Bloggers on Tour: the West Yorkshire leg

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I am very lucky. I have wonderful friends. We’ve met through various press trips and blogger events and have become so close. We share endless laughs, long emails and silly Twitter conversations. Less lucky, though, is that fact that we are spread out across the British Isles, so every so often, we get together - it’s become known as ‘Bloggers on Tour’ or BOT for short. Last year it was Irish BOT, and this year, last weekend in fact, we went up to Laura‘s in West Yorkshire for ‘WYBOT’. Sadly, we’re a diminished bunch as lovely Linda wasn’t able to join us. Next time we hope it will be all of us, but until then, here’s a précis of the weekend’s events:

There was amaaaazing food, courtesy of Laura’s hubby Andy, who is a great cook (and also designs this very website):

There were double decker doggits:

There were lots of cuddles:

…a bit of swinging (no, not THAT sort of swinging!):

A bit of culture in the form of the David Hockney exhibit at Salt’s Mill (more of this fab place later)…

and of course there was cackling, drinking and quite a bit of silliness… (this is Erica again, with Laura’s sis, Mrs Worthington, and the gorgeous Fenngirl)

and here’s Ellie, Laura, Liz and.. wait, Erica AGAIN!

And oh, okay, here’s my moustache shot (either side of me are Fenngirl and Tara):

Here we are altogether:

And here we are having a little nap. Look how well we fit together! Laura’s niece said it was like ‘blogger Tetris’:

We’re all having a bit of a come down now it’s over. Next we’re planning on a meet up at Erica’s in Scotland… SCOTBOT anyone?

Oh, and seeing as Tara’s Photo Gallery theme this week is ‘Friends’, I’ve entered. Pop over and see all the other entries here.

5* service at Gatwick? That would be my pleasure, madam.

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So one of the things that comes up regularly at our Gatwick Passenger Panel meetings is the idea of great customer service. We all know the kind of service that’s top drawer: John Lewis… Harrods… amazing 5* hotels… It’s something that so many of us appreciate - a door held open, help with a bag, a friendly smile or just a polite response to a quick question - it can make or break your experience of a brand or company.

Well Gatwick, always open to new ideas and ready to take on any suggestion have really taken this one to heart. I’m not sure that people know this, but Gatwick already has a team of concierges. They’re dotted around the check-in areas at the South Terminals and are ready and waiting to help customers, 7 days a week - whatever language they speak (they’re a multi-lingual bunch) - and are specifically charged with making every customer’s Gatwick experience a pleasant one.

And now, to make the concierge service even better, they’ve teamed up with The Goring, the beautiful family-run gem of a hotel in Belgravia, to really tweak the service and make sure it’s second to none. The Goring’s team, led by Head Concierge John Andrews, will be coaching Gatwick’s entire concierge staff - that’s everyone from porters to passenger assistants in the art of providing top notch individual customer service

On a personal level, I’m delighted that Gatwick really take on board suggestions made by us during our panel meetings. It’s just brilliant to think that stuff we sit round a table and chat about actually turns into real changes. And with more and more people travelling through Gatwick, it’s really important that each passenger feels they’ve had a really great experience. That includes us mums, who often need extra help with buggies, directions to nearby facilities, or even a helpful chap to hold a bag or two while we’re struggling with a toddler.

And it seems like their commitment to great service is really working. Gatwick have recently announced an increase of 20% in the amount of compliments they’re receiving from passengers, and a whopping 68% fewer complaints compared to December 2010.

And if I’ve played even a tiny part in that, it makes my job really worthwhile. Well done, Gatwick!

Review: Bread Revolution by Duncan Glendinning and Patrick Ryan

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There’s an awful lot of hype surrounding bread at the moment, what with the ‘Fabulous Baker Brothers’, Henry and Tom Herbert’s recent TV show (and the shock news that one of their loaves sells for over twelve quid - I kid you not - over £20 if you want it couriered), and lots of people reverting to the more traditional kitchen skills of baking their own bread, making butter, etc.

I do make my own bread, but it tends to be a batch of sticky iced buns if I’m feeling like a baking session, or an easy Irish soda bread on a Sunday morning, so when I was asked to review Bread Revolution I was really interested.

