Ostrich Burgers & Holidaying at Home

A little bit of a random bits & bobs post today. We had planned on visiting Cairn Bay Lodge this afternoon after seeing lots of lovely pics on their Facebook page recently, but we ended up deciding to head their for breakfast/brunch tomorrow instead.

Today instead we took a dander round the travelling fun fair that has been set up in our home town of Bangor all summer. The prices were crazy; we went to pay for both of us to go on both the Ski Jump ride and the Chairaplanes and the woman asked for £9!! For two rides! So we just went on the Ski Jump.

We then took a look in some shops. Michael is getting some teeth out next week so he wanted to check out the Playmobil in Stewart Miller, which will be his being brave reward.

I'd seen someone post exotic meats on Instagram this week, and it was surprised to find they were from Iceland, so we went there to check out what they had. Iceland is somewhere I never shop due to it's location in the town centre of Bangor, and the lack of free parking nearby. So I hadn't been in store in maybe a couple of years, out of it's complicated location rather than any snobiness! 

This isn't a sponsored post of any kind, sadly it haven't been given all these lovely treats free by Iceland, but I thought I would share anyway, as they've some surprising things to choose from. 

And these bubblegum swirl lollies definitely had to be bought! 

Stay tuned tomorrow to see how we get on at the Starfish Cafe at a Cairn Bay Lodge. 

What's New in The M&S Food Hall This August?

As blog posts go, some of my favourites are when I get to visit the huge M&S at Sprucefield in Lisburn, and pick lots of delicious treats to fit the particular theme that time around. I've had posts with their healthy eating Count On Us and Fuller Longer ranges, BBQ inspiring blogs, and picnic ideas, but this visit I wasn't sure what the topic of my foodie haul was going to be. 

As Michael & I perused the shelves of the colourful and fresh food ideas, I decided just to go with 'what's new this August', as there are so many new products to try in every section of the store. 

I featured their wide range of BBQ meats & fish a month ago, but these new ones caught my eye. I love their ranges like this where you get a great cut of meat in the perfect sauce. It's fool-proof to cook and always tastes amazing.  

They are all on 2 for £7, or 3 for £10. 

M&S are well known for their exquisite smoked salmon already, but this limited edition black treacle salmon is to die for. The little seafood selection packets are great for a quick stirfry to change things up if you usually just use chicken. Go a little exotic next time with the coconut & lime dressing, or lime, mint & chilli. 

Again these are 2 for £7, or 3 for £10. 

Some times for me the difference between a healthy snack & a packet of crisps is pure laziness at having to chop the veg for the healthier option, so the preprepared crudité selection is perfect for lazy folks like me! It's £3, but also falls under the deli range offer of 3 items for £6. 

If you're snacking in work there's actually a crunchy veg & houmous pot available in the lunch aisle for just £1.75. I also picked up the new sweetcorn, chilli and coriander dip (£1.40) and a pack of croutons to add to salads & soups (£1). 

M&S have a fab selection of these little vegetable & salad pots all year round, which make for great sides to main meals, or a healthy snack on their own. They usually fall under the 2 for £3 offer too. 

If you are fed up of sandwiches this summer, there are plenty of alternatives like sushi, or a protein pot. The salmon and edamame pot is £2. There are also packs of seasoned & prepared meat that simply need added to bread or a bap for a tasty lunch. The caramalised Apple ham hock was £2.60. In my previous M&S post about picnic items I had tried a roast beef sandwich which included their blacksticks blue cheese, which was delicious, so I snapped up the spreadable version for £2.50.

We haven't had great weather this week, but it's still the summer and these two drinks will at last give you the taste of the season where our climate is falling short. The watermelon & coconut iced tea is £1.80 and the melon, pineapple & passion fruit juice is £1.50. 

The rhubarb iced buns are £1.30 for two and also come in a lemon variety. They are sort of lik a doughnut/bun mashup, filled with jam. 

Lastly a couple of dessert options that are new this month. A healthy treat of strawberries, cream & crumble for £3, a pair of gooseberry custard crumbles in reusable glass jars for £3.80, and a trip of tiny summer traybakes for £1.20.

