Contented

Abel & Cole - meat

After the success of the delicious chicken we had recently from Abel & Cole, we decided to try some of their other meat products.  I was sent some beef mince, pork chopsand smoked bacon.  Unfortunately, only the bacon was certified organic, but the pork was "free range" and the mince "slow reared".  Now, maybe I had set my hopes too high, but I have to admit that we were somewhat underwhelmed by all of these products.  Don't get me wrong, they all tasted perfectly nice, just not really any better than the regular supermarket varieties.   The texture of the chops and bacon was slightly different, they were both cut thicker than normal and they tasted "meatier" - I guess with the bacon there was no added water - but we really couldn't detect much difference in the actual flavour.  Would I buy these products in the future?  Probably not.  They are more expensive than buying at a supermarket (although we were lucky enough to try them for free again) and, certainly with the mince and chops not even being organic, I just wouldn't feel it was worth the extra expense.  It's a shame really, as I really wanted to be able to give a good review, but these particular products just didn't do it for us this time.

R x

Abel & Cole

Recently, I was lucky enough to be given the opportunity to try some organic food from Abel & Cole, in return for writing a review.  Now, I'll be honest with you, we are not the healthiest eaters in the world in this house - both the kids and myself are rather fussy eaters - and we don't eat a great deal of fruit or veg.  I do try to make sure that the kids eat more but I don't think I've ever had my "5 a day" - shocking, I know!  So I was very up-front about this with the lady that was organising it, but she was happy to send us some stuff anyway.  We got a mixed fruit and veg box, plus a small chicken.

 

 

In the box were apples, oranges, ruby grapefruit, gem squash, potatoes, carrots, onions, corn-on-the-cob, broccoli and leeks.  I wasn't sure that we would be able to get through all of this, but we gave it our best shot!

 

The chicken was quite small so I cooked it for the kids' tea - in fact they had a totally organic meal as I also used the potatoes, carrots and broccoli...

 
I did of course sample the chicken myself too, and it was, without doubt, the tastiest chicken I think I have ever eaten!   It was moist and juicy and tasted, quite simply, absolutely delicious!  It tasted really good cold, in sandwiches the next day as well.  I would definitely consider buying organic chicken again. 

We worked our way through the rest of the items over the course of the week. With most of the veggies, to be honest, we couldn't really tell the difference, although Peter thought the potatoes tasted nicer.  Peter and Joe also shared the corn on the cob, and they both thought that tasted better too.  It was a similar story with the fruit - the apples and oranges just tasted like apples and oranges, nice but not amazingly different to "regular" supermarket produce.  The grapefruits, however, went to my mum and dad, as none of us like them, and they reported back that they were really delicious and juicy.  

So, in summary, some things tasted noticably better than non-organic and some didn't.  But I suppose taste isn't the only reason people buy organic, is it?   I would certainly prefer to be able to feed my family all organic food, all the time but, at the moment, it's just not financially viable for us to do so, and we don't eat enough fresh fruit/veg to justify a box scheme like this.  However, I will be looking into the other products Abel & Cole have to offer & we'd certainly be more likely to purchase our meat from them.  
 
R x

Kerrymaid Giveaway

My lovely blog pal Emma is having a giveaway on her reviews blog here- this fantastic hamper is up for grabs, to help promote the launch of a new garlic butter product.   Click on over and take a look. 

Now, I don't have a particular garlic butter recipe to share, but you really can't beat it, spread on some toasted French bread and topped with grated cheese, then melted under the grill - yum! 

Good luck if you do enter! (And tell Emma I sent you!!)

R x

Where does the time go?

I can't believe there is only a week of school left.  I'm not ready!!  I feel like there is still so much I need to do and not enough time to do it in.  I also feel like I have loads to blog about, but my thoughts are all a bit jumbled up and over the place, so forgive me if this seems like a bit of a mish mash!

 

I received this lovely, seasidey piece of fabric and the card from Julia of Hand Knitted Things as a thank you for arranging the seaside swap!  Julia, that was so kind of you, thank you! 

I have also managed to get myself pretty much sorted with my own swap stuff, and am now ready to post!  Here are a couple of sneaky peaks:

 

 

I hope that doesn't give too much away!  Don't forget, the deadline is 31st July and the Flickr group is here.

On Friday evening we went with some friends to the Tonbridge music festival.  It's held every year on the lawn in front of Tonbridge Castle, but this is the first time we've been.  We took a picnic and had a fab time!

The main acts are usually tribute bands, and we saw the Bandit Beatles and Abba Magic.  The Abba band were definitely loads better than the Beatles (their fake voices were awful!) but there was a really good atmosphere, especially once it got dark.  At the end there was a fireworks display, so I got to try out the fireworks setting on my camera!

