Dann Sullivan, Author at Jupiter & Dann ⋆ Page 20 of 23

Play Snow by Zimpli Kids – Snoball | Review

Posted on December 27, 2019August 27, 2024 by Dann Sullivan

[Ad- gifted product] It doesn’t really snow in England. Where Jupiter grew up, snow covered the ground by Halloween, causing snow days and road closures by Christmas. She is very fond of the memories of snow, though she never enjoyed the cold, snow down the back of the shirt events that would come with a white, winter dusting. Snow ball fights are something you can see in most TV shows and movies around the time of Christmas, but in England, that’s just not really possible.

This year, we got some Snoball mix from Zimpli Kids. Not sure what to expect, we figured this would be perfect to play with in the holiday before Christmas. The children seemed very interested in the idea of a massive snowball fight outside, and the answers was either chopping up lots of little bits of ice into snow or trying out these Snoballs. The snow itself was very easy to make; we simply mixed the powdered mix in a large bowl with the listed amount of water.

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Lindisfarne Mead | Review

Posted on December 21, 2019November 14, 2024 by Dann Sullivan

[Ad- gifted product] The kind people of Lindisfarne Limited sent us along a bottle of their original Lindisfarne mead to try. Its a drink with a lot of history – predating wines, beers and every modern-convenience. But old doesn’t always mean gold.

Near where I grew up there is a place called Barn Mead, as a matter of fact, a good friend of mine from my schooling days, Sean, lived there. Growing up in Harlow, I was always told about the presence of a lot of historical relevance littered around the region – even though the town itself had only really been thrown together post-WWII it was laid out across half a dozen small villages which had Roman and Anglo-Saxon roots. I’m pretty sure that Barn Mead was simply just somebody lopping ‘Ow’ off the end of ‘Meadow’ but the word Mead had stuck with me since.

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A Day Out at Winter Wonderland

Posted on December 18, 2019July 8, 2024 by Dann Sullivan

Winter Wonderland is a big, Christmas themed event that comes to Hyde Park in London each and every year. This year, Winter Wonderland runs until January 5th, bringing Christmas joy to anyone who attends. When it comes to this event, both families and individuals can really enjoy the day or night out, as there is something for everyone. Winter Wonderland has free entry, however all of the rides, attractions, food and games do cost (about as much as most London events cost). There are a bunch of DJ/Music stages that you can walk to and enjoy, as well as cosy indoor bars.

We’ve gone twice this year, once with the entire family and a second time as a little couples date. The first time we went, with the kids in tow, we were more focused on rides, games that did indeed allow us to take home a prize and seeing Santa. Winter Wonderland is divided into a bunch of different areas; the first thing we did was head to Santa Land, which lets you take a photo on Santa’s sleigh, as well as talk to the big man himself and get some photos done. The building this was in had an open front, but made a lovely backdrop. We were able to get a bunch of pictures, all of which looked lovely, with both the entire family on the sled and just the children with Santa. This was a pretty magical thing for everyone involved; Santa even gave out a few small gifts.

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The Citrus (and) Tart | Cocktail Recipe

Posted on December 11, 2019August 27, 2024 by Dann Sullivan

[Ad- gifted product] The kind people at Yorkshire Tonics sent us along a sample of some of their tonic range. We set ourselves the challenge of using them as mixers, but avoiding the somewhat obvious pairing of Gin and Tonic. Gin and Tonic has been a staple drink of the UK public for far longer than we’ve been alive, and so it’s a wholly cheap shot. Instead, we decided we’d dabble with other taste fusions – hopefully building on Yorkshire Tonics’ carefully blended flavours

Tonic water has peculiar origins, although I suppose it’s not really weirder than most of the other mixers or liquors out there. Several popular alcoholic drinks started out as medicines before the recipe changed up a little and they found a new role as alcoholic beverages, tonic water had a similar origin. It was originally used as a preemptive medication to reduce the chance of malaria for the British in the colonial India of the early 1800s. After a while, it found its way into several other uses and started being sold commercially. Naturally, it was mixed with alcohol and, well, we’ve all heard about Gin and Tonics, so it clearly works quite well.

Yorkshire Tonic, from Raisthorpe Manor, was actually designed to accompany their own gins – of which they have a massive selection, including lesser-seen ones like Sloe, Damson and Gooseberry. However, as we said at the start of the article, we’re aiming to prove the versatility of the tonics, which means that we’re stepping away from the usual gin pairing.

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Disney Frozen II Face Paintoos | Review

Posted on December 4, 2019November 14, 2024 by Dann Sullivan

[Ad- gifted product] Frozen seems to have taken the world by storm. What with the amount of songs being sung, Olaf being mentioned left and right, and the number of children trying to get their parents to bring them to the cinema, it only made sense that loads of new Frozen II products started coming out to compliment the movie; jewellery, stuffed animals, Paintoos and more! The eldest child went off to Frozen II first with a group of her friends, which left the youngest talking about how she wanted to go for ages.

Finally, we decided to take her along. To make things more special, we had some Disney Frozen II Face Paintoos ‘painted’ onto her face for the viewing. The Paintoos come with five different designs on their own sheets, an instructions book, as well as a sponge and a bunch of wipes that are made to take the Paintoos off when the child is done. We had expected these to work more like face paint as we had never had Paintoos before, but they are essentially a large, fake tattoo that can be placed over your child’s face.

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