Enigin

Enigin - Customs Issues

The winds of change are being felt here at Enigin with international customs clearance agencies becoming more critical with physical checks of imported products. Whilst the increased awareness for security and illegal trafficking heightens the upshot unfortunately means delays in clearance for the customer. Sadly Enigin has no control over these activities. Over the past few months we have been striving to bring all of our systems up to date to ensure that we can ensure that we have done everything possible to smooth the clearance process for our customers. Sadly this does not always work and you can almost guarantee that when a customers order is urgent, the customs clearance agency will intervene and slow up the process.

Customs import duty and taxes are payable by the customer to the customs clearance agencies where applicable. Delays in making these payments can also cause delays in receiving your order. Enigin must point out that we have absolutely no control over how much duty is payable in your particular country for the products you may order.

To these ends, Enigin is undertaking discussions with our own customs and revenue service in an attempt to smooth the service we offer to our customers even more. Hopefully the results of these meetings will clear up any grey area’s we may have. If you do experience problems or you require assistance with issues in your particular country please contact us and we will do what we can to help, as long as it is legal.

Enigin.com When you get Fed up with Turkey?

No doubt that most of the Enigin staff will be tucking in to the traditional turkey this holiday season but at some point we will all get fed up of it.  In previous years whilst I tended to go for a smaller bird and as soon as it was cooked remove the thigh and legs , let them cool and then freeze them separately.  These would be used in the later months for curries soups or for a roast dinner.  So as a treat for my Enigin colleagues I have put together a rather easy 3 course dinner for the time when the Turkey blues set in.

Menu - Serves 4

Crusted Feta with Saffron Braised Baby Peppers

Sesame Crusted Tuna, Shiitake Mushrooms and Blood Orange Vinaigrette Winter Salad

Watermelon, Mint and Orange Blossom Salad

Ingredients

Crusted feta
4 square pieces of Dodoni feta (7cm) 1.5cm thick
100g sesame seeds
1 cup plain flour
2 eggs
1 tbsp milk
Olive oil for frying

Saffron braised baby peppers
500g mixed baby peppers (Available from most markets)
6 shallots
1 clove garlic
2g Greek saffron
50mls ouzo
50mls sherry vinegar
150mls extra virgin olive oil

Sesame Crusted Tuna, Shiitake Mushrooms and Blood Orange Vinaigrette Winter Salad

4 x 150g tuna loins
2 tbsp Dijon mustard
1 tsp honey
2 tsp soy
2 tbsp olive oil
60g sesame seeds
125ml blood orange juice
½ tsp Dijon mustard
1 tbsp red wine vinegar
Sea salt
125ml virgin olive oil & extra for sautéing
1 blood orange, zest and segments
2 shallots, finely sliced
225g shiitake mushrooms, stalked & sliced
1 head radicchio, quartered, cored & leaves separated
Small handful each fennel fronds, mint & parsley leaves

Watermelon, Mint and Orange Blossom Salad

¼ large ripe seedless watermelon
¼ bunches young mint
50gm toasted pine nuts
1 vanilla pod
100gm natural yoghurt
50gms honey
½ tsp cinnamon powder
Peel of 1 orange
50mls orange blossom water
1 cardamom pods
3 cloves
1 cinnamon quill
200gm sugar
300mls water

Method

Sesame Crusted Feta with Saffron Braised Baby Peppers

Place flour in a flat tray, and place sesame seeds in another flat tray.
Wisk the eggs and milk together in a small stainless steel bowl.
Lightly flour the feta and place in egg mix, then into the sesame seeds. Make sure that they are coated fully and have no excess egg or flour.
Pan fry in olive oil for about 3 minutes, turning until both sides are golden.

To prepare the peppers, pre heat oven to 250°C. Place the peppers in a large deep baking tray. Peel the shallots and garlic and slice finely. Add to the peppers. Sprinkle the saffron threads and olive oil evenly over the peppers.
Place in the oven for 9 minutes until the skins of the peppers start to burst
Combine the ouzo and sherry vinegar. As soon as the peppers come out of the oven, poor the ouzo and sherry vinegar over them. This will deglaze.
Serve with the crusted feta.

