Cuisine & Culture the Chinese Family Way
PLj is a classic British brand, which evokes nostalgia amongst many, a favoured slimming aid since the 1970s is a great everyday accompaniment to many drinks and dishes. They can be used for detoxing, adding to recipes or giving a twist to your favourite cocktail. Their natural lemon juice contains no artificial ingredients or colours and is a staple for Pancake Day as an easy, affordable and convenient replacement for fresh lemons.
After all the festivities, I have no doubt that I have put on a few pounds as my regular exercise class has been on a break. I guess bargain hunting in the January sales does count?! We have been eating lots of chocolates, sweeties and even baking cake! Now I need to reign that back a bit and start my healthy eating plan!
Next week, it will be a nightmare with the breakfast routine as the schools reopen and Mr C goes back to work after a long break. But not too worry, as Ryvita has set me a new challenge for this January with 31 easy ways to spruce up a healthy eating plan. From spicy Cracked Black Pepper to sweet Fruit Crunch, the classic rye Ryvita® Crispbread range will give this January some crunch. I hope to be inspired with a variety of toppings, recipes and serving suggestions that will carry me through the month; completely guilt free.
Dorset Cereals and Total Greek Yoghurt kindly sent us a number of their fabulous products to try on our Blogger Night In. Dorset Cereals sent us a range of their delicious breakfasts: Granolas and Porridges. All ingredients are cooked in Dorset, in traditional baking trays, using kitchen cupboard ingredients, no palm oil or anything artificial in the cereals.
Our fabulous Cotton On’s blogger Zoe Lester very kindly organised us huge goody bags! To carry all the goodies, we’re thankfully to JoJoMaman Bebe who sponsored us each a navy JoJo Buggy Bag valued at £9 RRP. This is definitely a great value practical bag. It can be worn over the shoulder or clipped onto the handles of a buggy. It is very big (H36 x W51 x D11cm) and can fill a lot of useful stuff so is perfect for shopping. I have not used it on a buggy as Ms C is able to walk everywhere now. But I imagine it would be very handy for a picnic too! The large strap is quite long and the design is unisex which can be also carried by men!
Thanks to all the amazing companies who sponsored our Bloggers Night In. It was a night to meet and chat about all the good times. Pippa Ainsworth organised a secret Santa amongst the 13 of us. As a non-Christian, I don’t celebrate Christmas, but I decided to make an effort to decorate my bamboo trees with red & green beads, snowflakes and baubles. So when everyone arrived, they dropped their gift into Santa Claus’ bag! These are the looks of the recipients receiving their gifts. I think out of all the gifts, I got the most naughty gift from Laura CYMFT – p-shaped sweeties! Ha ha! How she knows I love that?! Of course, this historic night can’t go without snacks! Many fab companies offered us delights from their products and I’m very grateful for their kindness.
This Christmas is a very sweet one especially when a beautiful jar of sweeties landed on my desk this morning! It is from The Gob Stopper, the online retro sweet shop. They are not only online but they have two shops in Hale and Lymm. They stock all kinds of sweet from vegetarian to halal sweets, chocolates, wedding favours, hampers, Bar/Bat Mitzvahs and more.
Mr C loves to play badminton twice a week and in between games, he often snacks on chocolate or a banana. I am pleased to learn about Nogii (pronounced noh-jee). It is a gluten-free, all-natural snack bar range that has just launched in the UK. Nogii bars contain an optimum nutritional mix of protein, carbohydrates and fats, making them a perfect snack for a healthy lifestyle.
Sometimes it is hard to balance hectic family lives. My day starts with getting both children to have their breakfast and getting them dressed ready for school. Next I have to battle through rush hour traffic to drive them to school. Their school is 3 miles away in another town and driving through the main road can be very stressful at times! When I reach home, I will need to wash, cook and do shopping. Beside that I have to drive them to clubs or their extra curricular activities. It can be so busy that I miss my lunch and by 3 – 4 pm being the time of day I am most likely to reach for the snacks like chocolate, crisps or cake!
Bursting with colour, flavour and the finest ingredients, a brand new seriously remarkable range of savoury biscuits is set to tempt the taste buds of food fans everywhere. Packed with a punch, the remarkable new range is made with the finest ingredients, giving a heavenly and full-flavour experience. The Thomas J Fudge’s range boasts 15 tasty treats, including colourful shards, magnificent melts, exquisite pufferies, fabulous flats and a spectacular Biscuits for Cheese selection.
Last weekend, some of you might have seen that I hosted a Bloggers Night In at my place. So what should we have for dinner? I had thought for a long time, do I cook my usual Chinese food or should I just relax and get takeaway. There are a number of choices from Chinese, Indian, Thai, Kebabs etc. Pizza is always a universally popular food choice and Domino’s kindly offered their services to sponsor our night in!
This morning, I received a large hamper from Warburtons which was supposed to arrive last Saturday for our Blogger Night In. Unfortunately, they arrived too late and none of the bloggers could try them or bring them home. So I have given some away to my neighbours and friends as they now have short expiry dates.
My family and I always enjoy a scoop of ice cream as a dessert even through winter. We have all got a sweet tooth in this family. Today, I went to Tesco to buy a tub of Kelly’s of Cornwall Clotted Cream & Honeycomb which costs £3.99. Besides this flavour, they also sell with strawberry, blackcurrant, golden syrup, vanilla, chocolate, mint choc chip and raspberry in similar sized tubs. They also sell a mini pots range in four different flavours.
Believe it or not! I am hosting a Blogger Night In with 9 other bloggers who I have been chatting with for over a year! For one weekend, I am housing 9 bloggers in my house! Back in August, I wrote a blog post dedicated to all of them. There are 13 of us in this group and unfortunately, there are three of them who are unable to come.
Organix is a well know brand for baby food and snacks. They have built a 40 strong team to make delicious, nutritious baby and toddler food. They have a huge range of food suitable from 4 months onward.
Christmas has come early to our house when two scrumptious types of chocolates landed on our doorstep this morning! I still can’t believe that November is here and soon it will be Christmas. But it is no longer shocking to hear that people have starting to buy Christmas presents. It is always good to start shopping early! I will be sharing my Christmas list in my next post! Tesco have a range of affordable luxury chocolates created by master chocolatiers behind Hotel Chocolat and Harrods. They are priced from £4 to £20.
