A Few Things you probably don't know about me!

1) When I was a kid my mate broke his arm and had a cast and a few days off school, I decided that I was jealous and tried breaking mine by diving off my bike and beating my right arm against a post in the Spinney! I had a nasty bruise and no cast!

2) I lived in London for a while playing in various bands, I once played with a Drummer called Chuck Nowles from NY city, he was in a band with Dave Stewarts wife! One night after recording we went over to this house! He let himself in and I noticed the carpet glowed when you walked on it! Dave Stewart was there and barked at us to take our shoes off! He's still a twat and a Mackum!

3) I got held up in the states by a drug addict who demanded I gave him what I just took out of the ATM machine! He pulled a pathetic little knife out! I just saw red got all Geordie on him and he ran off, any way my mates were watching from inside the resturant we were at and had no idea what the hell I was doing! They thought I was attacking him!

4) When I was in the TA we were doing an exercise in Wales and one of the lads went missing! He had crawled under a tank and fell asleep! it rained over night and sank on top of him! Weird!

5) I once saw Billy Joel in NY city and I was behind him inside a Newsagent! he was about 3 foot tall and had a french poodle under his arm and held the line up for 20 minutes while he bragged about his upcoming album to the indian bloke, of course I made loads of loud grunts to get his attension and when he turned around he gave me the eye! What a wanker!

6) I grew up in the North East and I am allergic to sea food!

7) My brother Darren once smashed a sogging loaf of bread across my neck! or was that Kenny?

8) I used to throw up every time I sat through a pepparoni advertisment from the 80's.

There are many more unknown facts about me but who really gives a toss.

Book The Cook

Congratulations to my Brother David on getting through to the Semi hard ons at Master Chef!

I am super proud of you mate and I wish I could be there watching it on the box with you and snarfing some red plonk on the couch!

Morrisey put it best!!!

We hate it when our friends become successful,And if they're northernThat makes it even worse andIf we can destroy themYou bet your life we will destroy them.If we can hurt them, well,We may well.It's really laughable,Ah hahahaha etc.You see, it should have been me.It could have been me.

Best of luck mate and F the Critics and all those Cheese and Onion sandwhich making TW@!s

Teas that prevent!

I have been pondering the New Year and relised that health is the one thing in life we still have control over! What I mean is, it is in fact up to you to take care of yourself! some things in life we can't change but being or trying to be healthy is the one thing we can!

I relised that I have been troubled with health for some years now! I smoked and drank most of my adult life and now I am changing that for good! I work out 5 times a week now with a least one hour of Cardio! I have changed my diet and quit the smokes and very rarely drink!

I have found that there are certain teas that can not only help you with weight loss but also prevent illness and subdue and or cure certain forms of illness brought on by the above toxin rich products!

Oolong tea:

There are 3 main distinct types of tea which can be generally categorized as follows:

a) Green Tea: is treated or boiled following picking to prevent the leaves from oxidizing and retaining their natural colour.

b) Black Tea: is left to oxidize following picking, that’s how it gets their distinctive colour.

c) Oolong Tea: the raw leaves are sun-wilted and then bruised, which exposes their juices to the air, so the leaves oxidise and start to turn brown like a cut fruit. They are allowed to oxidise only partially, giving them a rich, floral flavour. The tea is then dried fully; locking in the rich flavors that oolong tea is known to offer. Oolong’s unique drying process creates a tea that has many metabolic stimulating attributes

Oolongs range from bright green and slightly fermented to dark-leafed and hearty. The greener varieties are less fermented. Oolong tea therefore comes in a wide range of tastes and aromas from teas very close in taste to green tea to those very close to black tea.
Health Benefits

Oolong tea burns over 157% more fat than Green Tea – and therefore becoming the most popular teas designed to accelerate weigh loss.
Drinking two cups of Oolong tea every day not only helps shed stubborn pounds by boosting your metabolism, but also blocks the fattening effects of carbohydrates.
Wulong tea promotes beauty and health - Oolong tea contains a large quantity of polyphenol which:

• promotes strong, healthy teeth; • improves cognitive functioning and mental well-being; • preventing eczema, allergies;• clarifies your skin, giving it a healthy, radiant glow and • strengthens your immune system.

