We love Joseph Joseph. Their designs are stunning and functional. The innovate brand have something for everyone this Christmas.

There’s something for everyone at Joseph Joseph, from a 4 piece chopping board set designed to avoid cross-contamination for the foodie, to a laundry separator basket to make the repetition of day-to-day tasks a little easier.

Here are six award-winning products that are perfect for Christmas.

Tota 90L Laundry Basket

Separate your lights and darks as you go with the two compartments of this handy laundry basket, meaning you’re all ready to go on wash day. This smart design includes dual 45-litre compartments for easy separation of fabrics, removable tote bags with easy-carry handles and a helper handle on the base of the bags that make emptying easy. The bags are also self-locating for easy return and the basket comes flat-packed for easy delivery.

Elevate Knives Steel Carousel

This high-quality knives carousel set includes 5 essential knives with a rotating stainless-steel block to store them in. Magnetic knife slots hold the knives securely when stored to ensure safety. With soft-grip, ergonomic handles providing extra comfort and grip, the blades are made from ice-hardened, German stainless-steel, strengthened with vanadium for increased durability.

Viva Pedestal Mirror with Cosmetic Organiser

This stylish design combines all your makeup needs in one organised unit. The large, racetrack-shaped mirror gives a better view of your face and neck and the smaller, 3x magnifying mirror, moveable for your preference, is perfect for finer, detailed work. The hidden storage compartment underneath is perfect for cosmetic organisation with the divider removable for easy cleaning.

Totem 60L Waste and Recycling Bin

The award-winning bin allows you to combine all your waste and recycling needs into one compact unity. It comes with a unique vertical design that maximises capacity in a compact space and integrated odour control with replaceable activated carbon filters. There are 2 x 30-litre compartments with a 3-litre removable food waste caddy with lid and removable buckets with liner retaining holes and carrier bag hooks.

Folio Plus 8-Piece Knife and Chopping Board Set

The best-selling Folio™ range has the iconic four colour-coded chopping boards with a sleek slimline case. Each chopping board provides knife-friendly cutting surfaces, stainless-steel selecting bars and non-slip feet. Along with this, the four Japanese stainless steel knives feature integrated tool rests that help improve hygiene and minimise mess when the knife is placed down.

Folio Steel 4-Piece Chopping Board Set

The best-selling Folio™ Steel  range has four colour-coded chopping boards with a sleek steel slimline case. The included slimline Steel case, differentiating it from the standard Folio™ range,  is perfect for organised storage, a tired design and stainless-steel bars on boards for easy selection. Not to mention the double-sided boards with knife-friendly, textured cutting surfaces and non-slip feet – a beautifully organised set for your worktop.

About Joseph Joesph

Twin brothers, Antony and Richard Joseph, grew up in a family with a long history of design and manufacturing. After both training as product designers and beginning their early careers, they founded Joseph Joseph in 2003. Since then, Joseph Joseph has launched over 1000 products in over 100 countries around the world, winning numerous accolades and awards along the way. This includes 14 prestigious Reddot Design Awards and two Queen’s Awards for Enterprise, presented to them by HRH Princess Royal.

The head office in central London houses a state-of-the-art design studio with a highly skilled in-house team that oversee the development of the products. Some of their most iconic products include Chop2Pot™, the world’s first folding chopping board; Nest™ 9, a clever space-saving food preparation set; and Index™, a set of food-specific chopping boards in a storage case designed to prevent cross-contamination when preparing food. Their mission is to create desirable products that enhance everyday life and that stay true to their philosophy of creating Brilliantly Useful Design.

• Tota 90L Laundry Basket – £100

• Elevate Knives Steel Carousel – £199

• Viva Pedestal Mirror with Cosmetic Organiser – £40

• Totem Max 60L – £199

• Folio Plus 8-piece Knife and Chopping Board Set – £99

• Folio Steel 4-Piece Chopping Board Set – £90

I’m always on the look out for yummy ways to spice up my food, and so I was excited to try Firelli Hot Sauces, which are hand-crafted in Parma, Italy from natural ingredients – is your mouth watering? Mine certainly was.

