There are just so many things to consider when you’re five. Whether the dinner lady accidentally puts gravy on your lunch rendering it inedible, whether a nameless girl in year 6 will want to play Batman at breaktime or not, who you sit next to whilst painting an underwater scene. There’s a lot to consider, a lot to remember. So I almost never expect my five year old to remember anything administrative. If it’s not deemed essential information, it gets lost.
So I’m always surprised when the teachers entrust five year olds with information regarding bake sales, non uniform days, sponsored silences etc. Yet some information made it home this week, namely that there’s a bake sale and NOBODY LIKES CHERRIES. I don’t think this directive came from the teacher, more from my son, who incidentally loves a glacé cherry or 10. It’s just his friends who don’t apparently. So here’s a psychedelic rocky road without cherries or nuts, making them apparently okay to take to school. Just.
Makes a huge slab I chopped into 40 small pieces enough to send any 5 year old on a sugar high for 40 minutes or more
Ingredients:
300g chocolate, broken into pieces (I use dark, but whatever you fancy)
30mls milk
115g butter
300g broken biscuits (I used rich tea and digestives)
150g mini marshmallows
110g raisins
100g white chocolate chopped to about 1cm chunks, you could use chocolate chips instead which would be easier
For the topping:
400g dark chocolate
30mls vegetable oil
2 x 47g packs sugar stars (Mine were from Sainsburys, but any sprinkles will do)
This is so easy it’s perfect for school fair bake sales. You can whip it up the night before and leave at room temperature to set. A great recipe to have in your arsenal.
Melt the chocolate, milk and butter in a large saucepan on a very low heat. If you whack up the heat the chocolate will burn, beware! Remove from the heat and add the biscuits, broken into 2cm-ish pieces. Stir well and leave to cool for 5 minutes. The cooling part stops the chocolate melting the marshmallows so is important. In the meantime line a large tray (mine was 28cm x 32cm) with foil, as foil requires no tiresome cutting to fit the tray and reveals rocky road like a dream, without sticking or leaving paper residue.
Add the marshmallows, raisins and white chocolate to the biscuit mixture and stir well. Then tip into the foil lined tin and level carefully with a spoon. Leave to set for 20 minutes at room temperature. In the meantime melt the 400g chocolate for the topping with the vegetable oil, either in the microwave in 30 second blasts or in a bowl over a pan of boiling water, being careful not to let the bowl touch the water. Stir until molten then let set for 5 minutes in the bowl. Pour and spread carefully over the rocky road and then sprinkle with lots of psychedelic coloured stars. Leave to set at room temperature for an hour or overnight. Cut with a very sharp knife (you can dip it in boiling water for really smooth slices) then serve at a bake sale for circa 20p a slice. Ta da!
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This week, after quite some time without a bean from bloggers (or rather I have been lazy posting their diligent interview answers!) I give you the lovely Ruth from The Pink Whisk. She was runner up in The Great British Bake Off 2010 and has done so many things since including write 4 books. The latest of which I have to giveaway. Read on:
What’s your name? Ruth Clemens
Where do you come from? Poynton in Cheshire
How old are you? 35
What’s your educational background? Did you leave school at 16 or finish with a PhD? I left school after GCSEs and worked in various admin type jobs
Sum your blog up in one sentence: Baking recipes and tutorials, nice and simple!
Why did you start your blog, where did you think it would lead? I really had no idea, it was a means to make me keep on developing my own recipes rather than going back to baking entirely from books and a place to record them. I regularly lose recipes I’ve written down at least digitally they won’t get lost!
What’s your most popular blog post? How to make Macaroons (Macarons). Which completely makes me groan inside. I think they’re overrated, certainly if you have to go to the faff of making them yourself. Perhaps the struggle some people have in making them successfully means that it’s my most popular traffic post. For me baking isn’t about putting yourself through that torment!
How often do you check your blog stats, truthfully?! I should have a handle on it but I don’t! I check the stats when I’m prompted to so for providing info to various PR databases, things like that and it usually sparks a whole can you believe it debate in our house.
