Invitation to contemplate: Too Many Cooks

Invitation to contemplate: Too Many Cooks:   Wild Goose Creative in Columbus, Ohio On the second Sunday of every month in Columbus, Ohio, a group called Too Many Cooks ...

Too Many Cooks

 

Wild Goose Creative in Columbus, Ohio

On the second Sunday of every month in Columbus, Ohio, a group called Too Many Cooks meet. These events feature local chefs and culinary artists and aim to focus on "the art of the table". Billed as a "chance to embrace culinary skills as an art form, and to learn from various experts in the field". 
Past speakers have included a food scientist Ice Cream artist, an Italian chef with a passion for local foods and vegan cooking and a cook explaining how to make sushi at home.

The next event will be held on Sunday 8 July, 19:00 – 21:00 at Wild Goose Creative 2491 Summit Street, Columbus, OH 43202

Food52

While Too Many Cooks in Columbus is a physical group sharing and socializing around a love of food and cooking, Food52 is an on-line community with similar interests. They aim to provide a platform for people to exchange ideas and talk about food. They have built a community of people who love all things food related.

Recently FOOD52 ran an article entitled "Too Many Cooks: What are your Best and Worst Kitchen Tasks?". Reviewing the replies, baking appeared to be a favourite task. That's something I can agree with. Disliked tasks included washing up and chopping onions. Some tasks, like washing leafy vegetables appeared in both the liked and disliked list.  As Nozlee Samadzadeh notes, "The results were surprising and fun -- quite a few of us love doing tasks that others of us can't stand." Full results can be seen at FOOD 52.

Too Many Cooks - Murder Mystery

A lot less supportive group of cooks can be found in the murder mystery Too Many Cooks. This 8 Player game takes place at the fictitious British Good Food Awards

The story opens at the highlight of the culinary year, the annual British Good Food Awards dinner. But before the prizes can be awarded, Veronica Hacker, the investigative journalist, is found dead in her suite. Was she the victim of revenge, or another dish best served cold.......

Who could have done it?

Possibly Annabel Sloane-Ranger, the Roedean educated girl who now runs a successful catering business with a couple of school-chums. Or maybe Fay Rocher, who moved to Britain from Switzerland at the age of 21, bringing the tradition of fine chocolate making with her. Or how about her business partner, Sandi Beech. Then there is Doug Meadows, the American tycoon who has recently introduced US-style cookies to Britain. And who can forget life-style guru Trisha Branflake?

And what of the other suspects?

 

Peter Savoury enjoys fast cars and living dangerously. Did Peter do something too dangerous? Everyone knows Bill Wordsworth bakes exceedingly good cakes, and is an excellent employer who looks after his staff well.....but did he take care of Veronica? Rudi Emmental is a reclusive Swiss cheese maker. He rarely leaves his hideaway in rural Devon. Did he have an ulterior motive for coming here? 

  

The only way to find out is to order the Too Many Cooks - Murder Mystery.
Available from ITM Games

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Invitation to contemplate: Brenda and Eddie marry in Madison

Invitation to contemplate: Brenda and Eddie marry in Madison: The Madison Florida Voice reported on a local wedding with a difference. Brenda and Eddie were the "happy"couple being joined together ...

Brenda and Eddie marry in Madison

The Madison Florida Voice reported on a local wedding with a difference.

Brenda and Eddie were the "happy"couple being joined together in holy matrimony last week. Guests were invited to join the reception at the Rural Area Theater before the newlyweds set off to marital bliss.

The wedding party may have included a cute flower girl, but it also had a grumpy bride supported by her bookish bridesmaid and an ever-hungry best man.

Guests included a whiny reporter and a loud mouth ex-cop. Although it was lucky he was there as things took a turn for the worst and before Brenda could dance the night away, one audience member turned up dead on the dance floor!



This event didn't have wedding bells but chimes of death ringing out.

Lee Mueller, of Play Dead Murder Mysteries, wrote the play “I’m Getting Murdered in the Morning” that was staged by the Rural Area Theater in Madison. 

Lee has written a number of scripts which have received rave reviews from audiences across the USA. His website Play-dead.com has been putting the "Play" back in Murder Mystery since 2000. If you would like to try performing one of his "Who-Done-its" in 2 acts, they are available for  performance by High School, College, Dinner theatre or community theatre from Play-dead.com.

