We want your Bras!

So what has a deli in sleepy Gnosall got to do with creating the longest bra chain in the world. Well only that Sarah met a truly inspirational woman Karen Tomalin who has abusiness 2nd Skin Lingerie before Christmas. Karen has developed a campaign to help women in the most unbearable situation and to raise money for Breast Cancer Care UK... and we want to help out.

Unless you have been there, you cant imagine what it must be like to have to run away from your own home, all your possessions and everything material that you hold dear in order to save the life of your children and yourself. But every year despite the fact we live in 'modern' times women are still faced with that decision .Thankfully help is on offer through a network of womens shelters and projects which offer safety and a place to recover before looking at ways to start again.

We have to admitt that despite the fact we have had our bra recycling box for 3 months now Peter was a little shy to ask you for your surplus underwear! So we have decided to stage this event to encourage you to bring in those unwanted bras - you know the ones that your husband bought you, it doesnt fit but you have never had the heart to tell him, or the one you bought to slim into, or indeed the one you hoped you might grow into! Also the old ones that you may feel you could'nt give to another person but which could go for recycling and raise money for such a valuable charity -Breast Cancer Care; probably most of us know someone who may have been helped by this fantastic organisation...

So go on If Chris and Tina can model their redundant scaffolding for a good cause cant we persuade you to clear out the back of the lingerie drawer...

Karen herself will also be joining us and you could even treat yourself to some lovely new lingerie to replace that, you are passing on...

...As well as some great soap made by a really enterprising group of lads from King Eddies school and Amy ... but thats another blog; Oh! and Vie products including slimming assistance and jewellery and lipstick etc etc - what more could a girl want? - Perhaps some cheese, a great low fat sandwich or a fat piece of chocolate cake????

Hope to see you in the shop on the 6th Feb. Any time between 10 and 5 - we'll have the kettle on!

The Great Staffordshire Breakfast

So while I sat last week eating my brunch - a delicious plate full of bacon, eggs, sausage tomatoes and mushrooms with a good cup of tea, (I was being spoiled in return for washing up duty) I overheard a couple next door who had also partaken of a great Staffordshire all day breakfast commenting to Peter that is was the best breakfast they had enjoyed. I glowed with pride and then began to think. So what made it better than any other breakfast?

Was it the fact that the bacon, cooked gently in the pan, tasting ever so slightly of crisp porky sizzle and salt complimented the creamy texture of the free range egg and the tart acidic soft texture of the tomato or was it the fact that it was presented beautifully on a large fine china Wedgwood plate and my cup of finest English tea brown enough to taste of tea but pale enough to be delicate was also in a lovely china tea cup... maybe it was as simple as the sunshine streaming through the window, bouncing off the floor making me feel warm whilst the dulcet sounds emanated from the CD player temporarily taking me far away from my pots and pans!


Now everybody likes a big, hearty English breakfast once in a while, don't they? Families sit at their tables on a Sunday morning and tuck in but I wonder do they know where the tradition really came from? why is the Full English Breakfast, so well... English?

I bet they don't know that the English breakfast first came in to our households as a marketing ploy, in the 1920’s, much the same as the red Santa Claus arrived via Coca Cola. ‘Bacon and eggs’ was the phrase used by Edward Bernays to persuade people that a good hearty breakfast after a relaxing lie in on a Sunday morning was just what they needed to start their ‘relaxing’ day off.
With the passage of time and significant advertising it became very popular to buy Edward Bernays bacon and eat it with lots of different things on a Sunday morning. The most popular were sausages, eggs, black pudding, mushrooms and tomatoes.

Further google research has also revealed that Henry V and his men ate a hearty breakfast before going out to battle. This included all manner of ingredients, some not so appetising such as uncooked cows kidneys with black pudding and bacon! Eggs were also eaten but as they were harder to come by they must have been a bit of a treat and I guess in those days an impending axe crashing through your armour kind of obliterated the worry of cholesterol!

More recently in 2002 the BBC reported the death of the Great British Breakfast claiming foreign muesli's and french croissants to be at fault, however reports from a small rural village in Staffordshire can confidently claim that the Staffordshire all day breakfast is definitely not deceased but growing in popularity. So why not pop down to the Gastronomy Shop and enjoy a moment of pure deliciousness with Staffordshire bacon and eggs but definitely no raw cows kidneys and let us know what you think - Are the days of bacon and eggs a thing of the past...