A must try for chocolate lovers…

Whether you’re a chocoholic or an ‘indulge once in a while’ type I discovered an absolutely delicious new range this week I had to share…

…the new THINS by Green & Blacks.

I was invited along to their popup installation yesterday at Tavistock gardens on Portobello Road to see what was going on and find out a little bit more.

It’s located just across the road from where the founders, Craig Sams and Jo Fairley, first came up with the concept and name of the brand which I thought was pretty cool and their Green & Black’s taste adventure tour van will be there until late afternoon Saturday, so if you’re in the area definitely pop along!

Me stood at the Green & Black’s taste adventure tour van

The one day only installation was an exotic edible cocoa tree with a picnic at the base, look how cute…

The installation was a nice little addition. I couldn’t believe the cocoa pods and butterflies were all edible from green & blacks or sugar paste, they looked awesome. One cocoa pod was made to look open too so visitors could see what the inside looks like – it’s all white! The fruit helps the beans to harvest…I sure didn’t know that!

The inside of the cocoa pod…

All the edible butterflies before being put on the tree

And all the edible cocoa pods…

The picnic was cute, again all edible, but did lend itself to needing a little wasp patrol at one point 😛

Green & Black’s Taste Specialist Brandt Maybury was on hand to give some background information on the brand and the ideas behind the new range. He actually created the new flavours too and so I learnt about what went into the designing and creating of the salted caramel and mint flavours.

The new salted caramel flavour has salt crystals melted in the mixture but also solid salt crystals in the chocolate too meaning it gives a nice salty taste after as the whole salt crystals continue to melt in your mouth. With many other brands/versions you tend to get a more caramel flavour or more salt. The Green & Blacks salted caramel THIN is amazing, unlike any salted caramel chocolate I’ve had before!

He also mentioned how the new range is designed to be that little bit thinner as to melt in your mouth – they really do!

They’ve already won awards for their new chocolate…you can see or rather taste why!

Brandt Maybury was awesome, really friendly and I think it was great to have someone from behind the scenes there to talk about every thing. Craig Sams and Jo Fairley were also there, although at lunch when I popped along but great to see they’re still so involved even though their company has grown so much.

It wasn’t too busy when I popped down but could get busier tomorrow, however it’s definitely worth going along if you fancy trying before buying.

Although my inner chocoholic gets well hidden most of the time, I will definitely be purchasing for those indulging evenings in…or perhaps a picnic this spring/summer!

Green & Black’s THIN is available nationwide with an RRP of £2.29, with the Mint Crisp flavour exclusive to Waitrose until 2^nd May.

If you pop along an try the new range I’d love to know which you prefer – mint or salted caramel?

Chloe xx

The Macmillan Pop-Up – ‘Not Alone’

On Wednesday from 7am until 7pm MacMillan Cancer Support held a pop-up art installation in Paddington, as part of their ‘Not Alone’ campaign to raise awareness of the loneliness cancer patients feel, and I went along to see what it was all about. Naturally intrigued by art and creativity, but also by what they would do to raise awareness for such a moving and touching subject – most people will know of someone who is/has suffered from cancer.

The ‘Isolation box’, a box with a two-sided mirror so you could see in but not out was positioned in the middle of the busy Paddington concourse. Individuals could go inside the box and listen to a short audio from a cancer patient about loneliness through a headset, whilst the busy commuters were bustling about around the box, looking in to see what was going on. The aim being to evoke the same feelings of loneliness and isolation many cancer patients experience, after diagnosis.

I spoke to one of the lovely team who were manning the box and process at Paddington about the location. She said Paddington was selected for the footfall and to show that life just carries on around you – When someone is diagnosed with cancer, everything else does just carry on.

She also said that the Macmillan Isolation box had been very popular, they had had lots of interest, many going inside to experience the pop-up and listen to the patients’ stories. They had also raised money throughout the event too, which is great.

I took my housemate with me (She’s super passionate about things like this) and we both had a turn in the box. It was so strange, you didn’t know where to look – You don’t just want to stare at your reflection, apparently many look at the floor – and the audio was extremely moving, it almost brought tears to my eyes! It’s hard to hear just how lonely people can get.

This pop-up was launched in line with new research which was carried out my Macmillan Cancer Support on loneliness. They revealed some shocking and upsetting figures:

• An estimated 550,000 people in the UK – 22% of those living with cancer – suffer with loneliness as a result of their cancer
• Research also revealed the devastating impact that loneliness can have on people’s lives, with many forced to skip meals or attend vital appointments alone. At worst this can result in patients refusing treatment altogether.
• Of those who are lonely, almost half (47%) feel this way despite having as much social contact as they want and more than half (56%) are married or have a partner, showing that loneliness can affect even those surrounded by family and loved ones.