Photographs taken from The Voice - Madison Florida                   Also available at http://smilebox.com/play/4d7a49794d6a4d334e444d3d0d0a&blogview=true&campaign=blog_playback_link

If you want to hire a murder mystery in London, please visit my website at http://www.invitation2events.co.uk or if you fancy trying a  murder mystery game at home, go to http://www.itmgames.co.uk

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Newspaper Moguls of the 1980's

The 1980's saw the rise of newspaper moguls.

Robert Maxwell build an extensive publishing empire and by the 1980's owned various companies including the Daily Mirror, the Sunday Mirror and  the Scottish Daily record.  On his death in 1991, huge discrepancies in his companies' finances, including the Mirror Group's pension fund, were revealed.

Rupert Murdoch
World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2007
Copyright World Economic Forum.

Rupert Murdoch, took over the News of the World in 1969 and bought The Times in 1981. In 1986 he caused bitter industrial disputes when he instituted new electronic publishing technologies at his UK printing operations. By 2000 Murdoch's News Corporation owned over 800 companies in more than 50 countries. However, in July 2011 Murdoch faced allegations of bribery and corruption and his companies stood accused of phone hacking.

By comparison, Maximillian Malist,  appears to be a saint!

Who?

Maximillian Malist of course!

The extrovert publisher, businessman and star of No Malist Aforethought.

Set in the 1980's, No Malist Aforethought is a murder mystery party game for 8 guests. You get to play the parts of trusted friends, family and associates of Maxy Malist, the extrovert owner of the Malist Publishing Empire. You take on the dual roles of the suspects and investigators as you try to uncover the guilty party.

As the game begins, you arrive on Maxy Malist's private island. You have been invited to hear about his plans to publish his biography. He has a lot of stories to tell, including how he took over the small family business and built it into a multi-national company. Such a move has not been without costs. Many people have been trampled in the process. Were you one of Maxy's victims and are you seeking revenge?

As you gather and reminisce about the past, what stories can you and your fellow guests tell about Maxy? Or, perhaps of more importance, is what stories can Maxy tell about you.....

You could play, Minnie Malist, Maximillian’s younger sister. She acts as housekeeper to her brother and has always suffered from being in his shadow. Or you could play Kenton Edge, a director of one of Malist’s companies, who is attending with his PA, Theresa Green. Virginia Heart and Richard D’Ling are friends of the family, as are guests Alan and Bunty Cholic. All are eager to meet Harry Wright, the biographer working with Maxy.

Unfortunately, Maximillian Malist will not live to see his book in print......

No Malist Aforethought

Purchase No Malist Aforethought here

This and other murder mystery games are available at http://www.itmgames.co.uk

Why not visit my other website at http://www.invitation2events.co.uk for murder mystery events.
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Sudoku for a rainy weekend

Sudoku first appeared in British newspapers in 2005, having been invented in New York in the 1970s.

Here is a letter Sudoku to try......

I				E			G
N			I			S	H
	G		H		C
		R			N
S	E						N	G
			G			A
			C		E		R
	N	C			R			S
	R			H				E

 

Can you find the hidden word?

 

Answer will appear on my Facebook page - http://www.facebook.com/invitation2events

 

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Sudoku consists nine blocks of nine squares, arranged in a grid. The objective is to fill the grid of 81 squares so the numbers 1 to 9 only appear once in every row, column and individual block. A few numbers are revealed at the start of the puzzle in a symmetrical pattern.

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Invitation to contemplate: A Day At The Races.......

Invitation to contemplate: A Day At The Races.......: Murder Mystery - The Egg & Spoon Race Benedict Egg meets Runcy Spoon   In 2011, Benedict Egg and Runcy Spoon were locked in a...

Invitation to contemplate: A Night At The Sandpit.....

Invitation to contemplate: A Night At The Sandpit.....: Another night of fun games at the Southbank, courtesy of Hide and Seek Sandpit. Dancers with Wolves I Demand Satisfaction! by Ali...

A Day At The Races.......

Murder Mystery - The Egg & Spoon Race

Benedict Egg meets Runcy Spoon

 

In 2011, Benedict Egg and Runcy Spoon were locked in a vicious battle.

