Spooky Halloween Cocktails

It's Halloween on Wednesday. Are you ready to party?

I will carve a pumpkin tomorrow, and might do some fun themed bakes for my boys, but otherwise we don't do much. We don't go trick or treating, as most of our neighbours are pensioners who would be chasing you with broomsticks if you dared knocking on their door for treats.

To get you in the festive mood, I have a few fabulous cocktail inspiration ideas for your delectation.

Quench a deadly thirst with a classic Dark and Stormy.
You will need 50ml Dark aged rum, 120ml Ginger beer, 5ml freshly squeezed lime juice and ice cubes.
I had a bottle of Supermalt Ginger beer, thanks to the latest Degustabox delivery, as well as a leaflet with three cocktail recipes. Dark and Stormy sounded like a great match for the season.
The rum I used in the cocktail is a spicy rum rather than dark, but it is still a tasty combination, albeit rather strong.

Royal Lancaster London is brewing some special magical potions this year in preparation for Halloween. If you dare, try Royal Lancaster London's cocktails specially created for this spooky season.
Following a mega £85 million renovation - or re-"vamp" - the hotel is thrilled to be serving these delicious and spooky cocktails.

Devil Daiquiri and Witch Margarita are priced at £15 and served in both Hyde Bar and Park Lounge Bar at the hotel. However, if you are not able to visit London at Halloween, you might want to recreate these colourful cocktails.

Devil Daiquiri
50g Bacardi rum
25ml lime juice
15ml orgeat syrup
5ml grenadine
4 blackberries

Devil Daiquiri : image credits - Royal Lancaster London

Witch Margarita
35ml Olmeca tequila
15ml Cointreau
25ml lime juice
3 blueberries
3 blackberries

Witch Margarita: image credits - Royal Lancaster London

And here are two more Halloween cocktail recipes created by Head Mixologist for Mothership Group, Chris McGovern.
Slayers Sour with blood orange was available at The Book Club for The Buffy The Vampire party.

Slayers Sour
2.5ml Grenadine for the rim
5ml Monin Ginger syrup
35 ml Lemon juice
15ml Grapefruit juice
15ml Solerno Blood Orange liqueur
35 ml Four Roses Whiskey
Method: Shake and strain
1. Dip the rim of the rocks glass in grenadine, leave there to drip down the glass whilst making cocktail.
2. Add all the ingredients to a Boston glass and shake.
3. Single strain over cubed ice in the rocks glass.

Image credits: MotherShip Team

Dr Frank N Further's Mai Poisen (which was available at Hoxton Square Bar & Kitchen on the left for Rocky Horror Disco Halloween Party) is another smashing spooky cocktail

Mai Poisen (Tropical Mai Tai)
35ml Orange juice
35ml Pineapple juice
5ml Orgeat Syrup
10ml Blue Curacao
15ml Lime juice
MInt sprig
35ml Appleton's Estate Signature Blend Rum
15ml Cointreau

Method : build
1. Fill rocks glass fully with ice.
2. Add Mint Sprig
3. Add Rum & Cointreau, then serve with the medicine bottle filled with a mixture of the above ingredients.

Image credits: MotherShip Team

Be brave - try something new this Halloween!

Image credits: MotherShip Team

Photo diary: week 30, project 365

The last week of school was pretty hectic. We waved our schools good bye on Wednesday. The summer holidays have officially started, with the temperatures rising over 32C. Thursday was totally unbearable, it was so hot, I felt like walking through a warm soup.

Sunday was much anticipated by Eddie, who had his birthday party at The Shake Shop. His birthday was later in the week, but we didn't dare hosting a party once the holidays began, and people would be going away. Even that, we had a couple of last minute cancellations.
Despite that, Eddie had a wonderful time. His friends and he had a full run of the shop after the cafe was closed to the public. They had milkshakes, they danced, they played Beanboozled fortune wheel game and had a go at the vintage penny arcade.

On Monday I was frantically wrapping up gifts for teachers. I bought red-striped Cornishware as gifts (and the little teapot and the milk jug are a treat for me).

