WIN: Women's Helly Hansen Coat Worth £129.99

OK, I would really like some more followers on my blog. So, when my blog has 1,000 followers, I am giving away this Women's Helly Hansen coat worth £129.99.

A winner will be chosen from all of the 1,000 followers, but if you would like the opportunity to have a better chance, you can earn extra entries in the following ways:

1) Tweet "Follow #MyRandomBlurb blog http://www.MyRandomBlurb.co.uk and win a Helly Hansen ski coat worth £129.99 @MyRandomBlurb http://bit.ly/lc0NLV" then leave a comment with your Twitter username (1 entry) 

2) Make a meaningful comment on any other blog post and post a link as a comment to the blog post you have commented on (1 entry, but you can comment on up to 5 other blog posts for up to 5 extra entries, just post a link to each one as a comment)

Dead Granny Cooks Dinner

OK, this isn't going to be the longest blog post ever, but I read about something so funny, I just had to share it with you all...


I read that a 95 year old Grandmother, Li Xiufeng in Guangxi Province, China sustained a really bad head injury and was pronounced dead a couple of weeks ago having been found in her bed motionless and not breathing by one of her neighbours.


Her funeral had been planned and the family had organised a wake. She was in an open coffin which had not yet been permanently sealed.


Six days after being found *dead* in her bedroom, after the wake, she *woke up* hungry and went to cook a meal in the kitchen much to the surprise of her family and neighbours!! It turned out she wasn't actually dead and just appeared in a state as though she was - but can you imagine just how shocked her family & friends were to find an empty coffin and their *dead* relative/friend cooking in the kitchen?!


I'm surprised they didn't die of shock!! Their local hospital says it was an *artificial death* - whereby she had stopped breathing but was still warm. Pretty lucky Chinese tradition says that the persons coffin is left open for several days for family and friends to pay respects or she really would have been dead!

Li Xiufeng, the 95 year old *dead* Grandmother

Anniversary Trip To Bournemouth (17th-19th February 2012)

On 17th February, I went to Bournemouth for the weekend with my hubby, Paul. I won 2 nights bed, breakfast and dinner at 3* The Cumberland in Bournemouth and we decided to take it the weekend after our 12th wedding anniversary (which was 14th February). David stayed with his Grandma (my Mum) for the weekend.

Our hotel room at The Cumberland

We originally meant to get to Bournemouth at around 5-6pm, but actually ended up getting there around 9pm after around a 4½ hour drive (well, for hubby, not me as I don't drive).

The next morning (18th) we went for a walk along by our hotel to see the east cliff view. Surprisingly, it wasn't as cold as we were expecting it to be with it being around the time when the temperatures around the country had dropped massively and being right next to the sea.

Paul during our walk along the east cliff

After our walk, we went off to Wincanton for a day at the races. Theoretically, this was a win too. As I won an experience voucher with Pepsi MAX and I exchanged it on the Buyagift website for the horse racing day. It was really brilliant. I've been betting and following the horses for as long as I can remember, but I've never actually been to the races. I won some tickets to Aintree (which is a lot closer to home) last year, but I was ill on the day and sadly couldn't go :( But going to the races was every bit as good as I expected. We didn't have a big betting budget - I put £28 out in total on my bets and Paul put £22 in total (we each had a £2 free bet included with our race day which is included in that amount as well). I got £45 back and Paul got £25, so we came out better off than we went in. The weather was rather dismal - it rained most of the time - but it was lots of fun anyway. We had our own table in the The Kingswell restaurant too for the duration which had a pretty good view and we got our lunch and a glass of wine - I personally wasn't very impressed with the food, but that's because I much prefer fish & chips to fancy food and niceties!

The big race of the day - 3.45

In the evening, we got to do something we enjoy doing together, but don't often get the chance to - we went to the cinema (Cineworld in Yeovil) to see The Woman In Black. It is a brilliant film, we both really enjoyed it - better than a lot of so-called *horror* films these days. Can't say I was jumping out of my seat, but then I really am not easily scared.

Then it was back off to the hotel for our final night away...

