The Haagen-Dazs Easter Master-class

Whenever an email pops into my inbox and mentions chocolate I get excited! I am a huge chocoholic and I also love ice-cream so there was no way I was going to miss the opportunity to attend this masterclass.

When Kimberley and I turned up in Leicester Square we were greeted really warmly and handed some champagne (how perfect) and told how the evening would go and what we would be doing, you can only imagine the size of the grin on my face when I was handed an apron incase things got messy!

The blurb in the email read:

"Join us for an evening of discovery with acclaimed food stylist, writer and presenter, Phil Munday.  Experience the passion, craft and inspiration behind his latest ice-cream creation, the limited edition Haagen-Dazs Easter Egg, exclusive to the Leicester Square store from 22nd March"

We saw how Phil created the chocolate Easter egg using chocolate and a mould and then how he transformed it into something I just wanted to frame rather than eat.  Using ice-cream, some sorbet and one or two toppings, Phil managed to create this amazing, perfect work of art, talking us through how he did it.  Then it was our turn!

We had a menu of 8 different ice-creams and sorbets to choose from, the menu of which you will see above and the idea being you choose an ice-cream to fill the chocolate egg, naturally all of the ice-cream was Haagen-Dazs and then you needed to choose something to go with it to make it look decorative.  Before all of that we got to decorate our plates, which is easier said then done when you are not very artistic, but I managed it as the photos show.

So I choose salted caramel ice-cream to fill my mould and then I made a hole within which to place my chosen sorbet, I opted for Raspberry and boy do those two flavours go well together and then we had an endless choice of extra toppings to choose from to get really creative and my effort is shown below.

Obviously after all that hard work there is only one thing left to do - eat it!  yes we got to eat our very own creations after they had been photographed and boy did I enjoy it.

If you want to try out this delicious Haagen-Dazs Easter creation it will be available until 25th April 2014 at the Leicester Square restaurant. 

What do you think of my Haagen-Dazs Easter Egg creation? What would you have chosen?

How to make your own hand and body scrub

Like most people I use my hands a lot, whether it is cleaning, washing-up, polishing, ironing or typing to name just a few of my every day things, it takes it toll on my skin, not to mention the ever change in weather which can leave my hands feeling really dry and horrible.  

A few weeks ago I shared a post on my blog about how I love to use Coconut Oil and listed some of the ways I like to use it best, which you can see HERE. In that post I mentioned a quick recipe that you can use at home to make your own scrub.  Today's post is a similar scrub which I have been using, made at home in my kitchen and given it takes less than ten minutes to make, I thought I would share it with you.

All you will need to make this scrub is:

• 1 Kilner Jar because it has a secure lid
• A tablespoon, 
• A knife to cut the orange
• 3/4 cup of granulated sugar which will act as your exfoliant to remove dead, dry and flaking skin
• 1/4 cup of Pure Coconut oil, this will soften and moisturise your skin 
• 1-2 tablespoon's of freshly squeezed orange juice which smells wonderful and is both invigorating and uplifting

I have the little ramekin as an extra for when I squeeze the orange juice onto a spoon for measuring so it can catch any excess juice.

Once you have gathered all of the things you need for this scrub, all you need to do is follows:

Put the coconut oil directly into the Kilner jar which is where it is going to stay and then add the sugar.  Once both of these ingredients are in the jar, give them a stir, using your tablespoon, to ensure they are mixed together, then do a little test to see how if you are happy with the coarseness of the mixture by taking a small amount out of the jar and place it on your skin and then rub gently, if you are happy that it will give your skin a good scrub leave it as it is, if not add a little more sugar and test it again.  

Once you are happy with your scrub, cut your orange in half and then squeeze the juice onto the tablespoon, add it to your scrub and mix it in before repeating.  Again, give your scrub a really good mix and again text it on your skin.  If you are happy with it, clean the edges around the top of the jar, securely close the lid.  

A little tip - You need to ensure your scrub is stored in a cool, dry place and I would recommend leaving it for 24 hours or overnight before using it to give the coconut oil time to solidify again before using.

Now I have used this scrub on my lips, legs, arms and hands to date and it is really lovely, effective and best of all cheap, not to mention really effective on dry skin.  It also makes a nice little gift for someone too.

Have you ever made your own products at home?