Kennedy’s World Chocolate Forum 2014

Posted on November 5, 2014 by Paola Berta

I was lucky to be invited to attend the Kennedy’s World Chocolate Forum on Oct 2nd 2014 at the London British Library. Running for the past three years, it is the only Summit in the world that has been created to discuss chocolate. 300 producers attend the event and some are from the biggest companies in the world.

It was a truly extraordinary experience trying different type of chocolates and finding out about choices regarding their production.

Angus Kennedy, founder of the event, born into a publishing family that was already dealing with confectionary, is a very spiritually driven intellectual; he believes the soul will always lead you to what you are meant to do in the end. His major passion, beside chocolate of course, lies in writing and he has already written lots of books. He admits: “The best jobs are always the ones you create for yourself and not certainly the ones, you get offered!” A lot of people contributing to the production of chocolate are indeed entrepreneurs involved in creative stuff. Angus Kennedy, honestly admitted, despite every exams he took he failed, he became a prolific writer. He loves children and is aware of many issues that are often not addressed to make things better for them. He is currently writing a children’s book and, if he would ever become famous as a children writer, it would be quite ironic for children to get inspiration from.

Mr Kennedy is aware it is always extremely hard when you set up a new business but he remarks: ”Success is the ability to fail continuously and be happy every time because one day you will succeed”. He was very close to achieve his biggest dream, having a TV programme about chocolate, but it did not work out in the end. Life is made of many knock backs but it is important to have the ability to be happy with failure and proceed even when keeping on failing. His motto: “You can succeed all the times but one day you will fail and you can fail all the times but one day you will succeed”.

His latest published book: ‘Good Reasons for Bad Things’ [reviewed here on Frost] is made of 222 maxims such as: “I don’t buy chocolate to stay healthy but I stay healthy so that I can eat chocolate”. Mr Kennedy, which is into tarots, numerologist, universalism, etc. He started writing maxims as he kept on waking up in the middle of the night at 2:22am; he looked into the meaning behind it and this is how he has 222 maxims in the book. As it happened to him waking up at the same time every night, he realised to have been chosen to write about things as if inspired by external forces. He loves writing to make people laugh.

As I randomly open his latest book, I read a maxim: “One must not be too friendly to the English, they are not used to it and the shock can be highly damaging to our health.” And he admits: “Rude!” I have a good laugh at it and certainly do not let that bother my interview proceedings!

He remarks, there has got to be a TV programme about chocolate one day because chocolate is a product that is the expression of freedom and represents a moment of pleasure. Moments of freedoms are very rare nowadays in the society we live in where we are more and more concerned about time and making money when, at least over the weekend, we should definitely be taking time away to relax and let go the week past behind. And this is where came the idea of his blog Friday Light, which quickly raised from 50 readers to 13.000 ones! Really I could not say Mr Kennedy does not come up with the most interesting ideas!

Without denying chocolate is the second most fattening product in the world together with butter it has yet to be understood the more cocoa butter you take out during the chocolate making process, the less it becomes chocolate, so there is no point even conceiving a healthy chocolate… it will be like making wine without grapes!

The most heated argument at the forum was regarding the global transit which is going to happen within the next 5-10 years; China, South Africa, Brazil, India and Russia markets
will be all doubling in size, which means there is not going to be much cocoa left for Europe. According to this trend for 2020 it will be needed to increase the supply of cocoa for Europe and the producers are discussing where it is possible to invest some money to increment some farming in Ivory Coast ideally accordingly to fair trade standards. It has been argumented the only problem with fair trade production is often the increased costs attached to it since the majority of consumers tend to go for cheaper products rather than the fair trade ones but of course the issue has yet to be raised to support, for what it is possible, the importance and fairness of acting within the fair trade production standards.

Written by Paola Berta

Create An Embroidered Lavender Bag With Maggie Robb of Made by Maggie

Posted on November 5, 2014 by Margaret Graham

Create a prettily embroidered lavender bag to pack away with your summer wardrobe with Maggie Robb of Made by Maggie

The seasons have certainly changed and it’s time put away summer clothes until next spring. What better way to keep your favourite frocks fresh and protected than with his cute little birdy lavender bag? The herbs inside not only give off a lovely scent, but will also guard against moths. And when you come to unpack everything next year, you’ll be greeted by a lovely upbeat message. Or, why not create your own designs or even personalize the message to make the bag for a friend.