We checked out of the hotel around 9am the next day (19th) and headed off to Salisbury as we both really wanted to visit Stonehenge while we were in that neck of the woods. The entry fee was extortionate in my opinion - £7.50 each for something that took the whole of 20 minutes to walk around. It was worth for the photographic value, I guess, but a rip-off overall. Stonehenge is rather fascinating and magnificent though!

One of my photo's of Stonehenge

We then headed off to the Forest of Dean in Gloucestershire, which was sort of on the way home, to go to Clearwell Caves - they are still working mines and have bats (eeek) and the UKs biggest spiders (eurgh) apparently living there, but we didn't see any (thankfully!). At one point we were over 100ft below ground level! Now I'd love to go deep level caving, but we just went for the normal tour as it was massively cheaper unless you're going as a group.

A photo in Clearwell Caves

And that pretty much concluded our weekend away together to finish the 3-3½ hour remaining drive home. We were both looking forward to seeing David though - it was our first significant time away from him since he was born over 9 years ago. It was really nice to get some time alone together though as well, to get some undisturbed time to spend together. It was very nice to have some spent with just Paul, as much as I love David, we haven't really had any time alone in all those years.

Recommended Competitions (Updated 05/03/2012)

E: 23:59 | 05/03/2012
Win £100 to spend with Fashion Union - http://bit.ly/zHXi9P

E: 14/03/2012
Win a Wusthof Grand Prix II 3 Piece Knife Set from Richmond Cookshop - http://bit.ly/ynNUTF

E: 13:00 | 23/03/2012
Win an iPod Nano with Mornflake - http://bit.ly/A2VbER
E: Unknown
Win Orla Kiely goodies with Dotmaison - http://j.mp/Ad4pvy

Valentine's Recipe: Jamaican Jerk Chicken, Rice & Beans

This is my entry for the Find Me A Gift Valentine's Day blogger competition.


Remember to check out all of the Find Me A Gift Valentine's Day gifts which you could buy for your loved one.


My recipe is a main dish recipe that is sure to "spice" up your love life this Valentine's Day. It's a tried and tested recipe and it's one that I make regularly and goes down a storm with anyone who has ever tried it!


Make some delicious and authentic Jamaican Jerk chicken with rice and beans and find the way to your lovers heart through his/her stomach...

JAMAICAN JERK CHICKEN, RICE & BEANS

Preparation time: 60 minutes
Time to cook: 30-45 minutes
Serves: 4
Heat rating: Hot
Difficulty Rating: 3/5


WHAT YOU NEED
Large packet of mini chicken breast fillets


For the dry jerk rub:
4g allspice
70g salt
20g garlic powder
25g sugar
1g chilli powder
2g ground cloves
4g dried thyme leaves
6g ground black pepper
10g cayenne pepper
3g ground cinnamon


For the rice and beans:
400g tin black eye beans
400g tin coconut milk
1 small onion, finely chopped
3 cloves garlic, crushed or finely chopped
1 tablespoon oil
2 cups long grain rice (not easy cook)
1 cup water
¼ teaspoon thyme
2-3 Scotch Bonnet peppers


HOW TO MAKE
Mix all of the ingredients for the dry jerk rub in a large bowl until they are all well mixed together. You can store an remaining jerk rub in an airtight container and it will keep for around a month.


Pierce the chicken fillets a few times and rub in 1-2 teaspoons of the dry jerk rub. For best results, leave to marinate overnight, or put in the refrigerator for 1 hour prior to cooking. Or as in my case above, I only left it for 10 minutes as I was short on time, which doesn't produce the best results, but does taste good nonetheless.


As a suggestion, my husband is vegetarian, so if you or someone you are cooking for is too, simply replace the real chicken with some Quorn chicken alike fillets. I make that for Paul, but real chicken fillets for me and David.


Preheat the oven to gas mark 5 and put the chicken fillets on a baking tray in the middle of the oven for 30-45 minutes (may take more or less time depending on the size of fillets you choose).


In the meantime, put the oil and coconut milk into a large pan and bring to the boil.


Once boiling, add the water, onion, garlic, black eye beans (including juices) and thyme and simmer.


Thoroughly wash your rice, then add this to the pan and stir briefly. Place the whole Scotch Bonnet peppers on the top and cover tightly.