• Both were rivals in the field of electronic innovation.

• Both were concerned about the problem of sustainable energy.

• Both were racing to find a solution.

But only one could win The Egg and Spoon Race

Benedict Egg with Al Bumen

It appeared to everyone that Benedict Egg may have won, when he announced a press conference.



But, as Benedict demonstrated his companies exciting discovery there was a fatal accident!

..........Or was it?

Maybe this was no accident but MURDER!

Murder Mystery Dinner - The Egg and Spoon Race

Benedict Egg

If you would like to experience The Egg and Spoon Race yourselves, log onto http://www.invitation2events.co.uk and hire a private party for you and your friends, family and colleagues.










Actors play the parts of the suspects and victim, while the audience interact as the journalists, VIPs and guests at the press conference. 


This murder mystery is produced by Invitation To Events
http://www.invitation2events.co.uk


Photography by Edyta Kozlowska

Actors -

David McKechnie as Benedict Egg

Anthony Bird as Runcy Spoon

Toni Brooks as Faye B J Egg

Mark Scott as Al Bumen 

Gemma Slade as Molly Coddled

Dezzi Lloyd as Eau Bergine

Catherine Skeggs as Sue Flay



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A Night At The Sandpit.....

Another night of fun games at the Southbank, courtesy of Hide and Seek Sandpit.

Dancers with Wolves

I Demand Satisfaction! by Alice O'Connor



Dancers with Wolves

Trump or False by StampCollective

Invitation to contemplate: London’s 'Ratha-yatra’ Festival of Chariots

Invitation to contemplate: London’s 'Ratha-yatra’ Festival of Chariots: It was a great surprise, exiting Green Park station yesterday and being confronted by a big crowd of people, happily chanting. We had stumb...

London’s 'Ratha-yatra’ Festival of Chariots

It was a great surprise, exiting Green Park station yesterday and being confronted by a big crowd of people, happily chanting. We had stumbled upon London’s 'Ratha-yatra’ Festival of Chariots.

The tourists on the London Duck, got a bird's eye (!) view of the chariots.

Had we been in the area earlier we would have seen the notices about road closures on Sunday 17th June 2012 allowing revellers to hand-pull three 40-foot high colourful chariots along the streets.




The annual Hare Krishna festival was attended by festival-goers from every continent.

 



The celebration echoes the one held every year in mid-summer in Puri. It symbolises Lord Jagannath, his elder brother Balabhadra and sister Subhadra, going on vacation from his temple to his garden palace in the countryside.

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Invitation to contemplate: Father's Day - A "Forgotten Holiday" ?

Invitation to contemplate: Father's Day - A "Forgotten Holiday" ?: President Obama with his children President Barack Obama says his wife told him to stop calling Father's Day a "forgotten holiday....

Father's Day - A "Forgotten Holiday" ?

President Obama with his children

President Barack Obama says his wife told him to stop calling Father's Day a "forgotten holiday." The President had voiced the opinion that Mother's Day is more of a celebration than Father’s Day. However, Michelle Obama told him Mother's Day should be a bigger celebration because "every day is Father's Day" adding he is "always getting a treat."

President Obama with Michelle Obama

As Nicholas K. Geranios points out, in the 102 years since Father’s Day began being celebrated fatherhood has changed. He states that, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, in 2010 15 percent of single parents were men and there were 158,000 stay-at-home dads. The Census Bureau also said various reports showed that fathers were good about reading to their children, praising them at least three times a day and taking them on outings.  

In addition, according to Ruki Sayid in The Mirror, Dads spend a lot of their time giving their children lifts and collecting them from sports activities and hobbies. Research shows dads spend nearly an hour and a half each week waiting in cars, which equates to 22 days of their lives just hanging around. The survey, conducted for Sainsbury’s Bank, revealed that the drives allowed parents to spend quality time chatting to their children in the car.

However, Michael Gurian noted that 90 percent of homeless and runaway children, 71 percent of high school dropouts and 63 percent of young people who commit suicide came from fatherless homes. He is quoted as saying "Without fathers you would have no civilization.....If we don't protect fathering, we are going to really be messed up."

