Win a box of robotness!

Yes, it's a little later than I'd have liked, but it is time for my annual blogoversary giveaway. In case you're not familiar with them, to celebrate another year of speaking my branes I give away a box full of things I like in the hopes that you might like them too. They're always all things I've bought or made, I'm not simply passing on promotional freebies. Anyone from anywhere in the world can enter. All you have to do is leave ONE comment, and then I'll pick a winner using a random number generator. Dead simple, eh?

So, what's one lucky person getting this year? To start with, there are two little cookbooks, Favourite Dining Car Recipes and Favourite Ration Book Recipes. I own two exactly the same, bought on my holiday in Devon at the start of May. To be honest, I'm not entirely sure about the authenticity of the recipes in every book in the series – my one of Traditional Devon Recipes includes one for sticky toffee pudding* – but the wartime one is a good 'un, including things like Wartime Christmas Cake and Bacon and Stuffing Pudding. And I can tell you from my own experience that if you make the corned beef patties, don't overwork the mixture. It goes very squelchy and doesn't fry well if you do, though it does taste okay. The railway recipes are for items found on the menus of the big rail companies in their heyday or using ingredients found in those companies' regions, though they're not, as far as I can tell, the actual recipes used. However, they do evoke a sense of the glamour of rail travel in the past.

An embroidered tablecloth. It's a few feet square so would look good at an angle, revealing the corners of a nicely polished table. There's the same embroidery at each of the four corners. I do like this. I've been tempted to keep it, but no, I shall pass it on to you. I have a plain tablecloth to embroider, so you can have the real vintage deal.
A diamante brooch – looks 1950s to me. I was tempted to keep this one too! However, in the box it goes.
This tea is from Gillards, Bath's long-established tea and coffee merchant. You might expect such a firm to trade out of a fancy shop, but they actually have a little stall in the Guildhall Market. I've partial to the Guv'nor's Blend at work; it's a strong, dark tea – what we in the UK call 'builder's tea'. It'll keep you going!

A collection of Railway Detective stories. Trains and crime fiction, two things I rattle on about fairly regularly.

I was thinking this box didn't really have a theme, but by and large it's 'things to do when it's wet': cook something tasty, brew a pot of tea, and plonk it all nicely on the table while you settle down to enjoy cosy crime stories involving steam trains. And if you're wondering where the brooch fits in, any time of day or night is diamante time. Sparkles are jolly cheering in dreary weather.

So, that's your lot. (Unless I find something else to pop in over the next week. You never know.) Leave ONE comment if you'd like to be in with a chance of winning. On the 30th of July, I'll fire up the random number generator and see who's going to get the box.


 *As a complete dish with sauce, the way we know it nowadays, it seems to have been invented in Cumbria in the 1970s, though the cake part of the dish appears to stem from Canada via Lancashire. So definitely not Devon, and not really old enough a recipe to be 'traditional' anywhere.

Comments

  1. sparklies and tea ! I can see the logic

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  2. 1970's school dinners are the stuff of "tradition" these days. We have under cooked versions of Sticky Toffee Pudding with lovely names like, "Self Saucing Dessert." Eeewww.

    Looks like a lovely set of prizes.

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  3. Wow what a fab box of goodies. Please count me in - it's not like we here in the UK will not have the 'wet weather' to enjoy this goodie box to the max. ljhs

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  4. Ooh, things to do in the wet is perfect for me living up here in the nw. :)

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  5. The brooch is so pretty! My nan had an embroidered tablecloth which I had forgotten about until after she had died, so I fear it ended up in a charity shop x

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  6. All looks so great, love the tablecloth & brooch, they're beauties!

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  7. Happy blogiversary! A nice cup of tea while reading detective stories sounds perfect for a rainy day.

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  8. Happy Blogoversary! As ever an inspired box of goodies. x

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  9. What a great theme! I just escaped a fierce summer shower. Parked my bike a good 5 minutes before it started pouring down :) Usually it's the other way around, so I can't help feeling a little gleeful ;O)

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  10. First off: happy BLOGday, darling!
    It s an honor and joy - reading this blog, and knowing you (let's face it, you & me would have never gotten to know each-other if it wasn't for this little blogoshpere we've set our places at)
    ...
    Every single item here listed is truly wonderful. But, to a tea-loving gal living in a "we don't drink tea" community, the most appealing item is that bag. :)

    Again: so great having you here, in the World Wide Web,

    Marija

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    Replies
    1. I'm a first time visitor. Lots of stuff here which interests me. I have a good friend who is a knitter who will like it too.

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  11. Another successful year of blogging, congratulations! Lovely gifts, although I am going to be good and say don't include me in the giveaway - I have waaaay too much stuff already and need to reduce, not accumulate more! I'm sure whoever wins will really enjoy their box of delights. xxx

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  12. Don't include me in the draw as it wouldn't be fair to win two years in a row :) but just wanted to say hoorah for another year of blogging, congratulations! xx

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  13. Things to do when it is wet is very appropriate at the moment! Happy blog birthday.

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