Cook for approximately 30 minutes, until all of the water has evaporated. Try not to uncover the rice to check on it until it has been cooking for at least 20 minutes.


Serve the chicken on a plate with the rice and beans. I would highly suggest serving with hot pepper sauce too as it adds to the enjoyment of the rice.


Now, all you need is a nice bottle of white wine to go with it and voila! You've got a delicious and special spicy and romantic meal for Valentine's Day - enjoy!

Check Out ledtastic from Dealtastic!

For those of you who are unfamiliar with Dealtastic, they are a fantastic website where you can buy a variety of items from gadgets, home items and electronics to toys, game and more all at the most fantastic prices you will find on the internet.


Dealtastic have now launched their amazing new ledtastic site too which sells bargain priced  energy saving LED lighting, they sell every shape and size light you need, be it general light bulbs, flood lights or strip lights and more.

You can save up to 90% on your lighting bill - they have massive savings on all your lighting needs.


And if that's not enough, you should check out their other new sites too:
kettletastic - specialising in branded kettles at discount prices
toastertastic - "not on the high" street prices for "on the high street" toasters
hairtastic - fab range of hair products at excellent discounted prices
irontastic - big brand irons at super cheap prices
hoovertastic - currently savings of up to 60% on well know big brand hoovers
fryertastic - deep fat fryer products at "cheap as chips" prices
heatertastic - large range of heating products at supremely discounted prices


I can personally recommend Dealtastic as I have bought from them previously - I bought a bargain 16 piece dinner set, some fab fireworks, a brilliant kettle and a 16Gb SD card - all because they were a total bargain.


I won some fireworks from Dealtastic on Facebook in November 2011. Unfortunately, there were problems with their supplier, but they were good to their word and allowed me to choose replacements products from their site to the same value, so I got a fab Breville deep fat fryer as we really needed one, and a mini steamer which I use every day to cook us all boiled eggs for brekkie!

Winners Announcement - MRB Advent Calendar

I hope you all had fun taking part in the My Random Blurb advent calendar this Christmas! We will be announcing winners this week, keep checking back to see if you were a lucky winner and congratulations if you are!


Day 1 Winner: Simon Collinge
Day 2 Winner: Gillian Holmes
Day 3 Winner: Emma Louise Speers
Day 4 Winner: Arabella Bazley
Day 5 Winner: Olivia Kirby
Day 6 Winners: Tracey McLeod & Jane Mse English
Day 7 Winners: Myca Ogborn, Simon Collinge, Lisa Day & Olivia Kirby
Day 8 Winner: Hazel Rea
Day 9 Winner: Heather Cranmer
Day 10 Winner: Diane Carey
Day 11 Winner: Sarah Nagle
Day 12 Winner: Ellen Stafford
Day 13 Winner: Katie Simmonds
Day 14 Winner: Ade N Bex Jones
Day 15 Winners: Barbara Webster, Carolann Turner, Kaz Burke, Katherine Norrisluvsmary Grieve, Ian Campbell, Laura Hadland, Angela M Webster, Jenna Parrington, Victoria Smith and Esther James


WINNERS: You will be sent an e-mail within 24 hours of the announcement. Please reply within 5 days or a new winner will be chosen. Please allow 28 days from sending your address for delivery of your prize.

MRB Advent Calendar - Day 15 (Sponsored by Domino's Pizza)

Welcome to the final day of our advent competition - Day 15 of the My Random Blurb advent calendar which is sponsored by...

Tasty pizza prizes up for grabs from Domino's

Looking for a pizza pick me up? We've teamed up with Domino's, the pizza delivery experts, to offer a very tasty prize for the last day of our advent calendar. We have 10 vouchers, each valid for a large Domino's Gourmet pizza up for grabs.