Duncan and Patrick own The Thoughtful Bread Company in Bath and really want to encourage us all to bake (or at least buy) proper bread. There are all sorts of wonderful recipes (don’t miss the Cider and Apple Bread), and great step-by-step guides to mixing, kneading, shaping, etc, plus loads of interesting stuff about ingredients. The one that fascinated me, though, was the sourdough. Basically, you make a sourdough ‘starter’, which ferments and becomes your very own living, breathing yeasty friend who lives in the fridge.

Ours was called Fluffy (someone on Twitter told me to give it a name - apparently this helps you ‘bond’). It’s relatively easy to make (a mix of live yogurt, skimmed milk and bread flour), but you do have to remember to feed it, otherwise it dies. We had a little wobble when I opened up mine to find mould all up the side of the tub, but I managed to rescue it, and with a new, sterilised pot, Fluffy thrived. The boys (find them on Twitter @thoughtfulbread) were really helpful, and shared my immense pleasure and pride when my very first sourdough loaf came out of the oven.

Seriously, I don’t think there are many things quite as satisfying as baking your own bread, and having Fluffy in the fridge ready to go whenever I want to bake makes me more determined than ever to keep going. That, and the chewy-crusted, soft-doughed gorgeousness that is a fresh-from-the-oven sourdough loaf.

What a wonderful book.

Bread Revolution is out 1st March priced £10.59 on Amazon. Here’s a vid of the boys in action:

Step by step pancakes, and more about cage free eggs

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We love pancake day. Let’s face it there aren’t many days in the year when we go ‘sod it, let’s skip dinner and go straight for dessert’ so being total gluttons, Shrove Tuesday (21st Feb) is a big favourite in the English household.

Even if you’re not very confident at cooking, it’s really easy to make pancakes. Here’s a little step by step guide.

I usually make an obscene amount of batter, but this amount will feed a family of four quite generously. You’ll find a gazillion different pancake recipes, but this is an old favourite and works a treat, so why mess with it?:

All you really need is:

200g plain flour

2 eggs (make sure they’re cage free - see below)

600ml milk

So just sift the flour into a large bowl. Make a well in the centre of the flour and crack the eggs into it.

With a wooden spoon, break up the eggs and start stirring gently, gradually bringing the flour into the mix.

Now, slowly add in the milk, stirring all the time (you can change to a whisk here if you like) until you get a nice smooth batter (this batter can be made up to a day in advance and kept, covered in the fridge).

When you’re ready, add a tiny splash of oil into a heavy-based frying pan (you really don’t need a lot at all - I very rarely top up after that initial splash - as long as you’ve got a decent non-stick pan). Pour in enough batter just to cover the bottom of the pan evenly when swirled around (any more and your pancake won’t cook evenly). Now leave it to cook on the bottom. Carefully lift up an edge to check how it’s cooking, and when it’s lightly browned, give it a shake to free it from the pan. Feel free to flip here, or just flap it over with a wide fish slice.

Keep your finished pancakes warm in a low oven, covered loosely with foil, while you make the rest.

Now to fillings: we’re classic lemon and sugar, generally, but try fruit compote, Nutella, bananas and honey, or that lush salted caramel sauce stuff from Marks and Spencer (nomnomnom).

If you don’t fancy big, flat ‘crepe’ style pancakes, you can also make ‘Scotch’ pancakes, the small, American-style ones. Here’s a link to one of my recipes (my lot prefer these for breakfast with bacon and lashes of maple syrup:

And now a note on the humble egg. It’s true that battery cages have been banned in the EU, but so called ‘enriched’ battery cages are still allowed. This horrible practice gives each bird just about the size of an A4 piece of paper. I know, right? That teeny space for all the lovely perchy, scritchy rootly, flappy stuff that hens love to do. Obviously meaning that they have great trouble doing it. And as a former hen-keeper, and knowing what lovely, intelligent, happy little dudes they are, this upsets me.

All of us can vote with our feet (and our wallets) and make sure we don’t buy eggs from these cages. The less we buy, the less demand there will be and, hopefully, the less ‘enriched’ battery cages will exist. At the very least, switch to barn eggs (I’m not a huge fan, but at least they’re cage free).

