Gay Paris Part 2

Hello lovely readers.  I left you the last post on my pastry and chocolate tour.  Like I said before, the instructions were a little confusing (either that or my friend and I are a bit retarded), so we went off map for most of it.  We did however make a concerted effort to find one particular shop on the tour.

Described as the best macaroon shop in the whole of Paris, we knew we had to see what all the fuss was about.  After getting lost a lot, and a lot of "Parlez-vous Anglaise?" we found it!  And there was a huge queue going right out of the shop and along the street........EXCELLENT, we thought, it must be good!  Well where is this AMAZING macaroon shop I hear you ask, well here it is:

Alex pronounced it "Pie-ree Her-mmm" which had me in stitches, I love her Franglaise! (of course you should pronounce it "Pe-air Er-may")  I made her say it a few times just for my amusement.

Once inside there was a team of ladies and gents all working very hard to get peoples orders to them quickly.  What was nice is that they payed attention to their customers and spoke to them in their language if the weren't French.  The tour informed us that the Rose macaroons were particularly good, so Alex bought just one little rose one.  I opted for more of the luxurious little macaroons and bought a box of 7, all different flavours, so I could take them home for my parents.

This is the lady helping me to my fab little box of treasures.  I did speak to her in French, but she replied in English :( I so wanted to try out my little French but oh well!  For the huge queue out the door, the whole process was very quick and very professionally done; I think they are used to long queues!  Again local Parisians were shopping here, another sign that this is a pukka place to go!  It was again expensive, but the packaging was beautiful and the service excellent.  I shall tell you how they taste a little further on in this post.

Now we had finished our walking tours we headed to the Metro (which is incredibly difficult to find btw!  Not like huge light up London underground signs) to head to the Place de la Concorde - a must go place for tourists.  By now it was starting to get darker and it was bloody freezing!  This meant only one thing............CREPE TIME!!!!

Alex likes to take photos, hence the how to make a crepe montage ;)

They were just what we needed to warm us up and keep us going until dinner.  Look how happy it made us!

I'm afraid the crepe was so amazing this happened to me

There was some sort of German Christmas Market type set up with a Ferris wheel right outside the metro stop, where we bought our crepes from.  We walked around it taking in the sights then headed to the bridge over the river to look at the Eiffel Tower.

That cute white and yellow bag is the Pierre Herme bag for Alex's Rose macaroon

A lovely couple took Alex and my photo, ironic really that we were in the most romantic city in the world - Alex's other half will regret not taking her first ;) teehee.  You can just about see the Eiffel tower in the background.

After freezing our butts off on the bridge with the wind coming off the river, we started to walk again to keep warm.  Onwards up the Champs Elysees to spy a view of the L'Arc de Triomphe.  About halfway up the road is a perfect view point for taking photos...............in the middle of a VERY busy road.  The last time I went to Paris I had done this exact same walk so I wasn't too worried about taking photos, but Alex being a Paris virgin, braved the busy road to stand in the middle and snap the L'Arc de Triomphe.

This picture of course is not the L'Arc de Triomphe but I liked it so had to include it, I think it sums up how magical Paris is in the snow.  Alex took this piccy and I just love it, it's just like the perfect Paris postcard!

Once we reached the viewing point of L'Arc de Triomphe it was getting pretty late (and even more cold!) so we decided to head to Gare du Nord to find a restaurant in the area to have our dinner before heading back to the Eurostar.  I guess by now you're guessing it was pretty much a day trip to eat yummy food.  So I shall not disappoint!  This was our lovely dinner at a cafe just over the road from the train station.  I think it was called something like Gare du Nord Cafe, or something equally as original.

A scrummy cheese board!  I enjoyed an Earl Grey tea, which I have to say was very welcome by that point, and Alex being the wine fan she is had another small glass of red wine.  We shared the cheese board and had it with fresh French bread.  Deeeeeeesquishous!  I'm not sure what type of cheese it was, but my favourite was the one on the far left at the bottom of the pic (next to the one with holes in).  There was a scrummy blue cheese, good old Camembert, a goats cheese, Emmental and some sort of hard cheddar cheese which was most probably French.  Again a little pricey, but as we were sharing, it kept the costs down.  Alex then made a little faux pas by asking for the bill in Spanish, but I think the waiter was used to our poor French by that point and just laughed.  We big fat failed in our French attempts!  Next time I'm not going to wing it and actually take a phrasebook with me!

