Even more Christmas drinks for you to make yourself

Auchentoshan

The Auchentoshan Three Wood – Christmas Delight Cocktail
Ingredients:      
4 fl oz. Milk                                                                                                                                                      
1 fl oz Auchentoshan Threewood
3-4 Heaped Teaspoons of a high quality Spanish Hot Chocolate powder
2 tablespoons of Scottish double cream

Method:
Step 1: Add the chocolate powder into a glass teacup.
Step 2:  Heat your milk to boiling point on the stove.
Step 3: Fold the hot milk into the powder
Step 4: Add in your measure of Three Wood and stir briskly anti-clockwise until thick
Step 5: To serve add freshly whipped cream

Licor 43 Christmas serves

Cran de Berry 43
Ingredients:
·         30 ml Licor 43

·         Cinnamon stick

·         10 ml lime juice

·         40 ml cranberry juice

Method:
Shake Licor 43, cinnamon stick, lime and cranberry juice with a dash of grenadine and ice cubes in a cocktail shaker. Serve in a tall martini glass with a sugared rim.

Licor 43 Apple Pie
Ingredients:
• 25ml Licor 43
• 100ml cloudy apple juice
• Dash Angostura Bitters
Method:
Pour Licor 43 into a glass and top with cloudy apple juice and Angostura Bitters. For an extra treat top with whipped cream and cinnamon.

Spanish 43 Coffee
Ingredients:
• 25ml Licor 43
• Black coffee
• Whipped cream
• Cocoa powder
Method:
Warm the Licor 43 and pour into the coffee. Top carefully with the whipped cream and garnish with cocoa powder.

Midori
Tipsy Elf

Glass: Rocks glass

Ingredients:

·         30ml Midori
·         200ml Apple cider
·         1 Cinnamon stick
·         2 Cloves
Method:
Shake over ice and serve. Garnish  with a cinnamon stick and lemon

Bowmore
INGREDIENTS:
75g unsalted butter  
50g soft light brown sugar  
50g caster sugar  
50g golden syrup  
125ml double cream  
1tsp sea salt
1 tbsp Bowmore

METHOD:
Melt the butter, sugars and syrup in a small heavy based pan and simmer for 3 minutes. Add the cream, whisky and sea salt then simmer for another minute or 2 until it thickens. Cool the caramel then dip the chosen glass rim into it and then into some fine caster sugar. Spoon a small amount of sauce into the bottom of the glass and then chill in the fridge for at least an hour. Pour Bowmore into the glass and enjoy.

And here is a link to a masterclass in a unique way to serve Bowmore!

Try at home: Bowmore Whisky and Mark Sargeant present the Salted Caramel Crust

http://vimeo.com/108919508

Extreme Beast radio controlled car with 2.4GHz

From Maisto Tech you will find the brand new 2.4 GHz “Extreme Beast” radio controlled car.

It operates on the 2.4GHz frequency is a ready to go after only one hour of charging.

And when we say "go" boy, does it go!

Because it's super-fast and looks like a real beast of a car, yet handles like a real treat.

It's not just a toy, it's a proper hobbyists dream.

It's fast and is well able for on or off road with it's super-sized wheels and tyres.

Expect to pay about £50.

It's available from Hawkin's Bazaar and other retailers.

How good is it? Just watch the video and form your own conclusions.

Bump 'N' go Bubble train.

The Bump 'N' Go Bubble Train is a fantastic toy for any little boy or little girl who is a fan of trains or of bubbles.

It cleverly avoids obstacles and whilst it traverses your lounge it constantly blows bubbles (a bottle of bubble liquid is supplied) whilst flashing its lights and making realistic train sounds.

It requires 3 AA batteries, which are not included, so please do remember to purchase plenty of batteries before you wrap this toy up.

It's a brightly coloured toy and is designed for all little boys and girls aged two years and older. Although we do not doubt that parents, grandparents and aunts and uncles might well be getting just as much pleasure out of this toy!

It will cost about £12 and is available from Amazon and other retailers.

For the magical mermaid in your family

My Magical Mermaid is a tremendous toy for the little girl (aged 3 and up) in your family.

She's a beautiful little Mermaid, but she is a Magical Mermaid, too, because she can swim with realistic, lifelike swimming motions!

I mean, what's not to like about that?

She is battery powered but there's none of that nonsense of suddenly realising you have no batteries, because My Magical Mermaid not only comes complete with batteries the thoughtful manufacturers have very kindly included a pair of additional batteries, too!

She automatically swims in the water doing an elegant back-paddle, or see her special mesmerising display.

My Magical Mermaid also has a power saving mode to help preserve the batteries.

She is available from Amazon and other retailers and is made by Zuru and she costs about £12.

