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10 things I said my kids or I would never do……….

My kids are older now and after a conversation with @Liparazzi on Twitter last night, it got me thinking about the things I said I’d never do as a parent, but actually ended up doing……

I do have to laugh at how naive I was, right up until quite recently.  I was determined that my kids wouldn’t do some of the things I’ve let them do over time.

Parenting 101

1. I’ll never leave the house without make-up on or my hair done.

Oh how naive that was.  With three kids, none of whom want to get up on a school day any more, it doesn’t matter what time of day I get up – there never seems to be time for me to get ready.

Yes – there really are days that I do the school run with may hair not even brushed, let alone wearing make up and styled hair…..

2. My kids will never misbehave in public or in a restaurant.

Hahahahaha, who was I kidding.   As much as I’d like to have three poker straight, beautifully dictioned kids with respect for everyone, three ADHD kids sitting together is a recipe for disaster.

We’ve had screaming abdabs, full tantrums and not always in a shop either.  I did stick to my guns on the not buying them what they want as an excuse to keep the peace, but that did lead to some spectacular store incidents with other shoppers tut tutting into their sleeves.

3.  My kids won’t eat crap or fast food.

Hey, who am I to judge if crap or fast food gets the kids to behave in public.  There comes a point that I’ll do almost anything for a bit of peace and if a bar of chocolate means I get to do the big monthly shop with three quiet kids in tow, I’m not going to complain.

A bit of fast food did nobody any harm and I cringe now to see kids who NEVER get anything of a treat.  Watching the other kids in my boys years at school, I’ve learned that while they are little, kids might kow tow to it, they tend to break out and want it even more when they get older and are no longer under mum and dads beady eye.  I’m all for moderation now, but before my kids hit the near double figures in years, I was a sanctimonious witch.

4. My kids will do as they’re told, first time, or else.

Almost everyone with more than one kid will relate to this one being a complete load of codswallop.  The teen needs about a million and five tellings to get up in the morning, and there’s a full negotiation in force to decide what time they have to come in if they’ve been out playing.  Who knew that negotiation was a far better skill than just being browbeaten into submission pre kids?

 5.  My kids won’t watch TV.

In my naivety, I used to say this all the time as a young adult.  Now, I only wish I could get mine TO watch TV.  Mine have never done it and although I got my youthful wish and desire on this one, I also NEVER EVER got any free time during the time any of my kids were present.

Now, I’d say rock the TV, it makes a great babysitter so you can do housework if kids will watch it, and apparently almost everyone else’s kids do like it.

6. My kids won’t have a mobile phone till they’re about 12.

Oh my god, what a load of piffle this is.  It dawned on me quite early on that kids need freedom.  Who knew that they’d want to go out to play minus their parents, ever!!!  It got to the point that I couldn’t see the point in holding myself to this ridiculous rule after watching how parents of older children called it.    Their sometimes 5 – 12 year olds disappeared after school and were never to be seen for hours on end, while streams of mums walked, run or drove the streets hunting down their little cherubs for supper.

Come the magic age of 12, they suddenly have a mobile phone and have to check in or be at the end of the phone for every beck and call of mum and dad.  That’s just bonkers.

Nobody is saying kids must have a smartphone, but an old fashioned call maker is a good peace of mind bit of kit at any age when they’re out on their own.

7.  I will never shout at my kids.

I think I lasted two days on this one.  The two year old broke away from the buggy and headed towards a busy road.  I bawled at the top of my voice, hanging onto the buggy with one child still in it for dear life and reaching for the escaping bullet.

Enough said.  It’s impossible.

8.  My house will be immaculate and my kids will always be perfectly turned out.

From the outset, three kids under 4 and food money to be made scuppered this one almost instantly.  The nice tidy house looks permanently like a bomb has hit it, no matter how much it gets tidied and cleaned.

Middler with the special needs has a tendency to race around the house at top speed, gather bits and bobs to him like a magnet on fire, and drop them randomly around the house as he goes.

9.  I will protect my kids from the Internet.

Mwahahahahah.  Impossible.  Kids from the age of 8ish or more can get round any parental control you can think of setting if they really want to.  You might think they don’t watch those 18 movies, or play those killing games, but rest assured, that someone else’s mum will make sure that your cherub has access to more junk and violence than you can probably even imagine as an adult.

