It seems I’m not alone.  Lots of us like the stuff, but not many of us are keen on recommending anything specific to friends though.  95 per cent of us believe we have a good sense of taste, but only just over a quarter (28%) are confident in recommending wine to our colleagues.

Don’t worry though help is at hand! Flash, argh, argh… Our assistance comes in the form of a well know Australian.  A tall, slim, firm Australian, sometimes of the pale complexion, sometimes of the darker, more sultry variety:-)   Basically Jacob’s are going to educate us in their wines through their new Taste campaign.  Its going to include an online navigational taste tool, on-pack activity and a consumer promotion – all designed to challenge consumer perceptions of ‘taste’.  – Sounds interesting, but I’m an experiential learner and nothing can beat a glug of the real thing hey?

Perhaps not surprisingly, two fifths of us have learnt about wine simply through trial and error.  Hick. So maybe it’s just as well that they are saving us from ourselves, preventing all those silly drunken mistakes.  We’ll no longer have the excuse to order that extra bottle of wine, just to see if the new bottle tastes better than the last.

But given that 87% of us would like a taste test along the lines of a sight or hearing test, maybe we are crying out for their assistance.  I just hope that they haven’t inadvertently stumbled on a new disability.   – Quick, what label should we give it; ‘Taste Impaired‘, ‘Numb Mouth’ ‘Lame Lickers’?    Will people be booking themselves into the local hospital for a taste bypass next?   It will certainly bring another meaning to the word tongue twisted.

Easter can be a bit like Christmas in our family and in keeping with tradition we are having a family meal on Easter Sunday. Only this year I am the dedicated cook as everyone is coming to visit me! Cooking really isn’t my strong point and I am not quite sure how everyone is going to fit in my pokey flat.

I decided to search the internet for some Easter themed receipes and it got me thinking is there a traditional meal for Easter? I mean at Christmas a turkey roast dinner is a most for many of us, but it doesn’t seem to be the same for Easter?

After some research I discovered that it is traditional to eat fish on Good Friday and lamb on Easter Sunday. Well I have never come across that before in fact it seems few people have come across that before!  Morrisons have recently found out that just 24% of people will be serving a traditional fish meal on Good Friday and just 21% will be cooking a traditional lamb meal.

So if it’s not the traditional fish or lamb what do people cook for their Easter meal? 62% opt for a beef roast dinner, although 2% to go for a ready meal/takeaway… that could be a much easier option for me, I can work a microwave! Ha ha

All this talk of food again… it makes you hungry. I have noticed a trend amongst my blogs, I love food.  Maryland cookies, vegetables and romantic meals (which I never did get by the way). However, my love of food is not only reflected in my blogs but also it’s starting to show round my waistline, so I have decided it’s time to do something about it and I am going on a diet. It looks like I am not alone as 64% of people have been on a diet in the last five years.

Morrison’s

research this week, men in the South East are the least likely to try to keep the romance burning brightly.  It seems that those in Wales or the North East are far keener to foster the spark at the beginning of the relationship. 90% of them intend to rekindle romance this Sunday.

Perhaps this is incidental though, as without a partner the idea of Valentine’s day romance and food is hopeless really.  So maybe I should be consoled that this Sunday two-thirds (62%) of British couples will be staying in and cooking. But there seems to be no basmati rice and chilli sauce this time, instead replacing the fancy fodder with heart-warming classics.  Over half (58%) will be choosing a classic soup over saucier scallops and two thirds (65%) opting for a homely lasagne over a fussy salmon en croute.

Maybe its safest to cater for myself on Sunday though, rather than endure the disappointment of a nice meal that doesn’t turn out quite as expected.  After all I think I’d be a bit upset if I was at the receiving end of the valentines faux pas below, or they hadn’t heeded Sarah Coles’ Wallet PoP UK’s advice and checked whether I wanted to dine in or out.

Top five Valentine’s meal turn-offs:

1.     Bad table manners

2.     Mother cooking the meal

3.     Being cooked unhealthy food

4.     An ‘everyday’ meal such as a stir-fry

5.     A takeaway meal

And Monday is another week and the talk of romance will soon be over:-)

With all these permutations whizzing around me head, I kind of stumbled past the healthy things into more familiar territory.  Those cakes and biscuits signs just seem to have a homing mechanism in them, don’t they?

So there I was confronted with another array of bright colours, but this time the shapes and sizes were in sympathetic scale with each other.  They even had instructions printed on them showing you exactly how to get into them.  And bonus, no preparation needed before eating!

Yes, there were still choices to be made, but more with the heart than the head really.  You could almost call it sentimental, but comfort eating is like that I suppose.  So Maryland Chocolate Chip Cookies it was. And then that’s when I went off into another day dream spin.

