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Retro sweets for your sweeties

Last week got a bit healthy in places, so it’s back to the sweet stuff! I wish I didn’t have a sweet tooth, but I do. Generally it likes to be fed good quality chocolate, but just occasionally it will wander over the naff side. If you’ve got a sweet-toothed sweetie to buy for, here’s a few ideas for last minute shopping:

1. I’ve sent big boxes of nostalgic sweets from A Quarter Of to two very different groups of people, but to very similar rave reviews. Both a duo of teenagers and an office group fell upon a box filled with retro sweeties and made short work of the contents. With everything from cola bottles to fruit salads, cola cubes to sherbet fountains, there is something in here that was someone’s childhood favourite. The decade boxes are a different spin, and will induce nostalgia as well as a sugar high!

2. Whilst I am a little concerned at seeing the “Made in the EU” labelling on Green & Black’s chocolate, it is still good tasting chocolate. They make a great combo hamper: Beer & Bars. This could solve arguments, just share out the spoils in an appropriate way! These are nice looking hampers, particularly with St Peters Organic beers, which I think are very attractive looking, not to mention tasty!

3. For the true dark chocolate lover, buy them a selection pack they’ll really appreciate. Try one containing 4 of Willie’s Dark Chocolate Bars, and that should keep them in chocolate rapture through till New Year.

4. It takes a very strong will to resist a great cake, and it would probably make a great surprise on Christmas Day. If you want to stick with the chocolate theme, check out the Pralines Cakes by the Original Hat Box Cake Co or, for what looks like the ultimate indulgence in chocolate cake, then I would go for The Ultimate Christmas Cake from Montezuma’s. Chocolate enrobed, one Drambuie layer, one butterscotch layer, total chocolate heaven!

5. For sweets with crunch, then how about biscuits? Of course you can pop to M&S for a tin, but for something with more foodie credentials, then I could go for the Dark Chocolate & Pistachio Cantucci on offer at Jamie Oliver. If they were out of stock, then could possibly make do with the Dark Chocolate, Ginger & Chilli instead!

6. Never mind a bumper bar of Dairy Milk, I’d like a bag or slab from Melt. Dark, milk or white, there are some really unusual flavour combinations. The milk chocolate with gold and nutmeg both looks and sounds seasonal, and the dark chocolate with red berries and cocoa nibs also looks the part.

So, count the taste, not the calories this Christmas, and treat your sweetie to some good tastes!

Great tea gifts from Bellevue Tea

Tea. Best drink of the day. Well, certainly first drink of the day in my book, but gets equal pegging with coffee during the day. But if you’ve got a serious tea drinker on your hands, what could you give them that would upgrade their tea drinking experience? Here’s a few thoughts for you:

1. I love the story behind Bellevue Tea, which shows real passion for, and knowledge about tea. Not to mention a great eye for good design, as the packs of tea are very attractive, and I love the tea towel too. Five different teas will tempt them to get the kettle on whatever the time of day. Attention to detail is amazing, everything is focused on delivering the best flavour possible. At £15 I think this is a really good value gift for a very high quality product, and something quite unique and unusual as well.

2. Bring the scent of tea to wherever they are with a very unusual, but beautiful, candle from English Eccentrics, called Tea With the Queen. The smell of a vase of Devon violets blends with the scent of freshly brewed Darjeeling tea to give you something delicate and regal, with the tea taking away the sweetness of the violets. Great indulgent gift that is a little unusual.

3. You could buy them something unusual and expensive, not your everyday cuppa. Try something like the White Tea from Hampstead Tea, which is fairtrade. Full of antioxidants that are renowned for their anti-ageing properties they could end up younger looking by New Year. Now, that is a gift!

4. Mix the chocolate up a bit and try the Prestat Organic Milk Choc Wafers Infused with Earl Grey. Blimey, that must take up some room on the pack! Apparently these were amongst the late Queen Mother’s favourite chocolates, so obviously a woman of taste. As an alternative, try Sophie Conran’s truffle for Melt, which is an Earl Grey tea ganache with crystallised ginger and a sweet but tart cranberry.

5. I am sure that unless they are very new to tea drinking then they will already have their favourite mug or cup, and teapot. Every good teapot though deserves a really good tea cosy, and I would check out the amazing designs available through Not On the High Street. I like the quirky kitschiness of Poppy Treffry’s and also the Union Jack design from Deborah Sparks.

6. How about some time with a master tea blender? Red Letter Days offer a great experience for the tea lover with master tea blender Alex Probyn. Taking you through the history of tea, origins, styles and different tastes of tea, they’ll really get a more in depth view of what goes into a cuppa. They’ll get to taste up to 24 different teas, and master the art of slurping and spitting. This they can leave behind in the classroom, but they will get to create their own tea blend, which I think you can safely allow them to bring home! The experience is available for 1, you could go as a couple, or even as a group. After all, nice to have a cup of tea with friends!

So, have a sit down, a nice cup of tea, and work out if there is a tea gift that’s right for the tea loving foodie in your life!

If there was a week made for me, this is it! I adore chocolate, proper chocolate (although occasionally, on a bad day, can be tempted by a mint Aero or a Crunchie).

As if an excuse was needed, I think there is more excuse to indulge in the good stuff this week. My top 5 to plunder this week are as follows:

1. Rococo Chocolates, particularly the Earl Grey dark chocolate. Lovely unusual combination of flavours.

2. Montezuma’s. Be a tough choice, as quite partial to a dollop or two, but I do love the plain chocolate coated oranges.

3. Willie’s Delectable Cacao. If I can only have one, then I really like the Peruvian 70, but happy to have a bit of everything as well as some for experimenting in other courses.

4. Melt. I can’t decide if I’m happy or not that they are now in Selfridges, as I am there much more often than Ledbury Road. Which means I am fighting the temptation, particularly of the hot chocolate blocks. Tomorrow I may just give in!

5. Thorntons. Just for a bit of nostalgic indulgence really. Mine’s an Alpini please!

So, not really needing any encouragement to indulge, I would encourage you to get out there and support British chocolate companies, this week and every week!