METICULOUS Cadbury's chocolate tree

 

At IAAPA at Excel exhibition centre in London I met the people who told me they created the Chocolate Christmas tree for Cadbury's.

Useful Websites

Meticulous.

https://www.meticulousltd.co.uk/

Cadbury's

Excel

https://iaapa.org/

www.excel.london

IAAPA

-ends-

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Chutney Mary Celebration Dinner

 Chutney Mary

A doorman greeted us in the doorway, quite chatty, greeted us and wished us a pleasant evening.

Doorman at Chutney Mary, Photo by Angela Lansbury.

On our way out, he asked us if we had enjoyed our meal. We stopped for a chat with him about our restaurant and other restaurants nearby.

Our table was one of four tables for two at the back. I though it was a small table, but easy to talk across. For a photo I set up a giant Hallmark birthday card, which I had adapted for a golden wedding anniversary but adding a hand written Gold wedding anniversary to the front, using blue tack and a staple. This was a success, balloons get in the way, intrude and leave litter.  The big card attracted the attention o all the other three tables, who all applauded, and wished us well, and I had a lovely chat with the lady at the nearest table. 

My husband had booked the restaurant as a surprise, Indian because our first date had been to an Indian restaurant. He had the set menu, and matching wines, I had the vegetarian menu because I am allergic to shellfish, and for the other dishes we got to try different main dishes. The desserts were the same on both menus. 

Service

Always somebody passing nearby who could be asked to help. For example, they escorted me to the ground floor toilet which was down a dark corridor to the fire exit passing fire extinguishers, which I thought was a good thing to note. The ground floor toilet had a keycode, operated by the waiter who escorted me. Inside was big and quite dark.

After dinner I tried the downstairs toilets, much better decorated, with lovely hand lotion. Not much further and stairs not too steep.

The lighting came from an oil container with a flame, which went out a couple of times. Being in such dim light made it hard to read the menu. I copied it on my phone. But I didn't need the menu, no choices to be made because we were having the set menu. 

Unique Champagne glasses at Chutney Mary restaurant. Photo by Angela Lansbury.

We ordered a sparkling wine to start. The wonderful Champagne glasses were perfect. Wide enough not to hit your nose, unlike the narrowest flutes. We recently changed our very narrow flutes, which in theory hold in bubbles, for wider ones. I would have liked to buy the wonderful unique glasses and wondered if they were some special brand such as Riedel. But the sommelier told us that the glasses had been specially ordered for the restaurant. 

Starter

I had avocado.

Main Dishes

Came with delectable rice.

Desserts

A small souffle containing coconut and halva, which they spelled halwa.

My husband had informed them that it was our anniversary. After our dessert they brought out a plate with a small chocolate concoction and happy anniversary written in chocolate.

Happy Anniversary written in chocolate at Chutney Mary restaurant. Photo by Angela Lansbury.

Good for a souvenir photo. Just what I wanted.

Nearest stations

Piccadilly

Green Park

Going there we started through the park, passing on our right a lovely curvy food kiosk, shut Saturday evening, then took a tunnel left, hardly wide enough for two people side by side, went in single file, standing back to let others coming the other way.

Returning to Green Park station late at night, we took the main road, slightly longer.

At Green Park station there is a long underground walk within the station to the Jubilee line going north west.

We plan to go back, at lunchtime when the lower prices of the lunch time deals are attractive.

Useful Websites

https://www.chutneymary.com/

www.fineindianrestaurants.com

https://tfl.gov.uk/tube/stop/940GZZLUGPK/green-park-underground-station

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Date Ice Cream and coffee from Harrods, in London

 

Coffee poured with flair. At the Qinwan stand at the World Travel Market at Excel exhibition centre in London, England, on Thursday November 6th 2025.

Their coffee is sold in Harrods in London. 

They also produce date ice cream with a subtle date flavour. 

Angela Lansbury sampling date ice cream at WTM in London.

Date ice cream makes a change, exotic, different. The company plans to expand to an extra venue. You should be able to try their wares in Mayfair in the spring, probably March, of 2026.

So, if you are planning a trip to London, or live in London, here's what you can do in Harrods. And where you can go, a choice of Harrods or Mayfair next Spring or Summer for yourself or visitors to London.

Useful Websites

World Travel Market

Excel exhibitions

Harrods

Qinwan

Surprise Chilli Chocolate From England Online

 Today we tried lime chilli chocolate which we bought online. It comes from West Grinstead in England. Not the well known East Grinstead which is larger. But West Grinstead.

What a surprise. England is known for chocolate, but bland, milky chocolate.

East Grinstead is known for the Bluebell Railway. It has the inevitable museum.  Less known is the fact that the carol Good King Wnceslas was written locally, and not in Prague.

The chocolate makers don't have a shop but occasionally do pop ups (temporary business kiosks).

Useful Websites

Wikipedia

https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Tourism-g2185948-West_Grinstead_West_Sussex_England-Vacations.html

https://www.cocoaloco.com/products/dark-chocolate-chilli-lime-bar?variant=

https://www.visithorsham.co.uk/business/cocoa-loco

Casa Mia - and why I love London's Italian Restaurants

 I was looking forward to a meal at one of Hatch End's Italian restaurants, main dish and vegetables, when I was at a restaurant overseas which served me chicken with no vegetables. I was also daydreaming, wishful thinking, of a chocolate with the bill in the UK, dreaming, when overseas I received the bill without a chocolate. Nobody said goodbye or thank you as I left.

However, I enjoyed exactly what I had daydreamed about when I returned to Hatch End in North West London and had a meal for four at an Italian restaurant which is one of my old favourites, Casa Mia.