What’s your biggest kitchen disaster? At the moment it’s the whole blooming kitchen – we’ll come to that in one of your later questions! I have a lot of kitchen disasters, mostly smaller ones, the sort that come about through a lack of paying proper attention – burning pastry cases, taking cakes out of the oven sure that they’re cooked through and then still being raw in the middle, balancing things precariously and then inevitably them falling onto the floor, leaving the eggs out of a recipe by mistake. You name it I’ll do it just like everyone does!
What’s your advice to fledgling food bloggers? If you enjoy it then go for it, doing something you love really is the best bit and having a blog is a huge motivation in trying new recipes, products, techniques and experiences. It’s also a huge amount of fun! I would say to try and keep in mind though that it’s not always about taking a photo/tweeting/facebooking what you’re doing, it’s very easy to get caught up and you forget how to just enjoy and live the moment without social media involvement!
Is there anything you’d have done differently? I would have set stricter rules at the start for the times I would work. If you’re working from home it’s very easy to get caught up into working evenings, weekends and generally not taking any real time off. In that way I think at times I’ve not been very fair to my children and it’s something I’m still trying really hard to find a good balance.
Blogging high? Being featured in the Independents top 50 food websites – I really was (and still am) made up with that!
Blogging low? Always Internet trolls and unthoughtful people. People who come along digitally to make trouble, via email, blog comments, facebook twitter etc. 100 people can say lovely things but when 1 comes along with negative and quite frankly nasty accusations and nonsense then that’s the comment you’ll remember the longest and it’s guaranteed to ruin your day. For me it’s the hardest part of working online.
Who inspires you? I’m inspired by the strong female members of my family rather than folks you’d all have heard of. Family really is a big deal for me and I’m lucky to have successful grandparents, aunties, cousins and of course my Mum to look to for inspiration.
Do you have a day job? No, I work full time on the blog and baking projects.
What keeps you awake at night? I can at times suffer terrible insomnia. Getting my brain to turn off can be a real struggle. Having said that a lot of my most creative ideas pop into my head when I’m trying to get to sleep.
Where do you see yourself in 10 years time? I am hoping that in 10 years time I have things a little more balanced, with a really good work schedule and allocated time off! Hopefully the blog will still be going but by then I’ll have posts lined up 3 months in advance – not 3 minutes and I will be making a successful living to support my family.
What would be your 3 desert island items? I think my Kindle for reading, my family (is that allowed? I think I would miss them too much to be deserted without them) and my hair straighteners. I have naturally curly frizzy hair, that I can’t do anything with.
What advice would you give to your schoolgirl/boy self? Believe in yourself and have confidence. That was something I lost along the way and really wish I could have held on to!
What has been the inspiration behind each of your books? How do you decide what to focus on next? I think the inspiration has always come from what I would have liked in books when I was first starting out – lots of pictures and quite an informal style I suppose. The decisions on what to focus on next have come quite naturally and just seemed to be what I wanted to tackle next, then of course there’s some to’ing and fro’ing between me and the teams at the publishers until we can get an idea that works for everybody!
How long does it take to write a book? How many times do you make a recipe before it’s right? It feels like a long time, the whole process is about 16-18 months from start to finish but the intensive work of recipe development and writing is done over about 4-6 months, depending on the schedule. Sometimes I’ll hit it lucky with a recipe and it only takes 3-4 versions before I’m sure it’s what I want. Other recipes I can get up to attempt 8 and it’s still not there. That’s when I tend to shelve it for the timing being and move onto something else, generally when you come back to it, it all slips into place (hopefully!)
