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Home Sense Open A New Store In Solihull

March 17, 2014 by Erica Hughes 15 Comments

Home Sense have recently opened a new store in Solihull. Have you come across Home Sense? Home Sense are part of the TK Maxx group and sell lots of lovely things for the home. They work on the same basis as TK Maxx with daily deliveries of stock, so the choice is ever-changing and you need to buy things you like when you see them. Home Sense’s buyers sometimes buy fairly small allocations of stock and then spread them out over a number of their stores. I was surprised to see a full size suit of armour for sale at what seemed like a bargain price of £450 (if memory serves).

At Home Sense the items for sale are displayed in different ways. There are standard shelves with several of the same product, but many items are presented in a more imaginative manner. Sometimes a mix of items is displayed together with soft furnishings alongside ornaments or pictures. Elsewhere there are small room sets made up. Everything changes regularly and the shop is likely to look a bit different every time you visit.

Another highlight of my visit was meeting interior designer Jo Hamilton, who was very lovely to talk to. She gave me some very valuable tips for decorating our Edwardian style house and our west-facing kitchen that has a tendency to be a bit gloomy. After that I had the chance to wander round the shop plotting how I was going to spend my voucher from my goody bag. Part of me was quite keen to spend it on the lovely pet range, but I decided that my rather spoilt burmese cats would have to stand aside this time. The voucher was mine, all mine.

Mother’s Day Baylis and Harding Giveaway

March 15, 2014 by Erica Hughes 105 Comments

I’ve got a lovely giveaway for you in the run up to Mother’s Day. Baylis & Harding have very kindly donated 2 sets for readers of A Little Luxury For Me. There’s this lovely set from the Strawberries and Cream range: Strawberries and Cream Tray containing Shower Creme, Body Lotion, Soap, Body Wash and EVA Body Polisher. As you can see it’s packed full of pampering goodies.

Alternatively, you might prefer a wonderful candle from the Skin Spa range: Skin Spa Sugar Cane, Basil and Lime Triple Wick Candle.

Entry is via the rafflecopter below. I have had some technical problems with the site over the last few days and have lost some comments, so I’ll be giving the benefit of the doubt to comments from the effected time.

Competition Terms and Conditions

1. No bulk, third party or automated entries.

2. Entrants must be UK residents aged 18 years or older.

3. The winners will be chosen by a random draw.

4. The winner will be notified by email and will have a week to claim their prize. Should they fail to respond within this time, an alternative winner will be selected.

5. Promoter is responsible for fulfilling the prize and full contact details of the winner will be passed onto the promoter.

6. Competition closes on 21 March 2014.

There’s another chance to win over at 92three30.
a Rafflecopter giveaway

5 Things I Loved About Cruising

March 4, 2014 by Erica Hughes Leave a Comment

Recently we went on our first cruise. Here are 5 of the things I loved about cruising as a holiday.

Easy Transfers

It’s lovely to be able to get straight off your plane and onto your transfer bus without entering the airport building. There was no need for passport control as the formalities are dealt with in bulk by the cruise line. I loved not having to bother with my hold baggage: I didn’t see it after I checked in at my departure airport until after we’d arrived on board ship and it was delivered to my cabin for me.

A New Port Every Day

I wasn’t sure how I’d feel about this. Normally, we like to have a thorough explore of an area when we are on holiday. When you are only in a port for a day, you can’t do that. It’s a great way to visit lots of places though and you can spend many a happy hour planning where you will return to in the future. Also, on a touring holiday, you’re forever having to repack your suitcase, but on a cruise your hotel travels with you. I was sad to leave some ports and there were one or two that I’d have liked to have a stroll round in the evening. Our ship did leave a bit later a couple of nights, but that didn’t happen in the ports where I wanted it to.

Friendliness of Staff and Fellow Passengers

There’s a kind of camaraderie on board and off. You’re from the same ship and you have that in common. You’re relaxed and you’re on holiday. We found everyone was very friendly. The service from the staff was friendly and helpful too.

Turn Down Service

I loved that our cabin got a tidy up whilst we were at dinner. It’s lovely to come back to find that the towels have been neatly hung up and your bed has been smoothed down. Better still, there were chocolates.

