Hello everyone!

A good cook never stops experimenting with her recipes, and that’s just what I have been doing … The Sound Kitchen will return to its original format and be one eight-minute program on one day, instead of two smaller programs on two days, as it is now. And we’ve decided to move it to Saturdays at 4:52, 6:22, and 7:52 universal time. On Sundays, at 4.22, 5.52, and 7.22 universal time, world music is back! You’ll be treated to a brand new music feature, produced by my very gifted colleague Alison Hird … which you won’t want to miss!

I’m very happy about these changes, and I trust you will be too. Starting next week, The Sound Kitchen will be on-the-air on Saturdays, at 4:52, 6:22, and 7:52 universal time.
You’ll hear the winner’s names announced and the week’s quiz question, along with all the other ingredients you have grown accustomed to: your letters and essays, “On This Day”, music requests, interviews … so tune in next week for the new - old Sound Kitchen!

I have more wonderful news! The Sound Kitchen Listeners Cookbook will finally become a reality. A month later than first announced, but the web team promises it will be ready, in the on-line version, this month, June. Next step: the printed version … and I won’t give up! In the meantime, if you sent in a recipe, try to send in a photo of your completed dish, and of course, of yourself!

This week’s question is about Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, to be exactly correct. 2012 is Queen Elizabeth’s Diamond Jubilee – Madame the Queen has been on the throne for 60 years. Which, by the way, is the second longest for a British monarch: only Queen Victoria - Elizabeth’s great-great-grandmother - reigned longer.

The Diamond Jubilee celebrations have been fit for a Queen: there was a Royal Pageant on the River Thames, boasting 1,000 boats - the Queen’s boat was decorated with over 10,000 flowers! There was a Jubilee concert and picnic, a special service at St Paul’s Cathedral, a Royal Carriage Procession, fireworks galore, and of course, the famous balcony appearance by the Royal Family. And the lighting of the beacons … a lot of beacons! How many? That is my question to you: how many beacons were lit across the world in honor of Queen Elizabeth II’s Diamond Jubilee?

Send me your answer by 9 July; the answer and the winners will be announced on the 14 July programme. Be sure you send your postal address in with your answer … and be sure and tell me if you are a Mr. or a Mrs. or a Ms. or a Miss – I don’t want to get it wrong!

Send your answers to:
english.service@rfi.fr
or
Susan Owensby
RFI – The Sound Kitchen
BP 9516
75016 Paris
France

or

By SMS … Now you can send your quiz answers to The Sound Kitchen cell phone !!!!

Dial your country’s international access code, or “ + ”, then 33 6 31 12 96 82. Don’t forget to include your mailing address in your text.

Remember, it’s not just the quiz which wins you a prize. If your essay goes on the air, you’ll find a package in the mail from the Sound Kitchen. Write in about your community heroes – the people in your community who are quietly working to make the world a better place, in whatever way they can. I am still looking for your “This I Believe” essays, too. Tell us about the principles that guide your life … what you have found to be true from your very own personal experience. Or write in with your most memorable moment, and/or your proudest achievement.

Send your mini book reviews, your musical requests, your secret “guilty” pleasure (mine’s chocolate!), your tricks for remembering things, your favourite quotations and proverbs, descriptions of the local festivals you participate in, your weirdest dream, or just your general all-around thoughts to:
thesoundkitchen@rfi.fr
Include a phone number, if you can. I’d like to call you and put you on-the-air … and send you a thank-you gift for participating.

I look forward to hearing from you soon!

All the best,

Susan