Where do you write and how long does it take to write each book? I write perched at the end of my dining room table! Everything needs to be moved away before teatime every day. Holly, I think your interview is making me realise what a poor show I am in the professional stakes, a falling apart kitchen in a state of self inflicted DIY disrepair and an author who doesn’t have a desk! Hmmm! I suppose this is real family life though and just the way things are, I might move the teen out of his bedroom and tell him I need an office ;)
Having learnt the hard way I write up recipes as soon as they are finalised in the kitchen so there isn’t a huge amount to do right at the end, that way you remember to include all the hints and tips you thought of throughout the recipe and your notes still make sense because they are fresh in your head.
What’s next on the book front? Do you have an ultimate recipe book you’d like to write? I’d like to do pastry next, having done cake and bread but who knows which way I’ll end up going. I’d really like to do a Best of the Blog recipe book at some point and a Christmas recipe book, I’m such a Christmas nut it’d be fab to work on Christmas all year round!
Questions from facebook folks:
How do you stay so slim with all that cake in the house? Who eats it all? It’s my greedy gannets bunch of boys! I think it must be a bit like working in a fish and chip shop, I bet very soon the last thing you want to eat is fish and chips. Baking all day is a bit like that and I really don’t fancy it when I feel like I’ve been overfaced with it. You can guarantee though that at 10 o’clock at night when I really do feel like a piece I’ll go looking and there’s nothing left – they’ve eaten it all.
Are you pleased with your kitchen renovation? It has completely ground to a halt, half done for now. It drives me insane but the budget was eaten up with couple of unexpected major problems and I’m constricted for the amount of time that I can be excluded from the kitchen with it out of action. For the time being it’s a suspended project. I can well see it featuring on DIY SOS in the future! Back to saving up a bit more and hopefully we’ll extend it through into the garage which would make a world of difference. In our house though these things never happen quickly so I’m not holding my breath for it to happen imminently!
Ruth has 5 copies of her latest book, Creative Eclairs to giveaway worth £14.99 each. There are lots of ways to enter – see the Rafflecopter form below. The first way is just to leave a comment on this post. Easy peasy. Closing date 18th April 2014. How to enter:
Complete the Rafflecopter form below to confirm your entries made via blog comments, Twitter, Facebook etc.
This giveaway will close on 18th April 2014.
Please read the rules below.
Winners are announced on the Rafflecopter form after the prize has been claimed by the winner.
If no form is showing, hit refresh and it should appear.
Complete the form – or your beloved entries will not go into the draw. And that would be such a waste of time.
Mandatory entries need to be completed first – so leave a blog comment before you try and complete any of the other methods of entry.
Want more chances to win? Come back daily after tweeting about the giveaway and fill the form in again.
If you are viewing this by email you will need to click through to enter.
Rules and things:
Open to anyone over the age of 18, worldwide. Sorry to anyone younger.
There are 5 copies of Creative Eclairs available to win, each worth £14.99. There’s no cash alternative to the prize and the prize is not transferable. No part or parts of the prize may be substituted for other benefits, items or additions.
Instructions form part of the terms and conditions. Entries using any software or automated process to make bulk entries will obviously be disqualified. The winner will be picked at random using software and then contacted by email. If you win and then don’t respond to this email within 7 days then another winner will be picked so check your emails and your spam! The goodies will be delivered to the winner as soon as possible after you have sent me your delivery address.
I am running this giveaway on behalf of FW Media who will be responsible for sending the prize to you by post should you win. Their decision is final and binding and no correspondence will be entered into.
This is where I get all stern – please don’t say you have liked the post and followed me on Twitter and Tweeted away like a Tweety thing if you haven’t as guess what? If you win I will check you did do the things you said you did. It’s only fair after all. And I do like fairness.
More, ReviewsComments Off on The Ape & Bird review
I’m a big of a fan of The Restaurant Man. Like many a greedy girl or boy I have not so secret dreams of one day opening my own eatery. With Baby Bell #3 on his/her way in June it’s looking highly unlikely. I can’t see I’ll have the time or energy by the time the last rugrat is at school to open a restaurant. Or even a cafe. In my next life maybe.
