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  1. Extracts from Wikipedia pages :- An Anzac biscuit is a sweet biscuit, popular in Australia and New Zealand, made using rolled oats, flour, sugar, butter, golden syrup, baking soda, boiling water and optionally desiccated coconut. Anzac biscuits have long been associated with the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) established in World War I. It has been claimed the biscuits were sent by wives to soldiers abroad because the ingredients do not spoil easily and the biscuits kept well during naval transportation. Today, Anzac biscuits are manufactured commercially for retail sale. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Today, Anzac biscuits are manufactured commercially for retail sale. Because of their military connection with the ANZACs and ANZAC Day, these biscuits are often used as a fundraising item for the Royal New Zealand Returned Services' Association (RSA) and the Returned and Services League of Australia (RSL). A British (though still Australian-produced) version of the Anzac biscuit, supporting the Royal British Legion, is available in several major supermarket chains in the UK ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Recipe ANZAC Biscuits - Ingredients 85g porridge oat 85g desiccated coconut 100g plain flour 100g caster sugar 100g butter, , plus extra butter for greasing 1 tbsp golden syrup 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda Notably, Anzac biscuit recipes omit eggs because of the scarcity of eggs during the war (after most poultry farmers joined the war effort) and so that the biscuits would not spoil when shipped long distances. Method Heat oven to 180C/fan 160C/gas 4. Put the oats, coconut, flour and sugar in a bowl. Melt the butter in a small pan and stir in the golden syrup. Add the bicarbonate of soda to 2 tbsp boiling water, then stir into the golden syrup and butter mixture. Make a well in the middle of the dry ingredients and pour in the butter and golden syrup mixture. Stir gently to incorporate the dry ingredients. Put dessertspoonfuls of the mixture on to buttered baking sheets, about 2.5cm/1in apart to allow room for spreading. Bake in batches for 8-10 mins until golden. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.
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  2. If you like history, nature, good food and good wine then you’ll love Sicily. There’s a lot to see and do but if you take a few hours and plan your visit it’s surprising just how much you can achieve in just one week. We booked a hotel in Aci Trezza, just 20km from Catania airport, for one night but extended it to three as we thought it was a good base for visits to Etna and Taormina – with a fantastic Greek/Roman theatre. Book a walking tour with a guide around a couple of Etna’s craters. You can do that on site much cheaper than from the hotels. You won’t be disappointed! South from Aci Trezza you’ll find Siracusa. A visit to Parco Archeologico is a must before moving on to the island of Ortygia. Heading west toward central Sicily you’ll find Piazza Amerina and the roman Villa del Casale with it’s wonderful mosaics. Thank you ExBedlingtonian for that tip. It was a joy to visit! Driving south west from Piazza Amerina towards the coast you reach Agrigento. Stop off en route and take a slow walk through the Valley of the Temples ‘Valle di Templi’. There are a half dozen temples, some dating back to before Christ and in surprisingly good condition. It’s well signposted. You can hire a guide here as well but it’s an easy walk in a straight line so just buy a little cheap guide book and go by yourself. Follow the coast northwest from Agrigento through sloping vineyards towards Marsala and on the way take a few hours to visit the small medieval town of Erice. It’s a hair raising drive that takes you to a height of 750m above the sea but well worth the journey. It’s strewn with beautiful, small piazzas and some of the most wonderful courtyards I’ve ever seen. The views are out of this world! From there, cut across the north west tip of the island towards the capital, Palermo. Just enjoy wandering around the town. We visited the Capella Paletina which, if we understood the guide book correctly, is the chapel of the royal palace of the Norman kings. It’s very beautiful and extremely interesting both from a historical and religious point of view. From Palermo it’s just a short distance to Monreale, another small, old and very picturesque old town. Leaving Palermo follow the coast eastwards towards the small, medieval fishing village of Cefalu - dominated by a huge rock and a huge, Norman cathedral. Close up it’s not so huge. It’s just built on a bit of a hill in the town centre. We had hoped to make it to Messina but were a bit short of time so we drove directly from Cefalu to the airport in Catania. 3g was right about the mosquitos. They can be a bit of a pain in the evenings but their ‘bark’ was worse than their bite – so to speak. Their whining can get on your nerves but I didn’t get bitten until I got on the plane for the homeward journey! If I was to give any more advice on Sicily it would be: Buy a guidebook and guide yourself. It's much cheaper and you can do it at your own pace. Hire the smallest car you possibly can. Driving in Sicily is a pleasure until you hit the towns and villages where the roads are the narrowest I’ve ever seen and parking is a nightmare! Both as a driver and a pedestrian proceed with caution at all traffic lights. Why Italy has chosen red and green among its flag colours I do not know as Italians clearly can’t distinguish one from the other! Hire a room on the outskirts of town and the use public transport within the town. This way you'll avoid some of the frustration of parking the car. If you only speak English avoid talking to the elderly.They don't seem to have any knowledge of the language. They understood Spanish but answer in what I assume to be Sicillian. Drink wine instead of water. They are both the same price.
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  3. Webtrekker, I think we do need to remember because our past defines us as we go forward. It’s the lessons we have to learn so the same mistakes aren’t made again.
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