Food

The choice of food on a cruise ship is immense. There are usually a number of different restaurants ranging from self-service buffets to fine dining experiences. We found the self-service was our preferred option for breakfast and lunch: it’s quicker; you get plenty of choice; and you can go at pretty much whatever time suits you. For dinner we had a set sitting in a restaurant. Our three courses plus coffee was managed every night in just one and a half hours and it worked amazingly efficiently. Considering the challenges of catering on that sort of vast scale the quality of the food was high. Food is usually available at any time of the day or night, so you’ll never go hungry.

We travelled with P&O and very much enjoyed our holiday overall and you can read about what I didn’t like about cruising here. Obviously, this list of 5 things I loved about cruising, is based on one cruise, on one particular ship: the Azura.

5 Things I Didn’t Like About Cruising

March 4, 2014 by Erica Hughes 1 Comment

We recently went on our first cruise. Generally I loved cruising, but here are 5 of the things I didn’t like about cruising.

Tipping

Generally, I’m happy that my cruise line doesn’t expect passengers to give the staff tips. If tips need to form part of their wages (which I’m not convinced about to be honest – maybe they should be paid the correct rate for the job), I’d rather not have to worry about how much or how little to pay. Our cruise line charges a sum for tips and you aren’t expected to leave any more. However, I do think it is a bit misleading to advertise a holiday price that doesn’t include this fee. If it is compulsory, then it is part of the cost of the holiday and should be included as such. Instead it was added to our on board account at the start of our holiday. This doesn’t seem entirely honest, transparent and upfront. The brochure does mention it, of course, but it isn’t in great big letters.

Cross Sales

It seems that having got money out of you for the cost of your holiday isn’t enough: the cruise companies want to make still more profit from you. At times this wish to get you to spend more with them gets out of hand and becomes intrusive, leaving a bad taste in the mouth. For instance, on our cruise there were photographers that seemed keen to take a picture of you as you arrived on board ship to start your cruise (who really wants their picture taken after a nine hour flight?). But, it didn’t end there. At each and every port of call there was one or more of the photographers wanting to take your picture. Now a gangway picture hardly sums up the spirit of a particular port of call, after all one dockside looks very like another. Then there were the soft focus pics taken during your dinner, or after dinner with people dressed up as various animals, or the photos taken at various on board parties. Each picture cost the best part of a tenner, although there were savings to be had if you bought more or got an album.

The photographers were just part of the story, you were encouraged to spend money in the casino; going to the bingo; on pricey spa treatments (the ladies that worked in the spa seemed to spend lots of their working time in the public areas trying to entice you in – I guess they needed to as the treatments were twice the price of my local salon); the list goes on.

Excursions had a hefty mark up. Now often tour operators use fear as a means of selling excursions: if you go with a local firm they may not have such high standards; they may not be insured; but on cruises there is an additional worry to work on, that of the ship leaving without you if you aren’t back on time. On our cruise we found that safety standards might be a touch higher on official trips: most of the minibuses had seatbelts, they didn’t always work and they were rarely adjustable to fit, but they were there. When we ventured out on our own we encountered taxis without any seatbelts at all sometimes, but thankfully, we rarely managed great speeds on island roads. You can easily get excursions locally, or you can share a taxi to get to a local beach or attraction. On one trip our guide told us that they charged $45 for each person and we were charged about £75. However, other cruise lines might charge more than three times the rate of $45 and that mark-up is straight into corporate coffers and not for the benefit of local people.

Inconsiderate Other Passengers

Sunbed saving with towels has long being a holiday maker’s gripe. It happens in hotels and it happens on cruise ships. Sometimes towels are just discarded and left behind on loungers, so it is difficult to see if they are taken or not. Either way it isn’t very nice. The ship has a policy of saying that you can’t leave your stuff on a lounger for more than half an hour without returning, but I’m not clear whether this was enforced or not on our cruise.

In some ways, more irritating was the saving of tables in the restaurant. The self service restaurants are under a lot of pressure doing the breakfast and lunch time as many people seem to prefer this to waiter service at these times. This means that there aren’t always enough tables to go round. You can share a table, but that is easier for single passengers or couples than for family groups. Many the time I emerged from the buffet with my rapidly cooling food to search for a table to sit and had to spend quite a while looking for one that had three spare seats. Many the time I thought I’d found one only to find that some selfish git had reserved it with their drinks or their bags.