Domino's luxurious Gourmet range features a host of mouth-watering new toppings on a fresh thin crust base, hand-stretched using Domino's famous fresh dough, then covered in sundried tomato and garlic sauce and 100% mozzarella cheese. Choose from:

• Rustica – juicy chicken breast strips, smoked bacon rashers, baby spinach and SunBlush baby plum tomatoes
• Firenze – a firey combination of Ventricina salami, pepperoni and Peruvian roquito peppers
• Florentine – delicious Greek feta cheese, baby spinach and SunBlush baby plum tomatoes
• Quattro Formaggio – the newest addition to the Gourmet range, featuring a mouth-watering combination of Mozzarella, Greek feta cheese, Bavarian Blue and Gran Moravia cheeses

To be in with the chance of winning, simply enter using the form below. If you can't wait and want to order in the meantime, visit www.dominos.co.uk or download Domino's free iPad, iPhone and Android ordering apps.


Don't forget, Domino's is currently running a tasty deal with its 555 offer – get any three or more 9.5” pizzas for just £5.55 each. Perfect if you're planning a night in with friends and family.


For the latest news, you can also follow Domino's on Twitter at @Dominos_UK or visit them on Facebook at www.facebook.com/DominosPizza.

Terms & Conditions

• Prize is one of 10 vouchers for any large Domino's Gourmet pizza, valid at any UK Domino's store.
• Vouchers cannot be used in conjunction with any other offer.
• No cash alternative.
• Pizzas must be chosen from the store's current menu at the time of ordering.
• Excludes Create Your Own.
• To claim the prize, winners must present the voucher to the order taker or delivery driver.
• Valid for collection and delivery orders. Limited delivery areas apply.
• If the winner is located outside of the delivery area, the pizza can be collected in person from the store.
• This offer is not available via www.dominos.co.uk
• Voucher cannot be used as part payment for any other product.
• Photocopies will not be accepted.
• Vouchers have no cash value.

MRB Advent Calendar - Day 14 "The Merry Christmas MRB Bundle"

By way of thank you to you, my loyal blog readers and to wish you a Merry Christmas (albeit a little later than originally planned!) and all the best for 2012, I have nice little prize bundle to give away to one of you.

The lucky winner will receive all of these:

• Opi 750ml bottle red wine
• Box Walkers Irish Cream truffle liqueurs
• Travel alarm clock
• Drinks flask with hidden compartment to take first aid supplies in (first aid supplies not included)
• Carry-all/holdall
• Set of The Who drumsticks
• Me To You phone charm
• Me To You lanyard
• Ames natural fit Floral Snips
• Gardeners motto humorous fridge magnet
• Rolls Royce t-shirt
• Set of pencils

You can enter this competition by using the Rafflecopter entry form below. You MUST complete the top 2 steps (leave a blog comment and follow the blog) to be entered. You can gain additional entries in the was listed below and you can tweet about and post on Facebook about the competition daily until it ends at 5am on 31/12 to get extra entries and give you a better chance of winning.

MRB Advent Calendar - Day 13 (Sponsored by Douwe Egberts)

Welcome to Day 13 of the My Random Blurb advent calendar which is sponsored by...

Up for grabs today is a selection of coffees thanks to Douwe Egberts.

Inspirations Kenyan Sunset

"Bring a sense of African adventure to your day whilst savouring the full-bodied and exotic taste of this rich and sensual coffee, perfect for sunrise or sunset. Our master roasters rated this a Strength 4."

Having personally tasted this, I can say this interesting new addition to the Douwe Egberts range is both rich and special in flavour. Easy to make and very aromatic. This one is perfect for those who prefer their coffee a bit stronger than average.

Inspirations Brazilian Samba

"Put a spring in your step with this smooth yet exciting coffee, bursting with Latin flavour and passion. Our master roasters rated this a strength 3."

I found this one to be the perfect morning coffee, not to strong, but not too mild either - just perfect for kick starting your day. Again, it is a very aromatic coffee with a very special taste and flavour - something you can really enjoy.

Inspirations Eastern Escape

"Retreat to a tranquil and peaceful place, where you can relax and unwind. The delicate aroma and  balanced blend will help you feel calm and mellow, easing you through the day. Our master roasters rated this a strength 3."

This one was my personal favourite of three. Very easy to make and drink, very aromatic and flavoursome and perfect for anytime of the day. The coffee you can just sit down and unwind with.

You can find out more about the Douwe Egberts range on their website http://www.douwe-egberts.co.uk. You can also keep up with their latest news on Facebook and/or Twitter.