Monthly Archives: April 2011

Bambrough Castle

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We are very lucky living in Newcastle Upon Tyne as we are in striking distance of a great many lovely places to visit. If you go along the Northumbrian coast you will soon find yourself on a route that is jam packed with a number of different castles, lovely seaside towns and of course Holy Island and the Farne Islands. One of the castles that is well worth a visit is Bamburgh castle. It is set on a hill overlooking the coast in a very dramatic way. The outcrop it is set on was formed by volcanic activity many years ago and as you drive into the village of Bambrough the castle dominates the area. You can easily see by looking at the hillside how difficult it must have been to attack this castle.

Bambrough castle has a long history, there has been a fortification of some sort on the site since the year 420. Obviously this would have been a fort rather than the impressive structure that you see today. The castle we see today was based on the castle the Normans built in around the 1000′s but it has been added onto and lovingly restored by William Armstrong a victorian industrialist who was born in Newcastle. He was a very interesting man who had a house at Cragside, also within striking distance of Newcastle, which was the first house in the country to be lit by incandescent lamps.

Bambrough castle is well worth a visit and the inside is very striking. It is certainly a good days visit to look around.

We did not look inside on this visit but we did go down to one of Northumberland’s best kept secrets, the glorious golden beach that the castle overlooks. These beaches go on forever and are rarely crowded. As it was April it was really windy and good kite flying weather. However on a sunny day this beach is glorious. From the shore you can see the Farne Islands. These are  a seabird sanctuary and home to puffins amongst other birds. If you go a few miles down the road to Seahouses you can get a boat which takes you on a tour around the islands. In nesting season this is really worth doing, provided the sea is calm. It is a lovely day out and being close to the sea the fish and chips are fabulous.

Nip and Fab Frown fix winners

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Thank you for entering my competition to win one of five Nip and Fab Frown Fixes. I have just done battle with random.org and pulled five names out of the hat.  The lucky winners of my competition are:

  • Jay
  • Lynsey
  • MunchKim
  • Alex
  • Splodz

Well done! I have sent you all an email, if you can get your details to me I will organize for these to be sent out.

Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffenegger

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I must be one of the only people in the world who has never managed to watch or read the Time Traveler’s Wife so I was unsure what to expect from Her Fearful Symmetry, which is Audrey Niffenegger’s second novel.  It is billed as a ghost story and it is one, but it is much more than that. It takes a number of threads of different peoples lives and weaves them together into a compelling way.

It starts with loving couple Elspeth and Robert. Elspeth has had cancer for some time and at the start of the book she dies. Robert is left in his flat overlooking Highgate Cemetery to grieve and to get on with his everyday life, writing his thesis and giving tours of the cemetery to tourists.  Elspeth is an identical twin. She has been estranged from her sister Edwina for a number of years, but no one but the twins is aware of the reason for this. Edwina lives in America and has two daughters, Julia and Valentina who are mirror twins.  Elspeth leaves them her flat in London on the condition that Edwina and her husband are not allowed to visit.

Julia and Valentina are surprised to learn they have an aunt. They hope that a move to London will help them to lead separate lives. Currently they have dabbled in a number of different things, different university courses and careers but have no clear idea of what they want to do. They are very close and in a way they resent this. Little do they know that the move will embroil them in a number of other peoples lives and things will change drastically for them both.

This is complex look at relationships and the grieving process from a number of different points of view. Robert has lost Elspeth and must move through the grieving process. Elspeth has become a ghost and  no one knows she is there! The twins are starting to resent each other and wish to move apart. To add to the mix there is an obsessive compulsive agoraphobic neighbour whose wife has given up on him and left for Amsterdam.

Although the book is a bit slow to start,  you soon get pulled into the different threads of the characters lives. The characters interact brilliantly and begin to help each other in varying ways which makes for interesting reading. The story though has a number of interesting twists and turns which are spin tingling and make for a modern day ghost story that is worth the read.  The ending is unexpected but once you get there it makes perfect sense. It is rather sad and you wish that the characters had made different choices but its hard to see how any other outcome would work.  I am glad I picked up this book to read and am looking forward to reading The Time Traveller’s Wife to see how it compares.

