Saturday, 26 March 2022

National Milk Tart Day

Peppermint crisp milk tart

The milk tart or melktert, as it is called in Afrikaans, is a dessert loved by many South Africans

Traditionally described as a shortbread crust with a milky filling, this classic dish is said to have come from the Dutch in the 1600s.

From the light crumbly pastry base to the sweet smooth milk filling, it is the perfect treat.

Ingredients for base

150g plain flour

75g unsalted butter

50g icing sugar

1 egg yolk, beaten

50g peppermint crisp, chilled

Method

Place the flour, unsalted butter, icing sugar, and peppermint crisp chocolate in a food processor and blend in a short burst until it resembles breadcrumbs. Tip into a bowl, add the beaten egg yolk, and mix to form a dough. If the dough looks too dry, add 1 tbsp water. Shape the dough into a ball, flatten it out into a disc, wrap it in cling film and chill for at least 30 minutes before using. Preheat the oven to 200ºC.

Remove the dough from the fridge and roll out evenly on a floured surface. Grease a flan pan with butter (or use Spray and Cook) and dust lightly with flour. Gently place the rolled-out dough into the pan and neatly shape it into the corners.

Use a fork to poke holes in the base of the base. Cover and place in the fridge for 30 minutes. Once rested, remove from the fridge and place the greaseproof paper in the tart shell and cover with baking beans (or you can use uncooked rice). Bake for 10 minutes, remove greaseproof paper and baking beans, and bake for a further 5 minutes or until golden brown. Turn off the oven and leave the base in the oven for 10-15 minutes, then remove and place on a wire rack to cool.

Meanwhile, make the filling.

For the filling

500ml fresh milk

28g butter

20g flour

25g corn-starch

100g white sugar

2 large eggs

1 tsp vanilla essence

For the topping

50g peppermint crisp, chilled

1 tsp ground cinnamon (or more if preferred)

Method

Place a saucepan over medium heat and add the milk and butter and bring to a boil. Remove from the heat. In another bowl, mix the flour, corn-starch, sugar, and vanilla essence and whisk in eggs until smooth. Gently whisk the mixture into the saucepan making sure there are no lumps. Return the saucepan to the stove and keep stirring constantly until it starts to bubble. Cook for about 5-6 minutes. Pass through a strainer to get a smooth texture.

To assemble the topping, pour the still-warm custard into the baked pastry shell ensuring that it spreads evenly. Allow to set and cool completely. In a bowl finely grate the peppermint Crisp and mix with the ground cinnamon and then sprinkle over the top of the tart. Use a stencil to make it look even more fabulous!

https://www.iol.co.za/lifestyle/food-drink/recipes/3-must-try-recipes-for-national-milk-tart-day-2793adf3-4d20-490e-928a-e4349b71df91

The Battle of Little Bighorn: Original 1876 Newspaper Story

“The Custer Fight” by Charles Marion Russell

On the morning of June 25, 1876, Lieutenant Colonel George A. Custer and the 7th Cavalry charged into battle against Lakota Sioux and Northern Cheyenne Indians. Custer’s orders were to wait for reinforcements at the mouth of the Little Big Horn River before attacking the Indians, but Chief Sitting Bull had been spotted nearby, and Custer was impatient to attack.

Sitting Bull, 1883 (Photo Credit: David F. Barry)

Terrible Battle with Indians, Gen. Custer, 15 Officers and Every Man of Five Companies Slain

Report from the disastrous fight in the Montana Territory:

“Gen. Custer found the Indian camp of twenty-five lodges on Little Horn, and immediately attacked it with five companies, charging into the thickest of the camp.

Nothing is known of the operations of this detachment after the charge, as they were only traced by their dead. Maj. Reno attacked the lower parts of the camp, with the seven remaining companies.

“Custer, his two brothers, a nephew and a brother-in-law, with about three hundred men were killed; only thirty-one wounded. Two hundred and seven men were buried in one place. The Indians surrounded seven companies and held them in the hills one day away from water.

“Gen. Gibbon’s command then came insight. The Indians broke camp and left in the night. A regiment of the 7th cavalry, Gibbon’s command, is returning to the mouth of Little Horn, where there is a steamboat.