To find out about downloading a template of this little bird, please visit https://www.facebook.com/MadebyMaggie07

You will need:

Plain fabric to embroider your design onto. I used calico because I like its rustic feel
Pretty backing fabric to match your embroidery
Household baking parchment to trace your design
Sharp pencil
Embroidery threads in 2/3 different colours, black and a metallic thread, if you want a bit of sparkle
Fairly sharp embroidery needle
Scissors
Embroidery hoop

Sharp needle, and cotton thread. A sewing machine will speed up the process but isn’t essential

A mix of dried lavender and dried rice for the filling
A little bit of toy stuffing

Step 1

Choose your design or create your own. When you’re happy with it, place the parchment paper over the top and with a steady hand trace around the design using a sharp pencil.

Step 2

If your design includes text you will now have to turn your tracing over and using some scrap paper to rest on, trace your drawing from the opposite side. If you’re not using text, and don’t mind your image facing the opposite way, skip to Step 3!

Step 3

Turn over your tracing so that the pencil outline is face to face with your calico fabric. Making sure that you have a hard surface underneath your work as you will need to press quite hard, carefully trace over the design again. When you remove the parchment paper you should be left with a pencil outline of the design on the fabric.

Step 4

Now for the fun bit! Place your fabric into an embroidery hoop to keep it nice and taut. Select your first embroidery thread and separate the 6 strands so that you are working with just two together. Thread these through your sharp embroidery needle and get stitching! Use a variety of different stitches to add interest to your design. I’ve used satin stitch for the bird’s eye, beak, the spots on his chest and the metallic tips of his tail. Running stitch, backstitch and vine stitch (used on the legs) are great for outlining. And for the turquoise around the birds face I used just one strand of thread in long stitch. The feathers along his wing were done in my latest stitching discovery, Roman stitch. Find tutorials for all these and more on the internet.

Step 5

Remove your finished embroidery from the hoop and press with a hot iron. Sketch a rough pencil outline, about 1cm from the stitching ONTO THE BACK of the fabric, to act as a guide for sewing up. Now place the whole thing onto the top of your backing fabric, right sides together. Pin the two together and stitch around your outline leaving a 2 cm gap unstitched for turning.

Step 6

Trim your work to about 0.5cm from your stitching and with a sharp pair of scissors make some little nicks in the seam allowance so that when you turn it through the seam excess doesn’t bunch up or pull your birdy out of shape.

Step 7

Turn your work through and press with a hot iron. Now you can fill your little cushion with a mixture of lavender, dried rice and a little bit of toy stuffing too. The rice adds a satisfying sense of weight, but will also help the lavender to give off more scent by rubbing up against it when you give the bag a squeeze! The toy stuffing helps create a nice smooth finish.

Step 8

Using a needle and thread, hand-sew the gap closed. Your little scented friend is now ready to get to work. Nighty night little bird, see you in the spring!

For more lovely pretty things stitched by hand visit https://www.facebook.com/MadebyMaggie07

Jay Z And Beyonce Watch Brooklyn Nets’ Home Opener

Posted on November 5, 2014 by Frostie

Global superstars Jay Z and Beyonce were sat courtside as they watched the Brooklyn Nets’ home opener at the Barclays Center last night. Jay Z, a former owner of the Nets and mega star wife Beyonce watched on as the home team defeated the Oklahoma City Thunder 116-85.

Singer and actress Ashanti was also in attendance, singing the national anthem before the game.

All pictures NBAE/Getty Images.

Christmas Books For Young People | Christmas Gift List

Posted on November 5, 2014 by Frostie

It is never too early to get a child into books. Hopefully it will become a life-long habit. These are a great selection for tots to teens.

Deadly 2015 Annual Steve Backshall Out 6 November, HB £12.99

This is a brilliant book to get your child interested in nature and the wider world. Steve Backshall’s Deadly team travel to all corners of the world to film, visiting the driest deserts, the steamiest rain forests, the highest mountains and the snowiest forests in search of the most awesome wildlife. This annual is full of amazing pictures and facts about these incredible places and the animals that spend their lives there. There is also plenty of puzzles, pictures and fun stuff to enjoy.

Deadly Annual 2015

The Art of Being a Brilliant Teenager

A great idea for a book. Becoming a teenager can be as hard as living with one. This brilliant book is a guide to starting the journey to an ideal life as a teen. It helps support young people to become the very best version of themselves—and shows them how to figure out who that is, exactly. Written by experts in the art of happiness and positive psychology, this new book will help teenagers become brilliant at school, work and life in general. They will learn to stay cool under all the pressures they’re facing and plot a map for the future that takes them wherever it is they want to go.