Going Home

Our cruise line wanted our hold luggage placed outside our cabins before we went to be bed on our last night. The good news is that we didn’t have to lug the cases around (they were taken to the airport and we didn’t see them again until we arrived at our home airport), but the bad news was that anything we wanted to use overnight, the next day (we didn’t leave until mid-afternoon) and on our flight had to be in our hand luggage. Any toiletries either needed to be discarded or had to meet the hand baggage regulations. We had to pack our pyjamas, our swimwear and toiletries in our on-flight bags. It was a pain in the neck. You don’t want to carry everything around in your hand bag.

Vacating Rooms and Waiting for Disembarkation

We had to be out of our cabins by 8am even though we were not leaving till mid-afternoon. If we’d been staying in a hotel, it’s likely that the checkout time would have been later, maybe 10am or something similar. During the day, we had to make use of the facilities on board the ship. For the most part this was fine as there were plenty of places to sit, but what proved a real problem was the lack of sufficient public toilets. For most of the cruise there were enough toilets most of the time as everyone has access to their own in their cabin, but there were issues when cubicles were out of action or at particularly busy times e.g. toilets near the main restaurants often had queues between dinner sittings. We ended up going up or down multiple flights of stairs to find less well used toilets: it was better than queuing, but even that didn’t always work as others cottoned onto that idea.

We travelled with P&O and very much enjoyed our holiday overall and you can read about what I liked about cruising here. Obviously, this is based on one cruise, on one particular ship: the Azura.

iIlumi Boost Your Energy With a Gluten Free Diet

February 28, 2014 by Erica Hughes 1 Comment

Over the last week or so, I’ve been trying out the ilumi Boost Your Energy diet which is designed to offer you an easy to follow gluten-free one week meal plan. The plan is flexible, so if there’s a dish you don’t fancy, you can simply switch it to another from the range in their shop.

The Boost Your Energy plan includes most things you need including beer (always a winner with me), but you will need to supplement it with fresh things like fruit, vegetables and milk. I was a little surprised that they don’t include gluten-free pasta, although that is easy to source in supermarkets and health food shops. You get 7 breakfasts, 7 lunches and 7 dinners with the plan, plus snacks and a couple of bottles of beer. This costs £40 and the dishes are easy to heat up and serve.

Each morning breakfast is a serving of porridge oats. Obviously, you need to add milk to this, but I’d suggest some dried fruit too to make it a bit more interesting. Snacks come by way of a supply of Nairn’s oatcakes and Nairn’s Oat and Syrup Biscuits. Oats are good for filling you up and releasing energy gradually.

Lunches came mostly by way of soups. I love Butternut Squash Soup and the ilumi one is a goodie. I wasn’t so sure about the Pea, Pancetta and Mint Soup though, but I like to give new combinations a try. Other lunch dishes included Moroccan Style Vegetable Tagine and Spanish Rice and Vegetables.

As you’d expect dinner was more substantial and in most cases, there were two packets for each dinner: a rice packet and the sauce packet. Dishes on the menu included: Thai Red Chicken Curry with Basmati Rice and Pork, Mushroom Madeira with fluffy Long Grain Rice. A couple of the dishes needed the addition of vegetables to make a meal like the Slow Cooked Beef Casserole and the Beef Meatballs needed some pasta to set it off nicely. As I’ve come to expect from ilumi the quality of the dishes is high and it is really easy to use their meals. I also like the fact that you can keep them in the cupboard and that there is no need to take up space in the freezer or fridge.

Many people benefit from being on a gluten-free diet. They discover that their bodies are a bit intolerant of gluten and it makes a difference to their health and well-being to avoid it. This is a great way of seeing if that is you, without the need to do a lot of research about meal planning options or lots of confusing label reading. I personally have tried a gluten-free diet for a while before and I think my body must tolerate gluten well because it doesn’t seem to affect me. That said I enjoyed having a change from my normal range of foods and as a bit of rice monster, I liked having so many rice based dishes.