Caroline, who was diagnosed with breast cancer in May 2013 and helped launch the ‘Isolation Box’, said: “During the initial shock stage people were there for me, but that tails off quite quickly when people think you’re ‘getting better’. A lot of people don’t like to talk about cancer or ask how you’re doing, because they are scared of saying the wrong thing. But that just made me feel lonelier and like nobody cared or had time for me. Many people just don’t realise how isolating cancer can be. It’s so important to reach out and help make sure no one faces cancer alone.”

This new research and the quote from Caroline really support what Macmillan are doing in raising awareness for such a big aspect of the cancer patient experience. Even having family and friends around you can not be enough, it could be the little things which make all the difference – just asking how everything is going! Fancy a cuppa and a chat? To help the person diagnosed with cancer know they are ‘Not Alone’!

Macmillan have actually launched a new website full of advice and inspiration to help people reach out to someone they know with cancer and how to offer the support they might need – The Source, . Whether that’s going to a hospital appointment with them, offering to cook a hot meal, or helping them access advocacy services.

You can find this here: www.macmillan.org.uk/source.

I really can’t stress enough how much of a fantastic campaign this is, raising awareness for such an important subject. The research is shocking and to bring this to light the pop-up Isolation Box was a fab creative way to demonstrate this in a way the general public would be receptive – people are naturally inquisitive!

I will be supporting Macmillan in any way I can, and I know my housemate will be too!

Chloe xx

Pop-Up Baking Boutique Masterclasses – Brick Lane

I wrote not too long ago about wanting to get better at baking and the pop-up boutique which was coming to Brick Lane (read post). Well it’s here!

Thursday night I was lucky enough to be invited to the launch – an evening of mingling and learning new techniques from Juliet Sear – cake and baking expert, author of The Cake Decorating Bible and Even Better Baking Ambassador.

The Pop-up is reasonably easy to find, it’s located at 12 Drays Walk, Brick Lane but it’s inside Ely’s Yard – the same place as the ZICO Smoothie pop-up.

I turned up at 6.30pm and was greeted by Lucy (one of the team behind the running of the Dr Oetker Baking Boutique). She invited me in, offered me a drink and I started talking to one of the brand ambassadors about the boutique, the layout and what they had on offer.

The Dr Oetker Beter Baking Boutique is set out over the two floors of the shop. On the lower level one wall had all the products which are available to buy, as well as a till area, and a wooden table in the centre with baking equipment on to help create the atmosphere. This is where most people were crowding to mingle and network.

I loved the wall on the left as you walk in – a huge wall which asks you questions and directs you to the chocolate you would most like. I know, all chocolate right? But this was really cool!

Upstairs is where they hold the masterclasses, with a big work bench where all participants can be seated around the outside with the person holding the masterclass on the other side for demonstrations.
Upstairs also had a board where everyone could post their favourite baking tips – I thought this was an awesome idea too! A great way to share knowledge and learn a few cool tricks or new twists.

These are my favourite ones…




After browsing all the amazing tips, I spoke to a few people attending the event as well as those helping to run the pop-up.

A short while later we were all invited to go up and take a seat for Juliet to start her masterclass.

She opened with telling us a bit about herself and that she made Fearne Cotton’s wedding cake!! Just WOW! 

She then went through a few different techniques – making icing roses, robin cupcakes, snowman cupcakes and pigs. She went through the different designs step by step, allowing us to answer any questions we had and giving us some really good tips on how to make the best!

Cutting the icing to make her sugar rose

Using the plastic wallet to squash her petals for the rose

Putting the rose together

Juliet icing on top of a fondant topped cupcake

We then all got chance to decorate and experiment ourselves, using the techniques Juliet had shown us or to freestyle…I’ll let you in on the rose technique too…

Juliet going around the room helping with any queries or questions people had as they worked on their pieces of art 🙂

So here’s the inside information on how to make a rose…

Roll a ball of fondant into a sausage and cut into sections. You’ll need about 6. Make sure your surfaces have a light layer of icing sugar to stop sticking!

Using a plastic wallet (yes from the stationary section), cut down the side and along the bottom, place the pieces inside with enough space between them.

