Mini lemon meringue pies: perfect for picnics (or Paralympic torch relays…)

/3 Comments/in , , , , , /by

So last night, we met up with the Foxys and Glam C and their families for a very special evening. The Paralympic Torch was due to come through our local town at about 11pm (inconvenient time - why couldn’t they travel during the day?), so we met in the pub, then wandered into town to soak up the atmosphere and drink gin sneakily out of jam jars. As you do…

After all that, the torch convoy didn’t appear until after 1am, by which time we were a bit nippy and very tired, but still the atmosphere was amazing… the police outriders high fiving all the kids as they drove past, and everyone daring to walk, cycle or drive down the high street being subjected to massive cheers and whistles. A long night, but oh it was fun…

We all agreed to take a few nibbles along. I decided to take some mini meringue pies… really easy to make and, cooked in some paper muffin cases, not too messy to eat either:

For the pastry, you’ll need:

200g cold butter

400g plain flour

Pinch salt

1tbsp caster sugar

1 egg

Firstly, preheat the oven to 180/gas 4. It’s easiest to do this in the food processor (the pastry, not the preheating. That would be silly), but you can do it by hand if you’re not as lazy as me.

Chop your cold butter into squares and add it to the flour, salt and sugar. Process it until it looks like breadcrumbs.

Now plop in the egg and pulse slowly until it comes together. Every time you make pastry it will be different, but you should find it comes together quite well. If it’s really dry, add a tablespoon or two of cold water.

Flour the work surface and squish the mixture together into a ball. Wrap it in clingfilm and chill for about 2o minutes. Next, roll it out to about 5-6mm thick, then cut out rounds using a pastry cutter that’s about the same size as the top of the paper cake cases. Pop each round into a paper case and push it down gently. Carry on until you’ve done all 12, then stab each one with a fork a couple of times and pop it into the oven for 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, make the lemon curd (or buy it - I won’t tell):

100g butter

2 lemons, zested then juiced (if you’re using bottled juice, it’s about 6 tbsp)

150g caster sugar

2 eggs plus 1 extra yolk (keep the white for the meringue)

Take a saucepan and bung in the butter, juice, zest and caster sugar. Melt it all together slowly until the sugar is all dissolved.

Meanwhile, in a bowl, whisk the eggs and yolk until well combined. Now, take your warm lemony butter mixture and gently pour a little bit into the egg, whisking all the time, then a bit more, then a bit more, until you’ve combined about half of it with the eggs. Now bung that lot back into the saucepan and keep whisking and simmering until the mixture thickens. Make sure there’s someone behind you at this point shouting ‘WHISK! WHISK FASTER!’, or you can just imagine me shouting it in your head (you’re welcome).

Turn off the heat and leave to cool. Remember to just stir it occasionally to keep it from getting a skin on. When it’s about room temperature, pour it into the pastry cases and set aside while you make the meringue:

2 egg whites

115g caster sugar

Pinch of Cream of Tartar

Whisk the egg whites in a very clean bowl until they form firm peaks, then keep whisking while you add the Cream of Tartar, then the sugar, spoon by spoon, until it’s all incorporated and the meringue is thick and glossy. Pile (or pipe) it on top of the lemon curd then bake for a further ten minutes.

And I’ll leave you with this, a blurry close up of the torch bearer’s delighted face. Doesn’t that make it all worth while?

For more photos of the Paralympic Torch Relay, check out my Facebook page

 

The big chocolate test. I know, right? Tough job but someone’s got to do it…

/3 Comments/in , , /by

Chocolate by Genevie

These chockies are hand made, obviously with great care. There is no guide to tell you what’s what, so it’s a case of diving in. Sam got the coffee one: ‘oh noooo! I got coffee…’ turned quickly into ‘ooh, it’s lush though - like the froth off the top of a latte’. They would make gorgeous gifts too, presented in a really pretty gold box with a little butterfly (£16.99 for 16 chocolates) www.chocolatebygenevie.co.uk

Elizabeth Shaw

Elizabeth Shaw sent the biggest hamper of chocolates I think I’ve EVER seen to our house. The boys fell upon it (I held back - a bit) and by tea time we all felt hideously sick…

 

 

 