This is a book for ambitious teens who are ready to become proactive, determined, successful and most importantly: happy! And for parents and teachers desperate to turn a down-beat teenager into a ray of positivity and delight

The Art of Being a Brilliant Teenager

Adventures in Raspberry Pi by Carrie Anne Philbin

This is a great book to give your child a head start in life. Computing knowledge is a must and learning how to program will seriously boost their future career prospects. Assuming no prior computing knowledge, Adventures in Raspberry Piuses the wildly successful, low-cost, Raspberry Pi to explain fundamental computing concepts.

The Raspberry Pi is a credit card sized computer that, when plugged into a screen and a keyboard, can do many of the things that a desktop PC. Users can experiment by connecting up electronics circuits, learn to program in Scratch and Python, learn to manage programs and files with Linux and much more.

Written by Carrie Anne Philbin, a high school teacher of computing who advises the UK government, the book contains nine fun projects that young people will be able to use to learn basic programming and system administration skills. Starting with the very basics of how to plug in the board and turn it on, later chapters (called Adventures) cover areas including Programming Shapes and Building a Raspberry Pi Jukebox. Each project includes a link to a lively and informative video to reinforce the lessons, making it perfect for young, eager self-learners and their parents.

Adventures in Raspberry Pi

Tinder Sally Gardner

A great novel for teenagers (and adults) go sink their teeth into: Otto Hundebiss is tired of war, but when he defies Death he walks a dangerous path. A half beast half man gives him shoes and dice which will lead him deep into a web of dark magic and mystery. He meets the beautiful Safire – pure of heart and spirit, the scheming Mistress Jabber and the terrifying Lady of the Nail. He learns the powers of the tinderbox and the wolves whose master he becomes. But will all the riches in the world bring him the thing he most desires?

Fairy tales are often the cruellest stories of all; in this exquisite novel Sally Gardner writes about great love and great loss.

Tinder

Malala: The Girl Who Stood Up For Education and Changed The World

The girl of the moment. Nobel Peace prize winner Malala has finally told her story. A wonderful gift to give children of either gender. A testament to how important education and equality is. Written in collaboration with critically acclaimed National Book Award finalist Patricia McCormick. Malala tells her story – from her childhood in the Swat Valley to the shooting, her recovery and new life in England.

Malala: The Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Changed the World

Best Friends Bakery A Spoonful of Secrets By Linda Chapman

A Spoonful of Secrets is a fun and enjoyable read. This is the second book in the series. A great story about friendship, fun and baking. After a difficult beginning, things are starting to look up for the Sugar and Spice Bakery. Business is good, and Hannah is excited about starting school with her new friends. But as school starts, Mia is acting strangely, and it looks as though things aren’t going to be as easy as Hannah had thought…

A Spoonful of Secrets (Best Friends’ Bakery 2)

Mariella Mystery Investigates The Spaghetti Yeti By Kate Pankhurst

Book five in the series. A fun and engaging book for your child.

“Mariella Mystery (That’s me!) – totally amazing girl detective, aged 9 and a bit. Able to solve the most mysterious mysteries and perplexing problems, even before breakfast.

Is there really a spaghetti-loving yeti stalking the woods next to Limpet Rocks Campsite? Mariella and the Mystery Girls are determined to find out.”

Mariella Mystery Investigates the Spaghetti Yeti (Mariella Mysteries)

The Beaver and the Elephant by Keith Lemon

We were quite surprised that the same person who does the crude TV show Celebrity Juice had written a children’s book, but apparently it is true. A hilarious prequel to the bestselling Being Keith, Little Keith Lemon is a no-holds-barred memoir of Keith’s early life in Leeds. Keith lifts the lid on all the experiences that have led him to become an international ladies’ man and national treasure – from honing his entrepreneurial skills while organising a topless jelly wrestling competition to turning his back on a breakdancing career. This first book, containing three short stories, brings Keith’s distinctive style to the page and follows the adventures of the bossy Beaver and the bumbling but loveable Elephant – whether they are shopping for shoes, splashing around in the sea on holiday or getting into the Christmas spirit. You might even spot a strawberry blonde Northern businessman in there too.

The Beaver and the Elephant is available here.

