Reviews | Scottish Mum

Posted on December 31, 2012September 4, 2024 by Scottish Mum — Leave a comment

Ainsley Harriott Winter Warmer Hamper Review

A huge thank you to Ainsley Harriott for the lovely Winter Warmer hamper that arrived at the Scottish Mum Blog household for review. The pack was just what we need up in the cold in the North East of Scotland. It gets pretty chilly here and standard winter clobber usually involves multiple layers of anything that keeps us warm. The hamper organisers must have known just how much a new set of winter cosies was needed in our home.

Who is Ainsley Harriott?

You know the one. That chef off the TV. The one who did Can’t Cook, Won’t Cook, and had us all glued to our TV screens. If you don’t remember him, you really missed out and it might be a good idea to pop over and see some of his product ranges.

He’s also been on Ready Steady Cook, where he spent many years between chef and host. Most of you will probably remember him from Good Morning with Anne and Nick.

Having moved to being an author and cracking the US, Ainsley has now launched a new product range of Cup Soups. We’ve been happy to try them out.

We had the full Ainsley Harriott Cup Soup range to try, with a lovely mug to eat it in, and to add to it, they also sent some goodies to help keep us warm in winter.

A lovely hat, scarf, pair of gloves and cosy covered waterbottle with some packs of tissues by Emma Bridgewater filled up the hamper nicely, and finished it off with a gorgeous Lily-Flame Silent Night Sweet Dreams candle which has the kind of earthy but sweet smell that I really like. As a chandler myself, I only like good quality candles and this one fits the bill perfectly. I’d buy that fragrance oil if I knew what it was…..

The Cup Soups had to be tried before reporting back. I’d have to say my favourite is the New England Style Vegetable Chowder.

We tried all of these:

New England, Style Vegetable Chowder – 97 calories
Italian Style Minestrone Soup – 85 calories
Bombay Potato, Pea & Spinach (my mums favourite) – 106 Calories
Tuscan Tomato Mozzarella & Chilli – 84 calories
Szechuan Hot & Sour (adored by two kids) – 62 calories
East Indian Mulligatawny – 110 calories

Cup Soups that I’ve tried before tend to be watery with some dried up croutons in them, so I am happy to report the lovely consistency of good soup which dissolves well into boiling water.

Ainsley has also launched products including cooking sauces, risotto, croutons and unusual rice accompaniments. I really quite fancy trying the Chilli & Lime Flavoured Quinoa & Basmati Rice.

Posted on December 21, 2012March 13, 2021 by Scottish Mum — 2 Comments

Guest Recipe: Carol’s Caribbean Christmas Cake

This is a fabulous Guest Recipe, featured and supported by Country Products.

We all want to know how to make fabulous cake when Christmas comes around, and the Caribbean Christmas Cake looks and sounds like a worth cake to try out for special days. I hope you enjoy it.

Carol’s Caribbean Christmas Cake

Carolann

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Ingredients

300 ml Apple Juice
100 ml Rum
225 g Butter
225 g Soft Brown Sugar
1 tbls Treacle
4 Large Eggs
225 g Plain Flour
1 tsp Mixed Spice
1/2 tsp Ground Ginger
1/2 tsp Nutmeg
170 g Chopped Nuts
900 g Mixed Fruit
1 Orange Zest
1 Lemon Zest
Assorted Glace Fruits
Brazil Nuts
Almonds Blanched
Apricot Glaze

Instructions

Cake

Soak all the fruit in a bowl the day before in the apple juice and rum. This plumps up your fruit and will make your cake wonderfully moist.
Grease and line a 20cm tin.
Weigh out your dry ingredients into a bowl (Flour, mixed spices) and set aside.
Cream butter and sugar and add treacle and mix well.
Add the orange and lemon zest.
Add the eggs a bit at a time. If you get curdling add some flour between pouring in your eggs.
Drain your fruit and add to the mix with the chopped nuts.
Pour mixture into your tin. And line the outside with brown paper or newspaper and secure with string. This stops the sides burning.
Bake at 150 degrees for about 4 hrs. After 3 hrs check by pricking with a skewer and if it comes out clean then it’s done. Leave to cool in the tin and then turn out, prick the base and drizzle rum over.
Wrap in baking paper and foil and store in a tin.

