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pot mums, polka dots and rotting fish ...

Promise me, they really do have something in common!

I don't particularly like shopping in Tesco, but this morning after a trip to the dentist, and in need of lamb chops for him indoors' tea, I pop into my local store at The Holmbush. Whilst sidetracked amongst the greetings cards, I am witness to a to-do, no not a disgruntled customer to-do, or a screaming child to-do, but an amongst the staff to-do. It turns out they are trying to pinpoint a smell, a horrible smell. It doesn't take long for one of them to discover a customer has, so kindly, stuck a bag of what was fresh fish, and now rotting fish, amongst a chocolate display!

Quickly plonking wrapping and tissue paper in the trolley, I swiftly vacate the area to continue on my way to the meat counter where I very conveniently pass the flower section, and there I spot the beautiful custard yellow 'pot mum' above, and at the bargain' price of £2.50. I just cannot say no!



Whilst on the subject of greetings cards and custard, on the doormat this morning was the beautiful badge card I purchased from Michele at Cowboys and Custard, for my mother-in-law for Mother's Day, which this year is on the 22nd March. Doesn't it look nice alongside the pack of blue polka dot pencils, another impulse buy from Tesco, a bargain at 75p, and ...

talking of chrysanthemums, not wanting to forget my mum on Mother's Day, I shall be placing flowers on her plot. Don't worry mum, it won't be chrysanthemums, I know you hated them, along with pompom dahlias!

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lemon ...

I bought some lovely yellow lemon teatowels from Tchibo the other week, a pack of three for under £4. They are of really good quality and do a great job of brightening up a kitchen. You can often pick up a bargain from Tchibo, they change their stock every week, and with every purchase you get a free coffee!



A favourite of mine is lemon curd, the expensive, cheap and of the homemade variety. Lemon curd is traditionally eaten with bread or scones, but I often use it in a sponge cake, making up a basic Victoria Sponge recipe and filling with lemon curd, an inexpensive variety from the Sainsburys Basic range.



Waitrose sell the most amazing French recipe bread, delicious spread with Country Life butter and more lemon curd.

There is now approximately a teaspoon left in the bottom of the jar!

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jam ...

My poll for April was to get some idea of your favourite jam, the results are in and there is a tie between apricot and raspberry both receiving 25 votes each. Apricot would have got my vote, so apricot wins! Strawberry came in third with 17 votes and other received 12 votes. Of course there are many fruity flavours of jam, but I couldn't include them all in the list!

I am a lover of packaging and I have always bought Hartleys jam for the shape of the jar! You don't get so much for your money but who cares. The flavour I have just finished is gooseberry which is a definite favourite of mine, I have a jar of pineapple on the go, and an unopened jar of damson.

I am not a great lover of strawberry or raspberry jam, but both are nice used in a Victoria Sandwich, along with buttercream.



This is how I eat my jam, on two slices of toast every morning! I really like it on brown thick sliced sunflower seed loaf, both Sainsburys and Somerfield do a good one.

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anzac biscuits ...

Unlike the lemon cake, I didn't make these, and we did infact devour the whole packet a week or so back. I often buy Anzac biscuits, they are one of my favourite biscuits for dunking (bad habit I know), and more importantly a percentage of sales go to charity. In previous years the sale of these biscuits have raised nearly £40,000 for the Royal British Legion’s vital welfare services.

How easy are they to make?

1 cup dessicated coconut
1 cup flour
1/2 cup butter
1 level teaspoon baking soda
2 cups rolled oats
1 cup sugar
2 tablespoons golden syrup
2 tablespoons boiling water

Mix dry ingredients, melt butter & syrup together in small saucepan. Dissolve soda in boiling water, add to dry ingredients. Cook until golden brown on 180c.



Today is ANZAC day in Australia and New Zealand, a day to honour and remember the many lost during the Gallipoli campaign on 25 April 1915. The day was inaugurated on 25th April 1916 to commemorate the first anniversary of the landing of troops. The acronym ANZAC was coined in 1915 when the troops were training in Egypt and the word ANZAC was eventually applied to all Australian and New Zealand soldiers.

you either love it or loathe it ...

