Celebrate National Mai Tai Day With a Don Papa Rum Twist!

I must admit I was totally unaware that it is National Mai Tai Day on August 30th.And Don Papa Rum invites us to celebrate National Mai Tai Day in the traditional Filippino way, with a Don Papa Rum Mai Tai Cocktail.

One of the key points for Don Papa Rum is to help you create great and exceptional,  really memorable moments. A nd what better way to mark this special day than by combining the classic Mai Tai with the rich, smooth flavours of Don Papa Rum with the Manila Jockey Club cocktail?

This spirit-forward twist on a classic seems to slow time down with every sip, delivering layers of bright, fruity notes paired really wonderfully with Don Papa Rum's unmistakable molasses profile.​

INGREDIENTS​

​50ml Don Papa Rum​

25ml Sweet Vermouth​

5ml Luxardo Maraschino​

1 Dash of Angostura Bitters​

1 Dash of Orange Bitters​

GLASSWARE​

​Chilled Cocktail Coupe​

HOW TO MAKE IT

​Combine ingredients in a mixing glass and fill with ice. Stir for 15 seconds to chill down the cocktail. Strain into a chilled cocktail coupe, and zest with orange oils. Garnish with a Maraschino cherry​ and serve.​ And enjoy, as this looks utterly delicious!

Rum, but Hattiers style

Hattiers is the UK's first B Corp certified rum and it has taken a fresh, exciting look at the traditional art of rum blending with an uncompromising, interesting approach to quality and sustainability.  

Only sourcing fine aged rums from over 25 distilleries worldwide, their versatile and accessible blends consist of carefully selected rums married together along with only pure Dartmoor water.     

Why not explore the Hattiers Rum collection and embark on a flavourful journey that will leave you longing for more?

Here are some cocktails for you to experiment with and enjoy!

The Hattiers Spritz

This cocktail is the epitome of long summer days and sure to impress guests. Aperol and Rum? Don't knock it until you try it!

What you'll need...

50ml Hattiers Egremont Premium Reserve Rum

20ml Aperol Spritz

Grapefruit juice

Lime Juice

Prosecco, Champagne or English sparkling wine

Torched grapefruit and mint to garnish

What to do...

Add Hattiers Egremont rum, Aperol Spritz and a squeeze of lime juice to a highball glass with ice and stir

Top up with equal parts grapefruit juice and prosecco

Garnish with a wedge of torched grapefruit and a sprig of fresh mint

The Casa Surgey

Tom Surgey puts his innovate spin on a Champagne Mojito using Hattiers Eminence Blended Aged White Rum

What you'll need…

14 mint leaves

60ml Hattiers Eminence Blended Aged White Rum

15ml fresh lime juice

10ml sugar syrup

30ml sparkling wine or Champagne

What to do…

Slap the mint leaves in the palm of your hand and add to the bottom of a highball glass. Fill with crushed ice. Add the sugar syrup and fresh lime juice, followed by the rum

Take a bar spoon with a flat bottom and use the disc to churn the mixture. You're looking for a frosting on the outside of the glass so that you know the mix is super cold

Cap with more ice so that the glass is full and the ice glistens on top

Top with sparkling wine or Champagne

Take the mint sprig and clap it between your hands to release the oils so that every sip will be accompanied with the aroma from the mint

Hattiers' Resolute Mule

Singing with spicy ginger and caramel notes, the Resolute Mule is a refreshing cocktail with a twist.

What you'll need…

50ml Hattiers Resolute Navy Strength Rum

Hot ginger beer

Angostura Bitters

Brown sugar

Lime

Iced, crushed ice is best for this recipe

What to do…

Half fill a highball glass with crushed ice

Add a generous squeeze of lime and half a teaspoon of brown sugar

Add 50ml Resolute Navy Strength Rum and stir well

Fill the glass to the top with fresh ice

Top up with hot ginger beer

Add a dash of Angostura Bitters and stir 

Garnish with a wheel of lime

The Hattiers Rum range is available at hattiers.com as well as Waitrose & Partners, Harvey Nichols, Master of Malt, Fortnum & Mason, The Whisky Exchange, Enotria & Coe and Drink Finder. 

Hattiers Rum is justifiably very proud to use no colourants to make their rums look artificially darker and they never add sugar or spice to their blends. They believe rum drinkers should know precisely what they're drinking and as a result all component rums, countries of origin, ages and distillation methods are detailed on the back of each and every bottle.  Premium rums in their range include Egremont Premium Reserve Rum, Eminence Blended Aged White Rum and Resolute Navy Strength Rum.