Icing and Decorating

Place cake on a cake board.
Arrange all of your glace fruits and nuts on top. Be creative!
In a pan place your apricot jam (about 4 tbsps) and a tbsp of water.
Bring to the boil stirring all the time until it is smooth then take off the heat. Add a tbsp of rum and stir well.
Using a pastry brush, brush over the fruit with the glaze. The glaze helps preserve your fruit, nuts and cake.
Brush the sides of your cake with your glaze.
Now roll out your marzipan in a long roll and make a collar to go around your cake making sure it goes about ¼” above the top of the cake.
Roll out your fondant icing and again make a collar to go around the cake to cover the marzipan. Be sure to dampen the marzipan before adding the icing so that it sticks to the marzipan. I always use a measure when doing this procedure so as to get the right size of collar around.
With the extra ¼” push down towards the cake. This is the lip where you will add your holly leaves.
Make a small amount of royal icing for piping your leaves on.
Cut out your holly leaves. Make sure you cut out plenty in large and small size.

Notes

Depending on when you make your cake feed it with rum but if you make it 2 or 3 months before Christmas then just feed it once or twice a month. Too much feeding and your cake will become soggy.

Posted on December 17, 2012September 4, 2024 by Scottish Mum — 2 Comments

Review – Ask Her Friends… A Novel Way to Shop

Ask her friends is run by Ben.

He has this to say:

“Buying a gift for someone special should be one of the most natural things in the world, right? So why when we try to get something for our wife, girlfriend, sister, friend or mum is it such a struggle – with countless hours of searching, browsing and agonising?”

I can certainly empathise with that problem situation.

He explains:

“The way I see it there are 3 KEY problems:

A lack of ideas of what to get. Where do I actually start?
Lots of ideas but no clue as to what to go for! The agony of choice!
Will she like it? Will she hate it? Fear!”

With a novel method of crowd sourcing ideas from women, Ask Her Friends has chosen to feature items that those of us who have pretty normal lives would actually like to receive.

Having things that women would want, rather than some design board decide what they will give us to choose from, gives us a better choice, and more confidence that any gift we spend our hard earned money and time on getting and sending will be well received with a smile, rather than a tolerating grimace while the receiver mentally plans who to give that to next year.

There’s a lovely ideas map that asks you questions to get to the best choices for a gift and tailored to the person you are buying for.

With a limited range, the quality of goods on offer is higher than I expected. As part of my trial of the service, I chose to try out the Jimmy Choo perfume.

It’s definitely the only Jimmy Choo product that I am likely to wear. As much as I love shoes, I am way past the ability to wear skyscrapers and not break my legs on the way down and it was really good to get something that I really really wanted.

The fact that my kids have said that the smell is beautiful just made my day even more. My scent came with a gorgeous Jimmy Choo Make-Up bag and I think the perfume is now going to be used in preference to any I have on my bathroom shelf.

If you’re struggling to choose, even with all the advice you can get, there is an online live chat facility which is always a good customer service selling point.

Give them a whirl, you might just find what you’ve been looking for.

Posted on December 15, 2012August 24, 2013 by Scottish Mum — Leave a comment

Review: Notcutts Indoor and Outdoor Christmas Lights

Notcutts sent me a lovely box of 200 indoor and outdoor lights to use for our tree.

We have some lights, but the boys were determined to put them on the tree as they have several flashing functions on them. We put the tree up last night, and the kids are highly delighted with it, but tonight our lights for outside blew, so tomorrow is likely to be a day where we take the lights off the tree and put them outside so that we have some bling on the house this year.

The lights we had have 200 multifunction, cool white led chaser lights. They have a memory controller and with a length of 13.93m + a 5 metre lead cable, they are long enough to do most houses.