Well I wasn’t disappointed. I started with the original Firelli Hot Sauce. It was delicious. The slight sweetness of the roasted red peppers balanced the Calabrian hot chillis, and the porcini mushrooms, balsamic vinegar and natural herbs, spices and sea salt melded to provide fabulous complex flavours. It was spicy but didn’t blow my head off (Scoville rating of between 1,000 – 2,000 for chilli aficionados). It really tasted like something Nonna might have made.

Feeling brave I progressed to the Firelli Extra Hot Sauce which has the addition of Cayenne Peppers. Wow. This sauce definitely packed a punch (Scoville Score of 4,375) but still had the lovely fullness of the other ingredients and the slight sweetness to balance the heat – I loved it.

I gave my taste buds a little break before trying their newest sauce, which had been intriguing me – Firelli Truffle Hot Sauce. This has just been released for Christmas and what a fabulous combination of hot sauce with the distinctive flavour of black truffle – how luxurious? And it works so well – a little kick from the hot spices, balanced with earthiness and umami – quite unique and leaves you wanting more. Definitely my favourite.

Not only do this trio of amazing Italian hot sauces taste fabulous, but guess what, they’re healthy too – made with natural ingredients, they’re all low calorie, gluten free and vegan.

You can buy them individually or as gift sets which make a lovely Christmas present. They’re available on : Amazon, Hot-Headz and on the Firelli website – where you can find recipes too.

The Original and Extra Hot Sauces are both RRP £3.95 for 148ml, the Truffle Hot sauce is RRP £5.99 and the Firelli Trio Gift Set RRP: £15.99.

Buon Appetito.

You can follow Firelli on Instagram: @firelli, Twitter: @FirelliHotSauce and Facebook: @Firellihotsauce

By Dr K Thompson, award-winning author of From Both Ends of the Stethoscope: Getting through breast cancer – by a doctor who knows

http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01A7DM42Q http://www.amazon.com/dp/B01A7DM42Q
http://faitobooks.co.uk

Note: These articles express personal views. No warranty is made as to the accuracy or completeness of information given and you should always consult a doctor if you need medical advice.

9780571363933 | Hardback | £20 |

A cosy story tonight for a happy day tomorrow – A brand-new story collection for today’s child by the very best of Faber talent, and FAB Prize alumni, illustrated throughout by the one and only Sarah McIntyre.
The Faber Book of Bedtime Stories is a sumptuous anthology full of hope, courage and brimming with positivity. A gift of great beauty to be treasured for years to come, the collection brings together a selection of Faber’s favourite, bestselling authors and a host of rising stars.
Readers will be filled with optimism and hope by tales rooted in the magic of friendship and the natural world.
Claire Barker ‘Clementine and the Mighty Battle Honk’ Ayesha Braganza ‘Fairy Godmothers Don’t Exist’ Kieran Larwood ‘Queen Bea’
Lucy Farfort ‘Light Bearer’
Natasha Farrant ‘Abi and the Goldfinch’
Ingrid Persaud ‘Anansi and the Curse of Seven’ Emma Carroll ‘The Happiness Safari’
Ann Jungman ‘The Dinosaur’s Egg’
Reba Khatun ‘Sharing is Caring’
Lou Kuenzler ‘Do You Want to Swap?
Michael Mann ‘Bob and Pop’
Kate Saunders ‘Mooncamp’
Martyn Ford ‘Foxy Tall Tail’
Aisha Bushby ‘The Dream Jar’
Pip Jones ‘Bug’s Bake Off’
Hannah Lee ‘The Pink Palace’
Rashmi Sirdeshpande ‘When Bedtime was Cancelled’

I absolutely loved this book of bedtime stories. The cover is gorgeous and the stories are much loved by children. It’s a must have for parents. Your children will love these fabulous stories.