For further information about Hattiers Rum please visit www.hattiers.com or like and follow Hattiers Rum on Instagram: hattiers_rum and Facebook: HattiersRum.  

Can your pooch be a food star?

Pet owners have the opportunity to have their precious pup named the face of Earl’s Dog Food, Aldi’s popular own-label pet food.

Aldi is the UKs biggest-selling own brand pet food retailer with one in four packs of own-label pet food sold coming from Aldi.

Six lucky pooches will become the faces of the Earl’s range, complete with a professional photo shoot and a year’s supply of dog food.

Aldi is celebrating its popular Earl’s dog food range by giving lucky pet owners the chance to have their very own pup named as celebrity ambassadors. 

The UK’s favourite supermarket is refreshing the look of its dog food range, creating a new ‘family of Earl’s’, with six new dogs set to appear across its packaging. 

The competition launches as it was revealed earlier this year that an astonishing one in four packs of own label pet food now come from Aldi. Earl’s dog food has built a reputation as being a nutritious food, free of artificial colours and flavours at an unbeatable price. 

Open across Aldi’s Facebook and Twitter pages until 16th August, the unique national search will be looking for dogs from individual categories like small, medium, big, rescue, working and talented dogs. Pet parents will be able to submit the cutest photos of their treasured dogs, ready to be shortlisted by an expert team of judges. Once the list has been revealed, each pup will face a public vote across social media polls. 

Each prize-winning pooch will be invited to enjoy a professional photoshoot, plus receiving a year’s supply of Earl’s pet food. Owners will even be able to see their dogs in all their glory with special adverts ready to be spotted on daily strolls. 

Julie Ashfield, who is Aldi's MD of Buying, said: “More and more shoppers are recognising Aldi as a destination for premium quality pet food without the premium price tag. Our shoppers are at the forefront of everything we do so when we decided to refresh the look of the Earl’s range, it made perfect sense to put our shoppers’ own dogs front and centre. 

How to enter:  

Applicants should respond to Aldi’s post on 9th August, sharing their favourite picture of their pet along with their name and category (e.g. small dog, big dog, working dog) 

 Deadline for applicants is16th August 2023   

 Successful applicants will be notified via direct message. 

Terms and conditions apply. For full T&Cs email  dohbWxLSGHuDCmM3H3V6iw$g0@8.pdf (aldi-digital.co.uk) <dohbWxLSGHuDCmM3H3V6iw$g0@8.pdf (aldi-digital.co.uk)>;

New Home Farm Kitchen Lamb, Carrot & Prune Tagine from Eversfield Organic, Perfect for Autumn

One of the UKs top online organic food retailers, Eversfield Organic, is absolutely thrilled to unveil its new Home Farm Kitchen Lamb, Carrot & Prune Tagine just in time for the autumn months. 

The utterly delicious tagine captures the essence of the season, offering a warm and comforting meal for when the nights begin to draw in. 

Slow-cooked to utter perfection, Eversfield Organic's Home Farm Kitchen Lamb, Carrot & Prune Tagine is a chef-prepared dish employing (of course!) only the highest quality organic ingredients, sourced directly from Eversfield Organic's own organic pastures plus trusted local suppliers. 

By being able to prioritise sustainable farming practices, Eversfield Organic ensures the lamb used in the tagine is of the highest of welfare standards, guaranteeing a meal that's both ethical and delicious, too. 

The Home Farm Kitchen range helps contribute to their closed-loop sustainability ethos and minimises food waste, making certain all the delicious cuts of their organic meat are put to very good use.

The rich and juicy flavours of Eversfield Organic's lamb perfectly complement the sweetness of organic prunes and specially selected spices.  Brimming with authentic and utterly delicious North African flavours, this fragrant tagine doubles up as a quick and easy lunch or as a nourishing evening dish. 

Dispatched frozen to preserve its flavours and freshness, the Home Farm Kitchen Lamb, Carrot & Prune Tagine is very carefully packaged to ensure its safe delivery to your own kitchen. 

As the tagine makes its way to customers it will naturally defrost, allowing for a seamless cooking experience upon arrival at your home. This convenient feature saves busy families time in meal preparation while still enjoying a homemade, wholesome meal, allowing parents to spend more quality time with their children after a long day of work, school and other activities.

Eversfield Organic's Home Farm Kitchen Lamb, Carrot & Prune Tagine is now available to buy at www.eversfieldorganic.co.uk (£6.95; 550g). Each pack will serve three, although if hungry, then a more generous portion size will serve two!

