And relax, with an artisan cuppa

Much has been made this year of “Twixmas” the time between Christmas and New Year, the time of year we all recognise because we’re unsure what day of the week it is, and we’re still nibbling our way through the festive food, that was designated as “for Christmas” in the lead up to the celebrations. We still do that ritual of asking what you want for tea, but know that the answer is more than likely going to be turkey, or ham. That is until the new year when we’ll add beef to the repertoire!

But life is starting to get back to normal. Our Christmas guests have gone, the turkey is off its carcass and in only a small number of containers in the fridge. But the real barometer of returning to normality is the decline of the cheeseboard and that the pigs in blankets, even the second batch, have vanished more quickly than you’d know.

The calm after the whirlwind of family visits and the general hubbub of December is something to enjoy though, and this year it’s been enhanced by a proper cuppa, and artisan ones at that from Adagio teas, who sent a selection of their seasonal teas for me to try. In this post I’ll share a bit more about each of the samples, which are extensive.

Adagio teas are a family company who source their teas direct which means they arrive fresh and the farmers benefit from a better deal. On their site there’s information about the types of tea, the five basic steps of tea processing - plucking, withering, rolling, oxidising and firing, and the five basic styles of tea - white, green, oolong, black and pu erh.

A CHRISTMAS SELECTION OF TEAS INCLUDES: CHRISTMAS, ROOIBOS NUTCRACKER AND YULETIDE TODDY

I’m a big tea drinker, but I hadn’t realised that there was so many options and choices when it comes to flavours. The Yuletide Toddy is a mixture of cranberry and orange, whereas the Rooibos Nutcracker has a different slant of Christmas with nuts, caramel and cocoa, and is a good reminder of our trip to the ballet in Birmingham last month.

CHESTNUT, GINGERBREAD, CANDY APPLE, CRANBERRY, PUMPKIN AND CANDY CANE TEAS IN MINIATURE TINS, FULL OF HOLIDAY CHEER

These small tins are a great way to get started into a different kinds of tea, chestnuts are one of my go to Christmas flavours - chestnut stuffing anyone? No, you don’t like it either, no problem, that’s more for me is the usual gist of the conversations - so to have a tea that brings that roasted chestnut smell in a cup, well that sounds almost perfect.

CHRISTMAS TEAS INCLUDES: CANDY CANE, CANDY APPLE, GINGERBREAD AND CHESTNUT TEAS

SWEET TOOTH TEAS INCLUDES: CARAMEL, CREAM, TIGER EYE AND CHOCOLATE CHIP TEAS

The Sweet Tooth Teas box intrigued me. Sweet tea isn’t normally my thing and I’m not one for sugar in tea. The Tiger Eye blend caught my eye though with its smooth flavours, the website says this has a high caffeine level and the reviews warn of over-steeping this one.

CHAI TEAS INCLUDES: MASALA CHAI, CHOCOLATE CHAI, SPICED APPLE CHAI AND THAI CHAI TEAS

Masala Chai is one of my favourite teas, and I’m regularly found in the queue in the cafe at work asking for one of these. So much so, that if I opt for something else the servers there look most confused, so I was pleased to see a chai selection in this parcel, and while I haven’t tried these yet, I’m looking forward to branching out from my usual “plain” chai.

I also find traditional Earl Grey teas challenging, but the names of these blends may just make me overcome this. I think I’ll be easing myself into these gently, perhaps starting with the green and Rooibos blends, which are described as a classic blend with a twist. I think making sure I’ve some shortbread to hand will help with easing myself in. There’s something about a cup of tea and a biscuit, or two isn’t there?

EARL GREY TEAS INCLUDES: EARL GREY BRAVO, EARL GREY MOONLIGHT, EARL GREY GREEN AND ROOIBOS EARL GREY TEAS

The final two sample boxes have teas with names I can’t pronounce but flavours I know I will enjoy. Oolong tea is one of the five basic types of teas, and one of the most time-consuming teas to create using all of the five steps, but the result is a more complex flavour which are often smooth and rich.

OOLONG TEAS OF CHINA INCLUDES: TI KUAN YIN, WUYI ENSEMBLE, FORMOSA BAI HAO AND DANCONG ARIA TEAS

PREMIUM TEAS OF CHINA INCLUDES: YUNNAN GOLD, GOLDEN SPRING, KEEMUN RHAPSODY AND PU ERH POE TEAS

I’ve only shared some information about tea in this post because it’s impossible to do it justice in a single post, but if you’re interested in learning more about the different types of tea, health benefits, the teabags vs loose tea question, or even food pairings then do take a look at the Adagio teas website, like me, I’m sure you’ll be surprised at how much effort goes into a cuppa.

Tea is so much a part of the British psyche. We all know that a cup of tea will fix almost anything, help solve a problem or just provide some thinking time, and it’s something that is part of who we are, but so often we reach for the household name tea bags rather than anything more. So this Twixmas, my tea exploration journey has resumed, and I’ve a feeling it’s going to continue through to the 91st of January or whatever, at least and hopefully much further into the year as I’ve rediscovered that there’s really something rather nice about using loose leaf tea, which feels like a treat, when really it shouldn’t.

