A round of thank yous

Photo credit - q83

I've got a mounting list of thank yous I need to say so I'm putting it right in just one post.

First off, Warner Brothers sent us a lovely box full of Easter films for the family which arrived on Easter Saturday. They included films like Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, as well as some Bugs Bunny and Yogi Bear cartoons. Warner Brothers kindly sent us some mini eggs too but they were gone in about 5 seconds flat so they never even made the photograph! Missy Woo was entranced by Willy Wonka when we had a "cinema night" and I was marvelling at the fact that the children in the film are now all in their 50s! The films certainly kept the children amused during the school holidays, so a huge thank you to them. 

Next, Kellogg's sent me a box of their new cereal Mini Max to try. They're baked wholegrain squares, very similar to another brand which shall remain nameless (because I don't buy that brand), with sugar frosting on the top. The children loved them, although cheekily complained they weren't the chocolate version. The disappointing thing is that I noticed they contain beef gelatine and therefore are not suitable for vegetarians or vegans. I am guessing this has caught a few people out as it's not something you usually check for and it seems strange they can't find a suitable alternative. It doesn't affect us though and the children are delighted with them, so thank you to Kellogg's, mostly from Monkey and Missy Woo. 

Finally, I met the lovely Ruth from The Pink Whisk last week for coffee. She brought along a little present for me - a signed copy of her new book, The Busy Girl's Guide to Cake Decorating which is fab. I've already used some of the instructions to help me make my husband's birthday cake; her chocolate cake recipe has become my go to recipe for that and the book includes quantities and cooking times for different size tins. I know she won't expect me to blog about it but I am anyway because I love the book (especially the dolls throughout the book!) and Ruth is a lovely person who I'm proud to call a friend. So thanks to Ruth and I hope the book sells loads. 

Thank you again to one and all for the lovely things you sent me. 

(I was sent or given the above items as stated in the post. I have not been paid further for mentioning any of these products in this post. I have not been told what to write and all words and opinions are my own. I have included links out of courtesy.) 

What we're watching over the Easter holidays

With two weeks and three weekends to fill, the Easter holidays can be a little daunting. Last year was fantastic, as the weather was gorgeous the whole time but it seems this year that we've had our nice spell just before the holidays start.

It's always good to have something on standby for when the weather is not good enough for the children to play outside. Handily, a few nice people have sent us some things that will very handily fill a wet afternoon or be used on the children's movie nights - when they draw the curtains, even if it's light outside, settle down with a DVD, eat popcorn and any other unhealthy snack they can wangle out of us, and watch "movies". This generates far more excitement than them just sitting down to watch a DVD. It must be the curtains.

Especially for them, and perhaps the grown ups too, Warner Brothers sent us a Happy Feet 2 parcel as it came out on DVD this week. Great timing. In the package was also Happy Feet and March of the Penguins, some stickers for the kids and a hat. Monkey told me excitedly that he's seen March of the Penguins at school - as penguins were the subject of their topic in class for half a term and the teacher showed it to them. He can't wait to watch it again, as he really enjoyed it and also to show it to Missy Woo, who will get to learn about penguins next year.

Back to Happy Feet 2. The kids love the Happy Feet films  - they're simple stories but it holds their attention. It feels magical and looks beautiful - and the baby penguins are cute! The films celebrate everyone's differences - in this story, Mumble's son Erik doesn't like dancing so runs away from the flock, only to meet a penguin who can fly! Erik respects this new father figure in his life. Mumble brings everyone together to save everyone from disaster and in doing so, earns the respect of his son once more. It's voiced by some big stars - Robin Williams,  Hank Azaria, Pink, Brad Pitt, Maaaaaaaaaatttt Daaaaaaaammoooon, (sorry) and Elijah Wood, to name but a few. Warner Brothers also sent me a video clip featuring some action and interviews with some of the stars but it was fouling up the rest of the post, so you'll have to make do with the trailer from Youtube instead.



When the kids have gone to bed, I'll be settling down to another DVD that I've been sent. It's the complete first series of Two Greedy Italians that comes out on Monday, ahead of the second series starting on the BBC this April. The series, if you haven't seen it, features TV chefs Antonio Carluccio and Gennaro Contaldo travelling round Italy, looking at the food in different regions and how it's changing in some places yet has remained largely unaltered for years elsewhere. The episodes are thus part travelogue, part cookery show as the two chefs - who left Italy over 40 years ago and spent most of that time living in the UK - cook dishes they have created as well as some of their traditional favourites.

The dishes are quite typical of their cooking styles - generally fairly simple, often using foods foraged from the countryside around them. You can see easily how Jamie Oliver's rustic style developed - Gennaro Contaldo became his mentor when he went to work at Carluccio's restaurant in Covent Garden in the 1990s. This double disc features all four episodes of the first series and includes 4 recipe cards, allegedly so that you can cook along; not that I could cook and watch at the same time! I will not be telling my husband that one of the cards is for Chocolate and Amaretto pudding, as he loves both (whereas Amaretto is not my favourite thing at all).