Don't get me wrong, I loved the overseas restaurants. They were good and interesting. Learning a new menu language was a satisfying challenge. I'd forgotten how much Italian I knew until I returned to an Italian menu and could translate so much more.

What would I drink in an Italian restaurant. Of course, I started with a glass of Prosecco. After a week away overseas without spsrkling white wines, or even sparkling rose wines, it was great to see Prosecco on the menu.

It was served in a tall glass. Bubbly, Champagne style, but without the Champagne high prices. It wasn't the best Prosecco, but it was good enough.

We asked for tap water, too. Our servers made no attempt to insist that we had bottled mineral water, unlike some posh places overseas, who have not heard of the British legal requirement that you must serve water with alcohol. Why is this law?  To reduce drunkenness leading to the potential for road accidents, fights or medical episodes. 

Up comes the water with the drinks. A perfect start. Water to  get you relaxed straight away. Palate cleared. Perfect.

Our shared starter was garlic pizza which came up fast enough to keep a two-year-old contented. The restaurant even had two heights of high chair - she chose the highest. Next the manager moved us up from a table in the middle of the room to a table by the wall, so baby was out of the way of the to and fro waitresses.

I thought we should have brought some toys to amuse baby, and insisted on her staying in the high chair, or being carried around the table from her mother to her father, instead of toddling around on her own. Eventually something happened. The high chair fell on top of her. She cried.

Until a dummy was produced and soon recovered. Her father shrugged and said, 'Don't worry, she falls over every day. I don't suppose she'll ever come to any harm."

I thought, 'Sorry, I disagree, My cousin's kid fell down steep stairs, It wasn't even a straight flight. But hit his head on a grandfather clock on the bend. He ended up so badly brain damaged that my second cousin said it wasn't a good idea for my son to be taken to play with him." But I wasn't going to get those negative thoughts get in the way of a jolly evening out. 

Main Courses

So I smiled brightly and said, "Just what I wanted. Veal with potatoes and mushroom in white sauce. "

I have a slight preference for chicken, but I'd had chicken at home twice in 24 hours, so I felt like a change. I can buy roast chicken from my local supermarket any day. When I go to a restaurant I am always pleased to have something I could not have at home, for a change.

A non-meat alternative chosen by one of my family was a pizza.

Pizza at Case Mia, with black olives. Photo by Angela Lansbury. 

Desserts

When It came to dessert I was very good. I agreed to share profiteroles with one of the others, and a spoon of the tiramisu, not overloading the calorie count and sugar by ordering another dessert. All the desserts were tempting.

The tiramisu is home-made. Tiramisu, and ice creams, were the Italian items on the menu. 

Non-Italian English favourites such as chocolate dessert, and, the recent British concoction of Banoffee pie, were other sweet temptations. So many that I did not have an overall favourite and agreed to do along with my share of the other two.

As we all agreed, the meal was not exceptional, not Michelin quality. But what it does, it does very well. Good value. All the ingredients I wanted. Filling food. Smiling attentive staff, with a family feel. A chocolate for each of us to sweeten the bill.

The place was full - but found me a table when I booked the previous lunch time. They had three birthdays during the evening. Lights dimmed, the white jumping, shooting candle, a recording of happy birthdays, and we and nearby tables smiled and calpped for the birthday table. 

I once read that birthday parties are the prime money spinners for restaurants Also that restaurants make more money on the wine than the food. So if birthday parties order Champagne or drinks, that figures. 

I like my favourite London Italian restaurants just the way they are. 

1 Ten per cent service charge means you need not leave a tip. (Unlike the USA.) 

2 Most of the family restaurants serve a standard set of vegetables included in the price of all the main course  meat dishes. 

3 Tap water is free.

4 You get a chocolate or mint chocolate with the bill. 

5 Staff either see you to the door, or, if the door is open in summer, they watch and notice you leave, and if you turn to nod, they wave or nod back and say thank you.

Well done, Casa  Mia.

And lovely decor. Warm and cosy.

Where will we go next time? Back to Casa Mia, or one of Hatch End's other opportunities? Watch this space.

Useful Websites

https://casamia-restaurant.co.uk/

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Chocolate shops and museums, Marzipan, chocolate ice cream, and wine

Where can you try and buy chocolates? 

Chocolate

Austria

Top of my wish list is the chocolate museum in Vienna, Austria. You can take in the chocolate in the daytime. Then go to a wine restaurant in the evening. I read about them last week. Their website is down now (Wed 10 May 2023). But websites and museums come and go seasonally, for updates or during change of ownership. So I shall keep my eyes open. By the  next time I plan to visit their country, and city, I hope the website and shop and tours will be back in business.

UK

Cadbury. So much to see. Home of the chocolate teapot. (You eat the chocolate tea pot. Don't put tea in it.)

USA

Hershey shop in New York. Not a museum, but so many types of chocolate to see.

Wine

Austria

In Vienna, in the evening, go to the Heirige, taverns which pop up at harvest time for you to try the new season's wine. 

Cyprus

Top of my memories is the wine museum in Cyprus. Lots of photos and images of wine production and storage through the ages. Wine tasting on the ground floor with the owner afterwards.

Germany

The Oktoberfest ends in October, and the name reflects the date in the early days. However, now it starts earlier to catch the tourist trade and better, warmer weather at the end of summer, and starts at the end of September. 

Hungary

Hungary has a marzipan museum, in Budapest, the capital city. The museum's name is the Szabo Marcipan Museum.

UK

The UK has many vineyards. Denbies is the largest in England. The visitor centre has a supermarket size shop. I took a tour up the hillside and could see how the sun on one mountainside created a different environment or terroir, as the French say, territory, creating a different type of wine. A good place to start. The indoor tour included wine bottles and cellars.  You can buy their sparkling wine online.