For more information on Eversfield Organic please visit www.eversfieldorganic.co.uk or follow Eversfield Organic on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. 

 

Make this a summer of elegant excellence with Champagne Drappier

Celebrate the warmth of summer by gifting your loved ones some Champagne Drappier.

Champagne Drappier has been crafted with passion for in excess of  two centuries, with eight generations of the Drappier family caring and loving for the Pinot Noir grape variety. It's a bottle designed to indulge.

The Cuvée Carte d’Or expresses the identity of the Drappier House: A champagne of great aromatic richness with notes of vineyard peaches, quince jelly, and a touch of spice. Ideal as an aperitif, or as an accompaniment to cheese and paprika gougères. ideal for garden soirees, a Summer of endless elegance awaits you!

Champagne Drappier Brut Nature, created by Michel Drappier, is a Blanc de Noirs with a generous yet mineral style. A robe of white gold with copper hues. A nose redolent of freshly pressed plums, redcurrants, white flowers, and citrus fruits. It is a fine, tightly knit champagne of great purity. Best served with seafood, sea asparagus smoked salmon, soft goat’s cheese, and tabouleh.

For something a little different this Summer, why not try the organic Champagne Drappier Clarevallis?

 Inspired from Clairvaux, Champagne Clarevallis (the name given by Saint Bernard to the family’s home.) is made with grapes from the organically farmed Urville hillsides. Clarevallis is the expression of both the landscape and the land that has been tended since the 12th century. Clarevallis has a golden colour with fine bubbles and tasting notes of Elderberry and violet. It is best served at 7°C for an aperitif or for a meal, with lemon and olive oil marinated zucchini carpaccio, with fresh crumbled cheese.

Make the most of the warm days and make your get-togethers extra special this Summer with a glass of Champagne Drappier. You cannot possibly go wrong!

https://www.champagne-drappier.com.

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Morrisons offers customers double more card points for every litre of fuel purchased

Morrisons is offering its customers double More Card points on every litre of fuel purchased to help them make more savings with their weekly shop.

From today, Monday 14th August until Monday 28th August, customers can earn 10 points per litre of fuel purchased with no minimum spend in store necessary. The scheme runs across the bank holiday weekend, too, so those filling up for their travels can get more for their money.

Customers must have a Morrisons More Card membership to be able redeem the deal and must simply scan their card at the point of the transaction to qualify. 

Morrisons launched the More Card loyalty scheme earlier this year to allow customers to earn More Points on selected products in store, online and on fuel. When reaching ,5000 points, customers will be rewarded with a ‘Morrisons Fiver’ that can be spent in-store or online. 

During September, when scanning their More Card, some lucky customers will be invited to earn free points via the ‘Basket Bonus’ initiative. Morrisons also offers a collector scheme at seasonal moments like summer and Christmas. These enable customers to receive points rewards.

Rachel Eyre, Chief Customer & Marketing Officer at Morrisons, said: “Fuel is a vital, necessary purchase for many of our customers on a weekly basis. By offering double More Points at our fuel pumps, we're helping customers build up their points so they can be rewarded with Morrisons Fivers to reduce the cost of their weekly shop.”

Morrisons has 340 filling stations across the UK and for further information and the full terms & conditions please visit: https://www.morrisons.com/more/terms-and-conditions/.  

Please note: This offer excludes any franchised Morrisons Daily petrol stations.  

(EDITOR: Although not strictly a "food" story, I decided to include it because many people we know who shop at Morrisons do have and use More Cards and do buy fuel at Morrisons when they are doing the weekly or monthly grocery shop.)

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Autumn Exclusive - KOL welcomes Noma Projects to London

For one special and exclusive afternoon on Sunday 10th September, Chef Santiago Lastra from KOL in London will welcome Chef and Creative Director Thomas Frebel from Copenhagen’s Noma Projects for a very special collaboration.

Guests will be able to experience the full range of Noma Projects' innovative flavours in this unique collaborative menu with KOL. 

Noma Projects will take over KOL’s dining room for this dynamic standing event, with guests welcome to discover each new creation from the open kitchen. Now available to purchase online, the products will be incorporated into each dish to allow the diner to experience their umami-rich adaptability and how they can be used to elevate cooking at home. 

What products are included? Smoked Mushroom Garum, Dashi RDX, Vegan XO Sauce, Roasted Kelp Salt, and two new products, Wild Rose Vinegar and Forager’s Vinaigrette (launching in mid-August). Noma Projects will also bring a new, secret unreleased product for London guests to try - Corn Yuzu Hot Sauce. 

