La Gigogne. Very difficult to take a picture of a glass..

You may have gleaned, from one of my other posts, that I’ve got a thing about glasses. This may be because my beverage of choice is plain old water, and thus I need to get my kick from the vessel in which it’s served.

I am crazy for these Duralex glasses. Duralex almost went bust a few years ago, which must take some doing considering that its glasses are so beautiful, simple, iconic and various other words that you wouldn’t marry with a company that almost went bust. Perhaps its most famous glass is the Picardie. (That link not only takes you to a picture of the Picardie, but a rather good article on Duralex in general, in the Independent.)

But I’m not so keen on the Picardie. My particular favourite is the slightly lesser known, far simpler Gigogne glass. It looks a bit like a bowling ball with two lines etched around it (not easy to see in the pics, but you can just make them out). It sits so nicely in the palm of your hand and the 160ml size makes a lovely glass for children, too. Not so crazy when you realise (see below) how resilient Duralex is.

It comes in three sizes: 220ml, 160ml, 90ml. It’s the middle size you can see here and it is perfect for serving water, red wine (I really do not like traditional wine glasses, they make me hyperventilate, especially the ones we have which are on stems about a foot high and I always fear knocking them over because I am quite clumsy. My partner is rabid about serving wine in the correct way, at the correct temperature, in the correct glass and then you holding it in the correct way. Me? I drink the Italian peasant way, in a glass rough worker’s hands can pick up easily) or even, as you can see below, cappuccino. It holds, to my mind, the perfect proportions of a good cappuccino – not too much milk, one espresso shot.

You can also serve desserts in it – individual style trifles, mousses, you get the picture. Even though there isn’t one of it holding such a dessert. Another time.

Duralex glasses are virtually unbreakable: tempered, can stand hot or cold, chip proof, can go in the dishwasher or the microwave. No wonder they were used in school canteens and put to various other commercial uses in the 60s and 70s.

I cannot imagine a more hard working, plucky glass. And all for a coupla quid each. I got mine from Rinkit via Amazon. They are surely due for a major come back.

Update. Johnny Loulous has now started stocking them. I now have them in both the medium and large size. I prefer the large for water (I drink a lot of water).

This little museum is just a short walk away from where I grew up. I’ve been meaning to go there ever since I discovered its existence, a couple of years ago. It’s a lovely way to spend an hour or so and unless you’re unlucky, it should be nice and calm and not too busy.

There are cabinets full of packets of washing up liquid, sweets, chocolate, biscuits, bleach, stock cubes…you get the picture. It shows how packaging has changed over the years (or, not so much in some cases) and it’s a great trip down memory lane. I found it comfortingly nostalgic. There are good toilets, a very simple cafe (simple as in the staff have a kettle and make the tea) but a few tables to sit at – very peaceful (or was when we went) with a TV showing ads from the past on a loop – which provided excellent entertainment.

The shop has some great postcards (55p showing vintage ads).

I loved this place. Go.

Ottolenghi is round the corner if you want to spend lots of money on great pastries.

Museum of Brands:

Opening hours
Tues-Sat 10.00:18.00, Sun 11.00:17.00
Closed Mondays except Bank Holidays
Last entry is 45 minutes before closing
Closed Christmas Day, Boxing Day, New Year’s Day, Notting Hill Carnival
Admission
Adults £6.50 (including Gift Aid),
Children (7-16) £2.25, Family £15.00, Concessions £4.00. Group discount 10% (groups of 10 or more are asked to pre-book).

It’s a joke in our house that whenever I’m on a particularly scary deadline, I iron tea towels. My partner can always tell when I’m procrastinating wildly because he comes home/downstairs/in from the shed and everything is ironed to within an inch of its life.

I only like industrial looking tea towels. The ones with the red or blue stripe and something (I’ve never worked out what) written down its length. I loathe cutsey, jokey ones. They are completely wrong. But I love these mid-century modern styley ones from M&S with their bright, graphic designs: £9.50 for three. I’ve seen similar for about £15 each so buy before they all go.

I’m a total sucker for anything from the 1950s and 60s (and bits of the 1970s). It reminds me of my childhood, because invariably the stuff the grown ups had around them heralded from that time. I think my all time favourite year for design (and the year I think the perfect man’s suit was made, it never got any better) was 1963, coincidentally also the year my parents got married.

Anyway. I wanted some every day drinking glasses that had a pattern on that was jolly, a bit retro, reminded me of my childhood in Italy (sniff) but weren’t so expensive I’d never use them. I looked everywhere and then I found these from of all places – Tesco. £1.25 a glass or £6 for six. I love the design, which is a bit Scanda.