Despite being old friends, they squabble like an old married couple at times which adds an extra dimension to the chemistry on screen between them. If you like to cook Italian food beyond the standard spag bol, carbonara and pizza and also like to learn about food in its original context, you'll definitely enjoy this DVD.

(I was sent a Happy Feet 2 package containing 3 DVDs, stickers and other memorabilia and the Two Greedy Italians double DVD to review. I have not been told to write but requested to include relevant links. All words and opinions are my own.)

And the Oscar goes to...

me!

Well, not exactly. But after the Oscars a few weeks back, Warner Brothers sent me a box of goodies, which included my very own Oscar. OK, so it was a lollipop on a stick. I can dream. They actually sent me two lollipops, but I didn't want to boast.

What was also in the box was a selection of Oscar-winning films, the most recent being Midnight in Paris that won an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay this year for Woody Allen, and stars Owen Wilson (bonus). Also included is The Blind Side, which I'm looking forward to as I've heard good things about it, and a 5 disc collectors edition of Gone with the Wind, a film so long that it runs over 2 discs.

I think popcorn consumption in this house may increase over the next few weeks...

(I was sent the above box of DVDs and lollipops by Warner Bros. I have not received any other compensation and I have not been told what to write.)

Review and Competition: Jamie at Home DVD series

Jamie Oliver seems to have become a bit of a Marmite figure. You either love him or you hate him. Some don't like his accent and his presenting style, others think he's become a bit sanctimonious and preachy with his more recent projects. What you cannot deny is that he has a passion for food and some of his crusades have made a difference to attitudes, as well as the way some of us eat (although there is probably a contract on his head issued by the turkey twizzler industry).

Although I never really watched things like The Naked Chef in the early days, I have watched a lot of his programmes and I do like his cooking style. It's largely unfussy, it's unpretentious, and it makes people think "yeah, I can do that". His fish pie recipe was recommended to me by a friend and it's now a regular in this house as it's less work than traditional fish pie, and not only that, has lots of veg in it which makes it great family food. In fact, I'm about to head into the kitchen to make it again once I've finished writing this post!

I watched Jamie at Home when it first came out and I got the book as a present. I will admit that I have only made occasional use of it. I'm going to rectify that now because I've recently been sent the whole series on DVD by The Sun's Buzz magazine and it's inspired me to get the book out again. The series is a combination of cookery and gardening as it features Jamie in his garden. The focus is on using ingredients that you've grown yourself, largely. I say yourself, but Jamie's gardener features a lot in the programmes! It's worth remembering that growing your own can be quite a lot of effort. Still, the recipes he demonstrates are again simple, though I do find it amusing he does some of his cooking outside with the hugest outdoor oven you'll ever see. Jamie  cooks, as usual, with infectious enthusiasm, such that you almost want to head straight into the kitchen to make them. I have designs on making his sausages with bubble and squeak and onion gravy now - and possibly the only reason I've not made it is I have too many cookbooks!

If you want to get the entire Jamie at Home series on DVD for yourself, you can collect tokens starting today in The Sun Buzz magazine, and continuing in The Sun newspaper for the rest of the week. Take your tokens to Tesco on the day of print and you can get each day's DVD for free. Each one features two half-hour episodes from the series.

Alternatively, you can win a full set of the DVDS by entering my competition! I have a full set of the DVDs to give away to one lucky person.

To enter the competition, you first need to become a blog follower via either Google Friend Connect, Networked Blogs or an email subscriber. You can follow via more than one route if you like, but it won't make any difference! Then, leave me a comment telling me what your favourite Jamie Oliver recipe is. If you can provide a link to it, great. If you have a picture of your efforts that you can link to, even better. But don't worry if you can't - just tell me the recipe and where it's from  - as in which book or series and why it's your favourite. Please mention in the comment how you are following The Five Fs so that I can check you've signed up.

The winner will be selected at random from all commenters on this post who are also followers or email subscribers. The competition closes at 23:59 next Friday, 11th February.

Good luck!

Terms & Conditions

The competition is open to residents of the UK only. (Sorry!)
There is no cash alternative offered.
To enter, please leave a comment below as required above and become a follower of the blog via Google Friends Connect or Networked Blogs, or become an email subscriber. Please ensure you leave contact details via twitter or email.
The winners will be drawn at random from all qualifying entries. The winner will receive a full set of Jamie at Home DVDs - please note the DVDs are in cardboard sleeves with some Sun branding on them; they are not a boxset.
The competition will close at 23:59 on Friday 11th February 2011.
Prizewinners will be asked to provide a full UK postal address with postcode. I will endeavour to post the prize within 1 week.
If a prizewinner does not provide a full UK postal address within a week of being contacted, the prize will be re-drawn and a new winner will be contacted. 
One entry per person only. If you enter more than once, only the first entry will count.


(I was provided with the DVDs to review and have received no other compensation. The opinions stated here are my own, and have not been influenced by the aforementioned compensation.)