 

A machine for making educational chocolate treats

When I was a child I always loved to get a plastic net filled with chocolate coins.

They came wrapped in a gold or silver cover and had a design embossed on the chocolate.

I always wondered how they did it.

Children of today don't have to wonder, aimlessly! Now they can actually see the whole process for themselves!

The Chocolate Coin Press  costs a very modest £20 and they are available from John Lewis.

The Chocolate coin maker creates chocolate discs, then it warps them up in gold foil and presses a coin design onto each face.

How does it work? The base of the coin press is filled with hot water.

Then the four coin dishes are placed on each corner.

Chocolate drops are poured into these dishes,  are gently heated by the base, causing them to gradually melt into the all-important coin shape.

The discs are then removed from the press and placed in the fridge until they become solid.

The now set chocolate discs will then be placed in a special slot in the machine where they are wrapped in gold foil using the press.

They are then passed through the machine for a second time, which allows it to imprint the coin designs on each side.

Finished coins can be emptied into the red net bag and eaten later. If they last that long, that is!

It comes complete with 150g of chocolate ready to get you started on your career as a chocolate coin maker!

More drinks for Christmas

Jim Beam Bourbon is one the best Bourbons that are available.

It comes all the way from Kentucky and is an ideal drink for the Christmas season, bringing the warming tastes of the best of American summers.

It's great by itself, on the rocks or as the basis for many good cocktails.

My wife and I enjoyed it with some home-made cinnamon sugar, which was perfect.

But then came some Jim Beam's Devil's Cut 90 Proof Bourbon.

It has a heady, woody taste to it that has echoes of it's brother bourbon, but which takes you on a journey through a variety of spices and flavours.

You have to sip it, really sip it. Because it really is that good.

Amidst the bourbons we found our bottle of Courvoisier Cognac.

Wow! What can I say? We were, once again, blown away by this cognac. If creating this drink was all that France was known for, it would be enough to earn France its place in the sun.

Delicious and an ideal companion for Christmas, sat by the flickering fire, eating mince pies and sipping Courvoisier. Charming and enchanting.

Then we came to our bottle of Auchentoshan 12 year-old Scotch. Triple distilled for three times the three times the flavour?

Yes, that's so! My wife is not, it has to be said, all that keen on Scotch. But she nodded in bliss, smiled and said: "That hits the spot!"

We then moved on to a bottle of Licor 43, or Cuarenta Y. An ideal friend of the cocktail maker, this Spanish liqueur is a combination of fruit juices and 43 different herbs and spices, hence the 43 in the name.

You can taste vanilla and the warming Spanish sun. It's a thick, sweet golden liqueur, we mixed it with ginger ale and were pleasantly impressed with the result.

We next worked with some Jim Beam Red Stag, which was flavoured with black cherry. Some products that are cherry flavoured taste a bit like bubble gum, but red Stag with Black Cherry is pure cherry, through-and-through. Along with the wonderful taste of Jim, Beam, of course!

Were we flagging? Not a bit of it! Next we tried some Jim Beam with Honey and marvelled anew at the bourbon maker's artistry in creating yet another wonderful drink, so suited to Christmas and the New Year.

Give the chocoholic in your life the ultimate Christmas gift

Yes, you can give the chocoholic in your life the ultimate Christmas gift, this year.

If you have been  spending ages tracking down the best Christmas present ever for the chocolate lover that's close to your heart, look no further, because you have found that special present in the very appealing shape of Chocolate Ecstasy Tours www.chocolateecstasytours.com.

Chocolate Ecstasy Tours provide guided chocolate tours around London and Brighton.

These acclaimed walking tours take the chocolate lover on a tour the likes of which they might not even have imagined, visiting gorgeous chocolate boutiques, sampling the chocolates in the company of chocolateries who are at the height of their profession.

Tours cost from surprisingly modest  £33. They will include the Mayfair Chocolate Tour for samples beloved of the Queen and of the late Roald Dahl; the connoisseur’s tour of Chelsea’s top chocolateries; an ultra-caffeinated Coffee and Chocolate Tour in Notting Hill; a perfect date Evening Tour that finishes with a cocktail in a secret bar; and the brand new seaside Chocolate Tour in Brighton.

Talented guides 'walk the walk and talk the talk' when it comes to chocolate. They love taking the small groups of tour guests to exquisite chocolatiers to sample the divine creations and interspersing these delights with fascinating local history.  VIP discounts on chocolate purchases are also included for those who wish to top-up their gift with extra chocolate!

Chocolate Ecstasy Tours has a Tripadvisor Certificate of Excellence and is one of the top 30 activities to do in London. Tours and Golden Ticket gift certificates can be bought online. Gift vouchers can also be printed from home, perfect for those last-minute purchases!