 

 

The deadline for the first Wordplay challenge is tomorrow - and I haven't done it.  I feel bad, falling at the first hurdle as it were, but the idea that I had just didn't pan out as I'd hoped, (the word was "sugar") and my mind was just a complete blank for any other ideas.  Plus with all the other end-of-term stuff going on, something had to give and this was it.  I'm definitely planning to try again with the next word though, so I'll keep you posted on that.

This morning I was helping in school with some of the other mums, preparing a load of Spanish food for Year 6 to have a little fiesta, to celebrate the end of their Spanish lessons.  We made 3 kinds of paella, Spanish omelette, bread & chorizo and some kind of potato dish that I forget the name of (fried potato with a spicy tomato sauce on it).  We dished it all up to the kids and they all seemed to really enjoy it (most of them that is, William, typically, found it all too spicy!).  When I left at about 11.20 they were all up and dancing with their Spanish teacher and having a wonderful time!

Right, must go, loads to do!  Have a great week, everyone!

R x

Our first crop

Today we picked the first two strawberries from our plants (yes, we, I have Joe at home with me today as he had a slightly upset tum first thing this morning, although he seems fine now!) 

It may have only been two strawberries but this was very exciting for us as they are the first foods we have grown.  Joe insisted that we cut them in half and then we could each have half of the big one and half of the smaller.  And how did they taste?  Delicious!  I can't remember what variety they are, Cambridge something perhaps?  But Joe is looking forward to picking more, and there are plenty still ripening up on the plants.  Yum!  I think we'll definitely grow more next year.

R x

4/28 - chocolate

 

It was calling to me....

R x

1/28 - Yum

 

Delicious millionaires shortbread - not very good for the waistline but, I ask you, who could resist buying them when the packaging is this cute?

 

;)

R x

39

Yesterday was my birthday.  Birthdays are fairly low key affairs in our house, but it included a lovely lunch out with my Mum and Dad,

 

beautiful flowers, sent from my big bro and his family,

 

a new book I can't wait to start reading,

 

sweeties from the kids,

 

chocolate cake (of course!),

 

and in the evening Peter and I watched this movie (it made me cry!).

I've also just found out that I won the giveaway over at You Go Girl!  How cool is that?  But now the countdown begins to the big 4-0 (yikes!)

R x

Chilled Lemon Flan

A friend gave me this recipe and I made it for the first time yesterday.  It's so delicious and easy I thought I'd share it with you.

4oz digestive biscuits, crushed

2oz butter

1/4 pint double cream (150ml)

6 floz sweetened condensed milk

Juice and zest of 2 large lemons

7inch flan dish

Melt the butter in a saucepan.  Add the crushed biscuits and mix well.  Turn into the flan dish and press around the base.  Put in the fridge to chill while you make the filling.  Mix the double cream and condensed milk together.  Add finely grated lemon zest, then slowly beat in the lemon juice.  You can adjust the amount of juice to suit your taste - I added all the juice and it was really zingy, which I love, but Peter found it a bit too lemony.   Pour the mixture into the flan dish and chill for several hours until firm.  Decorate just before serving - whipped cream, grated chocolate - whatever you fancy - although it is delicious just as it is!

I am definitely going to be making this again, it was so scrummy!  Do let me know if you try it.

 

Brownies and other stuff

Today was a baking today.  As tomorrow is the last day of school, I have been making brownies for the teachers and T.A's.  Unfortunately, there wasn't much left over for us, but I did at least get to lick the bowl (which is actually the best bit in my opinion!!).

I'm feeling a little strange about the end of this school year.  William is going into year 6 - his last year at primary school - and the two classes have been mixed up so, for the first time since he started school, he will be with a different group of children.  This is all fine, and he's quite happy about it, but it does seem a bit of a shame, especially when there will be so much other stuff going on in this last year.  And Joseph is going up to year 1 - he's had a bit of a mixed year in reception, and I'm still not entirely sure that he was actually ready for "big" school, but he does seem to have made more progress in the last few weeks so I hope he'll be ok.

Changing the subject, I've signed up for another swap!  Claire is organising a robot swap which sounds like great fun.  I played safe with the cupcake swap but, having looked at some of the photos in the Flickr group, was really interested to see all the different interpretations.  So I want to see if I can come up with something different - it definitely won't be a bag!!  But in a fit of enthusiasm this afternoon I sat down and came up with this:

Now, I am the first to admit I'm no artist - I was rubbish at art at school - but playing around with pens and paint is very relaxing, so I enjoyed making this little chap, even if he's not terribly good!  Hopefully he will give me some inspiration for the swap!  Go and check it out.

x