Spain

We arrived too late for lunch and too early for dinner in the grand restaurant. So we tried their snack service, which proved to be very good. I loved the big shop. Outside, are planted the huge numbers of vine types, all labelled, but to me looking more or less identical, were amazing. The museum makes a charge and is large so allow enough time to enjoy it all. 

Useful Websites

UK

https://www.denbies.co.uk/

https://www.cadburyworld.co.uk/

https://salcombedairy.co.uk/

SPAIN

https://vivancoculturadevino.es/en/foundation/vivanco-museum-of-wine-culture/

GERMANY

https://www.niederegger.de/en/cafe-niederegger/marzipan-museum/

World Chocolate Day - July 7th - What Makes A Good chocolate? Cadbury's or Hershey's?

 

This was my favourite dessert on Singapore Airlines.

If you are wondering where to go, today is world chocolate day.  A chocolate museum or a chocolate gift shop. If all else fails, your local supermarket or restaurant. Here's what to look for, when travelling or travelling to the shops. The famous British chocolates include Cadbury's, Fry's, Green & Black's. We have chocolate shops and chocolate museums and factory shops and tours.

My family once did a blind taste test. We bought bars of chocolate with different concentrations of chocolate. We expected that the higher the chocolate count, the more we would like the chocolate. This did not follow. The highest percentages of chocolate produced a bitter chocolate. However, my husband, who likes dark chocolate, preferred a slightly stronger percentage than I did. I like milk chocolate, sweet wines, and preferred about 10 percent less real chocolate than he did. What I learned was that when I was buying for him, for a birthday or an after dinner treat, or a holiday snack, it was not worthwhile paying the highest price for the bar of chocolate with the highest chocolate count.

Wikipedia says>

World Chocolate Day, sometimes referred to as International Chocolate Day,^[1][2] or just Chocolate Day,^[3] is an annual celebration of chocolate,^[4] occurring globally on July 7,^[5][4] which some suggest to be the anniversary of the introduction of chocolate to Europe in 1550.^[1][6] The observance of World Chocolate Day dates back to 2009.^[7]

Other Chocolate Day celebrations exist, such as National Chocolate Day in the United States on 28 October.^[8] The U.S. National Confectioners Association lists 13 September as International Chocolate Day,^[8] coinciding with the birth date of Milton S. Hershey (September 13, 1857).^[9][10][11] Ghana, the second largest producer of cocoa, celebrates Chocolate Day on February 14.^[12] In Latvia, World Chocolate Day is celebrated on July 11.^[13]

The U.S. National Confectioners Association lists four primary chocolate holidays on their calendar^[8] (Chocolate Day (July 7), two National Chocolate Days (October 28 and December 28), and International Chocolate Day (September 13)^[14]), in addition to variants such as National Milk Chocolate Day, National White Chocolate Day, and National Cocoa Day.

If you have a chocolate theme cup, now is the time to get it out.

If you miss it, you have another chocolate day in August. Come to think of it, every day is a chocolate day. The diet starts tomorrow.

Here is a DIY recipe for a chocolate dessert tart using Nairn's biscuits.

https://nairns.com/recipes/chocolate-oat-lime-tart

Chocolates

BELGIUM

Belgian chocolates 

FRANCE

Chocolate covered orange from France.

ITALY

Ferrero Rocher

SWISS

UK

Cadbury's

USA

Hersheys

Somewhere, some time ago, I read that American servicemen in a world war were in hot countries where their chocolate had melted, presumably in storage, in their kit bags, in their pockets and on their hands. 

I understand the problem. A similar thing happened to me. I recall in the USA coming back from a day skiing in the cold and finding that the chocolate left on hire car's back parcel shelf had all gone. Had it been eaten, stolen, by whom, or what? 

When I emptied the parcel shelf later at the hotel I discovered what had happened. The chocolate had melted and run out of the silver paper down to the corner or the parcel shelf. more oil or vegetable fat produces a chocolate which is more brittle but less likely to melt. 

To help the solidiers keep their treats edible, the chocolate manufacturers made a chocolate with a different melting point. I believe that less milk and fat and maybe more vegetable fat or oil, solves the problem. The result is a more brittle chocolate. With a waxy texture. The advertisement for one brand used to read, melts in the mouth, not in your hand. Hershey chocolate in the USA is a market leader, darker and brittle To my mind too waxy. Being British, I am partial to Cabbury's which I find smoother. 

Today a relative of mine took a chocolate from a box of chocolates. After biting and tasting it she declared, frowning, 'This is too sweet for me, too much sugar."

 I thought, if there's more sugar, what is there less of? 

I supposed it must be cocoa, providing the chocolatey flavour, made up for by fillings of orange, hazelnut, coffee, and other flavours. Or maybe it was less milk, more sugar.

The moral is, read the label.

If you are looking for a place for an interesting evening, a birthday or anniversary treat, consider a trip to a chocolate factory or an evening of chocolate tasting or chocolate making. Look for a speciality chocolate shop and ask for their list of events and ask to be put on their mailing list.

Interesting websites

See my posts on Kendal mint cake, chocolate day in August, chocolate festivals.

Useful Websites about KitKat
Yorkdale Shopping centre, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
https://www.madewithnestle.ca/kitkat-chocolatory
CANADA
https://www.google.com/maps/place/Yorkdale+Shopping+Centre
https://www.blogto.com/grocery/kitkat-chocolatory-yorkdale-toronto/
AUSTRALIA
https://www.kitkat.com.au/
https://www.kitkat.com.au/our-boutiques
JAPAN
https://matcha-jp.com/en/758

Easter Eggs on Sale in England, already, In January

The Christmas decorations are down in some areas of Singapore. Our condo had removed the big blow up Santas and Xmas tree. Just the little ones on the ceiling were still swinging about, waiting to be taken down.