Blast Away Mould Review

Posted on November 5, 2014 by Frostie

Mould can be a huge problem in Britain. With the damp conditions and rain making the problem a lot worse. We reviewed new Blast Away Mould from Kilrock to see if it works. It says it removes unsightly black mould and stains on seals, tiles and grout lines. We were impressed when we used it. There was definitely a noticeable difference. The brush on gel is very handy and this is professional quality stuff. We would use it again.

Banish black mould and mildew from your home and garden with new professional strength Blast Away Mould from Kilrock.

There’s nothing more unsightly than hard-to-shift black mould in your bathroom, shower and sink. Now, however, there’s a solution – new Blast Away Mould effectively removes mould, mildew and algae stains from tiles, silicone sealants and grout lines.

Available as a Spray, for larger wall and tiled areas, or as a concentrated Brush-on Gel, Blast Away Mould accurately targets areas of mould build-up and is ideal for use on edges and corners of showers, baths and sinks. Both products are also suitable for outside use to clean plastic furniture, pots, ornaments, walls and balconies.

Simply apply Blast Away Mould to affected areas and leave to work for up to 30 minutes, then rinse the treated area and wipe with a cloth. Blast Away Mould works a treat on even the most stubborn stains around the bath or shower. Unpleasant black mould on sealant is particularly hard to shift but Blast Away Mould will see it off.

Blast Away Mould is available as a Trigger Spray (500ml) or Brush-on Gel (250ml). RSP: £3.99 from robertdyas.co.uk, homebase.co.uk, independent hardware stores and at johnlewis.com or eBay.co.uk

Contains a bleaching action. Not suitable for enamel, marble, wood or granite.

Equal Pay Day: Female? You Will Work The Rest Of The Year For Free

Posted on November 4, 2014 by Catherine Balavage

Today is Equal Pay Day- so called because the average pay gap between men and women is so large that women effectively work for free from November 4th until the end of the year. Depressing, isn’t it? Something must be done about it. Maybe women should strike. I am up for it. A holiday from now until 2015? Sounds fun.

It is not just because women tend to bear the brunt of childcare, although more paternity rights and men picking up their slack in this area would help, read this brilliant article on equal pay from the Huffington Post. This year equal pay day is three days earlier than last year because the pay gap has widened. Truly shocking. For every £1 earned by a man, a women gets 80p.

On Equal Pay Day 2014, Iain McMath, CEO of Sodexo Benefits and Rewards Services had some great comments on how pay differences are affecting employees and what employers can do to help:

“It is alarming to see that the difference in take home pay for men and women is actually increasing, despite it being over 40 years since the arrival of the Equal Pay Act. With figures now showing that women earn 15.7% less than their male colleagues, this inequality shows no signs of abating.

It is unsurprising, therefore, that women are suffering financial consequences of this disparity. According to our recent survey of UK workers, 54% of women say they struggle to put aside any funds due to limited disposable income, compared to just 40% of men, which clearly shows the impact that unequal pay has on financial planning.

Equal Pay Day serves to highlight the fact that there is still significant work to be done before men and women are treated equally in the workplace. Until this happens, employers need to be aware of the financial stress that many of their employees are facing, and must take steps to ensure they are helping staff to manage their money and reach their financial goals.”

A Day In The Life Of Wendy Breckon – Writer And Storyteller

Posted on November 4, 2014 by Margaret Graham

5.00 am. Wake up early, too early as usual. The creative mind cannot sleep. Wonder where the piece of paper I shoved under the pillow is? One gets many ideas in the middle of the night, but what good is a pencil, if there’s nothing to write on. Aah… it’s Wednesday today. The alarm was set for 6:30 am. Our son Olly, is a producer for Good Morning Britain (ITV) and often texts us when his features are on.

“Do you think that is one of his items?” I mumble to my other half, through bleary eyes, holding a cuppa and crunching a half fat biscuit.
Mmmm… his reply could be considered interesting…Where is that pen and paper?

Today of all days I am feeling so delighted. Last night, I read one of the stories from my memoirs of an Ulster childhood, at the Bridport (Dorset) Story Slam, and was fortunate to win the first prize. This reflection on my early experiences and my wonderfully eccentric grandmother, has motivated me to keep writing… and writing… and writing.

So where did this passion first begin? Probably on her farmhouse table in County Down when I was seven and not quite eight. As I scribble, the words fly across the page and she is there; dancing in a Cossack hat, making soda farls for tea and whispering unbelievable French words.

The day continues downstairs with a large cup of coffee and later on, lunch. In the room overlooking the garden, blushing apples on gnarled, old trees and the faded blooms of lupins are waving gently. I reach for another new notebook and pencil. Handbags and shoes don’t thrill me, but writing materials increase my excitement to dangerous levels. We are talking dotty, spotty, cute pets and London buses. I own many but never stop craving more.

