If you make Poncha with Cachassá you will see the taste is not the same.

i use Cachassá but only for Caipirinhas Der, Poncha really needs to be aguadente, the best one that i use is in a clear glass bottle and called BRANCA, it has a white lable with green circle with the words written in white, dont buy the one with the black circle as its not as nice, its about 8.50 for a litre.

Thanks

Note: It appears that Influenza A and N1H1 are being used interchangeably

19 schools have 2 or more students with influenza A
74 new cases registered in the last week

Between 16 and 22 November, the IASAÚDE recorded 74 new cases of influenza A in Madeira. By November 16, 2009 85 cases were registered. Last week there were 74 new cases so that currently, the region is experiencing a total of 159 cases.

According to the review done by IASAÚDE yesterday, last week 33 women and 41 men reported a positive H1N1 total of 191 suspected cases that were analyzed.

The average age of confirmed cases stands at 17 years (14 years old more often).

The flu was detected in a baby a month old and a man of 55 years.

With regard to influenza A in a school, 19 schools have registered more than two cases per school.

Taken from report in D. Noticias by Emanuel Silva

Poncha without honey … hmm … won’t that diminish the medicinal properties (and the excuse for drinking it regularly in excessive quantities).

BTW, and following a chat we had here a while ago about the price of Aguadente, Hiper Sã sell their own label brand of this liquid platinum, called Cachassá, at €5.57 for a 70cl bottle. I was suspicious at first, but it does say ‘Rum da Madeira’, it is colourless, and says on the bottle suitable for fruit cocktails and Caipirinhas (another fine drink mixed locally, but of Brazilian origin, and time a bit consuming to make). I brought a bottle but haven’t mixed a brew yet, but that is far cheaper than the other brands on sale.

Re Weather and satellite images, I find these two pretty good, especially the first one – the words maybe a little difficult to understand but the images are great!

As you quite rightly say, it can be difficult to be 100% certain about the forecast (Mid/SE Atlantic) with no nearby land mass directly affecting us = apart from Africa, rarely, So the best thing is D.I.Y….. this first site is superb:

http://www.dmi.dk/dmi/index/danmark/satellit/msg_europa_animation.htm

And this as a poor second….

http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/satpics/latest_IR.html

That’ll be the U.K. then ….. with data relayed from Hong Kong…..

I was asked today which site i use to keep an eye on the weather, well i use :-

http://www.wunderground.com/cgi-bin/findweather/getForecast?query=funchal

As you can see its forecasting a wet end to the week, but its always changing , so its best to check it daily. What other sites do other people use, and is there a good site that shows satellite images of cloud and wind direction, i keep a check on Google Earth for this with the cloud layer turned on , but im not sure how many hours behind it may be.

On another note , Tangerine Poncha, Tangerines are in season now , but quite expensive at the moment, i managed to get some yesterday for 2.00 euros a kilo as the fruit shop had put a fresh lot out and packed the old ones with a cheaper price, so i thought great they will do for poncha.
They are very small and alot of the real flavour is in the skin , so i found the best way to get the juice is to wash them well, cut them in half and place them in a jug , then smash the life out of them with the end of a rolling pin or a proper poncha stick, then place a sieve over a bowl to drain the juice and press the tangerine more with the bottom of a glass to squeeze out ever last drop.
Your then ready to make your poncha, you will not need honey just a little sugar to taste if its not sweet enough for you.
Also the juice can be frozen in plastic bottles to enjoy this wonderful poncha throughout the year..

In today’s Diario, it says the ‘Greens’ are starting petitions for kennels for abandoned animals in Funchal and Santa Cruz . A comment in the paper was, “How do you sign?” Does anyone know?

Don’t miss tomorrow’s blog, as it will lead you to a real treat … a clue … it’s brand new, yet it’s exactly 100 years old.

It’s a start Elaine …… as you rightly say, every little helps!
THANKS for all your and Der’s hard work, appreciated.