Royal Wedding Special: Pimms o'clock!

Celebrating or not; everyone will remember where they were and what they were doing today, the day of the marriage of Catherine Middleton to Prince William.


And boy, did Blighty have a good knees up! Enjoying a day of love and tradition, people all over the world tuned in to watch Kate walk down the aisle in THAT dress and there were over hundreds of official street parties up and down Britain.

My celebrations consisted of up early with my cousins and a boiled egg and soldiers for brekkie, and then enjoying a jug of Pimms by 11 o'clock! It was my last day of staying in London after being here for a month's magazine work experience and what a way to end my stay! Exhausted from my month of living as a true Londoner, I decided to avoid the crowds at The Mall and enjoy it on the TV.

Truly British: The Perfect Pimms

The Perfect Pims
British strawberries
Cucumber
Mint
Ice
Pimms No 1
Lemonade
Squeeze of lemon
Extra fruit: blueberries and raspberries
*Mix thoroughly and enjoy*

After a lot of "ooohing" and "aaaahing" and a little blubbing(!) we had pork belly on the BBQ, with stuffed garlic mushrooms and courgettes. I also put together some bruchetta for starters and a wonderful pudding which we enjoyed outside just as the sun decided to make an appearance.

Special Strawberries
British strawberries
Mint
Caster sugar
A big glug of Pimms
*Allow to mull for an hour before serving*

Serve with creme fraiche or greek yoghurt

Beautiful British pud in some really British bowls -
I love these Emma Bridgewater designs

So maybe I'm not surprised that we got through a whole bottle of Pimms by 3pm! Next on the list was the delightfully curious Hendricks Gin from Scotland.

Wonderfully aromatic and fit for a Prince, this gin is a real treat - as it is quite expensive at £25 odd quid a bottle! Apparently it is 'loved by a tiny handful of people all over the world', baring the logo 'Hendricks: it is not for everyone!' This gin is instilled with coriander, juniper and citrus peel and infused with rose petal and a hint of cucumber - very unusual, but beautiful. Their website almost reminds me of a museum of curiousity with strange little characters dancing across the web page. And even they were getting in on the Royal action!

Enjoy with a slice of cucumber
in the sun

So raise a glass of your favourite British tipple to the happy couple,

and just for fun....

Likely end to "best before" dates

Good news for passionate anti-food wasters this week: Britain is going to hopefully get rid of "best before" dates so as to tackle the £680 worth of food thrown away by households each year.
New government guidelines are encouraging to bin the current two-date system, where there is a "best before" and "use by date", reducing to just one date to avoid confusion an unnecessary waste.

Foods are still safe to eat after the "best before" date has passed, this date just guarantees a certain degree of quality. However the appearance of this date has had a part to play in the enormous build up of waste over the past 60 years. From the frugal post-rationing mentality of not wasting anything to today's current yearly figure of 5.3million tonnes!


See also this Guardian article.