Tesco Bakery Cookie Review

We were asked to try these rather delicious Triple Chocolate Cookies

 The cookies are a rich brown colour with chunks of white and milk chocolate.

The cookies looked as good as they tasted. 

The texture of the cookie was crisp. 

The second day after purchase the cookies still had a crisp 

texture and yet had a chewy centre.

There was just the right amount of chunks to cookie.

 Pure chocolate heaven in the shape of                      

a delicious Cookie.

Our overall opinion of the cookie were that the cookies tasted

 better on the second day after purchase.

I am a buzz agent and was supplied them to try and 

give my honest opinion on the cookies.

Chocolate apple cake

Ingredients

7oz Sugar

5 Eggs

3floz oil

6oz Plain flour

2 tbsp Cocoa powder

1 tsp Baking powder

1 tsp Cinnamon

1 tsp mixed spice

1 tsp Ground ginger

350g Apples

Preheat oven to 180C/Gas 4.

Grease and flour a 6in cake tin.

Beat the eggs and sugar until pale.

Add the oil and beat until well combined.

Sieve the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, cinnamon, mixed spice

 and ginger. Add to the egg mixture and mix till all combined.

Chop the apple into cubes and add to the mixture.

spoon mixture into your prepared cake tin.

Bake in the oven for 45 mins or until a skewer inserted into the 

centre comes out clean.

Leave to cool in the tin before turning out onto a cooling rack.

Serve with cream or ice cream if you prefer

ENJOY!

Moroccan chicken

Ingredients

Chicken breasts

3tbsp Olive Oil

2 Onions

1 Tube of Tomato Puree

4oz Ginger

3 Cloves of Garlic

1tsp Turmeric

1 tsp each of Coriander, Cumin and Cinnamon

1 x Butternut Squash, desseded and cut into bite size chunks

1 pint of Chicken stock

2 tbsp brown sugar

2 tbsp Red Wine Vinegar

4oz Dried Cherries

Risotto Rice

Fresh Mint 

Parmisan Cheese

1: Place Chicken breasts in a bowl and season with salt 

and pepper.

2: Heat 2 tbsp of Olive Oil in a flame-proof dish and then 

add Chicken, brown on all sides.

3: Remove browned Chicken onto a plate.

4:Chop Onion, and finely chop Ginger and Garlic and mix

 into the Tomato Puree.

5: Slice the 2nd Onion and with the 3rd Tbsp of Olive Oil 

add to the Flame proof dish until onion is softened.

6: Add the spices for approx 1 min.

7: Add the Tomato Puree mix and cook for a few minutes.

8. Return the Chicken to the Flame proof dish along with

 the Butternut Squash, Chicken Stock, Brown Sugar and 

Red Wine Vinegar.

9: Bring to a simmer and cook for approx 30 mins.

10: Lift out Chicken again.

11: Add the risotto rice and the cherries and allow the sauce

 to simmer to thicken.

12: Cut Chicken into bite sized pieces and add to the dish.

13: Now finely chop Mint and Shave Parmesan Cheese.

14: Take dish off heat and sprinkle the mint and cheese on 

top and serve.

ENJOY!

Coconut cupcakes

Ingredients

4oz Butter

4oz Golden caster sugar

2 Eggs

4oz Self raising flour

1oz Desiccated coconut

Preheat oven to 180F/350C/Gas 4.

Put 12 cupcake cases into a cupcake tray.

Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.

Add 1 tablespoon of flour and 1 egg and stir until combined repeat

 for the further egg. Add the remaining flour and coconut and stir well.

Divide the mixture between the 12 cupcake cases you prepared earlier.

Bake in the oven for 15-20 mins or until a skewer inserted 

into the centre comes out clean.

ENJOY!