Edmunds Fine Dining

February 17, 2014 by Erica Hughes 24 Comments

Edmunds Fine Dining was a restaurant that first caught my eye some years ago when I worked in the Brindley Place area of Birmingham. We’d dined there before and whilst we’d enjoyed it, I’d found the decor cluttered with large hanging lights. The food was lovely, but not quite at the standard we’d had elsewhere in the city. Edmunds has had a change of personel though now: a new French head chef called Didier Philipot and a new Maitre D’. Those oppressive lights have gone and there’s a more open feel to the dining room. Atmospherically things have changed too: it feels less stuffy and more relaxed which is helpful for a relatively small restaurant. So we were keen to see how the food measured up.

We dined this time from the A La Carte menu. The scallops were the stand out dish for us on the starter line up, so we both ordered them. On the menu they are described as: Caramelised Orkney Islands hand dived King Scallops, smoked haddock and ratte potato beignet, roasted shallot puree, smoked milk. Scallops need to be cooked just right otherwise they can be chewy to eat. These were cooked to perfection with good caramelisation. As an accompaniment the roasted shallot puree and smoked milk worked well with the flavours adding and complimenting the meaty scallops. The smoked haddock and ratte potato beignet was an accomplished addition to the plate, but I’m not sure that it was entirely necessary for the dish.

When it came to chosing mains, we went our separate ways with my husband opting for the duck and I decided on the beef. The beef was described as Filet of black Welsh beef, beef bourguignon, croquette potato gnocchi, parsnip, parsley cream, port jus. The beef fillet was a top quality piece of meat that had been cooked beautifully. Here all the flavours worked well together with a unctioness port jus that brought out the flavours of the meat and tied the dish together. The parsnip and the croquette potato added an extra texture with their crunchiness, but somehow I didn’t feel that the dish needed that element, even though from a flavour perspective parsnips were an inspired choice.

My husband chose the duck, as he often does. In this case it was Supreme of Barbary duck breast, braised lentils on smoked duck, Parisian potato, wilted spinach, duck jus. Beautifully presented, this dish really lived up to expectations. Cooking of the duck breast was spot on and the wilted spinach was a revelation as a flavour combination. The smoked duck added a depth of flavour too.

For dessert I opted for Roasted pineapple with rum and raisin ice cream. The rum soaked raisins certainly packed a punch and the whole dish brought a real sense of the exotic to the meal. I think though that my husband’s choice of the Bread and butter pudding with vanilla ice cream was delightful. To make the dish complete it was garnished with a exquisite, light, little macaroon, which added an extra layer of texture plus a burst of sweetness.

A lovely touch was that Didier Philipot came out of the kitchen to chat to the diners. He talked knowledgably about his food and seemed to take a real interest in the choices we had made. I think overall I’d sum up Edmunds Fine Dining Restaurant as being high quality food, presented and served with care, but with a relaxed and welcoming atmosphere which puts you at your ease. How long can it be before it earns a Michelin star? Not long, I’d say.

I’m pleased to be able to offer my readers a chance to win a meal at Edmunds. So if you’d like a chance to sample their lovely food, try your luck with the rafflecopter below.

The prize will be a meal for two from the ‘Taste of Edmunds’ menu, which consists if three courses and, a bottle of house wine. If you win, you will need to take your prize from Tuesday – Thursday for lunch or dinner and by March 27th 2014.

Competition Terms and Conditions

1. No bulk, third party or automated entries.

2. Entrants must be UK residents aged 18 years or older.

3. The winners will be chosen by a random draw.

4. The winner will be notified by email and will have a week to claim their prize. Should they fail to respond within this time, an alternative winner will be selected.

5. Promoter is responsible for fulfilling the prize and full contact details of the winner will be passed onto the promoter.

6. Competition closes on 1 March 2014.
a Rafflecopter giveaway

NSPA Hot Cloth Polish and Night Repair Cream

February 14, 2014 by Erica Hughes 3 Comments

It’s not the first time I’ve tried out the nspa range on A Little Luxury For Me. Last time I was very impressed by the quality of the product for the price range they were in. Over the last couple of weeks I’ve been trying out the nspa Hot Cloth Polish and their Night Repair Cream and I haven’t been disappointed.