Santiago and Thomas have created a special bespoke menu that marries the ethos of KOL - a restaurant that merges the roots of Mexico, its culture, inspiration and flavours with the native produce of Britain, with Noma Projects’ latest innovations. 

Dishes scheduled will include Tostada - Noma Projects Vegan XO Sauce, octopus, tender cabbage, fermented gooseberries, Ceviche - Noma Projects Forager’s Vinaigrette, seafood, seaweeds, succulents (both of which will have vegetarian alternatives) and will end with Nieve - Noma Projects Roasted Kelp Salt, Blanco Jaguar Chocolate sorbet.

Thomas and Santiago first worked together back in 2016. Santiago had partnered with the Noma team that year for their seven-week residency in Tulum in Mexico, and Thomas then was Head of R&D at Noma. The pair worked closely on cataloguing ingredients, helping create recipes and menus, and quickly became friends through their shared devotion to research. Thomas went on to open INUA in Tokyo in 2018, he re-joined Noma in 2021 and later Noma Projects. Santiago opened KOL in London in 2020, which was awarded 23rd in The World’s 50 Best Restaurants Awards in 2023. 

Noma Projects launched in 2022 with Thomas now as Creative Director and Annika de Las Heras as COO (formerly General Manager at Noma), channelling the restaurant’s collective knowledge, craft and spirit and bringing innovation from Noma’s test kitchen and fermentation lab to inspire everyday cooking. 

Tickets include five small dishes and two drinks from the chef's collaborative menu and two Noma Project products to take away in their signature tote bag. 

The KOL Mezcaleria will be open to guests from 14:00 - 18:00 for additional cocktails and additional Noma Projects products will also be available for purchase at the event. 

Tickets are £95 and will be available via the KOL and Noma Projects newsletters on Sunday 20th August

Date: 10.09.2023

Time slots available: 12:30 - 14:00, 14:15 - 15:45, 16:00 - 17:30

Address: KOL, 9 Seymour Street, Marylebone, London W1H 7BA

https://kolrestaurant.com

https://noma.dk

Red Homes Catering Team Provide The Icing On The Cake For Resident Celebrations

According to a study done by Interflora in 2019, the average person in the UK ceases celebrating their birthday at the age of 37. An incredible 39% of us choose not to celebrate birthdays at all, with 1-in-4 wishing not to be reminded of growing a year older.

But! Newark's Red Roofs Residential Care Home on Grange Road are going against this trend to ensure everyone feels special and celebrated on their own birthday.

The team at Red Roofs believe celebrating milestones like birthdays is a vital part of memory care and retiring with dignity. A birthday is a celebration of life and when a person’s birthday is recognised, they are encouraged to reflect on their past as they recognise their place in the present. 

Although many older adults can feel a sense of melancholy when reminded of their age, birthday celebrations at Red Roofs are approached in a way which celebrates their cherished memories and accomplishments, and not just their age.

Also, a birthday allows residents to better recognise and appreciate the circle of love and support that surrounds them as friends and family may gather to celebrate, send them a card or give them a phone call. 

Every resident, no matter their circumstances, will celebrate their day with other residents and staff within the care home, this all helps reaffirm feelings of safety, love, and support.

A Red Roofs birthday is made memorable thanks to the hard work of the catering staff who provide beautifully personalised cakes and confectionaries. The residents have the chance to choose their favourite tea to accompany their cake, of which they get to choose the colours and flavours, too. In addition to the birthday cake ceremonies, the home hosts their very own sherry parties which are universally enjoyed by their attendees. 

These parties are one of many ways the Red Roofs team have been able to establish a warm, tight-knit community within the home, and more vitally, they make certain each individual is valued and celebrated on their own special day.

Trish Smith, Red Roofs’ manager said: “The beautiful cakes are made by our talented catering team and we celebrate birthdays in a big way for every single resident. We raise a glass of something special and fizzy while meeting their personalised dietary needs. 

"Residents can select their special birthday tea and the colour of their cake, too. Family and friends are welcome to join us and every resident loves to sing songs and celebrate with each other. It’s an integral part of our care and what we aim to achieve here at Red Roofs and I’m so grateful to our incredible teams who make this happen.”

As everyone knows, there's nothing quite like a cup of tea and a slice of cake on your birthday.

To find out more about Red Roofs Residential Care Home, recently rated a perfect 10/10

on carehome.co.uk, https://www.carehome.co.uk visit the site 

https://www.redhomes.com/our-homes/red-roofs-residential-care-home