I’ve written about this a lot.  It will depend on the nature of the child as to what they decide to take on board or act out on, but they’ll all get access in some shape or form – whether we like it or not, so start the conversations at age appropriate levels early on.

10.  My kids will trust me and never lie or steal.

I was cuckoo, really I was.  Some kids might not, but I’ve learned over time that almost ALL kids lie, steal or manipulate at some point.  We might never know, or we might catch them and nip it in the bud, but it’s not the end of the world.

For most kids, it just needs a chat about why it’s wrong and then move on, but for others it can be a bigger problem.  As for lying, well we all do that, don’t we?  There surely can’t be a person alive who has told the truth about everything their whole lives.   It’s only natural for kids to try and work out what is an acceptable lie and what isn’t.

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45 Days & 13 People to Craft A Tweet

Tweet450

At first, I thought this article  was actually a wind up.

Let’s take the short version.

The brand seems to have 180 followers as of today, but around 100 at the time of the tweet.  It appears that it took 45 days to craft a single tweet.

The article states:

It can take a team of 13 social media and advertising specialists up to 45 days and 13 people to plan, create, approve, and publish a corporate social media post.

 

There must be more to it – surely?

Perhaps it’s some new kind of branding, or specialism that ends up with a tweet, but starts with a massive marketing campaign.

This is the tweet that took nearly 2 months to get approved.  It’s a nice tweet and a lovely image.

Perhaps someone can explain it to me, as I really do not understand it.  It seems an awful lot of money to spend out in relation to the potential return.

I’m in the WRONG business.

 

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OXO Shake & Flavour: Chinese & Garlic Rib Eye Steaks

OXO Chinese Rib Eye Steaks 3

Thanks go to OXO for the lovely OXO Shake & Flavour Summer Starter Kit, packed full of summer seasonings for cooking great meals.

Oxo 4

I took inspiration from one of the included OXO recipe cards and modified it to suit how my family prefers to eat.  We’re not big on chilli here, so for the OXO Chilli, Garlic and Thyme Steaks, I changed some of the ingredients.

When the weather starts warming up, it’s hard to make big and heavy stews and casseroles, but simply cooking meat on its own can leave food boring very quickly.  I often use spices, herbs and sauces when I’m cooking as it makes the meat more interesting and much more tasty for our family meals.

I wanted our lovely summer food to be quick, easy and fast to do and a marinade seems to be one of the easiest ways to achieve that.  Who doesn’t want good tasty food that is finished quickly and tastes amazing with a massive flavour transformation.

I wouldn’t have thought of using the Shake and Flavours in a marinade, so the recipe cards have been very welcome indeed.   OXO also gave us some lovely cards with a tin to keep new recipes, and that is one thing that I am really lacking.  If I don’t put recipes online very quickly, I tend to forget what I’ve put in them and they’re lost.  I always think I’ll remember what I put in them, but I never do.

Sadly, we seem to have lost the summer connection and the day I made my marinaded dish, the sky clouded over and we had rolling mist, so the pictures I’d imagined outside didn’t happen.

I found the Shake and Flavour seasoning really easy to use, and I can see me sprinkling some over all kinds of dishes, even when just grilling bacon, to add a neat twist to the flavour.

For my recipe, we had some lovely rib eye steaks from my local butcher that I was planning cooking for Sunday dinner and as the steak recipe mentioned rib eye steaks, it was the perfect way to try out the Rich Beef Shake and Flavour.   I like the fact that we can use Shake and Flavour before or after cooking.  I’d just have looked at the pots and assumed they were just for cooking.

Oxo Rib Eye Steaks 2

There are seven different varieties of OXO Shake & Flavour, and they’re all MSG free.

