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Posh Coffee: The Flavour Collection from Douwe Egberts

By Happiness & Joy, ShoppingNo Comments

The Flavour Collection from Douwe Egberts

The Flavour Collection from Douwe Egberts (Image Credit: FMCGnews)

While shopping in my local supermarket recently, I discovered The Flavour Collection new from Douwe Egberts. The collection has three distinct flavours: Roasted Hazlenut, Smooth Caramel and Delicate Vanilla.

The Roasted Hazlenut was the first one I tried; being what I would normally order from a coffee shop of a well-known chain. I opened the jar and got a whiff of the subtle yet tantalising aroma. I put a teaspoon of the coffee into a cup, added boiling water and the scent intensified – smelling truly devine.

I might actually be addicted to this hazlenut coffee – was my startling revelation when taking out four or five empty jars for recycling at the end of the month. I’ve shared it with friends & family who’ve tried it and love it.

Smooth Caramel was all right, but not a sweet as you’d expect. It lacked any wow-factor and was a poor comparison to having a shot of caramel in your latte at the coffee shop.

Delicate Vanilla I’ve not tried. I like vanilla as a scent, but not keen on the taste.

The Flavour Collection is luxurious coffee without the ridiculous price tag. Douwe Egberts have got the blend spot on with Roasted Hazlenut; but needs to sweeten the Smooth Caramel and consider an alternative flavour to the Delicate Vanilla.

Douwe Egberts ought to make sure The Flavour Collection is on the shelfs at all supermarkets and make the coffee available in all sizes of jars (rather than just the small-sized ones).

If you’re looking for some instant posh coffee, why not try Roasted Hazlenut which will be available to buy in a supermarket nearby or on Amazon.

Take care,

Antony

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Saturday 13 July 2013

Book Review: The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien (printed by The Folio Society)

By Books & Authors, ReviewsNo Comments
The-Hobbit-Folio-Cover The Folio Society have printed this rather special copy of The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien. Here is what The Folio Society say about themselves:

Great books should be outstanding not only in literary content but also in their physical form: this has been the philosophy of The Folio Society since it was founded in 1947 by Charles Ede, with a dream of publishing beautiful books that would be affordable to everyone. Our pleasure in reading is enhanced by the book itself, in which typography, illustration, paper, printing and binding all play a part in creating a harmonious whole. In a world of declining publishing standards, where most books are cheaply printed, and bound using low-grade materials, The Folio Society resolutely sets store by traditional values of excellence; for our designers and production personnel the term ‘quite good’ means ‘no good’: only the best is good enough.
(From The Folio Society – About Us, Last accessed: Thursday 11th June 2013.)

The kind people at Total Media sent me a copy of The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien to read and review. Let’s start with the exquisite presentation of the book.

The high quality paper is thick and feels like parchment; the hardback binding is superb and comes complete with it’s own sturdy case. The overall presentation of the book can only be described as: beautiful, detailed and unique.

Inside the typography is easy to read and it has some fantastic illustrations:
The Hobbit Inside - The Folio Society

The Hobbit Inside Map 1 - The Folio Society

The Hobbit Inside Map 2 - The Folio Society

The story itself is an upbeat adventure which is captivating, but lacks the epic end-of-the-world stakes found in The Lord of the Rings trilogy. The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien (printed by The Folio Society) is slightly more expensive than a mass printed copy bought off Amazon, but the exceptional quality of the print, binding, typography and illustrations make it completely worth the extra cost.

The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien (printed by The Folio Society) is the perfect gift for any fan The Hobbit Film or The Lord of the Rings Film Trilogy whose into literature.

The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien (printed by The Folio Society) is exclusively available to buy on The Folio Society website. The Folio Society also print other classic titles at the same outstanding quality.

Write soon,

Antony

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Friday 12 July 2013

Book Review: Suite Nineteen by Mel Bossa

By Amazon, Books & Authors, ReviewsNo Comments
suite-nineteen-mel-bossa-cover In Suite Nineteen by Mel Bossa, we meet country boy Ben (Lebeau) who moves to the big city of Montreal. Psychic Ben moves to the old textile factory Shilts Manor, which has been converted into apartments.

In Shilts Manor Ben meets fellow residents Lennox (Van Kemp), Eevie and Happy. Ben notices that there seems to be a strange relationship between the three of them. Ben also meets neighbour Ezra (Collins).