Sesame Crusted Tuna, Shiitake Mushrooms and Blood Orange Vinaigrette Winter Salad

Combine first quantity of mustard, honey, soy and olive oil, and brush onto tuna.

Tip sesame seeds onto a plate with a little seasoning and gently roll loins to coat evenly. Chill until ready to cook.

Meanwhile, reduce blood orange juice by half. Remove from heat. Combine reduced juice, mustard, vinegar and salt. Whisk in olive oil. Set aside.

In fry pan, sauté shallots in olive oil till slightly softened. Add shiitake mushrooms & cook for further 2 minutes. Season. Add radicchio, orange segments. Toss together briefly then arrange on plates.

Pan fry tuna loins until golden. Carve into thick slices & place on shiitake & radicchio mixture. Drizzle with blood orange dressing. Combine zest, herbs and scatter over tuna.

Watermelon, Mint and Orange Blossom Salad

Cut watermelon into desired shapes.
Combine the natural yoghurt and honey and add some cinnamon powder to taste. Refrigerate.

Bring water and sugar to the boil. Remove from heat and add, cloves, cinnamon, vanilla, cardamom and orange peal
Once chilled add orange blossom. Chill. Pick leaves from mint.

To serve, dress watermelon with syrup, pine nuts and mint and serve with a scoop of the honey yoghurt.

 Enjoy your Dinner.

The Enigin Chef

Enigin.com - CQDX, CQDX any Hams Out There?

Working for Enigin, one of my hobbies is Amateur radio.   It wont be long now and if you are an Amateur Radio or Short wave listener you will able to get involved in the Annual RNLI SOS charity Radio Event.

What is SOS Radio Week all about?

SOS Radio Week is nine days of fun, non-competitive, operating and fund raising by Radio Amateurs for the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI). It takes place at the end of January to co-incide with the RNLI’s own SOS fund raising day.

How to get involved

Getting involved is simple, regardless of whether you can operate all week, for one one day, or just a couple of hours each day - every penny raised makes a big difference to the RNLI.   As soon as it’s 00:00 (UTC) on the start of the event you start making as many contacts as you can, promoting SOS Radio Week to everyone you speak to. Remember, though, you cannot ask for donations over the air - you can, however, direct them to this web site for further information.

The last day of the event is the Sunday following the RNLI’s own SOS fund raising day.

Last year saw several special event stations on the air during the event, some from local stations.

I will be operating on all of the HF bands and doing my bit.  Why not listen out for me, my callsign is M3XTM and I will be operating a QRP (Low Power Output) station.  If you are not interested in amateur radio you can still make a donation to the RNLI, click the links above.  I am sure all those at Enigin will be supporting me.

Best 73s Terry M3XTM

Enigin.com – T’is the season to be jolly!!!!

The holiday season or Christmas time see’s an increase in electricity usage throughout the world. Here in the UK more people take time off from work and spend more time at home and because of this the home fuel bills tend to rise because the TV is on more, homes are decorated with coloured lights, Christmas tree’s and lastly because of the dark nights we tend to use our lights for longer periods. Normally, you can’t see, evaluate or compare the energy consumed by the equipment you use. There’s one monthly – or even quarterly – bill for everything, so any changes you make are based upon your best guess. At this time of year I think we all tend to say that we will worry about the bill in the new-year. To be honest I think I fall into this category as well and I work for Enigin.

I tend to do quite a lot of entertaining over the Christmas period and my ovens tend to be on most evenings in the run up to the big day. The mixer comes out as do other electrical gadgets in an effort to make the whole process of food preparation that little easier. The key issues are getting those dishes that can be prepared in advance out of the way and into the fridges or freezer. Other things we need to get done are those food items we intend to give as presents to out “Foody” friends. It’s a busy time but also very pleasurable.

Just now at Enigin, the Training Team are in the middle of yet another training course, the last before the Christmas break. It’s a hectic week for those involved and it’s during this period that we at Enigin have to be a little more flexible than normal supporting the team as and when we can.

So its almost the end of another year and we can now wonder what will 2010 bring?

So How’s about a nice “Stollen” recipe!!

