Crazy & Co.

Author: Ems15

Catering, General

New Dutch Line To Our Catering

19 March 2019

We have just launched a new Dutch line to our catering carts. Poffertjes or baby pancakes. Poffertjes are a traditional Dutch batter treat, probably one of the most unique Dutch Sweet treat, they are small in size and we cook them on a special machine griddle that keeps them golden and fluffy.

Poffertjes Griddle
Poffertjes griddle or also known as a Poffertjes Plaat

They are made with yeast and buckwheat flour batter and have a light, spongy texture of batter resemble baby pancakes, as a sweet treat they are typically served with powdered sugar, melted butter, and eaten with a toothpick that has a Dutch flag on. We carry on the tradition and cook them on traditional poffertjes plaats then serve them in the traditional manner. Coated in butter with a selection of sauces and toppings. Or for a luxury treat you can even have them with strawberries and cream

Although Poffertjes are traditionally seen as a festive treat in the Netherlands and found at the Christmas markets or winter festivals we offer this service all year round! They’re perfect if you want novel delicious treat for your guests or customers. Our machines cook numerous poffertjes at the same time, and we serve 5 or 6 on a tray, which means we can deal with large queues.

Potential New Dutch Line

Due to the popularity of this new Dutch line to our catering carts we are now looking into other possibilities to serve at events.

Pepernoten

These are small gingerbread style cookies, and traditionally are only available around autumn time in the lead up to the traditional Sinterklaas celebrations at the beginning of December. Pepernoten’s are roughly the size of a bottle cap and they come in several different flavors, the most popular being the Kruidnoot which comes served with dark or white chocolate.

Stoofperen

Stoofperen’s are pears soaked in a mix of red wine, sugars and spices. They can be served either cold or warm with a scoop of ice cream. They can traditionally be served as a side dish accompanying meat or as a desert.

Pannenkoeken

These are very popular in other countries across the globe rather than just remotely enjoyed in the Netherlands. They are thinner than the American style pancakes, but thicker than a crepe. The Dutch like to eat these throughout the day rather than traditionally for breakfast

Pannenkoek’s have a concept of pizza served with toppings such as slices of bacon, cheese and apples or raisins. They also traditionally have sugar syrup or powdered sugar on top.

Hire Dutch Poffertjes For Your Events

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Fun Story, funfair events

Abandoned Wild West Theme Park

15 March 2019

Japan a well-known country for its sea food cuisine and cherry blossom trees, a far cry from the abandoned wild west theme park that can be found in the city  Nikko, which is found around 70 miles north of Tokyo, the capital of Japan.

The multi-million pound theme park Western Village that opened in 1970 has been abandoned since 2007. The developers added a new section in 1995 which cost around £20 million featuring a replica of Mount Rushmore. At the end of 2006 they announced they would be closed for maintenance for a few months however it then never opened again

Japan and Wild West…commonly words used together?

 Although Japan and Wild West are not words normally used in the same sentence it was a popular place for film sets to take place. It has been said that the abandoned wild west theme park now looks more like a weird horror film set with broken and lifeless robots than a Wild West theme park there are still half empty beer bottles and dust covered shelves still untouched after over a decade of being abandoned.

The abandoned park is home to several buildings now derelict that include a sheriff’s office, a barbers, a saloon, hotel, a bank and many more. There was also a photo booth where you could dress up in cowboy fancy dress and have photos taken with a cowboy background making it look like you really was in the wild wild west.

Germany Also Home To Wild West Theme Park

Wild West theme parks are very scarce however there is one in Germany called Frontier Town that’s still going strong and providing to be very favourable. It has been going for 50 years or so now and offers a cabin hotel on side. The towns located just outside of Berlin and you can go horse riding on site as well as watching cowboy shooting shows.

It is a shame that the amusement park has been abandoned as a huge amount of money was poured into it and large scale replicas was made and every detail was fine checked to fit the style. I feel like after being abandoned for so long I feel like it would take a large investment to rebuild this or try and salvage any of it. I also feel like japan and a wild west mash may have led to the down fall I mean when you think of either you don’t think of the other as well do you it’s like black and white, chalk and cheese, night and day. Wild West and japan are total polar vortex differences.

Lad Bible Article

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Event Planning, funfair events

Carousel With A Twist

12 March 2019

The longstanding and traditional carousel has been given many different face lifts since the first one was built by the Danish carver, Charles I.D Looff in 1876, but all follow a typical form of a revolving platform and wooden seats often carved in the shape of decorated carved horses. This is a standard American and Europe design however this is not the case in China. There has been news reports of how a shopping center has created a Carousel with a twist.