My lights are £19.99 from the Notcutts Online Store, and they have lots of other variations. Considering the RRP of these is £13.99, they are a good bargain to stock up on for next year too. Notcutts has Christmas Trees, free delivery over £30, and have a larger product range for a Garden Centre with indoor furniture, some pet items, and lots of Christmas goodies.

Important: Please read the instruction leaflets when you are putting Christmas lights onto your house.

Posted on December 13, 2012 by Scottish Mum — Leave a comment

Our Christmas Package from Warner Bros.

Warner Bros. came up with a couple of grown up DVD’s that 2 of my boys will watch.

In the little pack, I have:

The Dark Knight Rises
New Year’s Eve
Christmas Stocking
Three Candy Canes
Three Chocolate Figures.

It’s always nice that Warner Bros. remembers I have three boys.

The Dark Knight Rises also comes with Ultraviolet that allows me to take the film with me, and not leave me tied to a DVD player.

As always, the DVD’s are available reasonably from Amazon.

A little bit about them.

The Dark Knight Rises

It has been eight years since Batman vanished into the night, turning, in that instant, from hero to fugitive. Assuming the blame for the death of D.A. Harvey Dent, the Dark Knight sacrificed everything for what he and Commissioner Gordon both hoped was the greater good. For a time the lie worked, as criminal activity in Gotham City was crushed under the weight of the anti-crime Dent Act.

But everything will change with the arrival of a cunning cat burglar with a mysterious agenda. Far more dangerous, however, is the emergence of Bane, a masked terrorist whose ruthless plans for Gotham drive Bruce out of his self-imposed exile. But even if he dons the cape and cowl again, Batman may be no match for Bane.

New Years Eve

“New Year’s Eve” celebrates love, hope, forgiveness, second chances and fresh starts, with intertwining stories told amidst the pulse and promise of New York City on the most dazzling night of the year. With Ashton Kutcher, Zac Efron, Robert De Niro, Jon Bon Jovi, Halle Berry, Jessica Biel, Katherine Heigl, Sarah Jessica Parker, Michelle Pfeiffer, Hillari Swank – and even more, it certainly is full of big names.

Posted on December 9, 2012December 9, 2012 by Scottish Mum — 2 Comments

Baker Days – Letterbox Cake Review

Baker Days sent us an early Christmas cake to review. It came speedily, and in the form of a quirky letterbox cake. It is perfect for small occasions, or when you want to send someone something a little special, but also know they won’t be able to answer the door for it.

There is an outer white box, which holds a cake inside a neatly made tin.

Our box also had a lovely little cracker and leaflets telling us about Baker Days.

Cakes are personalised and you can add your own message to them. Ours simply said, Happy Christmas to the Scottish Mum Kids.

There are a few different recipes that you can choose from, and as a carrot cake loving family, we really had to stick to what we like best. There are also options for plain sponge or for double chocolate, along with fruit cake, and even a gluten-free version.

I was quite surprised when I cut it up, that I naturally cut it into 8 pieces. Not huge pieces obviously, but just enough for everyone to have a decent bite of cake. It’s a perfect solution to send someone a little gift if you can’t get there for a special occasion. I was also surprised that the cake was so moist.

I don’t know what I was expecting, but we loved it. Although these cakes fit through the letterbox, they do also do larger versions, so give them a look if you are thinking of party cakes too. With almost every type of occasion covered, I like the fact that I can use the personalisation tool and see how it would fit on my cake of choice.

I do think it’s quite a lot of money for cake, but I was happy with the ability to send it, so I’ve just ordered one to be sent to my dad who starts his chemotherapy this week, with a prescription of cake portions.

It sure beats sending him a get well card. There was also a delivery charge, so the small cake cost £17.98 to send in total and I could also pay by Paypal which is very important to me when I buy from smaller website businesses.

I’ve just bought one after trying it, so I guess I could say that it was a very successful review for me, and it is a bit of putting my money where my mouth is.

Posted on December 5, 2012August 24, 2013 by Scottish Mum — 2 Comments

Harry Potter Xbox 360 Review – On Kinect

After a disaster where our Kinect seemed to have vanished into thin air, we had to wait on a new one arriving to be able to use any of our Kinect games.

