My Top 5 Northern Irish Food Brands - 20 Years of Tesco in Northern Ireland

It's 20 years since Tesco arrived in Northern Ireland. Back then it was the first big U.K. supermarket to make a move to our shores, buying over the Stewarts/Crazy Prices chain and creating jobs by expanding the stores throughout the province.

 Over the past 20 years, Tesco NI has strived to engage with local suppliers and consumers to show their ongoing commitment to local food and drink.

 With 90 local companies currently supplying food and drink in Tesco NI stores, here are some family favourites, and my top five Northern Irish food brands.

5.  Genesis Crafty- that's their lemon bakes above. The bakery range makes scones, buns, pancakes and lots of lovely treats.

4.  Ormo- first baked in Belfast on the Ormeau Road, this brand keeps the traditional recipes for the classic Ulster Fry soda and potato farls, alive.

Ormo sodas and Clandeboye Estate yoghurt

3.  Clandeboye Estate Yoghurt- this is produced a mile away from where I live, and close to a Game of Thrones filming location. Plus it tastes really, really good.

Tayto crisps and Mash Direct Chilli Baby Bakes & Carrot, Parsnip & Turnip

2. Mash Direct- It was a real toss up between the top two brands because I love them both! I visited Mash Direct back in 2013 touring the factory & seeing where the spuds and cabbage etc grow, just outside Ards, in the shadow of the Scrabo Tower. Their mash and veg are all fresh, with no additives. It's as if you bought the potatoes, carrots or parsnips yourself, boiled and mashed them.

1.  Tayto crisps- specifically their cheese and onion crisps. It's the taste of home that Northern Irish people who move away crave. In fact there are Tayto vending machines in both our airports! The classic, unique cheese and onion recipe they use has just been extended to popcorn. It's unusual, but like the crisps it's addictive. And of course there's always the fact the crisps are made in an ACTUAL castle.

Whats your favourite NI brand? Let them know with the hashtag #HappyBirthdayTescoNI to the Twitter account- @Tesco_NIreland

Super Cool Halloween Ice Cream From Quinn's Gelato, Available All Over Northern Ireland

We discovered  Quinn's Gelato over the summer, when one of their beautiful concessions opened in our local Maxol petrol station, Bryansburn Road, Bangor West.

Quinn's is a local brand, lovingly made in County Tyrone. What sets Quinn's apart is the presentation of the trays of ice cream that are on show to buy. They are always piled high in fluffy clouds of soft whipped deliciousness. There are sparkling toppings, fresh fruit, glitter or chocolate pieces.​

There are over forty flavours but your nearby stockist will have between eight and twelve flavours at a time. The Maxol station we go to like to mix it up, but we've seen Raspberry Ruffle, Strawberry, Kinder, Bueno, Nutella, strawberry, honeycomb, bubblegum, blue sky, Flake, Jaffa Cake, and the strangest but one I tried and loved- Red Bull sorbet.

Two other places I have seen Quinn's for sale- Hillmount Garden Centre in Bangor and the petrol station on the Gransha Road.  You can visit the Quinn's website for your nearest stockist.

So this morning I was in the Maxol getting my Barista Coffee and noticed they had just put out fresh new trays in the Quinn's counter and they were all Halloween themed! The flavours include Apple Pie and Toffee Apple.

Let me know if you try any and if you love Quinn's. 

Here are a few close ups from the Quinn's FB Page. 

#SparScarefest : Which Came First? The Turnip or The Pumpkin? The Facts Might Surprise You!

Ask any thirty something or above in Northern Ireland about their childhood Halloweens & in particular what designs they carved into their pumpkins and they'll reply the same thing, "pumpkins? You mean turnips, right?". 

Because in the 80s in October a nation of spoons would get bent out of shape trying to scoop solid, rock hard turnip insides out. A very simple face would be cut into the vegetable and a candle placed inside filling the whole house with a very 'organic' smell, to use a euphemism for the holiday scent Yankee Candle need never produce!

Then, about ten years ago we seemed to take a funny turn and Halloween went from a one night affair into something closer to how the Americans celebrate. Home decor, garden signs, spooky themed food and drink, and ... pumpkins. We knew the States used pumpkins rather than turnips from watching their tv and movies, but what I didn't know was that turnips came first there too. 

