Tag: St Kitts Herbery

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Updates and News!

It’s been a busy month for us, so we thought we’d give you a bit of an update. Our most exciting news first, we’re working on a new scent – I can’t give away too much yet but our latest fragrance has been created for men and is both crisp and spicy and oh so delicious! We can’t wait to have it on the shelves, so watch this space…

In other news, we’ve got our Indian meal coming up this Friday. It’s a fabulous plate of home made lentil Dahl, and it’s one of Susan’s specialities! If you haven’t booked yet, there’s still time – book here.

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We’ve also been revamping our chocolate range. Gayle’s been hard at work in the kitchen and we’ll soon have some brand new additions to the range. For those that may have missed it, her last creation was this fantastic mini-bars box in our World Flavours. Get in quick before we eat them all!

The plants are coming along nicely (they’ve even survived the brief flurry of snow) and the workshop’s been busy making more soap than anyone could possibly need…

In the happiest news so far, we’ve actually been keeping on top of the blog! Fingers crossed we might manage to keep our new year’s resolution, and get to talk to all of you a lot more.

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Recipe – Gremolata

Herbs are often in short supply in the garden at this time of year; however there always seems to be plenty of parsley around! We think that gremolata is a fantastic way to make use of this herb. This super easy and extremely versatile recipe will use up all of that extra parsley you have hanging around, as well as give you a lovely garlic-y hit – always a necessity over winter!

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Gremolata

Ingredients:

2 cups (500mls) parsley

4 tbsp (60mls) finely grated lemon rind

2 tbsp (30mls) garlic

Chop the parsley and garlic until very fine, if you have a Vitamix this will do the job for you, then mix together with the finely grated lemon rind. This spread can be used in all sorts of ways too; freeze in an ice cube tray and then use to season stews and soups, mix with cream cheese for a delicious cracker spread, use as a garnish or mix with breadcrumbs for stuffing or coating. A personal favourite of ours is mashing with butter, smearing on bread and then toasting in the oven for quick and delicious garlic bread. In a sealed container, kept in the fridge, this spread should last a while so you can have the chance to try it all sorts of ways!  In fact here is a great variation using walnuts.

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Mock Duck in Spicy Plum Sauce Recipe

To start with, I just want to thank everyone who came to our Chinese New Year meal. It was a fantastic evening, where we all ate far too much… It’s a long way to come for some of you though, so to make sure no one is left out we thought we’d share our fabulous recipe!

For those that haven’t heard of it before, Mock Duck is the meatiest vegetarian meat alternative around. Made from wheat gluten, this has a taste and texture almost identical to real duck – and it makes fantastic duck pancakes. You can pick a tin up from your local health food shop or chinese supermarket, or even make your own. We combined it with our very own Spicy Plum Sauce, as an alternative to the traditional hoisin sauce. We also served it with oven baked noodles, just to make sure we got our dose of veg!

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Mock duck in spicy plum sauce

Ingredients:

1 tin mock duck

1 bottle St Kitts Herbery Spicy Plum Sauce

 

Method:

Drain the mock duck and rinse under cold water. Cut into thin strips, place in an ovenproof dish and cover with the Spicy Plum Sauce. Cover with foil and cook in oven at 180C for about 20 minutes, until hot and sauce is sticky.

 

Oven baked noodles

Ingredients:

1 pack fresh noodles

1 carrot – cut into very thin strips

1 small can water chestnuts drained

1 small can bamboo shoots drained

2 or 3 mushrooms sliced

handful of mange tout cut into thin strips

1 pak choi finely sliced

small bag of beansprouts

4 tablespoons of mirin

4 tablespoons of rice vinegar

tamari soy sauce to taste

good dash of dark sesame oil

 

Method:

Put all veg in a baking tray with the noodles, splash lightly with the sesame oil and toss until it is all coated. Sprinkle the mirin and rice vinegar over the top, cover with foil and bake in the oven on 180C for about 20 minutes until hot. Toss the noodles mix with the soy sauce and serve with the mock duck.

If you fancy the pancakes too then see the recipe here.

 

 

 

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Sage and Thyme Steaming Treatment

We’ve given ourselves a productive new year’s resolution this year – we’re finally going to get the hang of this blogging business! No more getting distracted, you’re going to be hearing a lot more from us… So to start on the right note (halfway through January, but close enough!) here’s our first ‘make your own’ of the year.

It’s the time of year for dry skin and blocked noses, but we’ve got a super easy, very relaxing way to combat both at the same time. A sage and thyme steaming treatment will open and unclog your pores, whilst clearing your sinuses for easier breathing.

Ingredients:

Handful fresh sage

Handful fresh thyme

Bowl of boiled water

Towel

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It really is as easy as it sounds like it’s going to be! Just pop the herbs into a bowl of freshly boiled water, then lean your face over (not so close that you scald yourself…), lay the towel over your head and breathe deeply. You can stay here for 5 to 10 minutes, before wiping your face off with a cold, damp cloth to close up those pores again. For best results, follow up with a refreshing, toning spritzer and moisturiser.

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Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

So before we’re too late (as always) Merry Christmas to you all! We hope you all have a fabulously relaxing holiday and a fantastic New Year. We’d also like to say a huge thank you to everyone who came to our Christmas party on Saturday – we had an incredible time, with many cocktails drunk and much food eaten by all… We’re always terrible at pictures, but we remembered to at least try this time! The tables did look stunning…

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As a little extra, why not do as we did and add some festive decorations to your table this year – these Christmas trees are so easy to make and such a beautiful addition to your table.

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We hope to see some of you at our New Year’s Eve Big Quiz of the Year, for those that fancy a fun, funny and chilled celebration to bring in 2017!

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Make your own – Bath Bombs (again!)

