Here’s a gorgeous video that the lovely chaps at Disney made for us. I’m not ashamed to say that I cried buckets!

It’s been an odd weekend.  First of all we watched ourselves on the telly (it’s a very weird experience, I can tell you).  We took part in a Channel 5 programme being made about Disneyland Paris’ 20th birthday celebrations when were out there a couple of weeks ago – it aired yesterday.  I actually managed to take a picture of the Death Wish Dude being interviewed – here he is in all his widescreen glory!  Anyhoo, after all that excitement, it was straight on to the birthday cake challenge.  As you might already know, it is the tradition at English Towers for the birthday boy to pick his very own choice of birthday cake.  Usually they choose something hideously difficult to make (just to annoy me), but this time, the Birthday Death Wish Dude wanted nothing more than a big fat chocolate cake.

Easy peasy.  The only difference is that I had a little experiment and tried making the ganache with coconut milk instead of double cream. It came out deliciously light and whipped beautifully.  Highly recommended.

To make the Death Wish Dude’s Ultimate Coconut Ganache Chocolate Layer Cake, you’ll need:

175g butter (I use salted)

175g golden caster sugar

3 eggs

150g self raising flour

20g good quality cocoa powder

100g good quality dark chocolate

For the ganache:

400g tin coconut milk (I used the full fat stuff)

500g (yes, yes, I know… ) good quality dark chocolate

1 packet Maltesers

So firstly, melt the chocolate (you can do it all at the same time or in the two batches.  It’s quite easy to pour the melted chocolate into the mixer bowl when it’s sat on the scale) in a bowl over a saucepan of simmering water.  Don’t let the water touch the bowl (yeah you know the drill).

Beat the butter in the food processor until light, then add the sugar and whizz again until pale and fluffy.  Add in the eggs (I beat them, then add them a dribble at a time – helps with the odd bits of dropped shell too), then stir in the sifted flour and cocoa.  Finally, stir in the 100g melted chocolate.

Bake in two medium lined tins for about 20 minutes until just springy in the centre.  Allow to cool.

For the ganache:

Warm the coconut milk in a saucepan – don’t allow it to boil, it only needs to be warm enough to melt the chocolate.  Then just turn off the heat, plop all the chocolate in and stir occasionally until it’s all melted.

Transfer to a bowl and chill down completely in the fridge.

To assemble:

Carefully slice each cake into two.  Pick a nice flat one as your top layer and remember which one it is!

Take the ganache out of the fridge and whip until light and fluffy (or you can just spread it).

Layer the cake slices with a thick spreading of ganache then finish with a nice layer of ganache all over the cake.  If the thought of 500g of chocolate gives you a heart attack, you can halve the quantities and just layer the two cakes together.

Finish with Maltesers (beer can candles optional).

And here he is with his birthday cake of choice.  Happy birthday, Charlie! xx

Well, the celebrations continue at Disneyland Paris (even though I’ve now left – fancy partying without me!) for the park’s 20th birthday.  Yesterday, all sorts of famous faces (I spy Kym Marsh, super duper uber model Erin O’Conor and Lisa Maxwell) took part in a really lovely British celebrity tea party on the Mad Hatter’s Tea Cups ride in Fantasyland (one of my faves), complete with cute dainty sandwiches, cakes and chocolate dipped strawberries.  Mickey and Minnie Mouse also joined the party, bringing an amazing 20th Anniversary tiered cake, magically created (in Scotland!) especially for the tea party:

The celebs also got to watch the new Disney Dreams show and the amazing the new parade that we saw last week too.  Here they all are telling us all about it:

If you want more information about the 20th anniversary celebrations at Disneyland Paris, read all about my visit here.

The Death Wish Dude and I arrived at St Pancras (in sizzling sunshine – don’t you just love London when the sun’s out?) to board the Eurostar.  We’d been invited to join the great and good of the world’s media to celebrate Disneyland Paris’ 20th anniversary and to get a sneaky preview at some of the new parades and shows especially created to mark this incredible birthday.

Disneyland Paris opened on 12th April 1992, adding Walt Disney Studios Park in 2002.  It’s within easy walking distance of its very own Eurostar station and there are seven hotels located near the site too.  It’s a real ‘one stop shop’ as far as entertainment goes, and we love it.

