Easter with Hotel Chocolat

Just in case it has somehow escaped your notice it is Easter next weekend. Another excuse to partake in some chocolate eating....as if I need an excuse! If you haven't bought your loved ones Easter Eggs yet never fear there's still time.

Hotel Chocolat have a large range of Easter Gifts, with something to suit most budgets and tastes. You probably all know how much I love Hotel Chocolat. We've had the pleasure of reviewing their products before but never their Easter range.... until now! We were lucky enough to be sent one of their You Crack Me Up Extra Thick Eggs to review and wow we've loved reviewing it!

You Crack Me Up Extra Thick Easter Egg - £26.99

The egg comes beautifully presented in a lovely hat box finished with ribbon - a perfect gift. Inside the egg is already split in two and covered in foil. Wrapped in tissue paper inside both halves are 12 gorgeous Easter themed chocolates!

To be honest it was really exciting opening the egg and seeing what was inside...let alone actually trying the egg itself.

As the name suggests this is an Extra Thick Easter egg! The egg itself is 40% milk chocolate and I have never seen an egg quite so thick before - lovely and chunky (see below)!

As for the chocolates inside the egg there are twelve all together, two of each of six different varieties. The chocolates themselves look really cute with an Easter theme, from Chirpy Chicks to Bunnies, Fried Eggs to Dippy Soldiers. What's more they taste fantastic too! Personally my favourite was the Crunchy Praline smiley egg, the Chocolate Brownie a close second and the Chirpy Chick with crushed caramel pieces and a hint of sea salt coming in third. Truth be told though we both loved all of the chocolates!

Moving on to the egg itself, Jonathon had to give it a good whack to break it up into pieces. It's lovely milky chocolate, the thickness means that you are getting plenty of chocolate for your money and the quality of the chocolate is great. 

Honestly we couldn't fault this egg, from its appearance to its taste it ticked all of the boxes! Eggseptional ... sorry!

For more information about the Easter gifts available from Hotel Chocolat visit their website. NOTE: Last date for online Easter orders is Thursday 5th April 2012.

A sample was received for the purposes of this review. No other reward, financial or otherwise, was received in exchange for this post. All opinions expressed are entirely our own.

Yu! Bar Review and Giveaway!

You know that feeling when you are peckish, crave something tasty but can't be bothered making anything? I have that feeling a lot. When I have really bad days Jonathon stocks up the bedside table with snacks and drinks to get me through the day. The thing is it's quite hard to find snacks that are tasty and not super unhealthy...at least I think so..might be my taste buds but there's only so many apples I can eat in one day. As a result we are always on the look out for easy snacks that require no effort that I can munch on while he is out.

We were recently asked if we would like to try the new Yu! Bar, a fruit bar in a yoghurt coating. Well it sounded like it fitted the bill perfectly so we thought we'd give them a go.

We were sent one of each flavour to try, wild berry, cherry, apricot and strawberry. My first impression was that I liked the packaging, I think it looks really cool and doesn't have your typical "healthy snack" look.

That's all very well Rhoda but what does it taste like? Well the bars are made from real fruit, cereal and have a yoghurt coating. I'm always worried that these kind of bars are dry and hard to eat without a gallon of coffee to wash them down. I was pleasantly surprised to find that these bars and beautifully soft and moist.....almost too easy to eat!!!

Jonathon tried the first bar and said "well it's be nice if I liked yoghurt coating"...why did he try it then? I could have eaten it! So I took over the tasting challenge and I LOVED these bars. I fear (is that too strong a word) food that has an artificial taste to it so whilst taking my first bite I was slightly wary however these bars don't taste like that at all. They are fruity and packed with flavour. I love the combination of the fruit and the yoghurt coating, the two flavours works really well together and the added crunch of the cereal finishes these bars off perfectly!

I have to admit that I did finish off the others rather quickly. They are exactly the kind of snack that we have been looking for...something small, easy to eat, no preparation with a great taste.

The lovely people at Yu are offering Rhoda Reviews readers the chance to get their hands on a box of Yu Bars...in fact they are giving three away! To enter the giveaway just fill in the rafflecopter entry form below. (If it doesn't appear straight away try refreshing the page).