Over in Bukit Panjang shopping mall, the Xmas lights were gone. Chinese New Year lights were up in the atrium.

Meanwhile, over in England, the first Easter eggs are out in the shops. I made a typo. I called them Eater eggs instead of Easter eggs.

Easter Sunday is April 17th. In 2022.

 The Xmas and New Year holiday week is prime time for buying (customers) and selling shops for Champagne. Easter is the prime time for chocolate.

In the UK the home grown chocolate is Cadbury's. Milk Chocolate. It has a creamy taste.

American Chocolate

Hershey's is a brittle, black chocolate. Designed to not melt. Waxy. 

M & M's devised the alliterative and succinct selling slogan: Melts on your mouth, not in your hands.

Egg Choice

In the UK, on the far end of the family friendly are Easter eggs and chocolate rabbits and other animals and objects.   You can buy big hollow chocolate eggs wrapped in foil in an open sided presentation box. Chocolate eggs the size of a chicken's egg. Chocolate rabbits in foil.  Mini-eggs.

The good news is that Panettone which we have got used to seeing in supermarkets in London and Singapore and worldwide are also a food for Easter.

Whilst Xmas is over for some, others still have Xmas ahead. January 5th (Wednesday in 2022) is New Year's Even for some. Thursday 6th January is Christmas Day in Belarus.

We  bought Japanese chocolates called Royce. A nod to Rolls Royce. Each chocolate is wrapped in a see-through wrapper. A bit like After Eights. Royce has good presentation. However, I was not overwhelmed by the flavour or texture.

My favourite was the white orange chocolate bar we bought at Heathrow airport.

Useful Websites

https://www.devonlive.com/news/devon-news/easter-eggs-exeter-tesco-store-6435904?utm_source=taboola&utm_medium=display&utm_campaign=exchange

https://www.honeycopy.com/copywritingblog/melts-in-your-mouth-not-in-your-hands

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Easter_egg

https://travelwithangelalansbury.blogspot.com/2019/08/chocolate-day-hurray.html

About the Author

BIOGRAPHY

Angela Lansbury B A Hons ACG ALB PM5 EH5 DL5 VC5 
The Author of several books including  Etiquette For Every Occasion. Wedding Speeches & Toasts. How to be the Best Man. Quick Quotations. Who Said What When.

Blogs travelwithangelalansbury.blogspot.com

dressofthedayangela.blogspot.com

translateforfun.blogspot.com

Braddell Heights Advanced Toastmasters Speakers Club Vice President Public Relations (VPPR), Previous President

Join BHA 1st Wednesday 7pm and 3rd Saturday 2 pm Singapore time 

Vice President Public Relations (VP PR) of Tampines Changkat Advanced;

Secretary of weekly online Singapore International Dynamic Toastmasters Speakers’ Club;

Member and past president of Harrovians toastmasters club, UK; Past member of HOD Toastmasters, London. Past member in Singapore of: Toastmasters Club of Singapore (TCS); Tiarel; and Senja Cashew.

More details from Toastmasters International find a club.

Regular attendee at annual Swanwick Writers’ School, England.

Regular attendee at annual Writers’ Holiday, Wales.

Contributor to poetry readings, and after tea courses on: Speaking On Radio To Promote Books; and Plots And Character.

Winner of many club and area speaking contests in the UK and Singapore.

Language advisor to Empire Toastmasters club in Indonesia.

Language and speech workshops in Singapore.

Speaker on radio and TV in England, Scotland, the USA, and Australia.

Compiler of a school course on public speaking for teachers to prepare pupils for school open days with attending ceremonies before government ministers, Singapore.

Former member of Harrow Writers’ Circle, London, and two writing groups in Singapore.

Angela is on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Twitter. She would be delighted to link up with new friends.

 Please share links to your favourite posts.

Books by Angela Lansbury
How to be the best man. (Ward Lock / Cassell.)
Wedding Speeches and Toasts.(Ward Lock / Cassell.)
Unforgettable British Weekends.
Poetry Workshop Workbook.
The Tailor and the Spy. (Lulu.)
Larry The Talking Labrador. (Lulu.)
Writing Poetry for fun.

Quick Quotations

Who Said What When

What to buy in Andorra - shopping and eating tips

My family phoned from Andorra and told me: 

 .We are at the ski resort of El Pas de la Casa, skiing"'

  We just stopped for lunch."'

Food In Andorra Ski Resorts

"So I thought I'd phone. It is a typical ski resort. Everything is pizza, meat, cheese and bread. The restaurants also have fish and vegetables. They like octopus in Andorra, which is odd, as it's landlocked.

"For dessert, there's crepes, very French. With chocolate or cream, or both! 

"But nobody is fat. You are in the mountains. Outdoors. You are walking up and down. Or skiing. So everyone is fit and healthy. 

 "El Pas de la Casa is only one mile from the French border, but everything (to do with crossing the border) has shut down because of Covid (in December 2021). 

"Alcohol and tobacco are cheap. It is like England used to be ten or twenty years ago. Everything you eat and drink and smoke is unhealthy, but nobody is bothered. You can buy a pack of 1,000 cigarettes, which is enough for a year. To encourage you they stick a bottle of vodka on the side.

"We are staying in a three star hotel because over Christmas and New Year everything is expensive, but despite that it's all booked up. Pricey and full. So we picked a cheap 3 star hotel, which is well located. For Christmas and New Year we have had to eat early at 6.30 (pm).

"I went skiing. 

"While I'm skiing, she (my wife) goes shopping, looking after the baby - which is a full time job, looking for a restaurant for dinner, and eating crepes.

"Crepes are served with a layer of hot chocolate and then cream. Everything has four inches of cream.