Warner Bros. had sent us a Harry Potter Xbox 360 promotional copy, and my boys were itching to get their fingers on it and play in a new world.

The day came that the new Kinect finally came and Harry Potter has seen a fair few outings in the lounge with boys fighting by using their wands to cast spells and find new things to unlock.

Here are a few words from the littlest controller:

“It’s fun, challenging and it gets you to like Harry Potter. I have to cast spells, hit pixies and look for fairies while I look for a key pixie, which is a key with wings.”

To play the game, new players have to learn how to cast their spells in Professor Flitwicks Class and take lessons. The wingardium leviosa is the first one they have to learn, and teaches them how to levitate. The arm and hand motions mean that kids can identify with how they have grown up with wizards in their lives.

Players need to wait until their wand chooses them, just like in the films and then they are sorted into which house they will be in.

Using the Kinect means that there is much more involvement with the game, and players can really feel part of the experience with hand and foot movements. Once they can cast spells they are ready to try getting into the full game.

I’d definitely say it helps to have watched a few of the films to play this game and it might be difficult for some to follow the story otherwise, but as a stand alone, the segments are easily playable whether you know the films or not.

Would I have paid for this, yes, I would. The Kinect is great for winter and getting couch potato Xbox fans up onto their feet and doing a little interaction. It can be played with 2 players which is always a boost with Xbox games.

Posted on November 25, 2012January 16, 2014 by Scottish Mum — 4 Comments

Border Biscuits Gift Collection Review

The people at Border Biscuits sent me a lovely gift box to review. Far from being the traditional box of biscuits, they are both unusual and delicious.

Arriving thoughtfully wrapped up in Christmas paper, the boys took one look and immediately knew that it was something they might like. With the wrapping quickly ripped off, it’s easy to see why they are calling this range “Deliciously Different.”

This ‘Deliciously different’ biscuit tin comes with a tantalising assortment of biscuit favourites, they are unusual and with combinations of flavour that need to be tried. These biscuit tins make for excellent hostess gifts, and for something different from the usual bottle of vino, or cracker tin.

I spotted the tin in Debenhams Online for £7.50, so it would make for a perfect first footing present (a present for visiting friends and family after the new year begins)

The tin is quite solidly built and is reminiscent of old cottage kitchen with the decorative writing and splashes of colour.

The unusual flavours in my gift box are:

black forest cookies
strawberry and cream
chocolate and orange shortbread
lemon souffle cookies
chocolate and walnut brownies
toffee apple crumbles

Try them if you can, they really are a lovely biscuit. I still love how my boys get all excited about a new biscuit or sweetie as it gets unwrapped.

In my box, there was a little booklet that explained all about Border Biscuits, baking the best buscuits they possibly can.

Visit their website to take part in a competition to win a holiday for 2 in Scotland.

Posted on November 19, 2012April 16, 2014 by Scottish Mum — 7 Comments

Review: Hotel Chocolat – Festive Wreath

I could pretend that I don’t like to be offered nice little things to try in the name of reviews, and many I don’t like to take on, but when I get the chance to try something grown up for me AND involves gorgeous goodies from Hotel Chocolat, there is no way that I could ever say no.

Chocolate has a habit of making even bad days seem great, so a chance to treat the family with something special just had to be done. Hotel Chocolat sent me this wee gift in the post, which was received as a most welcome surprise. It’s a Festive Wreath, made of 50% cocoa milk chocolate with cookies and caramel.

At 400g of quality chocolate, there is a lot to go round. The lovely card that comes with it makes it perfect for a Christmas Gift, ideal for sharing, or even as the After Dinner Chocolate treat on Christmas Day. How impressive does this look sitting on a slate to be divided up amongst the family. How amazing would that look on the hostess table on Christmas Day?

The website says it serves 8, but my wreath has been going for a few days now, with 5 people having little nibbles of it every day. The instructions say to slice it and serve, which was a good idea as there is no way to break it. The chocolate is very thick and without a knife, the chunks would either be huge, or difficult to break off.