A carousel in China has been filmed, going round with real horses rather than the standard wooden ones and has come under fire by many organisation who have viewed this. The bizarre twist of the traditional fairground ride was found in the Shunagliu Wanda Plaza shopping center in the city of Chengdu and features four live horses harnessed to metal frames around the center pole of the carousel and made to walk around on the motor driven platform. Consumers are charged £5.60 for a four-minute ride.

The ride is advertised as “Different from traditional wooden horses, you can really experience the fun on horseback and let your child indulge. Let you and your child be brave.”

Live horse carousel China

Backlash

The ride has reportedly received criticism from a number of animal cruelty organisations who have said that it is unethical to use the horses for this. However according to the Equestrian Club who owns and operates the ride they have trainers onsite at all time and the horses only ride for four hours which gives them plenty of exercise. The horses are harnessed correctly to ensure peoples safety and ensure the horses don’t run wild.

The carousel has received mixed reviews with some shoppers saying that its worth its money and the experience of riding actual horses makes the fairground ride come alive. Some however have reacted in horror stating that you shouldn’t normalise animal abuse and justify it to make money out of mistreating animals and that if you want to experience riding a horse then you can go to a professional riding stable where the animals are treated freely.

This is similar to the uses of horses back in the day when they were used to pull horses and carts and in the agricultural field. Horses are a lot stronger than we imagine and can be trained to carry out a heavy workload, so maybe allowing them to be rode for four hours a day isn’t too strenuous on the horse, as long as they are being cared for properly and given the opportunity to be free and have space to run around outside of their carousel duties. Alternatively the traditional carousel with wooden horses has always been more than popular and maybe this real makeover is not needed and due to the backlash this has received I feel that other carousel owners will not be adapting their ride to using real horses.

LadBible Article

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Fun Story, General

Morgans Wonderland In Texas

9 March 2019

‘No One In This World Can Love A Girl More Than Her Father’ a quote by Michael Ratnadeepak a quote that’s fitting to Gordon Hartman from Texas, who created Morgans Wonderland.

Mr Hartman is the creator of Morgans Wonderland, a 25 acre non-profit theme park in San Antonio, city in Texas for all ages and disabilities. He created the theme park for his daughter Megan who has the cognitive understanding of a five-year-old and a form of autism. He and his wife found that when Megan was a young child there wasn’t many places to take her where she could play easily and with other children who have the same ability. When taking Megan to a normal theme park they realised that other kids were not very welcoming to her and that could be due to not understanding the difficulties she had. Gordon and his wife Maggie looked extensively to find a place to take Morgan where she would feel welcome and found there was none which led to Gordon creating his very own theme park for his daughter.

What They Did Next

The loving father sold his homebuilding businesses and set up a foundation called ‘The Gordon Hartman Family Foundation’ and began building the world’s first ultra-accessible theme park. The family started by setting up meetings with a number of different consultants, doctors, therapists and other people with disabilities to help create the park which they dedicated to their daughter. Gordon told a news report that: “We wanted a theme park where everyone could do everything, where people with and without special needs could play.”

The park, which is in San Antonio, Texas, cost £26 million in total and opened in 2010. It is the first of its kind in the world. Home to a specially-designed carousel, Ferris wheel and adventure playground, all rides are customised to be fully accessible. As this is a not for profit organisation the entrance is free to anyone with a special need or condition and admission fees for accompanying family members, caregivers and the generic public is normal price.  

Morgans Wonderland Expands

Due to being so popular the park was expanded earlier in the year and Morgans Inspiration Island was created and opened. This was a fully accessible water park which has proved to be very popular since opening with many parents stating that their children have never been able to experience anything like this before.

The organization’s mission statement is: “To provide a safe, clean and beautiful environment free of physical and economic barriers that all individuals – regardless of age, special need or disability – can come to and enjoy,” and is often accompanied by the motto, “Where Everyone Can Play!”

Such admiration for a loving father and mother who’s created such a unique space that has  helped many people. Hopefully this will continue to grow and other countries can offer ability friendly spaces for kids of all ages and abilities to go and have fun.

Wiki Article

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Fun Story

Everybody Loves The Dodgems

6 March 2019

The Dodgems or bumper cars are easily the most popular ride on the fairground. Who doesn’t love zooming around on the track bumping into your friends steering out of the way of others…for some it’s the first time behind the wheel, but everybody loves the dodgems.

