Take one a day...

"... and two on Sundays." Those were the instructions given to Squeaky by her Grandad when he handed her this box if chocolates. An old joke, but a pretty good one if you ask me. And one that she had taken altogether too seriously.

Still going strong

It's now just over 2 weeks since Christmas, the tree has been down for a week, and the decorations are back in the attic. All that remains is bits of tinsel in the carpet, which will be there til March, a few extra pounds around the waist (which will also still be there in March!), and half a box of Quality Street. One a day and two on Sundays. Instructions followed to the letter. If she hasn't had her "daily sweetie" before bath time, tragedy ensues. Not that she lets that happen, most days the "daily sweetie" is scoffed before breakfast. Then after school, I'm met with "Have I had my sweetie yet today mummy?" and she happily accepts that she has, and doesn't ask for another until the next day.

I told her Grandad about this on the phone last weekend and he was definitely amused, he never dreamed she would take him so seriously.  I like this though. It's a good thing. She's learning some moderation and self restraint (if only the same would apply to *my* sweets, which she thinks are fair game and wants to help me eat the lot in one sitting), and by eating them slowly, she'll still be enjoying her Christmas sweets long after the rest have run out.  Woe betide any adults who offer to help her eat them!

What instructions do your children take too seriously?

Lizi's Granola - Review

This is a long overdue review post.  The problem is, see, I promised SqueakyDaddy (and myself) that I wouldn't open another carton of breakfast cereal until we'd finished at least one of the existing boxes, because the cupboard is bursting at the seams.  And so the packet of Lizi's Granola has sat tormenting me on the side of the worksurface for far longer than it should have done.

However, today that long-awaited day arrived, and I was able to rip the top off the packet & pour myself a bowl of very grown-up Belgian Chocolate Granola.  This is great, chocolate isn't just for children's cereals any more! Equal opportunities breakfast, though admittedly I'm not one to shy away from a bowl of coco pops when I'm faced with a hotel breakfast.

Not a hotel in sight!

Well, anyway, yeah. Granola. That was the point here, right?  Granola seems to be the in-thing in breakfasts at the moment, and I can find it a bit hit & miss.  I've tried some that I've loved, and then I ended up feeding a rather expensive box to the birds because I just couldn't get on with it.  Open minded though, I approached the bowl of Lizi's Granola.  And with the first mouthful I wasn't quite sure.  The chocolate flavour is quite subtle, but the seeds are pretty strong.  I'm not sure which seed I could taste, as there's pumkpin seeds, sunflower seeds & linseeds, along with dessicated coconut, cashew nuts, almonds, hazelnuts, and the obvious oats & chocolate.  And no added sugar.  Healthy breakfast!

As I said the first mouthful, I wasn't quite sure, but I persisted, and after a couple of spoons I got used to the seed flavour & actually quite liked it.  It is definitely one for the adults, the combination of the seed flavour and the bitter chocolate would be too much for children.  I did offer Squeaky a try, in the interests of a full review, but she declined, saying "It's got bits in!" and went back to her jam on toast.  I don't know, it's a little bit "marmite", you'll either love it or hate it.  Personally I love it, and I'm glad I didn't just go with that first taste & turn my nose up.  It's grown on me, and I'm glad.  I stayed properly full until lunchtime, despite a crazy morning of running around, shopping, delivering, and preschool dance club.  As I'm the person whose sandwiches are usually gone by 10 o'clock, this is quite an achievement.

The packaging really impressed me as well.  The granola is in a light bag, heavy & opaque to protect the contents, but lighter and easier to transport than a traditional cereal box, meaning less environmental impact.  But ahead of most other cereals I've seen in bags, it's got a reseal strip at the top, so I don't have to get all Stepford Wives & pour it out into my plastic cereal dispenser boxes.  A brilliant bit of thought, and makes my life much easier.

Lizi's Granola is available in a range of flavours, including the Belgian chocolate I was sent to try, and is available to purchase directly online, or from Tesco, Ocado & Waitrose.  And you can keep up with all the Lizi news on their twitter feed: @lizisgranola

Disclosure: I was provided with a package of Lizi's Granola free of charge for the purposes of this review. I was not told what to write and all opinions are my own.  Links are provided for convenience, I am not a member of any affiliate scheme & will not receive reward for their use.