It really does go a long way. We still have about a quarter of our wreath left, and we’re saving it for film night this week.

Remember that this is a quality 50% cocoa milk chocolate, so it’s not the soft and fluffy texture of the cheaper chocolates.

What did I think?

The packaging is lovely.
The wreath is very pretty.
It is quality chocolate.

Would I buy it?

The answer is a resounding yes.

It’s £20 in the online store, but we’ve had days of eating out of it. As a gift for someone who enjoys good quality chocolate, it is a really pretty thing to give.

Disclaimer:
Hotel Chocolat kindly sent this lovely Festive Weath for review. As someone who loves chocolate, there is no way that this review was ever going to be anything but amazingly positive. A big thank you from us.

Posted on November 4, 2012January 16, 2014 by Scottish Mum — 4 Comments

Simpson’s Restaurant Review – A Meal for Two

I had a lovely invite from Simpson’s Hotel and Restaurant in Queens Road, Aberdeen. The request was to review a three course meal for two at an evening sitting. It’s been a long time since the man and I have been out together, so we decided to accept and happily trotted down to the hotel last week for our meal.

The restaurant is big and airy, and boasts an impressive entrance hall from above, with a decorative set of stairs to walk down to the dining area.

There is a side entrance that would suit anyone who needs wheelchair access. The side entrance is also pleasantly done, and not simply an after thought to meet legislation.

We were sat up at the back in a quiet corner, and I have to hold my hand up to burning the menu. It was a very large single sheet menu and I laid it down on the table while I got my phone out of my bag.

Mr Scottish smelled the burning first, and whipped the menu up off the tealight before it went on fire. I didn’t trust myself after that and I put the candle on a table beside us.

Bread and drinks were quickly offered, but we declined the bottle of white and settled on some soft drinks and a couple of pints for Mr Scottish during the evening.

Staff were very attentive and we were looked after for most of the night by the Restaurant Manager on duty, Elliot Virdee.

We were there to try the à la carte menu and we were spoiled for choice. I’m not a heavy shellfish fan, so I chose the soup of the day which was Asparagus and Chestnut. I am a bit of a soup fanatic as I make many varieties, so the combination was intriguing and surprisingly creamy.

There were exotics like Tempura Salt and Pepper Squid, Marinated Orkney Salmon, Shellfish Cocktail and Lobster. Mr Scottish opted for the 4 Creel caught Langoustines, Grilled with Garlic & Lime Butter, but it was a hard decision to make between that and the Lobster. He has decided he is going back, just to try it.

Meals are made to order, and the wait is gratefully received to let each course go down.

I almost played it safe to order the Classic Chicken Caesar Salad which sounded lovely, with Bacon, Anchovies and Quails Eggs, although I would have omitted the Anchovies.

The Caesar Salad is one of the dishes that can be ordered as both a main dish or a starter, so on a future visit, I’d be tempted to try it.

I decided to be a little more adventurous and order the Roast Corn Fed Chicken, with Pancetta, Cranberries, Fondant Potato, Sprout Leaves and Roasting Juice. I was thoroughly pleased with my choice as it was delicious. I hadn’t counted on the sweet taste of the Cranberries complementing the Chicken so well.

Mr Scottish had the 400g Aberdeen Angus T-Bone Steak which is served with Watercress, Shallot Onion Rings and Matchstick Fries. He chose the Wild Mushroom sauce to go with his steak but he could have also picked from Peppercorn or Béarnaise.

After our main courses, we were both quite full. Some fries and green salad made up the whole meal.

Contrary to our previous à la carte experiences, the portion sizes were very good.

Historically, I have always related à la carte to mean tiny portions for a fortune, but that is certainly not what Simpson’s hotel provides. The portion sizes were just right and we had to debate whether we were going to manage a Dessert at all.

Elliot arrived with the Dessert menu just as Mr Scottish mentioned that he fancied something caramelised. The first Dessert on the menu was Caramelised Lemontart with Blackberries, Caramelised Pumpkin Seeds and Blackberry Sorbet, so that’s what he had.