On Tuesday Sash was staying overnight at his residential place, and my husband and I took Eddie out to Pizza Express as a birthday outing. We're like a Royal family, spreading the celebrations.
We were sitting in the walled courtyard, and I tried a new cocktail, with prosecco, elderflower syrup and mint.
I should have ordered a pizza, just like my guys, but I opted for a Salad Nicoise, and it was a mistake. It was clearly made with cheap tinned tuna, and no green beans in sight.

My assorted tomatoes in the greenhouse are doing pretty well, they must like the heat, though I do have to water them daily.

Thursday was unbearably hot. I only left the house to water the potted plants outside the kitchen, and saw this poor bee which clearly suffered from the heat too. I wrote about it the other day, that I first thought it might be dead, as it wasn't moving at all.
I had to revive it a bit with fresh water, and off it went.

Eddie is a big fan of Bear Snacks, especially the Yo Yos, and has a big stash of cards which come with the fruit snacks. It was his idea to lie down and cover himself with cards.

Isn't it typical - you wait for the rain to come for weeks and weeks, and then it arrives on the night of the Blood Moon. We kept poking out in the garden to try to spot it, but fat chance, the sky was completely covered with the dark menacing rainclouds, so we missed our chance to observe this unique natural phenomenon. Did you happen to see it?
This evening's sky is not as dramatic, but still the Moon is in hiding.

Non-alcoholic Mocktail with Eisberg Rosé

There are plenty of reasons as to why you can't or won't drink anything alcoholic - you might be a designated driver, pregnant or a teetotal. Personally I'm not a big drinker, though I do enjoy a glass of good wine, champagne or a cocktail. I am also partial to a dash of alcohol in coffee.
It's absolutely fine to drink a bottle of coke or have a fizzy juice drink as an alternative to alcohol, but sometimes you feel like having something different. When most of the party goers are having fun, you might slightly resent having to drink a glass of lemonade.
If it's a glass of wine you are craving, having a non-alcoholic wine could be just the thing.
Eisberg non-alcoholic wine is produced in such a way that the alcohol content is completely removed from the wine, using the latest advanced techniques. The character and flavour of Eisberg wines are kept intact, but the alcohol is being removed.
Eisberg offers a selection of non-alcoholic wine like Chardonnay, Riesling, Rose and Cabernet Sauvingnon.
It is also perfect for those who are counting the calories. 100ml of rose, for example, contains just 26kcal.

We have recently tested an Eisberg Rosé. It is a fresh and fruity wine, with hints of strawberry and raspberry. It's big on flavour, and low on calories. It is lovely on its own, straight from the fridge, chilled.
It also serves as a lovely base for a cocktail.

Rose mocktail:
for two cocktails:
10 fresh blackberries
1tsp caster sugar
juice of 1/2 lemon
juice of 1/2 red grapefruit
ice
non-alcoholic rose

Mash the blackberries with a fork, add a teaspoon of sugar. Add freshly squeezed juice of 1/2 lemon and 1/2 red/pink grapefruit. Strain the liquid. Divide the blackberry lemon-grapefruit juice between two tall wine glasses. Add a couple of ice cubes to each glass, and top up with rose.


If you like the sound of this mocktail, I could direct you to the page of recipes of Cocktails Mocktails, using Eisberg wine (link removed as expired).

Disclosure: I received a bottle of Eisberg rose for the purposes of testing and reviewing. All opinions are my own.

Crabbie's raspberry delight and The Big Smoke Winter Cocktails

When you think about Christmas drinks, what first springs to mind? Mulled wine, champagne, eggnog, "obligatory" sherry and port at the end of the meal, Baileys and Advocaat. At this time of the year numerous magazines publish food and wine pairing guides, and often overlook beer and cider. Yet these alcoholic drinks make a perfect alternative to Christmas wines, and could be used as a great base for a big selection of cocktails too.
Jane Peyton, founder of the School of Booze, drinks educator and writer, and Friends of Glass (community campaigning for the glass packaging for drinks) have created a useful guide for Christmas dining with beer and cider. They have suggested an inspiring pairing of beer and cider with all the Christmas dinner courses including dessert and cheese course.
As this inspired guide says, "With the huge range of brilliant bottled beers and ciders now available, there's never been a better time to try a different taste sensation this festive season".
"Christmas is a time for eating a wide range of delicious treats. These are often rich and heavy and need a liquid lift, which is why anything carbonated performs such a miracle in lightening the richness. So this coming Christmas dinner, why not take a holiday from wine and turn instead to beer and cider? With the huge range of brilliant bottled beers and ciders now available, there's never been a better time to try a different taste sensation this festive season".

