Jarm69, Author at Crazy & Co.

National Waffle Day

25 March 2023

Hooray, today we celebrate national waffle day. Or at least if we live in the good ole US of A we do. I think they have more national food days than the rest of the world combined. Although evidently the Scandinavians also celebrate it on the same day as part of the Feast of Annunciation.

The date actually celebrates the granting of the first electric waffle patent to
Cornelius Swarthout of Troy New York. On 24th August 1869 he was granted the first patent on an electric waffle iron.

Now waffles had been around well before this date, being eaten in the 14th Century. But his invention made waffles easier and more consistent to prepare.

Eaten throughout the world, a waffle is a dough cooked between two patterned plates. The dough bakes in the waffles characteristic uniform impressed surface.

Belgian Waffles

The best known, and probably oldest waffles are the Belgian type. Tending to be round, although we have seen square and heart shaped versions. These are usually a sweet dessert type mixture, ideal with fruit and chocolate or cream. There is however a savoury mix available so they can be served with cheese and meats.

Stick or Lolly Waffles

Gaining in popularity, due in part to being easy to eat are stick or lolly waffles. The same sweet mixture as a Belgian, they are baked in a waffle iron that produces a tubular lolly shape, the mixture is poured around a stick, so once backed they are held like a lollipop. Usually we dip the waffle in molten chocolate, then into one of a range of toppings such as chopped nuts, candy sprinkles etc.

Bubble Waffles

Another new variant is the bubble waffle. Baked on an iron that produces a bubbled surface, they are then wrapped into a cone and the toppings poured into the centre of the waffle.

Whichever is your favourite waffle on national waffle day, we can provide one of our range of carts to serve freshly prepared waffles for your guests or colleagues. From a small party of 50 or so, to a major sales event numbering in the thousands, we can cover all of them.

Recipe

If you want to make your own, a basic recipe is below, you will need a preheated waffle iron.

Ingredients

2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup sugar
3 teaspoons baking powder
2 large eggs, separated
1-1/2 cups whole milk
1 cup butter, melted
Fresh fruit, cream, chocolate, your choice of toppings.

Directions

In a bowl, combine flour, sugar and baking powder. Seperately, lightly beat egg yolks. Add in the milk, butter; mix thoroughly. Add into dry ingredients just until combined. Beat egg whites; fold into batter
Add to your preheated iron and bake till golden brown
Enjoy

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Catering, Equipment, Event Planning, funfair events, Funfair Games, Funfair Rides, Major Fairs

Hamburger Dom, A Major Fair

23 March 2023

Many of the funfairs around the world have a long and storied history. Some started as feast days, other ‘hirings’ where able bodied men presented themselves for potential work.

Today’s post is the world famous Hamburg Dom, which dates from the 11th Century. The whole shebang started when the old Mariendom cathedral was used as a shelter by the local merchants and entertainers. This was a tradition which lasted centuries, until the cathedral was demolished in 1804.

The merchants remained ‘homeless’ until 1893 when a new location was found for them in the Heiligengeistfeld event space in St Pauli district.

The name Dom is the only link to the days in the old Cathedral or ‘Dom’ in German.

Originally a winter market was held on the site. In the 30’s a spring market was added to help ease local merchants through the economic crisis. Post World War 2 a summer market was introduced as well.

Nowadays Hamburg DOM is the largest fair in Northern Germany and the longest running in the country with three seperate 30 day events. Like many modern events the fair is primarily a fun fair with a huge selection of modern rides, games and food outlets, over 200 in all, definitely putting up around the top of the major European events.

The events have a tradition that Wednesday’s are family days, where special rates are on offer for kids. Every Friday night they offer hugh firework displays.

The summer DOM hosts rainbow day, to coincide with Pride week, including a separate parade through the fairground.

Hamburg Food

Like many European fairs, food is a big part. Hamburg being known for Schmalzkuchen, it’s famous fried bite sized doughnuts, also roast almonds, currywurst and sauerkraut.

Over 60 stalls serving these treats along with the usual fare of coffee, candy floss etc. Oh, and one major difference between the UK and European funfairs, is that they tend to serve beer, mulled wine and other alcoholic beverages.

Resources:

Hamburg Dom Website

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Catering, Equipment, Fun Story

New Equipment, High Power Generator

21 March 2023

Lockdown during Covid had many effects. Most of them not good. However sometimes adversity leads you down a new path. In our case a more profitable one. We had always provided what we called fun catering services. Doughnuts, candy floss etc. During lockdown we had a number of our corporate clients ask us to provide catering services more along the lines of a main meal.