STOLLEN

Makes: 12 thick slices

Ingredients

75g raisins
75g sultanas
25g mixed peel
50g glacé cherries, chopped
50g blanched almonds, chopped
Finely grated zest of 2 unwaxed lemons
10 cardamon pods, crushed and shells removed
¼ tsp ground nutmeg
1 tbsp vanilla extract
375g strong white bread flour, plus extra for dusting
1 sachet dried yeast
50g caster sugar
1 medium egg, beaten
65g unsalted butter, melted
150ml warm milk, plus 1-2 tbsp, if needed
200g white marzipan
Icing sugar, for dusting

More

Enigin.com Blogging – The Blinding Flash!

It all sounds like a great idea when it starts then suddenly you hit a brick wall.  I suppose it’s a bit like being a writer, you motor on for a while then run out of fuel or in this case words.   I do not suppose for one minute that I am one on my own with this affliction and there must be plenty of people who suffer the same lack of inspiration.  No doubt there will be a blinding flash and the words will start to come again.

So, In 2009 – Did we all do our bit for energy conservation?

Its all well and good but come on we cant spend all our lives switching the lights on and off, switching TVs and recorders to off rather than to standby and turning down the heating in the home.  The drive 5 miles less campaign is fine when you have an adequate bus service or even a train line with an active station.  Walking is perhaps not even an option.  The majority of us have to work and therefore the necessity to travel in whatever form it takes will invariably increase our carbon footprint.   When you did the shopping last time did you buy locally grown/farmed/produced food or did you just buy what you could afford.  The chances are it was the latter.  How much food do you waste by overcooking and how much waste did you put out for recycling against how many bags of genuine waste did you put out for collection and subsequent landfill.

Whilst we all have our own personal circumstances to cope with, we should all try to do something either at work or at home.   No matter how small an effort it all helps.  The Enigin solution comes from years of experience in the energy saving business.  For more information why not visit their website.

Enigin.com – A Major Family Feast Involves Teamwork

It’s the same the world over for those of us that celebrate major festivals…the family appears out of the woodwork including those that have not been seen since the ice age.   They suddenly turn up and descend on a single household who are then expected to pull out all the stops and feed and entertain the masses!    It’s a little like working at Enigin, only this happens every month when we have an open day for potential Enigin Partners and Distributors followed by a weeklong residential training course at our training centre located in the beautiful County of Cornwall for those that have recently joined the Enigin family. 

During the run up to this monthly event one of the key issues for me is that of ensuring that sufficient stocks of product are available through the Enigin Electronic Catalogue Ordering System (ECOS) so that any new requests for products or merchandise can be met.   It’s a little like getting the ingredients for a recipe together.     Just now its just gone 4pm and the Enigin Business Managers are still enthusiastically talking to interested parties in various parts of the world…  The Development team is busy as always answering questions and giving advise to Enigin Distributors and partners and overall the office is buzzing with excitement.   The Enigin soup is made up from input/ingredients from the various teams and that goes to make the Company the great team that Enigin is.

This weeks recipe is a nice little fish  starter for 4 persons:

Monkfish with Serrano and Sage Skewers (Starter)

Serves 4

Ingredients

For the Salmoriglio:

Juice of 1 1/2 Lemons

Cut 4 wedges from the remaining half lemon.

8 tbsp extra virgin Olive oil

1 tbsp dried Oregano

2 cloves Garlic, crushed

Black pepper

  More

Enigin - A recipe for success or “Fowl Play!”

Hi There and Welcome to the first entry to my Blogg.

What can you expect from me, well I’m going to try and do something totally different but keeping in mind the need to save energy.  Its one thing being responsible for the stock holding in Enigin but do you really want to hear about the mundane and routine in’s and out’s of stock control…I don’t think so.  However there will be occasions when I may have some important issues to tell you about.

To start this journey I thought that what might be quite fun would be to introduce the world to Enigin energy saving by the way of easy quick meals that can be healthy, carbon friendly and only take a short time to cook.  I can hear it now…”I can’t cook!!”….  Well I don’t believe you.

There are some important issues to reducing the carbon footprint of your food.  Firstly you must try to purchase locally produced food where possible.  There will always be ingredients that by their nature can not be produced locally.   Use seasonal items where you can and check labels for the country of origin. More