes, Wales will become the first part of the UK to remove the opt-out for religious education.

Ministers have argued making the subjects mandatory ensures all children will be taught important information.

But Sir Malcolm, a member of the Commission on Religious Education and Professor of Law at Bristol University, said removing the opt-out option for religious classes could breach human rights. 
Actually, it does violate the students rights.
Yes, schools can choose the subjects they want to teach, but parents should have the right to decide if they want their children indoctrinated.
If the schools insist on teaching religion, we would hope that would include an honest portrayal of Paganism.
Whatever the school sets as a curriculum, the parents of these students should ultimately be able to decide what is best for their child. 

Under the European Convention on Human Rights parents have a right to have their children educated in accordance with their religious or philosophical convictions, which also includes non-religious belief.

Sir Malcolm goes on to say:

"In my view having an opt-out is very much a safety valve.”

“It is a useful and important safety valve to ensure those parents and children who genuinely find it impossible to reconcile their beliefs with the content of an education of that nature still have the right to be able to exempt themselves from those classes.

"For that is, in my view, what human rights law says they are entitled to."

Under the new curriculum Religious Education will be renamed Religion, Values and Ethics.

In response to the concerns, the Welsh Government said the new legislative rules would be compatible with the rights protected by the Human Rights Act 1998.

"The Welsh Government has been clear that its policy in this area will require careful and sensitive handling prior to its implementation in September 2022," a spokeswoman promised.

Elves and Fairies Woodland Nursery

The wonder of learning through nature.

At the Elves and Fairies Woodland Nursery finding time to experience nature is of high priority.
We are an Outdoor Nursery and Forest School, with a cosy indoor space that we use in extreme weather. We believe that the closer to nature the children are the happier they will be and the more they will learn. Free to explore natures riches, a child’s’ senses are heightened, which enhances their creative and imaginative play.
Our focus is on ‘the whole child’ and helping them develop at their own pace in their own way, whilst achieving the Early Years Foundation Stage goals.
Elves & Fairies Woodland Nursery and it’s staff are committed to help the children achieve their maximum potential. through outdoor play and learning they develop:

• creative play
• high self esteem and confidence
• good language, social and communication skills
• necessary skills to keep themselves safe
• healthy lifestyles and diet
• essential skills for the future.

Surrounded by nature.

During our sessions the children go for woodland walks and picnics, jump in puddles, chase butterflies and clamber over fallen branches, make sand castles, mud pies and imaginative potions, smell flowers, rain and damp leaves, listen to bird song, the cracking of ice and the wind in the trees.
They grow vegetables and flowers, learn camp fire skills, prepare and watch their food being cooked. They feel at one with nature, enjoying themselves in all but the most inclement weather, when the children spend time in our beautiful indoor space playing with wooden toys and natural materials, enriching their creative life with activities such as painting, singing, dancing, story telling, sewing, weaving and baking bread.
Parents/carers are invited to experience a Nursery session and as we wish your child’s first experience of Nursery to be a happy one, they are also welcome to stay in the Nursery during the settling in period.

WATCH HERE

Understanding Christianity by the Church of England

The Church of England has developed a new training program called 'Understanding Christianity', for young people because they feel that classes currently do not always properly explain Christian beliefs.

The Christian activities will also include festivals and practices, with the hope the program will help schools teach on the creation, the fall, incarnation, salvation and the Gospel.

Project leader Derek Holloway says, "We're living in an age of increasingly discussion and interest in religion - which is often quite negative - and it's important that all adults are able to hold an informed conversation about religion."

"They can only do that if they have got a good understanding of what those religons teach."

"There is a great excitement when people see the resource and the potential that it has to enhance, improve and make more creative the lessons which teachers are delivering around Christianity."

This may be a response to decisions like the two-year commission, chaired by the former senior judge Baroness Butler-Sloss (photo below) and involving leading religious leaders from all faiths, calls for public life in Britain to be systematically de-Christianised.

Britain is no longer a Christian country and should stop acting as if it is, a major inquiry into the place of religion in modern society has concluded, really upsetting ministers and the Church of England.

It says that the decline of churchgoing and the growth of other faiths mean a "new settlement" is needed for religion in the UK, giving more official influence to non-religious voices and those of non-Christian faiths.

The report, by the Commission on Religion and Belief in Public Life, claims that faith schools are "socially divisive" and says that the selection of children on the basis of their beliefs should be eliminated.

Then there's  the compulsory daily act of worship in school assemblies should be abolished and replaced with a "time for reflection".