Delia's Frugal Food

I've enjoyed reading through this cook book to get Delia's take on frugal eating as well and it being a re-print from 1976. (I also managed a frugal purchase of the book ad it cost me just £1 in a local Havens charity shop).

Most of the recipies are common sense recipies rather that frugal in the sense that I've become accustomed, the extravagance seems to have been cut but some of the basic ingredience used are far from frugal - i.e. Beef, tuna and the tonnes of creme that is used throughout the book. 

Although some of the recipies are cheap to make and sound fantastic soup au chou - bacon and cabbage soup - although old fashioned would go down fantastic in our house, as would deviled drumsticks and kidney stroganoff. I am Aldo desperate to try the sugarless orange and sultana cake although I would omit the egg as I feel it would be to rich with all that condenced milk.

This book is relevant to today's frugal eating chefs but I feel it needs many more vegetarian recipies as meat costs a lot of money. 

So a three star review for this interesting but not that frugal recipie book.

Toffee crisp cereal review

Told the kids we were going to test the toffe crisp cereal this morning so the were quite impatient for me to get up and sort it out. The do usually do their own but I wanted to weigh out a portion to review the suggested portions. 

 Well, the smell was fantastic, it looked appealing and the texture was very crunchy. They didn't taste as sweet as was expected, but the carb content tells me otherwise. I like the fact that although it's chocolate the kids are getting about a third of the recomended levels of vitamins and minerals. 

These little crispies didn't soak up the milk which in my sons eyes was great but in my daughters eyes it was pointless having milk if the didn't soak it up so she would prefer them dry. Husband commented that they would make a nice snack in place of popcorn or crisps - which would work out lower in fat I assume. So having them in small serving size bags would be great. 

I think that they would be great on yougart and it would make it a little more filling - although I ate two and 1/2 hours ago and am still not even peckish. 

Overall we all like them differently I like the idea of them as a crispy yougart topping, my daughter and husband as a dry snack and my eldest son as a topping on wheat cereal. 

I offer 4 stars but whether  we decide to purchase in the future will be dependant on price. 

*this item was tested free of charge through bzz agent.co.uk*

Viakal limescale remover

My first review for supersavvyme.co.uk.

I have decided that I really like reviewing products so I have joint a few more sites that allows me to do this for free.  At the moment I am testing Viakal limescale remover.

Initially I had to apply to be part of the trial, and I was really happy when I got picked because live in a hard water area and have problem limescale in my bathroom - mainly in the toilet and the taps.

I was posted: 

• 2x Viakal Original 500ml spray
• An instruction guide 

And to pass on

• 10x money off coupons (50p off)
• 8x hardness water test strips
• And some product research sheets

Busy with uni work I sat on the pack for a few days before I decided to give it a go, but when I did wow!  My taps are shiny... My toilet no so yet but the stains are tough so I'm attacking it every morning (2 days so far and the limescale is starting to shift)

My sink taps before and after:

My bath taps before and after

Two days later they are still shining despite the kids baths, now to get some grout cleaner and put some new mastic around the edges. 

Funny I didn't realise just how gross they were before the product test. 

I won't give a star review until I get results / or not from the limescale at the back of the loo ( but don't worry I won't subject anyone to photos of my toilet :))

The Troll Trap by Rosen Trevithick

I was really pleased to win this book from a goodreads first reads draw to give myself the opportunity to review a book with one of my children.

I decided to read it to my ten year old boy over a few evenings while he was playing minecraft and it went down a treat. The book is set at a great pace, jumping into action and maintaining it throughout, the characters were likable and the story had a few laugh out loud moments. The only think we weren't that keen on was some of the names of the minor characters - which is such a small thing.

All in all an entertaining story with a happy ending.
Me and my boy rate this book as 4 stars out of 5 and shall defiantly recommend to others.

The Poets' Wives

The stories of three poets wives supporting their husbands through mental illness, imprisonment, exhale and adultery.

Full of pain, love and loyalty.

Story 1 - my favourite of the three - was beautiful and breathtaking. I literally held my breath during parts of my reading. The love present between this husband and wife is enviable. The writing beautiful.

Story 2 - A tad more sporadic with jumbled dates but beautifully written nether the less. A story of love and loyalty against all odds.

Story 3 - much more modern than the other two stories, yet another story of loyalty and love only this time seeming one sided.


I very much enjoyed this book and read it much slower than I normally would so that I would not miss anything. 4 1/2 star rating.  I read this book for free by winning a goodreads firstreads prize draw.

Fragile Boundaries by Johnny Leavesley

This is a three star review

Really unsure what to think about this book.
It was slow to get into and I skim read much of the middle but the ending although slightly obvious was good. I liked the comparisons between the two cultures but didn't like the way this connected to the ending.

I'm glad I had the opportunity to read this book through goodreads first-reads.

Love, Lies and Lemon Pies by Katy Cannon

This is a five star review *****

Brilliant, really impressed with this YA book a very easy enjoyable read.

The topics (bake offs, hoarding, teenager issues with school and parents) are very current, the characters are likeable, it is realistic and very well written and I love the recipes. 

I won this book through goodreads Firstreads.

The Execution of Noa P. Singleton: A Novel by Elizabeth L. Silver

Read from March 06 to 07, 2014

This is a 3 1/2 star review. I was so exited that I won this book on first reads as the story line has so much promise. I really wanted this to be a fantastic book but it only lived up my standard of good. I think one of the story's main flaws wash feat that I found all of the characters unlikeable and I found myself unbothered by the outcome, just a bit curios how the story might pan out.  The story started well but then moved into a lot of boring detail, for example I didn't find it necessary to be given the details of the jury to me it added nothing to the story, and to be honest I skim read a lot of the unnecessary detail. I rather enjoyed the last third of the book that was a lot more fast paced and revealing. All in all this was a good story that maybe I have judged to harshly, I just like a storyline with character I can care about whether good, bad or ugly.

*I received this book free of charge through Goodreads Firstreads*

Ruby Zelf

My daughters limited edition Ruby Zelf, has arrived.

I can't believe it was free when they are selling for so much online.   I can't wait to see her play with it although my husband is going to keep the packaging and limited edition certificate for her.