New Year, New Diet!

Oh god! It's the time of the year again where most of us are thinking about trimming the fat, off our food and ourselves!

Most people jump on serious fad diets, whilst others will go crazy at the gym buy getting on board some serious fitness regimes.

We're none the wiser as we're thinking about ways to counteract the Christmas excess too. We noticed GADUSA put up an experience on our site to have healthy meals made for four people.

The menu listing all the possibilities has definitely given us inspiration for healthy ways to eat as we enter the new year.

We personally think this year is all about moderation and not extremes, so we won't be cancelling out little occasional treats!

For your eyes only

Here it is, the official vid of the fish slapping. Sorry it took a while for us to get it uploaded. We kept on hitting the re-wind button to savour moment again and again and again...you get the picture.

Enjoy!

Belted!

So earlier this week our boss got slapped in the face with cold kipper as promised, it was quite an event!

That's not all we're doing to the help the Marine Conservation Society. We're also auctioning a bracelet designed by Roger Philby from Fluke Jewellery.

The bracelet is a one-off piece made from Silver, Gold and Copper. Tis the season to be to be giving so please get bidding.

Merry Xmas!

Slap our boss in the face with a Dead Fish

Jay our boss is allowing people to slap him in the Face with a dead fish! Don't worry he hasn't gone mad, it's all in the name of charity as all the proceeds will be donated to the Marine Conservation Society.

Please get involved and give us the satisfaction of watching him being belted in the face with a cold kipper!

Get bidding! Bid Bid bid!

The things Ireland is famous for?

We were thinking about all the things tourists associate with Ireland:

- Guinness
- Cheese
- Good Soda Bread
- Riverdance
- Shamrocks
- Cheese
- Leprechauns
- The Blarney Stone

As we said these are all things tourists associate with Ireland and not the locals. For people who have never been to Ireland, now more than ever is a good time to make a visit.

Why? Parts of Ireland especially Dublin are turning into very cosmopolitan and affluent hang outs for the rich, young and trendy. Dublin and other parts of Ireland now have their fair share of luxury hotels, amazing golf courses, upmarket bars, nights clubs and gourmet restaurants.

If the metropolis does not take your fancy there are always the Irish counrty retreats provide a relaxing contrast to the city.
Michelin Star Chef Oliver Dunne opened his restaurant, Bon Appetit in Malahide a year ago and it has gone down a treat with locals and tourists.

We are auctioning an exclusive VIP tasting menu at Bon Appetit if the thought of taking a trip to Ireland has taken your fancy.

Armchair Olympics and a TV Diet!

We’ve been away for a little while and this is mainly due to us staying glued to the TV and watching the Olympics at every available moment.

We’re so glad the GB team did well; we on the other hand have been playing another type of sport known as eating and drinking or at least talking about eating and drinking.

We’ve teamed up with select who are providing a walking gourmet tour of Milan where you can sample Italy’s cuisine whilst taking a tour of the city, get bidding if it takes your fancy.

The food on the tour is a distant dream in comparison to our Olympic Diet of crisps and larger!

Fight for your right to partaaay!

Any excuse to use that line, but we’ve all seen that show on MTV where "minted" children get huge parties thrown for them.

There’s nothing more entertaining than watching a real life adolescent version of Mel Rose Place. In the show we see teens tackle day-to-day world changing issues such as what to wear and what car to make celebrity style entrances in.

A UK company called iproductionz is mimicking the experience for people in the UK to buy, so now you can spend lots of money on your 16 year old's birthday and have it all filmed...even the drama’s ;-)

To support iproductionz we're auctioning two video experiences

Ben Vereen plays tribute to Sammy Davis Jr

We remember Ben Vereen playing Will Smiths biological dad in the Fresh Prince Bel Air when we were kids that and his appearance in Star Trek generations.

Trivial, novelty appearances aside Ben Vereen has played respectable roles in larger Hollywood productions and has been nominated for Emmy’s and Grammy’s.
Ben is back in London paying tribute to Sammy Davis Jr at the Shaw Theatre, its one legend paying tribute to another so we think it is worth watching.

Monounsaturated fats, get them into your diet the Italian way

I got told off and corrected the other day by a colleague. As I sat at my desk eating a burger one of the girls walked past and told me that “fatty food” would not take me far.

As a skinny guy I rebelled because everybody needs some kind of fat in their diet. I stood corrected as she told me it’s all about eating monounsaturated fats as they’re the good fats and they help reduce cholesterol and keep you slim.

All great news so I now have to eat nuts, avocados and olive oil all the time...not very exciting! No way near as tempting as my burger.

After digging a little deeper I found out Mediterranean and Italian diets are naturally rich in mono-fats as olive oil is produced in those regions and it forms a staple part of the Italian diet.

I’m now making a conscious effort to visit my local Deli more than my local McDonald’s in a bid to eat better.

Chocolate the UK’s best friend, no really it is!

For most women eating chocolate ranks right up there with shopping and sex as number one ways to pass time. For the rest of us it is our number one comfort food.

The average person in the UK consumes a whopping 11.24kg’s of chocolate per person, that’s almost 16% of the total body weight of an average sized man 70kgs. In total it equates to 30% of Europe’s total chocolate consumption.

As we’re auctioning tickets away to the chocolate valley we started looking at all the regions of Europe that are famous for producing some of the world’s finest chocolate:

- Neuchâtel, Switzerland
- Paris
- Italy

Swiss chocolate is very high quality and it turns out that 53% of it is consumed within Switzerland (source wiki). Another country with high chocolate consumption, what we found interesting is the quality of chocolate consumed in both countries.

The Swiss tend to consume rich, locally produced high quality chocolate in comparison to the Brits who consume more confectionary which is higher in vegetable fat and refined sugars.

We’re not telling anybody to stop eating their fav bars from the convenience stores however next time you grabbing a bar think about the quality of the chocolate your eating. A better quality bar may contain less vegetable fats and chemicals inside it plus more of the good stuff which can be derived from chocolate, such as antioxidants.