The Geomag (779) Mechanics Challenge Strike is available from Coolshop for £49.

Learning about the amazing world of magnets and mechanical construction with a super fun game in the Geomag Mechanics Challenge Strikel! Build the construction first, and then be ready for hours of fun either alone or in competition with others, where precision, timing and dexterity are the key to victory. With as many as 185 individual parts, both the construction itself and the subsequent gaming experience are challenging and educational for everyone involved. For 1-4 players. From 7 years.

We highly recommend this fantastic product. Great fun which also educates.

As always Marion Taylor has been relaying news from CCA to Margaret at Frost Magazine, and started by mentioning a fantastic donation of 150 DVD’s  from Mick,  quite a lot of them still in their wrapping. The problem is, of course, will Marion ever come out of the office from which will issue sounds of car chases, and all else. Be alert, everyone. Press the stop button.

Julie Milne did the Monday Equans meeting and a second large box of toiletries was packed up and ready to go to Washington Youth Council for the Wearside Women in Need Christmas Appeal. Yet again evidence of the kindness of the  community who clearly never fail to rally round. The cut off point for donations is the 16^th December, still a while to go. The CCA have requested more boxes from Equans as they hope to fill several more for this worthwhile cause.

More hats have arrived courtesy of Plain n Purl. Hazel McCaine,you are a star. Sister Mary collected the hats on her visit to CCA. She came bearing gifts for all, she truly is an earth Angel  Marion tells me.

The CCA team were really pleased to host a special coffee morning for the staff to promote employment at Azure Care. Lovely people who do an amazing job. Anyone who would like the opportunity to work alongside these wonderful people can contact Ruth or Joanne at ruth.pope@azure-charitable.co.uk as there are jobs available and they would love to hear from you.

Though there has not been a lot of ‘hands on’ progress with the refurb this week  there  were loads  of discussions taking place. For instance, electrical work is scheduled to commence 12^th December. Richard, CCA’s surveyor, has a meeting with the Contractors on Monday so fingers crossed they will soon have a start date for the external work. In addition; the CCA have had conversations in relation to Solar Panels being installed.

‘Whoop whoop,’ said Marion. ‘We now have the Archaeology report on our Air Raid shelter which is interesting reading. This will be  passed on to Ged Parker at Washington History Society.’

The roofers arrived to fix the problem the CCA have had with poor fitting flashing on the roof; (fingers crossed they have at last solved the problem).

SCC phoned to say the CCA Emergency light check was due and they would call Wednesday morning. ‘Oops,’  Marion told us, ‘it was done in August, someone had their dates mixed. Up to date records are a real asset. The chap had a cup of coffee to warm him up, and went on his way smiling.’

Dianne, chair of the committee, has emailed SCC to see if there is a possibility that the CCA can have an EV charging point at the community centre as they have off street parking and feel there is a need for a payable point in Columbia.

Shake that Boogey (with Red Shoes Bob,) certainly livened the centre up with their music, Claire brought a lovely rug for the Warm Spaces room, it has pride of place in front of the  new dresser.

Massive thanks from everyone to Yvonne Walsh for her amazing cash donation to CCA, along with gift boxed books for our Diddi dancers Christmas parties Santa sack.

The forever young Bingo ladies came and  all enjoyed the chocolate cake courtesy of Linda. ‘Margaret you would have loved it.’ Marion said. Well yes, a favourite of mine, rub it in, Marion, why don’t you!

Finally, the Committee at CCA, and all at Frost Magazine, are are all thinking of Stu and hoping you are soon back,  bright eyed and bushy tailed, all geared up, paint brush in hand, ‘There is work to be done Sir.’  So said, (You guessed it,) our  Marion.

Information: Columbia Community Association  Columbia uk Community Forum

Memories of Brady Square