“The Indians got the arms of the killed soldiers. Seventeen commissioned officers were killed. The whole Custer family died at the head of the column.

“Other accounts say the battle was fought on the 25th, 30 or 40 miles below Little Horn. Custer attacked the village of 2,500 to 4,000 warriors on one side, and Col. Reno on the other. Gen. Custer’s fifteen officers and every man of the five companies were killed.

Reno retreated under protection of the reserves. The whole number killed was 315. Gen. Gibbon joined Reno. The dead are much mutilated. Lieut. Crittenden, a son of Gen. Crittenden, was killed.”

The following is the text of the original dispatch confirming the report of Gen. Custer’s fight on Little Horn River received at Gen. Sheridan’s headquarters:

“Gen. Custer left Rosebank on the 22d with 12 companies of infantry and the 7th cavalry. On the 24th a fresh trail was reported. On the morning of the 25th an Indian village three miles long and half a mile wide was reported 15 miles off.

“Gen. Custer pushed for it. They had made 78 miles in 24 hours preceding the battle. When near the village, the Indians appeared moving as if retreating. Reno, with seven companies, was ordered to attack the right, and Gen. Custer, with five companies, vigorously attacked the left of the camp.

“Reno felt them with three companies, and was immediately surrounded, and after hours of fighting, losing Lieutenants Hodgson and Mcintosh and twelve men and several Indian scouts killed and many wound ed, cut his way out and gained a bluff 300 feet high, where he entrenched, and where he was soon joined by Col. Renton with 4 companies. Here the Indians made repeated assaults but were repulsed with great slaughter.

“The Indians finally gained higher ground than Reno and with longer range guns than the cavalry, kept up a galling fire till night.

“The Indians renewed the attack at daylight. Maj. Reno had lost 40-odd killed before reaching the bluff, many in hand-to-hand conflicts, the Indians outnumbering them ten to one.

“The Last Stand” by Frederic Remington

“The men were without water 36 hours. They determined to reach water at all hazards, and Col. Benton made a sally and routed the main body, guarding the main approach to the water.

“The water was gained with one killed and seven wounded. The fighting ceased for the night, during which Maj. Reno proposed to resist further attacks. They had now been 48 hours fighting with no word from Gen. Custer. Twenty-four hours more of suspense and fighting ended, when the Indians abandoned their village in meat haste.

“Gen. Terry, with Gen. Gibbon’s command and his own infantry, had arrived, and as the comrades met the men wept on each other’s necks. Inquiries were then made for Gen. Custer, but none could tell where he was.

General George Armstrong Custer (Photo Credit: Black Hi Vllsisitor)

“Soon, an officer came rushing into camp, and related that he had found Gen. Custer dead and stripped naked, and near him his two brothers, Col. Tom and Boston Custer, his brother-in-law Col. Calhoun, and his nephew Col. Yates, Col. Keogh. Capt. Smith, Lieut. Crittenden, Lieut. Sturgis, Col. Cooke, Lieut. Porter, Lieut. Harrington, Dr. Lord, Maj. Kellogg, the N. Y. Tribune correspondent, and one hundred and ninety men and scouts. Gen. Custer went into battle with Companies C, L, I, F and E, of the 7th cavalry, and the staff and non-commissioned officers of his regiment, and a number of scouts, and only one scout remained to tell the tale all were killed.

“Gen. Custer was surrounded on every side by the Indians, and men and horses fell as they fought on the skirmish line or in line of battle.

“Custer was among the last who fell, but when his cheering voice was no longer heard, the Indians made easy work of the remainder.

“The bodies of all save the newspaper correspondents were stripped and most of them were horribly mutilated. Custer was shot through the body and through the head. The troops cared for the wounded and buried their dead and returned to their camp for supplies and instructions from the General of the army.

“Col. Smith arrived at Bismarck last night with 35 of the wounded. The Indians lost heavily in the battle. The Crow scout survived by hiding in a ravine.

“He believes the Indians lost more than the whites. The village numbered 1,500 and it is thought there were 4,000 warriors.