The Eurostar journey is another favourite of mine.  I love being able to walk about, chat, eat and relax while being whizzed towards France.  It’s such a relaxed journey.  The Dude hadn’t experienced it as a foot passenger before and thoroughly enjoyed being fussed over by the Eurostar staff!

On arrival, we dumped our bags at the hotel (The Hotel New York, one of my favourites) and rushed straight to the park.  I decided to give the Dude the same introduction to rollercoasters as I’d received myself back at Walt Disney World, the amazing Rock’n'Roller Coaster starring Aerosmith – one of the fastest rides of all the Disney parks and, so I’m told, with acceleration akin to that of a Formula One car.  The dude was hooked and we headed straight back to the front for another go.  This ended up setting the scene for most of our weekend – a veritable orgy of thrill rides, maximum velocity and loop the loops, with a lot of Disney magic thrown in!

I wanted to head over to the the Toy Story Playland at the Walt Disney Studios Park as it was just being opened the last time I was there.  We weren’t disappointed.  The Toy Story themed area is packed full of amazing rides – we loved the Toy Soldiers Parachute Drop, and the AMAZING RC Racer (don’t go on this one if you like the feeling of being dangled in mid air before rocketing backwards and forwards at very high speed – we loved it!).  Carrying on the maximum velocity theme, we headed back over to the Disneyland Park (we weren’t very good at planning our route – too darn excited) for Discoveryland’s Space Mountain and Star Tours.  Both with puke-making potential, but loved equally by the Dude.

We headed back to our lovely hotel for a dip in the pool (the outside bit was completely deserted and we swam and sunbathed – blissful) before heading back out to the park to enjoy a private dinner in the (now closed) Walt Disney Studios, catching up with a few of our favourite characters too.  After a quick scream on the Tower of Terror with our favourite Disney Dave, we had several whizzes around Crush’s Coaster – another amazing indoor/outdoor thrill ride before retiring, somewhat giddily, for the night.

After a late start (another thing I love – breakfast served until 11am!) and mountains of pancakes and maple syrup later (you can’t visit a Disney resort without eating a pancake mountain or two), we headed straight for the Disneyland Park for a duel on one of my favourite Disney attractions, Buzz Lightyear Laser Blast (for some reason it really tickles me that his French name is ‘Buzz L’Eclair’).  I decided to share some of my favourite rides with the Dude: the wonderfully themed and bone-shakingly brilliant ‘Indiana Jones and the Temple of Peril’ coaster, and the beautiful, gentle and atmospheric classic, ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’.

Disney Magic on Parade!

Next it was time for the first showing of the brand new ‘Disney Magic on Parade’, a riot of colourful characters on amazing floats (I’m still singing the fab new music!) celebrating Disneyland Paris’ 20th birthday.  I love Disney parades (I always have a little cry) and was ridiculously pleased to see that the Death Wish Dude was entranced as well.  Look out for the Toy Story float (one of my favourites) and the lovely Rapunzel too. Watch out for the fabulous bumblebees floating around Winnie the Pooh.

On Saturday evening we were invited to the 20th anniversary celebration gala dinner.  The venue was like nothing I’d ever seen before.  We were led along a path lit by glowing orbs into a massive marquee (the word ‘marquee’ doesn’t really do it, but it’s the best I can do), lit by chandeliers and sparkling with glitter and glass:

I’m going to have to do a separate piece about the food because it was SO fantastic I can’t possibly elaborate enough here!  We had our faces painted by amazingly talented artists, and were all given glow sticks while clouds of smoke billowed out into the venue from hidden smoke machines. The atmosphere was just incredible – here’s one for the family album:

After the gala dinner, we were led to the park (by a man in a suit with a giant balloon strapped to his back) past amazing street performers on stilts and in spectacular inflated and illuminated costumes, to the park, which was lit with a million lights and looked spectacular.

As we entered, all the cast members were lined up, waving huge glowing light sticks and calling out ‘bienvenues!’ and ‘bon anniversaire!’.  It was absolutely magical and strangely emotional too.  We listened to speeches by the CEO of Disneyland Paris and Zinedine Zidane before walking down Main Street USA with huge confetti cannons going off all around us, blasting little golden ’20′ letters into the sky which was awash with colour and sparkles.

Disney Dreams!

