Cuisine & Culture the Chinese Family Way
We are a big fans of Coca-Cola in our household and our fridge will always have at least a few cans of Diet Coke. Not only that! A few months ago, I even recycled the plastic bottles to make Coca-Cola fairy lights.
Last month, they asked if we would like to try out their new product Coca-Cola Life before it is available in stores in September. Needless to say I was so excited!
Last February, we went to Scotland and I came across a Chinese restaurants selling Flowering Tea / Flora Tea. I wondered whether this was for decoration or whether it was a real tea. I am not usually the most adventurous person when it comes to these things but this flower tea was really attractive so I ordered one. I had Flower Lover which is made up of green tea, chrysanthemum, globe amaranth and jasmine.
When the waitress presented me a huge wine glass with a ball, I was shocked. I asked for flowering tea and I get a ball in a wine glass full of hot water. So I decided to poke it with a chopstick then decided I better let it brew. It took about 5 minutes to bloom to a full flower. After the flower had bloomed, it was gorgeous! The flavour was nice and the aroma was gorgeous.
Then last week, I went to Chinatown, London and found one of the supermarkets selling the flower tea one for £1.
So I bought it. I’m not sure what they are officially called. But this is how it looks!
Whenever there is a party, there is always drinking involved! I would like to thank all the companies who have kindly sponsored us for our bloggers night in weekend. Without them, we wouldn’t have had such an awesome gathering. Before our night in, I had read The Lazy Hostess for ideas of how to entertain and feed my guests without breaking the bank and barely lifting a finger! Following one of the seven habits of highly stress free hostesses, I asked Pippa Ainsworth to be my cocktail bar girl! She is in charge of serving my guests plenty of cocktails, wine and non alcohol drinks.
15 years ago, Bubble Pearl Milk Tea used to be a premium tea where it would cost around S$4 (Singapore Dollars) and nowadays you can get it for S$1 in Singapore. Recently, I have introduce my son to bubble milk tea when we were in London Chinatown. That cost us around £3.50 for a small cup.
LoveTea is a company set up by husband and wife, Matthew and Sarah. They want the UK tea lovers to experience the world’s best teas. So each month you will receive a different gourmet tea sourced directly from gardens in Sri Lanka, Japan, China and India. The delivery is free and the package fits through your letterbox. LoveTea company kindly gave me a 40% discount off for the first month to my readers using ETSPEAKS40.
We were given vouchers to try out Naked Juice Smoothies and so we popped by our local Sainsbury’s. There were only two ranges of smoothies on their shelves which is the Green Machine Antioxidant Family and Blue Machine Superfood.
Party party party! We all love party! Yesterday, although we had thick snow, our lovely guests still managed to turn up for our Blossom Hill Vie Rosé Wine tasting party! We also had a curry takeaway. I think that Blossom Hill Vie Rosé is very light, sweet, fruity and easy to drink. As such, it is great with any type of food or on it’s own. We sampled it indoors whilst it was snowing heavily outside, but I would imagine it would be particularly refreshing during hot summer evenings when served chilled.
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Not long ago, I had signed up at mumsnet to be a wine reviewer for Blossom Hill Vie White 5.5%. I think that Blossom Hill Vie White is very light, fruity and easy to drink. Great with any type of food or on it own. If I would describe the taste of Vie to my friend, I would agree with the description of being able to taste the fruity flavours of citrus, pear and apricot. It is a reduced alcohol wine that is elegant and juicy. Vie is delicate and full of flavour – perfect when you would like a glass of wine without the high alcohol content.
Last Saturday, even with a thick blanket of snow, most of my guests still managed to attend my Gallo Moscato Party. We had a lot of beautiful Moscato sweet wine and Arden and Amici Almond biscuits.
For a fabulous twist on a traditional favourite, check out the new Maltesers malty chocolate drink. We are a big fan of Maltesers so when they introduced the Maltesers malty chocolate drink, I jumped at the chance to review it.
With the light, bubbly taste associated with Maltesers, and a unique frothy top, this delicious malty drink can be made by adding hot milk or water, depending on your taste. It is packed in a bright red resealable eco pack. The zip-lock opening is easy to use and saves me time and mess to transfer into jar or bottle.