“The Herald correspondent, Kellogg, was killed.”

https://nativeamericatoday.com/the-battle-of-little-bighorn-original-1876-newspaper-story/

Farm attack, woman and worker assaulted, tied up, Rietkol, Delmas

South Africa: Farm attack, woman and worker assaulted, tied up, Rietkol, Delmas

Oorgrens veiligheid

March 26, 2022

Farm attack, woman and worker assaulted, tied up, Rietkol, Delmas

A farm attack took place on the morning of 26 March 2022, on a smallholding in Rietkol, Delmas, in the Mpumalanga province of South Africa. A woman was overpowered outside her home and then dragged back into the house by an unknown number of attackers.

The woman was severely assaulted and tied up along with her domestic worker.

The attackers were demanding firearms and money.

The home was ransacked and the attackers loaded stolen items into the victims family car but were unable to start it. They then fled on foot.

Local security responded to assist and found the woman and her domestic worker tied up. The woman had severe bruising and swelling on her face.

Police are investigating the attack and robbery but there have been no arrests.

There is no other information available at this stage.

Read about more farm attacks here

Information supplied by Oorgrens veiligheid

South Africa Today – South Africa News

https://southafricatoday.net/south-africa-news/mpumalanga/farm-attack-woman-and-worker-assaulted-tied-up-rietkol-delmas/

Russian Soldier Runs Over Commander WIth Tank To Protest Death of His Friends

Russian soldier runs over commander with his tank in protest

Soldier blamed his commander for the deaths of his friends and waited for the right moment when he was near the tank to drive it over him.

Israel National News

24.03.22 20:22

Russia Tank Ukraine War

Destroyed Russian tankiStock

A Russian soldiers has reportedly run over his commander with his tank as a protest.

The soldier who drove the tank over the officer was said to have “blamed the commander of the group, Col. Yury Medvedev, for the deaths of his friends,” Roman Tsimbalyuk, a Ukrainian journalist, posted on Facebook.

The soldier waited for the moment during a battle when the commander would be standing next to the tank to run him over, the Daily Beast reported.

Both the commander’s legs were injured.

“Now Col. Medvedev is in a hospital in Belarus, waiting for monetary compensation for combat wounds received during the ‘special military operation to protect the Donbass.’ Colonel Medvedev was awarded the Order of Courage,” Tsimbalyuk wrote.

Footage of Medvedev being taken to the hospital was released by the head of Chechnya and Putin ally Ramzan Kadyrov.

The incident occurred after Russian soldiers suffered heavy losses in the Kyiv area. Tsymbalyuk said that they may have lost half their troops in multiple battles.

NATO said on Wednesday that it estimated between 7,000 and 15,000 Russian soldiers have been killed in the four-week old Ukraine war, the New York Post reported.

The Ukrainian government is reportedly offering Russian soldiers a $10,000 reward, guaranteed safety and potential citizenship to surrender their tanks. Using phone numbers they have found that are used by the Russian soldiers, they have been contacting them directly.

In response, Russian tank crews are allegedly surrendering and handing over fully operable tanks after getting the enticing offers of money and citizenship.

https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/324598

Revealed: Russian commander 'has DIED after being run over with a tank by his own mutinous troops'

A Russian brigade commander in Ukraine has died after being run down with a tank by his own mutinous troops, it was revealed today.

Western officials believe Colonel Yuri Medvedev was brutally taken out after his 37th Motor Rifle Brigade suffered huge losses.

A lieutenant general commanding the 49th Combined Arms Army has also died in the fighting - the seventh to perish in the war.

News of Colonel Medvedev's fate - backed by recent footage of the extraordinary episode - came amid claims that 20 of the 120 battalions massed by Vladimir Putin have been rendered inoperative by Ukraine's staunch resistance.

The official said of Colonel Medvedev: 'He was killed by his own troops we believe as a consequence of the scale of losses that had been taken by his brigade,' they added. 'That gives an insight into some of the morale challenges the Russian forces are having.'

The official added that the colonel appeared to have been run down using a tank. 'We believe he was killed by his own troops deliberately,' they said.

The comments came after footage allegedly showed Colonel Medvedev being stretchered into a hospital after suffering severe injuries to his legs.