Crabbie's alcoholic ginger beer comes in a variety of flavours. It was created by the Scottish pioneer John Crabbie who invented the recipe by combining exotic spices from the Far East with the finest steeped ginger. It has a very pronounced ginger taste, sharp and pungent. The ginger beer is spicy and refreshing, best served in a glass with ice cubes as a perfect thirst-quencher.
On the run to Christmas, I'm testing seasonal recipes for food and drinks.
Crabbie's-based cocktails would be perfect at any Christmas party.

I had a look at the Crabbie's cocktails, and loved the sound of Crabbie's Raspberry Delight.
I have slightly adapted the recipe, first of all by reducing the amount of rum from 50ml to 40ml, and even that was pretty lethal strong for me.

You will need:
4 fresh or frozen raspberries, mashed with a fork
40ml or less spiced rum
3tsp lemon juice, freshly squeezed
25ml raspberry syrup
Shake all the ingredients together and pour in a wine glass with fancy ice cubes, or just crushed ice
Top up with Crabbie's ginger beer
Garnish with a slice of lemon

The original recipe suggests using Crabbie's Scottish Raspberry Flavour ginger beer, I used the original ginger beer.
From the image above you can see that I have used Bacardi Oakheart spiced rum and Lowica Malina (Polish raspberry syrup, which I found in Tesco for £1).

It is a flavourful cocktail, just use the rum a bit more sparingly or add more ice than I did.

If you like the idea of beer-based cocktails, Jane Peyton and Co have produced a delightful festive recipe of The Big Smoke Winter Cockt-Ale, which I present here with their kind permission. It looks splendid, and is beautifully presented in a fancy glass.
It can be served warm/mulled or cold.
Serves 3-4
1 x 500ml bottle of porter (a dark beer brewed by several breweries such as Fuller's)
1 x 500ml medium dry cider (such as Cornish Orchards Gold)
Add a sprinkle of smoked paprika
If serving mulled, gently warm the drink on the hob
Serve in a tulip or snifter glass
Garnish with a cinnamon stick as a stirrer
Accompany with a couple of slices of crisp smoked apple to nibble on (sprinkle the apple with smoked paprika too if desired).
Isn't it just a beauty?

Image credits: Friends of Glass

Which cocktails do you enjoy at Christmas parties?

Disclosure: I received a bottle of Crabbie's for the purposes of testing and reviewing. All opinions are our own.

Our first Twitter party with Blaze and the Monster machines

My younger son Eddie loves parties. He's a true social animal, and is counting days until his next birthday party (which is in July). Despite me showing him on a big calendar when July is, and how many months are still in between now and then, he is talking about his party as if it's going to happen tomorrow. He tells me who he is planning to invite and what cake he wants to have (at the moment it's a split between Spiderman and Ninja Turtles). Being so enthusiastic about parties in general, he was absolutely thrilled when I told him we were going to host a NickJrBlaze party.

Waiting for the arrival of our guests, sitting in the big box which contained all the party goodies before

If you follow me on Twitter, you might have seen my avalanche of tweets before and during the party.
We invited Eddie's nursery and school friends (as well as their Mums). All the boys settled on the sofa to watch the premiere of Blaze and the Monster Machines on NickJr.
Just who or what is Blaze?
Blaze is Axle City's greatest hero and its number one racer. He is super fast and fearless, but also smart - he knows a lot about science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM). He uses his scientific knowledge in the difficult situations. His best pal AJ is a driver and a techie expert.

The boys were literally glued to the screen. You should have seen them, quiet and absorbed into the new show. I even joked to their Mums, saying how angelic they looked. The boys are all four years old (turning 5 in summer), except little C who is just over two. They all gave the new show thumbs up and told me they enjoyed the race on the tracks the best.

Eddie and his buddies watching Blaze and the Monster Machines

Since Friday my son watched the DVD of the first episode several times already (we were sent a preview DVD).
Having fortified themselves with some tasty snacks and drinks, kids were happy to do the activities, and for the next hour and a half we were very busy. You can say - chaos reigned supreme.
First activity was quite an easy one.
The boys had to follow the maze and help Crusher find Pickle.