  • Garlic & Herb
  • Rich Beef
  • Roast Chicken
  • Southern Fried Chicken
  • Chinese Tikka
  • Italian (Asda Only)

Oxo 3

We have some lovely chicken burgers from my favourite butcher in the fridge, and those will be treated to a mix of Southern Fried Chicken with some Garlic & Herb tomorrow 🙂

OXO Chinese Garlic Rib Eye Steaks

Lesley Smith
Course Mains

Ingredients
  

  • 4 teaspoons OXO Rich Beef Shake & Flavour
  • 4 teaspoons OXO Chinese Shake & Flavour
  • 2 tablespoons Olive Oil
  • 5 - 6 Rib Eye Steaks
  • 1 clove Garlic
  • Salad To Serve
  • 150 g Soy Sauce

Instructions
 

  • Mix all the ingredients, apart from the salad to serve and the steaks into a bowl big enough to hold everything when it's being cooked. I prefer to use a glass or steel dish rather than plastic. Mix the ingredients until smooth.
  • Add the steaks and make sure the marinade covers them completely.
  • Pop the steaks into the fridge for at least an hour, or overnight which would be even better.
  • Take them out of the fridge at least 20 minutes before cooking them. They can be grilled or barbecued. Spoon over any of the marinade that is left in the bowl before you cook them.
  • Cook on the grill for approximately 3 or 4 minutes on each side, or until your steak reaches the consistency that you prefer. I like my steak well done, so it's a longer cooking time in the Scottish Mum Household. For this version, I oven cooked mine for fifteen minutes each side on a moderate heat and it was perfect for us. You know your own meat tastes and can adjust that to suit.
  • Let the meat rest before serving and enjoy.

This post is part of a BritMums project with OXO Shake & Flavour. Shake & Flavour seasoning granules can be sprinkled into food during cooking or before serving. Find out more about the Shake & Flavour varieties.  

If you’re a Twitter fan, heading over to the #OXOMealtimeMagic will give you some good ideas for cooking from @OXOFamily and the OXO Shake & Flavour bloggers.

 

 

 

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Review: Magical World Journals

Magical World Journals recently sent us a Dragons The Journal to try out.  I’m not sure what I was expecting, but this is a substantial journal.

Journal Outside Cover 2

My youngest’s eyes popped out of his head when he saw it, and the possibilities of filling it with his own drawings meant he was keen to have it, and NOW.

He’s treating it like it’s a precious secret book and planning how he’s going to fill it up.  I expected him to simply start drawing and writing, but he seems to want to use it as a keepsake for the future, so no scribbling allowed.

There are 128 pages, each with a border or small illustration that follows the escape of the dragon and its rampage through a castle.  It’s a bit like a story within a drawing book, and one my boy is keen to make use of.

Journal Inside Page

There is a dragons eye and claw which rises from the journal, from a 3D wall cover and the tail comes out of the back.

The inspiration behind the 4 journals is to inspire kids to use their creativity and imagination by creating their own stories, drawings, poems and secrets in a lovely magical way.

I’m really pleased with this, and I think it would make for a great birthday or Christmas present for any child.

I’ve bookmarked it to order one for my nephews birthday later this year.   He’s one of those kids who has everything, and it’s going to be nice to have something unusually simple and fun to give to him.

 

 

 

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Review: Charge Key and Charge Card

I’ve had these for a wee while now.  It’s about time to let you know how I found them.

The CHARGEKEY and CHARGECARD were sent for us to try out by NOMAD.

The key part fits onto my keyring and means that as long as I can get access to a USB port of a USB plug, I can charge anywhere without tangled cables.  The CHARGECARD fits perfectly into a credit card sized slot in a wallet or purse.     They are chargers and not battery packs, so they do need access to an electricity supply, whether it is charging direct to a computer, through a USB plug, or from a back up battery.

ChargeKeyChargecard

I have the lightning charge key that works with my iPhone and the mini iPad.  I have a regular mini usb port on my iPhone 5, as I use a Mophie battery case, so in reflection, a mini usb charge key would probably have been better for me.

It’s quite deceiving actually as it really IS very little.  I have it on my keyring as if I desperately need charge in someones else’s house, I can actually get it without too much hassle.  The USB end is a lot than you expect a cable that plugs into a USB charger to be.  It’s about half the thickness of the regular USB cable end that you’d expect.

The cables are VERY short, so are not practical on my PC, although they’d be fine for a low lying laptop.  It’s unlikely that gadgets would be much use when plugged in to charge.  It’s not impossible, but the cable part is so very short.  Using it would be quite uncomfortable with the inability to turn devices around.

The cables are very very bendy.  I was wary of them snapping, but they seem solid enough and have stood up to my kids testing them out.

