March Top Picks: Rhubarb Gin, Mesa Sunrise, Books & Beard Oil

Posted on March 14, 2016 by Frostie

Mesa Sunrise Gluten Free Cereal

Mesa Sunrise is a gluten free cereal. It is crispy multigrain cereal flakes made with organic corn, flax, quinoa and amaranth. It is also wheat free. I thought this cereal would taste healthy. Not good healthy like avocado but, bad healthy. How wrong I was. At a loss for what to have for lunch because I had not gone shopping, I grabbed the cereal and: it’s delicious. I would definitely buy it again. It is crispy and filling too. A win.

The Great British Grooming Company Beard Oil.

Smooths and softens beards, it has Argan oil which helps to alleviate a dry, coarse beard. The bearded men of Frost thought it was great.

The Book: Springtime at Cherry Tree Cottage.

A fun and enjoyable read from bestselling author Cathy Woodman. If you love animals and horses this book will definitely be a hit.

After years of training, horse-mad Flick has finally achieved her dream of becoming one of the few female blacksmiths in the country.

Her first job is in Talyton St George. The little cottage on the green where she is staying is idyllic, and it feels like the fresh start she needs. But she soon finds she is having to work overtime to prove her abilities to the not-so-welcoming locals.

One person very much on her side though is Robbie Salterton. He’s a bit of a local celebrity – a handsome stunt rider who does charity work in his spare time – and he seems to be going out of his way to look out for Flick. But is he just being friendly or does he see Flick as something more?

Despite swearing off men, Flick can’t help wanting to find out . . .

Springtime at Cherry Tree Cottage is available here.

This comes in a gorgeous pink bottle. Warner Edward’s Victoria’s Rhubarb Gin is made using ingredients from the Warner Edwards farm, real rhubarb. It is a tangy gin. It tastes great and is just that little bit different.

Rhubarb Gin Cocktail recipe, give it a try….

Rhubarb Fizz

Classic flavours go into this cocktail and they all work perfectly together. The ginger adds a zing to the drink whilst the lemon balances the sweetness. We tried quite a few variations of this one which were all amazing but this recipe stood out as the best. Another great drink for a celebration.

Ingredients:

50ml WarnerEdwards Victoria’s Rhubarb Gin
10ml Lemon juice
1 Teaspoon grated ginger
10ml Sugar syrup
Prosecco

Garnish: Sage leaves

Glassware: Martini

Method: Shake all ingredients (excluding the Prosecco) together and pour into champagne flute then top up with prosecco

Warner Edwards Distillery Victoria’s Rhubarb Gin is available here.

30 Days of Gratitude Day Thirteen #30daysofgratitude

Posted on March 13, 2016 by Catherine Balavage

Have you ever heard a baby get the giggles? If not then you haven’t lived. My son gets the giggles quite a lot. Occasionally he will even wake himself up giggling. It melts my heart. Sometimes we go to restaurants and my son will be laughing and the other diners will be looking around, wondering what the noise is. Most people have babies who cry in restaurants, our baby likes to laugh. So today I am grateful for my son’s laughter, and how happy it makes not only my husband and I, but other people. We don’t put identifying pictures of our son on social media, but here is one of him in his reindeer outfit crawling. I hope it gives you a moment of cute.

Catch up on other days:

Day 1.
Day 2.

What are you grateful for?

30 Days of Gratitude Day Twelve #30daysofgratitude

Posted on March 12, 2016 by Catherine Balavage

Yesterday I had quite a stressful day. If only I made a list of things I was sick of, I thought, it would be so much easier than my gratitude list. After I thought this I began to wonder if it was true. Life is hard for all of us, no matter how it looks on the outside. We all have problems and stress. Sometimes our inner world is full of pain and turmoil will those on the outside look at us thinking we have it all together, or envy what we have. There are some emotions I never allow myself to indulge in: envy and jealousy are two of these. If someone has something that I want, I either go and get if for myself, or I deal with it in a mature way. We don’t all get what we want, and neither should we. So today I am grateful for what I do have. As I write this the sun is coming in through the blinds and some beautiful roses my parents bought me for my first Mothers’ Day are on the table. It is a Saturday so my husband is at home. This is when I am most happy: when I have my family around me. So today I am grateful for being loved enough to be sent flowers, grateful for my boys, and grateful just to have so much to be grateful for. Even if, on bad days, I feel that it can not rival all of the things getting on my last nerve.

Catch up on other days:

Day 1.
Day 2.

What are you grateful for?