Treat Your Dad to A Taste Tour of Ireland at IndieFude.com

Indie Fude is your online deli destination for the top picks of independant Irish food products. They bring together award winning brands like Suki Tea, Abernethy Butter and Red Rooster Coffee in one place, allowing you to pick products separately, or put together a hamper or gift set. 

Primarily an online store at www.indiefude.com , they can also be found at the new Bank Square Market every Thursday from 11am-8pm.

If you want to treat your Dad to some tastes of Ireland, Indie Fude have put together four gift collections for you to choose from. There is also an option to view products by region, so you can try the best of Ulster one month, and the best of Leinster another, a bit like a foodie tour without having to leave your home!

 I love the idea of the chocolate orange marmalade, and bacon jam, so I think I'll take advantage of their 10% off offer, when you sign up for their mailing list, and treat myself.

Yummy Nummies: The New Creative Kitchen Craze From Japan.

Yummy Nummies are little kits for kids to make teeny tiny replicas of full size meals. You'll find them soon in the toy aisle starting at £6.99, rather than home baking, as they are for novelty value rather than being designed to replace a meal. And they are a lot of fun. We were sent the cookie and pizza sets to play with, and found them easy, entertaining and quite tasty too.

We started with the cookie kit. Below shows everything that came in the pack. A very big plus is that you don't need to add anything else. Often I've promised to make buns from a kit with Michael, got home and realised the pack requires and egg, or milk and I'm all out. The only things you'll need that aren't in the pack are a pair of scissors, water and a microwave. Again a huge plus is you use a microwave to cook. No wasting energy and money heating the oven to bake six cookies. 

You have packets of dough and chocolate chips and a little scoop. The instructions tell you how many scoops of dough powder to put into the little mixing tray (another plus- no bowls to wash up after!) and how many scoops of water. 

We separated the dough mix into the baking tray ready for the microwave. Looking at the tray I thought, 'this is never going to work' especially as the cooking time was only 15 seconds in the microwave! 

But, they came out like this. One minute to cool then we scooped them out. They were tiny but tasted spot on.  We had enough dough powder left to make three batches.

Next up- mini pizzas! 

Again everything is included. You just need scissors, water and a microwave. 

Again the instructions are really easy for kids to follow, number of scoops of dough to a number of scoops of water. The pizza 'bases' go in for ten seconds. 

Then you measure and mix the sauce, and whizz for a further five seconds, then sprinkle on cheese powder. They are so so tiny, but they do taste like their full size equivalent. 

Great fun and an excellent treat toy for your budding baker or chef. The full range of Yummy Nummies will be on www.character-online.co.uk and www.toysrus.co.uk soon. The savoury kits include chicken nuggets, burger and fries and spaghetti & meatballs. Sweet treats are cupcakes, doughnuts, gummy goodies and a chocolate bar maker.  

I think I'd like to try the mini burger and fries. Yummy Nummies are super cute and easy, and not terribly messier either. A big thumbs up from Michael and me! 

Fat Frogs & Funny Feet- Which of These Retro Lollies Did You Suck?

Claire from  

http://www.teeandtoast.com/ posted an Instagram of a Fat Frog wrapper and now all I can think of is how much I want one. Sadly I don't have a time machine.

The classic ice lolly horror theme again. Which is an odd one. 

The legends! 

The prices! 

Before my time, but I love the packaging on the left. 

Some slightly racist lollies were found during my search. I decided not to include the HB Golly lolly- but you can Google image search it if you want to be shocked. 

KoKo Mo doesn't strike me as being particularly PC either. 

I love Twisters. Best of all the current lollies. Please, brain, don't bring to mind this creepy little guy next time you're eating one. 

Apple Jack looks a bit cidery. Incidentally I can't remember which supermarket it was, but I was browsing their online groceries looking for full size Twister lollies in a box, and found alcoholic lollies in cocktail flavours. How awkward would that be if you accidentally got someone's kid tipsy from them just picking a random lolly from the freezer? 

Again the spooky horror lollies. A skeleton, and a Zoom for just 4p! 