After dinner we took a stroll around the block to find a supermarket to get a bottle of fizz to have with our macaroons on the Eurostar home.  We just so happened to walk past the apartment block where three women had been executed a few weeks previously, in an attack on Kurdish activists.....................scary!!!!!!  We wondered why there were so many flowers outside the building eeeeek.  Anyway scariness over we bought our champers and headed to the Eurostar.  A lovely end to a lovely day we enjoyed a glass of bubbly and ate our macaroons.

Alex had her Pierre Herme Rose macaroon and I had my raspberry macaroon from La Grande Epicerie (on the right).  I have to say now that I am back in England and have eaten my macaroons from Pierre Herme, they are in fact THE BEST MACAROONS IN THE WORLD not just in Paris!  The flavours are incredible for such a tiny little thing and totally worth every penny of their price tag.  Don't believe me?  You will just have to try them for yourself.  Heaven in a bite!  I recommend all 7 flavours I tried which were: Rose, Cassis, Hazelnut, Dark Chocolate, Passion fruit and chocolate, some sort of citrussy one and coffee.  Don't be put off by the price as you will thank me for trying them :).

I hope you enjoyed my pictures from my trip to Paris.  Pretty awesome for a business trip haha.  I think next time I go I will save up some spending money so I can hit the antique and vintage clothing markets that I didn't have time to do this time around.

Lots of Love
Betty xxx

Gay Paris (said without pronouncing the 's') Part 1

Last Saturday myself, and almost everyone in the lingerie trade in the whole wide world, visited Paris.  I went along with my very good school friend Alex.  The purpose of my trip was to visit a fabric trade show, Interfillier, to try and find some new fabric suppliers to use in my creations.  I'm kidding myself really that this was the main reason for going to Paris.

It was in fact mainly to wonder around the beautiful city and go into pastry and chocolate shops!  What made the day even more magical was the blanket of fluffy white snow that covered the buildings, trees and pavements.  Whilst I was at the fabric show, my friend Alex wondered around and took pictures of the beautiful scenery.

As you can see, the snow meant that she couldn't get a good picture of the Eiffel Tower, but we did manage to snap it later in the day when it had stopped snowing.

Alex did however manage to get some pretty good snaps from her view point.  She couldn't remember which building it was, but it was only around £5 to go to the top, a lot less than, and much less crowded than the usual tourist viewpoint the Eiffel Tower!

We met up again around midday.  Alex had had a FAB morning investigating Paris, whilst I had walked around the exhibition site getting crosser and crosser before FINALLY finding it and choosing a few fabrics to have samples sent to me.  So I was a little grumpy, but my mood was soon to change as we embarked on our walking tour of Paris.

I had downloaded two tours in advance of our trip from the A Girls Guide To Paris website.  One was called, "Exploring Rue du Cherche Midi", and the other, "Pastry and Chocolate Tour".  I had been to Paris previously so knew of a few places we could go for a walking tour, so we started at my favourite foodie type shop La Grande Epicerie.  La Grande Epicerie is a little like the food halls in London's Harrods or Selfridges.  It is filled with the most amazing counters of food.  Everything from pastries, chocolates, cheeses, meats, pies and salads.  They all look AMAZING and you just know they are going to taste delicious!

I bought a giant raspberry macaroon (the big pink on in the second picture down), and might I add I spoke completely in French, and Alex bought an apple tart for her parents mainly by pointing and saying oui when they got to the right one ;) teehee.

As we were near, we walked to the start of our first diy walking tour that started on Rue du Cherche Midi.  The website sold it to us by telling us:

"We wind you through Cherche-Midi’s fantastic antique shops, secondhand stores, tea salons and cafés"

What's not to love about that!  We didn't get very far before stopping for a bite to eat at a recommended cafe on the tour, Le Nemrod.

You just know  somewhere is going to be good when the locals eat there, instead of all the touristy types.  Paris is clearly not for people of a certain size.  Inside all the tables are tightly packed together and you practically sit on top of the person on the table next to you.  We ordered a classic French dish, a Croque Monsieur!  Alex decided to be all Parisian and ordered a glass of red wine with her meal whilst I opted for a caffeine fix in a cafe ou lait.