When I need to clear my head, or just let ideas and memories simmer, I head for the front at Lyme Regis and just let things work themselves out.

Sometimes as a break from memoir writing, I send letters to magazines and have had a few published. The funniest one appeared in Homes and Antiques, where I told the tale of chasing a shoplifter in John Lewis down three escalators, before she disappeared without trace. My punishment as a student employee involved a ‘brief’ stint in men’s underwear and pyjamas. Naturally it took ages to recover!

Over the years the family has been very supportive of my writing. When my two sons were teenagers however, the fact that I had taught English and Drama to Glenn Hoddle the footballer in the 1970s, was much more interesting. They both loved the idea that their mum wouldn’t let him go to football because he dived over the desk.

As dusk settles, hopefully tonight we will get the chance to Skype our son Sam, partner Lorraine and grandson Finn (three), who live near Dublin.

I light one of my own home-made organic candles – fig and pink grapefruit, (another great passion), while we plan our next big adventure to Ireland. Naturally, the latest story will be tucked in my suitcase.

Wendy Breckon

wendybreckon@outlook.com

Brooklyn Bowl At The 02 Review

Posted on November 4, 2014 by Paloma Kubiak

Paulo Nutini may have cancelled his gig at the 02 on Thursday, but the stage was rocking at Brooklyn Bowl a few doors down. Sylvain Sylvain of the New York Dolls and Daniel Jeanrenaud – the Camden Cat, belted out the tunes to drown out the clash of skittles in the bowling alley while they provided the perfect accompaniment as we sipped our way through the new cocktail menu.

Brooklyn Collins and Cuban mistress

Created by mixologist Tim, his drinks were a labour of love as it took him nine months of shaking and stirring before getting his way, and his cocktails onto the already commended menu. Brooklyn Bowl – the little sis to the institution over in the States – is busy in terms of every nook and cranny having a set purpose; from the bowling lanes, to the stage, to the dining area, even a mini viewing gallery from the ladies, but the cocktail collection was simple. Just five made Tim’s cut, but for the less adventurous, there’s option number six, a Margarita.

Basilico and wythe avenue

And as we were there to review them, we ploughed through the list, starting off with the most popular –Brooklyn Collins, which included fresh ginger shaken with Beefeater Gin, lemon juice sugar syrup, lemonade and Brooklyn beer.

With a distinct root beer taste, it was sweet and refreshing, though I couldn’t handle the whole glass as the mix of gin, ginger and beer was a little too rich for my taste buds. But with floating chunks of ginger, it made me feel like I was drinking for my health, fending off the onset of cold and flu this winter. My friend Nikki was immediately drawn to the Cuban Mistress which included a three year old Havana Club rum ‘shaken hard’ with passionfruit puree, pineapple juice, sugar syrup and passionfruit liquer. Rum being her firm favourite, she said it went down a treat, it was the perfect combination of sweet and fruity.

The sting and frozen strawberry margarita

For round two, I chose Basilico which included Absolut Vodka muddled with fresh basil, half of lemon, sugar syrup and blackberry liquer.

For mojito fans, this is a great alternative. The sweet, sour and herby essence of basil infused to create a fresh concoction which I finished sipping even before the ice had started melting. Nikki opted for Wythe Avenue created with Buffalo Trace Bourbon shaken with fresh raspberries, sugar syrup, fresh lemon and cranberry juice. Not something she often drinks, the bourbon was strong and hit the spot after a long day at the office.

Already a little merry, my final choice was The Sting. Martell VS Cognac shaken with fresh mint, lemon juice and sugar syrup. The Cognac warmed my throat as the sweet and sour flavours broke down the richness of the brandy.Nikki played it safe with a Margarita. Frozen with strawberries and cream, her face cringed from its coldness but as it was an alcoholic smoothie-like drink, she savoured each sip.

Frost Magazine

Books and Lifestyle

Kennedy’s World Chocolate Forum 2014

Create An Embroidered Lavender Bag With Maggie Robb of Made by Maggie

Jay Z And Beyonce Watch Brooklyn Nets’ Home Opener

Blast Away Mould Review

Equal Pay Day: Female? You Will Work The Rest Of The Year For Free

A Day In The Life Of Wendy Breckon – Writer And Storyteller

Brooklyn Bowl At The 02 Review