Football treats for everyone

Unless you’ve spent the last week living under a rock, you can’t have missed the various news snippets regarding football (or rather, the indiscretions of its players).

It’s a shame that the personal lives of the players can sometimes dominate the headlines more than the actual results of the games, so I think it’s about time we focus on the Beautiful Game!

We’ve got some gifts that would be perfect for a football fan this year. Like this Football Mug on the right. It’s now only £1.50, and comes with three tasty hollow milk chocolate footballs.

Valentines Day’s coming..are you ready?

So, sorted for Valentines Day yet? It’s just over a week away so if you want to organise something special, do it now!

We’re big fans of the Puppy Love gift (£24)  on the right. The adorable pup comes with a microwavable wheat bag, so you can keep cosy whilst devouring the ten yummy continental chocolates. Best of all, you can choose what message you want the ribbon to display.

A great one to surprise someone with!

There’s no reason why men should miss out on a Valentine’s gift. In fact, in many cultures it’s tradition for the men to receive chocolates and flowers.

The Chocolate Lovers box (£12.50) on the left has twenty two delicious chocolates in milk, white and dark, so there’s something in there for every taste. Hopefully the man in your life won’t mind if you try one or two!

Prefer something a little more traditional? You can’t go wrong with a giant heart-sized box of chocolates, like the Ultimate Heart box (£25)on the right.

There are forty seven mouth-watering chocolates in this luxurious box. The chocolate envelope with a teeny tiny heart is one of my favourites .

Finally, we’ve got a few options for those on a smaller budget.

The Loving Heart on the left is one of my favourites, and it’s only £7. The shell is a chocolate heart, and it’s filled with 10 of our finest continental chocolates, so you can literally eat the whole thing!

That’s just a selection of our Valentine’s range! Have a full look at the range for inspiration, and let us know what you think!

More pictures

Day two

Show much quieter than normal. We see lots of amazing new products but with current exchange rates they are not cheap. We’ll need to know if consumers will pay a little more for top quality items.

We found a fudge maker with a fantastic product but we would have to design our ow packaging.

We also discovered a new Belgian supplier who makes very pretty little chocolates but we now have to taste them and check prices.

In the South American area we spoke to a man from Equador who makes amazing chocolate but it is soooo expensive and we would have to fly it to the UK.

More pictures

Day 1

Breakfast at our hotel is 29 euros so we popped round the corner to a local backerei. Coffee, croissants and fresh rolls for two people just over 9 euros. Excellent value for money. We caught the train the two stops to the Messe where the fair is held and made our way through the snow.

We were able to see quite a few suppliers before finishing at 6.00pm. Some pics of suppliers and other interesting sights below.

We ate at local steak bar surrounded by heavy smokers. Unlike the UK smoking in restaurants has NOT been banned! Another example of Brussels making European laws that the UK implements immediately and everyone else ignores.

Rest of evening spent sorting through brochures and watching German tv – in German!

Chocolates in Cologne

After arriving at our hotel we went to look for chocolates in the shops. The nearest department store was Kauphof and their food hall had a huge selection of mainly German chocolate. In common with many European shops they are very patriotic and give priority to their own manufacturers. Very little British chocolate is available. Some of the products are shown in the accompanying images.

Arriving in Germany

Our trip over to Cologne via Easyjet was uneventful allbeit a bit late. Our problems started as we began queueing at the immigration kiosks. The plane that landed just after ours was from Turkey and the passengers did not understand the concept of queueing. They managed to push their way into the existing lines and caused chaos. For some reason the German immigration staff decided to ask the Turkish passengers numerous questions causing yet more delays. European passengers were waved through eventually but the whole process took a long time. The strange thing is that you can enter Germany by car, bus or train with no checks at all.

Win a car for £ 25

We’re off to Cologne

Roger & Liz are off to Cologne in Germany to attend the International Sweet Fair