Brexit: Facts Not Fear by Toby Young. How will you vote in the EU Referendum, for the UK to Leave, or Remain in the European Union?

Are you going to vote in the Referendum on the United Kingdoms membership of the European Union?

Will you vote in?
Or will you vote out?

Do you believe what the Prime Minister David Cameron says about our membership of the European Union?

Do you believe what Boris Johnson has to say about our membership of the Europena Union?

Or are you a fan of Nigel Farage, and agree with his views on our membershp of the European Union?

Are you voting for the UK to remain?
Or are you voting for the UK to leave the EU?

It's times like this, when I wish I could sail away to my own private island somewhere warm, and forget about all of the nonsense our politicians say.
I wish all of our politicians, be they Tory, Labour, Liberal, Green, or UKIP, I wish they would, for once in their lives, tell us the truth.
Tell us the facts, nothing more, nothing less, the honest facts about this important decision, and let us make up our own minds.
They should all be ashamed of the way they have attempted to manilaute and scare us into voting a particular way, to suit their own needs.

Not much surprises me, but the behaviour of our politicians in the run-up to the Referendum on our membership of the European Union, has disgusted me.
I never thought I would witness such bad behaviour in Britain.



There's only one day until we get to vote in the EU Referendum.
Although how honest the result will be, I don't know.

I feel as though the result has already been decided, and not necessarily by our dodgy politicians, but by the people who pull their strings.
And I fear the result will be to the detriment of Britain.
If so, sad times are ahead.
I hope I'm wrong...........

The way this whole thing has been reported in the news, the lies, and misinformation, reminds me of an African dictatorship where rigged elections are common practice.
This referendum feels so unlike how the United Kingdom used to, or should behave.
But I suppose that's because there are a lot of people in positions of power who are worried about the outcome. Not worried for the people of Britain, but concerned for themselves and their cronies.

You only have to read the news to know we do not live in a democracy anymore.
Sad, but true.

I am definitely voting in the EU Referendum, bright and early tomorrow morning, although deep down I feel it's a watse of time...........

That's enough from me, for now.

This video by Toby Young is short, and to the point.
It may help you decide which way to vote - if you are still unsure.
Do you think the UK will leave or remain in the European Union?
I'm interested to hear you thoughts...........

Unicorn Black, Robinsons Brewery - Beer Review

I like dark beer, and Unicorn Black from Robinsons Brewery is one of the best stouts I've had for a long time.

Unicorn Black is delicious, and pleasantly thrist-quenching for a stout.

It poured a dark brownish black in the glass, with a slight sugary brown head.

Aromas of chocolate, coffee, caramel, toffee, and roasted malt.

I thought it had quite a strong flavour of black liquorice, and a touch of roasted malt, coffee, and dark red fruits. I really liked the strong liquorice taste.

It had a perfect balance of sweetness, and a bitter slightly citrus flavour to the finish. 

Mr.R also thought this was a very decent stout, and we'll definitely be buying this brew again in the future.

From the label -
A modern twist on an aged old recipe, Unicorn Black is a dark, mysterious, ebony coloured stout with a distinct aroma of roasted malt and chocolate.

Rich, full bodied and deeply satisfying, Unicorn Black delivers a palate of roasted coffee and peppery hops leaving a robust after bitterness. It is perfectly balanced with a hint of sweetness.
4.1% Vol. 
Hope variety, Goldings. 

Unicorn Black from Robinsons Brewery is so good I felt it deserved to have two photos on this blogpost - even though they are fairly similar to each other. 

I was too preoccupied enjoying the beer to spend time taking photos. 

Have you tried Unicorn Black, Robinsons Brewery?

What did you think of it?

Are you a dark beer drinker?

Aldi Supermarket, Rotten Mouldy Tomatoes, and Bad Customer Service

A few days ago, after we'd been out visiting family, on the drive back to our house we popped into an Aldi supermarket to purchase a few things.

Among various other items we purchased was a pack of six tomatoes.
When we got them home and took them out of the packet 3 of them were rotten, covered in mould. Nasty!

I shared a photo of the rotten Aldi tomatoes on the companies twitter and facebook accounts.

I received a reply from Aldi on twitter and facebook, which said the same thing, ''We're sorry to hear this Laura, please return your proof of purchase and packaging to store for a full refund!''

What a joke!
I replied saying that it would cost me more in petrol to return the rotten fruit, than the original cost of the mouldy tomatoes; 58p for the pack of six.
I never heard anything from Aldi again.
But looking at the Aldi hashtag on twitter, I saw that lots of their customers have been treated equally badly, or in some cases worse than I was.