"The first two days we stayed in the capital. 

Since I was going skiing, my wife went to the big spa for a treat. We bought her a waterproof cover for her camera. 

"It was busy, queues everywhere, to get from one zone area to the next. She tried the haman.  

"We stayed in the Panorama hotel which is a way, away, a few miles from the ski resorts. The hotel is half way up the mountain, overlooking the city It is 15 storeys high. The reception is in the middle, on what they call zero level. You go up seven floors to the rooftop pool, which is indoors. Then you go down to minus five, to street level."  

Useful Websites

https://visitandorra.com/en/visitor-information/andorra-s-tourism-offices/tourist-office-of-andorra-la-vella/

About the Author Angela Lansbury

BIOGRAPHY

Angela Lansbury B A Hons ACG ALB PM5 EH5 DL5 VC5 
The Author of several books including  Etiquette For Every Occasion. Wedding Speeches & Toasts. How to be the Best Man. Quick Quotations. Who Said What When.

Blogs travelwithangelalansbury.blogspot.com

dressofthedayangela.blogspot.com

translateforfun.blogspot.com

Braddell Heights Advanced Toastmasters Speakers Club Vice President Public Relations (VPPR), Previous President

Join BHA 1st Wednesday 7pm and 3rd Saturday 2 pm Singapore time 

Vice President Public Relations (VP PR) of Tampines Changkat Advanced;

Secretary of weekly online Singapore International Dynamic Toastmasters Speakers’ Club;

Member and past president of Harrovians toastmasters club, UK; Past member of HOD Toastmasters, London. Past member in Singapore of: Toastmasters Club of Singapore (TCS); Tiarel; and Senja Cashew.

More details from Toastmasters International find a club.

Regular attendee at annual Swanwick Writers’ School, England.

Regular attendee at annual Writers’ Holiday, Wales.

Contributor to poetry readings, and after tea courses on: Speaking On Radio To Promote Books; and Plots And Character.

Winner of many club and area speaking contests in the UK and Singapore.

Language advisor to Empire Toastmasters club in Indonesia.

Language and speech workshops in Singapore.

Speaker on radio and TV in England, Scotland, the USA, and Australia.

Compiler of a school course on public speaking for teachers to prepare pupils for school open days with attending ceremonies before government ministers, Singapore.

Former member of Harrow Writers’ Circle, London, and two writing groups in Singapore.

Angela is on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Twitter. She would be delighted to link up with new friends.

 Please share links to your favourite posts.

Books by Angela Lansbury
How to be the best man. (Ward Lock / Cassell.)
Wedding Speeches and Toasts.(Ward Lock / Cassell.)
Unforgettable British Weekends.
Poetry Workshop Workbook.
The Tailor and the Spy. (Lulu.)
Larry The Talking Labrador. (Lulu.)
Writing Poetry for fun.

Quick Quotations

Who Said What When

 

Christmas Food and gifts Around the World: UK, USA, Europe and Singapore - turkey, Yule Cake and stollen

UK

In the UK the usual Christmas dinner is turkey with roast potatoes, sprouts, and cranberry sauce. 

Christmas pudding is served with custard. For added drama, some people set fire to the brandy. I have enough excitement in my life, without that worry. 

After lunch, 3 pm, you listen to the Queen's speech. More Champagne is sold at Christmas (and for New Year's Eve) than any other time of the year.

Homes have Christmas trees.  Hung with baubles (round or spherical ornaments). A star or angel is on top. Parcels, real containing presents, or empty

A big Norway Spruce is in Trafalgar Square, London, England. The tall tree was given by Norway to the UK after WW2 as a thank you for help. Carol singing, in aid of charity, and other performances take place around the tree. The tree, over 20 feet high, has to be the biggest gift I have ever seen.

I save wrapping paper. It is cheap after Xmas. 

After Christmas the prices of Christmas pudding come down. My husband likes to be given and to buy books. I have a lucky dip bag from when I was organizing events for Toastmasters and had to supply small gifts for lots of people. I went around Daiso and kept spotting things which looked useful. I over-bought.

Lucky dip usually works well. We get to pick out one item each, or two, or three. I and my husband are very strange. We like different things each year. What wasn't wanted two years ago, and raised a frown, (a puffer for cleaning a laptop keyboard) turned out to be just what was wanted a year later and was pounced on with glee. 

USA

Turkey is eaten at Thanksgiving so the Americans want a change at Christmas time. In the USA, Christmas pudding is called plum pudding. You can find it all year!

France

The French have yule cakes. Log cakes. You can make your own chocolate spiral cake, with chocolate icing on top. Use a fork to make wavy lines across the top. 

Germany

The Germans eat gingerbread biscuits, gingerbread men and gingerbread women and animals, make gingerbread houses. Best of all, they eat stollen! Stollen, with a centre of marzipan, is my favourite.

We have bought stollen in supermarkets in the UK, in Tesco, Stollen bites in Lidl (which is a German supermarket, low prices) ; and in Singapore this year from Cold Storage supermarket in Jellita shopping mall, a couple of stops on the bus from Holland Village.

Stollen in Tesco in the UK. Photo credit by Angela Lansbury.

Czech Republic

In Prague we had a hotel dinner (when all restaurants were fully booked in addition to charging high prices). The meal featured fish soup followed by carp with potato salad.

Alas, Christmas is over. But you can still buy plum pudding in the USA. You can look forward to panettone in the supermarkets in London, England, at Easter.

Useful Websites

https://germanfoods.org/recipes/dresdner-stollen/

Stollen, Marzipan covered in chocolate and other German food:

https://germanfoods.org/shop-german-foods/?s=&bc-sort=featured&bigcommerce_category=christmas-cakes-and-stollen

Youtube has many videos on making stollen.