So my dreams are lived out vicariously through those brave souls who open their restaurants with the help of Russell Norman , owner of the renowned Polpo, guiding their endeavours. He’s kind, firm, unflappable, clear and frankly a good blueprint for any trainee primary school teacher. I aspire to his zen like manner.
Imagine my excitement at lunching at The Ape & Bird, his latest opening, slap bang in the middle of the tourist hell that is Shaftsbury Avenue. I feel I can say this given I worked on Great Newport Street back in 2002 – 2003. I saw it all; the tourists knocked over by buses, girls screaming at night into their boyfriends faces for losing their theatre tickets, drunk city boys stumbling from China Town with vomit streaked jackets, folks from outside the M25 clutching maps and handbags – lost and afraid. It’s not my favourite part of London but it is on the cusp of Soho, which I am very much in love with, despite the prevalence of PVC wielding shops.
My good university pal Lucy booked us in, being a too cool for skool girl who works in film (She looks after the costumes of Brad, Ange and the like. I’m not kidding, she really does. Oh the stories she can tell! Of course I can’t repeat any of it. Sorry.) She knows about new openings, hem lengths, why bird tattoos will last the test of time, what’s hot etc. Now the Ape & Bird is right next to a Pizza Hut, so as we entered into the thing of beauty that is the main A & B bar, we glanced across at tired tourists eating their pizzas and felt a little smug. We were in the know. Oh yes.
We pushed through a red velour curtain that keeps out the cold of the street and the noise of the taxis into what can only be described as bar heaven. The curtain was indeed an adult version of the wardrobe that takes children to Narnia. The bar was brushed, polished copper, the window sills stuffed with fresh herbs in scratchy terracotta pots:
The tables were pure pub heritage fodder – dark wood, quite small but just right to ram in enough covers to be able to hear what other folk were chatting about. Embarrassingly, as an out of towner these days, I found myself gawping open mouthed at the ceiling, drinking in the attention to detail. (My husband designs pubs, hotel rooms and shops for a living, I just can’t help myself.) Look at this for a ceiling light:
The service is exactly what one might expect from Norman’s girls. For they were ALL female, those beautiful, skinny waitresses. It was efficient, smiley but dare I say it, delivered with a hint of insincerity. One waitress in particular was smiling so much I swear she’ll have had face ache come Sunday. But it didn’t matter given these girls were all ruthlessly efficient; nothing goes wrong on their watch. Bottled tap water was bestowed upon the table, drinks orders taken. And then the menu:
I do love a paper menu with a date printed on it. It matters not that the house menu may be seasonal rather than daily. I just like it. It makes me think everything is cleaned thoroughly every day – the menus binned along with the defunct lemon slices. I ordered the cheeseburger at £9:
Which came in a brioche bun, all the trimmings and was just a little bit pink in the middle. I ate it daintily with a knife and fork, what with not being alone and in front of the TV. My very cool friend ordered offal, for that’s what cool people do:
Her devilled kidneys on toast were a starter and priced at just £6. Now at this point myself and my teacher pal started to frown. Her starter was the same size as our mains. Here’s teachers sausage and mash at £12:
Now this is the type of thing that has the potential to annoy me. I know that’s very childish, but there it is. I like fairness. I like volume. I think a little more mash was required personally but then I am not boycotting carbs like I did in my London days. Maybe I am just out of touch. Luckily my cool pal had insisted we order sides including truffle cheesy chips:
Next time I’m just ordering a bucket of these to sit face down in. They really were that good. I may have eaten more than my fair third share. I’m into equality, but I am pregnant too. Principles can be bent when with child. We also ordered the cauliflower cheese. This is what was left of it by the time I’d remembered my camera:
It was delicious. Not too saucy, if that makes sense. The spring greens were also just as you’d want them to be; with a little crunch, well drained and barely seasoned.