They’ve released some yummy new additions to their chocolate crisp range : butterscotch, honeycomb, cocoa crunch and caramel in milk and dark chocolate and they’re all lush. There were some really nice stick things (white chocolate latte flutes, to be precise) - the flavour is really lovely, and that’s coming from a coffee hater - but sorry, mint crisp will always have my heart! They’ve got a competition running at the moment, giving away 7 boxes of chocolates a week if you’re feeling lucky: www.elizabethshaw.co.uk/competition/

Montezumas

We’re huge fans of Montezumas (and no, not just because they’re always sending us massive slabs of chocolate) and they have just brought out some great British pudding bars: the Summer Pudding one, Venezuelan milk chocolate with raspberries and blueberries, is utterly delicious but our favourite by miles is the absolutely gorgeous Lemon Meringue: Ecuador dark chocolate with lemon and meringue. Seek it out and don’t share it with anyone. (£2.49 for 100g bars).

Oreos

Oreos (generally used in this house to make the best ice cream EVER - smash them into home made vanilla or chocolate ice cream) have just released new Oreo two biscuit snack packs. Priced £1.79 RRP, you get ten multipacks of two in a box.

Hasslacher’s Hot Chocolate

Hasslacher’s Hot Chocolate comes in a big chunky block just like normal chocolate but is actually a solid bar of drinking chocolate made from 100% Columbian cacao. It’s a national obsession in Columbia, with 4 million bars sold every month, and is brand new in the UK. It isn’t sweet, so you need to add a bit of sugar but it’s just the best, chocolatey hot chocolate we’ve ever tried and is great fun to make t00 (you just melt a square or two into hot milk, then whisk like a lunatic for gorgeously smooth, intensely flavoured hot chocolate). Look out for it in M&S’s International Brands section, priced £4.99.

Cocoa Boutique

Cocoa Boutique is a luxury artisan chocolate tasting club. Every month they send out a collection of chocolates to try, which have been tried by a team of dedicated taste testers (you can actually get the chance to become a taste tester if you want - www.cocoaboutique.com/free-chocolates)

You can choose to have a box every month, two months, or whatever you like. All the chocolates are handmade by Master Chocolatiers from both the UK and all around the world.

 

Review: The Great British Bake Off: showstoppers

/1 Comment/in , , /by

If you follow me on Twitter you’ll know that I’m addicted - ADDICTED - to the Great British Bake Off. I like very few television programes but I’m guaranteed to get all stabby and annoyed if you talk through the Bake Off. Be warned.

I was delighted, then, to be sent the book from the current series: The Great British Bake Off: how to turn everyday bakes into showstoppers. The book contains loads of Showstopper Challenges, inspired by the competition. Each section shows the basic recipe, for example a brioche dough, and then three different challenges, for example sweet brunch rolls, a more technical Camembert brioche, and finally herby brioche rolls. The recipes are all labelled with their difficulty (easy, needs a little skill, etc) and the recipes are all clear and easy to follow.

I was keen, after watching last night, to have a look at the instructions for Paul technical challenge, the plaited loaf (I’m definitely going to give this a go) and it seems a lot easier than on the show: explaining how to number your strands of dough from 1-8 and then placing them under or over the other strands as you go… mind you, I expect it’s a lot easier in the comfort of your kitchen than under the timed, slightly stressy atmosphere of the bake off studio! Some of the recipes don’t have photos, which is a bit frustrating, especially with recipes like the autumn wreath - a plaited yeasted bread wreath that I think really needs a picture to help you along.

If you’re a lover of the Bake Off, there is also a new app that you can get if you’ve got an iPhone with fifty recipes from the series, searchable by occasion, skill level, etc and featuring some kind of whizzy technology which means you don’t have to touch your phone with icky fingers while you’re baking.

The Great British Bake Off: How to turn everyday bakes into showstoppers by Linda Collister is out now, priced £20 and the iPhone app is £2.99.

George at Asda’s new schoolwear gets put through the wringer… and the tunnels… and over the combat wire…

/0 Comments/in /by

Recently, Charlie, our very own Death Wish Dude, was invited by Asda to come and test out their new school uniforms on an army assault course: the best casting ever, as far as we were concerned. Asda have put their new uniforms through 3000 days of testing with 100 kids, and this assault course day was going to put it to the test in the worst conditions possible.

Sadly, the boy and his skates did their usual thing and after a front flip gone wrong, he ended up laid on the sofa with ice packs on his knees instead. Still, some other kids tested the uniform and here’s the result. I think: ‘chosen by mums, tested by kids and guaranteed by George’ just about sums it up, don’t you?

