Tuesday 31 December 2013

Our Last Confectionary Review Of 2013 ….. To Wit, Marmite “Very Peculiar” Chocolate.

Tonight we are going to see in the New Year, in the Italian Style with our lovely friend from work Luci, however, we thought what better way to see out the Old Year than with our dear blog friends, doing what we do best ….. in confectionery review style!!!
Present From George. Marmite ChocolateThank you george Marmite Chocolate
Our very special friend George in Hampshire sent us a bar of “Very Peculiar” Marmite Chocolate, extremely surprised that we hadn't reviewed it before, which considering how we profess to be Marmite's greatest ever living exponents, seems to be a little remiss to say the least!!
Marmite Chocolate
Now, we love Marmite and we love chocolate, but is mixing them together one step to far …… we have to admit to being slightly apprehensive.
chocolate marmiteFirst we smelt it ….. inhaling robustly
Very peculiar Marmite Chocolate….. it smelt OK with no overtly powerful savoury overtones, just subtle hint of Marmite, a tease if you will   ……
Marmite Very Peculiar Chocolate….. so the proof of the testing had to be in the tasting …… and our verdict …………. nom, nom nom …. a surprising 8.75 noms on our Richter Scale of Noms ……
Muppet CrackersAs Darrell so succinctly put it  “ The Marmite was barely discernible on  first bite, however as it melted in your mouth, just at the very last moment one gets a subtle hint of salty/savoury which is indeed most pleasurable ……. and adds a certain que n’cest pas!”
Very peculiar Marmite Chocolate barVery Peculiar Marmite chocolate..
So there you have it ….. Marmite Chocolate gets our thumbs up!
We now look forward to the New Year ….. only to wonder what other new confectionary treats and experiences await us …… and to offer the services of our highly honed and experienced palates PLUS our Richter Scale of Noms to any purveyors of confectionary who might appreciate a good, honest and unbiased appraisal of their products!!!!!! What are we like?
xxxx Have a good and safe night tonight …….. see you in 2014!! xxxx

Monday 30 December 2013

Christmas Is ……. The Season Of The Board Game

Lucy very kindly purchased our festive crackers this year, to wit festive crackers of the Muppet type variety …… and as I may have mentioned, Darrell was determined that the Miss Piggy one would be his!!! I can now confirm that for the sake of family unity Chez Castle Greysquirrel, no one put forward a robust argument to thwart Darrell’s plan, so Darrell, to put it bluntly, did get to pull Miss Piggy for Christmas!!!!
Christmas Cracker pulling Twinkle[3]
However, within the box of aforementioned Muppet Crackers there was also a board game …. and, it would have looked most rude if we failed to partake in the playing there of …..
muppet board game Christmas 2013The game involved the wearing of masks, allowing us to immerse ourselves in our chosen character, embracing and empathising with them at each stage of “their journey” around the board!!!  Miss Piggy MaskIt goes without saying that Darrell chose to be Miss Piggy ….. a role he undertook worryingly, a little too well, with great accuracy! Nigel was quite happy to be Kermit, a foil to Darrell’s Piggy ……
Fozzy Bear mask…….. and I was OK with being Fozzie!
Christmas board games The masks in all honesty were a little too big for us and impeded our rolling of the dice and moving of our characters across the board ……
muppet board game. from the back……. however, much festive mayhem and joviality ensued ….. we laughed so much that our stomachs ached and Darrell had to breath into a paper bag!
muppett board gameBut, to quote the Fonz “Happy Days”! Thank you Lucy, your considered purchase was a triumph!

Sunday 29 December 2013

Festive Bubble And Squeak

There is nothing more wonderful, in the days following Christmas as bubble and squeak for breakfast, dinner and tea!!!!!Bubble and squeakTo say that we had a most  ample sufficiency of leftovers for its making of, from our Christmas repast would be a slight understatement ….. so far we are on our fourth day of enjoying this delicacy ….. very ably prepared by the maestro of bubble and squeak himself ….. Darrell.
Festive bubble and squeak…… and our enthusiasm for its many guises still shows now sign of abating, we just love it …… nom, nom, nom!!!  Next the turkey leftovers no doubt!!!

Saturday 28 December 2013

A Christmas Gift That Will Just Keep Giving …..

On Christmas Morning, before we partook in our festive breakfast  repast of a bacon, and fried egg muffin with tomato sauce accompaniment (as part of our rigid five a day regime)….. I hung up the bird feeder that I had asked Father Christmas for …………
Christmas Morning Bird Feeder..I put it on a branch near the lounge window so that I could watch the toing and froing of the birds without frightening them, and then I came back  inside ……..
Christmas Morning bird.……. and OMD, within a minute or two I had my first visitor ……
christmas Morning BirdIt was an emotional, festive Bird Watching Magazine/Bill Oddie type moment for me ……. this will certainly be a present that will just keep giving, so long as I maintain a good supply of fat balls for my new found  friends …….
Christmas Morning bird feeder…… and hopefully,  I will soon become cognisant with the various breeds that visit it/me….. something I can pass on to Nigel, because at the moment the only bird he really recognises is Big Bird from Sesame Street …. however, if he (Big Bird), came to peck at my balls I think we would all be very taken aback and not a little overwhelmed!!!