The nspa Hot Cloth Polish is very like the well known Liz Earle product. I’ve tried out Liz Earle’s Cleanse & Polish Hot Cloth Cleanser before and I can safely say that this nspa product is as good, if not better, for around half the price for a 50% bigger bottle. It’s a great way of making sure your skin is deep down clean at the end of the day and it’s gentle enough to use regularly. It’s a simple, two-step process: you pump out a little of the product and apply to face and neck. Then you rinse the muslin cloth provided in hot water, wring out and use the cloth to wipe the cream gently away. The only downside I find to this product is that you need somewhere to hang up and dry the cloth after use.

Night creams are a daily ritual for me. I like a cream that is smooth and easy to apply, but with enough weight and depth to provide some serious skin treatment. So how did the nspa Night Repair Cream perform? It’s easy and pleasant to apply. It’s been formulated to provide a rich and soothing mix of active ingredients to nourish and strengthen your skin while you sleep. To help the cream do this, it contains ceramides to help repair skin and a combination of ginseng, natural vitamin E and sweet almond oil to replenish a tired complexion.

Beech’s Dark Chocolate Gingers Giveaway

February 12, 2014 by Erica Hughes 207 Comments

I reviewed Beech’s Dark Chocolate Gingers recently on A Little Luxury For Me. They were a delicious treat and are well worth a try.

Readers of A Little Luxury For Me can get a 10% discount in February from Beech’s Fine Chocolates simply by quoting the discount code BFC21J1410.

I’m also offering the chance for you to win one of two boxes of Beech’s Dark Chocolate Gingers that I have to give away. Entry is via the rafflecopter below and the compulsory entry is registering with Beech’s on their website. Beech’s will verify that the winner has done this before sending the prize out.

Competition Terms and Conditions

1. No bulk, third party or automated entries.

2. Entrants must be UK residents aged 18 years or older.

3. The winners will be chosen by a random draw.

4. The winner will be notified by email and will have a week to claim their prize. Should they fail to respond within this time, an alternative winner will be selected.

5. Promoter is responsible for fulfilling the prize and full contact details of the winner will be passed onto the promoter.

6. Competition closes on 22 February 2014.
a Rafflecopter giveaway

The winners details have been passed onto Beech’s to enable them to verify that they have met all the conditions of entry.

A Sweet Treat For Your Valentine?

February 11, 2014 by Erica Hughes 23 Comments

Are you looking for a sweet treat for your valentine this year? Have you left it to the last minute again? Fed up with flowers or after something for someone with a sweet tooth? Will only cake do? I’ve really enjoyed trying out these lovely cakes from Tesco’s valentine’s range. Bringing one of these home has got to be worth some brownie points hasn’t it?

This first cake is a Tesco Valentine’s Be My Cupcake. It’s a very pretty, sweet treat and a bargain at only £1. I’d like the fact that you can even eat the red heart shape on top. It’s very sugary, so definitely one for those with a sweet tooth.

My personal favourite though is this ultra indulgent Tesco Valentine’s Sweetheart Cupcake. It’s very rich and extremely chocolatey and even chocoholics will only be able to manage a quarter in one sitting. You’ll be very popular if you bring this one home and it won’t break the bank at £4 too.

Beech’s Dark Chocolate Gingers

February 11, 2014 by Erica Hughes 1 Comment

In December I reviewed Beech’s Chocolate Brazils which were luscious. So this month I was intrigued to see what popped through the letter box to try out. It was their Dark Chocolate Gingers.

Dark Chocolate is always a winner for me, but I was intrigued to see how the ginger would work. I like the flavour of ginger, but I’m not always convinced about it with chocolate. How wrong was I? I think the key may be the quality of the ingredients used in this case. Beech’s use hand selected, stem ginger for their product with a high quality dark chocolate and it’s a perfect match. Ginger is known for its many healing properties, so you can eat these chocolates with a clear conscience. As with all of Beech’s products they are manufactured and hand-finished in the UK and contain no artificial flavours or colourings.

I tried these out on various friends and family, with everyone coming back for more. They proved a big hit and I’d certainly buy them again. If you like to give them a go, I can offer readers a 10% discount code for Beech’s Fine Chocolates. You need to quote BFC21J1410.