 

Oven baked lemon risotto with garlic prawns

/4 Comments/in , , , , /by

I love making risotto. I find the half hour of methodical stirring and adding stock really therapeutic and relaxing. I know from recent discussion on Twitter, though, that other people hate being tied to the stove for that long, so I thought I’d try out an oven-baked risotto.

This is loosely based on a Donna Hay recipe, I think from Fast, Fresh, Simple (the idea and the rough timings), but none of the ingredients or quantities are the same - apart from the stock and rice, obviously…

For the oven baked risotto:

Slug or two of rapeseed oil

1 onion, finely chopped

300g risotto rice

Juice (and a bit of the zest) of one lemon

1.5 litres chicken stock

So start (in an ovenproof dish like a Le Creuset with a well fitting lid) on the hob. Heat the oil, add the onion and stir until translucent, then add the rice and continue to stir until well coated in the oil. Next add in the juice of the lemon and a couple of grates of the zest (my kids don’t like it too lemony, but if you like more, feel free to add it - also see my note at the end about parmesan). Now stir in all the stock and put on the lid. Pop the whole shebang into a 200 degree/gas 6 oven and forget about it.

After 30 mins, remove the rice from the oven and give it a stir. It should be perfect, but like any risotto, the quantities needed seem to differ every time you make it, so if it’s a little too liquid, allow it to sit for a while, or maybe pop it back onto the hob for a bit, or if it’s too thick for you add a bit of water. Mine was just about right. Check for seasoning. Often cube or jelly stocks can be a bit salty, so don’t add any in at the beginning.

Allow the risotto to sit while you quickly make the prawns:

1 bag raw frozen king prawns, defrosted (or use fresh if you’re that lucky)

Large knob of butter

1 or 2 cloves garlic, crushed with a little salt

So drain the prawns and melt the butter in a frying pan. Add the garlic, stir around, then add in the prawns. Cook them until they are just pink and tender. Serve over the risotto with a large handful of chopped parsley or rocket.

A little note on Parmigiano:

I usually use copious amounts of Parmigiano in my risotto, and actually find that lemon risotto benefits from the saltiness of the cheese. Obviously with fish I left out the cheese (never a good mixture), and both my boys found the risotto too lemony. So if you’re making this risotto on its own or with chicken, I’d recommend a couple of good handfuls of Parmigiano, grated, stirred through at the end. If making with fish - go steady on the lemon, or maybe squeeze it over at the end, to taste.

A level results. ‘A kick up the arse propels you forward’

/24 Comments/in , /by

So AS level results day yesterday. For those of who haven’t reached this milestone yet, AS is the first year of A levels, A2 being the second year. To be honest, our Mad Professor, Sam, knew that he’d not done brilliantly. After breezing through his GCSEs, the workload was a bit of a shock, and the first term he knows he really didn’t do enough. The school insist that they take three subjects, and he was struggling with the huge workload, struggling understanding the physics, and obviously missing the first hour of his biology exam didn’t exactly help, even with a B in his first module. He ended up just scraping through in two of them with an E and failing the physics. Ungraded. After all that hard work and revision…

The school have told him that he can’t retake. They’ve told him he can come back and do three completely different subjects at AS level, just not the ones he’s just done. I don’t understand. Its something to do with funding.

After initially being devastated, he’s a bit more philosophical now. He’s got his Royal Navy fitness test next but, bar a disaster in that, is looking forward to a career in the Navy. BUT he needs at least two A levels for what he wants to do, so if the school really won’t have him back to do the same subjects, he’ll have to pick three new ones, or he’ll have to go on to a sixth form college and repeat his A levels there, away from his friends and the teachers that he likes so much…

Ah well. As his Grandad said to me this morning: ‘a kick up the arse propels you forward’.

Wise words.

A blogiversary. English Mum is six (with video)

/55 Comments/in /by

If I’m being brutally honest, I don’t think I was ever destined to achieve very much.

I was pretty average at school (if you’d like to read one of my reports here, you’ll see my form tutor attesting to the fact that ‘if she is to achieve her true potential she will have to work harder and overcome her tendency to talk in the classroom’) and after doing 57 different jobs, from barmaid to car sales to letting agent (got sacked from that one) to secretary, I finally found a decent job in the police service, only to decide one day down the pub (at 25) that we’d quite like to have a baby. I also remember telling my Mum this momentous news, possibly while in the next breath asking to borrow fifty quid as I needed to tax my car and had run out of money.