The RSPCA have produced this handy guide to the (often confusing) wording on egg packaging. And it’s not just boxes of eggs that could contain these caged eggs - there’s sandwiches, mayonnaise, pasta, cakes and quiches. I think it’s time for a little transparency so we all know what we’re buying. Lots of supermarkets already offer ranges that contain free-range eggs, including ALL Marks & Spencer products, all Waitrose own-brand products, all Sainsbury’s own-brand products, all Co-op own-brand products, Morrisons ‘The Best’ range, Tesco ‘Finest’ range and the Asda ‘Extra Special’ range.

Let’s all make sure we pick wisely eh?

More information about the RSPCA’s campaign and cage-free eggs: http://www.rspca.org.uk/eggs

Half term hell, flicky hair, skating and crashing

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So that’s it, then. Half term is officially over. The thing with teenagers is that you seem to miss most of half term as they’re asleep. By 11.30 I take to banging and crashing around, and if they’re still not up by noon, the hoover comes out (they know this is a ploy, I never hoover usually).

Then there’s the work. The Prof’s A levels are worrying me. Seriously, if I knew A levels were this easy (oh, and IF I’d been clever enough, which I wasn’t), I might have done them myself. His working day seems to go something like this:

7.15am Get asked nicely to get out of bed

720am Get reminded to get out of bed

7.30am Get yelled at to get out of bed and slope miserably off to the shower

7.35 - 8.00am Have the world’s longest shower complete with a cocktail of different lotions and potions

8.05am Wander around in towel flicking hair around artfully (‘What? I’m getting it to dry sideways’) deciding what to wear

8.15am Make it down the stairs looking like an extra from Mad Men (except for the artfully flicky hair) and inhale vast bowls of cereal

8.25am Decide to get books ready while I hop around shouting about how late we are

8.30am Drive to school with headphones plugged in looking out the window

8.40am Get out of car, quick hug, slam door

11.00am Text parent to say lessons are finished and can I be picked up

11.20am Plug into Xbox, put on enormous comedy headphones, then talk to mates and play shouty games, stopping occasionally to raid the kitchen for enormous plates of food and huge pints of milk.

And on half term week, you can cut out everything except for the latter.

I mean, WHERE does the studying fit in? I made the fatal mistake of asking last night and was told that he’d done LOADS of maths and biology, I just missed it.

Meanwhile the Death Wish Child has been out trying to kill himself at various skate parks, and a friend of his has made a pretty awesome video of him skating. I was only allowed to see one outtake (this was of him attempting a front flip and landing it on his knees - ouch). I decided this was A Good Thing and am focusing on the fact that he hasn’t hurt himself too horribly so far. The video is by the very talented Myles Mather.

Review: Cartmel Village Shop Puddings

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I get sent quite a few things, and generally my neighbours are very good at taking parcels in for me if I’m not around. The agreement is reciprocal and often sweetened by the odd freebie here and there. Today, though, when I dropped round to my neighbour, clutching my ‘your parcel has been left at number 2′ card, he seemed rather reluctant to hand over the parcel.

This may have had something to do with the fact that my parcel was labelled ‘Cartmel Village Shop Puddings’, and contained not only one of their famous Sticky Toffee Puddings, but a rather promising looking Sticky Toffee Apple Crumble too. All this pudding love is, in fact, dearest reader, because I’ve been invited to join the Cartmel Village People Pudding Panel. Not an easy title to pronounce, admittedly, but I’ll suffer it because, well, the hours are good and the remuneration is paid in pud!

On to the task at hand then:

The crumble was easy to bake (just stick it in the oven for 20 minutes) and first impressions were pretty good - the crumble topping was a golden brown with sticky toffee sauce bubbling up at the sides.

There followed a ten minute family debate on whether crumbles should be more fruit or more topping. I obviously won the argument (I favour more crumble than fruit) and I’d say the ratio of this particular crumble was just about right. Digging in, we found nice little chunks of apple coated in lovely sticky toffee sauce. The apple had a really appealing tart edge to the flavour, meaning that the whole dish wasn’t overly sweet, plus the crumble was nice and crisp on top, with the added bite of some oats, if I’m not mistaken.

The packaging says that it serves four to five people, but if you’re a greedy family, I’d say more four than five!

Our verdict: yum.

Next up, apparently is Lemon Drizzle. I’ll be watching our neighbours very closely.

