Where To Find Flower & Fruit Cakes For Birthdays & Easter plus pot plants, Prosecco with chocolates, novelty cakes, halal cakes, kosher wine and vegan cakes

Cake For My Birthday sent from Little Flower Hut. (Back view.)

Cake for my birthday sent from Little Flower Hut. Front view of cake.

The flower arrangement which I was sent for my birthday was cake shape and had candles spelling happy bday (sic). 

The cake was ordered in London and sent to Singapore (not sent from London - the money paying for the gift was sent from London but the flower arrangement was made and delivered from Singapore). 

For birthdays in London finding flowers is easy. Pop into your nearest Tesco or Marks & Spencers and you will find a wonderful selection of flowers, plus chocolates and wines. 

 You can get novelty cakes off the shelves of supermarkets and order cakes online from local supermarkets.

Now that London is in lockdown, we are sending gifts from London to Singapore by websites and from Singapore to London from websites. I have been looking at what is available in London, the USA and Singapore and here are some of my discoveries. You will find something similar for other countries from Amazon and international suppliers.

Flower 'Cake' showing plate. The lasting keepsake plate is good.

I now know from other websites that flowers should not be under a fan, and that they like a little refreshing mist.

Fruit cake and Forever Flowers

Ferns and Petals sells a fruit cake which comes with a separate square box containing three preserved purple roses which they say will last up to 2 years.

They helpfully provide an online guide to flower care.

Price $128 (on their website in March 2021). Delivery charge?

I always send a picture of the gift to the donor (with my thanks) on the day the item arrives. Mostly they are notified of delivery by the delivery company or the retailer. The donor will be anxiously waiting to hear if the gift arrived safely, was what they ordered and if you like it.

If there's something wrong, let them know, so that they can immediately get a replacement or refund from the seller.

Easter Cake

You can have a box or roses with berry tart cake. Only 59 Singapore dollars. But watch out for cakes which are one person size like a piece of cake you would get in a coffee bar, about twice the size of a muffin. If you are expecting a full size cake to feed four of more or to last all week and get a one portion cake you could be disappointed. However, for somebody on a diet this might be just right, a one person one meal treat, not too many calories, with the longer lasting roses.

Dried lemon slices, though the website warns they (are brittle and) might arrive broken.

https://shopee.sg/.-Cake-Decorating-Dried-Lemon-Pc-Dessert-Table-Cake-Ornaments-Small-Fresh-Fruit-Cake-Ol60-i.269507527.8705115569 Under r dollars, to decorate cakes..

https://www.fnp.sg/gift/box-of-roses-with-berry-tart-cake?pos=12

Bob the baker makes a cake with a strawberries and cream filling suitable for diabetics. Also low sugar ranges. Delivery charges are under ten Singapore dollars and free if the order is over $150 dollars.

Orchid in pots from Little Flower Hut from 68 Singapore dollars.

Useful Websites

Singapore

Flowers, cakes with flowers and gifts, and sugarfree cakes and halal cakes. 

www.littleflowerhut.com

https://www.fnp.sg/gift/fruit-cake-purple-forever-roses

https://www.fnp.sg/article/flower-care-guide

https://www.facebook.com/fnpsingapore?ref=aymt_homepage_panel

https://bobthebakerboy.com/faq#dessert_table

Halal from Primadeli and many others

https://www.facebook.com/primadeli/videos/126691189368336

UK

Chocolates and Roses or other flowers from about 21 pounds sterling including delivery, with lots at about thirty pounds. Also hampers

https://www.bunches.co.uk/category/birthday-flowers-and-gifts

Prosecco and roses from 45 pounds sterling.

Also letterbox flowers (delivered flat packed), 

An orchids and pot plants.

Cakes today has loads of luridly coloured cakes for all sorts of occasions, including Diwali, Eid and Mubarak. And same day delivery, and party in a box. Vegan cakes.

https://www.facebook.com/cakestodayco

From cakes today

UK Kosher Cakes In London

Novelty cakes, dozens of designs, chollah (bread) in various designs, photo cakes. Novelty cakes include football,  other sports, car license (number) plate 55 pounds, chess board, doctor, graduation, engagement, wedding, baby, laptop 90 pounds, bar mitzvah and Jewish religious themes.

https://www.grodz.co.uk/photo-cakes/novelty-cakes?page=1

https://www.kosherwine.co.uk/gift-ideas-c127/hampers-gift-boxes-c181

USA

https://www.facebook.com/BloomNation/

https://www.bloomnation.com/florist/leavenworth-floral-and-gifts/happy-happy-birthday-cake/

$49.99 US dollars.

Happy happy birthday flower design in 'cake' shape to order though Bloomnation, USA.

DIY FRESH FLOWERS ON CAKES

3 Ways to Add Fresh Flowers to a Cake - wikiHow

About the Author

Angela Lansbury is a British author who has lived in the USA.

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer.

Angela Lansbury teacher of English (advanced and English as a Second Language or English as a Foreign Language, French and other languages, aspiring polyglot.

Angela Lansbury, author and speaker. Member of many toastmasters  speaker training clubs and speaking contest judge.