But imagine how cool it would be to own your own dodgem car and be able to nip down to the shop well for one man in Essex this became a reality, now im not sure if he had somehow managed to dodge all the other dodgem cars and the dodgem staff and was in a runaway dodgem car or if he managed to convert this to work on tarmac rather than the electric connection! Yep gotta love the dodgems.

Thank god for dash cams!

The baffled driver who was driving along the road had come to a stop junction when he witnessed this white dodgem car just sliding down the road. He was so shocked at such a sighting that he pressed the alarm button on the dash cam the manufacturer’s team respond to the panic button in record time to make sure that this has not been a serious incident! I bet everyone in the building had a good laugh this day when they saw the video footage! The manufacturer of the dash cam said

“I just thought oh my god, is that really a dodgem? I know that electronic cars are popular, but this is another level.

I can only assume that he has amended it to make it into a road legal vehicle. I have never seen anything like it before in my life”

The footage was taken around 6pm on a Wednesday afternoon and the dodgem car driver can be seen waiting patiently at the junction to carry on the drive, I wonder where he was going? Perhaps the fairground to show off how his dodgem car works off the track or perhaps he maybe thought the fairground staff would let him have a free ride has he had brought his own car? Either way this is not something you see every day especially not in such a casual setting.

Thankfully the dodgem car driver was following the rules of the British roads rather than the fairground rules and is not known to have bumped, bashed or collided with anything else haha.

But how?

It still not known how the dodgem car spotted in Harlow was powered, fairground dodgems work with an overhead electric net that connects with the bumper car pole and when the electric’s turned on the track becomes live… I know that Electric cars are on the rise but this is definitely something else!!

After a bit of research I found that other city’s also have this unique car dodging round their streets too in 2016 a Mr Evans from Glasgow converted a bumper car into a road-legal petrol car, I wonder how the insurance policy works on this particular unique model?

And a mere few weeks ago a Mr Harper from Staffordshire had bought a dodgem bumper car for £400 on ebay and then spent a further £2,500 on converting the model to run under its own power… so guys keep your eyes peeled because this latest model of car may be coming to a city near you soon, as we said at the start, everybody loves the dodgems.

Channel Your Inner Zebra
Channel Your Inner Zebra

If you would like to hire dodgems that stop on the track let us know.

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Fun Story

A Scary Story

3 March 2019

Do you like a scary story? Have you ever visited a haunted house or a ghost train at the fairground? They’re not normally the scariest thing in the world, the aim is to entertain all age groups whilst adding a few jumps and scares along the way, maybe the cobwebs will get you, or the scary dressed actor at the end will jump out at you and scream boo? Or the ghost sound effects will follow you throughout your journey, but overall it tends to be an enjoyable experience that leaves you feeling like the bravest person at the fairground because you conquered it!

Are you the kind of person that conquered the fairground scares without pooing your pants and think that you’re ready to take on something even scarier?  Maybe you’re ready to take on the haunted house that has been named the world’s scariest and I have to agree it sounds gruelling and terrifying.

The haunted McKamey Manor found in California has been compared to a real life horror movie which follows visitors between four different locations in the manor. The whole experience is filmed from entrance to exit which means family, spectators, and all round scaredy cats who don’t fancy the experience can watch the drama unfold through hidden cameras in each room. The whole experience is said to last between 4 to 8 hours however it’s seen that most people don’t last the full experience.

Speaking To The Owner

The founder is a big fan of horror movies which is where he got inspiration from to create his haunted mansion. Russ said: “Nothing is like what we do. It’s like living your own horror movie. There are four different locations, which have been streamlined for hard-core fans, determined to make it through. I consider the people who take part in these haunts as my friends because I research and spend time with them before they go on the haunt. Everything is very interactive: the experience – and challenges – are to prove what you can and can’t do.”

McKamey stated he’d invested over £383,000 into creating the experience he also doesn’t ask visitors for money to carry out the experience but just a donation to a local Dog kennel organisation.

No two visits to the Manor are ever the same but all as equally grueling, with actors, sound effects, live animals and animations used throughout the four areas. It is said to have made grown men cry. Each session holds two people at a time and each application has to be checked. It is alleged that participants can be slapped, bound and made to eat and hold disgusting things. In 2008 one person supposedly suffered a heart attack during a session. A scary story indeed.

