Peter's Yard when only the best artisan products will do

You have the finest butter that you can buy, you have the best cheeses that you could find, some really wonderful choice cold cuts, with the tastiest chutneys that are available. 

All helped along by some of the finest organic wines, beers, ports and sherries that you could possibly bring to the table of your guests this Christmas, because you love your guests and want them to be more than happy, you want them to be ecstatic with the food at the party you are hosting.

So what crackers do you supply them with? What? Really? Seriously? Those crackers? The ones over... there?

Oh, no! But surely ordinary cheese biscuits made in an industrial complex rather than a real bakery cannot be served at your party?

That's right, common decency says that they can't! 

So, what to do, instead? What you do is you get yourself to Peter's Yard, Britain's premier Swedish artisan bakery. And buy some real, honest-to-goodness real and properly baked crispbreads!

Your guests will love you for going to www.petersyard.com and either buying direct from this Shropshire-based centre of baking excellence or learning on the site the location of your nearest stockist.  

And Peter's Yard are also on the lookout for savvy folks to stock their range of crispbreads in their shops, delicatessens, garden centre foodhall, supermarket, farm shops and restaurants, so please do enquire!

Wilkinsons for gifts, decorations and much more

Wilkinson's was founded by James Wilkinson back in the 1930s.

Since then it has served well the generations after generations of shoppers who have visited its hundreds of stores or in more recent years have shopped on line via its easy-to-use and shopper friendly website.

Each year every branch of Wilkinson or Wilko as it is know more widely known, and its website gear up to provide its customers with all the kinds of things they could need to ensure that they, the customers, can give their friends and family members they type of Christmas they deserve.

You'll find the Christmas shop at www.wilko.com but  for those of us who still enjoy shopping in the High Street for our Christmas goodies, you can use the handy Store Locator button on the top of the website's first page.

What will you find on line or in your nearest Wilko branch?

Christmas crackers, toys, gifts and more, Christmas decorations (for example, The Wild Wood NOEL decoration that is pictured is available from Wilko at a remarkably modest £5.00) and there are Christmas lights (both for your indoor and outdoor trees) aftershave, perfumes, stocking fillers, that lovely new table that will sit all of the family round it in one sitting, with nobody feeling left out!

See, at Wilko you can not only get what you know you want for Christmas, you can also get things you might have never have even considered as being needed at Christmas but, once you own them, you really can't imagine how you even coped without them, before!

For some really good hints of how to make your own Christmas please take a look at 

www.wilko.com/christmas-decorations/make-your-own-christmas/icat/make-your-own-christmas.

There are even specially recorded TV programmes to give you hints and ideas like this one!

So this December follow the link to the Wilko website or follow your feet to the nearest branch. And by the way, if you spend £50 or more, the delivery is free. Please ask for details.

Want to make a cake for Christmas? Cake Craft World is what you need

Want to make a cake for Christmas? Cake Craft World is what you need. Just visit their website at www.cakecraftworld.co.uk and you will find yourself in a Wonderland of all things cake.

If you are a novice looking to make your first Christmas cake for friends or family and you are looking for some gentle guidance and a nudge in the right direction, or if you are an expert cake maker who knows exactly what you require to wow the folks with your usual cake making skills, then the friendly people at Cake Craft World will be able to help you add those little finishing touches that add pizazz, glitz and glamour to your cake.

There's a "wow" factor in every section of the website.

Want to learn more about how to bake a cake?

There's a whole library of books for you to choose from.

From cake baking books for the very beginner to more comprehensive cake baking books that really deserve to grace the shelf of every country house hotel kitchen in the country, they are all there, plus there are book to help you produce the best icing ever.

But there's much, much more to Cake Craft World than that!

There are Christmas cake decorations (also available in bulk for the professional or semi-professional cake maker, cake boards (with special seasonal additions to the range as one would expect!) Christmas moulds (for icing or those special chocolate shapes, loved by children from three to 103!) Christmas tins and bakeware, Mince Pie tins and Christmas Pudding mould, special edible sundries, seasonal cake decorations, ingredients to help you make the best cake ever and also seasonal boxes and bags to place them in.

And much more, besides.

But please don't take our word for it. Visit their website at the above link and learn for yourself why the smart cake makers are all going to Cake Craft World.

And if someone you know is going for a December or January wedding, why not check out the Cake Craft World Wedding Cake section?