I am unimpressed with the attitude of Aldi bad customer services.
I expected more from them. They're behaving just like the big four supermarket chains in the UK. Which is why I don't shop in them.......

I've never had a problem with shopping in Aldi before this. 

I like, or should I say I used to like shopping in Aldi. 

And Lidl, I'm a big fan of the smaller shops, with less choice (the big four appear to give you more choice, but it's all the same products, but in tons of different size jars etc. so there's not really a lot of choice, just aisles and asiles of variations on sizes and pakaging to get you to buy more and make them even more profit).

Oops, rambling, a bit, I also like Aldi and Lidl for their better value products, there's less faffing about, shopping is quicker, and usually their products are decent quality.

So, I'm not writing this blogpost because I dislike the lower priced supermarkets. Or because I am a snob.

I just wanted to share the fact that despite buying six tomatoes from Aldi, I couldn't make for lunch that day, what I wanted to because I only had three tomatoes that were useable.

And if I'm sold six of something, then I want to be able to use, and/or eat, six of something, not three. 

Right, that's the end of my Aldi tomato woes, and it wasn't all rotten tomatoes, we did buy lots of wine in Aldi too - which was completely mould free, thankfully.

Do you shop in Aldi?

Have you ever unpacked your shopping to find Aldi has sold you rotten mouldy food?

Nacreous Clouds - Absolutely Stunning Sky

About a week ago, we were up and out early to take the dogs to the beach.

I shot this photo as we drove, through a very dirty car window. Not bad eh?

Barley, our rescue and Lurcher, and Porter, our rescue Rottweiler, are both crazy about the beach. Literally.
They always know when we're going to the beach, beacause they see the rucksack with their balls etc. ready for the car drive.

On this particular morning Barley and Porter seemed even more excited than usual, they were jumping about all over the place, and they whined the whole way to the beach. Thankfully it's only a ten(ish) minute drive.

Anyway, it was during the drive that I noticed how beautiful the sky looked.
It was still fairly dark as we drove along towards the beach, the sun had yet to rise, but the clouds were quite luminous, they looked as though they were backlit, and reminded me of a rainbow.

On the beach, just before sunrise 

I tried to take some photos as we whizzed along the coast road. I only managed to get one that was in focus.
And I took a few more photos once we were all down on the beach.
The sun was rising, which changed the colour of the sky, but the clouds were still so beautifully rainbow coloured.
Maybe that's why Barley and Porter had been over-excited on the drive to the beach - because they were in awe of the gorgeous clouds? Hehehe!

Necreous clouds, stunning sky at surise

I had to include a photo of Barley and Porter - complete with nacreous clouds in the distance

Later on when we were back at the house, I shared some of my cloud photos on IG (InstaGram), which is where someone told me they were called nacreous clouds.
I hadn't known their name before. I can never remember the proper names of all the different type of clouds.
And I don't recall ever seeing nacroeus clouds before either.
The clouds made for an absolutely stunning sky, which made my morning, as I am a bit obsessed with clouds, stars, the moon - the sky in general really.
Are you a cloud obsessive?
Have you ever seen nacreous clouds?

Wooden Hand Brewery, Pirate's Gold - Beer Review

We drank this beer last Summer, but from what I remember it was an quite a light drink.

It didn't pour into the glass as golden as the name may suggest, it looked more like a traditional English bitter, not that that's a bad thing necessarily.
It had aromas of sweet malts, hops, and yeast, basically it smelt beery, with a touch of caramel, nuts, coffee, and a vegetal smell.
On the palate it was lightly fruity, with a slight tart taste, plus flavours of toffee, nuts, biscuity malts, and apples. The apple flavour reminded me more of a bitter.
The finish was distinctively hoppy and sweet malt flavours, and quite dry. 


Wooden Hand Brewery, Pirate's Gold, was a drinkable beer, but I doubt we'd buy it again.

From the label -

Pirate's Gold
Easy Drinking pale coloured ale, a tempting hop aroma with light fruit notes. 
Strong malt and hop flavours with a dry tangy fruit finish. 

This beer contains Maris Otter malted barley, torrified wheat, crystal malt, amber malt, English and European hops married with a fine English ale yeast. 
Best served slightly chilled. 
Brewed and bottled in Truro, Cornwall. ABV 4%

Wooden Hand Brewery
Grampound Road
Nr Truro
Cornwall
TR2 4TB
www.woodenhand.co.uk

We weren't overly impressed with this Cornish beer - the label was probably the most interesting thing about it.
Have you tried Wooden Hand Brewery, Pirate's Gold?
What did you think of it?
Would you drink it again?

