English Mother’s Day is this Sunday, 10th March. I celebrate this one, despite the fact that I’m living here in Singapore where Mother’s Day happens in May.
There are a few reasons why I do, two of the best ones are that my mother is English as well as the fact that if I want to get taken out on Mothering Sunday in Singapore, my last minute husband (who hates advance booking) still stands an extremely good chance of getting a table in a restaurant I actually want to eat in if we go with the vastly unpopular English date.
I am just getting round to ordering a suitably well thought out present to send my own mother – as it’s happening this Sunday it means that the company I buy from must be UK/Europe based or it won’t arrive in time.
Cue beautiful handmade chocolates by Benjamin Chocolatier, who is actually my lovely friend (and BBC Masterchef winner) Ben Axford.
We met when we were all living in Cheltenham where Ben owned and ran one of the best cheese shops in the country (cheese is not carbs remember; I was in there every week). We soon became good friends and Ben and Charlotte were the first people to come and see us when we moved to Singapore.
Ever the entrepeneur, he sold ‘The Cheeseworks’ (having built up the business to supply a large number of Michelin starred restaurants around the UK) and converted his kitchen in to what can only be described as Willy Wonker’s chocolate factory.
And from home he turns out exceptional chocolates, (just don’t get him started on the subject of ganache – you’ll be there for hours!) a box of which are winging their way to Mama G as we speak.
His prices are reasonable, his moulds and packaging beautiful and I know he’s an absolute perfectionist about what he produces (when he cooks dinner, if it’s not exactly as it’s meant to be, the plate gets whipped away before you can even get your fork near it). This is the man I want to be making my chocolates.
His website can be found here at Benjamin Chocolatier. Prices start from £15.95. He (sadly but understandably) only ships to the UK and Europe.
Images courtesy of Benjamin Chocolatier
My husband bought me flowers that last year but will be celebrating on Mother’s Day in Singapore this year, because when it came to the actual Mother’s Day here, all my friends were getting flowers/taken out for lunch except me 🙁
Dear Changmoh, I do realize you may be quite hesitant with giving recommendations for the following but what can I say, you’re such a resourceful and reliable lady ! Would you happen to know any aesthetic/dermatologists office that carry out laser face treatments ? Most appreciative if u could spare your thoughts Xxx
I am afraid I have no idea really on where to start for this kind of thing…but my cousin, Vanessa Phua specialises in this and she’d probably be my first port of call. Her site is http://www.drvanessaphua.com. Hope this helps xx