Acorelle Epilation body scrub

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Its sunny outside, time to start baring flesh to get the sunshine. Time to invest in a good body scrub to slough away the trials of  winter and to make your skin look nice. Time to bring out the fake tan and pretend you have been sunning yourself on a beach. I recently tested this Acorelle Epilation body scrub from MyPure.  Everything from MyPure is free from sulphates, parabens and pthalates and they use natural ingredients.

This body scrub uses crushed almond kernels for the scrubby bits and for moisturising your skin it has a mixture of organic beeswax and organic royal jelly.  Royal jelly is secreted by bees to feed their larvae and as a result is very difficult to harvest. I didn’t realise one hive would only produce about 500g of royal jelly over a six month period.  As you may know it is very high in vitamins, minerals and enzymes and because of this is prized for use in a wide range of products.   It is recommended that this body scrub is used once or twice a week on moist skin.

This is what it looks like in the jar. It is has a rich creamytexture with good size almond kernel pieces. The smell is a little bit bitter but its not strong so you so not really notice.  It feels really nice on the skin, you can feel the scrubbing action but it is not harsh.  The moisturising properties really seem to work well. After use my skin did feel a lot smoother and softer. It spreads really well and you find you do not to use very much to get a good effect.

This product costs £12.99 for a 200ml pot.  Its a lovely body scrub which works really well. The only downside is that you are left with bits of almond kernel in the bath after use, but this can be said about other similar products.

Drinking Fudge from Fudge Kitchen

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Recently I tried some Drinking Fudge from Fudge Kitchen. I must admit I was very intrigued by this idea as fudge is one of my favourite things .  I have never heard of drinking fudge before and I wondered what it was going to be like.  I must admit it did sound a very yummy idea. Drinking fudge comes in six different flavours. These are Moreish Mint, Tangy Orange,  Dreamy Coconut, Gorgeous Ginger, Classic Chocolate and Mocha Chocolate Madness.  I would quite like a vanilla fudge flavour as well. They come in small packets each one of which contains a plastic sachet with the drinking fudge in it.

It is really easy to make. All you need to do is to microwave a cup of milk for a minute to warm it up. The drinking fudge, which is a bit like melted chocolate in consistency is stirred into it and then you warm the cup in the mircowave a little bit longer.  After that simple preparation it is ready to drink. Make sure you do stir it throughly though or the fudge will sink to the bottom of the cup and you will lose some of the benefit.

I tried the Classic Chocolate and I must say it is a really dreamy drink. It has a lovely soft smooth taste that is really luxurious and rich.  It is the sort of drink that could be jazzed up to make something really exciting with a swirl of cream, a couple of marshmallows and a drop of alcohol this would be the perfect drink to keep out the winter chills.

Drinking fudge currently costs £8.00 for six flavours on the Fudge Kitchen site. Definitely something to get if you fancy a lovely treat. Be careful on the site though or you may find yourself buying lots of other things!

Coleen Butterflies Perfume

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I was interested to find out that Coleen Rooney has just launched a new fragrance which is called Coleen butterflies.  It seems more and more celebrities are jumping on the fragrance bandwagon these days and are designing their own perfume. I was interested to see what this would be like.

The bottle is lovely, it is pink glass suitable adorned with gold butterflies to go along with its name.  This would look lovely on any dressing table. Its v ery girly looking bottle, with all that pink.

The fragrance itself is described as a  sparkling burst of citrus, sultry rose and hibiscus opens the fragrance , melting the senses with subtle hints of black pepper, nutmeg and vanilla flower, tumbling into a fall of creamy cedar and rose wood with a subtle hint of amber and tonka bean; the sumptuous scent lingers on to leave an indelible impression. This sounds fabulous, would it live up to expectations?