About the Author Angela Lansbury

BIOGRAPHY

Angela Lansbury B A Hons ACG ALB PM5 EH5 DL5 VC5 
The Author of several books including  Etiquette For Every Occasion. Wedding Speeches & Toasts. How to be the Best Man. Quick Quotations. Who Said What When.

Blogs travelwithangelalansbury.blogspot.com

dressofthedayangela.blogspot.com

translateforfun.blogspot.com

Braddell Heights Advanced Toastmasters Speakers Club Vice President Public Relations (VPPR), Previous President

Join BHA 1st Wednesday 7pm and 3rd Saturday 2 pm Singapore time 

Vice President Public Relations (VP PR) of Tampines Changkat Advanced;

Secretary of weekly online Singapore International Dynamic Toastmasters Speakers’ Club;

Member and past president of Harrovians toastmasters club, UK; Past member of HOD Toastmasters, London. Past member in Singapore of: Toastmasters Club of Singapore (TCS); Tiarel; and Senja Cashew.

More details from Toastmasters International find a club.

Regular attendee at annual Swanwick Writers’ School, England.

Regular attendee at annual Writers’ Holiday, Wales.

Contributor to poetry readings, and after tea courses on: Speaking On Radio To Promote Books; and Plots And Character.

Winner of many club and area speaking contests in the UK and Singapore.

Language advisor to Empire Toastmasters club in Indonesia.

Language and speech workshops in Singapore.

Speaker on radio and TV in England, Scotland, the USA, and Australia.

Compiler of a school course on public speaking for teachers to prepare pupils for school open days with attending ceremonies before government ministers, Singapore.

Former member of Harrow Writers’ Circle, London, and two writing groups in Singapore.

Angela is on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Twitter. She would be delighted to link up with new friends.

 Please share links to your favourite posts.

 

What is the difference between the Italian Christmas cakes Panettone and Pandoro?

Panettone

 Panettone I have known for years in London. The Italian restaurants serve it. The Italian caffes and delis sell it. The supermarkets stock it before, during and after Christmas in all sizes. 

It comes from Italy. But also Spain. Our Venezuelan member brought it to our self-catered potluck party one Xmas at Harrovian Toastmasters in NW London, England.

The name means little bread, or modified bread. The best is like a roll or cake.

Panettone looks like a smoothed out pyramid or cone with an undulating edge. The simplest is plain, but you can also get it with raisins and increasingly other flavours. One year Tesco was selling tiny ones in three flavours, plain cake, plain cake with added currants, and chocolate flavour cake. 

If you are expecting a cake, it's at first disappointing to find it is more like a bread. On the other hand, it is extremely more-ish. And it keeps. I had one in a tin for well over six months, high up in the kitchen. It was still edible. Maybe slightly drier. 

If you don't feel it is eating quality, but still too good to waste, you can always turn into into toast. Or make a bread and butter pudding.

Next, what is Pandoro?

Pandoro

Pandoro

Pandoro

Over in Singapore I see pandoro for sale in Fairprice supermarket. What is the difference between painting and Pandora. As you might have guessed, pan d'oro means bread of gold. Gold in colour and flavour, and quality. 

I was shocked to read that only three or four centuries ago, in Italy, the same as probably most of Europe, including the UK, the poor people, the majority, ate black or brown bread. Only the rich could afford white bread. Nowadays, even the poorest person can eat white bread. The supermarket choices would be unimaginable to our grandparents or great grandparents and ancestors. 

As for panettone and pandoro, these were not available when I was a child in the UK. What a choice we have nowadays. 

Pandoro is supposedly from Milan.

Tesco, this year, as before, offers a chocolate panettone, but I prefer the original.

One pound fifty pence, for a 100 g  version, from Tesco, GB.

Useful Websites

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panettone

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pandoro

https://www.tesco.com/groceries/en-GB/products/310661699

I have several posts on panettone from pervious years. My previous posts with the most interesting text and pictures include

https://travelwithangelalansbury.blogspot.com/2014/12/xmas-cakes-round-world.html

https://travelwithangelalansbury.blogspot.com/2018/04/easter-cakes-from-england-europe-and.html

About the author

(About the Author of this blog, Author Angela Lansbury)

BIOGRAPHY

Angela Lansbury B A Hons ACG ALB PM5 EH5 DL5 VC5 
The Author of several books, including  Etiquette For Every Occasion. Wedding Speeches & Toasts. How to be the Best Man. Quick Quotations. Who Said What When.

Blogs travelwithangelalansbury.blogspot.com

dressofthedayangela.blogspot.com

translateforfun.blogspot.com

Braddell Heights Advanced Toastmasters Speakers Club Vice President Public Relations (VPPR), Previous President

Join BHA 1st Wednesday 7pm and 3rd Saturday 2 pm Singapore time 

Vice President Public Relations (VP PR) of Tampines Changkat Advanced;

Secretary of weekly online Singapore International Dynamic Toastmasters Speakers’ Club;

Member and past president of Harrovians toastmasters club, UK; Past member of HOD Toastmasters, London. Past member in Singapore of: Toastmasters Club of Singapore (TCS); Tiarel; and Senja Cashew.

More details from Toastmasters International find a club.

Regular attendee at annual Swanwick Writers’ School, England.

Regular attendee at annual Writers’ Holiday, Wales.

Contributor to poetry readings, and after tea courses on: Speaking On Radio To Promote Books; and Plots And Character.

Winner of many club and area speaking contests in the UK and Singapore.

Language advisor to Empire Toastmasters club in Indonesia.

Language and speech workshops in Singapore.

Speaker on radio and TV in England, Scotland, the USA, and Australia.

