Pancake Day recipe (hurry, it's next Tuesday!)
For the pancake mix
110g plain flour
a pinch of salt
2 eggs
200ml milk mixed with 75ml water
50g butter
Serve with
caster sugar
lemon juice
lemon wedges
What to do
1. Holding a sieve high above a large mixing bowl, sift the flour and salt into a large mixing bowl. This is important as it gets air into the flour.
2. Make a well in the centre of the flour with your finger and crack the two eggs into the well, and whisk with a whisk or fork, folding any 'dry' flour into the centre as you go.
3. While you're whisking, gradually pour small quantities of the milk and water mixture. Keep whisking until you have a smooth mixture with no lumps.
4. Put a frying pan on a high setting and get it really hot. Meanwhile, melt the butter in a pan or microwave, and spoon 2 tbsps of it into the batter and whisk it in. (The rest you’ll use in the frying pan when you starting cooking.)
5. Once your pan is really turn the heat down to medium and coat the inside of the pan with butter, using a baking brush or even a bit of kitchen roll (mind those fingers!)
6. Now to start cooking! Pour in around half a ladle (assuming an 18cm pan) into the pan, and immediately roll the pan around to coat the pan evenly with the mixture.
7. After about a minute or so, lift up the edge of the pancake to check it’s done (it’ll be lovely and gold) and if so, flip the pancake over with a pan slice. Do the other side for half a minute or so and slide your delicious pancake out of the pan onto a plate (and preferably sitting over a pan of simmering water, to keep them warm while you make the others.
Serve with, well, whatever you fancy really but I prefer to keep it simple with a squeeze of lemon juice and caster sugar, and either fold or roll them.
We really hope you enjoy them - let me know on louisa@phillipmann.co.uk
What’s on in Seaford this March
Thanks to the brilliant Seaford Town website for these listings. Click here to find out more details on each event.
Seaford Town Planning & Highways Committee Meeting
Date: Thursday 13 March
Time: 6pm
Where: Seaford Town Hall, 37 Church Street, Seaford
Seaford Community Cinema presents Woody Allen’s’ ‘Blue Jasmine’
Date: Friday 14 March
Time: 7.30pm
Where: The Barn Theatre, Saxon Lane, Seaford
www.seafordcinema.org
Friends of Tide Mills Meeting
Date: Sunday 16 March
Time: 10am-12 noon
Where: Tide Mills, Seaford
Come and join in the sociable tidy up of this interesting area. Wear something warm. Pickers and collecting sacks provided. For more details contact Brian: brian.skinner2@btinternet.com
Seaford Musical Society Concert presents music from Beethoven, Schubert and Liszt
Date: Friday 21 March
Where: Cross Way, Steyne Road, Seaford
Alexandra Silocea at the piano. Tickets £12. Transport can be arranged. www.seafordmusicsociety.com
Thanks to the brilliant Seaford Town website for these listings. Click here to find out more details on each event.
What’s on in Newhaven this March
Thanks to the brilliant Newhaven Town website and the Newhaven Town Council website for these listings.
A Night With The Big Bands
Date: Saturday 22 March
Time: 7pm -10pm
Where: Newhaven Fort, Fort Road
An evening of music from the 1940s – Glen Miller, Benny Goodman, County Basie and many more, played by Meeching Academy Players Tickets £8. Call 01273 515566
Hillcrest Film Society ‘Seraphine’ (Subtitled)
Date: Saturday 15 March
Time: 7.30pm
Where: Hillcrest Community Centre, Hillcrest Road, Newhaven
Tickets £4.50 available at the Hillcrest Centre
Website: www.hillcrestfilmsociety.wordpress.com
Newhaven Lifeboat Coffee Morning
Date: Saturday 15 March
Time: 10am-12 noon
Where: The Lifeboat House, Riverside, West Quay, Newhaven, BN9 9BT
Email: rnlinewhaven.society@hotmail.co.uk
Newhaven Gardening Society – illustrated talk by Mark Saunders ‘An A-Z of Gardening Tips’
Date: Thursday 20 March
Time: 7.30pm
Where: Age Concern Day Club, West Quay, Newhaven
Tickets £2 on the door to include tea and a biscuit
Telephone: Jenny 01273 516433 or Joyce 01273 515610
Newhaven in Bloom sign up Sunday
Date: Sunday 23 March
Time: All day
Where: Paradise Park, Avis Road, Newhaven BN9 0DH
Telephone: 01273 512123
Charity Car Wash
Date: Saturday 29 March
Time: 10am-2pm
Where: Paradise Park, Avis Road, Newhaven, BN9 0DH
Telephone: 01273 512123
Newhaven Twinning Association Car Boot Sale
Date: Saturday 29 March
Time: 9am-2pm
Where: Paradise Park, Avis Road, Newhaven BN9 0DH
Telephone: 01273 512123
Newhaven Yacht Club ‘Frostbite Race HW1140’
Date: Sunday 30 March
Time: 10am
Telephone: Dave Batt 07768 863554 or Email: david@battco.net