Deeeeesquishous!  If not a tad pricey.  Well that is the general theme of Paris, it is not a cheap city to be in.  Basically don't bother going if you want to shop till you drop for bargains.  Anyway it was a lovely meal and rest stop so I recommend trying it if you ever happen to walk past Le Nemrod, for a slice of authentic Paris hospitality.

On to the rest of the tour.  We followed it as far as we could, but there was something "going down" in Paris that day as the Police were blockading the rest of the road that we wanted to walk along.  So we didn't get to visit all of the places on the tour, but we had a good go.  Here are the highlights of the quirky and antique shops we did spot.

I really want that giant book!

The second two pictures were of my favourite shop of the lot, a gorgeous Vintage shop selling all manor of beautiful fur coats, handbags and jewellery.  Look at how happy my face is!  You know I was saying Paris is expensive?  Well those beautiful crocodile skin handbags (in pristine condition) were marked as 350euros and 495euros...............dream on Betty!

I couldn't resist snapping this hair salon, complete with retro drying hoods!  So cute!

Alex and I then headed to the starting place of our second tour, the pastry and chocolate tour!!!  I must admit we went a little "off piste" at this point as the instructions were a little confusing.  Basically if it said turn left on the instructions to find such and such, if we actually turned right we would find it.  So we improvised, and turns out, there are A LOT of beautiful pastry and chocolate shops in Paris.  Here are some of the highlights:

Amazing Choclatiere that looked way too posh and expensive to enter, but beautiful chocolate creations in the window!

There is something about this that makes me want to smoosh my face in all the cakey goodness

With all those scrummy pastry and chocolate shops it is hard to see how the French are so slim!  I guess, however, it is because we didn't see a single chain junk food shop in this area, so they must eat fresh and locally produced food.

Anyway I think that is enough visual stimulus for one post.  In my next post I shall take you on the remainder of our walking tour of Paris which includes the best macaroon shop in Paris, more scrummy food stops and a spot of being a tourist.

Lots of Love
Betty

NEW PRODUCT ALERT! The Bettie Robe

I am very excited about this new product!  I LOVE it and I am hoping you will too.  When I found the fabric, I just knew I had to make something in it.  But let's not get ahead of ourselves here.  Let's take it back to the inspiration for the beauty that is The Bettie Robe.

When I think of leopard print, Bettie Page immediately springs to my mind.  Many a Bettie photoshoot sees her clad in some sort of leopard print outfit.  Perhaps this is where I got my love of leopard print from?  And perhaps this is why current pin-up girls have a love affair with leopard print?  All I know is that there is something very alluring and exciting about a beautiful little leopard print outfit.

Leopard print also has a very luxurious feel to it.  Imagine draping yourself in nothing but a fur stole (fake of course as Leopards are an endangered species!).  Our dear Ms Page does an excellent job of draping herself luxuriously in leopard print in the picture to our left here.

Don't get me wrong though, there are some horrible crimes against leopard print.  If done the wrong way it can look cheap and nasty, like something a woman of the night may wear.  That is why I was so excited when I stumbled upon the PERFECT leopard print fabric.  A crepe de chine that drapes perfectly around ones curves and feels oh so soft to the touch.

So without further ado, may I introduce the Bettie Robe

There's a reason I look so smug in this picture.  You see that, my friends, is the PERFECT leopard print fabric.  So perfect that I made the shop I bought it from recall all the rolls of it from their shops around the country, because I had to have it all!!  Unfortunately this does mean that I can only do one run of production of this robe in this certain fabric.  So if it sells well, which I am hoping it will, I can't have any more made.

So I am smug because this robe in the picture, is mine :D yaaaaay!!  These pictures were shot at the same time as the new Cotton Candy Tempset Set, at Iberian Black Arts.  The delectable Morgana, doing a fantastic job of my hair and make-up.  And in the above picture I was joined by her adorable kitty cat Onyx.  Obviously Onyx thought I was a giant cat in all that leopard print ;).  I think Onyx has modelling potential!  What do you think ;) teehee.

So now a little description of this beauty.  This is a floor length robe, in a beautiful crepe de chine fabric (a little like satin).  It is a wrap around style so you can cinch it in for an hourglass figure, or let it out if you've eaten a little too much cake ;).  The sleeves are fabulously poofy, giving you the perfect 1940's aesthetic.  Slink around in style in this little delight!  And what will it set you back?  A mere £175!  Cheap for the luxury and scarcity of this perfect leopard print robe!