Ezra is a man whose shrouded in mystery: physically crippled, emotionally traumatised and spiritually unreadable (at least in the beginning of the book). Ben see’s all of this but can’t help falling for Ezra, who has taken a vow of celibacy.

Despite Lennox’s advice to stay away from Ezra, Ben begins to spend time with him. Ben begins to loose memory – even memories of important events; and it seems to coincide with the amount of time he’s spending with Ezra.

Ben feels like he’s loosing his mind; yet at the same time his gut tells him his very survival is at stake and that he must unravel the mystery – a spiritual conspiracy dating back to Christ, before it’s too late.

There were a few sources of frustration with Suite Nineteen. Firstly it focused too much on the events and mystery; it didn’t give the reader a chance to get to know Ben. Secondly rather than a series of small revelations, Mel Bossa opted for a big unavailing of the mystery towards the end. The mystery was over explained and left little to spark the readers imagination.

Suite Nineteen is essentially a paranormal mystery novel which has a good mix of tension building and action chapters. Mel Bossa keeps the reader hooked with her clever idea, writers voice and with an unexpected twist at the end of the book.

Suite Nineteen by Mel Bossa is a seductive read which manages to captivate the reader, unravel the mystery and tie up all loose ends. You can buy Suite Nineteen by Mel Bossa on Amazon.

Review soon,

Antony

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Sunday 30 June 2013

Book Review: Wedding Night by Sophie Kinsella

By Amazon, Books & Authors, Reviews2 Comments
wedding-night-sophie-kinsella-cover In Wedding Night by Sophie Kinsella we meet sisters Lottie and Fliss.

Lottie is sure Richard her boyfriend is about to propose, but when he doesn’t Lottie ends the relationship.

Then Ben, Lottie’s first love from 15 years ago gets back in touch and tells her that he’s never stopped loving her. He drunkenly proposes and she agrees to marry him with one condition:
no sex until the Wedding Night.

Fliss is going through a difficult divorce and adjusting to being a single mother to her son Noah. The divorce is making Fliss bitter and she’s starting to feel that getting married to Daniel was the worst mistake she ever made; Noah being the only good thing to come out of the marriage.

Fliss receives a call from Lottie telling her that Richard & she have broke up and that she’s going to marry Ben. Fliss is understandably more than a little bit concerned. Especially as Lottie has a habit of making ‘unfortunate choices’ when experiencing emotional trauma – like that time she joined a cult.

Fliss decides that this marriage to Ben is another ‘unfortunate choice’ and must be stopped. When Fliss fails to stop the wedding, she puts all her efforts into stopping the Wedding Night so that the marriage can be annulled.

Wedding Night is written with chapters in both Lottie and Fliss’ perspective and starts as comfortably predictable at the beginning, but as the book progresses the predictability becomes increasingly frustrating to the reader.

As with all of Kinsella‘s books the element of fantasy and escapism came in the form of a very wealthy business man whose a love interest for the main character. In Lottie’s case, this was Ben. This was a missed chance for Kinsella be more creative and use a different fantasy element.

The description lacked detail, relying far too much on the readers imagination. Compared to Kinsella‘s previous books, the characters in Wedding Night felt dumbed down and lacked any emotional depth. The reader gets to know Fliss a lot better than Lottie which is dissatisfying as the story is suppose to be about Lottie’s Wedding Night.

Mid-way through the book Fliss decides to read Lottie’s diary. The diary Lottie wrote when she was eight-teen, when she first met Ben during her gap year on the Greek Island of Ikonos. This was a perfect opportunity to add some depth to Lottie’s character, as well as give the reader some idea of the past relationship between Lottie & Ben, but Kinsella completely missed this, much to the readers disappointment.

Kinsella clearly tried to write a comedy and there were a few funny chapters; but many fell short of causing a smile, let alone a laugh. Kinsella‘s desire to write humorous chapters seemed to be at the sacrifice of the plot, which felt filmsy and put together with numerous hints that were as subtle as anvils falling from the sky.

Kinsella really lost her way with this book. Wedding Night was more chick-trash than chick-lit. Kinsella is regarded as Queen of chick-lit, but if she writes another book like this she is likely to loose her crown.

Wedding Night by Sophie Kinsella is available to buy on Amazon.

Review soon,

Antony

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Wednesday 19 June 2013
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