The short version of a review is:  they work perfectly.

I find them easiest for using in the car or our motor home as fabulous chargers that take up little space, with no cables to get tangled.  They’ve pretty much proved themselves very handy for that indeed and I keep the lightning connector on my keyring – just in case, as in desperation, I could remove the Mophie base to charge up a dying phone.

Note:  My older kids haven’t broken them, but I’m not sure how they’d stand up to a toddler.  I’d look after these chargers in the same was as you do the regular sized cable chargers and keep them away from children and pets.

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Saying Goodbye To Blog Rankings

I love my blog 600

I made a decision today.  It’s mostly based around the time aspect, and more importantly, around how I feel about it.

For a few years, I’ve been a member, and taken part in some lovely blogging groups which have blog stats.  I didn’t really care where I sat in the stats, as the blog just does it’s own thing and Google is very good to me these days.

My blog went down (out of action) for a few days recently and although I’ve only dropped about 100 places in one ranking, the others are likely to tank in the next few weeks.  Yes, I know by next month, I’d be back where I was, but when I spotted the drop, I instantly began planning a couple of competitions etc to temporarily up the blog reader number.

Then I stopped myself.

To be part of a couple of the groups, I felt myself giving in to not posting many of the types of things that I would really like to, as it means that the blog was going down a more specific route than I really wanted it to, and becoming more niche than I’d like.  My blog isn’t a business, it’s a hobby, and I felt myself losing that.

Yes, I’ll lose offers from PRs that use the blog ranking places, but that’s not all bad either. Anyone who knows the blog can work out it’s level as an SEO value, and it should drop some of the spam enquiries, that some days, actually fill the blog e-mail address up so much that I can spend ages just wading through them all.

I plan to pop on my Google page rank, play with the blog and do some posts around the business that I have unexpectedly had returned after being rented out to someone for the last 12 years.  It’s going to be a busy time, and to keep up with it all, I can’t be distracted by where I sit in ranking stats.

I feel slightly liberated today without blog badges reporting my stats back to the ranking websites.  Yes, I know I will be bottom of the rankings pile by next month with no stats reporting back, but I will have my blog back the way I used to feel. There will undoubtedly be days I will regret removing them, but I don’t want to feel I can’t post things as it won’t fit into my niche.

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In sickness and health, the bruised apple.

Could the Wicked Stepmother have saved herself a lot of heartache and just given Cinderella lots of bruised apples?

Perhaps rotten fruit hasn’t crossed your horizon yet, but it’s the one that stood out for me at university many moons ago.  I think I have written about it once before, but it merits a reminder I think.

It wasn’t the botulism, salmonela or listeria that most people know about that stood out for me.  Parents can often be paranoidically fastidious about avoiding the well known food rot, but patulin seems to have fallen under the radar.

Rotten Apples

What Is Patulin?

Quite simply, its a chemical – a toxic chemical fungal matter that is produced from some moulds, for example penicillium and aspergillus.   Does that mean anything to you?  Well, to be honest, it didn’t to me either.   It’s safe to say that although the apple is the fruit that I associate it with in my mind the most, it’s not the ONLY source of patulin.

Why is Patulin Dangerous?

It shows as toxic effects in animals and it should be avoided in foodstuffs as far as is possible.  As it is soluble in water, it is easily absorbed and can grow quickly.  Although there isn’t much research on humans, there has been a lot of testing on how it affects animals.  It shows significant damage to the stomach and lower intestines.

Which Foods is Patulin Found On?

Apples stick in my mind, but there is the possibility of it affecting apple juices, jams and pies.  It has been found on cherries, vegetables and other fruits too.  Cereals and cheese have shown to contain some patulin, but apples and apple products seems to be the biggest threat to our human diet.

How does it affect human health?

Most of the information on the toxicity of patulin is derived from animal studies and there is little or no experimental, or epidemiological, data on acute or chronic toxicity in humans if it is eaten in large quantities.   There is the possible worry about the long term effects of eating patulin regularly and it seems sensible to take precautions and stay away from patulin where it is at all possible.

Should We Stop Eating Apples?

Patulin isn’t something that is going to stand up, wave its arms and induce vomiting and diaorrhea – well okay, it might if someone is intolerant or allergic to the apples or any toxins present, but in general, it might not do more than the odd slightly upset tummy.