I am already scouring the world for a similar fabric at a similar price, so that if this does sell well (which I'm hoping it will!), I can have more made.  My search is taking me to Paris in a few day's time, to an international fabric show.  At least one country in the whole wide world must have something similar, right?!?!  

I cannot describe to you how fabulous this robe makes you feel.  If you loved the Black Nell Robe, you will love this Bettie Robe!  You may thank me when it drops on your doormat, but I'm just doing my job - bringing glamorous loungewear to the people of the world.  And when will I be getting these in?  Well my factory will have completed them by tomorrow (11th Jan), but realistically I will have them at the beginning of next week (14th Jan onwards as I have to arrange pick up of said robes).  Keep checking your inboxes for the newsletter and my website for further details of when you can get your hands on one ;).

Lots of Love

Betty xxx

P.S in my research of Bettie Page leopard print photos I found this picture......

Spookily like my new Cotton Candy Tempest Bed Jacket non?!  Must be something in the name 'Betty' that exudes good taste ;) teehee

Complete Knit!

I have been waiting nearly a year now to post about my first completed knitting project.  The problem being that it was a Birthday present for my sister.  This time last year I thought enough is enough!  I MUST complete my sisters present that I had been knitting for the past 2 years but never quite completing.  It was meant to be her Christmas present in 2010 when she had just moved into her first grown up house (mortgage and everything!).  But the excitement of starting my own business took over and I never quite got round to finishing it.  Well three years later and I finally gave it to her!

Like I say I actually finished it about this time last year - but her Birthday is 3rd of January so I had to wait a whooooole year to give it to her; and indeed post it up here in case she saw the blog post!  Well here it is!

A draft excluder in the shape of a sausage dog!  All knitted of course.

It looks a little short for this particular door but I assure you it does fit on a normal door.........not sure what happened here, looks like my sisters door is massive.  It fits at the bottom of her bedroom door though.

I embroidered on a little black nose and two little eyes.  It's a bit rustic, but I feel adds character ;)

The final touch was a sparkly collar that used to be my little doggies collar, Tess.  I did however call this draft excluder Percy as it just seemed to fit his face, but boys can have sparkly pink collars right!?

The main body has been half stuffed with soft toy stuffing and half with a drinks bottle filled with dry rice to give it some weight (that's why it looks a little shiny in the top picture).  The toughest part to knit was the main body.  It was done all in stocking stitch and was really boring as it was all the same and really really long!!  But I got there in the end!

Hope you enjoy my knit and maybe try it yourself!  Bare with it, it takes an age to do but is totally satisfying (and quite useful to keep out the drafts this winter!) when you finish it.

Lots of Love
Betty

P.S. Frank, my sausage dog, totally wanted to get in on the photos

P.P.S. I get my delivery of Cotton Candy Tempest Sets tomorrow (7th Jan) so pre order yours NOW to have it in your hands by Tuesday 8th Jan!!!!  Get it here.

My Awsome Year of 2012

Ahhh yes, that time of year again where one reflects on all that happened throughout the year.  I thought I'd get in early before all the other bloggers out there do their New Years round up.  That way you won't be fed up already with all the reflective posts, and may actually read mine all the way through ;).

I say 2012 was awesome, but the first few months were weird ones for me.  My Uncle very suddenly became ill and was diagnosed with Lung Cancer, despite not being a smoker, and died within weeks of finding out what was wrong with him.  I wasn't really all that close to him so it wasn't as traumatic as it could have been, but still a shock none the less.  I think what was most distressing was not knowing him all that well and now not having the chance to get to know him.  For a while I did feel guilty about not making more of an effort to see him, but life takes over so it is not always possible to do so.  The most scary thing is that he was 4 years older than his brother, my Dad, so to think that in four years time my Dad may not be around anymore is just horrible!  But the lesson is that life is short!!!  It can be taken from you at any time reguardless of whether you live a hedonistic lifestyle of drugs, smoking, alcohol/all the other vices; you could still drop dead of lung cancer.  So enjoy life whilst you can!

Anyway drama at the beginning of the year over, by April/May I was back to working on Betty Blue's Loungerie full time again.  This saw the launch of my most successfully selling item to date, The Black Nell Robe.