Cake Craft World: A cake doesn't just have to be for Christmas!

(PICTURED: A Cake Craft World Cake, made using the excellent book, Easy Christmas Cakes, available from Cake Craft World. Incidentally, the cake has not made it 'til Christmastime. A different recipe from the same book will be tried. Will that one last 'til Christmas? Who knows? But it will be fun finding out!)

Ampleforth Abbey Beer, it's ideal for Christmas

Ampleforth Abbey Beer is a traditional monastic beer which is based on a centuries-old Benedictine recipe adapted for use with modern brewing methods.

It was launched two years ago and is already on target to sell 100,000 bottles by Christmas.

And Ampleforth Abbey Beer was named ‘Yorkshire’s Best Drink’ in the Deliciously Yorkshire Awards in 2012/13. It also received the Two Star Great Taste Award and was awarded silver in the International Beer Challenge.

It is sold in around 70 specialist and independent retailers throughout Yorkshire, branches of Booths supermarket, in local pubs and restaurants, online and in the Abbey Shop.

So, what does it taste like? It's like a traditional Belgian Trappist beer, but it is so much more than that.

There's a hoppy earnestness about this beer. It is not for the lager fan, as it is 7%  and full of flavour.

There are hints of rum and also of a good old English pudding, too, but all delicately balanced.

It's not a quaffing ale and works very well as a accompaniment for your Christmas dinner, making an interesting replacement for the more traditional wines.

To buy your ale or one of the other most excellent products from the monetary please visit  http://www.visitors.ampleforth.org.uk/abbey-produce-2.

My wife will be happier this Christmas with Genius

My wife suffers from a gluten allergy that, sadly, went undiagnosed for many years.

Now she has the diagnosis she can steer herself away from foods that contain foods with gluten and steer herself toward the fantastic range of  gluten free products that are available from Genius.

What about Christmas? Well, you'll be glad to know that she has it all planned out!

We'll have traditional mince pies (using her famous home made mince meat!) made with Genius shortcrust pastry.

We and our guests will also enjoy some very tasty chocolate and lemon cupcakes and on Boxing Day the traditional Turkey sandwiches will be made with some utterly delicious Genius Triple Seeded bread.

The loaf costs £2.99, the cupcakes are £2.39, the pastry is £2.49.

Expensive? Well, no, not really, because it's well worth that and more money besides to be able to see my wife eat something that she enjoys, without it giving her a terrible stomach ache.

There's also a host of other tasty Genius products that we are getting used to buying, you can find out more about them at www.geniusglutenfree.com

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas with Pusser's Navy Rum cocktails!

With the cold Christmas weather on the way, it's time to look at some tempting Pusser’s rum-based cocktails for a touch of warming festive cheer.

Hot Buttered Rum
This delicious hot toddy is the equivalent of a warm buttery hug in a mug – the perfect antidote to winter.

Ingredients
1 stick unsalted butter, softened
2 cups light brown sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon grated nutmeg
Pinch ground cloves
Pinch salt
Pusser’s Rum
Boiling water

Method
1. In a bowl, cream together the butter, sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and salt.
2. Refrigerate until almost firm. Spoon about 2 tablespoons of the butter mixture into 12 small mugs.
3. Pour about 50ml of rum into each mug (filling about halfway). Top with boiling water (to fill the remaining half), stir well, and serve immediately.

Cherries Jubilee Latte
Festively fruity with a warming hint of chocolate, a glass of this scrumptious blend is guaranteed to make that wrapping marathon feel far less arduous.
Ingredients
30ml Pusser’s Rum (Gunpowder or Blue Label)
15ml Cherry Brandy
15ml Butterscotch Schnapps
60ml Fresh Espresso
30ml Half & Half mix (equal parts milk and cream)
15ml Brown Sugar Syrup
Powdered or Grated Chocolate

Method
1. Combine ingredients in a cocktail shaker with ice. Shake until well chilled. Strain into a tall glass over fresh ice. Sprinkle with powdered or grated chocolate.

Pusser’s Rummy Old Fashioned
A new twist on an old favourite, try leaving a glass of this out for Father Christmas instead of a glass of sherry for a bumper present crop this year.

Ingredients
50ml of Pusser’s Rum Aged 15 Years
5ml maple syrup
A couple dashes of Angostura bitters
Orange twist

Method
1. Combine ingredients in a mixing glass with ice. Stir until well chilled. Strain into a rocks glass over a single cube of ice. Garnish with a fresh orange.