Compiler of a school course on public speaking for teachers to prepare pupils for school open days with attending ceremonies before government ministers, Singapore.

Former member of Harrow Writers’ Circle, London, and two writing groups in Singapore.

Angela is on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Twitter. She would be delighted to link up with new friends.

I  also have a blog on comic poems.

 Please share links to your favourite posts.

Hanukah - Another Festival of Lights - Which Jesus Celebrated

Hanukiah in Orchard Road Singapore. Photo by Angela Lansbury.

 After the festival of lights for Hindus, Sikhs and Jains, Diwali, along comes another festival of light. In Chinese dominated but ideologically multi-cultural Singapore, Hanukah in 2021 is celebrated from the evening of Sunday 28th December to Monday 6th December. The festival lasts for eight days.

To interest Christian guests at a Toastmasters online meeting, I wanted to know when the events commemorated in the festival took place, before or after Jesus, and, if before, would Jesus have celebrated the festival?

Oddly, the answer came from a website run by Jews for Jesus, a group ignored and regarded with suspicion by Jews, because it is active in trying to convert Jews to Christianity. 

Anyway, despite my wariness, (I wondered, would the website be anti-Jewish?), the website was very handy to me, because it answered my question.

Jesus and Hanukah

The events commemorated by the festival happened in 165 BCE. BC stand for Before Christ. Jews and others prefer BCE, which stands for Before our Common Era.

Jesus celebrated all the Jewish festivals, including Hanukah. The Festival is mentioned in the New Testament in the book of John. The New Testament call it The Feast of Dedication. A Syria of 165 BC had taken over the temple, sacrificed a pig deliberately to cause outrage and installed 'idol worship' of Greek gods. A resistance movement dominated by a family nicknamed the Maccabees (hammers) succeeded in ousting the interlopers and restoring the temple. However, they had only enough oil for one night. Miraculously, the original oil lasted eight days until new supplies could be brought. The symbolic light and joy have amplified into celebrations inculding lighting a new candle on the candelabra every evening, whether a small one at home or a tall one in a public place. Plus lots of coourful and family fun activities, plus filling food and sweets. 

The Menorah and Hanukiah

Menorah at synagogue in Sofia, capital of Bulgaria

Nine branch hanukiah for hanukah outside synagogue in Singapore. Photo by Angela Lansbury.

Hanukah For Children

Children enjoy Hunakah because of the fun of making the eight branch candlestick - a favourite activity organized by synagogues. Also lighting the candles. A gift every day - such as Hanukah gelt, or money, which is chocolate money wrapped in gold foil.

Hanukah Food with oil

Foods cooked with oil recall how the oil enough to light the temple restored to the Jews, sufficient for one night, lasted 8 nights.

Foods cooked with oil include potato latkes (fried grated potato), and donuts.

Donuts with strawberry jam for Hanukah.

Donuts with chocolate and cream. Jerusalem.

Hanukah Gelt

Chocolate coins with gold colour covering. Showing menorahs.

If you want to order a Hanukiah and the candles you had better get organized now.

 The Hanukiah

The hanukiah is different from the menorah. The menorah has seven branches, one for each day of the week. It is lit on the eve of the Sabbath. The woman of the house, or female guest of honour, recites a prayer (in Hebrew) with her eyes covered in order to concentrate and open the eyes to the joy of the light. Of course, if you are Israeli, and Hebrew is your first language, reciting a prayer in Hebrew is not a challenge, as it would be for an English speaking Jewish person. 

The hanukiah has eight branches, one for each of the days of Hanukah. The central and ninth is for the shamash or helper candle which lights the others.

Menorahs and Hanukiahs Around The World

Menorah outside the Knesset, Parliment building, Jerusalem.

Useful Websites

https://travelwithangelalansbury.blogspot.com/2020/12/where-to-see-hanukiah-and-how-to-make.html

https://reformjudaism.org/jewish-holidays/hanukkah?

About the author

Angela Lansbury B A Hons ACG ALB PM5 EH5 DL5 VC5 
The Author of several books, including  Etiquette For Every Occasion. Wedding Speeches & Toasts. How to be the Best Man. Quick Quotations. Who Said What When.

Blogs travelwithangelalansbury.blogspot.com

dressofthedayangela.blogspot.com

translateforfun.blogspot.com

Braddell Heights Advanced Toastmasters Speakers Club Vice President Public Relations (VPPR), Previous President

Join BHA 1st Wednesday 7pm and 3rd Saturday 2 pm Singapore time.

Vice President Public Relations (VP PR) of Tampines Changkat Advanced;

Secretary of weekly online Singapore International Dynamic Toastmasters Speakers’ Club;

Member and past president of Harrovians toastmasters club, UK; Past member of HOD Toastmasters, London. Past member in Singapore of: Toastmasters Club of Singapore (TCS); Tiarel; and Senja Cashew.

More details from Toastmasters International find a club.

Regular attendee at annual Swanwick Writers’ School, England.

Regular attendee at annual Writers’ Holiday, Wales.

Contributor to poetry readings, and after tea courses on: Speaking On Radio To Promote Books; and Plots And Character.

Winner of many club and area speaking contests in the UK and Singapore.

Language advisor to Empire Toastmasters club in Indonesia.

Language and speech workshops in Singapore.

Speaker on radio and TV in England, Scotland, the USA, and Australia.

Compiler of a school course on public speaking for teachers to prepare pupils for school open days with attending ceremonies before government ministers, Singapore.

Former member of Harrow Writers’ Circle, London, and two writing groups in Singapore.

Angela is on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Twitter. She would be delighted to link up with new friends.

Read the previous post on Diwali.

 Please share links to your favourite posts.