Buy Your Stamps Now!!!!

This is just a really quick post to help you save some money.

As you have probably heard the price of stamps is due to rocket on the 30th April, going up from 46p to 60p for first class and from 36p to 50p for second class!

Now I don't think I'm particularly old but I remember being sent to the post office to buy stamps when 2nd class was 19p! How on earth is it now 50p? Anyway, that is a rant for another time.

Basically, you can save on your postage by buying stamps now as they will still be valid when the price is hiked. Yes Rhoda that makes sense, we all knew that, what's your point? Well my point is that you can save 5% on the CURRENT price of first class stamps in Superdrug right now!

Superdrug are running this offer until the 10th April 2012 by all accounts so get yourself down there and stock up on your stamps! There's a limit of 72 stamps per transaction but that is a huge saving!

What are you waiting for? Get down to your nearest Superdrug now!

This is just a random Rhoda money saving tip. No reward, financial or otherwise.....including stamps....was received in exchange for this post.

Reading Chest Subscriptions - Save £5

Some of you may remember that back in November we ran a giveaway to win a three month subscription to Reading Chest? Well today I have an offer for you from Reading Chest ... £5 off your first month's subscription to the service!

Here's a quick recap of what Reading Chest is in case you haven't heard of it before.


Reading Chest is the UK's first through-the-post book rental service that specialises in reading material for children from ages 4 to 9 years. It is based on reading schemes used in UK schools and works in a similar way to DVD rental services.


How does it work? Well you first of all decide on the subscription you would like. These are available in bronze (up to 6 books a month), silver (up to 12 books a month & multiple reading lists) and gold (unlimited supply of books and multiple book lists). Each subscription is available for a 3 month, 6 month or 12 month period.

Once you've signed up you simply set up your preferences (e.g. children's reading level, fiction, non-fiction) to create a book list for your child. Then sit back and wait for your first delivery of books to appear! Once you've finished with the books you just send them back in the pre-paid envelope, then wait for the next batch to appear.

It's actually really simple and easy to use. For more information on how it works check out the Reading Chest website. The thing to note is that there are no due dates and no late fees - great for Mums!


So if you fancy giving Reading Chest a go then simply input SPRING as the discount code when you sign up to get £5 off your first month!


No reward, financial or otherwise, was received in exchange for this post.

Healthy, Radiant Skin - Guest Post

What fabulous weather we are having! Is it really March? Let's hope this isn't our summer! In this kind of weather we all know how important it is to take care of your skin and slap on the sun cream. In his monthly post Philip Weeks tells you how you can further this and have really healthy, radiant skin. Enjoy.

With natural medicine there are many approaches, which can support the health of the skin.  The skin is the largest organ of the body, it reflects our genetics, how well we are coping with our diet, how hydrated we are and is an external reflection of what is going on inside.  The skin is viewed to be one of the major routes the body uses to detox.  When other detox organs, such as the bowel, liver, kidney and lymph are under stress the skin has to take up the slack.  This can result in poor skin quality.

image from weheartit.com

Things to do

• Keep hydrated with lots of liquids and especially water.
• Eat good fats in the form of avocados.

Sugar intake can have a huge impact on your skin and can contribute to acne and other skin eruptions.

• Reduce the intake of sugar and refined carbohydrate such as pasta, bread and cakes.
• Reduce alcohol or cut it out on the build up to the body day, as it reduces the livers ability to detoxify and therefore the quality of the skin.
• Eliminate saturated fats and deep fried foods.
• Increase vegetable intake, raw foods and salads.

Remedies that help

• Silica is an important mineral, which promotes the production of collagen and is necessary for healthy complexion and strong hair nails.  Take it in colloidal form such as Qsilica as it the most easily absorbed. 

• Burdock is a traditional remedy for healthy skin.  You can drink it in the form of tea or in liquid extract form

• Dandelion tea stimulates healthy liver detoxification, which in turn is helpful to skin health.

For some woman there is definitely a hormonal aspect to the health of their skin with acne with flare ups occurring around the menstrual cycle.  The liver plays a very important role in hormonal balance, as it is responsible for filtering out the excess hormones out of the blood stream.  Therefore any health steps that support liver function helps to keep the skin healthy.

