Shopaholic? Me?

I have decided to throw the twins an early birthday party here in IOM as we will actually be in Malta for their birthday. And I am planning a picnic. I thought to make life easier all round, I will have a food bag for every kid. So I wanted to get sandwich boxes for each kid like you would when buying a take away sandwich. Except because they are aimed for the catering industry, they come in huge quantities. Now it is far from being industrial equipment, they are just one step away from sandwich bags and could make life easier for mums preparing their kids sandwiches for school without having to wonder why their lunch box did not come home from school again and without the expense… but even I won’t be buying a minimum of 1000 boxes. They would last my life time and flood my house with more junk! I guess sandwich bags it is then.

Tis the season for BBQ’s or perhaps more correctly Barbeques. Sunny warm days just calls for a nice barbie. Whether it is simply sausages and burgers or something more posh such as prawn skewers or even hickory chicken, they are always great fun and tastes even better. It makes me start to consider electric grills like perhaps a George Foreman so that I can have similar food even on a rainy day. The only problem is that it does not have that smokey flavour. Still, it is healthy and tastes good so it is still worth considering. Just where would I stick another appliance. Won’t my DH be unhappy if I get another kitchen gadget!!!

I know that I said I would review coffee but I thought perhaps I could review something coffee-like! I discovered Chocolate & Love and their “expresso beans”. Devine. So I thought let’s review a sample selection of their chocolate. For obvious coffee reasons, I will start with my Expresso Beans:-
Expresso Beans : Dark chocolate coated expresso beans. It has a lovely warm coffee flavour in the chocolate and the centre is a real coffee bean with crisp texture. Unfortunately, it leaves your mouth feeling a bit gritty. This can be solved by eating another etc etc. I found that I liked eating a number of them at one go better than one at a time. Maybe that is just me. Great to serve as a petite four in a little petite four case with hot sweet liquid coffee. These are by PACARI but can be bought from Chocolate & Love for £2.95.

The Coffee Affair : For a coffee chocolate, it is quite mild and subtle. I think the level of coffee in it is perfect as most often I find coffee flavour chocolates over powering and this isn’t. It simply blends well. I would however not serve with the expresso beans as the flavour would get lost. But if you want a chocolate and a coffee fix (bar pocket coffee which actually has a real shot of coffee in it), then this is highly recommended.

Orange Mantra : I’m not an Orange lover. I must say it probably stems from my childhood when all medicines were orange flavoured, so I do tend to avoid orange flavours. This chocolate has a mild sublte orange flavour with a really nice strong bitter chocolate blend. When it runs out… you simply want more! This is only for dark chocolate lovers but it does not preclude people who are not fond of orange. Fantastic.

Filthy Rich : A strong and very dark chocolate which melts very nicely especially for dark chocolate. It is nothing striking but it does have a nice smooth flavour.

Nirvanabar : This chocolate melts even nicer than Filty Rich and probably one of the best dark chocolates I have tasted in ages. It is sweet despite its darkness, which makes it a winner in my book. It was even enjoyed by my dear hubby who isn’t too fond of dark chocolate. Pass me some more…. Oh! It’s finished!

Ah well, I guess it means I need to buy some more. The bars cost £2.90 and delivery is £2.98 for delivery to the UK within 2-4 days or £15.74 for the rest of the world, so anyone can order.

And if you are still not sure, they also have a tasting club where they deliver chocolates to you. You can select what type of chocolates you want to receive and what level you want to be on. And if you let them know that you heard about the chocolate club from Shopaholic, then maybe they will send me more yummy chocolate to er review!

The point of purchase displays is to sell sell sell or is it to buy buy buy? I don’t know but what I do know is the amount of extra bits I seem to collect as I head to the till. They all catch my eye and I find it hard so hard to resist especially when they are adapted to my needs eg wrapping paper and tape at Christmas time or Chocolate eggs for Easter.

Talking of chocolate eggs, when picking mine… if not Lindt… make it Cadbury’s!

After yesterday’s indulgence, I know that I need to go on a diet. The worst bit is that I cannot touch even the best weight loss pills as none of them are compatible with breastfeeding. Any anyone who says but you don’t need to diet while breastfeeding will get slapped by me. I am feeding twins and shamefully put on a couple of kilos since they were born. I am so embarrassed.

Well, maybe just one more chocolate!

Can you believe that this Christmas I was given a DVD about a pleasanton motorcycle accident attorney? I mean seriously this is not what you give a shopaholic. You could give me High Street Vouchers, Any shop vouchers, or even a nice pair of shoes. And just so you realise that I am not completely materialistic, I also appreciate any home made dessert especially when made by kids. My favourite is chocolate cornflake balls. Yummy!

I am on my way to Oxford street to do my last minute Christmas Shopping. Obviously I will be hitting

• Hamleys, the most notorious toy shop that I know,
• Fortnums & Mason, for their luxurious items,
• John Lewis,
• Monsoon,
• Ann Summers,
• Selfridges,
• Gap

and who knows where else (at least it will make a change from warehouses in  metal buildings). What I do know is that I am so going to suffer with carrying all my shopping back home!

Then heading off on Holiday for Christmas. Will let you know all about it when I come back. Meanwhile, hold tight… I will be back!!

I have been trying spreadable butters to see what I think of them. I have tried a number of them but there are many on the market. There are even “light” variations though I still would not recommend them if you are taking weight loss pills. I don’t even want to think about the effects! Anyway, from the ones I tried, this is what I thought:-

• Flora Buttery – Its a margarine but it does have a reasonably buttery taste
• I can’t believe its not butter – I can!
• Clover Spreadable – The advert is more favourable than the actual spread
• Country life lighter – Really nice taste and light to boot
• Bertolli – Made of Olive oil. Hubby likes alot. Not bad flavour.
• Kerrygold Spreadable – It has great taste but could do with being a bit more spreadable
• Anchor Spreadable – Also great taste and reasonably easy to spread too

Will I test more… perhaps.. if they are on offer… otherwise I think I will buy Anchor Spreadable if none are on offer.

My hubby has been experimenting with coffee. He has been trying all sorts French, Italian, Colombian, Decaffeinated, Cappuccinos, Espressos, Lattes etc.

It started with him looking at espresso machines, which I could not understand as we have a coffee machine that makes espressos and filtered coffee and even steams milk so you can make things like cappuccinos. Anyway, he ended up deciding to buy a cafetiere. I must say, I do like the benefits as it does produce nice coffee and best of all… it is made for me! Perfect. Now where are those petite fours?

Ever since I found out that Woolies is back, I have been craving their pick & mix! Sadly they do not do the sweets pick & mix online. On the plus side, I found out that M&S have a new pick & mix section. Not as big as Woolies was but at least it is available! Mind you if I keep craving sweets like this post the babies, I am going to need to live on an appetite suppressant or I will just grow and grow!!!

I must say this is my favourite bit of being pregnant – being able to eat what I want when I want (despite the heartburn – which is fixable with antacid)! Yay!