Blue Dragon Restaurant Style Sauces - Review

Blue Dragon- the Chinese sauce experts,  are currently revamping their products and have now revealed a tasty new restaurant selection. So you can enjoy your favourite Chinese meals and takeaways at home at a fraction of the cost.


The innovative new range gives you the freedom to create delicious oriental flavours whenever you fancy, choose from Crispy Chilli Beef, Lemon Battered Chicken or Sweet & Sour Battered Chicken. 

Simply coat your chicken or beef with the tempura mix, add ice cold water if you prefer a fluffy texture to your batter and shallow fry until crispy.  Pour over the sauce, heat through and serve for a quick, tasty meal in moments.

Now being a lover of Blue Dragon already, as I often use their stir-fry sauces I thought I would check these out, and was delighted when they gave me some to try. 



I loved the idea of the tempura batter being included with the sauce to give an authentic Chinese meal. I added extra pineapple to the sauce for the sweet and sour as it was suggested and I think I will also add red pepper next time I cook it. The result was a delicious sweet and sour sauce although I am glad I added the pineapple  as it would have been a very smooth sauce without it. I think I made the batter with too much water as it didn't coat the chicken as it should have, which was a shame, next time I will be strict at measuring the 60ml of water for the batter.


Sweet and sour battered chicken

 The crispy chilli beef was truly delicious! It had the correct amount of spice for me - I must admit I don't like food too hot, but still like a bit of spice. The sauce was very smooth again but I preferred it like this for this sauce. I managed to make the batter correctly this time - phew!

 The Sweet and Sour fridge pack can serve up to 16 people. You must remember though that it is a little stronger than normal sweet and sour, so a little goes a long way. It's a very economical pack too and very handy to have in the fridge when you want a tasty meal.

 I am not a fan of Wasabi sauce, but that is my choice. My husband said it pulls a punch! 

Blue Dragon Restaurant Specials Sweet & Sour Battered Chicken and Crispy Chilli Beef will be available in Morrison’s from 29th October with an RRP of £1.59. Lemon Battered Chicken will be in store from January 2013. 


If you want to get inspired there are also recipes on their website to give you ideas on how to use a wide range of their ingredients.
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Sportsshoes.com Review

If you are looking for some new trainers have you checked out this site?



Sports Shoes has a wide range of trainers and sports gear for men, women and children and from a range of recognisable brands including Adidas, Nike and Rebook.

The website is easy to navigate and simple to use with a great Guide, Advice and Technology section. They are an Internet Shopping Is Safe Accredited Retailer too so you know you can trust the site. and I also found the prices very competitive.

I was given a pair of trainers to review and picked some for my husband as he wanted to take up running.


These Nike trainers are £79.99 from £99.99 and a great price I am sure you will agree.

These trainers are very light but still durable. My husband commented that they are very cushioned and comfortable and liked the design. He has used them all week and found them perfect for running.

 It says on the website that these trainers have a water resistant breathable mesh upper but I guess you would need to protect them with a spray to make them truly waterproof. What is great about these trainers is that they feature Zoom Air Units in the heel for superior cushioning and comfort. They also are NIKE + enabled. This means that they accept the new Nike + sensor that you can buy. The sensor is placed in the trainer and you can then get workout feedback through your ipod. We have yet to use this feature as we do not have the sensor but its certainly something to look into in the future.


While I was browsing I noticed they had a decent selection of mens, womens and junior clothing. I love this Ron Hill jacket in my favourite colour pink, and at the moment it is half price- a bargain! 


If you are looking for some new sportswear why don't you check out this website, they guarantee to beat anyone on price so you have nothing to lose. They even have a sale section where prices are reduced further. I think I have found my new favourite site :) 
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Guest Post Graco Evo Travel System

A guest post by my friend Karen Lancaster.
I thought I would tell you about my lovely Graco Evo travel system. I have had numerous pushchairs over the years and I was pleasantly surprised by how fantastic the Evo is for a fraction of the price of competitors. I have the Evo in Sand. I am using it with my 5 week old little girl.