30 Days of Gratitude Day Eleven #30daysofgratitude

Posted on March 11, 2016 by Catherine Balavage

Today I am grateful for friends. I have amazing friends and for that I am lucky. They know who they are. I love all of you gals and guys.

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Lynn and Steve.

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Hen night fun.

Keshini.

I am friends with Holly even though she looks like this in a bikini. That is real friendship.

Margaret.

Catch up on other days:

Day 1.
Day 2.

What are you grateful for?

Gardening Fun for the Kids

Posted on March 10, 2016 by Jack Shamash

The Children’s Garden

There are two ways of getting your children into the garden and away from their Xboxes and Playstations. Either you can lock them outside and ignore their frenzied screams, or you can buy them a book like this.

The Children’s Garden is written with parents in mind. it has lots of great ideas and projects, so that youngsters can actually enjoy their time in the great oudoors. You can have a lot of great fun, with very little money if you do simple things such as pond-dipping or going on bug hunts to uncover beetles and woodlice and other creepy crawlies

The book has chapters devoted to simple things such as growing vegetables, including potatoes and spring onions, which can all be done in just about any container. And it makes the very valid point that children are more likely to eat things that they’ve grown themselves. And they can have lots of fun growing flowers from seed such as nasturtiums and sunflowers – which are really great because they are completely edible so even if the seeds end up in a toddler’s mouth, they won’t do any harm.

This book is a handy size – not too big – and has lots of great pictures. And if you want to inspire your child with a lifelong love of gardens and gardening, this is a great place to start.

The Children’s Garden by Matthew Appleby is published by Frances Lincoln, £14.99

On International Women’s Day FEMALE ARTS launched Friend Scheme as a #PledgeForParity

Posted on March 10, 2016 by Catherine Balavage

Female Arts magazine launched a friend scheme on International Women’s Day, 8 March 2016.

The online arts review magazine, headed by Editor-In-Chief Wendy Thomson is based at South Street Arts Centre, Reading and reviews events across the UK.

“The theme of this year’s International Women’s Day is #PledgeForParity where business leaders from Sir Richard Branson, founder of the Virgin Group to Mark A. Weinberger the CEO of E&Y have made the pledge. We’re inviting everyone to make the pledge by joining our friend scheme so that we can continue our work to promote gender equality in the arts.”

Female Arts magazine annually reviews hundreds of female led performances, exhibitions and events and has a dedicated volunteer team of writers headed by an editorial team including London editor Michael Davis and Interviews Editor Amie Taylor.

Female Arts also produce events. Wendy Thomson said, ”As part of this year’s International Women’s Day celebrations we co-produced the launch of a new award for emerging female playwrights at the Greenwich Theatre in London – RED Women’s Theatre Award on Sunday 6^th March 2016. We have also organized events at The Southbank Centre and The Bread and Roses Theatre, working with other advocates for gender equality including Gender and Performance (GAP) Salon and the So and So Arts Club.”

The Female Arts friend scheme is available to join from £30 a year at www.femalearts.com/friend where the benefits include a profile on the Female Arts website and networking opportunities.

Facebook: www.facebook.com/femalearts Twitter www.twitter.com/femalearts

International Women’s Day #IWD2016 #PledgeforParity http://www.internationalwomensday.com/

30 Days of Gratitude Day Ten #30daysofgratitude

Posted on March 10, 2016 by Catherine Balavage

Today I am grateful for the small pleasures in life. One of my small pleasures is coca cola in a glass bottle. There is just something about coke in a glass bottle that makes it more enjoyable and taste better. It also looks cool and retro. It is more expensive than ordinary cola but there is just something about it and if you can buy yourself a little bit of joy, then it is completely worth it. It is one of my favourite things and I love how satisfying it is when you take the lid off with a bottle opener. It is a rare, but much appreciated treat.

Catch up on other days:

Day 1.
Day 2.

What are you grateful for?

30 Days of Gratitude Day Nine #30daysofgratitude

Posted on March 9, 2016 by Catherine Balavage

Today I am grateful for cats. I love the furry little creatures. I have had four cats in my life. Rusty, Gizmo and Beauty have all sadly died but Trigger is still alive. He lives with my parents as he is the family cat and he recently met my son. My son had never seen a cat before and loved Trigger and stroked him. My husband also had an amazing cat called Natasha who died recently. We hope to get another cat soon so Luke can have the gift of growing up with a pet. We had Rusty for fourteen and a half years and we still remember her and how amazing she was to this day. Here is to cats. They are the best.