Hello peeps, I hope everyone is well and not getting too battered by these crazy winds.
Thanks for all your lovely birthday wishes, you are all very kind. I had a lovely weekend (love the 3 day weekend), and guess what, I share my birthday with someone very famous…. yup, David Beckham. (Oh, and apparently a princess…)
After my birthday pb at parkrun, I had a sing song in the kitchen, and made a carrot cake (from the ever faithful CCC book).
I had no pecans so decided that some pistachios would be good for a topping. Andy’s parents popped over so they had a slice too.
We then went to Oxford for the Sunday, and then on Monday went to a wildlife park, but I will sort the photos out for that later on.
A few years ago I used to get a Graze box each fortnight- they seemed to be the first of the “treat yourself” boxes- now you can get sports ones, health ones, makeup ones etc. I used to look forward to the surprise, but the boxes used to contain two large and two small snacks, and Andy and I used to share the larger ones, which tended to mean we ended up with a big stockpile of snacks. In the end, I cancelled it, but they send me offer emails and recently I bought a couple of one off boxes to give them another go.
The first thing I was tempted by was a Sharing Box- it contains 5 large packs of their snacks- I think each bag is meant to be 4 portions but they are generous. I have only just finished the first bag I opened (Jaffa cake, which contained orange raisins, roast hazelnuts and mini chocolate chips)- this was three weeks ago so it has lasted a long time. I quite like this way of doing it- the bags are resealable but I have portioned out a handful into a little tub (a paperchase one of course) and put it in my bag. I haven’t had some every day, but the good thing about the snacks are that they last for days in the bottom of a bag. I like the variety of snacks, and I know I could buy my own big bags of nuts and dried fruit and make my own, but I know if I do that I will get fed up with the snacks before I finish the bag. Plus, where am I going to get salted caramel milk chocolate buttons from (yup, it’s in the Track and Field bag which I might open next).
The other one I tried was more like a traditional Graze box; individual portions, but this was a breakfast box. I think I had a buy one get one free offer, which made it better value. Plus I love granola, but don’t have it much, so if I buy a box it then goes stale…
Again, they are pretty big portions. I cooked the porridge with almond milk, not water, and it was lovely (cherry and almond) although I should just add some flaked almond to the porridge I make myself really. The granolas have been great- I have sprinkled them on top of muesli or had with yoghurt, and again a pack has lasted me a few meals (because I don’t find it filling by itself, so would rather have a bit sprinkled on top, instead of having it as the main thing).
This chocolate orange one was particularly good; the orange peel reminded me of a tangy marmalade. Very breakfasty. I am hoping for a few more flavours to sample for my next box.
I won’t need another sharing box for a while as it will keep me going for ages, but especially now the weather is warmer I think a few more of the breakfast boxes will be good to have a bit of variety.
Are you a fan of this type of treat boxes? I like the look of some of them, but not being into makeup and whatnot I would not tend to use those sorts of things, and with the runner boxes I think I would end up already having some of the things. I quite like with Graze that you can rate things (so I can avoid dried banana), and “bin” them if you don’t ever want to get them, but I also like that opening the box is a surprise.
PS:They always offer reward codes, and at the moment there is an offer for your 1st, 5th and 10th box free if you use my code: K4TW5253P
I think if you use it, I would get credit for money off any future boxes, but I think you have to be a new person (although I managed to get my two boxes on offer even though I used to be a customer, so if you were tempted it might be worth logging in to your account and seeing what they offer you).
I have to wish you a very belated Happy Birthday! I’m so sorry – I’m not really with it at all at the moment, but I still shouldn’t have been so remiss. You’re definitely in esteemed company – I don’t think I share my birthday with anyone of particular note.
It’s been a wild couple of days in terms of the weather, hasn’t it? I think we had our summer in April!
Thanks Jess – no worries! I only posted about it on Sat because I got a birthday course pb at parkrun 🙂
Happy Belated birthday! That cake looks to DIE for!
Thanks it was very tasty 🙂
Sounds like you had a great birthday! And the cake looks fantastic. I really, really need to get baking. It’s something I really enjoy (though I am soo rubbish at it – but then practice makes perfect). I just don’t have the time recently at the weekend as with marathon training and going out (invariably to eat cake!!) I just haven’t had a chance. But I have that recipe book and I should try it out! I need to set myself a goal for after the marathon I think.
I get the Graze snack box every two weeks and love it. Sure I could just spend the money on buying nuts etc. at Tesco and it would be cheaper but I love the surprise and how portion-controlled it is (opening a bag of nuts for me is highly dangerous! Unless they’re pistachios as they take ages to eat). Plus some of the snacks I would never bother to replicate (like little breadsticks and PB dips). Nice afternoon treats for work!
Yes, I think that is what I like- the novelty mainly. I do like the limit on portion, although the bags are big, I put a few in a tub so it’s similar really.
I didn’t do much baking when I was marathon training- not as much as normal because I just seemed to spend all my weekends running, showering, sleeping or walking off long runs. That book really is brilliant- some recipes are more complicated but they are all tested so all work.
Sounds like you had a lovely birthday! The carrot cake looks amazing. I haven’t baked one of those in ages, must change that. 🙂
Yes, you must 🙂
I used to have a Graze box every week but like you, I ended up stockpiling the snacks so cancelled it in the end. I knew they had made some changes to it since I left but didn’t realise quite how many! Those snack bags look great! I am a big fan of the surprise element as well.