They were happy to create mini-cars from Milky Way bars, making Smarties' wheels and Jelly Babies' drivers. I made one in advance to show how it was supposed to look like. When the time came to do this activity, I got all flustered: "Where's the driver?" Eddie looked at me with guilty eyes and said "I ate it". Never mind, there were plenty of jelly babies to make another one.

Boys assembled their cars with great enthusiasm. And then, mini-cars, quickly disappeared.

The next activity was the most challenging: we had to build cars from cardboard boxes, wooden sticks, wheels, using stickers and plasticine.

We split into three teams, and worked hard on our cars. We kept laughing, saying we'd never be good as the Blue Peter presenters.

That's Eddie's and mine creation, it didn't last very long, as the wheels kept falling apart.

After a car-building session we moved onto a colour, shape and number sorting activity.

For technology we tested the laws behind buoyancy - in simple words, finding out which items sink and which float. I had to to take the bucket out in the garden, so that we don't splash the floors.

Lemon Clock from Great Gizmos was a big hit. I had to read and re-read the instructions, as I'm not very good at techie things, but this was easy enough.
We were all amazed when the clock started working. This is such a fun little gadget, and will make a fab gift to anyone who loves technology.

It was our first Twitter party, and we had a fantastic time. All the boys were thrilled with their goodie bags. Little C uttered his first words of the party (he's been pretty silent until then), exclaiming "um-bella, um-bella! wain, wain!" Older boys were as excited. When it was time to go home, and C's Mummy tried to put the umbrella in the bag little C had a bit of a meltdown as he didn't want to part with his um-bella even for a second.
It was a great fun, and a lovely active party for all the boys.
If you ask my son, he's ready to host another party any time.

Disclosure: we received all the party activities and goodies bags to host a Twitter party.

Start the party with Shloer Celebration

Christmas parties: love them or hate them! If you are a teetotal, or try to avoid any alcoholic drinks due to pregnancy, breastfeeding or just because it is your turn to drive, there is absolutely no reason why you can't enjoy a glass of an alcohol-free bubbly. Shloer has long been known as the indulgent sparkling alcohol-free drink, and just recently Shloer has launched two new flavours in addition to their already extensive range: Shloer Celebration White Bubbly and Shloer Celebration Pink Fizz.

The bottle looks very festive and provides a necessary dramatic effect of a popping cork. Just perfect for the coming season festivities. It will look as glamorous as any bottle of champagne on the festive table.

I love an occasional glass of champagne or wine, but it is nice to have alcohol-free alternatives during the party.
All Shloer flavours come free from preservatives, they contain no artificial sweeteners, colours or flavourings. All flavours are suitable for vegetarians and are best served chilled.

Shloer Celebration Pink Fizz has an intense vibrant pink colour. The flavours are very fruity and fresh. It is a fusion of red and white grape juices. It is slightly less sweet than the other Shloer varieties and has a cranberry note (though I believe there are no cranberries involved).

I can imagine it would also be nice with the Christmas meal, a roast turkey, duck or ham, or a luxurious vegetarian chestnut risotto wrapped in cabbage leaves.

If you're watching the calories, you'll be glad to know that it contains less calories than a standard glass of champagne (and don't even mention those creamy Advocaat and other liqueurs).

Celebrate in style and feel glamorous!

Disclosure: I received a bottle of Shloer Celebration for the purposes of reviewing. All opinions are mine.

One happy boy and a Peppa Pig cake

"Mama, can I eat the cake?"
"No, Eddie, we are waiting for your guests and I will cut it later"
"Mama, can I lick it then?" And "Please, please... please!"





Peppa Pig and Eddie: it's a love from the first sight. Mama could be a good baker, but I cannot compete with the shop-bought Peppa Pig cake. Eddie's been talking about getting it for his birthday for days and days. We failed to find it in Penzance (we stayed in Cornwall on Eddie's birthday) but the trip to the local Sainsbury's saved the day, for Eddie's mini tea party we acquired the much coveted treasure.

Eddie loved it. The Lightbody Peppa Pig Celebration cake itself is a plain golden sponge with a bit of jam between the layers. But of course, the full glory of it is the favourite characters on the icing. And that you cannot beat, can you?!

