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International Animal Rights Day - 10 December

International Human Rights Day is celebrated on 10 December, but since 1997, various animal protection organisations and associations have also been celebrating International Animal Rights Day.

Events are held in many cities around the world to raise awareness and reflect on the respect that should be shown to all beings on the planet, thus giving value to Mahatma Gandhi's famous phrase when he said that a country or civilisation can be judged on the way it treats its animals.

Universal Declaration of Animal Rights

But animals not only have their international day, they also have a Universal Declaration of Animal Rights.

It was the International League for Animal Rights that proclaimed the Universal Declaration of Animal Rights on 15 October 1978. However, there is still a lot of work to be done for this declaration to be accepted on a global level.

The 14 articles that make up this Universal Declaration can be summarised in four basic rights: life, liberty, freedom from pain, and freedom from being considered property.

Yet these rights are violated every day all over the world. Animals are considered as a mere resource at the service of human beings, and this is fuelled by the consumerist concept of our society.

There are more ethical alternatives to meet human needs for food, clothing, health and hygiene and even leisure. And there is a need for a change of consciousness to ensure that animal rights are respected.

Things consumers can do for animal welfare

Although in most cases it is the production companies that practice animal abuse in their production chain, the final consumers are the ones who have the last word, because if there were no demand for certain products, the market would disappear.

Here are some things you can do for animal welfare:

• Avoid consuming eggs and meat from farms where animals are overcrowded and in poor conditions.
• Avoid wearing animal-derived fur garments.
• Avoid using cosmetics and make-up products that do not respect animal welfare.
• Do not attend shows that practise cruelty to animals.
• Fight against the abandonment of pets.
• Do not buy animals in shops but opt for adoption.

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The Witty Ant - Thought Stories

Recursos Educativos en Inglés - Stories in English - Cuentos en inglés

Children's stories - The Witty Ant

The ants were collecting food near a stream and, almost without time to react, the water level began to rise rapidly due to the thaw caused by the high temperatures that spring. While most of the insects abandoned what they were carrying and fled in a hurry, one ant carrying a straw six times its size continued its work.

Suddenly, the whole group was trapped in front of a large crevice that was impossible to jump over. But our little ant stopped and skilfully placed the straw, supported at the ends, over the chasm. In this way, all her friends were able to cross the chasm and saved their lives.

The ant was able to turn the heavy load into a bridge and was thus able to continue his journey. In the same way, many people show us every day that the problems and trials they face can become stepping stones to success in life.

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Homemade Roscón de Reyes recipe step by step 👑

Cooking recipes - Desserts - How to make Roscón de Reyes?

Ingredients

• 650 g of strong flour
• 250 ml warm milk
• 25-30 g fresh yeast
• 120 g sugar
• 120 g melted butter
• 2 eggs and 1 egg yolk
• 10 g salt
• 2 and 1/2 tablespoons orange blossom water
• Grated zest of 1 large lemon and 1 orange

To decorate:

• candied fruit to taste
• Sugar
• 1 beaten egg
• 1 orange
• Bakeable figures

How to make Roscón de Reyes

First mix a little of the 250 ml of warm milk with 2 or 3 spoonfuls of the strong flour. Add 25-30 g of crumbled fresh yeast and stir everything together. Cover and leave to rise for 15-20 minutes in a warm place to ferment.

Once the starter dough has fermented, add the rest of the flour to a large bowl and gradually add the rest of the ingredients: sugar, lemon and orange zest, salt, milk, 2 eggs, sugar, the starter dough we had in another container fermenting, orange blossom water and finally the melted butter or margarine. Stir until the dough is homogeneous.

Flour a smooth surface and knead for a few minutes with your hands. If necessary, add a little more flour to be able to work the dough well. Shape the dough into a ball, and once well kneaded, keep it in an airtight container or covered with one or two damp cloths for a couple of hours in a warm, draught-free place.

After a couple of hours the dough should have doubled in size. Take it out of the bowl and knead it again on a smooth, floured surface, and little by little we shape it into our roscón. With this dough we have made two roscones, one larger and one smaller, but you can make one larger one or two medium-sized ones. If we are going to make two roscones, we separate the dough and knead each one, shaping it and making the hole with our fingers. The hole will become smaller when baked, so it is advisable to make it large. We must let them rest again for about an hour well covered and in a warm place, a good trick is to turn on the oven previously at 50°C and turn it off, and put the roscones in the oven turned off so that they stay warm.

