REVIEW: Tefal Sensorielle Frying Pan

I was recently sent one of the brand new range of frying pans from Tefal to review - the Tefal Sensorielle...

We currently have 2 older Tefal frying pans and they have been fantastic - our frying pans prior to buying those were rubbish as everything always stuck to them, so I was equally looking forward to trying out the new Sensorielle.

The other day, I decided to try out the Sensorielle for cooking up my ingredients for chicken fajitas.

Firstly, the appearance of the pan - well it's a good design, great size and best of all, nice and deep - no ending up accidentally flicking food out of the frying pan when trying to turn over your food during frying. The handle (the "curved comfort handle" which is oven safe up to 180°C) is in a strange place compared to what I am used to, but I come to find that it was actually well placed and made for comfort and ease of use. 

These new Sensorielle pans are defined as their toughest yet. They have an Intensium coating, which is "an extra hard mineral base layer which is fused to the other layers, including a visible holographic layer. Intensium provides the ultimate scratch-resistant surface, designed to withstand the most rigorous use and even resistant when using metal utensils."

Their "Ultimium" non-stick coating comes with a lifetime guarantee, which protects against blistering and peeling.

The red ring (the "Thermospot") in the centre of the frying is brilliant - it lets you know when your pan is at the correct temperature - no more guesswork!

This new pan is also fantastic as you don't even have to use oil - it is made in such a resilient way, that it is not needed and your food still won't stick. I must admit, I was a little skeptical about this, but having tried it, I can confirm it works - an easy way to make healthier meals.

I always use a metal fish slice for flipping over food in the frying pan and I was surprised to see that it didn't leave lots of scratches behind too - I prefer using metal to wooden utensils, but often find the frying pan gets damaged very easily, so I've so far been pleasantly surprised with the new Sensorielle frying pans resilience.

Another feature part of this new Sensorielle range is the fantastic anti-warp base "which makes each pan resistant to thermal shocks.The copper particles in the base make Sensorielle pans extremely effective at heat diffusion, distributing heat evenly throughout the food and preventing hot spots" - no more of your food getting cooked one side of the pan, but not so well on the other!

Seed Parade Competition

If, like me, you are a fan of GYO (grow your own) vegetables & fruits, then you've probably heard of SeedParade.co.uk already. They also have a great selection of flower seeds if you're more the flower type. Here's some more information...


SeedParade have a large selection of seeds available, all at very low prices. I've listed some of their best offers below so you can see just how good value they are. Not only are their seeds incredibly cheap, but postage is only £1.29 within the UK and £1.89 to the EU.

Tomato Roma VF Seeds are just 29p for 100 seeds!

Lupin Russel Mix Seeds are just 99p for 80 seeds!

Strawberry Golden Alexandria Seeds are just £1.09 for 350 seeds!

I really do think they offer great value. You can also buy gift vouchers of any value to send to your friends/family - so great present for all keen gardeners this Christmas!

There are a variety of payment methods available to customers - credit/debit card via SagePay, PayPal or Google Checkout.

SeedParade have kindly allowed me to run a competition. So, up for grabs is a packet of 20 seeds of your choice for 2 lucky winners. The competition is open to UK & EU residents and will close on Friday, 11th November at 8pm.

To enter, you MUST do both of the following tasks:
1) Answer this question (post your answer in the comments box) and leave a way for me to contact you should you win such as Twitter username, link to your Facebook profile or your e-mail address (I would recommend 
not leaving your e-mail address or use [at] instead of @ to prevent spam):

How many seeds are there in a packet of Jalapeno seeds on http://www.seedparade.co.uk

2) Follow my blog with Google Connect over on the right and leave a separate comment telling me you have done so

Extra entries are available by doing the following:
3) Follow Seed Parade on Twitter http://twitter.com/#!/seedparade and leave a comment to let me 

know you have done this including your Twitter username (1 entry)
4) Follow My Random Blurb on Twitter http://twitter.com/#!/myrandomblurb and leave a comment to let me 
know you have done this including your Twitter username (1 entry)

5) Tweet the following and leave a comment to tell me you have done this including your Twitter username: 
"I want to win some seeds with @MyRandomBlurb & @SeedParade - you can win to if you enter at http://is.gd/yv4y8B" (1 entry)
6) Become a fan of Seed Parade on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/seedparade and leave a comment to 
let me know you have done this (1 entry)
7) Become a fan of My Random Blurb on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/pages/My-Random-Blurb/208838975816251 and leave a comment to let me know you have done this (1 entry)
8) Post a status update on Facebook saying the follow and be sure to tag 
BOTH pages (you can do this by putting an @ before the pages names) and leave a comment to let me know you have done this "I would love to win some free seeds with My Random Blurb and seedparade.co.uk - you can enter to win some too at http://is.gd/yv4y8B" (1 entry)

AND THE FIRST WINNER IS... @daisyangel1

AND THE SECOND WINNER IS... @phyllgerry

CONGRATULATIONS! Please e-mail your addresses to twitter@myrandomomblurb.co.uk :) x

REVIEW: Dettol No-Touch Hand Wash System

I received the new stainless steel effect Dettol No-Touch Hand Wash System to review...

I had seen these advertised on television and thought it sounded like a really good idea. I had just not got around to purchasing one, so when I was offered this review, I was really excited to be able to give it a go.

The new stainless steel like one is really good and I think you would be able to fit it in with any kitchen decor if that's the sort of thing that bothers you when buying something (me not so much - I care more about usefulness and functionality than the colour!).


It's great idea when you think about it. Most people don't even think about the germs all around them. They can't see them, so they don't worry - but think how many bouts of colds & flu or food related illness could be avoided if everyone just took a little more and cleaned their hands when they got home, washed their hands before eating, washed their hands after handling raw food and so on.