Are there any I've left out? What was your favourite? Do you have a secret recipe for making Fat Frogs at home? Give me a shout over on www.Twitter.com/rudedoodle

Stocking Up the Pantry for Spring with M&S

I popped up to Sprucefield M&S today and picked up some wonderful cupboard items to liven up all sorts of meals. Here's what I found. 

I love rhubarb, and have repeatedly bought the rhubarb sweet shop fizzy pop from M&S over the years. The new sparkling Rhubarb presse is a little more grown up, with a hint of ginger. Really refreshing. There's a matching cordial which will be great for on the go in a water bottle. 

And obviously I couldn't pass these tiny rhubarb crumbles. So cute!

Cordial £2.30 : Presse £2 : Bakes 2 for £4

I'm a sucker for anything coconut too, so I chose these Paradise Slices. The white chocolate fudge sauce will be fab for over ice cream when the weather stays sunny.

Slices 2 for £4 : Fudge sauce £3

Some more sparkling drinks now, Apple & Cucumber and Raspberry & Pear. Brilliant for tee totallers at BBQs  

Presses £2 each

Speaking of BBQs, if you are a fancy grilled rather than just a blackened sausage on a fork type person, M&S has lots of marinades, rubs and wonderous powders to add flavour to your meats. Or you can just stuff a regular burger in a bap and smoother it in relish or fancy lemon mayo.

Relish £2 : BBQ paste £2

Smokehouse sauce £2 : Marinade £2

Mayo £1.75

M&S always seem to have 3 for £6 on Deli items, so I picked up these beauties. 

3 for £6

This fresh pasta is only £1.13 on offer right now, which seems amazing value. I added pesto, the feta and sundried tomatoes.

There are lots of new Italian flavours to try in store. 

Cherry tomatoes £2.50 : Olives £3 : Sundried tomatoes £2.60 : Bruschetta £1.30

Lastly some chutney to keep in the cupboard for with my Cornish Cruncher cheese, and some fab snacking cashews. 

Chutney £2 : Cashews £3.50

Corned Beef Sushi. It Exists.

I made corned beef mash last week. It tasted amazing. It looked like what comes out during liposuction. I was reminiscing about the disgusting looking pot of deliciousness, and also looking forward to my date with my son this Sunday, heading for sushi before seeing the Ulster Orchestra. So I thought, what if you combined both? And it seems some folk have.

The beef on the left, I could eat those all day. 

I used to make sushi years back, so I think it's time to get out the seaweed sheets and bamboo rolling thingy and make my own. 

I'll let you know how that goes. In the meantime, here are some more weird sushi bits and bobs from around the Internet. 

Sushi and cats. The ultimate mix. 

What's instore this February at Lidl?

Part of the fun of Lidl is never knowing what they'll be selling that week. Yesterday my son was in luck as this super soft, cosy, hooded dressing gown was in our local store for £7.99, with some cool Star Wars slippers for £3.99.

There are also some pretty smart trainers for the coming spring months. 

I rave on Twitter about Lidl's fruit and veg. The quality and prices are amazing compared to the main supermarkets. I find if I buy fresh vegetables from another supermarket, if I don't use them that day or the day after, they go soft or gross really quickly. Lidl fruit and veg is significantly cheaper, and LASTS. I challenge you to do your fresh produce shop there this week, and see the difference for yourself. Especially if you love grapes. Mix and match two punnets for £2; in other supermarkets you wouldn't even get one punnet for £2. 

I also love Lidl for my smoked salmon fix. You get a lot of salmon for your £. These packs with mustard and dill dressing are just £2.29. The little pots of various antipasti are £1.79.  Lazy-mummy pregrated cheese is so handy and it's £1.99 for this big bag.

Lidl has a lot in for Valentines. I don't know if I'll get any Valentines this year yet, so I bought myself my own chocolates! Just £2.99 and very much like Thorton's Continental Selection. 

The Heat, Eat & Enjoy range has been expanded. I picked up the honey roast root veg (£1.79) and the honey mustard ham (£3.99) for a delicious and easy midweek meal. 

Finally, sometimes you just can't beat a dinner of chicken nuggets, chips and beans. Lidl nuggets are just £1.99 for a family pack.