Should we ban apples because of its future potential?

Of course not, that would be silly.  Apples seem to be very good for us, and I wouldn’t stop my children eating apples just because of the possibility that a poison might affect their body a few decades down the line, but I do take care that the fruit I give them is bruise free.

Can Patulin Be Cooked Out?

Cooking or pasteurisation does NOT kill patulin.  There could be some evidence, that in juices, with some preservatives, it could be mitigated.

How To Avoid Patulin?

My lecturer simply told us to avoid all apples with bruises.  You could minimise the risk by cutting out the bruised portions of apples where the bruises are small, or simply discard all bruised apples in the same way that it is recommended to discard all green potatoes.  Discard any apples you cut open that have insect burrows and buy good quality apple juice.

Physical damage can help promote the rot, so over handling of fruit can also be a problem.   To keep your fruit in as good a condition as possible, I put mine in the fridge and cut off any bruised parts if I plan to make juice.

I don’t overly worry about it, but I hate seeing little ones being given apples with brown bits on it.  It’s NOT the same as a banana….

 

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Check Your Credit Card Transactions NOW

I think as bloggers, we are often at risk of more online potentially threatening situations, just by the way that we make transactions online and often use credit cards to pay for things on our blogs.

I’ve been targeted, and it’s possible that the attack and interception of details came from WooThemes.com, but it’s not 100%.

There is just the same chance that my details went missing from somewhere else.  Woo have said there are about 300 people who have reported in so far.

Credit Card Fraud

From the 5th of May, some fraudulent transactions started showing up.  It’s not easy to sort things like this out, as I suspect they always start from a position of “the customer may be lying.

My card hasn’t been out of my sight and nobody else knows the pin.  Actually, I don’t even know the pin anymore so I haven’t been using it at all for over a year.

A few days ago, I called and cancelled my card.  The card as far as I was aware, could only access funds in the account and not elsewhere.  Despite that, three days after cancelling the card, another payment went through, which took up the remaining balance on that account.

I know now that the payments were made online, so whoever made them, has my security number from the back of my card.

At the same time, Woo Themes sent out an e-mail today notifying customers that there is a problem and some customers have reported fraudulent transactions on their credit cards.  You can read it for yourself here.  It also made me sigh with relief to know there is a likely candidate for where details went missing.

It could have been so much worse if I had not known transactions were being taken.

Check your credit and debit card payments regularly.  You just never know when it might be you.

 

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Recipe: Bag Roasted Rustic Chicken Stew

This is one of the dishes I make when time is failing me badly.  It’s simply a case of popping all the veg, meat and flavours into a bag, putting it in the oven, and taking out a fully cooked meal an hour or two later.  It has a slightly smokey BBQ flavour so be prepared for that when you cook it.

Rustic Chicken 3

I am a massive fan of quick cooking,  so bag roasting is up there with slow cooking for me, but without the day long torment of gorgeous smelling food in the kitchen when I’m trying to concentrate.  Chicken is always popular with all of my kids and I’m lucky enough to get mine from a great butcher, the Fresh Food Guru, so it always tastes great.

Consider splitting this over two bags with one sachet of seasoning for each bag if your oven is small.

Bag Roasting: Rustic Chicken Stew

Lesley Smith
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 1 hour 30 minutes
Total Time 1 hour 40 minutes
Course Mains
Servings 5 - 6

Ingredients
  

  • 6 Chicken Breasts
  • 4 Large Carrots
  • 2 kg Baby Potatoes
  • 2 Rustic Chicken Knorr Season and Shake Packs
  • 300 ml Water
  • 1 Turkey Roasting Bag

Instructions
 

  • Pop the oven on to around 190 - 200°C. Open the roasting bag and pop in the chicken breasts. You could cut these into quarters to cook them more quickly. Be careful when you put ingredients in as you really don't want the bag splitting.
  • You can do the vegetables separately, and I suspect I'd do that next time as my bag was absolutely huge. I put my baby potatoes in whole, but I suspect slicing them would lead to a faster cooking time. Add the sliced carrots and the potatoes to the bag.
  • I add the seasoning mix from the Knorr Rustic Chicken Pack and then add two small glasses of water. A gentle mix around of all the ingredients is a good idea to help spread the seasoning around.
  • Close the bag with the fastener but make sure you leave some expansion room in the bag. If your bag is very full, it would be a better idea to use two bags. Put your bag on an oven tray with plenty of room above the bag. If you have several oven shelves, it would be a good idea to remove upper ones to give the bag some expansion room as it will fill out as it fills with steam. The bad shouldn't touch the sides or top of the oven when cooking.