• Rose tea and tincture can be very helpful to take if there is a hormonal aspect to skin flare ups, as is the herb Agnus Castus.

Other factors to consider

• Stress can aggravate acne, try relaxation techniques.  Exercise is one the most effective ways to reduce stress hormones in the body.

image from weheartit.com

• Beta-carotene and Vitamin A is really important for the health of the skin.  Foods high in vitamin A are carrots, apricots, sweet potato and spinach.

• Zinc:  Helps healthy skin replication and supports hormone function.  Dietary sources include sunflower seeds and pumpkin seeds.

• Vitamin C helps skin health, take at least 1000 mgs.

These are just a few ways you can help yourself to improve the health of your skin.  However it is always important that you seek professional medical advice before making any lifestyle changes or take supplements or herbs.

Philip Weeks is an expert on natural medicine and author of Make Yourself Better. For more information visit www.philipweeks.co.uk.

Thank you to Philip Weeks for this guest post. No other reward, financial or otherwise, was received in exchange for this post.

Peppa Pig My First Laptop

Liz, Jonny and Sophie have been busy reviewing a new toy and the time has come to share their thoughts with you. Introducing.... Peppa Pig My First Laptop.

Peppa Pig My First Laptop - RRP £19.99

The Peppa Pig My First Laptop uses 4 game modes to help your child learn colours, numbers, the alphabet and more. I have to admit that I had a wee play with it when it first arrived through the door.....and then hubby did when he got home! When Jonny arrived to pick up the new toy his eyes lit up. In fact both he and Sophie insisted on playing with it before it was even out the box!

Here's what Liz has to say about My First Laptop....

I really like this product as it isn’t too complicated like some other products on the market. There’s plenty to do without getting overwhelmed and each of the four options covers quite different topics. Plus, there aren’t too many buttons and those that are there are big and colourful so perfect for little hands. It is aimed at 2+ years and this is definitely about right although my 9-month old also loves pressing the buttons. There are also two other buttons which play some music.

The screen is a static, colourful picture of Peppa Pig and her brother George, with lights behind them that correspond to the games.  The first activity allows the child to press any button. An item lights up on the screen and a full audio description is given (for example; ‘three yellow books’ which is a big improvement on some toys which often only concentrate on items, numbers or colours at any one time). 

The next activity asks the child to answer questions based on the item lit up on the screen. This mixes up the colours, items and numbers so the child really engages with questions. The music activity mixes musical notes with the sound of three instruments. 

The final activity asks the child to recognise sounds and press the corresponding buttons. I have to admit that my son was a lot better at it than my husband and I. There are some quite tricky differentiations to make and we would get it wrong whereas Jonny quite happily pressed the right buttons first time!

This product bridges the gap between baby toys and 3+ years toys perfectly. A bit hit in our house!

Peppa Pig My First Laptop is available from Amazon, Mothercare, John Lewis, The Entertainer and Morrisons with an RRP of £19.99.

A sample was received for the purposes of this review. No other reward, financial or otherwise, was received in exchange for this post. All opinions expressed are entirely our own.

WeightWatchers Milk Chocolate Digestive Biscuits

I've made no secret about my love for sweet things. I really do have a sweet tooth! That was fine when I was active and could work off all the calories I consumed, these days I have to be a bit more careful with what I eat.

The thing is sitting about all day supping a cuppa I really do crave a nice wee biscuit or cake.... and yet I know that I don't/can't do enough to burn off all the calories.  So when I was asked if I wanted to try the new Milk Chocolate Digestive Biscuits from Weight Watchers I couldn't resist...could this be a solution to my biscuit cravings?

Regular readers may remember that I've reviewed Weight Watchers biscuits before (fruit crumble and chocolate biscuits) and I've really enjoyed them so I was excited to try this latest addition to the Weight Watchers range.

I had high hopes for these biscuits and I have to say I wasn't disappointed. They are nice and crunchy with plenty of chocolate to fulfil any chocolate cravings. In fact the biscuit is coated in real Belgian milk chocolate and it really is lovely!

