MummyBarrow is loving this month — January

I have received some fab stuff in the last few months so I thought I would do one post and share it all with you as I think you might like them too.

There is a great website that bloggers / tweeters and people that generally use social media can sign up to, called Peer Index.   You can then join and every now again you can apply to receive “perks” in the hope you will talk about that perk on social media.   And I received something this week that I thought was rather special.    It is called a Flavr box and it contains all sorts of yummy foods that they think you might like.   And boy, did it.  The idea is that every month they send you a box of things you might not have come across before.  All small producers who are passionate about their products.    There were seven different goodies in the box, all yummy, and it can be yours for just £20 a month.  Amongst my goodies were some pink tea (yes pink), flapjack, a meat rub, an alternative to risotto rice and some apricot jam.

Do visit the website and have a look.

And talking of food.  Just before Christmas Sainsburys sent me three bottles of Sweet Mandarin sauces.   Sweet Mandarin are all gluten and MSG free and quite simply, delicious.   The company is run by two sisters who come from a culinary dynasty.  Their grandma runs a Chinese restaurant that was voted the best local Chinese restaurant on Gordon Ramsay’s F word.  So these ladies really know their stuff.

We get through a lot of sweet chilli sauce in this house (most meals that J has include a big dollop on the side) and this is now the firm favourite.

Next up in my pile of goodies are some DVDs that I received when I was at my poorliest just before Christmas which included The Dark Knight Rises, the latest Batman offering. Now I have to admit to not having seen any of the others so I was a bit worried about whether it would make sense. It certainly did, it was epic. Long. But epic. And had me gripped from the outset. I highly recommend this one and have now vowed to watch all the others

The second of the bunch was Polar Express. No Christmas is complete without a good old snowy film and this one certainly ticks all the boxes. It is lovely and the perfect excuse to curl up on the sofa for an hour or two.   How could you not love the idea of lying awake on Christmas Eve waiting to hear Santa’s sleigh and instead hearing a steam train?!   And then being whisked off into the night about the train towards the South Pole.   A stunning film to watch and I find it hard to believe that Tom Hanks is the voice of five characters!

Last of the films was New Years Eve, starring Sarah Jessica Parker.  It has an amazing cast but has struggled to get great reviews.   A shame really as I took it for what it was and really enjoyed it.    A couple of hours of escapism (with Jon Bon Jovi thrown in for good measure).

And finally there is a little pot of lushness that has never been far from my grasp since it arrived.   It is called “Chickweed and Calendula cream” and has been THE most amazing thing for my eczema on my wrist.   It comes from a great website called Everything for eczema that was set up to sell products for children who suffer from this wretched condition.     Started by a lady called Gail whose daughter suffered from it and who Gail wanted to treat with chemical (and steroid) free creams.   So she searched the web to find creams that were not going to make the condition worse (as many end up doing)

It smells heavenly and certainly works a treat and at just £12.50 a pot I will make sure I always have some to hand.

So there you have it, a little round up of things I am loving this month and that I hope you will do too.