So who is my yummiest celebrity?  Who would I most like to take home to meet my family? Who would I most like to share a cup of tea and cookie with? Oh decisions, decisions.  How about Zac Efron?   No he’s already got his High School sweetheart.  What about Robert Paterson?  No too scary with all those fangs. Orlando Bloom?  Not sure my Mam will be able to cope with a bloke in flouncy girly pirate clothing.

Thankfully my cookies put me out of my misery and told me that I’m most likely to take home Alan Carr (20%) and Jamie Oliver (18%).  Result, as at least Jamie knows what to do with vegetables!  It was also good to hear the Phil and Fern, my favourite day time telly couple are the most yummy couple.  But on their own it it seems that Maryland’s top 10 ‘yummy celebrities’ are a little less homely, but just as nice and thankfully the Evening Standard has some photos to remind us.

Top five yummy female celebrities

- Emma Bunton

- Fern Britton

- Louise Redknapp

- Nigella Lawson

- Holly Willoughby

Top five yummy male celebrities

- Philip Schofield

- Vernon Kay

- Ronan Keating

- Ben Shepherd

- Declan Donnelly

So now I can chomp away contentedly.

How do you manage to eat your 5 a day when you are allergic to half of it and dislike the rest?

Mixing it with tomato sauce or piccalilli chutney?  That probably won’t work well with grapes and plums though, will it.

I was reading the other day that store cupboard must-haves now include chilli sauce, basmati rice and balsamic vinegar. So that kicks my favourites such as pickle, long-grain rice and malt vinegar right into touch. It makes the UK sound very exotic though don’t you think?

Just before Christmas Morrisons, found that three fifths of people (60%) are more likely to add chilli sauce than pickle to the leftover turkey and a quarter will accompany it with hummus rather than coleslaw.   Umm, not sure whether to go yum to that or not.

Maybe I need to check out the supermarket shelves and give it ago.

Apparently, 26% more ladies are intending to abandon the idea of staying in the UK this year after last year’s rotten summer.  I’ve heard that Turkey is looking good this year, what do you think?  Definitely no need for my thermals there.  But you must take your hat off to the 54% who are prepared to take what the British weather throws at them this summer regardless.

Not sure where would be calmer though, arguments seem to abound everywhere when it comes to kids and sun cream – only 1% of 5-10yr old kids think they ought to wear suntan lotion while in the UK, and not many more think its necessary abroad (5%).  Apparently a third of children opt to stay indoors rather than apply lotion.  They run and hide from their parents (28%) or admit to lying to their parents about putting it on.  Naughty little things.  A fifth of parents even resort to banning their children from playing outside because they refuse to wear suncream.  What great games you can have, hey?  I don’t want to be sitting too close to that family on the beach!

Now, coming to think about it, maybe living in my thermals will make for a quieter, easier life, what do you think…?

This is just as well given the current weather conditions. There are all sorts of worries about getting snowed in, snowed out, iced in, iced out, what are the skies going to throw at us next?. Even my Mum phoned and said “That jobs not worth it, you know. Be careful on those icy roads. I’ve heard all sorts of things about young drivers getting killed on the roads. They don’t wear their seat belts, you know, and around a third of them drive differently when they have friends in the car.”

“And do you know what, one in 10 admit that they wouldn’t have awarded themselves a license when they passed their test. The roads just aren’t safe Fifi.”

“Don’t worry Mum, it’s fine, I’m one of the 23% who flirted with my examiner to encourage him to pass me. It’s OK though cos I’m new here so won’t have any friends to distract me for a while.”

Now I’m looking out of the window starting to worry about getting home. Is my tank full? I don’t mean fish tank, but the one in the car. Think I might just need to pop out now and visit the garage, might even see if they have any spades and emergency flasks.

I’ve just joined the team at Crowdology, part of Redshift Research. I must admit I’ve not got a great deal of experience in marketing or keeping a track of new trends, but I’m keen to learn and I’m told my grades are acceptable enough, which is always a good start don’t you think?

This (Kent) is as close as I’ve come to London before, so I’m intrigued to see how different life might be travelling in and out on the trains and coping with the busy traffic. Its also my first time living away from home, so it should be interesting. My Mam has said she’ll still be looking out for me though, but I’m sure my new friends and colleagues will point me in the right direction. I’m also hoping that Crowdology members might be a useful source of inspiration and guidance, as I’m told they get involved in all sorts of things, so are a fountain of knowledge.

I hope you don’t mind me rabbiting on occasionally, but talking about things helps to get your head clear sometimes doesn’t? A problem shared is a problem halved and all that. And it’s a good way for my Mam to check that I’m still managing to stay alive.

Until next time. x