For more information, click on cartmelvillageshop.co.uk

The Red Tractor debate: how do we guarantee we’re buying high welfare pork?

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Dearest reader, I won’t even link to the video I saw on Sunday morning. I don’t want you to see it. The content is so vile, so disgusting, so heart-wrenchingly violent, merciless and cruel that I actually cried. If you want to see it, feel free to search, but I won’t ever be watching it again.

Let me explain. Recently on my Facebook page, I saw that Red Tractor had posted the following comment:

We recognise your concern and are dealing with this issue as a matter of urgency.

The behaviour shown on the video has no place within the assurance scheme and we completely condemn it.

As soon as we were alerted to the issue on Friday …of last week we immediately removed the farm from the scheme on the basis of the video evidence and we have had an inspector on the farm during the weekend.

UK pig farmers have some of the highest standards in Europe and such incidents, although rare, simply cannot be tolerated. We are saddened that all of the hard work that our farmers do to uphold the standards could be undermined by one isolated incident such as this. If the allegations are proven we would encourage prosecution of those responsible.

We are reviewing our systems in light of the lessons learned here and will almost certainly revert to more unannounced inspections.

Red Tractor Assurance

 

Still not having a clue at that stage, then, I made the fatal mistake of searching out the video for myself. Shot undercover at Harling Farm in Thetford, Norfok, by Animal Equality, the footage shows the most unimaginable cruelty: piglets being crushed and left to die and being thrown by their ears into the air before crashing down onto the concrete floor, animals being kicked in the face and in one scene that will haunt me for the rest of my years - a pig being beaten to death by a man with an iron bar.

Shocking and heartbreaking

And more shocking? Harling Farm is a Red Tractor approved farm, the very same Red Tractor Assurance that say this:

When you choose Red Tractor, you’re choosing high animal welfare standards. Our veterinary and food industry experts are constantly refining these standards to promote the health and welfare of animals in farming.

And I’m sure most of the time that’s true. I’ve read comments from lots of Red Tractor farmers who are equally shocked and disgusted by this footage and who work very hard to provide the highest standards of welfare for their livestock.

Now I’m not a namby pamby ‘knit your own yoghurt’ meat avoider, oh no. I love my meat. I love bacon and sausages and a crispy chunk of pork belly, but I WILL NOT buy it if I know that animal has suffered. I think I could probably live without joints of pork and maybe even sausages (there’s always lamb and beef), but we do like bacon - it’s the one thing I don’t think I could give up. And having visited Jimmy’s Farm and seeing how wonderfully happy his intelligent, quirky piggies are, living their happy outdoor lives, I’d LOVE to be in a position where I didn’t have to buy anything other than top quality, high welfare, free range bacon. BUT it’s more expensive. Six rashers of Jimmy’s Farm bacon weigh in at a hefty £4.12 (and that’s the cheapest, streaky bacon) - our Saturday morning bacon sarnie would cost quite a bit. And a lot of people would say that’s a good thing - if we want well treated, happy animals who are despatched humanely, shouldn’t we pay properly for that? None of us should be demanding meat that’s dirt cheap - it’s just the farmers and the animals who inevitably suffer.

So what choices do we have as consumers? What of the big supermarkets - what are their standards when it comes to pork? The first thing to say is that they all realise it’s something that people feel strongly about. The UK already has the most stringent animal welfare standards in Europe, and many insist on much more than this.

I spoke to Asda (purely because I know their head of food PR and she was kind enough to help with my research) and they told me that they believe ‘Red Tractor branded meat products are still the best way to ensure the meat comes from a high welfare standard farm.’ They also said ‘at Asda we take animal welfare very seriously and we have recently been recognised by the RSPCA and Compassion in World Farming (CIWF) for our efforts in raising animal welfare standards.

‘‪On our fresh pork products we are working with the SSPCA (Scotland’s Charity for animal welfare) to raise the welfare standards of pigs produced on our Asda PorkLink farms in Scotland (the vast majority of our fresh British pork is reared in Scotland) and all of our supplying PorkLink farmers are now regularly inspected by SSPCA inspectors.

‪’All of the pork that features in the Asda bacon range comes from pigs reared on farm assured farms and although we do not currently have an outdoor reared range of bacon we are constantly reviewing our range and we will reconsider introducing an outdoor reared range of British Bacon in the near future.’