Now I do have some bad news so I want you to brace yourselves. There were a couple of issues that were just not right. The first was my bannoffeebocker glory. At £7 it sounded both reasonable and very naughty. It was large I’ll give them that, but I didn’t finish it, and I finish almost everything. It just wasn’t sweet enough. And that’s from a girl who always picks crisps over chocolate. The cream that topped the banana and toffee concoction seemed to have been mixed with yoghurt. Either that of crème fraiche. It had a definite tang that wasn’t delicious at all in a bannoffee dessert. I hunted for sweet toffee sauce and bananas to mix into the cream but there simply wasn’t enough. I was disappointed. I should have complained but was so engrossed in conversation I just left it and ordered tea.
My other issue is a simple one. The Dijon mustard had scrapings of ketchup and burger in the pot. Such a simple thing but for a girl who can’t bear toasts crumbs in the butter it meant my burger went mustard-less. A crying shame.
So, the verdict? I would absolutely return. It was bright, it was airy, it had smiling waitresses who didn’t forget your order or seem to hate you (well not openly), it had good food, the bill was reasonable for central London and it had that all important Russell Norman calm. An oasis in the madness of theatre land. Just sort your mustard pot etiquette out and employ me as a pudding consultant and it’ll be damned near perfect Norman.
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SuperFast Thermapen® thermometers are a favourite kitchen essential of many chefs and have an easy to read digital display that gives an accurate temperature reading in just three seconds. Perfect for recipes that involve sugar, such as jam, or chocolate it’s easy to read display gives a quick and accurate food temperature in just three seconds. So no more time spent watching your food spoil as you wait for a temperature reading.
If you would like to win a Thermapen (in either blue or pink – your call) worth £57.60 then read on! There are lots of ways to enter – see the Rafflecopter form below. The first way is just to leave a comment on this post. Easy peasy. Closing date 23rd May 2014. How to enter:
Complete the Rafflecopter form below to confirm your entries made via blog comments, Twitter, Facebook etc.
This giveaway will close on 23rd May 2014.
Please read the rules below.
Winners are announced on the Rafflecopter form after the prize has been claimed by the winner.
If no form is showing, hit refresh and it should appear.
Complete the form – or your beloved entries will not go into the draw. And that would be such a waste of time.
Mandatory entries need to be completed first – so leave a blog comment before you try and complete any of the other methods of entry.
Want more chances to win? Come back daily after tweeting about the giveaway and fill the form in again.
If you are viewing this by email you will need to click through to enter.
Rules and things:
Open to anyone over the age of 18, UK (inc islands) and Ireland only. Sorry to anyone further afield or younger.
There are 5 Thermapens available to win, each worth £57.60 each, in either blue or pink. There’s no cash alternative to the prize and the prize is not transferable. No part or parts of the prize may be substituted for other benefits, items or additions.
Instructions form part of the terms and conditions. Entries using any software or automated process to make bulk entries will obviously be disqualified. The winner will be picked at random using software and then contacted by email. If you win and then don’t respond to this email within 7 days then another winner will be picked so check your emails and your spam! The goodies will be delivered to the winner as soon as possible after you have sent me your delivery address.
I am running this giveaway on behalf of Thermapen who will be responsible for sending the prize to you by post should you win. Their decision is final and binding and no correspondence will be entered into.
This is where I get all stern – please don’t say you have liked the post and followed me on Twitter and Tweeted away like a Tweety thing if you haven’t as guess what? If you win I will check you did do the things you said you did. It’s only fair after all. And I do like fairness.
Another half term over, another set of scribbles on my husbands dear Habitat table to scrub off. The house is a bombsite, there are toys strewn everywhere but we had a great time. And I also had an epiphany. A parenting epiphany no less.
I tried to plan the week with a mixture of at home activities and day trips but after a rather sullen visit to the cinema where my husband and I seemed to be more engrossed in the plight of Princess Ana than our two young sons, I realised that actually all they wanted to do was be with us. In that, they wanted our full and undivided attention, not shared with a cinema screen. So simple, so obvious and yet so easy to miss in the wake of soft play centres, cinemas, bowling and all the other half term must haves.