Hotel Chocolat Advent Calendar Review

There are some things that really get me starting to feel festive.  The first time I break into the super-sparkly red & green glittery nail polishes, the Christmas lights going on in town, and popping open the first door on the advent calendar.  I was a bit cheeky this year, and when Hotel Chocolat sent me their milk chocolate advent calendar to try out, I couldn't wait until December 1st!

Normally chocolate advent calendars are, well, a bit meh.  A nice exciting picture on the front, but the chocolate tend to leave you feeling a bit underwhelmed.  They're best left for the children, or shared in the office.  That's not the case with Hotel Chocolat!  From the outside, this is an advent calendar for the grown ups!  Subtle, beautifully designed, straight away you know this is going to be a treat that you don't want to share!  I actually opened this parcel in my office, there were a lot of very jealous co-workers peering over my shoulder & volunteering to be taste testers, as if I'd need any help.

The advent calendar itself is freestanding, and opens up like a card.  It's something that I haven't seen before this year, but seems to have become quite a popular concept for adults' advent calendars.  It means you can display the card, without the constant temptation to sneak open the next day's door just a little bit early (that's not just me, is it?)

Not pictured: drooling co-workers!

The sleek design continues inside the card, the numbers are embossed in silver, and the whole feel of the calendar, even before you get to the chocolate is one of luxury & quality.  By this point, I knew I wasn't sharing with anyone, no matter how nicely they asked!  I waited until I got home, but there was no way I was going to manage any further restraint, and so I'd soon popped open door number 1, and poked an eager fingernail through the foil beneath.  Always a good sign, the foil keeps the chocolates fresh.

Nails: W7 Metallic Mars

I was almost surprised to find a fairly traditional Advent Calendar chocolate shape, at least behind the door I've seen so far (I'm being good, doors 2-24 will be opened on their "normal" dates), and I found a chocolate Santa staring back at me.  In traditional jelly baby style, I promptly bit his head off!  Yum!  Like I said earlier, most advent calendar chocolates leave me disappointed, but these are something else. 40% cocoa milk chocolates.  That means Good Chocolate.  I can't wait to start my days with a mouthful of this advent calendar every day next month!  Can't we have "November Calendars"?  And every other month.  I'm a much nicer person when I start the day with some chocolate!  Looking at the images on Hotel Chocolat's website, the daily chocolate sculptures get less traditional, and more sleekly designed, but I'm keeping the rest of the month a surprise.

At £12, this isn't a chocolate advent calendar for the children.  But it would make a great gift for a friend or loved one, or if you just need a bit of a treat yourself in these dark mornings, and even darker evenings.  Go on, treat yourself!

Hotel Chocolat have a great range of treats for all tastes & budgets.  I'm definitely eyeing up the Secret Santa gifts page, as soon as the names get drawn out of the hat on Monday, I'll be away.

Disclosure: I was provided with the Advent Calendar free of charge for the purposes of this review.  I was not told what to write, and all opinions are my own.  Links are provided for your convenience, I am not a member of any affiliate scheme, and will not receive reward for their use.

Cocoa Boutique Review

I'm never one to back down from a challenge.  Especially when that challenge involves sampling 15 different luxury chocolates and reviewing them, well, who am I to say no?

The fine people of Cocoa Boutique had the idea to set up a chocolate tasting club.  The introductory selection costs £34.95, and then future boxes are £19.95, and can be sent monthly, quarterly, or 6 monthly, depending on your preference (or gluttony levels!)  A little expensive to buy for myself, but a lovely gift idea for someone special.

The chocolates are sent by Royal Mail, and the boxes are designed to fit through the majority of letterboxes, there's even a message to the postie to let him know that.  A cute touch, but very practical - I hate trekking to the sorting office for something that would have fitted if only they'd tried.

