On my 'Mother's Day' Kitchen Table

Mother's Day is nearly here, it's later this year on 30th March so you still have  little time to choose and buy your gifts. The gift you choose for your mother will depend on some key factors including price, availability but most importantly the gift should be something that your mother will like.

That got me thinking about different kinds of mothers and what they might like to receive so here is my little guide to gifts for different mothers.

Chocoholic Mum

Image - Last Door Down the Hall

Along with flowers, chocolate is probably one of the most common gifts to buy for Mother's Day and it's an absolute must for the Chocoholic Mother.  This is a time to look for something a little different and special like this Hotel Chocolat Hazelnut Spread. 


Oh my, this is a delicious spread.  It's richer and more chocolately than similar spreads that are available and, as well as making the perfect 'tartine' for breakfast or tea, it would also be delicous warmed and poured over ice-cream or baked into a muffin, or for the true chocoholic eat it straight from the jar with a spoon!
At £6.50 for 150g, Hotel Chocolat Hazelnut Chocolate Spread is a luxury product at a reasonable price.  Hotel Chocolat have a wide range of different chocolate treats you are bound to find a special chocolate gift.

Image: Last Door Down the Hall

Dunelm Mill have a great selection of silicone moulds suitable for oven and microwave use, prices in  The Silicone Collection  range from 75p for a silicone heart shaped mould up to £8.99 for a chocolate house mould.  The 6 Flowerpot Silicone Cupcake Cases are £3.99 and the Macaroon Baking Set is £4.99.

Tea-Jenny Mum 










Masterchef Mum 

Image: Millie Motts

As you can imagine, I have no trouble at all thinking of gifts for Masterchef Mum!  One idea that will appeal to the the gadget lovers is this simple but effective whisk.

The Nova Multi-Quirl is simple to use and requires no batteries and no cables, you just push the handle down and it twists and whisks. I found it to be well constructed and particularly liked being able to put it in the dishwasher.  You can see how it works HERE
The Nova Multi-Quirl is available from G3 Direct Ltd for £12.95

Foraging Mum 

Image: The Graphics Fairy

Foraging Mum likes to make the most of the food that can be gathered for free, whether it's blackberries in autumn or wild garlic in the spring.  Rosehips on a Kitchen Table is delightful little book full of hints and tips about foraging and recipes to make the most of your foraged goodies. Now is the time to forage for fresh, young leaves,  and I'm sure Foraging Mum would love to learn to make Wild Garlic Pesto or Nettle Risotto.  Elderberries, Blackberries, Rosehips and Sloes all feature with their own recipes. Tipsy Sloe Fairy Cakes: dainty fairy cakes with a hidden tipsy heart sound so tempting especially when served with clotted cream, as suggested in the book.

In addition to the foraging chapters author, Carolyn Caldicott writes about how to Grow your Own fruit and vegetables and includes information about how to deal with the inevitable gluts!  Some of the recipes that stood out for me were: Broad Beans Baked with Asparagus, Eggs Baked in Passata, Pepper and Chorizo Sauce,  Parsnip Gnocchi and Rosemary and Honey Roots.

The final chapter is entitled 'What on Earth do I do with This?'  and is a chapter devoted to the more unusual vegetables which might turn up in your veg box.  Celeriac Champ looked good and I can't wait to try Beetroot Leaves with Walnuts, Raisins and Orange.  Convert the most ardent Brussels Sprout hater with Brussels Stir Fry with Ginger Cumin and Chilli.



Rosehips on a Kitchen Table by Carolyn Caldicott
Photographs by Chris Caldicott
Published by Francis Lincoln Limited

Labels: Carolyn Caldicott, Chinese Tea, Dunelm Mill, Flowbox, foraging, Francis Lincoln Ltd, gifts, Hazelnut and Chocolate Spread, Hotel Chocolat, Mother's Day, Nova Multi-Quirl, silicone bakeware, Tea Vivre

posted by Janice @ 20:56 27 Comments

All the Tea from China

 I can remember drinking Earl Grey with my Mum when I was in my teens and also asking for a pot of chinese tea to drink with a chinese meal we ate on holiday in Torquay.  The first gift my husband gave me was a tin of Gunpowder Green Chinese Tea, so you can see that tea is something I am quite passionate about.


TeaVivre is a company run by a group of tea lovers and aficionados from China, Canada and France, who all share a passion for drinking great tea and appreciate the healthy life style it brings.  They all live in China, and frequently travel through the country visiting China's tea plantations so they can track down only truly exceptional teas.  As a result TeaVivre are able to bring to us the absolute highest quality Chinese teas that are, wherever possible, 100% organically grown and produced.

 I chose to review the green tea sample pack and the black tea sample pack

The green tea sample pack contains two of each of the following teas, beautifully packaged in individual foil sachets inside a larger sealed foil package:

Organic Superfine Dragon Well Long Jing Green Tea
Organic Tian Mu Mao Feng Green Tea
Organic Hangzhou Tian Mu Qing Ding Green Tea
Superfine Pre-Ming Dragon Well Long Jing Tea
Premium Jasmine Dragon Pearls Green Tea

I tasted the Premium Jasmine Dragon Pearls Green Tea, it had a light clean flavour with just a hint of jasmine, no overpowering floral taste that you can get with some jasmine teas.  I drink my tea black and not strongly brewed, so really enjoyed this delicately flavoured tea.  Here is how TeaVivre describe the tea:

Jasmine “Dragon Pearls” is a deliciously sweet green tea that combines the absolute highest quality green tea with a jasmine aroma and taste. Made from one unopened bud and one small leaf, this tea hand rolled into small balls, which slowly unfurl during brewing, releasing an amazing taste and aroma combination of green tea and sweet jasmine. Brewing a cup of this sweet, fragrant tea only requires a few tiny pearls!


The Black Tea sample pack contains the following teas:

Yun Nan Dian Hong Black Tea – Golden Tip
Fengqing Dragon Pearl Black Tea
Bailin Gongfu Black Tea
Organic Superfine Keemun Fragrant Black Tea
Lapsang Souchong Smoky Black Tea (Yan Xun Zheng Shan Xiao Zhong)

I am not a huge fan of Lapsang Souchong tea as I usually find it rather overpowering but, after enjoying the Jasmine tea, I thought I would see what the TeaVivre Lapsang Souchong Smoky Black Tea was like. It was a nice surprise to find that the smoky flavour was subtle and the tea had a clean taste, without any real bitterness.  Here is what is said about this tea on the website:

Zheng Shan Xiao Zhong (Lapsang Souchong) used pine wood or pine charcoal from Tongmu kuan in Wuyi mountain as materials. Because black tea has a strong capability of absorption, while pine charcoal will release plenty of smoke when burning. So the Lapsang Souchong, produced by hands and machines, has a heavy flavor of smoked and pine, which is suitable for people who prefer strong flavor.

I'm looking forward to trying more of the tea samples and reviving my taste for exotic tea.  TeaVivre ships to the UK, be sure to change the currency indicator, in the top right of the web page, to GBP to see the prices in sterling.   The Green Tea Assortment costs £7.40 and the Black Tea Assortment is £6.50, shipping costs depend on the weight of the parcel, but start at £2.70.  This might seem expensive but given the outstanding quality of the tea and the fact that you could easily pay that for a bottle of wine, it is really not such a high price to pay. I think any of these teas would be the ideal gift for a tea connoisseur. 

Labels: Black Tea, Chinese Tea, Green Tea, Jasmine Tea, Lapsang Souchong, tea, TeaVivre

posted by Janice @ 22:08 5 Comments