Finally, we can paint our roscones with egg, and decorate them as we like, for example with candied fruit, candied oranges, flaked almonds, icing sugar, or whatever we prefer. If we want to add a figurine, this is the moment to hide it well inside the dough.

Once we have our roscon de reyes decorated, we put them in the oven preheated to 18o°C for about 20 minutes, if we have a small roscón, it will probably be ready after 15 minutes. We take them out, let them cool a little and if we like, we can cut them in half and fill them with cream, truffle or our favourite filling.

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Italian Panettone Recipe 🤤🎄

Cooking recipes - Desserts - How to make Italian Panettone?

Ingredients :

Starter dough :

• 1/2 glass of lukewarm water
• 25 g fresh baker's yeast
• 100 g strong flour
• 50 g sugar
• 1 egg yolk

Dough :

• 400 g of strong flour
• 150 g sugar
• 200 g butter
• 200 ml of whipping cream
• 3 egg yolks
• Candied fruit
• Orange blossom water
• Disposable Panettone mould, or removable baking mould.

How to make panettone or Italian sweet bread

Preparation Panettone dough

First rising

1. Put the warm water in which you dissolve the fresh yeast in a bowl, add 100 g of strong flour, 50 g of sugar and 1 egg yolk.
2. Mix and leave to stand for a couple of hours.

Second rising

1. Put the flour, butter or soft margarine, egg yolks and cream in a large bowl.
2. Mix well.
3. Add the chopped fruit and the reserved starter dough.
4. Mix everything well, if you have a dough mixer you can do it with it.
5. Cover the dough with a clean cloth and leave to rest.

Third rising

1. We put this dough in the moulds and let the dough ferment a third time, if you want you can speed up this last step by putting the moulds in the oven at 50ºC until they rise.

Baking the panettone

1. Once they have risen, brush them with beaten egg and bake at 180ºC for about 30 minutes.
2. Leave to cool and sprinkle with icing sugar.

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Recipe for homemade marzipan 🤤🎄

Cooking recipes - Desserts - How to make Recipe for homemade marzipan?

Do you want to know how to prepare marzipan, one of the most typical Christmas sweets?... A fairly simple recipe that children can help you with.

Marzipan recipe

Ingredients

• 250 g peeled and ground raw almonds
• 120 g icing sugar
• 40 ml water
• 1 lemon

How to make homemade marzipan

1. In a saucepan, dissolve the sugar in the water over a low heat until it becomes a syrup. Remove from the heat and add the almonds, a teaspoon of lemon zest and a tablespoon of the strained lemon juice. Mix very well until a homogeneous mass is formed and leave to cool for a couple of hours.
2. With the help of a spoon, take small portions and mould with your hands to create the marzipan figures you want. The children will have a great time doing this, because it's like playing with plasticine.
3. Place them on a baking tray covered with baking paper, and glaze them with sugar water and a paintbrush to give them that special toasted colour that marzipan has on the top. Grill for a few minutes until lightly browned.
4. Let them cool again before picking them up, as they will be softer and the shapes may break.

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Oreo truffles recipe 🤤

Cooking recipes - Desserts - How to make Oreo truffles recipe?

Oreo truffles recipe

Ingredients

• 1 packet of Oreo biscuits
• 1 jar of cream cheese (Philadelphia type)
• Chocolate couverture
• White couverture chocolate

How to make Oreo truffles

1. Take the packet of Oreo biscuits and crush them in a bowl. It may help if you give them a few solid bumps before taking them out of the packet.
2. Once the biscuits are crushed, beat the cream cheese in a bowl until very creamy and mix it with the crushed biscuits.
   Form into balls and chill in the fridge until solid.
3. Melt the white chocolate in the microwave in a suitable bowl.
4. One and a half minutes should be enough. In another bowl melt the dark chocolate and butter for another minute and a half and then mix well.
5. Dip the truffles in the chocolate by rolling them around in them. You can make them out of different chocolates and decorate with the opposite using a syringe. Decorate with pieces of marzipan as in the picture. Place on a tray and put in the fridge to cool.

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