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.
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.
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.
Last month, I received an email to invite me for a dinner with Chobani. I was wondering who or what is Chobani as I had not heard or seen them before. So I went to Google them and found out that they make strained yoghurt. Their yoghurt are made with only naturally-sourced ingredients, free of preservatives and artificial flavours. It is also fat free, it includes 5 live & active cultures and have twice the protein of regular yoghurt. They are safe for those with nut and soy allergies and suitable for vegetarians.
I have never paid attention to glasses until I started blogging. Nowadays I am always on the lookout for nice kitchenware. A good quality set of glasses will enhance the drinks in any photo. Ozeri who had recently sent me the bathroom scale for review has now kindly given me a set of four beautiful glasses. These are double wall thermo glasses that are made from durable, heat resistant, mouth-blown borosilicate glass. Borosilicate glass is stronger than common glass and shatter resistant. But I wouldn’t use it with a child even though it is shatter resistant. The glass’s capacity is small and will only fill 8 oz of drink with is roughly about 227 ml. I would say the glass will take around 200 ml as you wouldn’t want to fill it up to the top of the rim. This will look great with cocktails, iced teas or even cappuccinos.
As an ex-nurse, I am always quite careful what I give my children and do read the label before I buy. When choosing drinks for my children’s packed lunch, the ingredients are always of concern – are they full of sugars, sweeteners, artificial colours, flavours or preservatives?
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.
Have you ever wanted to take two different drinks out with you and so needed to fill up two bottles/containers for it? Well Brother Max has a convenient solution to that – the Two Drinks Cooler Sports Bottle has a unique inner and outer bottle. In this packet, you will have one inner and outer bottle, leak-proof lid and a freezer cap. We love how clever this bottle is as it can be used in a number of different ways.
Are you running out of ideas for what to get for your father this coming Father’s Day? Why not get them a SodaStream Home Drinks Maker! Recently SodaStream was voted one of UK’s Cool Brands, SodaStream is all about making smart, simple soda. They received the prestigious Good Housekeeping Institute approval for its Yves Béhar-designed Source drinks maker. A couple months ago, Jamie Oliver mentioned making ‘champagne’ using white wine and a SodaStream on the Jonathan Ross show! What a great tip!
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.
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.
Almond Breeze® is teaming up with the Foodies100 to challenge you to come up with an easy to make, yet incredibly scrumptious, breakfast smoothie for a chance to win a fantastic gourmet hotel stay for two people, where you’ll definitely find the time to enjoy a hearty breakfast.
The unsweetened variant boasts 60 per cent fewer calories than even skimmed milk, as well being low in saturated fat and a good source of calcium, making it a really healthy – and delicious – way to start the day. There are three variants of Almond Breeze® in the range; unsweetened, original and chocolate, all of which are bursting with health benefits. If you’re looking for some smoothie and breakfast recipe inspiration or simply some more information about Almond Breeze®, just head to www.almondbreeze.co.uk.
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.