I loathe it! Marmite have a website dedicated to this very much loved and loathed, dark brown nectar, and have e-cards to send to all your Marmite loving mates. Or click on Marmart to see how devotees squeeze it on their toast, there are some budding Marmartists out there!



Will you be searching for an unusual Valentine's gift for that special person in your life, how about Marmite with a hint of champagne? 600,000 limited edition jars of 'Lovers Marmite' using the usual ingredients with 0.3% champagne added are going on sale ahead of February 14th. A special gold label has been produced which says 'I love you' and 'For my lovely Marmite lover'.

How much do you think that special person in your life is worth? Sainsburys will be selling it at £2.99 and Selfridges, a pound more at £3.99.

Now, if money is no object when it comes to that special person in your life, Selfridges have commissioned jewellery designer Theo Fennel to create just fifty pots of 'Lovers Marmite' with a sterling silver engraved lid, priced at £145!

Michelle from the USA has never clapped eyes on this brown yukky stuff, click on Marmite to see what the ingredients are? I guess it is very similar to Vegemite, although this fact comes from a very unreliable source!

well, how did you do ...

Tell us all what you bought yesterday? Remember I told you about Buy Nothing Day a while back, how many of you forgot it was yesterday? I was very good and I just bought a chicken as we do need to eat!

After spending a few hours in Brighton making holiday plans, as we were a bit early for our train home, as it was handy I popped into M&S Simply Food at Brighton Station to pick up something for our this Sunday's roast, to be quite honest I don't often buy food in M&S, I am being contraversial here, but I do find it to be rather overrated, no offence intended to any M&S devotees out there.

I don't think their choice of advertising campaign helps, you know the one 'this is not just food, this is M&S food', I really cringe when I hear these adverts describing their products with the Dervla Kirwan voice over. For example, my chicken was an 'Oakham' one, well, was it bred in Oakham, where is Oakham, and which Oakham are they talking about, on investigation it doesn't come from Oakham at all, it is just a trademark!

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pg tips chimp ...

Have you got your cheeky Chimp yet?

Today I am taking a day's leave, so I am just having another cup of tea and maybe a few biscuits for my elevenses! I hope to get outdoors in a minute, but spotted another photo opportunity, I just can't put my camera down these days, how easily can an interest develop into an obsession?

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chicken in chinese black pepper sauce ...

A few years back I discovered a great stir fry sauce, produced by the great Ken Hom, we loved it, and then Ken decided to take it off the shelves, then I discovered a similar sauce produced by Amoy, they decided to take it off the shelves too, so ever since we have been searching high and low for a replacement. Yesterday whilst strolling around Worthing we noticed a sign pointing us in the direction of a lovely oriental store down Bath Place and voila we found a jar, bought two! Tonight I am going to use it, so I hope we like it, if the meal tastes similar to the delicious sizzling platter version we have at our local sitdown Chinese restaurant, we are sure to love it.

Chicken in Chinese Black Pepper sauce for two people is really easy to do, infact you could use any oriental sauce. First I cut two large chicken breasts in Chinese takeaway size pieces, you know what I mean, then heat up a stirfry pan with a little oil until sizzling, then throw in the chicken and flash cook, then just throw in the sauce and stir around for a few seconds until the meat is coated, you can always add at this stage any stirfry vegetables you like, then I transfer it into a dish and place in the oven on a low heat to keep warm. After I have washed the stirfry pan up, I only have one, I make egg-fried rice, first heat up a little more oil and then add one large beaten egg and quickly stir around, then throw in enough rice for two, which I precook, and just stir through until piping hot. Don't forget to serve on hot plates, don't be fooled by the photo above, these chopsticks and oriental dish have been used for a little artistic licence, we use a spoon to eat ours!

the new face of cadbury is a gorilla ...

Cadbury's new advertising campaign for Dairy Milk has precious little to do with chocolate but it will get everyone talking. A man in a gorilla suit hammering on a drum kit to Phil Collins' hit 'In The Air Tonight'. You are either going to love it or hate it, I like it and it makes me and J smile, and now that I have discovered it online I won't have to wait to see it on the TV!

Click on the link below to watch it and let me know what you think?

http://www.aglassandahalffullproductions.com/html_only_version.htm