The thing is, you often put all of those germs onto your soap pump and the next time you use it, those germs are all still waiting there for you. With the Dettol no-touch hand wash system, you don't have to touch the dispenser and the little sensor underneath knows when your hands are under it and dispenses just the right amount of soap (which also saves you from using too much soap and saves you money!). So the benefits are plentiful.

David's 9th Birthday - 27th September 2011

David was 9 on his birthday... My how time flies! Seems not that long ago he was just a baby and now he's 9 years old! As most of you know, he is a big, big Spongebob fan, so when he asked for an acoustic guitar, we thought the Spongebob Squarepants acoustic guitar set would be the perfect present and he loved it! There's a video below of David playing Wild Things (The Troggs) on his guitar - pretty amazing!

David playing on his new Spongebob Squarepants guitar.

David also got a Cars 2 augmented reality book off us. His Granny & Grandad (Paul's parents) got him his Liverpool FC away football shirt, his Grandma (my Mum) got him Cars 2 Klip Kitz and a Koo Koo bird, and he got £15 cash from my Uncle & Aunt (his second Uncle?) which he went shopping last weekend with with an extra £15 from us and bought a magic set, a Cars 2 movie scene thingy, Spongebob Squarepants bubble sword, Phineas & Ferb Agent Perry kit and Cars 2 notepad with spy glasses. Here he is with all of his stuff he got on his birthday (not the stuff he bought at the weekend)...

Anyway, it was a school day, so he was at school during the day. We used the time he was at school to make him some party foods & his birthday cake - though he didn't have a big party, it was just him & Latisha (my little sister, David's aunt who is also 9 years old).

Normally we just buy packet cakes mixes, and ready to cook party snacks and a pre-made character birthday cake from the supermarket, but I decided to make some unique snacks myself this year.

I found several good recipes online. I made some ham salad baps into little monsters with cucumber for feet and cherry tomatoes & sultanas for eyes. This was the finished result...

We made some sausage rolls and cheese & onion rolls (but that's just because Paul is vegetarian), but we cheated on those as they were frozen packets from the supermarket! I made some bear paw print cupcakes (victoria sponge cake, topped with buttercream and using the middles of jaffa cakes and minstrels for the prints) and some froggy cupcakes (victoria sponge cake topped with vanilla frosting that I put green food colouring and then green American hard gums cut in half for the eyes and a bit of icing and food colouring for the eyes centres) though and I was very pleased with how they turned out...

I also made some marshmallows dipped in melted chocolate and then rolled in hundreds and thousands, but I didn't think they turned out so well...

I decided to make David a treasure chest birthday cake as he likes pirates and stuff. I was a bit worried as to how it would turn out as I've never made such a big cake before, let alone one with any sort of design or layering. I had to make one big cake and use a piece out of the middle as wedges to prop the treasure chest 'lid' up. I made a chocolate cake as it's Davids'  favourite. I coated the whole cake in chocolate fudge frosting, then used strawberry fruit winders as straps, Tango bon bons as jewels on the top of the case, and used chocolate gold coins to prop up the lid and to put in the middle and around the bottom of the cake to look like treasure. I also used iced cups, chocolate footballs and candy bracelets to serve as treasure on the cake. I was very pleased with how it turned out and everyone seemed to enjoy it...

I think David was pleased with his mini party, all his party food, his cakes and his birthday overall... Well at least I'm hoping he was! He did seem happy, so that's always a good thing! I think between his birthday and his days out the weekend before to Alton Towers & Chester Zoo, he had a really good birthday!

David & Latisha pigging out on party foods!

David sitting proudly with his treasure chest birthday cake.

Latisha & David.

Me with David.

David with his Dad.

David with his Grandma.

Trip To Chester Zoo - 25th September 2011

Another trip for David as an early birthday treat was to Chester Zoo. I had won 2 adult tickets from Favourite Days Out in Cheshire on Facebook for me & Paul, so we just needed to buy tickets for David & Latisha.

Again, we had intended to get there for when they opened at 10am, but ended up arriving at around 12pm.

We've been to Chester Zoo before, but not for a long time - I think the last time we went was when David was 3 or 4 years old. So it had changed a fair bit.

The first thing we went to see were the elephants. It was really crowded at the time as it's the first set of animals you come across just after you enter. We then went to see the monkeys, apes & gorillas - soooo cute!

Latisha & David standing by a little monkey figure.

We then saw some cheetahs which were really cute, followed by the lions, which were equally cute (from a distance!) - Latisha said she wanted a pet male lion!

There are 2 cheetahs in this photo.

These are the 2 lionesses, but there was a male lion in there too.

The next stop was the amazing dinosaur exhibition. Lots of big, moving model dinosaurs with sounds and some of them even sprayed water out of their mouths at you. It's a fabulous exhibition and the dinosaurs were very realistic. David loved them as he's really into dinosaurs.

We then went to see the otters, which were really cute, but really noisy too - you couldn't believe such a horrible sound could come from such a cute animal! Then we went to see the tortoises... Slowly... Slowly... Then we saw the big hairy orang-utan, very hairy...

One of the otters.

The tortoises.

The really hairy (and BIG!) orang-utan.

We saw loads of other stuff too, such as a load of birds. Paul had us all walk through the bat area - I hate anything that has flappy wings to come at you with! Worst of all, 1 of them had a wee on my head!! Disgusting!! We saw a zebra, an ostrich, some pink flamingos and more. There were loads of others, but I don't know the name of any of them now.

The zoo is absolutely massive and you'd have no trouble spending a while day there! In fact, we actually didn't manage to get around everywhere in the end which was very unfortunate, but we all had a lovely day and David seemed to very much enjoy his second birthday treat!