Delicious Homemade Griddled vegetable Pizza

We don't eat pizza often, but when we do it's always homemade.

A few days ago Mr.R made this seriously tasty pizza. He used puff pastry as a base, and topped it with a rich homemade tomato sauce, and lots of lovely griddled vegetables, including aubergine, courgette, onion, mushroom, sweet chili peppers, and cheese. Perfect!

It may not look particularly tasty, but that's because I'm not good at taking photos of food - I blame the strange colour light in our house. 

But believe me, this homemade pizza tasted absolutely delicious. 

Do you make your own pizza?

What's your favourite pizza topping?

Primula Cheese Selection - My First Ever Competition Win!

I've recently started doing online competitions.
And after entering just a few comps, I won. I won!

My first ever competition prize was cheese. Well, sort of. It's cheese, but not as I know it.
One day last week a delivery man rang our front doorbell, and handed me a large package. Oo-er missus, let me rephrase that, he handed me a large parcel.
The parcel contained a cool bag, inside which were several Primula cheese products.

I was seriously excited and pleased to have won something; I was jumping up and down with joy, even though I'm not a Primula cheese eater.
I only entered that particular competition because I thought comping is a numbers game, so the more I entered the higher my chances of winning.
I just wanted to win something, anything, and then I'd just enter competitions for things I'd really like to win - a new TV would be good after our Rottweiler attacked ours and smashed it several months ago.

So, I won some cheese, well sort of, it's hardly a deliciously tangy mature cheddar, but I do truly appreciate my first ever competition win.
But we don't really eat processed food, Mr.R cooks everything from scratch using real food ingredients, so I knew we wouldn't be eating my first competition win.

So what to do with my cheese win? We definitely didn't want to eat it, but I couldn't throw it away - I don't like to chuck food out - however unlike real food I think it is.
We offered it to a friend, but he declined. Hahaha!
So we eventually gave it away to a family member, she was very pleased with the cheese, so at least it's not going to be wasted, or thrown in the bin.

My Primula win included -
Six tubes of different flavoured cheese; Light Cheese, Cheese with Ham, Original Cheese, Cheese with Chives, Cheese with Smoked Salmon, and Cheese with Prawns.
Three tubs of different flavoured cheese; Smoked Cheese, Cheese with Onion, and Cheese with Chilli.
Three Microwaveable Dips; Cheddar and Roasted Garlic, Cheddar and Habanero, and Cheddar.

So after only entering online competitions for a very short time period, and only entering a few individual competitions - I am a winner!
I won! Yay!
Now I've got my first win, I'm going to concentrate on winning that new TV - wish me luck.

Disclaimer - I'm writing this blog post under much stress; seriously noisy neighbours, loud music is blaring through the walls, and a Rottweiler who really doesn't like loud music so he is very stressed, poor thing, so that's the reason for any spelling and/or grammar mistakes. My head is banging, I can't concentrate properly.
I could have left this for tomorrow, but I just wanted to get it finished and online.
Do you enter online competitions?
What have you won?
Or, if you're not a comper, do you eat Primula Cheese products?
And if you do, what do you think of them?

Box Steam Brewery, Derail Ale, India Pale Ale - Beer Review

We drank this Box Steam Brewery India Pale Ale last Summer.

Box Steam Brewery Derail Ale pours amber gold in the glass, with a small cream head.
Aromas of hops, floral, sweet malts, biscuits, grass, and citrus zest.
Flavours of sweet malts, caramel, and an orange hop bitterness to finish.
Medium-bodied, drinkable, but quite a light beer.

From the label -

Box Steam Brewery Est 2004

The Taj Mahal of traditional India Pale Ales - full flavoured yet perfectly balanced, with a subtle aroma. 5.2% ABV
Ingredients; water, malted barley, hops.
Steam brewed in Wiltshire

Talented as he was, Isambard Kingdom Brunel didn't get everything right. If his fame rested solely on the steam locomotives he designed for the GWR, his reputation might have been derailed long ago.

Brunel's engines Thunderer and Hurricane proved to be less than reliable and were swiftly replaced. A small blip in the great man's career - but more then enough to inspire the name of this pale ale. 

engineered by hand

We've won so many awards we can't show them all here. You can view them all at:
www.boxsteambrewery.com

Box Steam Brewery,
Holt, Wiltshire BA14 6RU UK.
+44(0)1225 782700
Do you like Pale Ale?
Have you tried Box Steam Brewery, Derail Ale, India Pale Ale?
What did you think about this beer?

