On behalf of my country, I apologise!

[Scooter]

I don't know, I'm sure they have enjoyed a pagan Easter ham now and then.

[Gob]

Wales is a county? Or a country?

Hon. Thomas M. Rees of California Speaking in the House of Representatives on Wednesday February 17th 1971

Mr. Speaker, the birth of Saint David, the Welsh Patron Saint will be celebrated on March 1st by Welsh-Americans throughout America….Nothing like the Saint Patrick gatherings, though St Patrick grew up in Wales and spoke Welsh, not Latin.

Very little has been written about what the Welsh have contributed in all walks of life in the shaping of American history.

Twenty percent of the Pilgrim Fathers were Welsh, as was the captain of the Mayflower.

How many know that almost fifty percent of the signers of the declaration of Independence were Welsh or of Welsh descent, ---as were nine presidents of the United States---and that many of the Universities and colleges such as Yale, Princeton, Brown, William and Mary, Virginia, Johns Hopkins and Maryland were founded by Welshmen.

The man who funded the war of independence was Robert Morris, Pennsylvania was founded by William Penn and Rhode Island by Roger Williams. All were Welsh. It is strange indeed that such a small country as Wales, so many are hardly aware of it’s existence, has contributed so much more in proportion to it’s size than any other nation, and stranger still, so little has been written of it. Oh, Yes, the next time you are in the capitol and feel like climbing the Washington monument stairway, about halfway up there is a stone inscribed;

FY IAITH, FY NGWLAD, FY NGEDEDL, CYMRU AM BYTH

My language, My Country, My people, Wales for ever.

Thomas Jefferson would have placed it where more people could see it for he was very proud of his Welsh origin.

It would take many pages to name the great Welsh-Americans since the founding fathers who have helped build America----In Government, Industry, Labor, Finance, Law, Architecture, Music, Religion, Literature.

Yes, the Welsh in America can be very proud of their heritage. And it is hoped that as each St. David’s day comes around more people will remember how much good has come from so small a country, where the greatest honor each year is to be crowned “Poet of the year.”

[Lord Jim]

Well Strop, if your attempt to educate rube about something actually succeeds, I have a far less challenging task for you....

I have a chihuahua I'd like you to teach to recite Hamlet's Soliloquy ...

Should be a snap by comparison....

And then if you've still got a little time to kill, perhaps you could clean out the Aegean Stables.....

[Gob]

High in the North in a land called Svithjod there is a mountain.
It is a hundred miles long and a hundred miles high
and once every thousand years a little bird comes to this mountain to sharpen its beak.
When the mountain has thus been worn away, only then will retard have acquired another IQ point.

[Sean]

I think I've got it!

The Welsh language Strop... It's all anagrams isn't it?

[Gob]

[Scooter]

Wait, don't tell me - it's the contestants in the Miss Wales beauty pageant, performing an ensemble number in which they fart to the accompaniment of bagpipes.

[Gob]

Harps mate, harps. Bagpipes are used in the Scottish pageant!

[Gob]

Damn, she's milking her Welshness for all it's worth.

A major festival celebrating Welsh culture in the United States says Ann Romney is having an impact on people's perception of Wales.

Mrs Romney, the wife of Republican presidential candidate Mitt, is the granddaughter of a Welsh coal miner.

She spoke of her Welsh roots at the US Republican National Convention in Florida last week.

The North American Festival of Wales says she is dispelling the myth that Wales and England are the same country.

The festival is one of the largest of its type in the US and attracted 750 people over the weekend, 250 more than last year.

It has been an annual event for more than 80 years, and this year was staged in Scranton, Pennsylvania, said to be a Welsh heartland in the US.

Wales has been under the spotlight in the United States after Mrs Romney spoke of her south Wales roots at the US Republican National Convention.

Dr Megan Williams, the festival's executive secretary, whose ancestors come from New Tredegar in the Rhymney Valley, said: "She (Mrs Romney) has defintely had an impact.

"She's certainly raising the profile of Wales, and that of Welsh cakes although people over here mistakenly call them Welsh cookies," joked Dr Williams. [sacrilege!]

"Everybody here (at the festival) has the same general feeling that Wales is being given a boost."

Dr Williams, whose husband is from Criccieth, Gwynedd, added: "People here are starting to realise that Wales and England are not one country and are separate. [Dear god!]

"Ann Romney's comments have gone some way to dispell that."

At the Republican National Convention, Mrs Romney described how her miner grandfather in Nantyffyllon was determined to prevent his family going down the pit, and saw "hope and opportunity" in the US.

She spoke as her husband was officially selected as the Republican nominee for this year's US presidential election.

Mrs Romney has also handed out Welsh cakes based on her grandmother's recipe.

She spent a day at Llangynwyd, near Maesteg, earlier last month for a visit filmed for American TV.

Visitors the The North American Festival of Wales could have been forgiven for thinking they were in the old country, such was the strong representation from Wales.