Are you joining me?

* This is a collaborative post, but all opinions are my own.

Making a gingerbread house with Neff

I’ve already shared a couple of pictures here and on my social channels of the gingerbread house i helped to construct at a blogging event a week or so ago. And it was billed as a bit of a bake off, which involved competition and skill. Thankfully I’d been teamed with some proper food bloggers who brought their knowledge to our team’s enthusiasm. Before being let loose on the challenge, we learnt more about the ovens and what lie ahead of us and although the dough had been made for us in the interests of time, instead of a recipe to follow we had to use our instincts, which is where those food bloggers came into their own. Between them they knew how long to cook the individual shapes for, and how to make Royal Icing. I quickly learnt this is where my icing goes wrong as I’ve not made that type of icing before. Lesson number one learnt and stored away for home use!

But starting off there was a simple cutting out job to do. First the templates and then the templates and gingerbread dough. With the dough cut out one of the most challenging parts of the evening was fitting the dough onto the trays to go into the oven, as with three teams cooking there was as much competition for oven space. Thankfully none of us were so competitive that we resorted to dirty tactics, everyone played fair, even to the point of checking on each other’s baking.

I’m a fan of Neff ovens, I’m on my second at home - the second one as when we did our kitchen we opted to upgrade our appliances too, and it was an easy choice when our kitchen suppliers asked which brand of appliances we wanted. Definitely Neff. They’re reliable, cook well, look good and why move from what you know?

Our only regret, well with hindsight, that has to be the timing of our kitchen refurb, which was just as the ‘slide and hide’ models were starting to be available. Of course, hindsight is a wonderful thing and I’m not sure we would have delayed it just for an oven door which disappears, but I know one thing, next time we buy an oven that’s what we’ll be aiming for.

Another thing I learnt from the evening was that clean ovens are more efficient than, well than mine. That’s lesson learnt number two, but that’s one that is likely to take a bit more elbow grease, or delegated elbow grease, to put right. But it’s something to aim for, kitchen goals and all that…

With our gingerbread baked and trimmed - it’s important to do that while it’s still warm, and a tip we picked up was to use those templates again, and not worry too much if it cracks, as there’s always icing. That’s my own real-world, icing loving, tip there - but it works.

While the main components were cooking we set about making some gingerbread and French stick canapes; there were circles, stars, snowmen and Christmas tree shapes - and more besides. Not liking to waste any of the dough I attempted some triangular bunting shapes, see above. The shapes expanded during cooking, and so the PR friendly bunting transformed into stepping stones to go outside our house.

And that icing, that’s all mine - it’s a bit wobbly in places, but not bad for a first attempt at lettering, hey?

Construction was made easier with many hands, and so I can confirm many hands do make light work. After my mini-venture into icing, I was happy to leave the construction cement-like icing to those that really knew what they were doing, happy to record the events in much the same way that Kevin McCloud does on Grand Designs, but with much less mud.

Confident that our house wouldn’t fall down, it was time for decorating, and the next challenge of the evening was trying not to eat our construction supplies - well until the decorating was done that is.

You’ll have seen my 3D tree here before, but I’m sharing it again because I’m so proud of how it turned out. I’d love to say it was planned, but when I saw two stars and a circle going spare, along with plenty of green icing I couldn’t help myself. The jelly babies proved to be the perfect baubles, and the tree looked great in our garden.

It was my first time making a gingerbread house, and it was way easier than I thought, especially with the combined knowledge of our team’s food bloggers. If you’re tempted to try one for yourself, give it a go, as not only is it fun to make, it also tastes fantastic too as my work colleagues can testify - and I’m sure it’ll be easier with the recipe too, so here’s the recipe of our gingerbread houses - thanks Neff.

* This is a collaborative post, but as usual all views are my own. Thanks to Neff and their partners for a great evening, and of course for the gingerbread house!

Big Ideas: A floral bathroom

This floral bathroom has a completely different feel to the Industrial bathroom I’ve already shared in this Big Ideas series, it’s a lot softer and romantic, but like the previous room set needs a fair sized room to reproduce. The roll top bath and large mirror look great, but they both need space don’t they?

The Big Ideas for this bathroom are:

1. Decorative beading: a characterful and quick way to update a room

2. Vintage mirror: mirrors always make rooms appear larger

3. Freestanding furniture: storage, that’s easy to move

4. Roll-top bath: make it the real focus of the room

5. Real flowers: scent and luxury all over

Roll top baths have to take centre stage, don’t they? And this one’s angled to really shout about its presence - the large free standing mirror is giving it some competition. But the fresh flowers, don’t they add a touch of luxury, how practical they’d be longer-term I’m not so sure, but they do look pretty and add to the overall feel of the room.

The beading gives the room a classic feel, and are relatively easy to add - you can buy beading painted white so that removes a job, although the trickiest part is still likely to be mastering the mitred corner, but once you get the hang of it, it’s not quite so bad.

What do you think?