 

Tesco say: ‘British pig farmers have had to meet some stringent welfare legislation which has been put in place over the past decade, including a ban on stalls and tethers, which have been shown to severely restrict natural behaviour.’ BUT Tesco doesn’t just sell British pork products. Still, they say, ‘at Tesco, we have a policy of insisting on equivalent standards wherever we source from, so regardless of country of origin, no Tesco brand pork or pork products will come from systems which use stalls or tethers.

‘At Tesco, we sell pork and pork products from 5 key different production systems:

Standard and Value pork
Outdoor-bred pork
Outdoor-reared pork
Organic pork’

On Tesco’s farming website, there are details of the standards kept for each of these five systems.

 

Waitrose source all their pork products from the UK. They sell a large range of free range and even rare breed pork products, but even their most basic Essential Waitrose pork comes from ‘outdoor bred pigs reared by a dedicated group of farmers based predominantly in East Anglia. Working exclusively for Waitrose, our pig farmers operate within producer groups to produce the most tender, succulent pork under the highest standards of welfare and animal husbandry.’

‘The pigs are bred from boar and sow lines selected exclusively for Waitrose for their vigour, excellent eating quality and suitability for outdoor breeding. All Waitrose breeding sows are free range and live their entire life outdoors, with access to straw-filled arcs and tents on free-draining sandy soil. The piglets are born outdoors and at farrowing, each sow is given her own individual hut for raising her litter until weaning at four weeks of age. The growing pigs are then transferred indoors to bright, airy straw bedded sheds, with natural lighting and fed a natural, cereal-based diet.’

‘All Waitrose farms are registered with either Assured British Pigs (ABP) or Genesis and Freedom Food (FF), the RSPCA Farm Accreditation Body. ‘

 

If you’re confused by pork and bacon labelling, check out CIWF’s handy guide

 

And in a sad footnote to this whole horrendous incident, the farmer was found dead yesterday.

The ‘baked with love bakeoff’: and the winner is:

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So yesterday I showed you all the beautiful entries to the ‘baked with love’ bakeoff.

Lovely Helen, our judge and resident wino (sorry, wine expert) had a terrible time picking a winner, but eventually decided on the one she’d most like to scoff (perfect way to choose, I reckon), which was…

Mari’s amazingly squishy chocolate, mascarpone and raspberry tarts.

Congratulations, Mari, because not only have you got two of these beautiful pink fizzy babies winging your way from the fabulously generous Jacob’s Creek, but two extra ‘secret squirrel’ wines not on general release!

Special mention from Helen went to Iris’ blackberry mascarpone macaroons, Laura’s chocolate whoopie pies and Helen from Icklebabes’ gorgeous caramel banana French toast, oh, and Yvonne from Hey Pesto!’s ‘heart’s desire’ cake too…. along with ‘anything with a small child in the photo’.

Thanks so much to everyone who entered, big squishes and snogs to our lovely judge, Helen, who was steadfast in the face of much crawling and flattering, and many thanks also to Jacob’s Creek for their generosity. Thanks all!

The ‘baked with love’ bakeoff: the entries

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So here they are, then, in all their glory - the wondrous, creative, impressive and lovingly baked entries to the ‘baked with love’ bakeoff.

I can’t quite believe that everyone’s worked so hard and am very grateful to everyone who took part - especially those who made me laugh sending tweets to the judge telling her how beautiful/clever/fabulous she is. Made my day.

The good news is that the lovely chaps at Jacob’s Creek have not only agreed to part up with TWO of their fantastic bottles of pink fizz, but have also agreed to throw in two BRAND NEW bottles of wine (no pictures as they are ‘secret squirrel’ apparently) as part of the prize. Much kudos to our fantastic judge, Helen, for arranging this!

And so, without further ado, I invite you to feast your eyes on this luscious display of virtual cakey bun-ness. Click on the thumbnail to see a full-size picture. No drooling on your keyboards, now!

Sod the flowers this Valentine’s Day. I want a steak bouquet.

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Not a lover of Valentine’s Day?

Don’t fancy chocolates?

Allergic to flowers?