Just look at this happy face! So much genuine joy and happiness! When do we lose that elusive overwhelming feeling of pleasure from simple things which you can experience in childhood? When do our emotions become jaded and we lose the talent of expressing our joy so sincerely and openly? A plain balloon brings a wave of ecstasy, a supermarket-bought cake leaves you deliriously happy... How wonderful! Truly magic moments.

Philips Fresh Cooks Party

When Philips announced their forthcoming Fresh Cooks Party, I applied at once, not holding much hope that I would be selected, as I knew they would have had thousands of applicants to choose from.
Imagine my surpise, when I received an email, saying that I was one of the chosen hosts and that I should start sending email invitations to my friends. I needed a minimum of nine people coming to my future party. Invitiations and replies started flying here and there. At last, I had enough people confirming they were going to attend my party. Yippee!
Two days before the party two huge boxes arrived from Philips.

One of them contained a Jamie Oliver HomeCooker. If you haven't heard about it yet, let me tell you, it is a versatile kitchen gadget which purpose is to make cooking easier for busy cooks.
It is like having an extra pair of hands working in the kitchen. Don't we all want that extra pair of hands helping us with the cooking? I know I do.
This unique gadget helps you to cook meals from scratch. How many times have I left something on the cooker and forgot about it, being busy with my sons, only alerted to the kitchen disaster by the smell of the burning meal. Well, the HomeCooker will make sure it won't happen. It comes with a stirrer that makes it much easier to prepare dishes like risotto or stews.

Another useful gadget that came with the HomeCooker was a Cutting Tower which chops, cuts, slices, shreds and grates.

I am going to do a separate extended report on how these two gadgets work and what I cooked using them. I have already tried several meals from the book of recipes which comes with the HomeCooker.

But today I want to tell you about my Philips Fresh Cooks party. On Saturday morning my guests started arriving at 10.30am. This was the easiest time slot to have everyone around, as the weekends are hectic in many families with kids. Most of my guests are parents from the school which our older son attends. They are all a lovely chatty crowd.

Philips have generously provided the Philips Party hosts with £50 Waitrose vouchers to buy food for the party. The day before I baked the cakes, and on Saturday morning my husband helped me to look after the boys, while I was assembling the platters.
I have baked two cakes: an Advocaat cake and a honey cake with walnuts and mascarpone.
We had endive boats with pinenuts and blue cheese as well as bresaola rocket rolls, cheese with fresh figs, quail eggs with anchovies etc. And plenty of tea and coffee.

I wish the gadgets arrived a few days earlier for me to try them in advance, to be better acquianted with the ways they work. I did try the Cutting Tower on Thursday, but Friday was too hectic with the cleaning and cooking for the party, and I hardly had any time to read the instructions or watch the demo online. I had a quick look and thought the easiest way to showcase how the HomeCooker works would be to make some chocolate fondue.
 
As I have been running to and from the kitchen, making cups of tea and coffee, I set the HomeCooker's timer and temperature, put all the ingredients inside and left it. What I forgot was that I needed to heat the cream first before adding the chocolate. As it happened, the cream separated a bit, not sure if that was because I put all the ingredients at once, or the temperature for the recipe was too high (personally I wouldn't have chosen 250C for the chocolate fondue).

As I later tested the HomeCooker, I had more questions to Jamie Oliver who produced the booklet of recipes, mostly about the choice of temperature and timing, but I will write about it in detail in my next post about the HomeCooker.
 

As you can see from the photos, Jamie Oliver was very much present at the party. One of the mandatory tasks of the party was to take lots of photos of my guests wearing the promotional aprons (which they later took home together with the little notebooks), we needed Jamie's poster in the background and the gadget on display as well. I didn't add the balloons to the room, because they were too tempting for the little hands and wouldn't have lasted long.

All in all, I believe we had a great time, it was lovely to have my friends around and have a chat.
I am grateful to Philips for giving us a good excuse to get together. Some of my guests were leaving by 1pm, some were only arriving, so our party stretched well into the afternoon.

Will I do it again? You bet! I enjoyed the experience thoroughly, and the new gadgets are a welcome addition to my kitchen.