Each biscuit has just 51 calories (or 1 ProPoint) which means that you needn't feel guilty about indulging in a biccie with your cuppa. They certainly don't taste like a low calorie alternative, in fact I would choose these over most other Chocolate Digestives available.

There are 12 biscuits in the pack and it's resealable too so you don't need to worry about them losing their crunch. Not that I got the chance to test out the resealable packet, Dad was staying with us and he took rather a liking to these biscuits!

New Weight Watchers Milk Chocolate Digestive Biscuits have an RRP of £1.59 for a pack of 12. They are available in Morrisons and other independent retailers across the UK. For more information about these biscuits visit the Weight Watchers website.

Samples were received for the purposes of this review. No other reward, financial or otherwise, was received in exchange for this post. All opinions expressed are entirely our own.

Maggie Runs The One Show 1000 Mile!

Many of you will know that I am originally from Tobermory on the beautiful Isle of Mull (parents of small children will know that is where Balamory was filmed). My parents live in Tobermory and it's our dream that we will move back home some day.

Alan Fettes Photography

Fans of BBC's The One Show may be aware of The One Show 1000 run from Mull to the Mall in aid of Sport Relief. If you're not, basically it's a run from Tobermory on Mull to The Mall in London where selected members of the public will run a mile each and raise money for the fantastic cause that is Sport Relief.

My Mum and Dad's lovely next door neighbour, Maggie, is running one of the Miles between Tobermory and Craignure tomorrow (Friday 16th March 2012) and it would be absolutely fantastic if you could sponsor her. Anything at all that you can give would be greatly appreciated.  All funds collected through Sport Relief are used to help people living incredibly difficult lives, both here in the UK and across the world's poorest countries. 

Maggie is a truly lovely lady, always helping others. Not only is she my Mum's next door neighbour but she is her great friend. Maggie and her husband Alan do such much to help my parents, from walking the dogs to getting the shopping, and both my sister and I really appreciate what they do. You see my Mum has MS and so life can be pretty tough for her at times.....not that she would EVER show it. Maggie is a rock to our family and we would love to support her as she runs her mile to fundraise for such a fantastic cause!

So if you feel you would like to sponsor Maggie and, in turn, help some of the world's most disadvantaged people then please click on her fundraising banner below or visit my.sportrelief.com/sponsor/maggierobson.

Thank you!!

Rhoda xx

For more information about The One Show 1000 visit www.sportrelief.com/the-one-show. Or to get involved with Sport Relief fundraising visit www.sportrelief.com.

On My Birthday Meme

Last week my lovely friend Jo over at Given To Distracting Others tagged me in a meme. I loved reading her post so I decided to give it a go. You can find Jo's post here.

This meme was started by Kate who is trying to get posts for every day of the year so if you do decide to join in then please link up your post at thefivefsblog.


Ok.......... here we go!


When is your birthday?


Phew, an easy one to start with ... 9th October.


Pick three people that share your birthday and what you know about them.


I think I've picked an...erm... interesting mix!


David Cameron, 1966. Like him or hate him, he shares my birthday. Here are the facts. He is the current British Prime Minister and Leader of the Conservative Party. He became the youngest British Prime Minister in 198 years (since the Earl of Liverpool).


Brian Blessed, 1937. A British actor. Appeared in Z-Cars as  PC "Fancy" Smith. Passionate about mountaineering  he climbed Mont Blanc at the age of 17. He has also scaled Kilimanjaro, and has tried to reach the summit of Everest on three occasions....having to turn back on one occasion to save a fellow climber's life.


Sharon Osbourne, 1952. Well this is quite a mixture isn't it? Sharon is cited on Wikipedia as being a British music manager and the wife of Ozzy Osbourne. She was diagnosed with colon cancer in 2002 and beat the disease against a survival prognosis of 33%. Since then she has appeared as a judge on X Factor.


Is anyone listed as being born on the same day (ie same year)? If so, what do you know about them?


Yes, a few in fact. However I've just chosen one Andreas Zuber, 1983. He's an Austrian racing driver. That's all I know!


List three people who died on your birthday and what you know about them.


Ok, I didn't really find that many that I recognised, but here we go.