I’ve got just the thing. Quality Standard Beef and Lamb have told me about one of their butchers, Antony Bowness from Tewkesbury who has created the stuff of my Valentine’s dreams: a steak bouquet. Apparently the bouquet is made up of ‘carefully sculpted sirloin steaks’.

Antony said: “I get asked every year what I’d like for Valentine’s Day and I never know what to suggest. Soppy cards aren’t really my thing and it got me thinking about what I could make for other men out there like me. I had a ‘Eureka’ moment one day when a customer came in with a bunch of flowers. I started playing around with the idea and realised it was actually quite easy to do! I mean if you can make a dress from meat, then why not a bunch of roses?”

WANT.

Review: ‘Sweet Peas for Summer: how to create a garden in a year’ by Laetitia Maklouf

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As you know, I’m a bit of a Twitter addict. And yes, I know a lot of people just don’t get Twitter, but I’ve made some amazing connections on there (I hesitate to say friendships, as I suppose that’s not possible with someone you’ve never actually met). One such person is the utterly gorgeous and adorable Laetitia Maklouf. We discovered a shared love of garden-pottering and cooking when I was back in Ireland, and she’s always available with wonderful advice and gentle, kind encouragement for us enthusiastic but basically clueless gardeners.

Laetitia was kind enough to send me a review copy of her new book, Sweet Peas for Summer. It basically chronicles the year she spent creating a garden from scratch in her new home. As the year unfolds, Laetitia takes us, month by month, from the planning, initial groundwork and planting, through to lush pictures of a flower-filled summer garden which looks like it’s been there for years.

Laetitia’s writing style is similar to her Twitter feed: it’s gentle encouragement and wonderful advice. There are no barked orders or must dos in this book, just really useful knowledge sharing (and the odd admission of mistakes, which I love and find stupidly encouraging). The pictures are stunning and the overall styling is wonderful (I find this so important) - I love the leaf-prints punctuating the pages. All in all it has a lovely, fresh feel.

I miss my lovely Irish garden and gathering fresh vegetables and herbs from my raised veggie bed, but this book has made me see that I can do just as much now on my small patio with lots of containers: I can fill my little garden with wigwams of sweet peas and clematis, grow lovage and dill in pots (there are some beautiful, simple recipes), and make sure I have mint on my kitchen windowsill for fabulous mojitos too.

I inhaled the book on one Saturday morning, perched in bed with endless mugs of tea, my notebook and even the belligerent cat (just shows how still I must have been). I now have plans for hanging baskets, herbs and copious containers. Now all I’ve got to do is wait for this stupid snow to disappear.

Sweetpeas for Summer: How to Create a Garden in a Year by Laetitia Maklouf is out on 23rd March 2012. I know you’ll love it as much as I do.

Yeo Em Gee! They’re ‘yeoganic’, don’t you know… A visit to Yeo Valley.

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So earlier this week I was up and about at some ungodly hour, puzzling as to where exactly the car park spaces were supposed to be under several inches of ice in a windswept train station car park.

Still, it got better, as when we got to Yeo Valley’s beautiful organic garden and tea rooms in Somerset, they’d got the log fire burning and tea and biccies laid out ready for us (home made chocolate and mint - very yummy indeed). The gardens look beautiful even in the winter:

 

As you might know, I work with Yeo Valley Organic as an advocate, (along with Laura, who nearly missed her connecting train and managed to catch it by an ungainly sprint across the platform, hurling people out of her path as she went). We work with them on new ideas, feeding back information from a consumer’s point of view, and basically loll around eating as much of their yogurt as possible. Yup, it’s a tough job.

This week, then, it was all about the new look. Most of us already know that Yeo Valley’s farmers are British organic family farms, (which are more sustainable than intensive mass dairy production) but they really want to get that message across. Let’s face it, they have SO much going for them: beautiful organically-run farms in gorgeous Somerset, the stunning organic gardens and tea rooms, amazingly committed staff and fantastic organic products too.

So in their quest to be ’100% Yeoganic’ (which is obviously much more than just ‘organic’) they’re going back to their roots, with fab new flavours, lovely new packaging and a gorgeous new website to match. The yogurts have all had a ‘facelift’ too, with an amazing new.. erm… bacterium or something? (sorry, I was too busy eating yogurt during this bit) which is much creamier (without being ‘fattier’).

