Wasabi is sold as a paste or in powder form. Wasabi powder has to be mixed with water to be turned into a paste. Wasabi has a strong, very spicy (hot) taste.
Sashimi is very thinly cut raw seafood. Many different kinds of fresh fish and other seafood are served raw in Japanese dishes. Sashimi is one of them. It is almost the same as sushi, but it has no vinegar rice. When the slices of fish are put on small pieces of rice they are called "Nigiri Sushi".
Sashimi is artistically arranged and put on the plate on top of shredded daikon and shiso leaves. The fish pieces are dipped into soya sauce before being eaten.
Seaweed has been a very important part of Japanese dishes for a long time. Today, many different types of seaweed are used in soups, seasonings and other forms of Japanese cooking. These are the three seaweeds used the most:
Pointe du Hoc
Pointe du Hoc is a place in the Normandy in northern France. It has steep cliffs about 100 m high that drop down toward the sea and a very thin beach at the bottom that is underwater at high tide and dry at low tide. It was important during World War II.
In 1944, Pointe du Hoc was part of Operation Overlord, which was the biggest sea invasion in history. During World War II, the Allied military commanders planned how to attack France, which had been captured by the German Wehrmacht. The Germans had put very large guns at Pointe du Hoc. There were six 155mm cannons in concrete forts that could shoot at Allied ships and troops that wanted to come on land at Utah Beach and Omaha Beach.
Allied planes, flying from England, dropped bombs on Pointe du Hoc. But they did not break the heavy artillery guns, and the Germans moved them away.
For about five months, the U.S. Rangers trained with British commandos to prepare for their attack on France. They practiced climbing British cliffs.
Once the Allied commanders decided to attack France, they used flat-bottomed landing craft made to carry troops onto beaches. These special landing boats were called LCA and LCVP's or Higgins boats. British navy sailors sailed them. The boats were lowered into the sea a few kilometers away from the cliffs. The British had added some extra armour to the sides of the boats to protect them. This made it harder for the boats to move fast and turn.
The American 2nd and 5th Army Ranger Divisions attached the cliffs at Pointe du Hoc. Colonel James Earl Rudder led the attack. The attack started at 6:30 a.m of D-Day, when the battleship USS Texas stopped shooting at Pointe du Hoc. Because the weather was bad, the Rangers' boats drifted in the water and it took an extra half hour for them to get to the beach. By then, the Germans had come out of their forts and were ready at the top of the cliff.
The American landing boats reached the beach, and the Army Rangers ran up the beach to the cliffs. The soldiers used ropes attached to rocket-powered grappling hooks to climb the cliffs. Two soldiers carried the ropes and grappling hooks in a wooden box. The soldiers also used ladders that were attached to landing boats and grappling hooks that were shot up from the boats.
When the Rangers reached the top of the cliffs, small groups of soldiers attacked the Germans. After reaching the forts, where they thought the Germans kept their guns, the Rangers found that the guns were no longer there. The Rangers went inland and searched for the guns and found them. They used thermite fire grenades to melt important parts of the guns.
Out of 225 soldiers only 90 were still able to fight when reinforcements came.
Welsh Premier League
The Dafabet Welsh Premier League is a football league which is the top division of domestic football in Wales.
The New Saints F.C.
The New Saints F.C. is a football club which plays in Welsh Premier League.
French toast
French toast is a breakfast food made by soaking bread in eggs.
Milk, sugar or cinnamon are commonly added. The dish is often topped with powdered sugar, butter, fruit, syrup, or other items. According to what is popular in local cuisine, many of the spices that are added to bread or egg dishes are in cooking.
In the United Kingdom, it is sometimes known as "Eggy Bread". It is a Christmas time dessert in Portugal and Brazil called rabanada. And is an Easter dessert in Spain called torrijas.
John Smith (explorer)
John Smith (c. January 1580 – 21 June 1631) was a English soldier, explorer, and author. Smith was a leader of the first settlements at the Virginia Colony in 1608-1609. He explored the rivers of Virginia and the Chesapeake Bay and drew a map of the Chesapeake Bay area and New England.
Smith's books and maps were very important in supporting Englishmen living in the New World. He wrote, "Here every man may be master and owner of his own labour and land and if he has nothing but his hands, he may still grow rich."
At Jamestown Smith trained the people to farm and work so they would have food to eat. He told them "he who shall not work, shall not eat." Smith's strength of character and his determination overcame many problems including the harsh weather, lack of water, living in a wilderness, with people who did not want to work, and attacks from the Powhatan Indian tribes.
Smith was born in January 1580 at Willoughby, Lincolnshire where his parents rented a farm. He claimed descent from the ancient Smith family of Cuerdley.
Smith left home at the age of 16 and went to sea. He served as a soldier in the army of Henry IV of France against the Spaniards, fought for Dutch revolt from the Spanish King Philip II of Spain. He went to the Mediterranean Sea where he worked in both trade and piracy. He then fought against the Ottoman Empire in the Ottoman wars and for the Austrian Habsburgs in Kingdom of Hungary in 1600 and 1601.
Smith is reputed to have defeated, killed and beheaded Turkish commanders in 3 duels. He was knighted by the Transylvanian Prince and was given a horse and coat of arms showing 3 Turks' heads. In 1602 he was wounded in a skirmish, captured and sold as a slave. Smith wrote that his Turkish master sent him as a gift to his Greek mistress in Constantinople, who fell in love with Smith. He then escaped from the Ottoman lands and returned to England in 1604.
In 1606 the Smith was hired by the Virginia Company to settle in Virginia Colony for profit. They set sail in three ships, in December 1606. Smith had a servant named Samuel Collier. Samuel Collier would stay by him most of the way through.
There were problems on the voyage and Smith was charged with mutiny. Captain Newport planned to execute him. The Captain opened a letter of orders from the Virginia Company which stated that Smith was to be one of the leaders of the new colony, so Smith was not killed.
The English arrived in April 1607 and Captain Wingfield chose Jamestown to be the location for the colony. In summer the settlers were still living in temporary housing. After the four-month ocean trip, food supplies were only enough for each person to have a cup or two of grain-meal per day. Due to the weather and lack of food disease spread through the people and by September, more than half died.
In December 1607, Smith was looking for food and was captured by Native Americans. He was taken to meet the Chief of the Powhatan tribe. The village was about 15 miles from Jamestown. Smith was released without harm and gave credit in part to the chief's daughter, Pocahontas, who threw herself across his body. Seeing this, her father took mercy on Smith and he was safely taken back to Jamestown. This encounter began a friendly relationship between the natives, Smith and the colonists at Jamestown.