Foodie Festive Finds Week

We thought we would start December off with 5 days of festive finds to get you in the Christmas spirit. Today is day one and what better way to start than with food. It’s December, which means it’s nearly Christmas, which also means it’s time… It’s time to stuff our faces with everything and anything edible and bad for us in sight. Here at The Amazing Blog, we are very considerate of our readers so forced ourselves to test out flavoured marshmallows, creative chocolates, and biscuits, just for you. Ok, I’m lying, we very much enjoyed trying out all these wonderful treats and have found a bunch of great foods that you should definitely have around this Christmas. It’s fine because calories don’t count during the Christmas holidays, do they?

The Marshmallowists are challenging our traditional views of marshmallows as in the past they haven’t had a reputation for being full of flavour. However, that is soon to change as The Marshmallowists have flavours like Turkey and Cranberry, Christmas Pudding and Mulled Wine. These Christmas inspired ingredients are probably more appealing to the adult population, I know when I was little I wouldn’t have been brave enough to try them.  At first glance they may look a little strange but they really aren’t. They are interesting which is something a lot of people tend to look for with food because we are always able to eat the same old flavours, so why not mix it up a little? You can enjoy them by the fire on a cold, wintery evening and team them with a hot drink. They have plenty of flavours if these Christmassy ones don’t look too appetising to you, and you can browse them here. They are £6 for a box and certainly worth a try. They would be a great, quirky little gift to intrigue your friends and family this year as they are interesting and great for sharing.

Chocolate is the one thing most of us can’t say no to this month. There are temptations everywhere. Advent calendars in the kitchen to make us think of chocolate as soon as we wake up and gifts at work, there's no escape. We might as well give in and enjoy some of the tastiest chocolate around and Kingdom has a flavoursome collection of melt in the mouth chocolate for you to get your teeth into. Try and have a read of these delectable flavours without getting chocolate cravings, there is Double Choc Dark Mousse, Dark Chocolate & Orange with a Marmalade Centre, Milk Choc & Cappuccino, Milk Choc & Peanut Butter Centre, Dark Choc with Lemon & Lime and then the Milk Choc Rhubarb & Vanilla Centre. We genuinely took no longer than a day to demolish the lot in the office. The inviting and unique flavours made it so difficult to decide which to open first, so obviously we concluded that the fairest thing to do was open them all at once. We just won’t step on the weighing scales for a while…  They are all delicious, definitely a stocking filler that won’t disappoint. They are available in store or online at www.waitrose.com, you can even find them on Amazon.

If white chocolate is more your thing then don’t worry, we have found something for you as well.  The Montezuma White Chocolate Snowmen are packaged in a sweet little box which would look great as a stocking gift or under the tree to add a little extra excitement for Christmas morning. These Snowmen are delicious and the perfect size to nibble at throughout the holidays without making yourself sick. With these there are the Montezuma White Chocolate Peanut Butter Balls, yes, they do exist and yes they are as incredible as they sound. You may have noticed I am very fond of peanut butter chocolate, but it’s not just me, we all are, so they are bound to be popular with your family. They are described as ‘milk chocolate salted peanut butter truffle wrapped in a white chocolate shell’, that’s all I need to say… If you want to trick your subconscious into thinking that you’re having a healthy Christmas then try the Montezuma Christmas Mixed Fruitswhich are filled with flavour. We found them so tasty that they soon became the ultimate procrastination food in the office, with lots of ‘oh what flavour have you got there?’ and ‘That sounds nice, maybe I’ll try one’. You can find their prices and lots of other tasty things here.

Our last chocolate favourites are from Demarquette and we are very excited to introduce you to their festive collection this year as they never disappoint. The festive chocolates are plentiful and there’s no shortage of mouth-watering selection boxes to share around the house or buy as gifts for friends and family. They are packaged beautifully and with care so again they would be great presents. One of my personal favourites is the Chocolate Christmas Tree Gift Set, for £25 you can purchase this chocolaty and colourful treat. It comes with a chocolate tree and flavoured caramel baubles. To make this even more of a pleasant experience, some of the baubles are Cornish Sea Salt Caramel which is a scrumptious addition to the flavour.