Kombucha is a pleasant tasting, powerfully effective health drink / food supplement which you can make at home for next to nothing.

The taste can vary depending on how you make it but the basic recipe, which most people use, will produce a slightly sparkling drink that tastes like an apple cider or dry white wine. Though there is alcohol in it, it is normally so low that commercial producers can sell Kombucha as "non-alcoholic". You can expect less than 1% by volume alcohol content. Sugar is used as part of the recipe but it is not used as a sweetener.

The sugar is broken down and converted into different components of the finished drink. It has been drunk for many generations. In fact, it has been around so long that we are unable to tell where it was originally discovered or when. Kombucha is a fermented drink made from sweet tea and a Kombucha mushroom or Kombucha culture as it should more properly be called. The culture is live and is a co-dependant blend of healthy bacteria, yeasts and other micro-organisms.

Though, it may appear complicated at first, Kombucha is actually very easy to make. This website contains all the information you need to start making Kombucha in your own home and answers many of the questions that you may have. We should clear up the confusion and difference between Kombucha Tea and the Kombucha Culture before going much further. Kombucha tea Kombucha, or Kombucha tea is the actual health drink, which we make from sweet tea and a Kombucha culture. It is known by a number of different names around the world including - Cainii Kvass, Kombuchakvass, Tea wine and Teekvass.

Kombucha culture The Kombucha culture is the live substance which is put into the sweet tea to ferment and convert it into Kombucha tea. The culture is probably best known as a Kombucha mushroom, though this is an incorrect definition.

The Kombucha culture has been known as a mushroom, a lichen and many other things but the best and most accurate definition we have today is a "symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast".This is just a scientific term for a co-dependant live mix of bacteria and yeast. That definition sounds a little complicated, though it is where we get the more friendly term "SCOBY" from.The culture has been given many names, Günther W. Frank, in his book - "Kombucha, Health beverage and natural remedy from the Far East" lists 70 different names for the culture including - Combucha, Brinum-Ssene (Latin for miracle fungus), Champignon miracle and tea fungus.

Are there any foods that burn body fat? If yes, how is it possible? It should be possible to lose weight by simply eating such foods. What are these foods?

The fat burning foods are foods that burn more calories than the calorie content of the foods itself. There are certain foods which actually burn more fat than the calorie content of the food itself. These fat burning foods or so called negative calorie foods are natural plant foods.
Fruits rich in vitamin C like limes, lemons, oranges, grapefruit and tangerines have fat burning properties. Some of the other fat burning foods are asparagus, beet root, broccoli, cabbage, carrot, apple, blueberries, and watermelon. It you eat these fat burning foods and do some exercise, it will boost your metabolism and burn calories at a faster rate for several hours even after exercise.

A recent research reports that calcium in dairy products can boost weight loss by increasing fat breakdown in fat cells. If you compare a dairy-rich versus a dairy-poor diet you can nearly double the rate of weight and fat loss with the same level of calorie restriction.
Not eating enough will slow your metabolism and deteriorating your health. Note that in order to lose weight you have to burn more calories than you consume. This can be done by eating negative calorie foods. This will help your body burning up the excessive stored fat.

Hopefully we can all live better longer healthier lives! Love to my brothers David and Darren, and please visit my brother Darrens site and read about his struggle with hodgkins desease!

He has always been healthy and good to himself but even he was effected by something that can effect your life entirely! We have him in our thoughts every minute of each day and we pray for a speedy recovery! Hurry up and beat this Daz so we can get a curry and pint!

Homeward bound!

So Sarah and I decided to come over for a few days and visit Scotland as Sarah has never been there! Of course it would be lovely to see everyone but my main focus is meeting my niece Cery's for the first time and seeing Darren!

I will be up in NewYork City the day before i leave so you might get something from the the Apple as a gift!

We will be seeing the Lakes, Edinburgh, Inverness, Newcastle and maybe wallsend (The last one is a Joke)

Drop me a line and let me know if you are up for a visit!

Love

Andy.

Wor Daz!

Life! Life, Life! it continues to blow my mind on every level! Just a note to say that I am thinking of Darren every minute of the day now!

I love you and I am always here for you even though I am 3ooo miles away it's only 7 hours on the jet!

Hope to here an updaye soon mate!

Love always!