Andre Maurois, 1967. A French author who legally adopted the name Andre Maurois in 1947. I chose him because of these quotations.. "In literature as in love, we are astonished at what is chosen by others." and "We appreciate frankness from those who like us. Frankness from others is called insolence".


Dagmar, 2001. American actress, model and tv personality of the 1950s. A busty blonde, she is said to have been the first major female TV star.

Che Guavara, 1967. Named as one of the top 100 most influential people of the 20th Century by Time Magazine, Che was an Argentine Marxist Revolutionary, physician, author, intellectual, guerilla leader, diplomat, military theorist and a major figure in the Cuban Revolution. He was executed in Bolivia in 1967, shot a total of nine times.


List three notable events that took place on your birthday.


1582. This day did not EXIST in 1582 in Italy, Poland, Portugal and Spain because of the introduction of the Gregorian Calendar.


1940. Battle of Britain, St Paul's Cathedral was hit by a bomb during a night-time Luftwaffe air raid.


1981. Abolition of capital punishment in France.


Tell us about a holiday that falls on your birthday.


Leif Erikson Day (observed in USA, Iceland and Norway). A day that honours Leif Ericson, the Norse explorer who brought the first Europeans known to have set foot in America.


It was a tough choice between that and World Post Day ...  yes it's what you think it is.

So there we have it! That was actually really interesting (for me at least). Now it's time to invite a few of my blogger pals to take up this meme too.


@savvywendy www.savette.com
@mummiafelice whitelilygreen.blogspot.com
@missielizzieb missielizzie-meandmyshadow.blogspot.com
@blissbubbley blissbubbley.blogspot.com
@susankmann www.susankmann.com


Don't forget to link up your post here if you take up the challenge!

A Taste of Italy with Sacla'

When I think of good food I think of Italy. I've only had the pleasure of visiting the country once on a school ski trip in my teens but I still hold the memories of the gorgeous food we had while we were there. In actual fact I was thoroughly useless at skiing, ending up in the back of an Italian ambulance (that's a story for another day), but it gave me all the more time to eat!

I dream of going back to Italy one day, to the Lakes, but in the meantime I do what I can to get that taste of Italy back here in Scotland. So when I was asked by Sacla' if I wanted to review some of their latest products, well I couldn't refuse.

We were sent a pack of Sacla's new Intensely Italian Trofie Fresh Pasta together with some of their Intensely Italian Classic Basil Pesto to try. I adore fresh pasta and I love how easy it is to cook ... perfect for a midweek dinner.

Sacla's Trofie pasta has a traditional Ligurian shape which is perfect for making the most from your sauce. I've never had Trofie pasta before so I've been trying to think how to explain it. It's smaller than fusilli but slightly more dense and has a slight twirl to it meaning it has plenty of surface area to take on whatever sauce you choose to pair it with.

We paired the Trofie with Sacla's Classic Basil Pesto. We both quite simply adore pesto so this was the perfect accompaniment to the pasta.

As you'd imagine the Trofie is easy to cook, simply add it to lightly salted boiling water for 9 - 10 minutes. Drain your pasta and stir through the pesto - so easy. Serve up and top with a little Parmesan cheese.

So what did we think of this? Well we loved it. The pesto is absolutely full of flavour and there is certainly plenty of it too. The pasta itself was beautifully fresh and the two complimented each other perfectly.  Most definitely a hit in this house.

If you fancy giving this meal a go then you will find the Trofie & Classic Basil Pesto in the chilled section of Waitrose or online with Ocado.

For more information about Sacla' and their products, or for recipe ideas visit their website.

Samples were received for the purposes of this review. No other reward, financial or otherwise, was received in exchange for this post. All opinions expressed are entirely our own.

Vietnamese Chicken Noodle Soup with Owen Potts Stocks

On chilly days like today I love tucking into a nice steaming hot bowl of homemade soup. The thing is we don't really get round to making homemade soup in this house any more! I used to make the soup you see but at the moment I can't manage it and hubby has more than enough on his plate at the moment without worrying about making homemade soup!

Well, the other day we had some homemade soup! YAY! The lovely people at Owen Potts sent us a sample of their delicious new chicken stock to try along with all the ingredients we required to make a pot of Vietnamese Chicken Noodle soup.