The East India Company is the perfect 'go to' this Christmas if your looking for entertainment snacks. If we aren’t spoiling our taste buds rotten with chocolate then you will find us munching on biscuits elsewhere. Biscuits are great to have around in December as you never know who will be popping round to wish you a merry one. These can be to nibble on in the evening after a gigantic roast, or to have as party treats for all to enjoy.  Interesting biscuits are bound to be a crowd pleaser and the East India Company has some really brilliant flavours. The Cherry, Choc Chip & Chilli flavour is delicious, an infusion of exciting seasonings will no doubt impress your guests. Similarly with the Sea Salt & Caramel, which we absolutely devoured. Last but not least, something to satisfy our British food cravings is the English Stilton Cheese filled biscuits. Cheese and biscuits come out every Christmas, and these have to be in the mix, they are delightfully creamy and bursting with flavour. There are dozens of different biscuits, each as stimulating for our taste buds as the next. Take a look on their website where you can purchase them also, prices starting from £4.95. They all have a huge range of other delicious products so take a look.

Finally we have something a little different, still on the topic of food but not edible itself. For £10 you can get hold of this Meri Meri Jingle All The Way Cupcake Kit from Cotswold Trading. This is a very sweet little kit, ideal for the little ones (and adults as I’m definitely getting one of these) this Christmas. It comes with cupcake holders, and Christmassy decorations filled with glitter and fun. Just seeing the box has made my excitement for this festive month step up a notch. I love cupcakes and decorations, it’s the perfect combination. It is just the kit, so no ingredients involved, but that means you can pick whichever cupcakes are a success in your household and decorate those. They look great on a cupcake tower in the kitchen, even if they are only there for 5 minutes before being devoured. It’s time to put on some Christmas music, get the kids in the kitchen and get creative.

 Tomorrow we will have some presents to treat your four-legged friends this Christmas.

Waliwa Amazonian Natural Skincare

You will already know that here at The Amazing Blog, we are passionate about beauty products that are made from natural ingredients, as they are kinder to our skin and have wonderful benefits without any nasty chemicals. So when we heard about Waliwa, a brand whose products are made using natural ingredients straight from the Amazon Rainforest, we needed to know more, and we just had to get our hands on their products.

Waliwa was founded by Martha and Myriam who met when they travelled to the Amazon as students. They were stunned by the abundance of wonderful natural ingredients, so after they graduated, they knew they wanted to go back. They established a relationship with the Uitoto tribe, who are indigenous to the region they visited, and they partnered with a Professor of Indigenous Pharmacy, to help them to create a range of natural skincare products, and thus Waliwa was formed. We are also happy to tell you that not only are the products natural, but due to this relationship with the Uitoto tribe, the ingredients are ethically sourced and fairly traded too.

The Waliwa products contain extracts of fruit from the Amazon like Guava, Mango, Peach Palm fruit juice, and Cupuacu Butter. Their facial scrub is absolutely lovely and is made with passion fruit, tea tree oil, and Jojoba Esters. It feels wonderful on the skin, and is great to use as a weekly treatment to rid of one's dead skin cells. The range includes a number of face and body products that will easily fit into anyone’s daily skincare routine. Not only are Waliwa’s products wonderful, but their social commitment to people in the Uitoto community is highly commendable. They have arranged a fair trade agreement with them that will help the community as a whole, but will not interfere with their way of life. They took note that the Uitoto people exchange goods as payment not money and so for a harvest of their fruits; Waliwa supplied the wood that the community needed to build their communal houses. They also work in a sustainable manner to ensure that they are not doing any environmental harm to this area which is so rich with natural resources that many companies have chosen to exploit it and destroy large parts of the rainforest.

With a company whose practices are so ethical, socially responsible and with products so lovely, you will be sure to want to give their skincare range a try. To learn more about Waliwa skincare and the company’s ethical efforts, visit their website. You can also purchase their products there where they retail between £12 and £40.50.

The Dictionary of Idiocy - Stephen Bayley

According to Wittgenstein, if people never did silly things, nothing intelligent would ever happen. When The Amazing Blog came across with the chance of reviewing this unique and quirky book, we couldn’t just say no. Stephen Bayley talks objects, abstract concepts, technology, ideas and opinions... in a nutshell, about anything that makes the world tick.