My parents, no doubt, despaired.

BUT hey, we went on to have two sons, and managed not to break them (although I dropped them a few times) and they are our pride and joy: strong, funny, amazing young men.

And after all those jobs, what did I end up doing? Well, eating cake and drinking gin, mostly, but - officially - writing, and specifically, writing this blog.

My life experiences have been many, and rich: I have cruised the Caribbean on the Disney Dream, taken part in a TV documentary, wandered the rocket garden at the Kennedy Space Centre, stood at the top of the world’s tallest building in Dubai, experienced Orlando with the best group of buddies you have ever wished for, cooked at Leith’s, gazed up at Chichen Itza’s glory, and, most importantly, have been able to share this wonderful life with my fabulous friends, amazing family, wonderful husband and my two, incredible sons.

My achievements have been few, but varied, and mostly a bit bonkers. I actually made a list in the bath the other day: I’ve won awards, been video messaged by Gary Barlow, I’ve been told to shut up by Dr Brian Cox’s wife, I’ve been hugged by Jimmy Doherty, I’ve raised quite a lot of money for people in Haiti, been referenced as a ‘totally unsuitable brand ambassador’ (proud of that one), and most of it has been due to this blog: my own, tiny corner of the internet where, surprisingly, you’ve all decided to keep popping in. For six years. SIX YEARS! I’ve been called ‘witty’ by Closer Magazine, ‘hilarious’ by the Irish Independent. I’ve also been called ‘darlin’ by Jamie Oliver and been told by Tim Minchin that we are ‘all very nice and good looking’. I have written 1337 blog posts (apparently my gamer boy says this is ‘leet’) and tweeted over 53000 times (this just means I should get out more). Small things, admittedly, but then I was never going to achieve my true potential unless I overcame my tendency to talk, remember?

Anyway, this video is for you, and it’s just my way of thanking everyone that’s important to me, and everyone that’s ever clicked here. There are a couple of omissions - my big bro and my cousin Moon for starters, but hey… Massive thanks to Sam who stayed up until 4am when the original person doing the video let us down.

Do keep on popping in, won’t you?

Scissors cutting cloth…

/37 Comments/in /by

I’ve just seen someone die. Not your average Monday morning…

I took Sam to a health centre for his Navy medical. We sat in the waiting room and a large man came in, sitting opposite us. He was breathing heavily, and when he dropped his keys, I picked them up for him - he didn’t take them straight away and didn’t seem to be completely ‘with it’. I wondered if I should ask if he was okay, but… y’know… British reserve and all that. I wished I had because about a minute later, a nurse went past him and he told her he wasn’t feeling well. He dropped his keys again.

The receptionist got the nurse… they chatted to him, asked him questions… By this time he was sweating and his breathing was harsh and intermittent. We felt like the worst type of voyeurs, sitting quietly in the chairs opposite. They tried to take him in to the doctor’s office, but he said ‘no… I’m going…’ we grabbed a chair and put it behind him. I think I tweeted that the poor man had collapsed, and then again when - what felt like seconds later - the first-response paramedic arrived.

As he was talking to the man - he said his name was Richard - suddenly he stopped breathing. All hell broke loose. Sam and I helped to tip up the chair he was in then pull it from under him. Sam looked awful and the cleaning lady took him away into her office. I was despatched to wait for the ambulance: ‘yell DEFIB at them - do it NOW!’.

The next hour was a blur of noise and colour and heat: I think back now and get little snippets: grey skin, scissors cutting cloth, meshed fingers pounding on his chest, sweat dripping off the paramedic’s nose. I fetched water, held hands… did what I was told.

And then it was all over. The second ambulance arrived and Richard was taken away - one person still pounding on his chest. Afterwards, we sat in the empty clinic, stuff everywhere - and drank tea, blinking in the silence. The paramedic said he wouldn’t make it. In public places, they tend to keep going longer than they would normally, apparently…

Rest in peace, Richard. I didn’t know you but I had a tiny part in your life.

 

 

Hugs

/5 Comments/in , /by

Him: ‘Alright ma?’

Me: ‘Yeah you?’

