Apparently, Fortnam & Mason, the upmarket food store, sold out of Easter eggs this year as European tourists flocked in. It’s suggested that the weak pound enticed our Euro neighbours to buy loads of eggs - Fortnam & Mason sold 15,000 eggs, the most in its 300 year history.
The store said it saw a huge amount of Italian, German and French shoppers and an increase of 130% in Swiss shoppers. I wonder how they identify the shoppers nationality?
My post about Willies Wonky Chocolate factory was a very popular read so I’m pleased to let you all know about his latest show.
In the run up to Easter, Willie Harcourt-Cooze is back on Channel 4 in a three-part special, aired over three nights starting this Tuesday at 8pm. Willie will attempt to create the finest and purest chocolate bar in the world, and teach a nation of chocoholics how wonderful real chocolate can be!
The PR release for the show says:
He is on a mission to create a bar that is both delicious and affordable, but which doesn’t contain the excessive quantities of vegetable fat, sugar and additives that characterise most existing products that line supermarket shelves.
Willie will also demonstrate just how versatile chocolate is through a range of sweet and savoury recipes including duck, mango and cacao casserole, chocolate mousse cake, sticky cinnamon and cacao buns and a to-die-for chocolate ice-cream
Sounds very tasty! And if you’re in the mood to try out some of Willie’s chocolate recipes yourself, check out his new cookery book.
The jolly decent chaps at Hotel Chocolat sent us a curiously named Easter Egg Sandwich (available here) to try. So of course they just about managed to twist our arm (cough)!
As you can see it’s a rather distinctive Easter egg. It’s actually two solid slabs of premium chocolate with a hollow half egg on each slab. A range of sandwiches are available to choose from - ours was the fruit and nut version.
The chocolate is lovely and thick and encrusted with quality, dried fruit and nuts including cranberry, raisin, almond and hazelnut.
The whole family tried some and the unanimous verdict was mmmm! The mix of milk and dark chocolate works very well and the sweetness of the fruit is an added treat. The thick chocolate reminds you that you’re enjoying a quality Easter egg. It was absolutely full of chocolately goodness
If you’re looking for the best way to create a great impression this Valentine’s Day then look no further than Thorntons.co.uk. They’ve got a fantastic range of luxurious gifts that they can deliver direct with your love.
There’s great offers at the moment like the half price Continental Cascade (pictured) now only £19.98, so you can send an extravagant gift without breaking the bank - Thorntons can even send your gift anonymously if you want to keep them guessing!
Order by 4pm on Friday 13th February to guarantee Valentine’s Day delivery. Offer available whilst stocks last!
It’s Father’s Day on Sunday 15th June and Thorntons has created a range of delicious treats to spoil dads!
There is also an offer of free delivery for orders over £25, simply use the offer code FB18 at checkout (offer ends 12th June 2008).
The last order date for pre-Father’s Day delivery is 4pm on Thursday 12th June 2008 so make sure you place orders in plenty of time!
Click here to order your chocolates today.
Here’s an idea for Fathers Day (15th June) and it’s a money saving offer too!
Hotel Chocolat are currently offering 1 month memberships of their chocolate tasting club for just £9.95 (usually £16.95). Choose from the selection of introductory boxes and let Dad renew his own membership after that. Or, if he’s a really deserving Dad, just treat him to a longer membership!
You can click here to find out more about the tasting club.
PS. We don’t know how long this membership offer lasts.
Remember the trusty Marathon chocolate bar? Of course you do …if you can remember back to 1990! Back then, the manufacturer Mars decided to rebrand Marathon as Snickers to bring it inline with it’s global operation.
Snickers is the best selling chocolate bar of all time with annual sales around the world of £1 billion …that’s a lot of chocolate and peanuts!
Apparently the marathon name has been re-registered as a UK trademark and the company is to use the original name for a three month trial. I never did care much for the snickers name but how about you, what do you prefer?
Willie Harcourt-Cooze is the charismatic man behind the Venezuelan Black chocolate company and we’ve blogged about him before.
Well, in a latest twist in the tail The Telegraph reports that Willies success has attracted the attention of Hugo Chavez - President of Venezuela. Chavez has reportedly demanded an investigation into the activities of our Willie. There are accusations that he is not paying the appropriate prices for his cacao. And as nationalisations have become common-place under the ruling Chavez, Willies activities are now under the microscope.
I wonder what will happen? What are your thoughts?
Yesterdays Sunday Telegraph gave a little mention to the Oorain brand of chocolate. Apparently they are discs of high quality chocolate that are sweetened with maple sugar. Oorain are a French company and if your French is better than mine you can read more about the company here. The chocolate includes these flavours:
In the UK you can buy the product at Whole Foods Market - looks like an American company to me.
This ad will take you back a bit:
Well, if you do love anyone enough to give them your last Rolo then you might be generous enough to treat them to a Rolo that is made of gold rather than chocolate.
This exquisite Last Rolo range is manufactured under licence by C.W.Sellors Ltd. and anyone of these precious Rolos would make a perfect gift and keepsake.
ROLO is a trade mark of Société des Produits Nestlé S.A.