I tried a piece of the Lemontart and can’t help wishing I’d ordered that for myself.

I’d spotted the Hot Chocolate Fondant with Chocolate Sauce and Sour Cherry Ice Cream.

The menu said it takes 20 minutes to prepare, so I had to try it for the factor of simply being unusual. It was lovely and the Sour Cherry Ice Cream was gorgeous.

I couldn’t finish it as it was a bit too much chocolate for me with the fondant and the sauce, but the ice cream was quickly eaten.

We had a lovely evening. The staff were attentive and pleasant, without being obtrusive.

Most of the evening clientele when we were in was situated around hotel occupants, and I would imagine mostly oil industry related people.

I can’t help thinking Aberdeen and our diverse population is missing a trick here.

Midweek couples would do well to have a meal in nice surroundings, be treated well AND have fabulous food at the same time as being able to park easily in a good area of town.

I found prices on the menu very reasonable for the surroundings, service and quality.

For a starter, my gorgeous soup was £5, while Mr Scottish had the Langoustines at £12.

For main meals, options start at £12 with good priced salads and vegetarian choices, with the most expensive at £42 for an Aberdeen Angus Rib on the Bone to share.

Within 10 minutes of being home, Mr Scottish was on the phone to a friend to say his meal was “outstanding” and that he’d be back. That’s a result for my usually very fussy Mr.

Thank you Simpsons for the lovely meal.

We look forward to seeing you again soon.

If you want to treat that someone special in your life, try out Simpson’s for yourself and make a reservation Online, by Telephone, (0)1224 327777, or Email: reservations@simpsonshotel.co.uk.

Posted on November 4, 2012January 16, 2014 by Scottish Mum — Leave a comment

Warner Bros. Halloween Box for 2012, including Ultraviolet

Alas, our Halloween box for 2012 was a little late, so I couldn’t do a lovely thank you on the 31st October to Warner Bros. It didn’t matter for the kids as they were still highly delighted with the box of goodies. I’ve said it before, and I’ll keep saying it that kids never get too old for things like Scooby Doo and Ben 10, even if they pretend they are.

We have a birthday boy on Guy Fawkes night, so the boys are saving their bottles of bubbles for then. Thank you Warner Bros. for remembering I have three boys and for sending three bottles of bubble maker.

The movies that my boys are going to enjoy for middlers birthday are:

Lego Hero Factory – Savage Planet
Tom and Jerry – Trick & Treats
Ben 10 – Destroy All Aliens
Big Top Scooby Doo – Original Movie

The boys have decided the cat mask was a little too girly, so it is being donated to our local special needs school, along with the Lego Hero Factory movie after my boys have watched it.

That means something for the girls, and something for the boys. I’m sure they will absolutely love a wee gift.

Our box was missing the stickers so we couldn’t make any Halloween cards, but the boys didn’t know the stickers were meant to be there, so they’re still chuffed to bits with movies, sweets and bubbles.

A couple of the movies have Ultraviolet, which is new to me. Ultraviolet says that the movie can be instantly streamed and downloaded with instant access to the movies on computers, tablets and smartphones. It can also be shared with up to 5 friends or family members. I signed up by using Facebook to join Flixter and then was able to download the movie.

Adding a movie to a new account was pretty simple, and it means that I can play it on my iPhone, iPad, Android devices, and store it in the cloud. There are apps on iTunes and Android markets to get to our movies, so it seems a much easier way that actually taking up loads of space on our devices to keep them there.

Playback looks easy enough, so it seems a great way to keep movies to hand to watch over 3G or wifi. I had no idea this even existed, and I can imagine I will look out for it in future.

Thank you again to Warner Bros. Your packages always make for a lovely surprise arriving at our door. If anyone is interested in buying any of the movies, they are all available on Amazon, at really good prices.

Posted on October 2, 2012March 5, 2015 by Scottish Mum — 1 Comment

Category: Reviews