Him: ‘Yeah I’m cool. Gissa hug.’

Him: ‘Laters then ma.’

Him (as he walks off): ‘Good talk.’

Frozen damson and plum yogurt terrine layered with vanilla plum sorbet

/0 Comments/in , , /by

One of the things I love about Yeo Valley is that they never stop being creative. New flavours and limited editions are always appearing, and their new Limited Edition Damson and Plum Yeogurt is a fine example of this - a lovely, and very British mix of gorgeous ripe plums and that tart little late-summer smasher, the damson.

The plum and damson flavour is delicious on its own, spooned over a fruit compote (use the plum recipe here) or made into an easy, frozen terrine. As you have to wait for each layer to freeze, it’s probably best to make this the day before you need it. Here’s how I did it:

You will need:

1 pot Yeo Valley Damson and Plum Yeogurt (450g)

100ml double cream

For the plum compote:

60g brown sugar

100ml water

250g ripe plums, halved and stoned

1 vanilla pod

First, line a medium loaf tin with cling film

Next, whip the cream and stir gently through the yogurt. Be gentle as it’s the air bubbles that keep the texture of the finished ‘ice cream’ light.

Pour half the yogurt mixture into the loaf tin, level off the top and freeze for a couple of hours. Pop the remaining half into the fridge for later.

Meanwhile, make the compote. Put the sugar and water into a saucepan over a low heat and stir until the sugar is dissolved. Add the plums and vanilla pod, bring to the boil, then turn down and simmer until the plums are tender – about ten minutes should do it. Turn off the heat and allow to cool.

Remove the plums from the syrup (fish out the vanilla pod but keep the syrup, it’s delicious drizzled over the finished terrine) and whizz the plums in a blender or food processor until smooth. Pour over the first frozen layer and return to the freezer for another couple of hours.

Finally, spoon over the remaining half of the yogurt mixture and freeze for another couple of hours or overnight. Remove from the freezer about 20 minutes before serving.

Yeo Valley’s new Damson & Plum yogurt (450g) is available from all major retailers at MRRSP £1.49. For more information about Yeo Valley, product information and recipe ideas, please visit www.yeovalley.co.uk

*Limited edition – on pack offer*

For those thinking of starting their own mini fruit orchard, there’s a fabulous on-pack competition to instantly win one of 500 English fruit trees, with varieties including Conference pears, Victoria Plums and Discovery Apples. Simply pick up a limited edition Damson and Plum yogurt to be in with a chance of winning and keep these rare British fruits alive by starting a little bit of countryside in your own back garden!

Sticky, gooey, plumptious, scrumptious, soft iced buns

/8 Comments/in , , /by

I think of all the recipes I’ve ever published, this one has been the most popular. I made them this morning and was thinking that it’s still one of my most favourite recipes - the buns are just so soft and pillowy, and the topping so delightfully sticky… there’s just nothing better - the ultimate comfort food!

I’ve updated this recipe ever so slightly (doesn’t take much to improve on perfection - I was trying to make the method a bit less waffly, but actually succeeded in putting more waffle in) but hey, the more info you’ve got, the easier it is to do it right? Right?

You will need:

450g strong white bread flour

1 tsp salt

75g caster sugar

1 x 7g sachet dried yeast

150ml milk

150ml water

50g butter

4 or 5 tbsp icing sugar

½ tsp liquid glucose

Sieve the flour into a large bowl, then stir in the salt, sugar, and dried yeast.

In a small saucepan, warm the milk, water, and butter over a low heat until the butter has just melted, then turn off the heat. The liquid should be at no more than blood temperature ( you know, so it doesn’t feel particularly hot or cold when you pop your finger in, I don’t need you to actually bleed or anything…) when it’s added to the dry ingredients. You can do this in the microwave, but remove it as soon as the butter starts to melt and stir gently until it’s all combined, otherwise you’ll be waiting for ages for it to be cool enough.

Pour most of the milky mixture into the dry ingredients and stir it around with a knife until you get a light dough. Leave it as sticky as you can bear as you want your dough plumptiously, pillow-soft. You can always add a bit of flour.

Now start kneading: with the heel of one hand, press and splurge the dough away from you, (imagine you’re smearing it across the work surface) then bring it back, squish it into a ball again, turn it over and then splurge it again. As it’s quite a wet dough this is a bit messy, but that all adds to the fun. Again, if you’re getting really covered, you can always add a bit of extra flour. As you knead it, it will become more elastic and springy and less squelchy.