So home we went and set about a spot of kitchen therapy. My sous chefs helped bake and decorate these cupcakes with gusto. They mashed, mixed, whisked, folded, spooned and tasted. You can guess which part was the most popular.
4 x 32g packs of Fairtrade Cadbury chocolate buttons
Line a 12 hole cake tin with cupcake cases and preheat the oven to gas 4/180C/fan 160C. Cream together the butter and sugar with a wooden spoon or with a mixer for about 4 – 6 minutes until really light and creamy looking. Add the eggs to the creamed mixture a dribble at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the milk, beat again.
Fold the mashed bananas into the mixture using a large metal spoon. Then sieve the flour and cocoa over the top and fold in again with a metal spoon. When no traces of the flour or cocoa are visible, spoon into the cases equally and bake for 20 – 25 minutes in the centre of the oven until they’re well risen, a little cracked at the surface and a toothpick comes out of the centre of each cupcake clean. Cool on a wire rack, removed from the tin.
To make the icing beat the butter with a wooden spoon or electric mixer for about 5 minutes until light and creamy, then add the icing sugar 1 tbsp at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the vanilla extract and milk, beat well for another 5 minutes to ensure the icing is really fluffy, then spoon onto the cupcakes once cooled. Use a knife to spread an even layer over the top of each cake.
Press a banana chip into the centre of each cupcake then push 12 chocolate buttons into the buttercream in a circle pattern, to look like petals. These cupcakes keep in an airtight tin, at room temperature for 4 days.
It’s half term. In fact, it’s half time of half term. Meaning either you’re staring into a large glass of wine and wondering how little babies turned into such mischievous creatures… or you’re wondering whether a move to another country where the kids start school later and allow more bonding time might be just the ticket.
Whether you’re basking in half term glory or cowering under the dining room table covered in poster paint you might be in need of a little activity to keep everyone busy. You don’t need biscuit recipes from me. You don’t need cupcake recipes from me. You can find them in this blog for sure, but really, at the moment, what you need is granola. Put the little darlings to work making something that’ll sustain you through the next two weeks of early starts and that might also bring a little smile to your face. And just for the record, I have no proof this stuff is good for you. It looks like it is though, right?
Makes a large kilner jar that holds 3 litres of liquid
Ingredients:
80g brown sugar
100g honey
65g butter
200g porridge oats
30g sesame seeds
40g linseed
60g flaxseed
150g whole almonds
70g jumbo raisins
160g chopped dried figs
Preheat the oven to 160C/gas mark 3 and spread 2 baking sheets with non stick baking paper. Melt the brown sugar, honey and butter in a saucepan until just molten. Remove from the heat and leave to cool for 5 minutes. Here’s where the angels come in; ask the kids to weigh the oats, seeds and almonds and then mix in a large bowl. Add the melted butter and sugars being careful not to splash anything hot on little people. Ask the helpers to mix well and then spread carefully over the baking sheets in one thin layer.
Bake for 15 minutes then turn the granola mixture over using a slice/spoon and bake again for another 20 minutes, checking for any burning periodically. You are looking for a golden brown colour to develop. Take the trays from the oven and press the granola down with a potato masher then return to the oven for 5 – 10 minutes until a lovely brown slab of granola has developed.
Remove and leave to cool. When cold ask clean little hands to break the granola up into bite size pieces and mix with the dried fruit. Pour into jars and enjoy with yoghurt/milk/fresh fruit or whatever you fancy.
Please note that if you can’t find any of the seeds simply substitute with another seed or more oats. Also as one reader has pointed out linseed and flaxseed are the same thing – the linseed I buy comes in seed form and the flaxseed is powdered and adds bulk. But on the seed front add whatever you fancy.
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I admit I was sent these biscuits and tea from Jules Destrooper and the Tea Experience sometime before Christmas. I have been somewhat tardy in my review, agreed. This is not because the biscuits weren’t delicious – they were so good I have since bought more. It’s quite rare I buy biscuits but the almond thins were so dainty and frankly, I am so undainty and pregnant at the moment I can’t imagine baking anything so genteel. Loved them; sons loved them, friends loved them. They have my seal of approval.