I hid the box away from Squeaky (who is far too young to appreciate them), and Daddy, as theywould barely touch the sides, and settled down for a full chocolate tasting experience.  You've got to do these things right, you know!  I set to opening the cardboard box, and found a beautiful black & white cardboard box. It was like a game of pass the parcel!  The menu card was in this layer, so I knew I was in for a treat, but how many more layers before I found it? Beneath the menu card, tasting notes, chocolatier biographies and some handy translations of choco-lingo, I found a black paper liner, sealed with the Cocoa Boutique logo sticker.  The last layer between me and my chocolates!  I peeled back the sticker, and there they were.

The box I received contained more milk chocolates than plain or white which suited me, and fortunately for a non-nut eater (not through allergies, just through not liking them), only one with nuts.  A few boozy chocolates, though they were more subtle than the menu would have me believe, chocolate coated coffee beans, and my current favourite thing in the whole world... salted caramels.  Yes, I did have to take that photo to make you all jealous.  There was salted caramel halfway up my wrist by the end of that!

I loved the mix of chocolates. Even the white chocolate, which I'm not normally a massive fan of, was high quality and not overly sweet.  There were some unusual flavour combinations, raspberry & orange, and cassis-pear, and the presentation set the box above the norm.

Nails: Sally Hansen Nail Prisms, Garnet Lapis

Cocoa Boutique actively seek out feedback, the menu card gives space for you to rate each chocolate, and give comments on your favourites & the whole tasting experience, and an envelope is provided to send your comments back.  Or if you're more inclined to do everything online, you can rate your chocolates on the website.

I really enjoyed my Cocoa Boutique experience, the only criticism I could make is that it seemed to be a lot of packaging, though it's all recyclable, and it did keep the chocolates well protected during their journey to my door.

Disclosure: I was provided with the Introductory Selection box free of charge for the purposes of this review.  I was not told what to write, and all opinions are my own.  Links are provided for your convenience, I am not a member of any affiliate scheme, and I will not receive any reward for their use.

Chocolates By Genevie Review

If there's one thing that makes a Friday night complete, especially if SqueakyDaddy's on a late shift like tonight, it's settling down with some chocolates in front of the telly.  So when Genevie, of Chocolates by Genevie got in touch with me & asked me if I'd like to review her products, well, was there any doubt?

My new postman is a lovely fella, and actually delivers before 10 on a weekday, and before 9 on a weekend.  Do you know how difficult it is to leave a box of chocolates in the house when you have to go out to work for the day?  I hid them in one of my super-secret hiding places, and kept them for my end of the week treat.

The first thing that impressed me was how well they were packed for posting, the presentation box fitted snugly into the posting box, marked up with fragile tape, so the postie didn't try to squash them through the letterbox, and the contents were delivered in perfect condition.

Genevie's chocolates are all hand-made, in fact the whole process is done by hand, making, packing, finishing the boxes.  It's a real family business, Genevie's mum, partner, and 1 year old son are all involved (her son is chief taster.  That's my dream job!)

I received the Black Heart 12 chocolate box to try out, and the first thing I noticed, before I even clicked through to the web page with the chocolate descriptions, was that one had a chocolate coffee bean on top.  I love chocolate coffee beans, and coffee chocolates in general.  Though coffee creams seem to be a standing joke with a lot of people (and have mysteriously disappeared from the tins you get at Christmas), I can't resist a coffee cream, coffee truffle, or a coffee praline.  Genevie clearly knows me well, and the Dark Chocolate Praline was top of my tasting list.  Everything that a good coffee chocolate should be.

The lack of a menu was a surprise, but the majority of the chocolates in my box are shown on the chocolate descriptions page linked above.  There's 2  that I couldn't see on the list in my box (middle row, far left and middle row, far right), but that's not a problem, they turned out to be milk & dark chocolate marzipans, another favourite of mine, and a welcome surprise.

I really liked the presentation.  Simple touches, like the almond on the dark chocolate being skinned to give a better contrast, and the fact that the topping details aren't perfectly centred, giving a real hand-made look.  The balance in the box of dark, milk and white chocolates is just about right, I'm not the biggest white chocolate eater in the world, but my mum is, and it's a box we could share happily.  Except I've eaten them, sorry mum!