Next up was the new sound and light spectacular that will be performed at Disneyland Paris from now on in the evenings (always check the schedule for timings).  This show was SO amazing that we sat next to Jonathan Ross and didn’t look at him once.  Yup, THAT amazing.

I can’t even begin to describe the show, but with the aid of clever lighting, the castle was transformed into jungle scenes, Notre Dame and even a huge waterfall.  Images were somehow played on walls of water, and massive flame throwers whooshed into the sky.  Just.  Incredible.

After the amazing show, we were interviewed by Channel 5 (everything was so surreal this weekend, even THAT seemed normal).  Here’s the Dude who was, apparently, a ‘natural’:

After a final day in the parks, whizzing around on Space Mountain, getting competitive on Buzz Lightyear’s Laser Blast and screaming our lungs out on the Tower of Terror, we headed, knackered, to the Eurostar station.  What a thoroughly amazing weekend – I have to say it’s probably my favourite ever Disney visit, and that takes some beating.

A MASSIVE thank you to the very lovely and incredibly hard-working Disney team and a huge HAPPY BIRTHDAY! to Disneyland Paris too.  For all the rest of the photos from this trip, go to my Facebook page: facebook.com/englishmumdotcom

During the 20th anniversary celebrations at Disneyland Park, prices for a two-night, three-day package including return travel with Eurostar in April 2012 start from £856 for a family of two adults and two children (aged 4-6 years).  Price includes return travel with Eurostar, two nights’ accommodation at the Hotel Santa Fe and three day hopper tickets with unlimited access to the Disneyland Park and Walt Disney Studios Park and is based on two adults sharing.

For longer stays, Disneyland Paris is offering guests up to 40% off Disney Hotels and park tickets as well as kids under 7 visiting for free.  For more info call 08448 008 111 or visit www.disneylandparis.com.

The thing is, in Ireland a mickey is a… well, it’s a willy.

Hence, ‘searching for hidden mickeys’ brought a whole new mental picture to mind than gaily flouncing about trying to spot little mouse shapes.

Anyhoo, I digress.

Recently, I was the recipient of a very solemn phone call from school.  Apparently the Death Wish Dude had been caught defacing another pupil’s book.  Three of them were involved.  The others being George (of George’s brownies fame) and another of the Dude’s buddies, a girl.

Reader, I was shocked.

He’s a silly bugger, but he’s a good kid.  And I can’t imagine him doing anything malicious.  I told this to the teacher.  She agreed.

Apparently it wasn’t malicious at all:

The crime – this terrible crime that warranted a telephone call to his parents?  He’d drawn a willy.

A willy.

It was all I could do not to laugh.  However, I solemnly accepted that this behaviour was not to be encouraged, and promised to give him a stern talking to.

I did.

I said to him: ‘you tit’.

Anyhoo, this incident has set in motion a willy-themed madness in the Dude and his mates, culminating in his whipping up a little present for them in the kitchen last night.  Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you…

The willy cookie.  Or ‘cockie’ as it became known on Twitter last night.  Or for you Irish people, the ‘mickey bickie’ (thanks to Aoife for that one).

His father took one look at it and said ‘blimey.  If that’s what he thinks they look like he’s not been paying enough attention in biology’.

So straight on with the Christmas Countdown, then… this time I’ve got some gorgeous, and distinctly grown-up gifts from Disney.  The Imagination Winter range is a scrummy set of products to scent your home.  And, even though I’m the biggest Disney fan EVER, there’s not a Mickey in sight.  The candles and spray contain festive cinnamon bark, nutmeg and clove and I love that they should ‘transport you to a winter wonderland of enchanted pine forests lying under a blanket of snow ‘.  Count me in!

And the verdict?  Gorgeous.  Even with the spices, the scent is not at all cloying or ‘Christmas puddingy’ – I’ve had the candle burning in the evenings for the last couple of nights and the fragrance is actually really light – almost herbal… I think the hint of orange helps here.  The packaging is beautiful and would make a really lovely pressie, not just for a Disney fan either!