When you’ve kneaded for about 5 minutes and your dough is springy and pillowy-soft and looks bizarrely like a nice, round bottom-cheek (I have to add this bit for my friend Snaffles Mummy - its her favourite bit), cover it with clingfilm and leave it in the airing cupboard or somewhere else warm until it’s doubled in size. Then, just knock it back with your fist and form it into 8 balls. Either place them on a floured baking tray or arrange them inside a springform cake tin like I did, then cover and rise again until they’re puffed up.

Bake for about 15-20 minutes at 180/gas 6. Now while they’re baking make your icing by adding a couple of teeny drops of boiling water to the icing sugar and liquid glucose (optional but it keeps the icing from setting) until you get a thick, gloopy icing.

As soon as they’re out of the oven (they’ll be pale golden and sound hollow when tapped on the bottom) drizzle the icing all over them so it runs down the sides.

Of course, this basic recipe can be jazzed up really easily - I’ve done it with pink, hibiscus icing, I’ve done birthday buns with blue icing and candles… I did black for halloween one year too.

Add a hint of spice, some orange zest and a handful of sultanas and you’re well on the way to hot cross buns, or if you fancy Chelsea buns, after the first rise, roll the dough out, spread it generously with butter, brown sugar and sultanas, maybe a little sprinkle of cinnamon, roll into a sausage and cut into rounds, arrange them flat onto a baking tray, allow to rise and then bake as before. Just be sure to ram as many into your mouth as you can before anyone else smells them and comes to investigate.

 

The Mad Prof reviews: BassBuds Classics – Limited Edition White

/8 Comments/in , , /by

Hey everyone, Sam here with my first review of many (I hope!). Today I’m reviewing the ‘BassBud Classic’ in-ear headphones (currently discounted to £34.95). Right, off we go! Oh wait one more thing, If you can’t be bothered to read all of this, there is a point summary at the end. Enjoy!

I have had two weeks to test out the headphones, testing out everything that I would normally use or see in everyday life, the BassBuds came in limited edition white and the appearance is modern and stylish, without having anything crazy design-wise to make you stick out like a sore thumb! The crystal in the back of each bud blends in with the design, so as to provide improved sound clarity with the unique crystaltronic system and does not look tacky at all.

The sound quality is amazingly good for the price bracket, definitely putting it at the top with the Sennheiser and SoundMAGIC headphones, But like it says in the name, bass is where these headphones shine, performing at what my parents call ‘Mach 3’ or my ‘normal listening’ volume with no buzzing or vibration.

And lastly my favourite thing about these headphones, they are really comfortable! I have not had a single case of ‘unforced slippage’ while using them and they fit perfectly in my ear, they also come with loads of replacement buds for bigger, smaller or more sensitive ears (different materials).

So there we are! I am very pleased with everything about these headphones and would happily recommend them to friends and family, thanks for reading!

My points:

- High quality sound

- Great bass and treble

- Doesn’t drown out the music with bass

- At even the highest volume sound is crystal clear

- Not just for drum and bass and other bassy music.

- Very comfortable

- Does not slip out at random

- It comes with a storage bag and loads of replacement buds

Features:

- Integrated microphone with controller for hands-free calls

- Compatible with Smart Phones

- Advanced Crystaltronics sound technology for crystal-clear HD audio

- Genuine SWAROVSKI ELEMENTS, the premium brand for fine loose cut crystals embedded into the design

- Gold plated 3.5mm audio jack for optimum connectivity

- Tangle-free, durable, double-wrapped cable

- Precision-cut, high quality aluminium housing

For more information, click on bassbuds.co.uk

 

Proud to be supporting Team GB, but happy for every other athlete at the top of their game

/12 Comments/in /by

We are LOVING the Olympic games - we’ve yelled at the telly, blubbed at the medal ceremonies (and those proud parents - don’t get me started) and generally got into the spirit of it.

One thing I’ve noticed that I think is excellent, is that the crowds at the venues - whilst obviously reserving their biggest cheers for Team GB- have been very supportive of all the other athletes too. The Danish sculls gold medal winners today at Eton Dorney got a standing ovation and rapturous applause. Exactly as it should be.

