Marvellous Marmite

We've had Guinness Marmite and Champagne Marmite. Then back in February or March, I read an article about a new Extra strength Marmite. You might recall there are some members of my family who absolutely love Marmite. So no prizes for guessing my latest mission.

Back then I tried all the local supermarkets and had friends checking when they went shopping but had no luck in finding this new version of Marmite. Eventually I let it slip to the back of my mind.

So, when I did my weekly shop last Monday, imagine my surprise when I saw the manager's special!!

You can see I bought three jars, one each for Sam and Beccy and one for us.

We haven't tried it yet so I can't report on the taste, I'm wondering if other Marmite 'lovers' have an opinion!

Marmite is spreading

Love it or hate it I noticed this on the back of my Marmite jar and as I was lost for words this is all I could manage today........



This day last year I was heading home from San Francisco. I am looking forward to going back again but, at the moment, not sure when that will be.

Archives:
2007: Homeward Bound

Marmite and Champagne make a Happy Valentine !

To all Marmite lovers everywhere have a Happy Valentine's Day!

Archives:
2007: Tomato Penne Bake and Dublin here I come

My Mate........

If you hate marmite I would leave now!!!

If you are a regular reader then you may remember my previous posts about my quest for the limited edition of Guinness marmite which embee finally managed to get for me back in March, while I was in Spain. Two of the jars were dispatched to San Fransisco, one for Sam and the other for Cookiecrumb who had never tried it. I was hoping she would love it and I think her first tastings suggest she is well on the way. Tuesday, Cookiecrumb (thank you for the links) wrote about her marmite experience (drop by and see what she says) and she was asking about recipes. This prompted me write this post as I do have a cookery book but you will see from the photo it is in pristine condition which shows how much I use it!

I only very occasionally use marmite to flavour a dish, much preferring it on toast in a sandwich or with pitta bread, oh and it's wonderful with crisps (chips) but quite a lot of salt so I rarely undulge now. Looking through the recipes in this book it does seem marmite is being used for flavouring. I was quite surprised to to see this book is still available! I had mine back in 1992.

I found another marmite recipe book on Amazon written by Paul Hartley He has also written a Coleman's Mustard book.

Some more recipe ideas here (some are seriously weird Marmite Strawberry/Peanut butter melt yuk- if this had been my first taste of marmite I don't think I would eating it now)
even Gary Rhodes uses marmite!!
and marmite toastie can be found on calorie count.

So Cookiecrumb if you read this just let me know if I need me to bring you another jar or squeezy pot when I next visit Sam!!

Mission accomplished

For those of you who read about the 'Guinness Marmite' hunt and if you also read comments you may already be aware that hubby did complete the task I left him while I flew off to Spain. So as you can see we now have six pots of the stuff waiting to be distributed so if anyone's going to San Fransisco before June let me know !!! (joke)

So we haven't failed you Sam :) :)

Postscript: 25/3/07
I've just tried this on toast with butter and I hate to say it but I can't honestly taste anything different to the regular marmite so what a disappointment- or maybe it's my tastebuds!!!

Marmite Update

I was so convinced that today would be the day I would finally be the owner of several jars of this special marmite. Having been told by Sainsbury's customer services that it would be on the shelves on 7th March, they gave me the name of one store that would definitely stock it and some possibles, I decided a trip across Bristol to the most likely one would bear dividends.
As hubby is still off work he agreed to drive across on my behalf and when the phone rang I thought he was going to say 'they won't let me buy five jars' (I'd already told him if this happened just to go round several times to different checkouts-something he wasn't keen to do). No the problem was they didn't have any and according to the manager it was on his order list as out of stock.
So I am begining to feel that this marmite is so elusive that it doesn't actually exist and it's a figment of someone's imagination. Tomorrow hubby is back to work and will try a store in Bath which is about 12 miles from Bristol and I will be ringing Sainsbury's head office again to see why I was fed a load of bull.... last time I contacted them. So Sam and Beccy and CC I want you to know I am still trying. I'm desperate to find some before I go away on Saturday so that none of us are disappointed but I am beginning to wonder if I'm chasing the end of a rainbow.