Angela Lansbury, the author of 20 books including Wedding Speeches & Toasts, and Quick Quotations, has lived in the USA, Spain and Singapore. 

She  has several blogs and writes daily on at least two of the following:

travelwithangelalansbury.blogspot.com

dressofthedayangela.blogspot.com

translateforfun.blogspot.com

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Secrets of Names in the Czech Republic Revealed: what would your first name and surname be?

I am learning German and Italian on a daily basis on Duolingo and I am registered to be notified when several other languages start. The Czech language is 98% ready so I keep looking to see when it will start. Duo lingo has a straight forward easy to understand introduction to each language and its pronunciation and sentence structure on the first page of the course.

Meanwhile I thought I'd have a little look at Wikipedia. What most surprised me was the names. Until recently it was usual to be given a prescribed first name, named after the Roman Catholic Saint from the Roman Catholic Calendar on whose day you were born.

Therefore, if a traditional older person in Prague told you their name, and it was a saint's name, you would automatically know their birthdate, at least the day and month, not their age. You would be able to wish them happy birthday and send them a birthday greeting.

But the Czech language also has some other peculiarities. My surname would change. Female surnames have different endings to masculine names.

Problem
How would I introduce myself?

Answer
Here's the solution, check the popular names and family names in Wikipedia.

You can see that Alicia Markova, if she had come from Prague, would be the daughter of a man whose surname was Mark. Her brother's surname would be Mark. Her mother's surname would be Markova.

Story
When I visited St Albans I went into the cathedral which was free to visit and had an exhibition on the history of the cathedral and city. I read a medieval document which was very hard to understand because it concerned two characters, both called John, involved in a conflict. Both men had their names spelled differently, changing throughout the document. This made the events described very hard to follow.

For example, "John said that Jon owed him money but Jonn also said that John had repaid half the money but John denied this because Jon had said that Jonn ..."

The same change of spelling applied to all the other words. "We noe that hee hadd sed know but now that the judge has said that no dose not meen know ..."

I then realised the advantage of fixed spelling.

I am now very interested in how languages and names very and what they imply and tell us.

Tip
Even if you can't learn the language, you can have an interesting conversation with somebody from Prague or the Czech Republic about their name and birthday and the names of members of the family and friends and colleagues.

Here are some of the most interesting parts of the Wikipedia article:
"During the Communist era, parents needed a special permission form to give a child a name that did not have a name day on the Czech calendar. Since the Velvet revolution in 1989, parents have had the right to give their child any name they wish, provided it is used somewhere in the world and is not insulting or demeaning. However, the common practice of last years is that most birth-record offices look for the name in the book "Jak se bude vaše dítě jmenovat?" (What is your child going to be called?),[1] which is a semi-official list of "allowed" names. If the name is not found there, authorities are extremely unwilling to register the child's name.[2]

"Czech parents remain somewhat conservative in their choices of baby names. In January 2004, the most popular boy's names were Jan (John), Jakub (Jacob or James) and Tomáš (Thomas). The most popular girl's names were Tereza (Theresa), Kateřina (Katherine) and Eliška (Liz or Elise). Throughout all the nine years, the name Tereza is ruling among girls born in January every year.


"What is not shared with English but is similar to North American native languages is the extremely colorful nature of some Czech surnames, such as Brzobohatý (Soon to be rich), Volopich (Pricking an ox), Urvinitka (Tear a string), Rádsetoulal (Liked wandering around), Stojaspal (Slept standing), Vítámvás (I welcome you), Tenkrát (Back in those days), Skovajsa (Hide yourself!), Nebojsa (Don't be afraid!), Skočdopole (Jump in a field!), Vozihnoj (Driving with manure), Osolsobě (Salt for yourself!), Ventluka (Knocking outward), Rádsetoulal (Usurped in vain), Nejezchleb (Don't eat bread!), Potměšil (He sewed in the dark), Přecechtěl (He wanted anyway), Drahokoupil (He bought costly), Nepovím (Won't tell) or Blabla.

Female surnames[edit]
As in English-speaking countries, Czech females traditionally receive their father's surname at birth and take their husband's name when they marry. However, the names are not exactly the same; the endings differ to fit into the Czech language's systems of gender adjectives. For example, the tennis players Cyril Suk and Helena Suková are brother and sister; Suková is the feminine form of Suk. In fact, Czech female surnames are almost always feminine adjectives. There are several ways of forming them, depending on their male counterpart:

If the male surname is a masculine adjective (ending in -ý), the female surname is simply the feminine equivalent. Thus, a girl whose father's surname is Novotný would have the surname Novotná .
If the male surname is a noun, the female surname takes the suffix -ová, making it a feminine adjective:
Novák becomes Nováková


So Kim Novak is Kim Newman. But when she visits Prague she would be called Kim Novákova. (I keep adding the accent on the second a in the surname but the system keeps removing it.)