Ginger loaf cake

Ingredients

1lb Plain flour

3tsp Baking powder

1tsp Bicarbonate of soda

3tsp Ground ginger

6oz Butter

6oz Soft brown sugar

3oz Black treacle

7oz Golden syrup

1 Egg

10floz Milk

Grease and flour a loaf tin. Preheat the oven to 160C/325F/Gas 3

Sift the flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and ginger. 

Place the butter and sugar into a bowl and beat until light and fluffy. 

Add the treacle and golden syrup to the butter mixture and stir well. 

Add a tablespoon of flour and the egg and mix well. Add the 

remaining flour mixture and the milk and stir until it is all combined 

Add the mixture to your loaf tin and cook for 1 half hours or until a 

skewer inserted into the centre comes out cleanly.

Allow the cake to cool in the tin before turning out onto a cooling rack.

ENJOY!

HOW TO LOOK LIKE YOU by ROSE McCLELLAND REVIEW

This is a book on Kindle that Kat won in a competition, and as an aspiring author
and a bookworm, I was given the opportunity to read this book.

Now what can I say about this novel? Excellent, well written and entertaining just
about sums up this novel. Each character leaps off the page and every one has a
story to tell in their own right and are so well thought out that as you read each
page you can actually picture them in your mind as real people.

The story itself is thoroughly entertaining , captivating and draws you in from the
first page and to be quite honest it is a hard book to put down once you start
reading.

I will not give away anything about the plot other than it revolves around the lives
of the three main characters Ella, Chloe and Aiden and is utterly brilliant and I
think represents the lives of the characters and their attitudes to their lives and of
their insecurities and is totally believable. It is a very readable book and you will
love it! But please, don't just take my word for it, please go to Amazon and pick
up a copy for yourself and read it. You will love it.Remember 'How to Look
Like You' by Rose McClelland read it now you won't regret it.

PRESUMED DEAD by SHIRLEY WELLS Review

Kat won a copy of this superb fast paced crime novel by the excellent and
talented novelist Shirley Wells after entering a competition. As I especially
like crime novels/dramas and I am aspiring to become an author myself Kat
let me read this book and it was fantastic.

The book is entitled 'Presumed Dead' which is part of a series of books with
the lead character called Dylan Scott, who was an ex policeman, an ex con
and is now a Private Investigator.

His wife has thrown him out and he has moved into the smallest flat possible
and to make matters worse, his mother has decided to move in with him.
The book starts with Dylan driving to Devon to meet a potential client Holly
Champion. Once there, he is told of her mother's mysterious disappearance
when Holly was but a child.When he realises the dedication Holly has spent
over the years to ensure she has enough funds to pay for an Investigator and
that she simply wants answers good or bad Dylan agrees to take on the case
having first established that it will cost a great deal of money which is
something that doesn't bother Holly. As she has a constant need to know
what had happened to her mother and whether she ran away or worse.
So armed with pictures of Holly's mother, and as much background
information as possible Dylan heads north to the Lancashire town of
Dawson's Clough.

The inhabitants lives are all cleverly interwoven and there are no end of
suspects. Dylan meets with retired D.C.I Frank Willoughby and allows him
to tag along on the case.

The book gives nothing away as to the identity of the murderer until near the
end, but there are plenty of twists and turns along the way to keep the reader
guessing.

The book over time paints a picture of Dawson's Clough allowing the reader
to be able to visualise the town and it's surroundings and every character is
well rounded and leap from the page as solid believable people.

All in all 'Presumed Dead' is a brilliant read, an exciting  page turner that keeps
entertaining from cover to cover.So please don't just take my word for it, go
and pick up a copy of 'PRESUMED DEAD' by SHIRLEY WELLS and read
it and enjoy every single page. I promise you will not be disappointed. You'll
want to read the others in the series. I know I do. So thank you Shirley for
producing such wonderful, work. First class!

Toni & Guy product review

I am a buzz agent and was sent some Toni & Guy products to try

 out and give my honest opinion on.

Casual Sculpting Powder 

Mattifying, Volume & Texture

Sculpting powder: Helps combat grease and creates volume and shape with

a matt finish.