Now the tea, well the tea I have to admit that I didn’t try. I don’t like any tea other than builders or de-caf earl grey. The pretty flower that opened up when boiling water hit the pot was indeed beautiful, but not for me. I know I am in the minority. My pal who reviewed them for me said they tasted as delicious as they looked. And she’s a woman of taste.
If you would like to try the ultimate tea and biscuit experience worth £50 then read on! There are lots of ways to enter – see the Rafflecopter form below. The first way is just to leave a comment on this post. Easy peasy. Closing date 23rd May 2014. How to enter:
Complete the Rafflecopter form below to confirm your entries made via blog comments, Twitter, Facebook etc.
This giveaway will close on 23rd May 2014.
Please read the rules below.
Winners are announced on the Rafflecopter form after the prize has been claimed by the winner.
If no form is showing, hit refresh and it should appear.
Complete the form – or your beloved entries will not go into the draw. And that would be such a waste of time.
Mandatory entries need to be completed first – so leave a blog comment before you try and complete any of the other methods of entry.
Want more chances to win? Come back daily after tweeting about the giveaway and fill the form in again.
If you are viewing this by email you will need to click through to enter.
Rules and things:
Open to anyone over the age of 18, UK (inc islands) and Ireland only. Sorry to anyone further afield or younger.
There’s one tea and biscuit experience to giveaway from Jules Destrooper worth £50. There’s no cash alternative to the prize and the prize is not transferable. No part or parts of the prize may be substituted for other benefits, items or additions.
Instructions form part of the terms and conditions. Entries using any software or automated process to make bulk entries will obviously be disqualified. The winner will be picked at random using software and then contacted by email. If you win and then don’t respond to this email within 7 days then another winner will be picked so check your emails and your spam! The goodies will be delivered to the winner as soon as possible after you have sent me your delivery address.
I am running this giveaway on behalf of Jules Destrooper who will be responsible for sending the prize to you by post should you win. Their decision is final and binding and no correspondence will be entered into.
This is where I get all stern – please don’t say you have liked the post and followed me on Twitter and Tweeted away like a Tweety thing if you haven’t as guess what? If you win I will check you did do the things you said you did. It’s only fair after all. And I do like fairness.
Do you remember when lunchboxes were plastic and spillages could be easily washed off in a bowl of soapy water? Me too. The padded boxes my son takes to playschool drive me mad – all flimsy and easily sat on, covered in yoghurt. It makes me shudder. Yumbox are launching in the UK in July and have a one of their Bento box style lunchboxes to giveaway. You can even chose the colour. It’s worth £24.95. There are lots of ways to enter – see the Rafflecopter form below. The first way is just to leave a comment on this post. Easy peasy. Closing date 23rd May 2014. How to enter:
Complete the Rafflecopter form below to confirm your entries made via blog comments, Twitter, Facebook etc.
This giveaway will close on 23rd May 2014.
Please read the rules below.
Winners are announced on the Rafflecopter form after the prize has been claimed by the winner.
If no form is showing, hit refresh and it should appear.
Complete the form – or your beloved entries will not go into the draw. And that would be such a waste of time.
Mandatory entries need to be completed first – so leave a blog comment before you try and complete any of the other methods of entry.
Want more chances to win? Come back daily after tweeting about the giveaway and fill the form in again.
If you are viewing this by email you will need to click through to enter.
Rules and things:
Open to anyone over the age of 18, UK (inc islands) and Ireland only. Sorry to anyone further afield or younger.
There’s one Yumbox worth £24.95 to giveaway. There’s no cash alternative to the prize and the prize is not transferable. No part or parts of the prize may be substituted for other benefits, items or additions.