Spar NI sent us a Halloween care package today, with locally produced foods to get us in the mood for half term. Inside with a carving kit was both a pumpkin AND a turnip, to keep everyone happy. Also included some facts, and I was very interested to know that it was us Irish emigrating to the States in the mid-19th century that brought the Halloween celebrations, including turnip carving. Here's where it gets interesting- when they were unable to find the turnips, instead they use pumpkins- so turnips always were first, even there.

They would hang the lit up lanterns on their door to ward away lost souls and evil spirits. 

You can buy Armagh grown turnips or North Down pumpkins at your local Spar, as well as a selection of locally produced treats.  Your traditional monkey nuts are from Portadown, as are the toffee and chocolate apples made by Fosters.

£1 each

If you are feeling adventurous why not visit the  Spar NI recipe page, where there are several Halloween themed foods to make yourself.

Love Yankee Candle Silver Bells But Can't Buy It Anywhere? I've Found a Dupe.

Christmas time smells a certain way in your household, and when I first got married and had my own family home, I wanted to create a scent for us that would always remind us of holiday times. So that when Smix is a grown up, just smelling that scent would make him happy for the days of waiting for Santa. 

I picked a certain Yankee Candle that reminded me of my own childhood, not that Yankee was around at the time, but because the classic, realistic scent I chose smelt like the real Christmas trees we would have year after year. The dark green, festive jar candle I picked was Silver Bells, but then, something really annoying happened. 

Yankee discontinued the scent. So no matter where I went, garden centres, cute little homeware stockists, I couldn't find any Silver Bells jars, votives or tarts. For the next few years I would buy Silver Bells on eBay when I could, but as the years passed the rare remaining candles people found increased higher and higher in price. 

Yankee would bring out a couple of new Christmas range scents a year, but nothing matched Silver Bells. They even had a Christmas Tree smell candle, but it wasn't quite right, and Apple & Pine Tree didn't make the grade either. 

But today, today's found Silver Bells again. I was browsing the range of Yankee Candles in Ballyholme Post Office, as they had great prices (£15 for a large jar). I decided to smell some of the dark green candles, just in case they were similar, and that's when I found out that Christmas Garland is Silver Bells reincarnated! 

I'm not sure if it's a new scent for 2016, or if it was available last year too, but I'm so pleased to have my home smelling of Silver Bells again. So if you loved that discontinued range, you know what to do! Get shopping! 

Asda Has Over 20 Christmas Themed Duvet Covers On Sale Now! You Know What to Do!

Fancy a Christmas quilt? Asda has 23 to choose from! Which is your favourite? Available in single, double and king size.

12 days of Christmas  

Regal rocking horse

Reversible tartan  

Bah hum-pug! 

This is my pick. Reminds me of an old Christmas card

Lastly, not Christmas, but I couldn't leave these out. Care Bears and My Little Pony.

Halloween Hijinks on the High Seas- StenaLine Day Cruise 16th October

ALL ABOARD: Little Eva Burnside (4) from Belfast is calling on all budding Jack Sparrows and Princess Elsas to experience an unforgettable day at sea on its Pirates and Princesses Cruise.

On Sunday, October 16, Stena Superfast will be playing host to a day of dressing up and adventure, with a treasure trove of activities on board such as dancing, crafts and karaoke, guaranteed to put a smile on the kids’ faces. Not only does the day promise to be a fun-filled one, but it will also raise funds for Cool FM and Downtown Radio’s Cash for Kids, with all proceeds from ticket sales going towards the charitable appeal.

Tickets are available for just £12, and due to the one-off nature of the event, they are expected to sell out fast.

For more information go to www.stenaline.co.uk/cashforkids

We went on one of the day cruises a few years ago, 2013 and had a lot of fun.

2013

Chronic Illness? Try This ONE FREE OF CHARGE NHS Scheme Guaranteed to Make You Lose Weight. I tried it, here are my results.

HealthWise is an NHS initiative to help those with chronic illness to help themselves. It's a three month free pass for your local leisure centre or gym. You can swim, use the gym facilities, both cardio and weight, or even take set classes like yoga and Pilates.

I did the scheme a long time ago when Smix was little and the leisure centre to go to was the old Bangor one beside the police station. 

Back then it was to help my depression and social anxiety, which isn't anywhere near as bad now. I weighed 11st4 and used the Nirvana gym to run, row & cycle. However I hated every second of it, so when the three month free period ended, I stopped too.

Then a few years ago I discovered my love of outdoor running. Treadmills bored me, but trying to beat my own average speed and distance made for an exercise I looked forward to rather than dreaded. 