It's Nippy in The North of England - Especially Now it's Snowing!

I woke up this morning to be greeted by white skies, and gentle flurries of snow.
It all looked very pretty, when viewed through the window from the warmth of the living room.
And that's where it's beauty ended, at least for us - neither me or Mr.R like cold weather.
But having dogs means we go out every day, come rain or shine - or snow.

So, we put coats on the dogs, and ourselves - we also wore hats, scarves, and gloves.
Barley, our rescue Lurcher, doesn't mind wearing a coat, he's used to it as being a slender breed he feels the cold so wearing a coat is not an unusual occurrence.
Porter, our rescue Rottweiler, does mind wearing a coat. He wasn't at all impressed as Mr.R wrestled with him trying to fasten the coat around his neck and body. There was quite a lot of growling during this process - and that was mainly from Mr.R. I'm joking! Hahaha!

Eventually we were all wrapped up and ready to venture outside for our morning dog walk.
The snow hadn't settled much at this time, but the roads were slushy and fairly slippery.
Barley and Porter didn't care about the slippery roads, and why would they - they've got four-wheel-drive.
Me and Mr.R on the other hand, were gingerly walking down the hill to the local country park. As both the dogs are strong on their leads, we didn't want to rush in case our walk turned into a full-on slide - right down the road and in through the park gates.

Once the dogs had done their business, we walked back towards the house.
The snow was still falling, and the bitterly strong wind was stinging our faces.
Thankfully the walk back seemed to be less slippery, and we arrived back at the house without either of us falling on our arses.

Life in the North of England is much colder than anywhere we've ever lived before, and I doubt we'll ever get used to it.
Living right by the North Sea is much fresher than when we lived in the South of France - the North Sea is most definitely not the Mediterranean. In fact, it's much colder here than London - which is where we're originally from, and that's a lot closer than France. Hahaha!
The weather app on my phone says it's 1c degree, but feels like -6c. That's fecking cold for us soft Southerners. 

I didn't manage to take any photos whilst we were out, but I did shoot just one shot from the kitchen door.
Usually we can see the sea from the kitchen, but today the view was more-or-less a plain white canvas, with just the roof tops and chimneys of the neighbouring houses poking through the whiteness of the snow.

Now we're back in the warmth of the living room, the wind and snow outside don't seem to bad, and as
pretty as snow can look, I don't like it. It's fun when you're a child, but nowadays warm sunshine is more of a pleasure for us. As is snuggling n front of the fire, which is what all four of us are doing right now.
Do you like snow?
Is it snowing where you are today?
Are you going to build a snowman, or have fun on a taboggan?
Or are you planning to stay indoors and snuggle in front of the fire?

Karpackie Premium Lager - Review

Just because it's from Lidl doesn't mean it shouldn't have a review written about it.

Karpackie Premium Lager is a Polish lager, brewed by Browar Van Pur S.A. (Brau Union Polska) in Rzeszów, Poland.

It pours a light amber colour in the glass, with a white head of medium retention, and moderate carbonation.
Aromas of sweet malts, wheat, and hops; typical Euro-lager smell, and a light touch of spice - possibly cloves or cinnamon.
On the palate it's quite sweet with flavours of sweet malt, honey, grains.
A fairly clean crisp drink, pleasant enough, easily drinkable, but nothing to get excited about.

Mr.R and I spent a lot of time travelling round Poland, and we drank lots, and lots of seriously good Polish beer, which is probably why Mr.R bought some Karpackie Premium Lager home from Lidl - he must have been reminiscing about our World travels.

From the label -
Beer. Alc. 5% vol. 
Ingredients: water, malted barley, brewing barley, hops. 
Do you shop at Lidl?
Do you like Polish beer?
Have you tried Karpackie Premium Lager?
What did you think of it?

Hotel Chocolat Snowflake - Much better Than Bills Dropping on the Doormat

Chocolate!
I love it. Well, no, not love, but I like it - very much.
So, I was a happy lady when Mr.R told me he'd won some chocolate, several wins actually.

The first win that dropped through our letterbox was this white chocolate snowflake from the Hotel Chocolat brand.
Chocolate snowflakes dropping on the doormat are preferable to bills.

It says 'British Cocoa Grower' on the label, so I suppose that's a good thing.
There were two white chocolate snowflakes in the packet.