A Pontypridd choir, Côr Godre'r Garth, joined Welsh singers Dafydd Iwan and Iris Williams in the line-up, while visitors could take Welsh language lessons and an Eisteddfod and seminars on Welsh history have been held.

There has also been a screening of the 2011 film Hunky Dory, which was set in Swansea during the summer of 1976. It tells the story of a school staging a rock 'n' roll version of Shakespeare's The Tempest.

The festival started last Friday in Scranton and ends on Monday.

With a population of around 78,000, Scranton is an area with a strong Welsh history and has one of the highest concentrations of people of Welsh heritage, says David Parry of the festival.

The festival started as the North American Gymanfa Ganu (a hymn singing festival) in 1929.

Mr Parry said the first few were held at Niagara Falls until 1933 when the tradition of hosting the event in a different city every year began.


He said: "From 1890 to around 1910 thousands of Welsh emigrated to the (Scranton) area to work in the coal mines and related industries.

"The town boasts one of the largest Welsh cemeteries outside of Wales. [now that's something to brag about!]
"The festival changes city every year, usually targeting areas with active or historic Welsh populations.

"Areas like Scranton, and other cities in Pennsylvannia, Ohio, Wisconsin etc, are historically Welsh but have little recent Welsh immigration, whereas cities such as Chicago, New York tend to have a mixture of both."

He added that the Welsh language was spoken among some of Welsh origin in the US and Canada, and the desire to learn was very much still alive.

"It is surprising how many of them speak Welsh at a reasonable level," Mr Parry said.

It is not the only Welsh festival being staged in the United States this weekend.

The Venedocia Ohio Welsh Festival has been running since about 1915.

Others include the Malad Valley Welsh Festival in Idaho, which is held annually in the summer.

AmeriCymru, in Portland, Oregon, holds the annual West Coast Eisteddfod, which features Welsh bands, authors and other events.

[The Hen]

Welsh Cakes are not cookies.

Never.

No way.

No how.

[Scooter]

From 1890 to around 1910 thousands of Welsh emigrated to the (Scranton) area to work in the coal mines and related industries.

The town boasts one of the largest Welsh cemeteries outside of Wales.

So instead of dying in the coal pits of Wales, they died in the coal pits of Pennsylvania?

[Gob]

Anything for a (brief) change of scenery!

[The Hen]

it doesn't take much to keep a Welsh miner happy.

Just some dark pit to die in. (Or should that read "to Dai in"?)

[Gob]

[Gob]

Few would-be First Ladies have baked their way through a campaign trail quite as prolifically as Ann Romney did in 2012. The sweet treat of choice? The humble Welsh cake. A staple of tea times in Wales, where her father comes from, Mrs Romney baked the small, raisin studded cakes wherever the campaign took her, and kept true to the recipe her grandmother taught her as a girl. Recipe requests for Welsh cakes spiked in the US while those lucky enough to sample Mrs Romney's delicacies were effusive in their praise. One self-professed "Welsh cake purist" wasn't so impressed, however, "Ann Romney's cakes are no good. No good at all," Welsh journalist Alex Rees told reporters in August.

This is the recipe I use.

2 large eggs, lightly whisked

60ml (1/4 cup) cold water

500g (3 1/3 cups) self-raising flour

1/2 tsp mixed spice

Pinch of salt

250g chilled butter, chopped

270g (1 1/4 cups) caster sugar

90g (1/2 cup) sultanas

Self-raising flour, extra, to dust

Caster sugar, extra, to serve

Whisk together egg and water in a bowl.

Combine flour, mixed spice and salt in a large bowl.

Use your fingertips to rub butter into the flour mixture until it resembles fine breadcrumbs.

Stir in sugar and sultanas.

Add egg mixture and use a round-bladed knife in a cutting motion to mix until evenly incorporated and mixture begins to hold together.

Turn dough onto a lightly floured surface and gently knead until smooth.

Roll out the dough on a lightly floured work surface to the thickness of your little finger. Cut out rounds using a 6cm cutter, re-rolling any trimmings.

Grease a flat griddle pan with butter, and place over a medium heat.

Cook the Welsh cakes in batches, for about 3 mins each side, until golden brown, crisp and cooked through.

Delicious served warm with butter and jam, or simply sprinkled with caster sugar.

Cakes will stay fresh in a tin for 1 week.

[dales]

WTH is caster sugar?

[Joe Guy]

If I recall correctly, caster sugar is the British food term for very fine granulated sugar. Because caster sugar crystals are so fine, they dissolve very quickly, so are useful in meringues, custards, and mousses, and for sweetening cold drinks or cocktails. Caster sugar is also used in baking.

[Scooter]

In North America it would be sold as superfine or bar sugar. But you can make it yourself by whizzing granulated sugar in a food processor until powdery.

[dales]

Thanks, guys.

[MajGenl.Meade]

In North America it would be sold as superfine or bar sugar. But you can make it yourself by whizzing granulated sugar in a food processor until powdery.

Not quite to powdery. That would be icing sugar. Caster sugar is definitely granulated and most definitely not powdery