Friday Cocktails!

Thank goodness Friday is finally here.  We love this day of the week and the Friday Feeling of anticipation for the weekend is catching.  A lot of people enjoy a drink over the weekend, so we thought it might be nice to share some of our favourite Cocktail recipes with you, just in time for the Festive Season.

The weather outside has turned very frosty, with temperatures plumeting.  Fortunately as Christmas is just around the corner we have the most wonderful excuse to start making Mulled Wine or Gluhwein. 

The Gadget Hub Gluhwein recipe is:
1 cinnamon stick
6 cloves
1 bottle of red wine (we recommend Namaqua Soft & Fruity Red only £4.99)
30ml port (try our Krohn LBV port for £13.75)
1 tablespoon sugar
lemon & orange, thinly sliced
Combine cinnamon, cloves, wine, port, sugar and lemon/orange in a heavy based pan.  Heat gently without boiling.  Serve warm; do not strain.

The festive season always needs a bit of Sparkle - there are lots of different ways to use Champagne or Sparkling wine in cocktails, but our personal favourite is the Champagne Cocktail.

The Gadget Hub Champagne Cocktail recipe is:
1 sugar cube
dash bitters
15ml brandy
chilled champagne (We recommend J.M.Gremillet at just £17.50 or why not use our Dolci Colline Prosecco at £9.75)
Place the sugar cube in a champagne flute.  Add a dash of bitters and then the brandy.  Slowly top up with champagne.  Delicious!

TOP TIP:  When making chilled cocktails pop your glasses in the freezer for 10 minutes before starting.  You can also dip the rim of the glass in lemon juice and then in sugar for a nice frosting effect.

For the kids, drivers or non-drinkers why not consider the non-alcoholic classic Shirley Temple. 
The Gadget Hub Shirley Temple recipe is:
dash of grenadine
lemonade
ginger ale
Place some ice in a highball glass and add a dash of grenadice.  Fill to the top with equal measures of lemonade and ginger ale.   

Enjoy your Friday Night!

Stocking Fillers for 2010

Where does the time go!  We all know how busy we get in the run-up to Christmas Day and it's easy to forget about the all essential Stocking Fillers.   We've created our guide to the top 10 Stocking Filler Gifts available at Gadget Hub in Dunblane to help make sure you don't miss out on the smaller must-have items for this year!

1.  Disney Club Penguin Puffle - these are the cute fluffy pets of penguins in the ever popular Disney Club Penguin online game.  Great for boys and girls we have a great selection in stock including the 4" puffles at £6.50 or the 2" keychain puffles at £3.99.

The puffles come in a variety of colours with different facial expressions making them the perfect collectable cuddly toy.  

2.  Littlest Pet Shop LED Keychains - Girls love to collect the LPS range of characters and these LED light-up keychains are excellent for stocking fillers at just £4.99.  With 4 designs to choose from they can clip onto most bags or backpacks, or even be added to a coat to create a funky zip pull.

 

3. Party Animals - Ideal for little girls this christmas these are collectable bears who come with interchangeable outfits.  Priced at £1.99 for individual foil packs or £3.49 for a 2 pack.  These little bears come with a string that can be attached to bags, coat zips, DS consoles or phones. 

4.  Lego LED Key Lights - Perfect for boys the lego characters come in 4 different designs for you to collect, priced at £5.99 for the simple Lego Man Key Light or £6.99 for the various Lego City Men Key Lights.  These are fabulously bright, making them ideal to hang off a schoolbag during the winter months, and the perfect size to squeeze into a stocking.  

5.  Lego Playmat Zipbins - Every parent knows what it's like to get out of bed in the morning only to step painfully onto a piece of Lego left lying around.  This playmat zipbin will make sure that kids can keep their Lego together in one place.  Shaped like a Lego mans head, it cleverly unzips to create a perfect playmat.  Priced at £9.99 it's a great stocking filler that's sure to please the kids - and mum & dad too!

6.  Mighty Beanz - These collectable beanz are great for boys and girls alike.  Available from just £1 for an individual foil pack, or at £2.99 for a 3 pack, which may contain one of the rare small beanz.  Great size for stocking fillers - and a collectors case is also available priced at £9.99 to store all the beanz safely.

7.  Superstars Gogo's - The latest design from Gogo's Crazy Bones - these little critters come in a new flocked coating complete with a little brick shaped home.  Priced at £1.99 they are great fillers for boys and girls.  The Gold Series is also available in store at £8.99 for the set, including collector tin. 

8.  Star Wars Force Attax Cards - The majority of boys (and a few men) absolutely love the Star Wars series.  Star Wars Force Attax are a collectable set, priced at just 50p for a pack of 5 cards. With over 190 different designs to collect, why not pick up a collectors pack to for £4.99 which comes complete with a special binder to store all the cards.

9.  Club Penguin Card-Jitsu Water Cards - Due to be released on 26th November, these are the latest in the series to complement the Disney Club Penguin game.  Individual Packs priced at £1 come with 6 cards, 1 code card and 1 sticker sheet.  Collectors Packs priced at £4.99 and Collector Tins priced at £9.99 will also be available in store.  Great for boys and girls! 