Logistically this robe is a nightmare to get put into production.  But at the expense of the sanity of the ladies who work at the factory I use, I decided to ignore their pleas for a simpler version and stuck to my guns and the original design.  I even added a more beautiful version, The Crystallized Black Nell Robe.

Hundreds of hand placed sparkly black crystals of varying size.  They sparkle ever so subtly in the light and add a real touch of luxury and glamour to the already alluring lace design.  I'm not going to lie, I started going a little crazy after hand crystalling 6 of these robes in a row.  I started seeing crystals when I closed my eyes.  All worth it of course when I get lovely emails from customers raving about how beautiful their robe is.

Onwards in my year and onwards with challenging myself.  A good friend of mine maintains it is good to scare yourself every now and again.  By pushing yourself out of your comfort zone, it is amazing what you can achieve and that sense of empowerment and achievement is a very addictive feeling.  So I thought RIGHT!  I am going to model my own range of loungerie!!!  I had never modelled before, and never wanted to particularly.  But it was something other people had suggested I do, and it was definitely pushing myself out of my comfort zone!  So I visited the best one woman talent show that I know, Morgana at Iberian Black Arts.  This was the result.

Not bad for a first attempt at modelling, but I am sure I will look back in a few years time and think "Pah!  I can do better!".  The shots were of a few new products, The Tempest Set, The Hedy Teddy and The Marilyn Rain Bonnet.  And I promise the Hedy Teddy is coming soon!  I'm just a bit slow at getting new things into production; it's much easier just to change the colour of an item as all the hard work is already done!  But soon I promise ;).

June saw the Diamond Jubilee celebrations of our dear Queenie (who happens to share my name so of course this makes her cool - she should totally be called Queen Betty!).  I decided to join the celebrations by taking part in Victorious Vintage at Portsmouth's Historic Docks, along with my good friend and fellow business owner Katie, from Katie Vale Designs.

The weather was a little rubbish (this is Britain after all!)  but much fun was had by all, and the country was all in unison and feeling very patriotic for once.  People were actually in a good mood!  We did have this other little patriotic thing in the summer called the 2012 Olympics...........but I'm not really into sporty stuff so we shall skip over those months.

In September Betty Blue's Loungerie celebrated her 1st Birthday.  It however ran past without much recognition as I was busy preparing myself for a competition!  Back in the summer I had entered a whole host of businessy type competitions with the thought of "you have to be in it to win it!".  Well I was only picked as a finalist in one of the competitions!!!  It was The Start Up Hub competition run by the Conservative Party.  I was invited along to their annual conference up in Birmingham, where I had to convince delegates to vote for my business to win the award.  It was an hugely exciting day for me, rubbing shoulders with the elite and meeting a few senior British politicians.  I didn't get to meet the PM though or the Mayor of London :(.   BUT I DID WIN!!!!!!!!!!!!  Here is my winning picture :).

Sitting atop a blue lion with my rosette, as you do.  So now I am an award winning company!  I won a fabulous tablet computer from Fujitsu (which I totally use to look all important and business like) and some business mentoring from one of the other sponsors, which I am due to have in January up in London.  The night I won I was all excited and didn't sleep a wink, that is how sad I am!  I just sat up playing with my new tablet computer.  Sad but true.  Now I've had a taste for winning, I want more so have been entering even more competitions in the hopes of winning titles :).


After the conference I didn't have time to rest.  It was straight into preparations for my second ever photoshoot, as a model.  I just released the first results of the photoshoot, but in case you missed em, here are the first lot of pictures.

That's right there are more pictures of a COMPLETELY NEW product to come.  Can't give you everything at once!!  And this Tempest Set in Cotton Candy, will be available much before the other new item.  In fact I may get a delivery either this week or next, so the above will be up for pre order soon :).


To round off my year, last week I found out I am a finalist for another start up business award that I entered.  I only found out a couple of days before Christmas so am unsure of all the details, and I probably won't find out everything until next week now because of the holidays.  But this is what I understand it to be.  It is called the Local Business Accelerator Scheme.  Basically it involves about 500 local newspapers around the country (UK).  The local papers, in my case The Basingstoke Gazette, choose local businesses to pitch to them as to why they should win.  The prize is free advertising in the local paper.  Then this is where my memory gets a bit sketchy.  The local business that is chosen then I believe (but could be making this up) goes through to a national final, fronted by Deborah Meaden of TV's Dragons Den.  The overall winner, wins business mentoring for a year with Deborah, and I want to say they win £10,000 as well, but again I could be making that bit up.  Either way it's a pretty awesome prize to have mentoring from Deborah Meaden!  And to a company like mine the advice would be invaluable!  I will of course let you all know as and when I do, what the actual details are.  But I do know that I have to do a Dragon's Den style pitch to the Basingstoke Gazette and a panel of local business owners on 24th January 2013, so wish me luck!  Again I plan on using dirty tactics again to win - namely scantily clad pictures of ladies.................let's hope the panel is all male.