    The recommendations are to put the bag sideways, but I've had some of the liquid run out on me on large bags so I put the tied end upwards on larger bags and lie them on their side with smaller ones.
  • I cook this dish for approximately one and a half hours, but it will depend on your oven. Smaller pieces might well cook faster. When you open the bag, beware of the escaping steam as it can easily burn. I transfer my cooked food into a casserole dish and pop it back into the oven for five minutes to heat the dish.

    We serve the dish by placing it in the middle of the table for everyone to help themselves to. Make sure the meat is fully cooked before serving it up.

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Birchbox Review – Good Enough To Eat

Birchbox sent me one of their lovely monthly boxes to review.   It was the April box which was “Good Enough To Eat,”

Make Up Goodies

Inside the box were my small sample sizes of some make-up, popcorn and wipes.

I actually like the sample sizes as they’re definitely handy for holidays and small make-up bag goodies.  There seems to be a monthly theme around the boxes and some suggestions for DIY Beauty by using natural ingredients from our kitchen cupboards to make our own home made masks and scrubs.  There are some fabulous recipes online on their blog.

There are different levels of subscriptions to the service, which also lets you buy full sized versions of your samples online.

Monthly Recurring

  • £10 + £2.95 P&P = £12.95 a month.
  • 5 samples.
  • Earn reward points.IGN UP

6 Month Subscription

£50 for the 6 months + £2.95 P&P = £67.70 for the 6 months = £11.29 each month.

Yearly Subscription

£90 for 12 months + £2.95 P&P = £125.40 for the 12 months = £10.45 each month.

My Box Samples

Thebalm Cosmetics – How ‘Bout Them Apples?  

A cheek and lip balm cream.  It’s actually pretty nice.  I have rosy cheeks so wearing anything on my cheeks apart from fake tan and brown shades is impossible, but as a lip colour it is nice a light.  I have the Pie shade which is a bit bright, but summer is coming, so it might get an outing quite soon.  I actually really like the wee sample which seems to have a magnetic closure strip.   I’m quite impressed by that as a sample.

Lord and Berry Black Kohl Eye Pencil

This made my make-up bag in ten seconds flat.   It draws on easily, but doesn’t come off quickly in wear either.  It’s not a brand I’ve heard of before, but I like it.

Color Club Gala’s Nail Polish

I have the wee gold struck colour.  I tend not to wear nail polish on my hands, so I can’t comment on this one much, though it may well make it onto my toes in summer.  The sample size seems reasonable to me and looks like it would easily do a few coatings of both fingernails and toes.

Laura Mercier Souffle Body Creme

This is what made me realise I haven’t been taking care of myself.  Just squeezing out some of the souffle and rubbing it into my hands reminded me of holidays gone by.  It’s more of a honey vanilla smell that I expected so very lush and very subtle and unexpected.

Yes To Cucumbers Facial Wipes

An organic, soothing cucumber wipe, oil free and made to cleanse, gently exfoliate and moisturise.    The travel size has 10 towels, so it’s about the size of the small packs you’d normally buy in shops.  Paraben free, so great for getting rid of make up last thing at night.

Propercorn, Popcorn Done Properly

This was intriguing.  Ours is sweet coconut and vanilla for 35 calories per bag which is really good.   It tasted very much like a bit of a combination of cinema and butterscotch popcorn so actually very satisfying in a small bag.  I’ll like to know where to buy these regularly for the long term as I’ve not seen them in shops here and we don’t have a Waitrose, which seems to stock the larger bags.  The sample size is actually the perfect snack size, but I can’t find those anywhere.

Final Thoughts

This is definitely a luxury purchase.  The samples are great quality and with more free money, I’d have bought the large sizes of all of them.  I’m not sure if that says I need to take more care of myself or what, but I really enjoyed getting this wee box.  It seemed to be a very personal thing to get.