White chocolate is not my favourite type of chocolate, but that doesn't mean I didn't eat the chocolate snowflakes.
I did. Both of them. But not at once, they lasted me for a couple of weeks; I broke off small pieces to nibble each day.
And as Mr.R doesn't like white chocolate at all, I obviously had no choice but to eat it all myself. Hahaha!

This white chocolate snowflake was nice. Although it was way too sweet for my tastes, (I much prefer the bitterness of good quality dark chocolate) and apart from the sweetness, it didn't actually taste of anything - I'm not sure if it even tasted of chocolate.
That may be because my tastebuds are used to eating very bitter dark chocolate, and not a reflection on this white chocolate.

But hey-ho it was free, so who am I to complain. Ha!
Seriously though, (I'm joking about it being free, it was, but that's irrelevant) it is nice to have a product that's actually made in this country. Something British! As Blighty seems to make so little these days.
Are you a chocolate lover?
Do you like white chocolate?
Have you tried Hotel Chocolat?
What did you think of it?

Sheppy's Draught Cider - Review

English cider!
We tried Sheppy's Draught Cider a while ago, back in the Summer of 2015, but I do remember the taste.
It was alright, not bad, but not a cider we'd go out of our way to buy again.

It poured a light gold in the glass, without any head.

The aromas were of green apples, wood, smoke, straw, green apples, and a touch of vanilla.
It was pleasantly carbonated.

Initially it tasted quite sweet, but with a slight sour aftertaste it wasn't unpleasant, with flavours of apple pulp, pear, straw, and a hint of vanilla.

From the label -

Craftsmen cider makers for over 200 years
The Sheppy family have been farmer-cidermakers since the early 1800's, 
producing ciders of quality and character. The skill and craftsmanship
which produce Sheppy's ciders remain unchanged over generations, 
although modern technology helps with some of the hard work.
Home-grown and locally sourced apples guarantee the quality of the 
blend and ensure that you get a drink to be savoured. 

Somerset Draught combines cider apples and eating apples to produce
a crisp, fruit taste. So sit down and drink-in the rural beauty, the history
and the craft of six generations of cidermakers.
5.5% vol
Are you a cider drinker?
Have you tried Sheppy's Draught Cider?
What did you think of this cider?

A Lurcher, Rottweiler, and a Bull Terrier Walk Into a Bar.......

Actually it wasn't a bar, it was backyard, and the Rottweiler had to make his excuses and a speedy departure - for the safety of the Bull Terrier.

Our friend popped round a few days ago, which he does most mornings, but on this morning he wasn't alone - he had Vera, one of his Bull Terrier puppies with him.

Vera, a little timid at first - hiding under a table in the back yard

Initially our friend stood outside our back gate, letting Vera and our two dogs give each other a good sniff.
Our Lurcher, Barley, was very excited to meet Vera, as was our Rottweiler, Porter.
But unfortunately it was all just a bit too exciting for Porter, so he made his excuses and left (went indoors).
Our rescue Rottweiler, Porter, isn't aggressive, but he was over-excited and we didn't want him to hurt the Bull Terrier puppy.

Then after we all felt the dogs had spent sufficient time sniffing each other, our friend bought Vera into our back yard.
Vera was quite nervy initially, even hiding underneath a table at one point, but eventually she came out of her hiding place and played with Barley.

Vera - Beautiful heart-nosed puppy

Then after a while we all came indoors, it was cold outside, and we wanted to make sure Vera wasn't too cold. She had a little sniff around the room, climbed up on the sofa, and then sat down on the floor watching Barley.

Barley was such a good boy, he was very calm with Vera - the perfect gentleman. Proving what wonderful pets rescue dogs can be.

Barley and Eric, seconds after they first met

As this meeting between Barley, and our friends Bull Terrier pup Vera, went well, he decided to bring another one of his puppies around a few days later.

Barley offering his favourite tug-toy to Eric

This time he brought a male pup, Eric.
Eric was completely different to Vera, he was very confident, and wasted no time in playing with Barley.
It was lovely to watch Barley and Eric playing.


Hopefully when the weather is less cold (it's freezing today - literally) our friend is going to bring some more of his puppies to play with Barley.
It's good for all of them, and an excellent way to socialise his pups with an adult dog.

Barley gently playing tug with Eric

Hope you liked the photos of Barley, Vera, and Eric.
Obviously I like Lurchers, and Rottweilers, but I also like the Bull Terrier breed, they're lovely dogs.
Do you like Bull Terriers?
What's your favourite dog breed?