Anyway, that was my year in a nutshell.  A pretty sucessful one overall and I'm hoping 2013 will be just the same.  I have lots of plans for world domination in the loungerie stakes, new products to launch and old ones re vamped and made even better (yes that included the Black Nell Robe which is as rare as hens teeth at the moment).  So keep your peepers peeled for news!

Lots of Love and good wishes for the New Year!!

Betty xxx

Merry Christmas! NEW PRODUCT ALERT

You've all been such good customers this year that I have decided to reward you early as a special Christmas present from me :).  In October you may remember that I visited the wonderful Morgana at Iberian Black Arts again, for my latest product photoshoot.  Well my factory have been busy working away and I will have a few beauties in my hands very very soon.

So may I introduce to you a very special little item, designed with Valentines in mind, the Tempest set in Cotton Candy:

 

That's right!  The flirty Tempest Set, but this time in a gorgeous bright pink to bring the colour to any mans cheeks.

 It's exactly the same as the black version; sheer soft light and fluffy tulle, with bouncy ruffle accents.

 

I just love the colour of this fabric, it is so bright, flirtatious and pretty.  And as it shows, even red heads can wear pink.

 

Again, I decided to model.  Didn't Morgana do a fabulous job on my hair and make up!!!!  I want to master this hair doo myself!  The hair was inspired by this hair in Pin Up Girl on Betty Grable.

We backcombed my hair to get the height but I suspect Betty was wearing some sort of hair rat as hers has such height in the film.  I have serious dress and hair envy ;).

Anyway watch this space to be able to pre-order this beauty (and get it in plenty of time for Valentine's Day as I'm sure these won't hang around in my office!).  I will of course email you all in my newsletter when these are up on the website.  Not on my mailing list?  Well why not?!  Go and sign up to it here to be the first to hear about new products and old items coming into stock again.

Lots of Love
Betty xxx

P.S MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!
P.P.S  If you zoom into my nails you can see how awesome and glittery they are.  My nail tech said it was a special glittery varnish for Christmas and most of her customers were indeed waiting for Christmas to have the glittery finish.  I had to have it then!!!  It was back in October!!!  A girl's gotta have her sparkle!

White Christmas - The Cocktail

Well you guys have been keeping me nice and busy this December with orders flying out of my office and stocks running low.  So sorry for the lack of blogging yet again!  But I have some good news - production is running EARLY on some new items..........so very very soon you will get to see some new products and pre order them.  Hoorah!!!!

But as for now, well Christmas Day is nearly upon us.  I love this time of year, mainly because of all the good food around, but also because it is a brilliant excuse to indulge in a cocktail or two (or three).  Christmas Day I get out the spirits, ice, garnishes and coctail menu and like to make aperatifs for each of my family.  One cocktail that has become a firm favourite of my sister and I is my "White Christmas".  So I thought I would impart this little piece of Christmas wisdom to you all and show you how to make one :) aren't I kind!

That's the cocktail shaker that I got in the
summer at the Cointreau event I went to
- so handy!

So you will need:

Gin
Disaronno
Single Cream
Ice
Cocktail Shaker
Glass

Method:

Put the ice into the cocktail shaker.  Add equal measures of Single Cream, Gin and Disaronno.  Shake your tail feather and pour into a glass.



It's as simple as that!  For a garnish I added a grating of nutmeg on top mmmmm 

Equally you could sift drinking chocolate or cinnamon on top, or add a cocktail cherry on a stick, or both!!

So are you going to have a go?  Enjoy as an aperatif, on a cold winters eve to warm your cockles, or make a punch bolw of it that guests at your Xmas party can scoop into.  Do send me pictures of your sophisticated cocktail soiree's if you do make one up.  Hope you enjoy!

Lots of Love
Betty xxx