Friday 27 December 2013

Bing Crosby Eat You Heart Out, Nigel’s Has A White Christmas …..

instant magic snow_thumb[8]-SNOWThe lull Darrell and I had been waiting for in our Christmas proceedings to present Nigel with his instant White Christmas wonderland arrived yesterday between our turkey, chips. peas, pickled onions and bread and butter lunch and our turkey curry tea!magic snow.snowPerhaps, we were a little taken aback when he insisted on fetching his cement mixer, as we had imagined he would want to make a romantic and picturesque snowmen and throw the occasional snowball while humming “let it snow, let it snow, let it snow” as he played, rather than hit us with several robust and jaunty renditions of “Bob the Builder”  …….but that’s Nigel for you!
002snow magic
However, his little face and rampant joy were just as we had envisaged when we hatched our snowy plan …..
Magic SnowHappy Christmas Days

Thursday 26 December 2013

A Festive Surprise For Nigel from Darrell and Me …..

While Nigel was busy playing with his new Christmas presents, and the turkey cooking in the oven, Darrell and I decided to make an extra special Christmas surprise for the little fella to make Christmas last just a little longer ……
Magic SnowWe wanted to give him a “White Christmas” …. despite our keeping a very intensive eye on all the weather forecasts, it was obvious that without divine intervention it was not going to be a  Christmas of the snowy variety and so to make Nigel’s Christmas dreams come true we availed ourselves some Magic Snow from E-bay.Magic snow.We had already rescued a small, wheeled  cart, which was being thrown out by the Art Department at work for Nigel, into which we decided to put our “snow”, a mobile snow-pit, if you will,  into which we proceeded to add the snow powder and water.  It said on the packet that the said powder would expand by a 100 times, but as we couldn’t imagine what 100 times the test tube container would look like, we just kept adding more and more water and mixing robustly  ……..
043_thumb5-SNOW[3]
….. hoping that eventually we would have something vaguely resembling snow.
testing magic snowMagic snow. snow magic
After about five minutes we thought we had just about got it right ……. and then Darrell decided that the proof of the snow was in the snowballing ……
Playing with Magic SnowMagic Snow for Christmas magic
What is he like?
what are we likeWe have now put the snow away, in a safe place, ready for an opportune moment, a lull in the festive proceedings if you will, to present it to Nigel ……. we can’t wait to see his little face!  His first “white” Christmas!

Wednesday 25 December 2013

It’s Christmas Morning …… And He’s Been!!

He’s been, he’s been …… Nigel woke us up at 4.30 …. and there was no doing with him …… it was Christmas morning, and Nigel was determined to embrace every second of it ….. even if it was still dark!
Christmas Morning. 2013However, I have to admit that Darrell and I were just as excited …. and so we decided that our present opening fest should ensue.
Festive bird feeder We each took it in turns to open our presents, so we could all share in each others moment.  I went first ….. and yes, to my joy I found my bird feeder AND some bird food to go with it …… I can’t wait to put it up in the tree, after all the excitement has died down and see what birds visit it first.
Tiger OnsieDarrell opened his next to reveal that Santa had left him a tiger onsie ……
Tiger Onsie.Tiger Onsie Christmas present primark
…… well, he was in it before you could say “de rigueur” and his little face was an absolute picture, he was soooooooo thrilled and I have to say, he did look rather cute!
Nigel's Christmas presentAnd then, it was Nigel’s turn, I have to admit to worrying a little robustly as his parcel looked rather small for a cement mixer and I didn’t know how Darrell and I would cope with an inconsolable Nigel on Christmas Day of all days ….
Nigel's christmas cement mixertoy cement mixer
However, Santa had done good, Santa had done very good …….. and had found Nigel a perfect, Nigel sized cement mixer ……. the little fella’s excitement almost reached Neolithic proportions ….. and now I worried how we could calm him down.
present from americamore presents
There were also a few surprise presents in our stockings, Dianne, our friend in sunny and romantic Florida had sent a huge pile of presents for us ….. for Darrell and I there was a mahoooooooosive box of chocolates ……
Lindor Christmas breakfast….. of which we availed ourselves of immediately, well, it would have been rude not to, however we remained mindful of our impending Christmas luncheon and so did not overindulge profusely.
Present opening christmas morning christmas badges
……. there was also a Christmas badge for each of us that we put on straight away and that we can wear every Christmas from now on, “A thoughtful present” said Darrell “….. that will just keep on giving!”
Nigel's Christmas present from USA[9]-SNOW (1)[3]Small Fry's outfits build a bear
And finally, there was another parcel from Dianne for Nigel, as he opened it our excitement was both palpable and tangible …… OMD …. when he saw what was inside we thought he was going to self combust …… Dianne had sent him two outfits ……
Build A Bear Small Fry outfit……. including a puffa jacket, something he had wanted for ages and ages, but aforementioned puffa jackets in a Nigel size are almost impossible to find …… We all felt very blessed to have such a WONDERFUL friend so far away in America …… THANK YOU DIANNE ….. WE LOVE YOU ….. and hope you like the presents we sent you xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
present from DeniseAnd ….. there was a present for each of us from The Lovely Laura’s mum, the Equally Lovely Denise, contained in a beautiful sparkly and frilly bag …………
086….. our initials in wooden patchwork form. We all felt very, very blessed in a Hello Magazine Christmas Edition type way, we had had so many presents from such special people ……. We hope you have all had as  WONDERFUL Christmas morning as we have ….. and at 4.30am in the morning  ….. the day is yet young!!!
HAPPY CHRISTMAS ALL AND ONE …..!!