Directions of use: Dust directly at the roots and work through with fingers or

backcomb for extra body. Create light hold with natural movement.

Comes in a small dispenser and at first seemed as if nothing was coming out but

on closer examination the powder is very light and falls into the roots of the hair

easily. A quick work through with my fingers had Dylan's hair spiking lightly 

although it did not hold for long in his thick hair. It did leave the matt finish which

in blond hair made it look a little grey.

Curl Defining Oil

Lightweight Conditioning

Curl Defining Oil: Conditions and smoothes curls, helps combat against frizz 

for improved definition and control.

Directions of use: Comb though damp hair  then heat style or let curls dry 

naturally.

Heat Protection Mist

Anti Static Control

Heat Protection Mist: Helps protect against damage and breakage 

caused from heat styling and conditions hair for a softer, smoother finish.

Directions of use: Before heat styling, spray evenly over damp hair 

and comb through. Top up i in-between blow drying and straightening 

by spritzing over hair.

We combined the Curl Defining Oil & Heat Protection Mist on Kay's 

hair before curling it. This was her fave style which left her hair soft. 

Shine Gloss Serum

Brilliant finish

Shine Gloss Serum: Controls frizz with lightweight shine and alignment.

Directions of use: Rub 1-2 pumps of serum between palms and work 

through lengths and ends of dry hair avoiding roots. 

This product was light yet gave a gorgeous shine to our hair. 

Sea Salt Texturising Spray

Texture & Body

Sea Salt Texturising Spray: Creates texture and natural movement 

with light hold

Directions of use: Spray evenly over damp or dry hair to create 

tousled waves and style with fingers.

Kays hair felt great after combining the Sea Salt Texturising Spray & Shine
Gloss Serum it gave her hair texture and body and silky to the touch.

SMENCILS- THE COLLECTABLE CRAZE REVIEW

Everyone knows that kids love to draw, and everyone knows that the vast majority
of kids love to drink ROBINSONS FRUIT SHOOT.

Well, NEW for 2012, ROBINSONS FRUIT SHOOT have teamed up with
SMENCILS brought to you by LEARNING RESOURCES to produce Fruit
Shoot smelling pencils called SMENCILS.

SMENCILS are the world's only scented pencils, made from 100% recycled
newspaper.

This pack of SMENCILS contains 5 SMENCILS each one is packaged in it's
own biodegradable plastic tube, topped with a blue bung that is not only colour
coded on the tip denoting the flavoured scent within but it also has the flavour name
printed on it to.The pack we received contained the Fruit Shoot flavours: Apple,
Orange, Summer Fruits, Blackcurrant & Apple and Tropical.

So not only do you have the Fruit Shoot smell but the SMENCILS really do work
in exactly the same way as an ordinary pencil.

They are well presented and are brightly coloured and combined with the scent,
kids will love them.

Priced at £5.99 for a set of 5 they are reasonably priced for any family and a
great addition to any pencil case.

Our son Charlie couldn't wait to get to grips with these Smencils.

He is a bit of a Fruit Shoot 'nut' and he couldn't help but sniff the Smencils

and said they smelt 'Absolutely great and my friends are going to be so 

jealous'. 

Being a keen doodler, he couldn't wait to put them to the real test and 

soon out came the paper so he could get doodling! 

The Smencils worked exactly like any ordinary pencil.

Charlie was really delighted with these scented pencils and we are certain

that they will encourage Kids of ALL ages to take up drawing in a really 

fun way.

Please check out Learning Resources fantastic facebook competition to win 

not 5 but but a pack of 10 of these fantastic smencils.