When I first sprayed it on it was quite a heavy and musky. You could get the hints of black pepper and nutmeg coming though.  At first it was a little bit too heavy for me but I found that it soon softened and you got a more floral tone with hints of vanila.  This was much more subtle and rather nice.  It was quite a sophisticated scent and I did not find it heavy and overpowering.  The scent does  not really match the bottle, I was expecting something a bit lighter and more airy. It does start off like more of a sultry evening perfume but when worn for a while is more of an everyday perfume. This is quite nice and a lot more sophisticated than I thought it was going to be.

This perfume will be avaialable in 50ml and 100ml bottles. The price will be around £24 for £50ml and around £38 for 100ml.

An Eggtraordinary Eggasperating morning

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As everyone knows it is coming up to Easter which if you are a parent of primary school age children you will know involves the school thinking up lots of Easter related activities for the children to take part in.  This is brilliant and only to be encouraged, but yesterday it meant I had a rather eggasperating morning. In case you hadn’t guessed the problem involved eggs. Late in the evening my son announced that he needed a boiled egg to take to school the following morning to decorate for an Easter competition.  Normally this would not be an issue as I have loads of eggs in the fridge but this particular day I had none.  There isn’t even anything that you could remotely pass off as an egg substitute. Here, have a piece of bread to decorate instead, that just would not work.

As it was rather late I decided I would pop to Asda the next morning before he left to school, buy some eggs boil them and all would be perfect! If only that had been the case. Needless to say the best laid plans of chickens and eggs often go astray!  The next morning I got up early. I waited for the sun to wake up and dashed to Asda at 6am. Thank goodness for 24 hour supermarkets, they must get a lot of frazzled mums rushing in before school. I got my eggs and went home.  Brilliant I thought and put my eggs on to boil before going and getting my son up, thinking I would come down to perfectly boiled eggs.

Alas it was not to be! I came downstairs, ready to remove my eggs and get them ready for school, only to find I had turned on the wrong ring. The ring behind the pan was red, the pan stood there forlorn and cold.  I still had time I thought turning the ring on and leaving the eggs once more to boil. When I came back another disaster. The eggs were boiled but the shells were cracked! These could not be decorated. As well as this I had managed to very successfully melt the colander. I am not quite sure how I managed that one, it takes a certain amount of skill to do things like this. I am not quite sure how the eggs cracked, normally there are no problems boiling them. I suspect they just don’t make them like they used to.

By now I was rather frazzled and my son was nearly ready to depart. Third time lucky I thought to myself and put another pan on.  This time the eggs worked and I managed to run them under the tap to cool them and get them in his bag just as his taxi arrived to take him to school.

The story does have a happy ending, my son returned from school and he had won a prize for the best decorated egg. Result, one happy child was worth the frazzled mum that morning. The moral of the story is to make sure you have loads of eggs in your house around easter time if you have school age children. Needless to say I was the butt of all the yolks on twitter that morning!

Classic Indian Recipes by Manju Malhi

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I was pleased to be sent this lovely book recently to look at. As you can see it is a book on classic Indian recipes and it contains 75 signature Indian dishes. My husband loves curry but I am always unsure of how to go about making it.  With this book I got my chance.

The book is a nice size, it is A5 size which is just ideal for having open in the kitchen while you are trying to cook. A lot of books are just too big and its difficult to find a place to put them to refer to.  The introduction to the book is interesting. It give an overview of Indian hospitality and the different spices used in cooking with an overview of the cooking techniques that you can use. It also discusses the key ingredients and why these are part of the meal. It is a nice introduction to the recipes.

The book is divided into five sections, Meat and Poultry, Fish, Vegetables,  Small dishes & Accompaniments and Desserts. This makes it easy to find something that you want to try. Each recipe has a full page devoted to it with a lovely colour picture on the accompanying page. This gives you a good idea of what the recipe will look like when it is finished.  Each recipe is set out nicely with a list of ingredients down the side and the instructions for cooking in numbered points. You also get suggestions for which dishes to serve the main courses with and the page number which makes it really easy to plan a meal.