The range consists of mini candles (£10), a large candle in a glass (£12) and a scented room spray (£8).  All are available from Disney Stores and via www.disneystore.co.uk

First things first, when I’d promised to take de brevren out to see Pirates of the Caribbean On Stranger Tides, I’d forgotten that blimmin’ Kings of Leon were on at Slane.  Practically every route had some kind of diversion or was absolutely jammed with Dublin buses, coaches and cars all headed for the gig.  Arriving 5 minutes late, we actually headed into the 2D version instead of the 3D, so sadly I can’t tell you if the 3D photography was any good.

I’m a huge Disney fan, as you know, and a massive ‘Pirates’ fan to boot.  I was, however, a bit nervous about this one, mostly because with Keira Knightley and Orlando Bloom missing, I wondered if it was going to turn into the equivalent of Grease 2 or American Pie 3 – movies that just shouldn’t have been made.  Happily, this honestly wasn’t the case.

What I adore about the ‘Pirates’ franchise is the enormity of it all – nobody does epic scenery, massive ships rolling upon broiling seas and lush desert islands quite like Jerry Bruckheimer.  Johnny Depp brings his usual humour and quirkiness to the role of Jack Sparrow and Angelica, the ‘is she or isn’t she?’ daughter of Blackbeard played by Penelope Cruz, steps into the ‘love interest/feisty girly’ role really really well (although certain pronunciations did make us laugh a teeny bit).  There was tons of chemistry between Angelica and Jack, even if the actual story of their past was a little murky.

Best bits? Well I don’t want to spoil it for you, but all I’ll say is look out for the mermaids – absolutely incredible.  The French girl that plays Syrena, the mermaid they actually catch, is fabulous – the spark between her and missionary Philip Swift makes for a really nice bit of 0ff-plot interest.  The swordfight between Barbosa and Jack in the unstable shipwreck is really cleverly done too.  Ian McShane’s Blackbeard is a fabulously evil character (I’m always fascinated with their teeth – how do they get them so realistic-looking?  Disgusting!).

All in all I’d say it’s every bit as good as the previous movies.  Well worth battling through Slane traffic to go and see. The film is rated as 12A here in Ireland (presumably the same everywhere else but I know it’s not always the case).  For parents of younger ones, though, I’d warn you that there are some bloody scary bits in (you’ll never look at Ariel the Little Mermaid in quite the same light), and several people took younger kids out crying.  9/10.

So the lovely chaps at Disney recently sent me some fabulous karaoke games for the Wii.  However hard I tried, my lumbering teens were not to be persuaded into testing (oh, I would have paid good money to see the Death Wish Child singing ‘Hakuna Matata’) but sadly it was not to be. Luckily, my lovely friend Poppy’s Mum came up trumps when she offered the services of Mr PM’s lovely nieces, Elise and Juliette.

Sit back, then, and prepare to find out how my glamorous assistants got on with their intensive consumer test.  Over to you, then, Elise and Juliette’s mum, Sophie:

Disney Sing It Party Hits

Reviewed by Elise and Juliette

Score: 8/10

The girls were thrilled to get a chance to review “Disney Sing It Party Hits”. ‘We are big fans of the Disney Channel so it was really cool to be able to sing along with Disney stars like Demi Lovato and The Jonas Brothers and feel like we were in the movie Camp Rock 2‘ says Juliette aged 7. There are a good few different ways to play including Karaoke, Performance and Sing Off with levels of Easy, Medium and Hard.

The game was really easy to use. You could easily find your way around and see what you needed to do. There is a really good mix of songs, most they already knew as well as new ones that were fun to learn. The song they liked most was “Magic” by Selena Gomez. ‘Keeping up with the rapping in “Boom boom pow” by the Black Eyed Peas was real fun‘ said Elise aged 9. ‘We hadn’t realised how fast they really sing‘. You can score more points by getting the timing and the notes exactly right. If you’re tone deaf then this is not the game for you!!

The vocal coaching by Demi Lovato was really good. It starts off easy with nice simple scales. Every time you successfully pass a lesson you unlock a new level. It then gets more and more difficult. Some of the exercises really put your tongue in quite a twist but it’s fun to try.

When they connected a second microphone they were able to use the duet mode. This was the best and really got the girls playing together. They got to sing together like a real star duo. You can sing as a team or against each other. It was also fun to use the Encore feature to listen to the replay so you could hear just your own voice. You could add special effects to the voice. ‘The squeaky one was hilarious! We sounded like Alvin and The Chipmunks!‘ said Juliette.