We were sent this product in exchange for ourselves to review and give our
own personal opinion no monitories were exchanged

CORNWALL 2012

 

We were up at 2am to start our journey to Tamar Lakes near Bude, Cornwall. The car was
 all packed the day before, so all I had to do was load Kat and our son Charlie into the well
 packed car so the journey could begin....
      We arrived at our destination earlier than planned and were pleasantly surprised by the
 quiet and relaxed atmosphere and that we were allowed to book in early! Most places are
strict on times for booking in.
   The Manager showed us to the wooden camping tent pod that we would be staying in. It
 contained bunk beds a food storage unit, cool box with ice packs and table and chairs.
We soon had the car unpacked and were ready to start our holiday in quick time. (usually
we would be erecting an 8 man tent at this stage!)
   It was so lovely and quiet and there were only a handful of people camped. This may
 have been down to the rotten rainy weather. We had a great view of the lake and the
surrounding countryside.
  The Lake was huge and many people fish and sail on the lake. There was a lot of
Canadian Geese present, as well as nesting sand martins, a large grey heron and a couple
 of Cormorants sitting around on the floating bouys.
     The walk around the lake took approx 1 hour and was lovely and quiet.

          Our first outing of the holiday took us to Quince Honey Farm in South Molton,
Devon. A great place and easy to find too! The fried breakfast was very tasty and the
staff were very friendly and made us feel welcome. There was a large indoor play area
that Charlie loved and he made several new friends.
   They not only had bees, but they also had Leaf Cutting Ants and Asian Weaver Ants
going about their lives which were quite fascinating to watch.

        Our next outing was all in the name of Family History and a trip into the wilds of
Dorset! A few of Kat's ancestors hailed from Dorset so armed with a list of surnames
and locations we set off to see if we could locate the Parish Churches and hopefully a
few headstones. We were lucky enough to find one or two which as any family historian
will tell you is a bonus as generally you won't find any. Still we got a few good photo's
 of churches to go with Kat's collection.

        We went to Morrisons in Bude for a few supplies and directly opposite was a large
 play zone and as the weather was still rotten we took Charlie in there for a couple of
hours. What a popular place that was, busy busy busy! Charlie loved it and again made
 new friends and he loved the vertical drop slide! We then decided to explore the town
and treated ourselves to a Cornish cream tea. YUMMY!!
   Kat found a cooking/baking supply shop so £20 later and a carrier bag, we made our
way back to the car.

        The weather was still bad (good old fashioned British summer), so we went to a
large adventure park called 'The Milky Way'. Luckily it had loads going on inside and
was a very busy and popular venue. Because Kat is disabled and has to use a wheelchair
whenever we go out she got in for FREE!! While Charlie and I had to pay (BOO!!!) lol.
 Kat did some ceramic painting while I took Charlie to try his hand at archery! Robin
Hood had nothing on him lol xx He loved the play zone too but was a little nervous of the
 high vertical slides but being the adrenaline freak he is he soon overcame his fear and
was throwing himself off the vertical slides.
    I did call his bluff though as he insisted I took him on an alien ride hee hee.
    But all in all, I think the Birds of Prey area and their display had to be the highlight of
 the day. It was fantastic!!!! Boy them birds were fast!

          Again we went on our quest for more Family History, more ancestor hunting by
 paying a visit to St.Ewes in Cornwall. No headstones but a couple of pictures of the
Parish Church made it all worthwhile.

      Because the weather really was awful we spent the rest of our holiday time in play z
ones, shopping malls and Hobbycraft as Kat has now taken up knitting as a hobby. I have
 put my orders in already lol. But because the weather wasn't showing any signs of
improving we cut our holiday short and returned home to a mountain of packets and
parcels from all the competitions that Kat had won (  cleaver girl! )

Cornish Real Ale

          As I have a particular taste for real ale. I was spoilt for choice in Cornwall, but eventually decided upon three different Ales to try out...

    ROUGHTOR 4.7% - Brewed by Penpont Brewery, Altarnun, Cornwall.

                       A very tasty and enjoyable Ale. Amber in colour and with a full hop flavour. Very drinkable indeed! If you get the chance try it! You won't be disappointed!