We know you’ve probably seen this before, but in honour of Christmas we thought we’d share our most popular gift making idea ever. These bath bombs are so easy to make, and are a fantastic, home made gift. They’re also great for relaxing after a hard day’s Christmas shopping!

Ingredients:

Witch Hazel Water

Bicarbonate of Soda

Citric Acid

Essential Oil (we like lavender for an extra soothing bath, but anything you like will work!)

Dried herbs, petals, flowers or food colouring  (again, lavender flowers are it for us)

 

Moulds:

We’ve got the kind of house that always has kids running around, and of course that means kids toys everywhere – so we used a plastic ball pit ball, cut in half (ingenious, we know) as our mould. But you can use anything that has the shape you like – ice cube trays, cupcake tins, whatever you’ve got lying around.

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Directions:

  1. Combine equal amounts of citric acid and bicarbonate of soda.
  2. Add a few drops of the essential oil of your choice, plus any flowers or colouring you’re using & mix thoroughly.
  3. Sparingly add Witch Hazel Water (a few drops at a time) until the mixture is just damp enough to hold its shape when compressed. Go easy on adding the liquid- if you add too much the mixture will do all its fizzing in your bowl instead of your bath!
  4. Pack the mixture firmly into both halves of your mould, then push together to join. (If using an ice cube tray or similar, just make sure to compress the mixture into the mould so it doesn’t all fall apart when you take it out).
  5. Allow to set for at least 2 hours before removing from the mould.
  6. If your bomb falls apart when you remove it from your mould, it’s probably too dry- put the mixture back in a bowl and add a few more drops of Witch Hazel water.
  7. Package in some cellophane with ribbon as a gorgeous home made gift – or spoil yourself and get that bath running!
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Irish Cobble and Soda Bread Recipe

First things first, thank you to everyone who came to our Irish night – it was a fantastic evening! As always, Susan cooked a delicious meal, and we had quite a few requests for the recipe. So here it is – Susan’s Irish Cobble and Soda Bread…

 Irish Cobble

Ingredients:

250g sausages (we used vegetarian but meat eaters don’t need to be left out!)

700g white potatoes

1 carrot

1 onion

500ml stock (again, we used vegetable but meat would work too)

Mature cheddar cheese to taste

 

Method:

– Preheat the oven to 200C

– Using the ‘slicer’ attachment in your food processor (or just a knife if you prefer!), thinly slice the sausages and put to one side. Peel the potatoes, then thinly slice, and repeat with the carrot. Peel the onion and roughly chop.

– In a large baking dish, or small ramekins for individual portions, place a layer of potatoes. On top of this, layer the onion, then the sausages, then the carrot, repeating until all of the ingredients have been used and making sure to top with a layer of potato.

– Pour over your ready-made stock, making sure to coat as much of the dish as possible. The stock should come to half way up the dish.

– Cover with foil and place in the oven for roughly 1 – 2hrs, until the potato is completely soft.

– Remove the foil and cover the top of the potatoes with grated cheese. Return to the oven for 10 minutes, or until the cheese is melted and browning.

 

For the soda bread, we used this recipe from the BBC – it’s just the right amount of sour and went deliciously with the Cobble (or just a heap of butter…)

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Exciting Times…

We can only apologise (once again) for the lack of blog posts recently – the days just don’t seem to be long enough! We did think you’d like to be kept updated though, so here’s a look at all the exciting events that we’ve got planned for the next few months…

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Dates for your diary:

Thursday 6th October – Stitch and Bitch

Wednesday 19th October – Irish Night

Friday 28th October – Halloween Trick or Treat

Thursday 3rd November – Toiletry Gift Making Workshop

Wednesday 23rd November – British Winter Staples Night

Details to follow…

If you see an event that takes your fancy, give us a call on 01840213442 to book. If you’ve got an event, group or meeting and are in need of a venue, give us a call and we’ll be happy to help. We’d love to see you all, so don’t be shy and come along!

 

 

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Exciting News!

So it seems like I say this a lot but sorry for the lack of blog posts lately! We’ve been having a very busy (and exciting) time recently and we are now very proud to announce that our coffee shop has reopened! It’s looking cuter than ever – with cosy booths, books, cushions; the whole shebang… Susan has been busy in the kitchen so we have a fab selection of homemade, exceedingly delicious cakes to go along with our selection of Lavazza Gold coffees and our very own teas and tisanes. For those of you who haven’t popped in yet, here’s a sneak peak of our brand new look…

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We’re still in the early stages, but watch this space for a delectable range of wines and local ales, savoury meals and evening meet ups!

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Make your own – Hair Shine Treatment

I don’t know about you but the miserable winter we’ve been having has left my hair in a complete mess. Luckily, this super easy to make hair shine treatment is great for split ends, brittle hair or even just a bit of a pick me up on a girly night in.

Ingredients:

10g rosemary leaves

10g dried chamomile flowers

100ml fractionated coconut oil

This makes enough for one treatment for very long hair or several if you’re rocking a pixie cut! You’ll have to make it up a bit in advance – just pop all of the ingredients into a jar or bottle and leave to infuse (I only left it overnight but if you can manage a week then even better). When you’re ready to use it, strain through a sieve to get rid of the herbs and work the oil into your scalp and hair. Wrap your hair in clingfilm (or a hot towel if you’re feeling fancy) and leave for a minimum of 30 minutes. If your hair is particularly dry then it can be left in overnight, but be warned – this is not a good idea if your hair leans toward being greasy! Wash the oil out with shampoo; you might need to do this a couple of times to get all of the oil out. Voila! Enjoy your soft, shiny, revived hair. If you’d like to know more about why this works, check out this article about the benefits of coconut oil for your hair.