Being daring I decided to try one of the recipes from this book.  I tried a dish named Black Pepper Chicken as it looked a bit different from normal curries. This is how it turned out.  I have to say it was very nice. The instructions were really easy to follow and it was simple to make. I will definitely be trying more recipes from this book and prehaps getting more daring and creating a full Indian meal next time.

If you are interested in cooking curries this book will make a lovely addition to your bookshelf.

Lamb and Lentil Stew

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This is another recipe I found in a supermarket magazine. I tried it out on my husband and he liked it so I am adding it here for safekeeping as I know I will lose the magazine. I was a bit unsure what the combination of lamb and lentils would be like but it is actually a very nice and tasty stew. The recipe in the magazine was for cooking on the stove, but I actually tried this in my slow cooker as well and it turned out really nicely. Unfortunately I forgot to take a picture of it so you will have to try it and find out what it looks like, but it is definitely worth a go.

Ingredients

  • 1 tbsp oil
  • 550 g lean lamb
  • 1 level tbsp flour
  • Packet of casserole vegetables
  • 400g can of chopped tomatoes
  • 1 lamb or beef stock cube
  • 125g dried green lentils (I actually used red)

Instructions

  1. Heat the oil in a pan and cook the lamb until it is browned. Transfer to larger pan (or slow cooker) and stir in the flour.
  2. Cut the vegetables to bite sized chunks and add them to the pan with the tomatoes.
  3. Dissolve the stock in 400ml hot  water and add to the pan
  4. Cover and simmer gently for an hour and a half, stirr occasionally and add a little water if needed.
  5. Rinse the lentils, boil for 10 minutes and add to the pan for the last 35 minutes

Serve with mash.

When I did this in my slow cooker I just added all the ingredients including the lentils and left on medium for about five hours. This also seemed to work well and it tasted just the same.  I would love to know what you think if you try this.

Nip and Fab Frown Fix

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It happens to us all. One day we wake up and look in the mirror only to realise we look suddenly older. Looking close we see that small frown lines have started to develop. Left to themselves these get deeper and suddenly one day we will wake up and realise we are actually old. How did this happen? You still feel the same inside but your body has let you down. Luckily there is now a way to start turning back time.  Those lovely people at Nip and Fab, who already deliver a wide range of products like Tummy Fix, Lip and Nip Fix and Cellulite Fix have come up with Frown Fix.

There is already a waiting list of 7,450 people who are waiting desperately to get their hands on Frown Fix and no wonder. It  contains an intensive formula which will instantly reduce the appearance of expression lines and smooth fine lines and wrinkles. If you want the science, it contains:

  • amino acids to help expression lines appear reduced
  • purslane extract to smooth the appearence of wrinkles
  • centella extract to reduce the appearence of fine lines

I was lucky enough to be sent some of this to try. It comes in a box, and inside the frown filler is rather like a pencil.  At one end is a lid which you remove to reveal a brush. The other end you turn to get more liquid to come out onto the brush. This is a good system as you only get the amount you want at any one time and it makes it easy to apply where it is needed. It does take a little while for the gel to be released at first but once it makes its first appearance it is much easier to get out. The tube is a bit slippery which makes it hard to use with wet hands.

In appearance it is a translucent white liquid. It brushes on easily and it is absorbed quickly without feeling sticky.  I noticed that my skin looked visibly plumper and my lines were instantly reduced. The product is a nice size for carrying about and can fit easily into your handbag so you can apply as much as you wish thoughout the day.

With repeated use the effects are meant to be cumulative and you should see a permanent reduction in wrinkles. Having been using this for a week I can say that it is working. The only downside is that I am likely to become addicted to this product.

This product is going to be available in Boots stores and will cost £10.25.

Now if you can’t wait to get your hands on some to try I have a giveaway. Five lucky readers will win a Frown Fix all of their own to try out.  So how do I get a chance to win this amazing product I hear you say! To enter this giveaway all you need to do is to write a comment below telling me what makes you smile.  If you are on twitter leave a twitter name so I can tweet to say you won. If you are not on twitter don’t worry it saves your email so I can contact you. This giveaway is open to the UK only and will end at midnight on Monday 25th April 2011

Giveaway is now closed!