Here is how I made ghee, or clarified butter, from good quality unsalted Cornish butter made by Trewithen Dairy, near Lostwithiel in Cornwall. Sometimes mass-produced ghee that you get in those vicious cans taste a little rancid and top-quality ghee can cost a lot of money. For example, a small jar (less than 1lb or 450g) at my local health shop cost £9.53 ! I bought the butter for this ghee for £3.18 (£1.59 a pack).

As well as Indian cookery you can use ghee in breads, cakes, as a base for sauces (particularly for shellfish) and more.

It is a very simple process that just requires a close eye to ensure you reach the clarification stage and don’t over boil the butter. In all it took less than 40 minutes from start to jarring up.

This slide show explains the process (as I did it) but the basic principle is to boil butter gently in a heavy-based pan over a medium heat. I used 500g (2x 250g packs).

As it melts and then begins to simmer a foam or scum will float to the top. Use a clean metal spoon to skim this off.

Milk solids will form and sink to the bottom. It is at the stage that no more milk solids are sinking to the bottom and the butter oil is glossy and gives a beautiful scent of butterscotch that it is ready.

Take off the heat and heave a couple of thorough clean and dry jars ready.

Line a metal strainer with muslin. It might be useful to get someone to help you at this stage. I placed a jam funnel in the jar first and the strainer on top and got someone to hold it steady. Gently pour in the ghee.

The milk solids and residue will be trapped in the strainer.

Wipe up any spills and leave to cool. The golden butter oil will slowly set solid.

When set after a few hours, seal jars with a moistened cellophane disc (used in jam preserving–moist side UP) and a rubber band and screw on the lid tight.

Store in a cool dark place. It will last a few months if kept in these conditions. If you don’t have a cool place in your house, store in the fridge.

This blog has become stale, and a little dull, even to me. Train stories and socio-political goings on are all very well – and I have a lot to say about them – but I have become somewhat bored so I am going to try and start blogging about different things.

I would like to blog about dancing a bit more. I have always loved dancing but never really taken up the opportunity to do it myself since I left school and most recently I have been very taken with the BBC show, Strictly Come Dancing. One of this year’s celebrity contestants is Tom Chambers, actor. He has compelling in every dance he has performed and apart from a large amount of emphasis on his wedding during the first half of the series, has escaped much of the comment and criticism surrounding some of the other celebrities in the show.

I came across this little video of Tom Chambers recreating a Fred Astaire routine in Damsel in Distress. Tap dancing and drums. It is not worth describing, just watch it! Tom Chambers brings the classic charm and showbiz of the 1930s into the 21st century. How refreshing.

While I lament the loss of several DAB radio stations, including Oneword, I was tickled to find that instead you can listen to birdsong – literally. Twist your DAB radio knob until you find the station, also called Birdsong.

Birdsong was broadcasted when Oneword went off air. It was originally used for the test transmission of Classic FM before its launch in 1992. It was then used three years ago for the station “D1_temp” and was popular with listeners who sent into complaints when it was taken off air in June 2005.

Since April 2008, it has broadcast (most effectively) in stereo.

Devoted listeners should note warnings on the UK Digital Radio website:

Listeners and Birdsong enthusiasts should note the transmission could cease at any time and that the recording is not commercially available.

Please note that the line up of birds featured in the cast may change without warning due to illness, weather and migration.

One listener quoted in a Telegraph Online article said:

It is a lot more enjoyable than some of the rubbish on air these days – and definitely better than debate or phone-in shows full of ‘oiks’ shouting at each other.

Read the Telegraph Online article about the surprising popularity of Birdsong.

As for me, it’s like having the outside inside which as I stare lovingly at the garden from one of the kitchen windows and over the urban valley through the other, makes me feel like I am in some weird kind of aural landscape! I recommend it.

There now seems to be more than a glimmer of hope that from December 2008 we may get something close to an appropriate TransWilts service between Salisbury and Swindon (via Trowbridge, Melksham and Chippenham). It has been very difficult to gauge exactly how much car traffic cross-Wilts travel causes, especially by commuters, parents and shoppers (and therefore a difficult thing to prove that there is a need for an improved service to ‘stakeholders’ – funnily enough passengers are not stakeholders in the same way as politicians, rail chiefs and government) but you only have to give the A350 one go to ‘feel’ the strain it is under and the delays it causes to more essential road travel by those providing goods and services to the county.

The Save the Train has begun a ‘pledge’ campaign in order to gather as much support for this as possible so they are able to present the figures and the views of the Wiltshire public (and those travelling through the county) to FGW and our politicians.

So, what are you waiting for? Take the TransWilts Train Service Pledge.

Do you tut-tut at the degradation of your surroundings? A couple of years back (it seems), English Heritage launched the Save our Streets campaign and urged people to take an interest in their environment and record the state of our streets, lighting and signage. If only this campaign was promoted more widely and the results recorded. Are the streets near you scarred with bad repairs, usually with poor quality tarmac? Are they filthy with stains, chewing gum and rotting cigarette butts? Are they obstructed by wheely bins or badly parked cars? Are the signs broken or graffitied? Are there too many street lights? Too bright? Too dark?

Conduct a street audit near you and send it to your local councillor. They are elected by you and therefore have a responsibility to take note of your concerns. Find out who your local councillor is by searching according to your postcode at www.upmystreet.com.

Recently, I have become very interested in the concept of viral marketing, that is, using the power of word of mouth, human to human, to get messages and ideas across. The Cluetrain Manifesto sets out exactly how and why companies and organisations who like to act like companies, together with their platitudinous management speak and their computerised apologies and promises should take note of this movement. I found the following statement immensely powerful and inspiring:

“We are not seats or eyeballs or end users or consumers. We are human beings – and our reach extends your grasp. Deal with it.”

Some wonderful people from the Save the Train campaign have come up with a feasible, achievable and brilliant solution to the current train transport problems in Wiltshire and the Greater Bristol Area. They call it Gateway to the Future and it speaks for itself.

In Mumbai, India, young Parsi boys attend the Dadar Athornan Madressa, a school where they receive secular education in addition to instruction in the arts of being a priest. In this gallery of images of contemporary Parsis, there is one of three of the boys in front of the school by a blackboard with a verse from the medieval Persian poet Firdawsi – the thought for the day as they enter the school:

Look at the Heavens,
How they roll on;
And look at man,
How soon he is gone.
A breath of wind and then no more;
A world like this, should man deplore?

Wouldn’t it be great if train companies just told the truth?

I’ve just been reading some comments on the Smile bank website about public transport. One of the comments was:

“Please can we have an M25 railway? That would really help my journey to work, and also mean that people travelling around the country wouldn’t have to go all the way into London then out again just to make a connection.”
(Liz Blaney)

Now wouldn’t that be an idea.