BHS (British Home Stores)

If I was clever (like my youngest daughter Beccy) I would write an open letter to British Home Stores. Having just looked for their web site I'm not sure whether to be impressed for their simplicity or more annoyed because it is as bland as their in store customer services. Let me explain:

When Beccy was staying with me at Christmas we went looking for a new coat for my grandaughter and in case you don't want to read the link we found one in BHS. Now unfortunately within six weeks the pull up on zip fastener had broken off, she could still manage to do it up but we felt this was not really acceptable after such little use. On my last trip to Dublin I returned with the coat but no receipt (it had been thrown away) I took the coat back to the store hoping for an exchange. Of course the coats were now in the sale and greatly reduced and they did not have one in the same size. The young lady on customer services was very helpful and rang other stores but to no avail, she discussed with a supervisor who agreed I could try and get it repaired and they would pay the cost if it was not too much. He assured me that if I couldn't get it done I could have a full refund. After chatting with Beccy we decided that it was not really worth it as there would then be additional costs of posting the coat back. So today I went back for the refund and they then told me without the receipt or proof of purchase I could not get a full refund, I argued put my point and the girl who served me last week suddenly appeared, she remembered me but insisted and I quote "I would have told you" the refund would only be for the sale price-noooo I don't think. The manager who dealt with me last week was not on duty and this manager would not budge. When I explained that I had brought the coat over from Dublin the response I got was they have a BHS in Dublin. Really I said "I don't think my daughter realises this as it would have saved us so much trouble," I asked if I could have the address, the manager looked in her book "sorry it's not listed." I think that says it all and I left the store feeling frustrated, angry and realising why I have never liked the store anyway.

The frustration was compounded because I had just been on a wild goose chase to another store ASDA (owned by Walmart) where I had been told I would find this...



But no luck, staff there were equally unhelpful. Both Sam and Beccy want a jar and hubby would like to try it- I am banking on Sainsbury's selling it from March 7th onwards but I have lost faith in what customer services are telling me- maybe my faith will be restored.

I just tried ringing my daughter to be told by my 6 yr old grandson she was out at 'PowerCity' and I'm hoping he was joking when he said he wouldn't tell her I phoned. Must send a text to see if she's back yet.

PS Spoken to my Beccy who now has to send me her credit card statement so that I can prove we bought it at full price and I can see the next problem will be that they will want to refund to her credit card and will want that produced which of course will be impossible.
(my grandson did not tell her I had phoned but worse he had not turned the phone off and the line had been open for over 2 hours which explains why I was getting the engaged tone when I tried to call again- I think he might just be in a little trouble but he's only just beginning to answer the phone)

PPS Just wondered did anyone see the eclipse of the moonlast night, we had a brilliant view around 11pm.

What a waste of good marmite

As you may or may not know my daughter Sam is a huge Marmite fan, as is my other daughter Beccy, her husband, Joules, is a loather (is that a word). The grandchildren used to love it but I'm not sure about their current tastes. So this morning as I enjoyed a very late breakfast of you've guessed it 'marmite and toast' an article in a local paper (Western Daily Press) caught my eye. It was headed ' Love it or Loathe it Marmart'. Apparently artist Dermot Flynn is exhibiting portraits of celebrities done in marmite on pieces of toast at Air Gallery Dover St. London. I looked up his web site and that of the gallery hoping to see more of these creations but was disappointed.


So you will have to make do with this rather out of focus pic from the paper which was very small and did not reproduce very well. I don't really expect you to guess who it is - well have a go anyway (clue- she was a first). Other faces he has depicted are Charlotte Church, Vicoria Beckham David Cameron, Pete Doherty, Simon Cowell to name but a few. Personally, I consider it a waste of marmite but those who loathe the stuff will probably think it has been put to good use!!

PS There's more to follow on New England but I wanted to slip this in and I felt I needed to catch up on cooking for the 'old boy' hence the late breakfast. He recently commented on how much time I was spending at the computer so there's a lovely vegetable soup, spag bog and stewed apple ready for his dinner to keep him sweet.