CAFÉ PUSSER’S
Forget about dinner, skip straight to this wonderfully indulgent after dinner delight – the closest thing to velvet in a glass.

Ingredients
30ml Pusser’s Rum
15ml Frangelico
15ml Tia Maria
140g Coffee
Whipped Cream

Method
1. Combine ingredients in coffee mug or Irish Coffee glass. Top with whipped cream.

For the ultimate in Christmas cocktails, Pusser’s rum is the word. Really.


Pusser's is an authentic navy rum, not just a dark rum. The definition of a real navy rum is that is has to be distilled in a wooden still.  There are only two production capacity wooden pot stills in the world and both are dedicated to producing Pusser's rum.

First introduced to the Royal Navy in 1655 as a substitute for beer, Pusser's rum is one of the most historic and traditional rums still available today.  Daily issue for over 300 years has produced its own litany of colourful expressions.  The name is a corruption of Purser, the person who issued the rum each day.

Production of Pusser's rum today is in exact accordance with the original blend and it is the only rum approved by the Admiralty.  Pusser's is 100% natural and Gunpowder Proof is still produced at Navy strength, which is 54.5%.

Sailors in the British Navy had a daily tot of rum for over 300 years until the practice ended on 31 July 1970 or Black Tot Day.  July 31 is now one of the biggest celebrations in the Naval calendar and is celebrated around the world.

To compensate Royal Navy personnel for the loss of the rum ration, the Admiralty donated the funds for two years of rum rations to a new charity, the Royal Navy Sailors Fund (known as the Tot Fund), which provides for serving Naval personnel.  Pusser's is the official rum of the Royal Naval Association and donates a percentage of all sales to the fund.  Pusser's is now the fund's largest source of income and has given more than $1.5m to date.

In 1978 Charles Tobias, a former marine, obtained the rights and blending details of the Royal Navy's rum from the Admiralty and Pusser's Ltd on Tortola in the British Virgin Islands was born.  Pusser's rum was launched in 1980 with Admiralty approval.

In 2001 Pusser's started winning awards and continues to do so, winning two gold and two silver medals at the Spirits Business Rum Masters Awards in both 2012 and 2013.

You can visit their website at http://pussersrum.com.

The That's Christmas verdict? One of our tasters said: "Pusser's Rum is perfect! I score it 8 out of 10 and I'm not a rum drinker, normally!"

(That's Christmas would like to thank Jodie Hart and her colleagues for helping us put together this article.)

U'Luvka Voda. It is the spirit of pleasure

Have you heard of U'Luvka Vodka? I hadn't until recently.

We had a beautiful gift box of U'Luvka Vodka, my wife and I.

On the presentation box is the legend: "The Spirit of Pleasure." I know that one can't always rely on what one reads on adverts or presentation boxes, but in this case, "The Spirit of Pleasure" is perfectly correct. U'Luvka Voda truly is "The Spirit of Pleasure."

It is claimed that it is based on an ancient recipe originally created a famed Polish alchemist, Sendivogius for King Sigismund III of Poland, for use by the Royal Court.

This modern version of this legendary spirit is created in small batches by the alchemical descendants of  Sendivogius, using highest quality Polish rye, wheat and barley.

When you pour it into the glass there is that unmistakable sweet scent that one only ever gets from a truly great Vodka.

The flavour sets U'Luvka Vodka into a class entirely of its own.

There's a whole range of  flavours, from hints of summer grasses, of spices and fruity notes and others besides.

My wife, a confirmed gin  aficionado, said: "This is better than gin. So much better than gin! And you can put that in your review!" And so, as you can see, I have done.

But don't take the maker's bold, but truthful, statement or our own unbiased review for granted. Just buy a bottle of U’Luvka Vodka and see for yourself.

You can buy a special presentation box with a 100ml bottle, we loved the unique shape of the bottle, and two very unique legless and etched shot glasses for just under £20.00, the ideal gift for the Vodka lovers in your life. And trust me, they will thank you for it!

Or if you wish you can buy a Magnum bottle for £69.00.

To purchase the magnum visit 

http://www.harveynichols.com/1890696-vodka-magnum-and-glasses-gift-pack/ 

To purchase the gift set visit

http://www.harveynichols.com/1890700-miniature-vodka-and-glasses-pack/