I was disappointed to see a bit of anti-British feeling recently on an Irish Facebook page. I mean, really? Yes, there’s history, and there’ll always be people who are bitter - I remember when we lived in Ireland, we took a trip up to the greyhound stadium at Dundalk, and as we walked back to our (English number plated) car, a large group of Irish lads walked past it, one of them taking a flying kick and taking off our wing mirror (I also remember a very small Sam piping up in his very English squeaky voice: ‘Daddy! Aren’t you going to chase them?!’ Er no, mate. Not on your nelly.) - but we used to have slaves and put kids up chimneys too - this is the present day, let’s move on, shall we?

My Mum had a young Australian guest recently, and his dislike of ‘Poms’ was made very clear, both on his Facebook updates, and his derision whilst watching the Olympic opening ceremony, even while he was a guest in the house of those much-derided ‘Poms’. WHY? What’s he got against English people? Does being proud of your own nation mean you have to hate everyone else?

I hate this kind of attitute. Yes, I’m British, well, English, but I’ve no beef with any other country, and while I’ll be delighted if we get all the medals, I’ll be damned pleased for every other athlete who, let’s face it, has achieved more in their Olympic careers than I’m ever likely to.

 

A Special K Biscuit Moment (and a bit of pampering) at Champneys

/1 Comment/in , , , /by

I’ve been going to Champneys since I was a kid. No, I didn’t live one of those ‘Richie Rich’ lifestyles where my parents whooshed me around by private jet, I just had a school friend whose Mum and Dad owned Champneys. It didn’t seem at all weird to me at the time. We used to run around the lawns, play hide and seek between the trees and generally behave like loons. I’ve been back a couple of times: my parents bought me a spa day for my 21st, and now my friend Bea manages the gym… two of my other friends, The Foxys met there (and were eventually married)… it’s that just-around-the-corner place that you drive past but don’t really notice.

This time I was invited for a lovely spa day courtesy of Kellogg’s. I like Kellogg’s. I’ve worked with them before and they’re a brand who don’t take themselves too seriously. As we chatted (and watched their fab new Special K video), we talked about the ‘two bowls, two weeks’ thing that they used to do. I think most of the people in the room had tried it… ‘but we’ve moved on from there’, said Sarah, lovely Kellogg’s person with voice of an angel and husband who makes bespoke furniture (it was that kind of day), ‘it’s not about dieting, it’s more about healthy choices and feeling good about yourself’. To this end, they’ve brought out a new biscuity snack. A snack aimed at those of us who can’t just eat ONE biscuit… (I mean, rolls of biscuits open half way down, so you have to eat all of those top ones, right?) called Biscuit Moments. Despite the rubbish name, they’re actually really yummy - kind of crispy and with a fruity filling (blueberry or strawberry at the moment, but watch this space) and a soft vanilla flavoured drizzly bit on top. A pack of two is 99 calories and I have to say, they didn’t taste diety at all (unlike those awful cardboardy things that we’ve had marketed to us as ‘diet’ snackage in the past. My goody bag was pounced on as soon as I hit the front door, and the whole lot were devoured by my family - a sign that they probably taste quite nice. I managed to wrestle the Champneys goodies away though, so it’s all good.

On to the pampering then… after our gorgeous lunch (in a private room) which was healthy, but still delicious - think stuffed peppers, lovely salads with lentils, seafood pad thai… (and check out the Champneys trifles)… we got changed into our obligatory fluffy white towelling robes and headed for the sauna. A couple of my blogging buddies from YEARS ago were there - Alice and Jane from our original trip to Disney, in fact, so we spent a while in the jacuzzi having a reminisce and a cackle. Oh it was all good therapy. On to the actual treatment: I had an Elemis Face & Body Sensation treatment with Elemis’ fabulous Tri-Enzyme Resurfacing Facial and it was truly wondrous. Hot stone massage first, then when I was all warm and limp and drowsy, a lovely facial. I came out glowing, and a little greasy looking, but feeling wonderful.

I’m not sure if I’d stay at Champneys for any period of time, but I’d thoroughly recommend maybe a day spa visit or an overnighter - oh and make sure you visit my friend Bea in the fitness centre too - lots of the fitness sessions throughout the day are free.

Special K Biscuit Moments will be available in the usual places from August 2012 priced at £1.99 for a multipack of five sachets of two biscuits.