Here’s our tasting table. You’re jealous, right?

My particular favourite was this little beauty - a limited edition flavoured with blackcurrant and a fragrant hit of elderflower. Absolutely delicious:

There are also some brand new products, which we’re probably not supposed to tell you about, but hey, you know I’m an oversharer. Talking of oversharing, how about these new Top Notch yogurts, with a layer of fruity conserve on the bottom. The sticky fig and honey is TO DIE FOR:

And you can see the gorgeous new packaging for the milk and butter in the background there. Here’s a close-up:

and here’s all the new packs of pots and the cute new children’s products (including Yeo Tubes with some fabulous cow jokes). I think the smoothies are great for older children - they have bigger pots and more sophisticated flavours like peach and passion fruit, and mango and pineapple. You can take the outer carton off and inside you can cut out and build a 3D cow. I tried to bribe them into giving me one of the 3D cows, but they’re not out yet. Boo.

Stuff to look out for:

  • the new ‘Mild and Creamy Natural’ - a lovely creamy version of Yeo Valley’s natural yoghurt. I can see this being a great substitute to cream, dolloped on apple crumble and splodged on warm chocolate brownies… mmmmm.
  • new 0% fat yoghurts all thicker and creamier
  • Fab new recipes including even yummier strawberry and raspberry flavours, blueberry with a hint of lime, a scrummy rhubarb flavour and a very posh raspberry and passionfruit one too.
  • the Greek Style yogurts - so thick the spoon stands up in them (check out my fave: coconut)
  • there may even be (shhhhhhhh!) some really creamy rice pudding in the pipeline.

All this lovely new stuff will be appearing in the shops very soon. Last photo is probably my favourite pot of all. The classic strawberry. Whoever thought you could look at a pot of yogurt and think ‘wow, that’s pretty’, but it really is:

Thanks, as always, to the fabulous team at Yeo Valley, for endless tea, delicious grub, heowge amounts of yogurt, tons of laughs, and ‘Yeo Em Gee!’ those puns xx

Chocolate orange brownies with bitter chocolate orangettes

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Still in pursuit of the perfect chocolate brownie, then, I made these while my children were out making giant… erm.. appendages out of snow. I would show you a video but they’re all disgusting and their grandparents might see. I don’t know where they get it from.

These brownies are utterly lush and slightly more ‘grown up’ than the version I usually make (George’s chocolate brownies) but the recipe is mostly the same. I think they benefit from being served warm as the ‘oranginess’ comes out more.

You will need:

200g dark chocolate (as dark as you dare - see below)

170g salted butter (MUST be salted - or add a pinch if using unsalted)

3 tablespoons marmalade (I used rindless for a smooth result)

3 eggs

200g soft brown sugar (caster is fine if you don’t have any)

110g plain flour

Preheat the oven to gas 4/180 degrees.

Melt the butter, chocolate and marmalade in a bain-marie (you know the drill… bowl over a saucepan of just-simmering water – don’t let the bottom of the bowl come into contact with water). Don’t use the microwave - I’ve no idea why but melting chocolate in the microwave REALLY offends me. Turn the water off when it’s just bubbling and stir the mixture gently until it’s combined. Take it off the heat and allow to cool to room temperature.

Whisk the eggs and sugar together until light and frothy, then pour in the cooled chocolate/butter mixture, stir well, then add in the flour. Stir briefly until the flour disappears.

Pour into a well-lined baking tin (I use a lasagne tin, but a square cake tin will do). Bake for about 30 minutes or until the top is cracked and shiny. The centre should still be slightly soft. Serve warm or allow to cool and place in an airtight container

For the orangettes, choose a really dark chocolate - try Green & Black’s or Montezuma’s do a brilliant, rich Ecuador 70% dark chocolate that I’m just slightly addicted to. Melt two or three squares in a tiny jug and just dip small pieces of Orangette into them. If you have any trouble buying the orangettes (basically, candied orange peel - I got mine in my Good Fork hamper), you can make your own, or try Amazon (believe it or not).

These would be beautiful served at the end of a dinner party with the dark chocolate orangettes, little cups of very strong espresso coffee and maybe some freezing cold shot glasses of Cointreau too.