Belated Birthday dinner at the Tanglin Club, Singapore

Covid-19 Restaurant Restrictions Eased

The Tanglin Club restaurants in Singapore were closed in early June 2020 because of Covid-19 restrictions. When the restaurants reopened it was only for tables for two. As soon as the previous restrictions were lifted the available bookings were snapped up. We spent ages changing days and trying different times which we didn't want to be sure the restaurants really were fully booked at the popular times and not showing fully booked due to a glitch or the booking site not being updated. 

Time and Space

In the end, we booked for 6.30 although we wanted to eat at 7, reckoning that by the time we ordered drinks it would be getting on for seven. On the night in the large Churchill Room restaurant the tables were widely spaced out and all set for two, very different from the usual layout. The restaurant was never completely full. We guessed that the bookings were limited not because of too many diners, but because of too few staff.

 

Entry

Your taxi drops you outside the front entrance. Up a flight of red carpeted steps. Temperature control past an automatic machine. In the olden days doorman used to open the front door. Now your credentials are checked carefully.

The Churchill Room restaurant has a picture of Winston Churchill by the doorway.

Decor Of Orchids

The Tanglin has an orchid display outside in the hallway. The centre of the Churchill Room has another orchid display. A third orchid display was at the side.

Set Menu Choices

The menu online was not the same as offered in the restaurant, but gives you an idea.  

We started by ordering drinks. I had a glass of Prosecco. My husband ordered a reasonably priced Champagne.Then a glass of red wine.

Complimentary Bread

We were brought a little bowl of breads. The white bread roll with seeds was hot. Melted the butter. The black bread I saved for later. 

The crisp in a tall triangle contained blackened sesame seeds and was delicious, very more-ish. Crispy, salty, tasty.

Complimentary Amuse Guele

Dice size vegetarian mousse with contrasting green peas.

We chose two different starters and main courses and desserts. 

Choices included

Starter

Salmon mousse. Mushroom soup. Foie gras. 

I liked the salmon. That was my choice. 

I was disappointed in the foie gras. Just another smooth pate and less flavour than chicken liver pate. If I had to pay extra for it, I would not.

Main Course

Beef.

Barramundi Fish. 

Pork - excellent. 

Vegetarian option.

Main course - Served Under Domes

Served smartly under domes which are lifted simultaneously. No serving one person who has to wait feeling frustrated for the other person to be served. Nor one person starting and being told off for not waiting.

Dessert

I chose the mango mousse dessert, with ice cream. I thought the fruit was a healthier option.  Mango - excellent choice, looked great.

Why not the chocolate desserts? I admit I hesitated. Mango was a change from chocolate, which we eat a lot of at home and are offered at almost every restaurant and coffee shop location. Chocolate we could eat later at home. 

One of the options was salted chocolate. That must be very tasty, and salt is an ingredient of savoury chocolate dishes featured in a film about France. Sugar and salt does not sound healthy. 

Vanilla ice cream, often tastes of nothing. Or it is drowned by the chocolate flavour.

Nonetheless, I was hoping my husband would opt for one of the chocolate desserts. I told him so. 

He retorted, "It's my birthday dinner. I want to choose what I want to eat."

My husband chose the cheese board. It looked great. Wooden platter. Several cheeses, hard and soft, including a blue cheese. Circular crackers. Some grapes. 

He said the cheeses were a bit industrial. He is a connoisseur when it comes to cheeses.  He buys from speciality cheese shops such as the Cheese Arc. He looks online.

My dessert came up with the happy birthday words written in chocolate and a candle in a blue candle-holder.

More Photos will be added shortly.

Useful Websites

https://www.tanglinclub.org.sg/

http://www.thecheeseark.com/locate-us/

About the Author

About the Author

Angela Lansbury is Vice President Public Relations of Braddell Heights Advanced, and Tampines Changkat Advanced, speakers' training club which are part of Toastmasters International. The USA has several Spanish speaking as well as the English speaking clubs. You can pick up Spanish from buying or reading online their Spanish clubs welcome pages and manuals. 

In The USA, UK, Singapore and worldwide, there are many clubs which are English speaking, as well as Mandarin, Cantonese, Japanese, French, Tamil, Malay.

The inauguration of Tampines Changkat Advanced was Tuesday 29th 2021, online on  zoom. Their meetings are on the fourth Tuesday evening of the month. They hope to hold meetings with a few people meeting physically, the others online, as soon as the Covid-19 conditions allow.

You can find the club through their Facebook page as well as through Toastmasters International find a club. 

https://www.facebook.com/tampineschangkatadvTMC

The meetings are free for visitors. Visitors can watch, and join in speaking by introducing themselves and volunteering to do a 2 minutes impromptu  speech in table topics.

If you wish to join for a year, it costs about 190 US dollars, to have monthly meetings online, a mentor, a magazine, and one of the 11  Pathways, consisting of 14 projects. Each project starts with 3 speeches of your choice of subject, lasting 4 to 6 minutes, then 5 to 7 minutes. The Pathways include the most popular Presentation Mastery. I chose  humorous speaking as my second Pathway, costing 20 dollars. Then my third was a leadership course. Come and see for free.

The club also has meetings in person in Singapore

You can also contact my other club, smaller Braddell Heights Advanced, which is a cosy little club with more chances to speak.

Login through bha.learncool.sg/meet/bha 

That will link you through to Zoom or googlemeet. 2 pm to 5 pm.

BHA meets the first Wednesday evening each month, starting at 7 pm Singapore time. 

Then an extra meeting on the 3rd Saturday afternoon, starting at 2 pm Singapore time.

To check your time zone,  

https://24timezones.com/difference/singapore/ 

Meetings will be on Wed July 7th and  Saturday July 17th.

Contact either of these or other clubs through Toastmasters International Find a Club.