This led us into providing a range of services such as gourmet burgers, Chinese noodles, jacket potatoes etc. This was a good move as it turned out. However it did rapidly create a major problem for us. Namely that of power requirements.

For doughnuts etc, the client would provide a single 13 amp socket which was more than adequate. however when we moved up to mains catering, we would have for instance a couple of chip fryers, a couple of hot plates for the burgers, a chip warmer and perhaps a water boiler.

All told we could quite easily need not far off 40 amps. So the conversation would go like this.

“We need at least four seperate 13 amp supplies”

Client, “Yep no problem”

Only on the day what would happen is would set up, ask for our power supplies and be handed a 6 way adaptor with the comment that 4 were for us, and the other two for the DJ and pizza van. So they were intending to run around 60 amps from a single 13 amp supply. Predictably we would either melt the socket, or more usually blow the fuse or circuit breaker.

10 K.V.A. Generator

We already had some 10 K.V.A. portable generators, which combined with some new LPG powered equipment we obtained, allowed us to carry out most events.

Unfortunately many venues don’t allow the use of LPG due to the purported safety risks. So eventually we decided that we would need more electrical power.

66 K.V.A. Higher Power

We investigated what was on the market, and took an in depth look at what are requirements were, and come to the conclusion that around 30 k.v.a. would be fine.

So obviously we went out and bought one with a bit over twice the power at 66. Why you may ask?

Easy, 30 would do us for the time being, but any expansion or multiple items at the same time and suddenly we would be back to struggling with power again. Additionally the larger unit was only some £800 more than the smaller version. Was physically the same size, and used the same engine, so running costs should be on par. In short the only difference was the actual electrical alternator which converts the engine motion into actual electricity.

We had a selection of single and three phase sockets added for ease of use, had our new branding applied to the unit, and added one of our new spill kits to provide insurance in the case of any fluid spills.

We also had a custom built trailer unit made from our friends at Fairtech Fabrications, this allowed us to transport the unit behind any of our range of vans.

Resources For Power Generators:

Integrated Power Solutions

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Equipment, Fun Story, funfair events, Funfair Rides

Tivoli Park Denmark

18 March 2023

One of the worlds oldest amusement parks. Tivoli dates from 15 August 1843, when Georg Carstensen first opened the park after being granted permission by the King.

Originally it consisted of exotic and enchanting gardens that amongst other visitors so impressed one Hans Christian Anderson that he was inspired to write the fairytale, the Nightingale.

1844 The Tivoli Boys Guard

Constantly on the lookout for new ideas, Carstensen introduced the Honorary guard. From small beginnings this grew to not only become a cultural icon, but also evolved into a musical education centre for children.

Carstensen sadly only ran the park for five years. Leaving in 1848 when he enlisted to fight in the war against Prussia. This led to him being fired by the Tivoli board citing breach of contract. On his return to Denmark in 1857 he founded a rival park at Alhambra in Frederiksberg in competition with Tivoli. He didn’t actually get to see this one in operation, dying from pneumonia at the age of 44.

1874 The Peacock Theatre

Erected in 1874 the current theatre is the oldest building in the park, and protected by law. A bit like our listed buildings. The theatre has the motto “Shared joy with the people”, engraved above the stage in Chinese letters.

Hans Lumbye, the composer was in charge of the music from the start of the park. A violinist and prolific composer, he put together some 800 pieces of music. Known in some places as the ‘Strauss of the North’, he composed the world famous Champagne Galop. Touring with his orchestra during the Winter months, he sadly died the same year the theatre opened.

The Restaurant WIVEL, later called Wivex became a notorious water hole for a group of infamous First World War profiteers. Later the national broadcaster used it to broadcast dinner concerts. Eventually it closed in the 1960’s.

1914 Tivoli Roller Coasters

Tivoli had a roller coaster in 1842, a seven second thrill ride.

In 1914, the new coaster was opened. Called Rutschebanen (or roller coaster in English), this is still operating today, making it one of the oldest wooden coasters in existence. Up until the installation of moderner cars, it actually had brakemen riding in each car to slow it on turns and downhill.

Sabotage

During World War Two, the park suffered two unfortunate instances of sabotage, when pro Nazi Danes snuck into the park after it closed and planted a number of fire bombs. Extensive damage was caused and the park was closed for two weeks whilst the damage was rectified.

1951 Walt Disney Visits

The first Disneyland was opened in California in 1955. Walt Disney, its founder paid a number of visits to the Tivoli park in 1951. He enjoyed the ambience of the park and was hoping to impart something similar to his own park.

Today the park has in excess of four million visitors per year. Making it the second most visited seasonal amusement park in the world, and the biggest in Scandinavia.

Resources;

Tivoli Park

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