It’s A No From Me

Im a big fan of horror films, even watching them in the dark on my own but I draw the line at this ghost house. Even though it’s all physiological and your safe throughout the entire experience I feel like id last all of 5 minutes before becoming a blubbering mess! I’ll be sticking to the ghost trains at the fair!

http://www.ladbible.com/news/news-is-this-the-worlds-scariest-haunted-house-20181009

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Catering, Fun Story

Willy Wonka Style Desert

27 February 2019

Willy Wonka is every child’s idol, his ability to make the most magical flavoured sweets, the bright colours, the fun factory, the shapes and textures and when he opened his factory to the six children as an eager child when you watched the film you could almost taste the sweets as you followed the story round the jaw dropping factory. 

The edible garden, the everlasting gobstopper, the fizzy lifting drink, the willy wonka chocolate bar, the lickable wallpaper, and the one that caught everyone’s attention the Three course meal gum. Imagine how amazing the experience would be to have a starter, main and desert all in one piece of chewing gum, a meal on the go would be so convenient. Such a good idea yet more than 40 years on and were all still waiting to be able to go into the local Asda or Morrison’s and purchase some of this gum!

Willy Wonka Style Dessert Created In Scotland

It seems that Scotland may be one step closer to this than the rest of the united kingdom after a Gelateria in Inverness created the ‘world’s first burns supper ice cream’ although this may not be the chewing gum that we all wanted it is a step in the right direction and has become a viral sensation. Scotland have officially created the first Willy Wonka style desert.

The Gelateria are claiming that this is the first time Haggis, Neeps and Tatties have been made into an ice cream which they then top this off with a whisky cream sauce. Both the boss and employees from the venue promise that this main/desert tastes amazing in their social media post entitled ‘Who wants to try the world’s first full burns supper gelato?’ proved very popular racking up hundreds of likes and more than 8,000 viewers.

Rabbie Burns Day

The willy wonka style desert ice cream was created to help celebrate Rabbie Burns Day and his 260th Birthday. Available for a limited time only they received a number of positive comments.

Personally I don’t think I’d be joining in trying this special desert as something about cold haggis is very off putting however I do feel that Willy Wonka would be proud of this creation and I do hope this is a start to some unique and special deserts being created. I don’t know about you but I would be partial to try a spaghetti bolognaise ice cream or maybe sausage egg and beans ice cream! It definitely vary’s from the original boring flavours such as the vanilla, strawberry and mint choc chip.

Burns Night Article

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Catering, Fun Story

This Years Most Popular Wedding Trend?

23 February 2019

Weddings are full of tradition, just like the rhyme ‘something old, something new, something borrowed something blue’, the ceremony, the father walking the bride to be down the isle, and of course the wedding bouquet.

In the initial celebrations after the wedding ceremony has been conducted the bride will throw her bouquet of flowers and the guests at the wedding, usually the women rush in a mass brawl to catch this bouquet. This tradition was introduced from America and it was claimed that whoever catches the bouquet will be next to be married.

However 21st century new trends are set to change this tradition. this years most popular wedding trend is said to be candyfloss bouquets.

In the modern day with technology and social media being the most popular outlet, brides are looking for the most social media friendly wedding with lots of Instagram worthy extras. Amongst the most popular trends last year were instagrammable place cards and flower arranged aisles, but no one was ready for the traditional fairground treat ‘a stick of candyfloss’ replacing the longstanding traditional bouquet.


Who started the trend?

The Unicorn Crafts owner Faheema Chaudhury started the trend with a social media post from her wedding. She decided to create the one-of-a-kind-bouquet for her wedding day as she has a love for candyfloss and just knew that it had to be part of her wedding. It now seems that brides across the globe are hung up on this crazy sugar high trend as the number of requests for ‘candyfloss bouquets’ has increased.

We have to admit that this most popular wedding trend, the candy bouquets do create a unique and fun wedding picture. Definitely Instagram worthy however there is so many impracticality to this, for example most wedding parties have small children involved? Taking candy from a baby is one thing but taking a full stick of candyfloss is a completely different story, and what about rain?

Candyfloss takes seconds to disintegrate. Even at the mere word rain or humidity never mind the walk to and from the church. Another health and safety aspect is the stick. If the bride throws the bouquet then how many potential eyes are going to be poked out with a flying wooden stick. Never mind how many outfits, or hair styles that could be destroyed when the sticky sugary mess sticks!!! Although I suppose if they were mainly used for the ‘do it for the gram’ purpose then so many possibilities can be created especially a jazzy boomerang video.

Reports are stating that its not only candyfloss taking center stage as newlyweds have also been spotted carrying pizza, donuts, feather, books and paper alternatives! Definitely a fun idea that I’ll be watching out the next wedding I go to.