When I began reading The Dictionary of Idiocy I was delighted with the way it started: “This is a book about opinions. It is a misguided tour with no real beginning or end, but one which passes some interesting places on the way. Opinions require knowledge and a quest for knowledge is a defining characteristic of civilisation”.

Stephen Bayley does a brilliant job gathering curious, funny and shocking facts about cars, nudity, art, wine, perfume and many other ‘every day’ issues… general stuff, as they say. One of the things I’ve liked the most about this witty and clever book is that even though the author intends to criticise humanity’s opinions on 'general stuff', Bailey expresses his own with useful and very interesting etymological observations too.

Even the title of the book has an encrypted meaning of its own… “’Idiocy’ has become to mean a deficient intellect, almost synonymous with stupidity, which the dictionary says is a slowness of mental processes. But originally, an ‘idiot’ was a private man. This is the form of idiocy we are examining here: the private man with opinions of his own”.

You can buy Stephen Bayley’s book from Amazon for £6.39.

The Chocolate Alchemist

Christmas may be over, but that certainly doesn't mean we've run out of excuse to treat ourselves. December may have been the month during which we allowed ourselves to over-indulge, but with damp and dreary January showing no signs of improving we at The Amazing Blog have found the perfect way to lift our spirits.

The Chocolate Alchemist, creator of the finest chocolate around, has worked its magic once more and launched an exquisite range of mini chocolate bars. The new mini selection comes in an impressive eight flavours and includes intriguing combinations such as White Chocolate with Spiced Cookie Cappuccino, Milk Chocolate with a Salted Caramel Filing and Dark Chocolate with Lemon Curd & Almond Praline. And for the less adventurous out there is the delicious milk chocolate bar.

The range of mini bars has been created by the Belgian chocolate makers using the finest Belgian chocolate and the highest quality ingredients. At 42-45g these mini bars are perfect for an everyday treat and conveniently pocket sized.

There are also six larger solid bars to choose from in equally wicked flavours such as Caramel & Sea Salt and Red Hot Chilli & Orange Dark Chocolate. We at The Amazing Blog were lucky enough to try a number of the different flavours and can say with certainty that the Red Hot Chilli and Orange is not for the faint-hearted, while the Caramel & Sea Salt was gone in an instant!

The delicious new range of Chocolate Alchemist bars is available nationwide from independent retailers, specialist confectioners, Amazon and www.chocbox.co.uk. Enjoy!

Dragon's Blood Zum Rub

As winter takes hold and the temperature drops, I can feel my skin getting chapped by the cold. I’ve tried so many different moisturisers and lotions in the past, but nothing seems to permanently rid my skin of its dryness. I’m not a big fan of products that are thick and sit on your skin and cause it to feel oily – my perfect product is one that soaks into your skin, keeping it moisturised for hours after application. I need something both light and moisturising, and even better if it’s lightly scented. And so, we at The Amazing Blog were overjoyed when we found Dragon’s Blood Zum Rub.

Dragon’s blood has been used as a healing agent for years. The all natural ingredients come from a fruit called Daemonorops, extracted from trees that are indigenous to the Canary Islands, Morocco, and Indonesia. Coconut oil, natural beeswax, organic shea butter, and vitamin E are just a few of the wonderful ingredients included in this miracle rub. The contents of this moisturiser help breathe new life into dry skin. The Zum Rub can be used on cracked heels, split cuticles, dry hands and elbows, and any other areas where you have dry or scaly skin. This product not only moisturises your skin, but also has a wonderful exotic scent to go along with it that leaves your skin silky smooth and smelling fab!

This solid moisturiser is packaged in a 70g tin designed for “on-the-go” lifestyles and is the perfect size to carry in your bag. This Dragon’s blood product is an amazing “superfood” for any skin type. We've also tried their Shea Butter Bath Salts and the Goat's Milk Soap and loved them too. They left our skin soft and smellin fresh. It can be purchased on Eterno Natural's websitehere or online at selected retailers including Amazon, prices start at £8.