10.  Silly Bandz - Collected by boys and girls these shaped rubber band bracelets have been the must-have trend for 2010.  Priced at £3.99 for a pack of 24, there are lots of designs to collect.  Perfect size and price to include in everyones Christmas Stocking this year.

So that's our round up for you!  If you want to order any of the great stocking fillers we've reviewed simply e-mail us at shop@mygadgethub.co.uk or call us on 07725 161 837.  Payment can be taken over the phone and we can post throughout the UK - or simply reserve to collect at store.

Independent Wines by the Case

I know that a lot of you enjoyed our wine tasting last week, so by popular demand below are the details of the festive cases we've put together for you.


Simply Wine Case
6 bottle case £35 – equivalent bottle price of £5.83
12 bottle case £65 – equivalent bottle price of £5.41

Primo Prosecco - Italy – A soft sparkling wine with a light citrus finish and gentle fizz.
Cape Mountain Sauvignon Blanc – South Africa – Refreshing and unoaked fruity white
Mirabello Pinot Grigio – Italy – A fresh dry white with gentle floral and citrus aromas
Seppelt Unoaked Chardonnay – Australia – Medium bodied, bright fresh and enticing
Val de Salis Merlot – France – A well balanced wine with rich cherry aromas
Tolva Cabernet Sauvignon – Chile – Intense fruity full flavoured red

Wine Lovers Case
6 bottle case £50 – equivalent bottle price of £8.33
12 bottle case £95 – equivalent bottle price of 7.91

Prosecco Le Dolci Colline – Italy – Shop owner Helen’s favourite! Light and creamy fizz
Fairhills Chenin Blanc - Chardonnay – South Africa – Fairtrade refreshing fruity white
Chablis La Colombe- France – Classic Chablis with creamy fruit and rich buttery sensations
Kuki Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc – New Zealand – Passion fruit and gooseberry aromas
Vina Paceta Rioja – Spain – Vibrant, potent, fresh and balanced
Wolf Blass Bilyara Shiraz – Australia – Medium bodied wine with spicy fruit flavours

World Explorers Case
12 bottle case £80.00 – equivalent bottle price of £6.66

Prosecco le Dolci Colline – Italy - Shop owner Helen’s favourite! Light and creamy fizz
Le Charme Sauvignon Blanc – France – Refreshing and quenching on the palate
Mirabello Pinot Grigio – Italy – A fresh dry white with gentle floral and citrus aromas
Finca El Picador Chardonnay – Chile – Full of citrus with an almond aftertaste
ARA Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc – New Zealand – Dry and aromatic with clean finish
Niel Joubert Chenin Blanc – South Africa – A luscious white wine with fruit finish
Chateau Berjuquey Bordeaux Claret – France – Fresh fruity aroma, intense plum, dry finish.
Rioja Lanzado Joven – Spain – Produced in the first Bio-climatic vineyard in Europe, fruity
Chianti Castello di Gabbiano –Italy – Bold Tuscan red from the Sangiovese grape
Santa Luisa Malbec - Argentina – A pleasant softly tannic red wine, spicy undertones
Anakena Cabernet Sauvignon – Chile – Smooth on the palate with cherry and spice aromas
Cockburns 2001 Late Bottled Vintage Port – Portugal¬ – Full and fruity port with a long finish

Sparkling Sensation
6 bottle case £69.00

Pink of Yellowglen x 2 – Australia – Excellent fun sparkling wine
Prosecco Le Dolci Colline x 3 – Italy –Light and creamy fizz with vanilla undertones
Champagne Marie Stuart NV x 1 – France – Named after Mary Queen of Scots, elegant and refined champagne that rivals many of the famous champagne houses

We can also put together a case of your choice - simply drop into the shop or e-mail us shop@mygadgethub.co.uk for details - and we offer free delivery around the Dunblane area. Orders for Christmas are being taken now.

Festive Sparkle

Well now that fireworks night is past we are officially allowed to mention the "C" word....Christmas!  In order to get your party season off to a bang we'll be hosting a Wine Tasting evening in the shop on Thursday 11th November from 4pm - 8pm. 

Our experts will be on hand to answer any questions you have about our selection of Independent Wines.  We will also have some of the wines that feature in our Pre-selected cases for you to try - these include the "Simply Wine Case", the "Wine Lovers Case" and our "World Explorers Case". 

Gez and I will be around to help you with your purchases, and to tell you more about the wines we like the best, especially our "Sparkling Sensation" case which we personally designed for the festive season. 

Are you looking for wine as a gift without any hassle factor?  We also offer 2 bottle gift boxes which start at just £12.50 for our Chilean set.  If you are looking to splash out a bit more then our Sparkling & Flute sets are fantastic at £25.00 for our Prosecco set or £45 for our Champagne set - all packaged and ready to present to a loved one this Christmas. 

So for the best of independent wines from a local shop, just pop along to see us and we'll help solve your wine dilemas this Christmas.