@nnop

English Breakfast Tea (Whittard of Chelsea)

2015-05-22T16:21:00.001+01:00

After a 12 months absence from drinking anything containing caffeine, I am back drinking tea. Proper tea! For the last year I've been surviving on Rooibos and to be fair, it has filled the void adequately although nothing, I repeat nothing, beats a nice cup of old Rosie Lee. But what of Whittard of Chelsea's English Breakfast?

The Whittard of Chelsea website says of this English Breakfast Tea...

"A Whittard firm favourite for well over a century now, our English Breakfast is smooth, versatile and invigorating, with a robust malty richness – particularly delicious served with a splash of milk"

Now, I like my tee strong so I let it brew in a cup (I couldn't find my teapot) for four minutes and then added a splash of milk and the first thing that struck me was the lovely colour. A really rich, reddy brown and a gorgeous smell. Oh how I've missed you! Twelve months IS a long time for an Englishman to be without tea...

Having tried all sorts of terrible tea, I like to think I can spot a good cuppa from a nasty cup of dishwater and this was very, very good. Full in flavour, without being bitter. Deep and lingering, I felt thoroughly refreshed after each cup.

At £4.25 for 50 tea bags, it isn't cheap, but you certainly get your money's worth. Already looking forward to tomorrow's brew...

ChuckIt! Ultra Balls

2015-05-18T09:51:00.000+01:00

Having a young dog who loves both chewing and running can take its toll on you and your tennis balls but would the Chuckit! Ultra Ball help out?

Our Freya is a chewer. She will chew anything to pieces. We've already said emotional goodbyes to Elephant and Squeaky Cow in the past few weeks as well as a tennis ball and a rubber ball the pet shop said would, "Last her ages!" With this in mind we bought the Chuckit! Ultra Ball Classic 2 pack for £8.25 (Prime delivery) and hoped it could live up to its promise...

ChuckIt!® Ultra Rubber Balls can take whatever you dish out! Ultra-durable rubber balls have plenty of bounce to provide dogs with hours of playtime fun. Amazon

After a couple of weeks of solid throwing, chewing, landing in brambles, floating in the sea, stolen by much larger dogs and generally being assaulted, the Chuckit! Ultra Ball has delivered. Freya can happily spend hours chewing away on it without causing any damage to the ball whatsoever. It fits nicely into our ball launcher throwy thing, bounces a long way and doesn't appear to cause any danger of being destroyed and swallowed.

The only issue we did have is overthrowing it into bushes and losing one of them

My Dog

2015-05-12T17:19:00.000+01:00

Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, robots and scrappers, may I introduce to you Freya "The Dog Tester!" She will be road testing all sorts of products for me as we battle with house training, separation anxiety, dental hygiene and the rigours of dog entertainment.

I've had Freya for three months now after rescuing her from Battersea Dogs Home. Her original family didn't want her for some reason. I have no idea why as my wife and I have universally agreed that in ten years, getting her was the best decision we've ever made!

If you wish for Freya to have a look at any of your products, just let us know...

Simple Cajun Spice Mix

2015-05-09T22:51:00.002+01:00

This is a dead simple "Cajun Spice mix" I use when making jambalaya and is just one serving. You can make more and store it if you are organised. You can tweak it to suit your taste but the basic blend is...

1 tsp Cayenne Pepper
1 tsp Paprika
1/2 tsp Red Pepper Flakes
1/2 tsp Dried Oregano
1/2 tsp Dried Thyme
1/2 tsp Salt
1/2 tsp Pepper

I like to mash mine up in a pestle and mortar.

Simple Mince and Onion Pie

2015-05-07T18:33:00.002+01:00

My very simple mince and onion pie. It doesn't matter if you can't make pastry, or simply can't be bothered, this will take an hour and looks and tastes cracking.

What you'll need...

500g of Shortcrust Ready Rolled Pastry
500g mince beef
a big onion (chopped up into really small cubes)
2 celery sticks (finely sliced )
1 carrot (thinly sliced into 10p pieces)
250ml beef stock (I use Knorr Stock Pots)
2 tbs olive oil
2 cloves of garlic
Worcester Sauce
Some Bisto! (Don't tell anyone)
2 Tbsp of flour
2 Tbsp of milk
Salt and pepper

Before you start cooking...

Take the pastry out of the fridge/freezer. Works better at room temperature
Turn your oven on to 200C/400F/Gas 6

So we begin...

Put a large saucepan on the hob with the olive oil
Put the kettle on
Add the diced onion, carrots and celery. After 5 minutes add the garlic. Leave it on a medium heat for 7 or 8 minutes, gently stirring occasionally.
Whilst the vegetables are cooking, re-boil the kettle and make up the stock.
Bung in the mince. I like to smash mine up with a wooden spoon once in the saucepan as I hate mince in that form. Keep it on a medium heat stirring occasionally until the mince looses it's colour and goes brown (or grey depending on your mince)
Add the Worcester Sauce and half the flour. Stir gently for a couple of minutes making sure the flour is mixed in well.
Add the stock. Give it a good stir, add some Bisto! and leave to simmer for 20 minutes.
Give it a taste? Needs salt and pepper doesn't it! Add both until you are happy.
Once you are, take it off the heat and put it aside to cool down.

Pastry bit...

Dusk your work surface with the flour
You'll probably only need 2/3 (depending on the size of your dish) so there may be some left over. We can use that for something else!
Roll out the pastry ensuring you have it flat enough to cover the whole of your pie dish. I like mine quit thick but you need it about 5-7mm.
Use a little of the left over pastry to make some pretty shapes.

Assembly...

Once the pie filling is cool, put it into your pie dish.
Being REALLY careful, use your rolling pin to drape the pastry over the pie dish.
Use a fork to press down the edges a little.
Use a knife to make a cross in the middle (It'll help let the steam out)
Put your pretty shapes on the top
Brush the top of the pastry with a little milk. You can use an egg but you end up throwing most of it away.
Whack it in your preheated over for 20 to 25 minutes!

Whilst it is cooking you can get your side dishes ready. Just don't boil it to death!