Chocolates by Genevie are only available in her online shop.  And if your mouth is watering as much as it should be by now, you could pop over and see Sonia at This Mummy Loves and Elaine at Fun As A Gran, as these lovely ladies have each got some chocolates for you to win!  Can't say fairer than that, eh?

Disclosure: I was provided with the chocolates for the purposes of this review. I was not told what to write, and all opinions are my own.  I am not a member of an affiliate scheme, all links provided are for your convenience, I will not receive payment for their use.

Why I love my postman, or a Nick Jr Easter.

My postie is an absolute gem. He really is.  Considering the amount of parcels I'm responsible for him having to carry around on the offchance I'll be in when he rings the bell, I probably deserve my own personal postman now.  But when he handed me a big box earlier this week, I didn't realise what a great surprise was in store.

I opened the box, and found...  a hamper of Green & Black's dark chocolate (all for me! Squeaky Daddy is strictly a milk chocolate kind of guy, hooray!), and an Easter card, with a dvd giving us a sneak preview of Nick Jr's Easter offerings.  Luckily for our poor unsuspecting postman, by the time I'd opened the box, he was well out of range, or he might have got a great big chocolatey kiss!

Squeaky Daddy's been working late shifts this week, so it's been the perfect chance for Squeaky and me to have some serious Girly Time, and we cracked open the dvd (which came with a lovely set of postcards which Squeaky has been colouring in already), and settled down with some chocolate and the tv remote.

First up was Dora's Easter Adventure, which premiered on Nick Jr today (Friday 30th March), but we got to watch it a little bit early.  Join Dora & Boots on their adventures with the Hip Hop Bunny, and save the Big Easter Egg Hunt.  I won't spoil the story for you, if you haven't seen it yet, it's a full length episode full of excitement, chocolate eggs, and all your favourite Dora characters!  Squeaky hadn't really watched Dora before, though she's seen the toys and clothes, and she was fascinated, and kept holding her Dora doll up to the TV in amazement (and commenting on hats, her current obsession).  The show is repeated on Sunday morning at 11.00, and a few more times over the Easter holidays.

Next on the menu was Team Umizoomi who were on an Easter Egg Hunt, diving down rabbit holes in search of the special rainbow egg.  I'll be honest & say I've not seen Team Umizoomi before, but I'm assured it's a regular when Daddy's at home with Squeaky, and she certainly recognised Milli, Geo & Bot, and loved joining in practising her numbers, as well as spotting all the eggs.  The show is coming to Nick Jr in April.

Finally, we had two episodes of the brand new series Tickety Toc, starring twins Tommy & Tallulah Tockety, who are the boy and girl who pop out of a very special clock every hour to chime the time.  But what do they get up to when they go back inside?  We followed Tommy & Tallulah on two of their adventures, and Squeaky was absolutely transfixed.  The show launches on 23rd April, but I'm not sure she's going to wait that long, we'll be wearing holes in the dvd before then!  Squeaky is getting quite into routines, and concepts like "tea time", "bath time", "pens time" (don't ask) and Tickety Toc fits really well with that, as well as having gorgeous animation that Squeaky really took a shine to.

Thank you Nick Jr, for my very tasty treats, and for Squeaky's entertainment.  Daddy's at home over the next few evenings, if I was a softer soul, I'd buy him a treat as well, but isn't my company enough?

Disclosure: I was provided with a preview DVD & selection of Easter treats free of charge for the purpose of this review.  I was not told what to write, and all opinions are my own.  Links are provided for your convenience only, I am not a member of any affiliate scheme & will not receive reward for their use.

A Valentine's Day Poem

Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?
I'd rather not, but instead I'll say,
That I love you more than you'll ever think
Even more so if you click on my link
To browse through Hotel Chocolat's glorious chocs
And if you love me, buy me a box!
Praline or boozy, heart shaped or a slab
One thing's for certain, their choccies are FAB.
I'll finish now, this silly wee rhyme
Please be my Chocolate Valentine!




How many links can you find on this post? Give them a click, pretty please!  (All of them, maybe?  Go on, be a devil!)