So where did Father’s Day start? Some people cite the  a church sermon made in West Virginia, USA in 1908 in memory of 362 men killed in explosions at the Fairmont Coal Company mines. However, this was intended as a commemoration, not an annual holiday.

Credit for the annual celebration is more usually attributed to  Mrs. Sonora Smart Dodd. She was married to John Bruce Dodd, one of the original founders of Ball & Dodd Funeral Home. They had a son, Jack Dodd, born in 1909.

Mrs. Sonora Smart Dodd

Mrs. Dodd’s mother had died during childbirth, leaving her father, William Jackson Smart, to raise his five sons and daughter on his own.  In 1910, she attended a Mother’s Day church service and decided that her father had made just as much effort in raising the family as mothers did. She decided his efforts should be honoured in the same way – with a special day. Approaching the Spokane Ministerial Association and the local YMCA, Mrs Dodd’s asked them to support her proposal. Originally intended to take place on her father’s birthday, the celebration had to be postponed until the third Sunday of June. The first Fathers day celebration took place on 19^th June 1910 in Spokane.

Father’s Day did not receive an immediate support. However, Newspapers picked up the story and spread it across the country. Mrs. Dodd’s campaign gained recognition from political leader William Jennings Bryan, who complimented her on her idea adding “too much emphasis cannot be placed upon the relation between parent and child."

President Woodrow Wilson

Attempts were made to make Father’s Day an official holiday by introducing a bill to Congress in 1913. It was approved by US President Woodrow Wilson, who went to Spokane to celebrate Father's Day in 1916.

However, Congress worried that the new holiday would be too commercialized and so defeated two attempts to formally recognize the holiday. However, stopping short of issuing a national proclamation, in 1924 US President Calvin Coolidge recommended that the day be observed by the nation. He suggested that states should hold their own Father’s Day observances. His formal proclamation designated the third Sunday in June as Father’s Day to “establish more intimate relations between fathers and their children and to impress upon fathers the full measure of their obligations.”

Following an accusation by Senator Margaret Chase Smith that Congress had been ignoring fathers for 40 years, in 1956/7 a Joint Resolution of Congress finally gave recognition to Father’s Day. In 1966, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the first presidential proclamation honoring fathers, designating the third Sunday in June as Father’s Day. In 1972, President Richard Nixon made it a permanent national holiday by law.

The idea of celebrating Fathers day spread to the UK from America. However, it did not take off until the 1970’s, when the idea of equal rights was at the forefront of consciousness.

So wish your dad a Happy Father's Day tomorrow and show he is not forgotten!

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Photos courtesy of http://www.acclaimimages.com and http://acelebrationofwomen.org/?p=86100

Invitation to contemplate: Another FREE Games Night in London

Invitation to contemplate: Another FREE Games Night in London: For those of you who missed the Sandpit FREE Games Night in May, there is another chance to experience the excitement in June. The Southba...

Another FREE Games Night in London

For those of you who missed the Sandpit FREE Games Night in May, there is another chance to experience the excitement in June. The Southbank will again be hosting the event on Monday 18 June 2012.

The theme of the evening is Performance and it offers a chance for games designers and artists to try out new games ideas. The fun starts at 6.30pm, but don’t worry if you will miss the start. This time the event is holding only drop in games. There will be no scheduled games requiring pre-booking.

The organizers, Hide and Seek, suggest guests drop into any of the games from 6:30 to 9. Then from 9 till 10, they hope most people will join in with Ross Sutherland’s Comedian Dies in the Middle of a Joke.

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Invitation to contemplate: Puzzle solution

Invitation to contemplate: Puzzle solution: Solution to last weeks puzzle 3 4 6 9 7 8 1 2 5 2 5 1 3 6 ...

Puzzle solution

Solution to last weeks puzzle

3	4	6	9	7	8	1	2	5
2	5	1	3	6	4	7	9	8
9	8	7	2	1	5	6	3	4
1	3	5	6	4	9	8	7	2
6	9	4	7	8	2	5	1	3
7	2	8	1	5	3	4	6	9
5	6	3	4	9	7	2	8	1
8	1	2	5	3	6	9	4	7
4	7	9	8	2	1	3	5	6

Well done to everyone who completed it.

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And keep reading my blogs!