Instructions form part of the terms and conditions. Entries using any software or automated process to make bulk entries will obviously be disqualified. The winner will be picked at random using software and then contacted by email. If you win and then don’t respond to this email within 7 days then another winner will be picked so check your emails and your spam! The goodies will be delivered to the winner as soon as possible after you have sent me your delivery address.
I am running this giveaway on behalf of Yumbox who will be responsible for sending the prize to you by post should you win. Their decision is final and binding and no correspondence will be entered into.
This is where I get all stern – please don’t say you have liked the post and followed me on Twitter and Tweeted away like a Tweety thing if you haven’t as guess what? If you win I will check you did do the things you said you did. It’s only fair after all. And I do like fairness.
First up we have Chikas, a company with a range of West African-inspired small savouries. Chika’s nuts are the first part to launch from their range so they sent me their Hand Toasted Peanuts & Hand Toasted Peanuts with their skins on. They’re toasted by hand and are also lower in calories and fat but are higher in fibre and protein than other peanuts on the UK market.
So what did I think? I really liked the hand toasted peanuts once I’d gotten used to the fact they weren’t covered in grease and salt. For me peanuts are part of a heady memory of teenage years drinking cider and black in Loughborough pubs, trying to line my stomach with something, anything, to stop me looking deeply uncool and drunk. So yes, these were very different, but after the first few I’d chomped down, I’d decided I rather liked them and pretty much Hoovered the packet up in a minute or so.
The hand toasted peanuts with their skin on were different. I have to admit to first thinking they were a mistake – the papery skins can feel a little dry at first in your mouth, but once you’ve crunched the peanuts this dry sensation goes. In fact, I even ate up some of the papery skins left over in the bottom of the packet. They were a hit.
What did I like? The fact these don’t feel especially bad for you but are still a tasty treat. The packets are the perfect size for keeping in the car or handbag.
What didn’t I like? The packets are on the small size. Hopefully they’ll bring out a larger size for people like me who can’t stop at a mouthful or two.
I have a 10 tasting sets to giveaway, with two packs in each worth £3.50 altogether. There are lots of ways to enter – see the Rafflecopter form below. The first way is just to leave a comment on this post. Easy peasy. Closing date 23rd May 2014.
How to enter:
Complete the Rafflecopter form below to confirm your entries made via blog comments, Twitter, Facebook etc.
This giveaway will close on 23rd May 2014.
Please read the rules below.
Winners are announced on the Rafflecopter form after the prize has been claimed by the winner.
If no form is showing, hit refresh and it should appear.
Complete the form – or your beloved entries will not go into the draw. And that would be such a waste of time.
Mandatory entries need to be completed first – so leave a blog comment before you try and complete any of the other methods of entry.
Want more chances to win? Come back daily after tweeting about the giveaway and fill the form in again.
If you are viewing this by email you will need to click through to enter.
Rules and things:
Open to anyone over the age of 18, UK mainland only. Sorry to anyone further afield or younger.
There are 10 tasting sets worth £3.50 each to giveaway. There’s no cash alternative to the prize and the prize is not transferable. No part or parts of the prize may be substituted for other benefits, items or additions.
Instructions form part of the terms and conditions. Entries using any software or automated process to make bulk entries will obviously be disqualified. The winner will be picked at random using software and then contacted by email. If you win and then don’t respond to this email within 7 days then another winner will be picked so check your emails and your spam! The goodies will be delivered to the winner as soon as possible after you have sent me your delivery address.
I am running this giveaway on behalf of Chikas who will be responsible for sending the prize to you by post should you win. Their decision is final and binding and no correspondence will be entered into.
This is where I get all stern – please don’t say you have liked the post and followed me on Twitter and Tweeted away like a Tweety thing if you haven’t as guess what? If you win I will check you did do the things you said you did. It’s only fair after all. And I do like fairness.
I’m a mum of 3 boys, a cookbook writer and also a finalist on the 2011 Great British Bake Off.
I’ve decided to record the recipes I use, partly to save them somewhere and partly in case someone else might like to use them...
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Holly Bell 