The episode has echoes of 'Fragging' during the Vietnam War - when soldiers would take out hated officers by throwing grenades into their tents.

Pictured: A still grab from a video allegedly showing Russian Colonel Yuri Medvedev being stretchered into a hospital after suffering severe injuries to his legs. A Ukrainian journalist has claimed that Medvedev was run over by a tank driven by his own soldier

Ukrainian journalist Roman Tsymbaliuk said in a Facebook post on Tuesday that Colonel Medvedev's tank battalion of 1,500 troops had lost around half its strength to either death or injury.

'A soldier, choosing a convenient moment during the battle, ran over his brigade commander, Colonel Yuri Medvedev, with a tank, injuring both his legs,' Tsimbalyuk wrote in his report to his followers.

'Medvedev is in a hospital in Belarus and has already been awarded the Order of Courage.' He said the Colonel is now awaiting compensation.

There was no independent corroboration of the claim, but a video released by Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov - a close ally of Vladimir Putin - allegedly showed Medvedev being transported by medical troops to Belarus for hospital treatment.

One Chechen fighter - who are fighting under the Russian National Guard and directly under Putin's control - told him: 'Hold on…how are you? OK? Talk to us…

Medvedev replied: 'I'm OK. Where are you from?'

There was no independent corroboration of the claim, but a video (pictured) released by Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov - a close ally of Vladimir Putin - allegedly showed Medvedev being transported by medical troops to Belarus for hospital treatment

The colonel was then told to keep wearing his bulletproof jacket, before being unloaded on a stretcher, with blankets covering his legs.

Tsimbalyuk did not say what happened to the soldier driving the tank, but the report follows several others suggesting low morale among Putin's forces who have been making little progress in Ukraine.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10652501/Russian-commander-deliberately-run-tank-soldiers-DIED.html

Road in London Closes for Nearly a Month to Protect Migrating Toads as They Hop to the Other Side

By Good News Network

A stretch of road in London has been closed to traffic for more than three weeks to allow toads to cross in safety to ponds where they breed.

A 400-meter (1,300-foot) section of Church Road in Ham, near Richmond is blocked to motorists until the start of April so the creatures don’t get squished on their annual migration.

‘Toad patrol’ volunteers man the road—which meanders through a leafy stretch of Richmond Park—at night, but the road remains blocked off all day. And locals have been heaping praise on the conservation initiative.

The charity Froglife, which is responsible for recruiting volunteers, says the road, which is one of many across Britain that take part in the eco-conscious project, is among just a handful that remain completely blocked off to traffic.

The closure began on March 7, and is due to remain in place until April 1.

A council road traffic order has been issued to block the road.

Part of it reads, “The road closure is intended to allow the toads to cross the carriageway unharmed and to eliminate the risk of accidents if drivers were to be
distracted by the presence of these creatures in their path.”

Richmond Council began sealing off the street in 2010 after worried locals wrote to council bosses to warn that creatures were being killed on their annual migration from hibernation to ponds where they breed.

It has become a source of amusement among locals.

They say it is not too disruptive as the road is normally quiet, has few houses along it, and the diversion is not painfully long.

But an earnest sign warning drivers ‘road closed for migrating toads—toad patrol volunteers on the road’ has not stopped passers-by poking fun at it.

A steady stream of walkers has been stopping to take pictures to share with friends.

Retired IT manager Robert Brown, who lives in Richmond, said, “I think it is fantastic. To have that amount of consideration for toads I think is incredible. I have never actually seen any toads and only once saw someone we thought might be a volunteer, but I think it is great… It is a very British thing to do.”

Retired customer services advisor Dorris Watt, from Ham, said, ‘’I think it is a good idea to protect the toads. This is not a road you desperately need to drive down and it has gone on without causing any complaints.

“Only people from outside the area would complain if they can’t park. The toads live here, don’t they, so it’s their right of way?’”

Marketing consultant Liz Workman, from Chiswick, said, “We have to look after our world and our wildlife. Good on them.”

Retired computer programmer Terry Newman, from Richmond, said. “It (the sign) is one of the first things I ever posted on Facebook.

‘’We have ever actually seen a toad there but we think it is brilliant. I love nature and it is a great idea.