Time to talk of other things ...

Great Shakes - Will.He.Was 16th-century Stratford-upon-Avon, the birthplace of playwright and poet William Shakespeare (1564-1616) was a medieval market town in County Warwickshire in England’s West Midlands.  The name Stratford-upon-Avon is an amalgam of strǣt (Old English for street), ford (a shallow part of a river) and avon (Celtic for river).  Archeologists have found 3 Roman settlements in the area that date back to circa 43-410 AD. A charter granted to Stratford in 1196 by King Richard I allowed a weekly market to be held in the town, giving it the status of a market town. Soon it became a place of work for tradesmen and merchants. One such skilled tradesman was John Shakespeare , a renowned glove-maker and whittawer (leather worker), the father of William Shakespeare. He was also a wool tradesman who accumulated enough wealth to buy a house on Henley Street in 1556 where he and his wife brought up five children (three more died in infancy).  Later in 1576 he bought two ad

Homemade Raspberry Liqueur Introduction: To make raspberry liqueur, you'll need to macerate the raspberries in vodka, then strain out the berries. It's a simple process of fermentation where the vodka transforms the sugars (including those naturally in the berries) to create a beautiful red liqueur with the taste of sweet raspberries. The flavor is further enhanced by adding the zest of an orange and a few tablespoons of orange liqueur. I replaced the red wine with Sangria and the resulting concoction was wicked good. Ingredients: 24 oz (700g) of fresh garden raspberries (two small baskets) 1/2 cup Vodka 1/2 cup Sangria wine 75g brown sugar Zest of 1 tree ripened orange 3 Tbsp orange liqueur Instructions 1. Freeze raspberries for 2 hours then mash gently  in a glass container. Freezing helps break the tissues to release the juices. 2. Add the Vodka.  3. Add the zest of the orange and mix well.  4. Cover with a lid and let it macerate for 3 days in the fridge. 5. Strain through

  Blackberry liqueur Crème de mûre aka Blackberry liqueur This summer was especially good for blackberries. It made perfect sense to try something new and exciting - Crème de mûre aka Blackberry liqueur. It's a pretty straightforward recipe which I'd like to share with you. À votre santé! Summary: Makes about 1 litre Preparation:20 mins Cooking:10 mins 2 days macerating Ingredients 600g blackberries, fresh of course! 750ml bottle of good-quality red wine 300g white granulated sugar (add more if you like it sweeter) 300ml vodka (or gin) Method STEP 1 Pick over the blackberries and remove any stalks or leaves. Tip into a large ceramic or glass bowl and pour over the wine. Use a potato masher to crush the fruit into the wine. Cover with a tea towel and leave to macerate in a cool place for 2 days, mashing occasionally. STEP 2 Pour the mixture through a plastic sieve, then pass again through the sieve or a colander lined with a square of muslin to remove any bits.  STEP 3  Tip the

   The unstoppable Rev. Fr. Romuald D'Souza SJ Fr. Romuald D'Souza SJ.  Photo credit: Historia Domus      Romuald was born in Aldona, Goa on on 20 December 1925 to Dr. Tito Fermino de Souza and Alina Ana Maria de Souza. He was the eldest of six children. After him was born Wilfred de Souza (1927), surgeon, long-time MLA and former chief minister of Goa. The third child, Orlando (1928) became an aviation engineer with Caltex in the USA. The fourth is Michael (1933), a former principal of St Michael's High School in Anjuna. The fifth,  Sr. Noemia (1935), was the Principal at Nirmala Institute, Bombay and Director of the College of Home Science and Polytechnic, Bombay.
 The youngest Arnaldo died tragically at the tender age of twelve years.       After the birth of the first three boys, the patriarch Dr Tito sailed to Kampala, Uganda to set up his medical practice. After a short while, he was joined by his wife and the two younger boys while Romauld stayed behind with his gran

Fr Stan Swamy SJ,  martyr of the  marginalised Circumstances behind his death: On October 8, 2020, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) of India arrested Fr. Stan Swamy, a Jesuit priest and tribal rights activist known for upholding the rights of Adivasis and Dalits (groups at the bottom of India's social and economic hierarchy). Fr. Stan alongside several other prominent Dalit and Adivasi rights activists, were charged with several sections of the Indian Penal Code and Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) counterterrorism laws for inciting caste-based violence through speeches on December 31, 2017, that resulted in violent clashes in Bhima Koregaon and neighboring villages near Pune,  Maharashtra state, where hundred of thousands of Dalits had gathered to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the Battle of Bhima Koregaon, which was won by the British army — largely comprising soldiers from the lower caste Dalit community — against the upper caste Peshwas in 1818.  The follo