Maille Mustard with olives and herbs de Provence

Got this 108g jar of specialist mustard from the Maille boutique shop on Piccadilly in London for just over £6.......

......and it's GLORIOUS!!   First tried it with meatballs I had for dinner and you can taste the olives and herbs used in the mustard.  I can see this stuff going well with bruschetta if you make your own..... smear a little on the toasted bread before putting the tomatoes/onion mix on top.

I've not seen this on the Maille website yet, so I'm thinking it's a seasonal "special" that's sold in store only.  However, if you do come across some of this in another store, I can definitely recommend getting a jar!!!

Sussex Thins Lemon Puddle biscuits

We found these biscuits at a grocers near us, and as I've tried other varieties I thought I'd give this one a go.  And I'm glad I did!!  They're lovely!!!  They come in a 175g box costing £2.95 and are made with the lemon rind as well the the juice.  They go very well with cheese but are equally as good on their own, too.

The full range of biscuits are listed HERE and a variety of the biscuits are available from the Horsham Gingerbread website HERE however they only currently do mail order within the UK

Stockists are also listed on the Horsham Gingerbread website.

Definitely worth trying!

Choc Chip & Cherry biscuits, V&A Museum

These biscuits come in a 200g tub priced at £3.50 and are absolutely SCRUMPTIOUS!  They're my favourite of the V&A biscuits!  Very more-ish indeed and are best dunked in your hot chocolate (or tea/coffee!)  They're available at the V&A ground floor giftshop and also through their website HERE

The tub design is Leicester wallpaper designed by John Henry Dearle (1860 - 1932)

British Museum All Butter Caramel & Sea Salt Biscuits

This 200g tub of biscuits is available in the ground floor circular gift shop area in the Great Hall of the British Museum and costs £5.50 a tub.  These are GLORIOUS!!!  Very buttery and taste fabulous dunked in a hot chocolate - the sea salt/caramel comes through as a lovely aftertaste!  These do not seem to be available online anywhere but if you find yourself visiting the Museum at any point, I strongly recommend buying some of these, either for yourself or as a gift.

Lemon Crisp biscuits, V&A Museum

These biscuits come in a 200g tub from the V&A gift shop, priced at £3.50 and are lovely!  Not sure I like them better than the Fortnums lemon biscuits but they're certainly on a par with them!  Certainly have a very lemony flavour. They're also available online Here through the V&A website

Tub design "Flora" wallpaper designed by William Morris (1834 - 96)

Maille blue cheese mustard

This is my current favourite of the Maille mustards I've tried so far.  It's the small 108g jar with blue cheese and wine wine and goes well with everything!!!  (well not your cornflakes of course!)  Works well in salad vinaigrettes, meat dishes and is medium strength.  This size jar costs £5.80 at the Maille shop in Piccadilly London and can also be bought online here  I've also seen the larger size jar available elsewhere online (such as Ocado) for a slightly lesser price than Maille, so you can shop around for competitive prices.

Defo worth getting!

Stem Ginger biscuits, V&A Museum

These are lovely biscuits - very gingery! - and best dunked in your tea/coffee/hot chocolate!  They come in a 200g tub from the Victoria & Albert Museum in London and very reasonably priced at £3.50.  They are available in the main ground floor gift shop in the Museum and also online Here

The tub cover is the design for the decoration of the South Kensington Museum (now the V&A) by Godfrey Sykes (1824 - 66) and Francis Fowke (1823 - 65)  in pencil, pen, ink and watercolour.

Clotted Cream shortbread, V&A Museum

This 200g tub of shortbread biscuits are gorgeous!!  They're available in the V&A Museum main ground floor gift shop affordably priced at £3.50 a tub, and also on the V&A website here

The tub design is a textile design by C F A Voysey (1857 - 1941)

Fortnum & Mason's Kings Blend coffee

This coffee is my favourite of the Fortnums coffee range.  It comes in a 250g tin with a fancy red scalloped design and is made using Arabica mild beans from South America & Kenya and an Indian Monsooned Malabar bean.  It produces a full bodied flavour.