Wedding Trend Article

If you hire a candy floss cart, we can provide you with a floss bouquet as well.

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Fun Story, Photo Booths

Prison or holiday home?

20 February 2019

Do we want our prisoners in a prison or holiday home.

The latest available data shows a current prison population of approximately 92,500 in the United Kingdom, in context for the population of England and Wales alone that’s 179 prisoners per 100,000 of the population. With the highest age bracket being between 30-39 with over 25 thousand prisoners, followed closely by the age bracket 25-29 and with only 645 prisoners aged 15-17 years old.

When thinking about these shocking statistics and, the number of criminals that are behind bars little thought is spared for the family at home. The partner that’s now left to look after the family on their own. The kids who don’t understand what’s happening but know that mummy or daddy isn’t around anymore? The parents who don’t know where they went wrong but now their child is wasting away in a prison cell?  

Well good news a Nottinghamshire private prison facility has introduced a photo booth into their family visitor’s rooms in early march. They are installing the photo booth so that inmates can take photos with family members. This is to help reinforce both a positive atmosphere for children who are visiting their parents in the prison. Also for the inmates to have the opportunity to bond with their family. This creates a positive rehabilitation experience.

The oxford dictionary definition:

Prison : A building in which people are legally held as a punishment for a crime or while awaiting trial

This has received much backlash from others who have expressed that by installing the photo booths into the prisons its making the legal punishment system a laughing stock. Promoting prisons as a holiday home rather than a building which legally holds people as a punishment.

I personally feel that this small movement can help to make the transition for children visiting parents slightly easier and more comfortable because let’s face it the children are innocent, it’s not their fault that they have a parent who’s broken the law yet they now have to live with this and being punished also.

Prisoners at the privately-run  HMP Lowdham Grange gave the opportunity to use the booth to capture group shots. With relatives during visits, an inspection report revealed. Ministers introduced the photo booth initiative having highlighted the importance of enabling prisons to have relationships with their loved ones when behind bars. Providing positive reinforcement helps with reintegration.

The photo booth gives a print out that both the family and inmate can keepp. Allowing them to share memories and keep each other close. Im sure you all agree that punishing the prisoner is fine. However as a society we shouldn’t be punishing their innocent children. After all they too are victims of their parents wrong doing!

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Catering, Fun Story

A hard core sugar rush

17 February 2019

Ever had the candy cigarettes as a kid? You’d stand and pretend to smoke them thinking you was cool before you’d end up giving into temptation and eating it all before drawing out your next candy cigarette and pretending to puff away again? Just like an adult, well how about a new extreme of pretending candyfloss is meth?

For one lady in Georgia it isn’t all fun and jokes with her candyfloss oh no she was in fact arrested when her candyfloss was mistaken for meth, she evidently wanted the hard core sugar rush. The 41 year old spent 3 months in prison due to not being able to afford her £780,000 bond. The candyfloss was tested positive for Methamphetamine which police have since said was due to a defective drug test.

The lady who had purchased the light blue and pink bag of candyfloss, or cotton candy in America, was wrongfully accused of meth trafficking, possession and intent to distribute meth to the public. This led to her 3 month imprisonment in which she stated she had missed out on many special family events such as the birth of her twin grandsons.

Laboratory testing

A state laboratory then tested the candyfloss to reveal that there had in fact been a mistake and the candyfloss was made purely of sugar and food coloring, the lady in question was then released however her record has not been cleared even though she was found innocent of any wrongdoing.

A 2016 an investigation found that cheap drug test kits that are often producing false positives which has resulted in many people being wrongfully jailed. Often labelled as drugs has been mints, cookies, tea and other harmless products! Sounds like it’s safer to cut out the junk food in America and stick to water and vegetables.

How is candyfloss made?

You make candy floss by putting sugar into the drum in the center of the machine. The center machine heats up to 180 degrees centigrade which then pushes the sugar through the mesh of the drum and candyfloss is webbed and formed. In order to change the color of the candyfloss you can add different coloring to the sugar. Here at the office we have thought about adding a powdered alcohol to the sugar to see if we could make alcoholic candyfloss however maybe this is a new market we could look into adding pure colorless methamphetamine powder… I know that the sugar rush and the color pigments can send a child hyper but I wouldn’t have thought a sweet treat you buy from the fairground for your kids would be mistaken for a deadly street drug talk about a hard-core sugar rush.

BBC Article

Ask about how to hire a candy floss cart without the meths addition.

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