Why Soya Sauce is SO wonderful

Because you can add it to everything, well I can...

Because it's slightly exotic and not just butter

Because it doesn't taste like hard grains of salt

Because it just blends in so well with wasabi and ginger

Because without soya sauce my palate would be miserable

Love Soya Sauce, Love Food

S

Sex tips from the 19th Century

As a liberal feminist I believe sex is such a fundamental part of any relationship and you must work to keep your sex life 'alive' as much as you can. Recently, there was an article in the Guardian about 'Sex and the over 60s' and people interviewed testified that having a healthy sex life at an older age meant that they were healthier and that their relationships were healthier. 

It is not my place to judge those who wish to please their husbands/wives and not themselves and it is not my place to rubbish the institution of marriage and what the act of sex can produce but I truly believe that it is a fundamental human right to be allowed to pleasure ourselves in whatever way we choose and not to shy away from being sexual beings.

Here are some of the best quotes from 'Sex Tips - For Husbands and Wives from 1894'. Courtesy of Ruth Smythers - a pastor's wife who believed it was her duty to inform men and women how they should live their sex lives.

"While sex is at best revolting and at worse rather painful....it has to be endured, and has been by women since the beginning of time , and is compensated for by the monogamous home and the children produced through it."

"A good wife should expect to have reduced sexual conducts to once a week by the end of the first year of marriage and to once a month by the end of the fifth year of marriage"

(There won't be a fifth year if you're not having any sex!!)

"Most men are by nature rather perverted, and if given half a chance, would engage in quite a variety of the most revolting practices" 

(I think you'll find that men just enjoy sex . )

"A wise bride will make it the goal never to allow her husband to see her unclothed body, and never allow him to display his unclothed body to her"

(But, how are we supposed to feel comfortable in our skin if we can't get naked in front of the man we love?)

"Sex, when it cannot be prevented, should be practised only in total darkness"

"When he finds her, the wife should lie as still as possible. Bodily motion on her part could be interpreted as sexual excitement by the optimistic husband"

"Many men obtain a major portion of their sexual satisfaction from the peaceful exhaustion immediately after the act is over. Thus the wife must insure that these is no peace in this period for him to enjoy. Otherwise, he might be encouraged to soon try for more"

Extremely useful tips for any married couple right there... I'm sure you'll have a loving, long lasting, children producing, wonderful marriage.

S

Girls Are Best

Girls are Best by Sandi Toksvig

This book is funny, honest and down-right necessary. Girls aren’t the best at everything... HOWEVER, neither are men... which is sometimes forgotten. Women are rarely remembered for the great things they have contributed to societies, this is why a book like this is so useful. Let’s not forget those wonderful women who were the best at what they did and what they do and who shoudln’t be overshadowed by their male counterparts.

I’ve picked out of a few of my favourite bits from the book, enjoy!

1.     The Triplewart Seadevil is great. Well, if you’re a girl. It’s a kind of fish. At least the females look like a fish. The boys are so small they don’t look like anything mych. They don’t even have a digestive system. The only way for a boy Triplewart to survive is by finding a girl and clinging onto her for the rest of his life. It’s a bit like a boyfriend who keep saying’ ‘I’ll die if you leave me’ – exepct in this case, of course, it’s true.

2.     Women fighters in history: Amazons, female bodyguards of the kings of Persia, the kings of Kandy in Sri Lanka (and Gadaffi).

3.     The Mercury 13: in 1958 the Americans first began to research putting a man into space. Not just a man actually. 24 women pilots were tested and 13 were chosen to become astronauts in the Mercury space programme. Suddenly, in 1961, NASA cancelled the women’s space programme. When asked why, they said it was because the women had never gone through the jet-aircraft system. And they weren’t allowed to until 1973...

4.    Women inventors: Ada Augusta Lovelace – the groundwork for developing the computer, Phyllis Pearsall – the A-Z maps, Stephanie Kwolek – Kevlar, used in bullet-proof vests and car tyres, Gertrude B. Elion – the first treatment for leukaemia, drugs for gout, malaria, meningitis and bacterial infections.

5.     Great women writers: Jane Austen, Virginia Woolf, Li Qingzhao, Sappho, Al-Khansa, Huo Xuan Huong, Mary Shelley

6.     Matriarchy in the animal kingdom: elephants, ants, snakes, killer whales, lions, spotted hyenas

7.     ‘Funny’ fact: The Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews is one of the world’s oldest golf clubs. Women are not allowed to be member s. Prince Andrew is the captain of the R&A. He got the job because he is the second son of the Queen of England, yet he is the captain of a club that she is not allowed to join.

8.     Women in 21^st century business: Dame Clara Furse is the Chief Exectuive of the London Stock Exchangee. Indra Nooyi is the chairman and CEO of PepsiCo. Margaret Whiteman is Chief Executive and President of eBay.

S