The coffee is available instore at the Fortnums shop on Piccadilly & St Pancras station (probably in airport duty frees too) and also from their website here for £12.50.  Pricey, but well worth the money!

Maille Dijon mustard with honey

This Honey mustard comes in 230g jars costing £5.30 from the Maille website here although it is also available cheaper at Sainsburys here and Waitrose here.  Also available through the Maille store on Piccadilly, London

It's a medium heat strength mustard and (obviously!) sweet so not the mustard for most recipes although the recommendation is for use in salad dressings/cheese recipes.

I have other preferences within the Maille mustard range, but this is a good one to try!

Harrods Mango Chutney

This has now been repackaged with paper labels and copper coloured lid

Original review Here

Orange Crunch biscuits, V&A Museum

This 200g tub of biscuits (cookies) are available at the Victoria and Albert Museum main ground floor gift shop, priced at £3.50.  They taste spectacular - very orangey!! Well worth getting for a not terribly expensive treat!

Also available online at the V&A website shop although currently sold out.

The tub design is a textile design by C F A Voysey (1857 - 1941)

Fortnum & Mason Lime Curd

Now, THIS is worth buying!!!  If you like lemon curd, this lime curd has a tangier flavour - image shows the 185g jar but now, only comes in a 315g jar from the Fortnums website here for £4.95 a jar.  This is completely splendiferous and SOOO worth the money!!  You won't regret tasting this stuff!!!

Maille Oignon Grille et Serpolet mustard

This grilled onion, wild thyme and white wine mustard from Maille comes in small 108g jars from their London store on Piccadilly (in between Fortnums and The Ritz)

List of ingredients on the rear label will tell you what's in it, and it's a very interesting and tasty mustard - has the original heat of Dijon mustard too.  Costs £5.80 so pricey, but you pay for the taste!!  (worth the money!)

Can be purchased here Maille Mustard for £5.80 per 108g jar and also available through other websites such as Ocado and mysupermarket.

Good taste, and worth spending on a gourmet treat once in a while!!

Williams Sonoma Chocolate Mocha coffee syrup

This 251 ml bottle of chocolate mocha coffee syrup was bought from Harrods food halls, and priced at £14, so rather pricey.  It can be used over icecream or in cockftails but also a teaspoon can go in your mug of coffee or hot chocolate as a luxurious booster - and boy, is it luxurious!!!  It's DEFINITELY worth the money!!!

This doesn't seem to be listed on the Harrods website, despite it being on the shelves in their food halls.  Harrods also stock Hazelnut flavour and another flavour too (Vanilla???) but I have found it listed on this American website HERE for US$12.95

If you see it available elsewhere, let me know and I'll update here.

Book review - Child 44

Child 44

by Tom Rob Smith

Published by Pocket Books (Simon & Schuster)

ISBN 978-1-84739-159-9

This is a crime thriller story set in 1950s Stalinist USSR, thick with social and political paranoia.  Leo Demidov is a MGB Officer, tasked with arresting dissidents and "deviants" to charge with various offences against the State, whether they committed the offence or not.  In such a country, crime is not officially recognised as existing, however several children between Moscow and Rostov are being found in wooded areas close to train lines dead, with their stomachs cut out and tree bark stuffed in their mouths.  Officially, as crime does not exist, they are not classified as murders, nor are they deemed connected in any way. 

However, Leo slowly comes to realise that they are connected, and a serial killer is travelling the train lines, able to lure children away to their deaths.  (slowly, the reader comes to realise the murders are based on the Rostov Ripper, Andrei Chikatilo of the 1990s).  However, The State cannot allow the murders to be accepted as murders as that would reflect badly on The State, and worse on their investigative techniques.

Towards the end of the book, Leo is forced to face a past he has tried so hard to forget.....

This is a brilliant page turner of a book that highlights wonderfully the total fear and paranoia, social and political, of the time...... GO READ THIS!!!