Visit www.chocolateecstasytours.com to buy the perfect gift. Want to talk about a private booking? Then give them a call on 0203 4321 306 or email info@chocolateecstasytours.com.  

Celebrate Christmas in West Park hotel style

Harrogate's West Park hotel, restaurant and bar will be the place to celebrate Christmas and the New Year.

This season residents and guests will be enjoying two very exciting Christmas cocktails, created specially for the West Park Hotel by Mark Young, the bar manager at West Park Hotel, Harrogate’s latest destination bar and luxury boutique hotel.

West Park Cinnamon Berry Fizz

Enjoy a little yuletide cheer with this delicious cinnamon berry fizz cocktail to help keep spirits high this festive season.


Ingredients for one cocktail:

15ml Chambord

15ml Crème de Peche

15ml Cinnamon Gomme

15ml Bronte Blackberry Sloe Liqueur

7.5ml Cranberry Juice

100ml Prosecco

Holly Leaf for garnish

Method:

Combine the first five ingredients in a mixing glass and shake with ice then strain into a chilled flute.

Add crushed ice and top up the flute with Prosecco.

Finish with a crushed ice crown and holly leaf for garnish.









West Park Smoky Gingerbread Manhattan

Create a talking point this Christmas by offering guests this wonderfully smoky festive drink, complimented perfectly with the traditional taste of Christmas gingerbread men.

Ingredients for one cocktail:

30ml Whisky

30ml Pain d’Epices Gingerbread Liqueur

15ml Vermouth

15ml Apple Juice

Gingerbread men to garnish

Method:

Place all ingredients into a mixing glass.

Shake with ice then stir until combined and strain into a carafe.

Add a 1 inch cube of food grade dry ice* to the carafe, leave to ‘smoke’ for one minute then strain into a chilled martini glass (with ice ball).

Serve with freshly baked gingerbread men


*NB Follow safety precautions when handling dry ice. Do not add directly to the drink and do not consume.

Credit: http://www.thewestparkhotel.com

(That's Christmas would like to thank Mark Young, the West Park hotel and Eve Tindall for assisting us in the preparation of this article.)

These biscuits really are Jule's Finest

There are certain Christmas traditions that every family indulges in. Stilton and Port, Sherry and mince pies and some fancy biscuits.

This year you should make your biscuit selection to be Jule's Finest.

Jules Destrooper is the top biscuit baker in all of Belgium and has been for nearly 130 years.

And Jules' Finest Selection Box is a stunningly tasty collection of seven biscuits that are, it has to be said, amongst the Rolls Royces  of speciality biscuits.

Each one is baked to perfection, using a secret recipe, with craftsman-blended spices. Chocolate, nutty, buttery, crunchy caramel, there's something for everyone this Christmas.

Luxury Belgian biscuits at a non-Luxury price of a very reasonable £4.99, available from Tesco stores.

Best by twice the amount you are planning on, because they will be gone well before Christmas if the family see them!

Boris and the Dumb Skulls

What can one say about the latest book by author Frank Hinks' Ramion series?

It tells the story of Boris who used to be a punk rocker with a huge safety pin through his nose, but he doesn't have a safety pin any longer. Well, truth to tell, he hasn't got a nose any more, or a body for that matter, because Boris is a skull. A singing skull. And a special, faithful companion to Griselda the witch. The evil witch.

Sadly Griselda has been imbibing of a little too much of the hard stuff, the really hard stuff, evil spirits, which has encouraged her to bully Boris and the dwarves who decide to launch a punk band, with Boris as the head, sorry, lead singer.

They antagonise Griselda by performing their favourite punk anthem, Pretty Vacant and after she puts a curse on them this spurs them on to form their own punk band.

Besides Boris, Griselda her evil, yet dead ancestors, you'll meet victims of the guillotine who refused to die (yet kept on fighting and/or dancing), a music shop in Sevenoaks, a dancing dad, a body collector, a cat, a set of vampires, The Polhill Arms pub and much, much more besides.

What of Griselda's plans to take Boris as a bridegroom, providing she can get his body back? 

Will the band be a success? What will The Gardener make if it all?

Written and illustrated (with some pretty seriously fantastic colourful drawings) by Frank Hinks, the story is either charmingly alarming, or alarmingly charming, I'm not sure which.

However,  what I do know is that any child who gets this book for Christmas will be in for a real treat and it's a more than OK way to get into the Ramion series of books by Frank Hinks.

It's a hardback book and reportedly ideal for helping children who find getting  into reading a bit of a chore somewhat more fun and inviting.

It costs a very reasonable £7.99 and is the 16th book in the Ramion series and it is published  by Perronet Press, ISBN 97809 5470 4698.

www.ramion-books.com.

EDITOR: Picture taken from front cover of the book.)