The girls found the set up a bit difficult. It asks you to hold the microphone to the left speaker and it plays a strange sound. At the start, they could not get this to work but they found they could play without it. Eventually Dad came to the rescue and got it working by holding the microphone against the speaker.

Concensus all around, the girls would definitely recommend this to their friends especially those who like singing. Boys however wouldn’t be too impressed, far too girly songs. Mum also liked Sing It Party Hits, it brought the girls together with the duet feature and there is a definite improvement in their singing, and confidence too!

Disney Sing It Family Hits

Reviewed by Elise and Juliette

Score: 7/10

They also got to try out “Disney Sing It Family Hits”. This is very similar to the “Party Hits” game with most of the same features. With Family Hits you get to sing along to songs from some of the biggest Disney hit movies. The movies include newer hits such as Toy Story, Monsters Inc, The Lion King as well as classics such as Mary Poppins and The Jungle Book. The girls’ favorites were “The Bare Necessities” and “I wanna be like you” from “The Jungle Book” as well as “Hakuna Matata” from “The Lion King”. You score points for being able to sing the words at exactly the right time and also in the right key. ‘“Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious” was definitely the hardest to get right because the words are so crazy and they sing so fast but we really enjoyed it!‘ said Juliette.

The game also has a section where you can do vocal practices with Anika Noni Rose who did the voice for the movie “The Princess and the Frog”.

Each time you did a song you could use the Encore feature to hear your own voice back. The Encore feature allowed you to use different sound effects to sound like a lion, a mouse or a robot but ‘we didn’t think the sound effects were very realistic.’ said Elise.

Overall Party Hits was the definite favourite because they recognised the songs more and thought they were better to sing along to.

What a great review!

Massive thanks for my wonderful reviewers, the gorgeous Elise and Juliette, and to their lovely Mum, Sophie for taking the time to write up such a thorough review.

Thanks also to the lovelies at Disney for providing Elise and Juliette with the Disney Sing It games and the microphones, which they get to keep!  Yay!

Luckily, I’m my own boss and I decided not to fire myself.  Instead, I give you ten things that I think are blimmin’ marvellous:

1. Kidstart’s fabulous new Save a Million campaign

My lovely, scrumptious friend, Liz Jarvis from LivingwithKids has told me all about Kidstart’s fabulous ‘Save a Million for UK kids‘ campaign.  It’s such a great idea – anything that encourages us to think about ways we can save money to put aside for our kids’ futures gets my vote.  It’s got tons of fab supporters like Sophie Raworth, Barnardo’s and Kiddicare (and me!) so why wait…

2. My Blankie

These are just gorgeous.  They’re like little mini duvets – perfect for popping over your legs on a cold night, or as an extra layer on the bed.  Ninja Cat of Death rather likes mine, but happily even though they’re down and feather, they’re machine washable.  They come in fabulous colours too.  More info here: http://www.blankie.ie/

3. My Photobox canvas

When Photobox contacted me and offered me one of their lovely canvas prints, I knew exactly which photo I’d choose.  How lovely is this? Now I just need to decide where to put it (I can’t put my friends in the loo, now, can I?):

4. Samsung’s Christmas Range

Oopsy, rash use of the C word there, but seriously, I’d like the 3DTV, a Galaxy Wave, the robot vacuum cleaner, the gorgeous laptop and the microwave, please Santa!  Feast your eyes HERE.

5. Superdrug’s new ‘wonder’ Optimum Apple Serum

Lauded as beauty’s Next Big Thing, I’ve been trying it for the last month and I have to say I’m impressed.  Slathered on before bedtime (with moisturiser over the top if my skin’s extra dry), I really feel like my skin’s plumper, with less dry lines around my eyes.  It’s a snip at £9.99, and even though I got a free one (thanks Superdrug!), when it’s finished, I’ll carry on buying it.  It’s that good.

6. Simon’s Choice by Charlotte Castle

I was introduced to Charlotte Castle by my lovely friend Jane Alexander, who, as well as writing a fabulous blog: Diary of A Desperate Exmoor Woman, is an author who’s had a gazillion books published.  For her to recommend I read Charlotte’s book, then, meant it must be good.  A pre-production copy of Simon’s Choice was despatched to me, and I read it, start to finish in one bathtime, emerging, blue, freezing and somewhat tearful.  It’s a beautiful, beautiful read about parents struggling to come to terms with their daughter’s terminal illness.  It’s admittedly sad, but also uplifting.  Grab yourself a copy now.