The stock is all ready to go and perfect for making a pot of soup. I wasn't quite sure what to expect from "ready-made" stock but it was full of flavour and didn't separate in its packaging.

So we decided to tackle the soup. It was really straight forward to make and the smell was gorgeous!

Vietnamese Chicken Noodle Soup

Preparation Time: 10 mins
Cooking Time: 20 mins
Serves: 2

Ingredients

70g rice noodles
500ml Owen Potts chicken stock
200g chicken breast, diced
2 star anise
1 cinnamon stick
2 lemon grass stalks, bruised
2cm piece fresh root ginger, thickly sliced
1 tsp fish sauce
150g beansprouts
200g pack choi, thickly sliced
4 salad onions, finely sliced
1/2 red chilli, deseeded and sliced

Method

1. Prepare the rice noodles as instructed on pack.

2. Heat the Owen Potts chicken stock, spices, ginger and lemon grass in a large pan with roughly 300ml water. Bring to the boil and simmer with the lid on for 15mins.

3. Using a slotted spoon, scoop out the spices, lemon grass and ginger and then stir in the fish sauce.

4. Bring the soup base back to the boil. Stir in the prepared noodles and pak choi and simmer for 2 mins.

5. Add the chicken and beansprouts to the pan and cook for another minute. Divide between two large bowls.

6. Top with salad onions and chilli.

The soup was absolutely gorgeous! Hubby wasn't too sure when he looked at it but as soon as he tasted it he loved it too. We had the soup as a starter and there was leftovers for hubby's lunch the next day - perfect!

So what do we think of Owen Potts stock? Well it's full of flavour, convenient and easy to use. As far as I can see there's only one negative, the price. Yes it is made from the very best, natural ingredients but even so £2.50 is quite a lot in my opinion. That said it is really convenient and if it means we can have more homemade soup then perhaps it's worth the money?

Owen Potts stocks are available in various flavours including chicken, beef and fish. They are available at an RRP of £2.50 from Tesco.  Owen Potts also have a range of stocks, dressings, cook-in sauces, dessert sauces and condiments. For more details on their range visit their website.

All of the ingredients for this soup were received for the purposes of this review. No other reward, financial or otherwise, was received in exchange for this post. All opinions expressed are entirely our own.

Mother's Day Gifts from Asda

Have you got your Mother's Day gifts sorted out yet? Mother's Day is next Sunday (18th March) so you've still got time to go and get your Mum the perfect gift.

I like to give my Mum something I know she will like but we generally don't spend much...after all you don't have you spend anything to show someone that you love them. Apart from anything else my Mum would be really annoyed with us if she thought we had spent a lot of money on her!

So I've been having a wee look about for Mother's Day gifts that wont break the bank. I'd love to tell you what I've bought Mum but since she reads this blog that'd be a bit daft!

I was recently approached by Asda with details of all of their Mother's Day gifts and was even sent a few samples to review. Asda have some lovely gift ideas and I think they are good value for money.

I was sent their cute Cupcake Keyring and personally I love it. I do love cupcakes and this keyring combines the current cupcake trend with a "kitsch" design. It is quite a big keyring but it's light and soft so it wont weigh down Mum's handbag too much. What's more it costs just £1 - a great wee gift.

I was also sent the "If Mums were flowers I'd pick you" mug. I love the colour and floral pattern. The only thing is that it's not dishwasher or microwave safe ... perhaps a bit of a pain for a busy Mum? That said this mug retails for just £3 and is really quite cute!

Asda have a great range of Mother's Day gifts available with different themes - garden, home, kitchen, breakfast in bed and even pocket money gifts. Looking through their range I personally like the look of their Ceramic Bird Measuring Cups....

Ceramic Bird Measuring Cups £5

... I have boring plastic ones and these ones look so much more fun! I also wouldn't say no to their Ceramic Cake Stand, and at just £5 I think it's a bargain.

Ceramic Cake Stand £5

So there you go, a range of gifts from Asda that won't break the bank! Worth a wee look the next time you are in doing your shopping.

Samples were received for the purposes of this review. No other reward, financial or otherwise, was received in exchange for this post. All opinions expressed are entirely our own.