Product Reviews

Do you enjoy cooking? Do you love authentic Indian food? If the answer is yes to both you should check out The Kari Club – the new venture from Minesh Agnihotri, founder of Brighton’s award-winning Indian restaurant, Indian Summer.

To “officially” mark the start of all things Christmasy I’m giving away one of my favourite Christmas tipples, thanks to the lovely people at Baileys.

Would you believe me if I told you that this season of The Great British Bake Off is the first I’ve ever watched? Well, it’s true! I have no idea why I’m so late to the GBBO party as baking is something I’ve always loved doing and it’s very rare that there’s not a homemade cake kicking around our house, but now I’ve finally come on board I’m really into it.

Find out why you need to look carefully at the next packet of bacon you buy and ask, is it raised without antibiotics’?

When I first started taking photographs it was just a hobby, so all I needed was my camera and a spare battery. Now it’s my profession, I have a lot more kit to haul about and I never seem to have the right bag to carry it all in. Each time I bought a new bit of equipment I’d realise the camera bag I had was no longer suitable and off I went shopping again. In fact, I’ve bought five different bags in the last couple of years.

Before I had experienced depression first hand I could never understand why people didn’t just “pull themselves together” and do something to cheer up. It’s embarrassing to admit now but the truth is, you rarely understand something until you’ve been through it yourself.

I was on Twitter the other day and a funny little tweet from KNOB Butter popped up and caught my eye. I laughed out loud, and cheered silently inside because here was a brand with a personality and a sense of humour trying to grab my attention, instead of a faceless corporation bleating their product at me. With my curiosity sparked, I decided to investigate what this humorous little business was all about.

I first discovered Free World Cuisine curry sauce kits after a visit to Cafe Domenica – a wonderful social enterprise project that works with young adults with learning disabilities. (I’ll be writing about it separately soon). During a tour of the cafe, I popped down to the basement and discovered a huge bookcase filled with Free World Cuisine pouches, the spices for which are ground by the students at Cafe Domenica.

Lately, I’ve been looking at ways I can change my diet to make me happier and healthier. According to Ayurvedic medicine, regularly drinking very warm water, especially in the morning, can heal our bodies, providing digestive power and reducing metabolic waste that could have built up in our immune system. It also helps with dandruff, weight loss, nasal and throat congestion, menstrual cramps, acne and premature ageing – so this is where the herbal teas come in.

Despite launching in Brighton in 2013, it wasn’t until I went on the VIB Food Tour earlier this year that I discovered Bluebird Tea Co Mixologists (clearly I’ve been walking around the Brighton lanes with my eyes closed!) On the tour I tried a wonderful refreshing cold Lemonade Matcha tea and it was love at first sip.