7. My hamper from Irish Gourmet…

…bought for me by my lovely friends before their weekend.  Sadly it’s nearly all gone now, but highlights included gorgeous cupcakes, fudge, beautiful Irish cheeses, chutneys and jams.

8. Disney’s Gorgeous Princess and the Frog on Blu-Ray

I know I’m 40, but seriously, it’s really really cute, and surprisingly funny.  It could well be a contender for #2 in my fave Disney movie of all time list (it’ll take a lot to knock Toy Story off the top spot though).

9. Camp Rock 2: The Final Jam on Nintendo DS

What? I love the styling bit – ooh, and the drumming!).

10. Bake with Compassion Week, 23rd – 31st October 2010.

Bake with Compassion is Compassion in World Farming’s national fundraiser to raise vital funds and spread awareness for higher farm animal welfare.

Factory hens are stuffed into battery cages up to 4 or 5 at a time, with less  space than an A4 piece of paper to live in.  Having had my own chickens (and planning to get some more next week!), I know that they love to flap and fuss and rootle around.  It breaks my heart to hear of them suffering like this.

Happily, and mostly due to Compassion’s hard hitting ‘ban the battery cage’ campaign, legislation comes into force to make the production of battery eggs illegal from January 2012.   Their Director of Food Business, Steve McIvor says:

“Our advice to consumers is to check the ingredients on shop bought cakes, biscuits and quiches, because without knowing, you could be buying products containing eggs from hens reared in cramped factory farm systems. Download our egg guide at bakewithcompassion.org to know what to look for.”

Holiday Extras’ new Travelling with a Baby guide.   I’m already a huge fan of Holiday Extras after their fantastic effort during the Icelandic volcanic ash disruptions.  Their CEO was posting travel updates every day on their website – a service that was invaluable to loads of people (including me) stranded all over the globe.   If you’ve ever travelled with a baby (or are planning to), you’ll know what a flibbin’ nightmare it is.  This guide is invaluable, so check out the website for tips on packing, choosing hotels, flying with a baby and much more.  (Oh and if you’re a fan of green travel and want to make greener choices when travelling, I noticed that they do a Green Travel guide too).

Coveting…

…Nicky Howard’s adorable animal pictures.  I saw them in an advert in the back of Country Living:

Have a look on the website and choose your favourite.  I love this one, but oh, I love ‘Wendy’ too, and ‘Norma’…

Feeling very proud…

…of my ol’ muckers from Northern Ireland, the Ulster Weavers, who’ve just won the textile licence for the London 2012 Olympics and have already launched a limited edition tea towel for the two year countdown.

For the month of September, Ulster Weavers are giving away a waffle weave tea towel to anyone who spends £25 or more, plus FREE UK Delivery on all orders over £30.

And as an exclusive treat for you lovely lot, they’re offering a special 15% OFF for the whole of September for Englishmum.com readers who quote code: ENGMUM09 when ordering!

Watching the skies…

…for black balloons.  My lovely mates at Disney have given me the heads up that they were at Bristol Balloon Fiesta (a hot-air balloon festival) recently with Mickey Mouse, where he launched a balloon race involving 5,000 balloons. Attached to each balloon is a ticket which, if found, can be redeemed for a special edition Mickey Mouse Campervan toy from Fisher Price!  Keep your eyes peeled for those black balloons!

Oohing and ahhing…

…at the beautiful new Icklebabe.com website.  Lovely Helen sent me some gorgeous little lavender hearts and a cute little egg cosy when I ordered my tea cosy too!  And check out the retro aprons!)

and finally,

Sparing a thought…

…for those children who don’t have a warm bed, happy fun-filled school holidays, the loving arms of a parent, the benefit of a safe home and financial security – all those things we wrap around our children.  Put it Right is a five year initiative by UNICEF UK to galvanise us all into action to protect the rights of children everywhere.   The haunting track is by Radiohead.  Please watch, and give what you can.

I’m moving so I might be awol for a while, but I’ll be back soon.  In the meantime, have a great September xx