Worth straying away from Waitrose for, but then hurry straight back.

One of the (many) things I envy about girls with breasts like tiny mandarins, is that they don’t have to worry about nightwear. They can wear whatever they want and if they have to answer the door to the postman or the milkman or the Milk Tray man (where IS he these days?) they don’t have to do it with their arms folded because their breasts are unsupported.

Naturally, big-breasted girls can do this too, but personally, I don’t like wondering round the house in my pyjamas with unfettered breasts.

Also if your breasts are really large and/or you’re breastfeeding, it really isn’t that comfortable sleeping with no support at all. Many women really don’t like wearing a bra at night but you don’t want nuffin, neither. I know this from years of co-running a parenting board (no not that one, this one).

Now, you can get pyjamas/nighties with ‘secret support’ – Bravissimo being the most obvious – but they are all sleeveless, and I like to have my shoulders covered at night. But also it really limits you to the styles available (which you may or may not like) at a time when, as a big-bosomed woman, you already feel you have limited choice in clothes.

M&S now does (and has done for a while) some secret support camisoles that are really rather good and these work really well at providing a modicum of support and you can wear them on their own, atop a PJ style trouser, if – unlike me – you don’t mind having your shoulders bare. Or under any normal PJ you like, thus opening you up to choose from any PJs out there. You could I guess also wear them with nighties, but I don’t really do nighties.

My favourite M&S secret support camisole vesty things are these and these. Both are £12 a piece and come in a variety of colours, the shoulder straps also adjust, a nice touch.

Although Bravissimo does a racer back PJ top in lots of larger sizes, so it fits better than the M&S ones if you’re big-cupped, they are over double the price and always sold out. It also has great strappy tops, but these cost even more: £32. So I think the M&S ones compare really favourably, especially if all you want is something to wear for a bit of support under your current nightwear without going to bed fully upholstered in a bra.

If you’ve found a solution that works for you, do share..

A mint leaf enrobed in dark chocolate atop a stick. Joy.

When I was researching how to make my One Giant After Eight mint, I came across this on t’internet which I thought was a fantastic idea.

So I made some and they were great and so easy. There’s something about giving people a little chocolate something on a stick that makes them go crazy. (I got some mint leaves, melted some 70% cocoa chocolate, dripped it over the top and stuck a lollipop stick on, do the lot on some baking parchment, put in fridge for not very long at all, peel off, present with coffee.)

This got me thinking of making other chocolate lollipops. My children like chocolate and I don’t mind them eating it, but prefer them to have good quality dark chocolate which is actually good for you: it’s not easy finding dark chocolate lollies, the choice in milk chocolate whatnot is HUGE, in dark chocolate? Not so much. You can of course also make these chocolollos for adults and serve them after dinner with coffee/instead of a dessert. They are my new BIG NEW THING THAT I’M REALLY EXCITED ABOUT and am pressing chocolate lollies on everyone who comes round.

So I decided to get some lollipop moulds to make the process even simpler and because I’m a sucker for gadgets. This means you can make a tray of choco lollies in under five minutes and they look so neat and perfect. I just melt the chocolate in a jug, in the microwave (about 100g makes seven lollies, roughly), pour them into the moulds, putting in whatever you like – sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, chopped nuts, chopped up mint leaves, whole mint leaves, flakes of chilli, bashed up mints or honeycomb. I mean just GO CRAZY. Up to you with whether you put the ‘filling’ in before or after pouring in the chocolate – you get different effects according to which you do.  I like it cos it means I can give my children a chocolate hit with omega-3 rich seeds which makes this practically a health food.

I got my moulds from Make a Wish Cake Shop, the 7 in one plain one is this one. (Ignore the pic, what you get is a plain tray with seven plain lolly impressions, those funny pics are stick on sugar discs, nothing to do with the mould.) I also got this 4 in one which gives you a much bigger lollipop, only really for special occasions I’d say. Then you need some lolly sticks.

There are lots of other places that do lolly moulds/sticks but that’s where I got mine and the service was fast.

I am aware this is the third chocolate post in a row.

An update in November 2011. I make these all the time and have experimented with crushed coffee beans (espresso ones if it makes a difference): excellent. But the BIG find was popping candy (I get mine from Waitrose, it’s in the baking aisle, near stuff like sprinkles and cooking chocolate. It’s fantastic, you sprinkle some popping candy (it comes in little rocks almost like crystals) into each mould and pour the chocolate on top. Then, when you eat the candy it ‘explodes’ in  your mouth.

Lollies in chocolate. With bits.

And yet more..