Graco Evo Travel System SandWith this it came with frame, seat (from 6 mths), carry cot, rain cover and car seat. I have to say it was extremely easy to put together. In total it took me less than 15 minutes from getting out of the box. When you assemble the you need to click on the front wheels and feed the back wheels onto the frame. Here I had slight difficulty getting the little pins in as I have long nails but it only took a couple minutes and was simple once in the pins were in the correct position. That’s it your ready to go.
The frame is so simple to fold and it folds really small! It looks fantastic. You can have the seat forward or rear facing. Huge plus is all the covers come off so you can pop them in the wash when needed. The handle is easy for 1 handed manoeuvrability which is needed in my case as I have a 4 and 2 year old in tow. When I took it out into town I tried out various types of surfaces. It handled a dream. So easy to turn around, lift to go up curbs and even with plastic types worked well over cobbles. The frame is very sturdy and made to last. The seats are easily swapped around. The mechanisms are simple and only take a couple of clicks. I know this will last me for years.
Overall if you are looking for a fantastic value for money pushchair with many features of a top of the range pushchair (hideously over priced) this is definitely the one. Well done Graco!
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16 And A Zombie

Well, it doesn't seem like that long ago my lovely boy J was born. He is a great kid and really kind and caring however he does love computer games with lots of shooting and anything with Zombies. As a special treat for his birthday, he went with his stepdad to Reading to shoot Zombies. Zedevents organise a great experience in an abandoned shopping mall and he absolutely loved it. If you think you can survive a Zombie Apocalypse and have nerves of steel why don't you check out their website now?




As another treat for him, I had a picture of him Zombified for his birthday.

 Ian at www.undeadme.co.uk took a photo of J, and turned it into something truly horrifying!
Me and J before

J after 
I would highly recommend www.zedevents.co.uk and www.undeadme.co.uk as both make unique presents for Zombie mad people!
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New Facebook Page For The Diary Of A Jewellery Lover

I have some exciting news for my readers, I now have a new Facebook page for my blog, which you can find here - 


Why don't you pop over and give it a like? I am running a competition on this Facebook page to win some silver earrings from RMA Williams Jewellers but be quick as the competition ends on 300 likes. 




I will be running more competitions on there in future though if you miss out.

RMA Williams Jewellers are a family jewellers based in Porthcawl, South Wales. They are a stockist of Clogau Welsh Gold, Thomas Sabo, Hot Diamonds and many other brands as well as stunning rings , necklaces and earrings in a range of prices. They also have a great range of wedding bands  in a choice of yellow gold, white gold, platinum and palladium and they offer 10% off when you buy two wedding rings together as well!  
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Getting Fab and Fit(ter) in my Forties

I have to say I love Zumba! There I have said it. Which is lucky for me as it a fun way to lose weight and lose weight I definitely need to do.

I have a fabulous holiday planned for later in the year to the golden coast of California where everyone is a size zero. Me I'm probably a size 100! Thank god for Photoshop that's all I can say.

I want to go from this


Stomach models own!

To this 




Well I love my food so I am planning to cut out the rubbish, the extras with the meals, eat more fruit and veg and step up the exercise. I also need to drink more fluid to fill myself up.

I was lucky enough to win some Zumba Clothing recently and this will spur on my weight loss. 

My goal is to reach a size 12 in the first instance and go from there. I would like to lose a stone by the middle of April, which should be achievable as that is approx a lb a week.

I am tracking my food intake and exercise on my phone and would love a Fit Bit to make it easier to do this. The Zip wireless tracker is in one word AWESOME. It encourages you to follow your goals, tracking all exercise taken and helps push you to the next level at your own pace.

I have written this blog post to get myself motivated and also to enter the GET FIT FEEL EPIC competition run by www.moneysupermarket.com from the Yummy Mummy In Training Blog.

Money Supermarket are offering a fab prize of a Zip which is a fab little device which tracks your steps taken, distance and calories burned and then syncs it to either your computer or select smart phones so that you can see exactly how much you are actually doing per day. A great idea to keep motivated! You also get the chance to win an Aria Smart Scales which also works out your body fat and links it wirelessly with www.fitbit.com.
So please Yummy Mummy and Money Supermarket consider me. You've seen my stunt belly now help get me fit!
Poem

Once upon a time I used to be slim,
I walked everywhere and joined a gym.
But with a baby came my wobbly tum,
Even though I am proud, everyday to be a mum.
My son however is soon to be 16,
He's a fabulous kid and a strapping teen.
But still I have my wobbly tum,
And I'd rather be a yummy mum!
So Money Supermarket let me win with fitbit,
It's time to lose weight by now I have to admit.
When I'm on the beach in the California sun,
And the film stars look twice at this yummy mum,
I'd know it was worth entering this draw,
When Leonardo looks twice or even Jude Law.
And I've saved with my travel money too,
As I bought it from Moneysupermarket its true!
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