 Cover the pieces of icing with the other side of the wallet and use the base of your thumb to squash the circles. Then use your finger tip to smooth one side of every petal – this will form the delicate curved edge which looks like the outside top edge of the petal. (Photo below doesn’t have the smoothed off edges)

 Open the wallet and peel the first petal off. Carefully stretch the first one out, roll the one side back a tiny bit. Roll the first one to make the centre piece of the rose. Start attaching petals to the outside, overlapping the last petal and each petal added being slightly higher, the thinner edge being on the top – the petals slightly curving outwards, like a rose would. You should keep going until the rose looks even all the way around.

I then iced a cupcake with Dr Oetker cupcake icing to attach the rose.

How cute does this look? They’d look awesome if you used the Dr Oetker shimmer spray over the top too! Slightly wishing I had done this too!

I also made a robin cupcake with the Dr Oetker chocolate cupcake icing, coloured fondant and the black gel colour for the pupils.

I really liked this one! I think I’ll definitely make these again!

I also did a bit of free styling on my last cake. It was so much fun getting to try out the different products, tools and have the help of Juliet’s tips too.

Everyone’s cupcakes looked amazing! Looking around the table it seemed everyone else was having so much fun too. There were some really cute cupcake designs.

At the end we got to take our cupcakes home…

I said goodbye to all the lovely people I’d met, and left with a goody bag with a few Dr Oetker bits and pieces in – Excited to use these!

I didn’t buy any of the Dr Oetker range whilst there the other night, but I will definitely be going back to purchase baking goods before they close. Their products are awesome, they make decorating interesting and so much fun and some of them even help make things easier & better!

I will be putting my new found tips and skills to work this christmas with presents and events, so keep an eye out. I have no excuse not to get back into baking!

What Dr Oetker products have you used? Which are your faves?

Chloe xx

ZICO Pop-up Smoothie Bar – Brick Lane

Me being a smoothie fanatic, would not turn down a trip to a pop-up smoothie bar. So when I heard about ZICO’s I just had to make time to go along.

This week from Wednesday ZICO coconut water have been hosting a pop-up smoothie bar in Elys Yard on Brick Lane.

ZICO coconut water is 100% natural,  low in calories, has no added sugar and is a rich source of potassium.

The smoothie bar is pretty easy to find, walking up brick lane towards The Old Truman Brewery it’s in the market looking yard on the left.

When I got to the pop-up I could see it was pretty popular with the number of people buzzing around, snapping photos, tweeting and grabbing their lunch time fruit and healthiness fix.

The Shop window…

I went inside and was greeted by a lovely guy who explained what was happening, about ZICO and also how you got your free smoothie. So my tweet went up (you can like their Facebook page or post to Instagram instead!) and I got my card to select the ingredients I wanted in my smoothie. You can pick 4 from the card and it all gets blended with coconut water right in front of you – all the ingredients fresh from behind the bar which is great to see. Nothing like a fresh, superfood smoothie!

 

The fresh ingredients around the store…

Here’s what I picked:

Random huh? What would you have picked?

It tasted absolutely delicious and super healthy. A great lunchtime treat for a Friday!

The guy from the beginning returned to see how my smoothie turned out and I took a few more photos before heading back to work with my goody bag (I missed the opening event Wednesday and they still kept me one behind!). It may have been a relatively quick visit but it made an awesome impression.

I think this bar is a fab idea, great location being in shoreditch and a lovely team running it. If you haven’t been along you definitely should, I highly recommend it – you only have to tweet or Instagram for your free weekend health kick. But they’re only there until Sunday so hurry!

I left with a recipe leaflet so I’m sure you’ll get to hear about the smoothies I make at home too 🙂 some yummy sounding ideas for inspiration in this booklet!

Would love to hear about your smoothie selections if you go along!

Chloe xx

p.s. for all those wondering what was in my fab goody bag – here’s a few quick snaps:

Cute little bag I’ll definitely be using again. Love a little sturdy bag!

Doesn’t it look exciting?

A bottle of  ZICO coconut water – yumm!

Pop Bands – soft, stretchy ‘no dent’ hair ties – awesome. My new gym neccessities!

A mutli-colour headband – funky!

eQua – Yoga Hand Towel with sweat activated grip, super absorbent. WOW! Love it already, going to try it out tomorrows gym session!

Joe’s Tea Co. Queen of Green Tea – healthy! Two tea bags.

And….A nakd. bar – but this didn’t last long enough for my group photo (sorry guys!) it was too yummy! Couldn’t resist the temptation.

Some fab new things to try – yayyy! And definitely want to buy some more of those nakd. bars – delicious!