(Best get rid of the snow willies on the front lawn first, though).

The end of alcohol-free January - and the results

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So finally… FINALLY! alcohol-free January is over. It seemed like a really long month but I stuck to my guns and not a drop of alcohol, nor a single fattening thing passed my lips the entire time.

It was tough. That’s an understatement - it was really tough. For someone whose routine is to finish clearing up from dinner, then head straight to the fridge for a glass of wine before collapsing in front of the TV, it took some getting used to.

I found that half the battle was having something nice to sip, so the norm became diet tonic with loads of ice and a slice of lime. This really seemed to do the trick and I actually started to enjoy waking up with a clear head.

And then I went to the Gatwick Passenger Panel meeting and lovely Penny Haslam said ‘wow, you’re looking fantastic - your skin looks great’, which made me feel fab (especially coming from someone so gorgeous). Another side benefit was that I lost 8lb. In one month! Yes, okay, after December’s excesses I was always going to lose a few pounds, but the combination of not wanting to snack (a terrible side effect of drinking wine) and not eating cakes and biscuits really did me good.

Would I do it again? Honestly? Probably not. Especially in the light of a report released in January by the Commons Science and Technology Committee which says it’s much better for you to drink in moderation and make sure you have at least two days a week completely alcohol free than a blanket ban in January which can often mean you go back on it ‘large’ in February!

But it’s changed my attitude to drinking. My first day back ‘in the saddle’ as it were, English Dad and I had a couple of glasses of red wine each. Not an over-indulgence, you’d think, but the next day I woke feeling groggy and headachey… and I’m really beginning to believe that a glass of wine or two should be an occasional treat rather than an everyday occurrence. I love a gin and tonic occasionally, and this doesn’t seem to have such a bad effect on me, so maybe that should be my drink of choice…

A friend also told me that sometimes that initial craving for a drink can be because you’re thirsty too - so I’m forcing myself to grab a glass of water and sip that first, before jumping on the booze.

What about you? How much do you drink, and did you abstain in January?

Don’t forget to check out my friend notSupermum’s take on alcohol free January as well.

Helping you make more informed choices for you and your family’s healthcare at our private hospitals.

Me right now

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My lovely friend Taralara over at Sticky Fingers runs The Photo Gallery. It’s a fab idea - there’s a theme each week, and loads of people join in, taking pictures and sharing them with each other. I dip in and out, but this one really caught my eye: me. Right now.

‘We’re terrible for ‘posing’ for photographs aren’t we?’, says Tara.

‘Making sure we look our best, have our hair brushed, our make up just so and turning just so to ensure the camera captures our best side.
But it’s the impromptu snaps which tell the best stories - they mark out our every day lives and show how we live and what we are ‘really’ like.’

So the challenge was to take a photo right that very second, as you read the prompt. So I grabbed a child and said ‘quick, take my picture’.

And here it is. Me. Right now. Slightly scary and rather too close-up, with my cluttered desk, my Minnie Mouse mug, messy hair and… a bottle of Febreze on the printer (not sure how that got there).

To see more entries to Tara’s Gallery, just click here.

Ooh. A new Wet’n'Wild Kids’ Park at Universal

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Interesting news reached the English Mum Newsdesk (okay, the kitchen worktop, but just use your imagination, okay?) this week. Turns out that Universal are opening a mahoosive big new attraction this summer.

Contained within the site of their huge Wet’n'Wild Florida waterpark (where you can experience every sort of water-based ride known to man), the new Kids’ Park will cover more than an acre and feature all sorts of fun including slides (17 of them), water cannons, jets and all manner of water-based fun. They’re paying attention to the surrounding landscaping too (think ‘lush and tropical’ (perfect for the parents to hang out while the little ones go and get wet) and the entire sandcastle-themed area will have one separate entrance, meaning it’s nice and safe and an easy way of keeping track of everyone too.

Tickets for Wet ‘n Wild cost from £27 for adults and £22 for children at Attraction Tickets Direct (valid for up to 14 consecutive days) or you can visit all of the Universal Orlando packs with a ‘ 3-Park Bonus Ticket’ costing from £113 per adult which covers entrance to Universal Studios, Wet ‘n Wild, Universal’s Islands of Adventure and Universal CityWalk.