"-ová is still added, even when speaking of foreigners ("Angela Merkelová"). Because gender-marked suffixes are inherited in the Czech grammar and also because the gender of a person could be told straight from the surname regardless of the context, Czechs tend to add a feminine suffix to the surnames of Czech as well as foreign women surnames. Thus, e.g. American first lady Michelle Obama is referred to as Michelle Obamová in the Czech press."

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author, speaker, teacher of languages.
Please follow my posts and share. More on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, YouTube. Books by Angela Lansbury on Amazon.com and Lulu.com

Wine shows for the trade and public

A Riesling show in London was open to trade in the day (Monday 16 May) and then to the public in the evening for a charge. I wasn't able to attend but a friend of mine went and told me about it. I asked if there were any sweet wines.
http://www.winesofgermany.co.uk/blog/german-grape-time-london-embraces-31-days-of-riesling-by-lopa-1
A Cava tasting was open to the public in the evening. at the wonderful Oxo building by the riverside.

After a wine tasting where do you go to eat?

Oxo Tower
My family once held a joint birthday meal at the smarter of the two restaurants, fulfilling my dream.  (Years ago somebody had said they might take me there but never did.
We wanted a window seat for this special occasion and eventually got moved when a table became free. You get wonderful photos. If your camera is able to take in dark lighting and get distant shots even better.

Oxo Tower For Birthdays
The Brasserie is slightly cheaper. If you arrive at the tower and they don't have your booking you may have gone up in the nearest lift to the entrance where you arrived and emerged at  the wrong restaurant.

Time
Allow extra time.  Five minutes goes as until you've got to the front of the queue. You, wait five minutes whilst you say you have a booking and they can't find it. They or you realise you must have booked the other restaurant. Another five minutes to gather your group, one from the toilets, another wandering around taking photos, reclaim coats. Then five minutes to get directions and find your way to the other restaurant and queue up again.

By now your fifteen minute window for arrival to claim your booking is is danger of being recorded as a no-show and allocated to other hopefuls. Or your window table, requested and confirmed, has been given to another group. By now  you have changed restaurants once and tables twice, so the desert with the candles  been forgotten or gone to the wrong people or sent back.

Birthdays
The Oxo Towers great for a well-organised group enjoying a birthday. If you have been to a wine tasting and you are a solo diner looking for something quick and cheap before catching the train home, head towards a station and you might pass several Indian restaurants.

Alternative Restaurants
If you are a fitness freak, you might think it's a good idea to walk off all the calories from that wine, even if you were spitting, to clear your head, to get the energy to travel home.

With luck your phone will send you some advertisements for restaurants nearby and offers. My friend was sent an ad for a Portuguese restaurant in a large hotel and was able to order one main course, which he declared delicious, before catching the train home.

Business Opportunities
Some of the people at trade shows are looking for distributors so your wine won't appear in the shops until a distributor is found. If you are in the trade and entrepreneurial, or run any kind of business, or have an extended family in business, people who are looking for idea for a new business, or a second business on the side can find opportunities.

Mixers and Tourism
If you are not into alcohol, there's usually something else on show, such as an olive oil, a low alcohol wine, a mixer or syrup, wine holidays, wine tours for tourists, either on show in a leaflet, or information available if you ask.If the sponsors include something not wine related, such as an airline or tourist board, you may be able to make useful contacts with them.

Tutored Tastings
If you are in the business and want to be admitted to the tutored tastings run by the Masters of Wine, arrive early, when the doors open, to be first on the list.

Wine drinking, like trying new foods, is a voyage of discovery.

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, researcher, author and speaker.

Chocolates for teachers, birthdays, anniversaries, everyone, from England's Hotel Chocolat

I was hurrying across Victoria station when the words Happy Birthday stopped me as I passed the Hotel Chocolat shop. The display also included another box labelled Anniversary. I was looking for the price, when the helpful manager stepped forward to answer my questions. The chocolate box was £7. Throughout the shop you can get deals of reduced prices if you buy three boxes.

The shop is an Aladdin's cave of colours and unusual designs and flavours. The so-called gin flavour chocolate is actually juniper, no alcohol in it, but so many customers didn't know juniper, the magic flavouring in gin, that the marketing magician decided gin would be a more familiar and meaningful name.

I spotted a tray of unwrapped little chocolates, realised they were samples, and asked to taste one. A most unusual flavour. It tastes like - well, juniper.

The manager of the tiny Victoria station branch is very helpful and knowledgeable.

As you see the shop also had smart gift bags.

I picked up their catalogue and read it on the train home. A real entertainment, full of ideas for gifts. He had told me the company started in about 2003 north of London. Now you can find branches all over London, and Britain, in shopping malls such as Watford's Intu, Lakeside, big stations such as Victoria, in Scotland and one has opened at the airport overseas.

If you are from overseas looking to bring home something distinctively British, here's a good gift. England is known for chocolate, Cadbury's, Rowntrees of York, Thornton's, and now add to your list Hotel Chocolat.

If you are British and travelling to visit friends overseas, another reason for picking a British box of chocolates as a gift. These chocolates are very different in shapes and colours from most boxes in the supermarkets.

The Teachers line is designed for giving to teachers at the end of school year.
More information from:
hotelchocolat.com