Then, out of nowhere, came M.E. Joint pain and exhaustion from every day life shut me down. In the spring there, frustrated with my weight, I tried outdoor running again. It was a disaster. I was back in bed with pains and tiredness, and now I'm getting divorced and a single mum, you can't afford to take a day off. There's no back up spouse to help take Smix to and fro from school. I have to be available. So the running was scrapped. 

But I had put on some weight since Christmas last year, jumping from 9st3 to almost the full 10st mark by June. My illness by its nature makes me quite sedentary, so I close to have to starve myself to lose any weight. I didn't have enough will power to lose the weight through diet alone.

So I spoke to my GP and along with a round of hip X-rays, we agreed on trying the Healthwise program again this summer.

I decided on swimming as my exercise. The water holds a lot of your weight making moving less painful. I also sweat even looking at a gym, so I love how even if you sweat when you swim, you can't tell! 

Even more exciting was the prospect of getting in the brand new £38mil leisure centre pool. 

I started slowly over the summer. Smix was off school and lives with me 7 days a week, so I was mostly just going and mucking around with him whilst fitting in what laps I could. 

However when he went back to school, the proper training began. I started by doing 40 lengths (1km) a day, six days a week. Then I moved onto what my current training involves. 50 lengths (1.25km) six days a week. It's about 45 mins solid swimming. 

I really enjoy it and love that I can exercise again. The hard part is the getting showered and dressed afterward- that takes more out of me than the swim. 

So I would recommend anyone with chronic illness to think about, or ask your own GP about Healthwise. You don't need to be swimming kilometres like me, even two lengths a day gets you moving.

Happily my weight has dropped down to 9st7 so I'm 4lbs off my Christmas weight last year, and I'm sure to make that. UPDATE- as of 20th Oct I am down to 9st2!

Go for it! 

Halloween 2016 at Marks and Spencer- Spooky Treat Time In Store Now!

3 for 2 on all the Halloween goodies, so you'll have bucket loads of sweetie swag for the inevitable trick or treat brigades heading to your doorstep soon

It's one of my favourite blog posts of the year to do, and one I know you guys are waiting for- because I've lots of daily hits on my M&S Halloween blog posts of years' before right now.

Marks & Spencer has pretty much their whole Halloween range in stores right now. There are costumes, baby clothing, sweets and snacks. There is sometimes a Halloween cake design, but if there is one this year it'll not be in store until closer to the October 31st date. Ditto with pumpkins, they will be available in a couple of weeks.

Should you have a Halloween party before then, there's a very cute, autumn, Harry hedgehog chocolate cake, which serves 14 people, for £10. Alternatively M&S's food editor Emma Sleight suggested buying one of their ready-to-serve desserts, like the chocolate orange tarte, printing a Halloween stencil and dusting with icing sugar. The spiderweb design looks very cool.

You could also make pumpkin seed granola with one of the easy-make mixes, for £1.50

Harry hedgehog £10 : granola mix £2.50 : witches' fingers £1.50

For your Halloween party snacks there are some unusual savoury offerings. Fizzy orange popcorn, pumpkin corn bites and salted bat & ghost shapes. 

For nostalgia you cannot beat the jelly sweets with the peel off back. All these items are 3 for 2 mix and match. 

Orange popcorn £1.50 : Pumpkin snacks £2 : Ghosts & Bats £2

The Haunted House party box for six is just £5 and comes with gummies, popcorn, chocolate balls & fruit tubes. 

Inside the haunted house box, which makes a cool stand alone decoration too by the way, are masks you can pop out. The elastic for fastening them comes in the box too. 

There weren't any specific Halloween drinks, but from parties past I know fizzy red lemonade can be 'blood', and fizzy green lemonade is 'slime'. For the adults, how about the Bloody Mary mix? This concoction looks extra spicy and costs £4.50, just add spirits. The glass & other Halloween props are from some of the poundshops. 

The chocolate skeletons come with a free keyring. Look out for the Creepy Coated Chocolate Beans, £2. They come in a long line and are the perfect size for handing out to trick or treaters.

Bloody Mary mix £4.50 : Chocolate skeletons with keyring £2 : 6 packs of chocolate beans £2

There are more trick or treat sized sweets in the form of chocolate eyeballs & pumpkins, and popping candy spider coins, both £1 a pack and all included in the 3 for 2 offer. 

Lastly, help yourself to a bumper pack of 50 Zombie Jelly Brains for £3 or a chocolate lolly for £1.50

Happy Halloween everyone! 

Tiny turnips, what we carved rather than pumpkins in the 80s! £2