Clubs:
Meeching Women’s Institute
Date: 3rd Thursday of each month
Time: 9.45am
Where: Meeching Hall, Fort Road, Newhaven
Telephone: 01273 515439
Inclusive Multi Sport Club
Date: Every Wednesday
Time: 4.30-6pm
Where: Shakespeare Hall, Fort Road, Newhaven, BN9 9DL
Inclusive multi sports club for all disabled young people aged 8-25. £1.50 per session
Telephone:01273 510784
Castle Hill Conservation Group
Date: First Sunday of the month
Time: 10am-12 noon
Where: Top car park near the Fort
Anyone over 11 years old welcome
Email seahavenPR@aol.com
Youth Drop in Centre
Date: Monday - Fridays for ages 11-20
Time: 4.30-6.30pm
Where: Denton Island Community Centre, Newhaven, BN9 9BA
Access to the internet, free advice, workshops on sexual health, drug and alcohol misuse and healthy lifestyles
Email: kayw@ncda.org.uk
Cycle Touring Club
Date: Every Sunday
Also summer camping weekends and cycling for juniors accompanied by an adult
Telephone: Mrs Rix on 01323 894283 (weekdays only)
Denton & South Heighton Junior Football Club
Teams for ages 5-16 with over 100 children currently involved in the club Telephone: Paula Woolven on 07710426321 or email: paulawoolven@hotmail.com
Hillcrest Boxing Gym
Date: Monday-Friday nights
Time: Various
Where: Hillcrest Community Centre, Hillcrest Road, Newhaven
The classes cater for juniors, female, competitive and recreational boxers Telephone: George Danaha on 07720828388 or email: hillcrestboxing@gmail.com or vist: www.hillcrestboxinggym.co.uk
Newhaven Archery Club
An active club for ages 10-18 years old. For full information please contact Steve or Roy by email: newhaven_archery@yahoo.co.uk
Various youth clubs. For full details see http://www.newhaventowncouncil.gov.uk/whats-on-for-children-and-young-people
Thanks to the brilliant Newhaven Town website and the Newhaven Town Council website for these listings.
What's on in Peacehaven this March?
Thanks to the brilliant Peacehaven Town website for these listings. Click here to find out more details on each event.
Race Night
Date: Friday 07 March 2014
Time: 7:00pm
Where: Main Hall, Community House, Meridian Centre
Town: Peacehaven
Email: info@peacehavencouncil.co.uk
Phone: 01273 585493
This race evening is set to be an evening of fun & laughter!
Tickets available now at £2 per person.
If you would like to be a horse owner pop into the Information Office to pick a horse for just £2.
Peacehaven Cinema presents - "Gravity"
Date: Wednesday 19 March 2014
Time: 7:30pm
Where: Community House, Meridian Centre
Town: Peacehaven
Email: info@peacehavencouncil.co.uk
Phone: 01273 585493
A medical engineer and an astronaut work together to survive after an accident leaves them adrift in space.
Tickets at £5 are available from the information office.
Website: www.peacehavencouncil.co.uk/
Market comment: virtual tours, virtually useless!
You may have heard of an innovation in estate agency called ‘virtual tours’ – a sort of spiralling walk-through of a property, viewed online, and aimed at helping you look right round a room through all 360 degrees.
On the surface this seems like a great idea, and some agents have introduced things like this hoping it will impress you enough to sell your property through them.
But at the risk of appearing to be kill-joys, we don’t believe they’re as good as one might first think, so we’ve chosen not to offer them.
First, due to the limiting nature of lens technology, virtual tours can often make a property appear much smaller than it actually is, and often distorting the shape of rooms beyond recognition.
Second, they certainly convey little, if anything, of the atmosphere that a property has to offer. Unfortunately, atmosphere is often the hidden “I’ll know it when I see it” quality to which buyers certainly do need to be exposed.
Third, of course, nobody is going to buy your property unless they actually step inside and have a look for themselves. The purpose of a website is to encourage buyers to contact us and, following a qualification procedure in the interests of security and not wasting your time, subsequently view your home. Virtual tours can even prevent viewings as there appears to be no need for the buyer to physically visit your home!
Our role as estate agents is to facilitate the sale by ensuring that maximum numbers of qualified buyers actually visit your property, and this has been a key component of our success. I know I’d rather give my property to an agent who has a great record of getting buyers through your door, than to one who has tried to automate what remains essentially a people business!