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10 Tips for Celebrating Success with Your Co-Workers

February 21st, 2015

As a manager or supervisor of a start-up or a small business, who is continually striving to exceed expectations, you might not have the chance to celebrate success that your team achieves at the workplace. However, it is essential to celebrate success frequently to boost up the enthusiasm of the team.

A mundane job schedule may lead to an absence of inspiration. So, here are some tips to celebrate success at your workplace.

1. Order in soft drinks or coffee frequently with your workmates, or team members – once a week or fortnightly, for instance. Invest this time offering and praising your highlights and concentrate on making a positive mentality.

2. Look back at your team’s accomplishments and praise the team members publicly. If possible send chocolates online in UK, to each of them for their contributions.

3. Make a custom for closing your work day. For instance, toward the end of each day, take 5 minutes to recognize and reward 2 victories in your daily assignments your team accomplished.

4. Treat yourself or your group (in the event that you have one) when you accomplish a vital objective. Go out for coffee or a lunch together, grant film tickets or gift a spa coupon!

5. Searching for a low-cost choice? Get imaginative and celebrate by shutting down work 30 minutes early one night to allow team members spend some quality time with their family. Surprisingly better, honour yourself or your group a half vacation day!

6. Call a steady colleague, or companion when you get a good client feedback and share it with him or her.

7. Get together with your group or with associates for a drink and discuss reward ideas for motivating the team. For example, declare prizes for performer of the month, innovator of the month and so forth. Award them certificates or gift cards so that they are motivated enough to do their best.

8. Inform team members about what the team has achieved. Publicly announce these achievements. Alternately, tweet it if the online alternative is your style. This gives them a sense of pride.

9. Post customer and business examples of overcoming adversity around your workspace. Letters and testimonials from customers, who acknowledge what you are doing is an awesome approach to commend and keep joined with your business vision. Put photographs of fun or remunerating business occasions on the walls – things that will make you smile and remind you why you appreciate doing what you do.

10. Discover a business mentor or tutor, who will help you to stay positive and frequently commend accomplishment in your life and in your business.

These tips will not only help you celebrate success, but also motivate your team members to offer their best. Celebrating success also forms a close bond amongst the team members and prepares them against all sorts of adversities. It also prepares the team to achieve all the targets that has been set for them. They say, winning is a habit – it’s true.

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Food of the Romantics

February 21st, 2015

In Austen’s brilliant classic Pride and Prejudice, Mr. Darcy had commented that he considered poetry to be the food for love. Modern lovers may scorn at this fanciful notion, but almost every one of them would agree on the fact that chocolate is the universal choice when it comes to expressing sweet feelings! Chocolate cakes, candies, baskets, hampers – you name it and they are popular. You can easily get chocolates delivered in UK thanks to a large number of stores, which stock a wide variety of chocolates and their dishes. But why just stick to plain ol’ chocolates? Why not experiment with chocolates with some interesting fillings?! Here are some filling options that you may want to consider:

  • Brown sugar butter cream  – A perfect combination of creaming butter and brown sugar, this is one filling that is soft to taste and melts instantly when put in the mouth! Chocolates with a stuffing of this are bound to taste delicious. This would be the perfect complement to both dark and milky chocolates and are irresistibly light on one’s palette.

  • Rum raisin nougat – Who can resist this wonderful combination of liqueur and dry fruits with the delicious treat from France, nougat?! With soft nougat mixed with a little bit of rum and raisins, you get a bite in the chocolate that you wouldn’t expect from a plain bar of chocolate. Made out of egg whites and honey, the nougat would be soft and form a perfectly gooey filling for your bar or bob of chocolate.

  • Marzipan – A favourite in wedding cakes, marzipan can be used with a number of ingredients, chocolate being just one among them. A filling made out of almond meal (sweetened ground almonds) and a sweetener such as sugar or honey, this can be had on its own or can be the ultra-sweet filling for dark chocolates. Marzipan can also be mixed with edible food colours to get them in various tinges so you can experiment with green, red, pink or brown hued chocolate marzipan fillings.

  • Ganache – A filling of chocolate inside chocolate? Ganache is prepared by pouring extremely hot cream over chocolate of any sort. The mixture then created must be blended/beaten very well to get a fine filling. You can also include fruit or nut extracts and various types of liqueurs to Ganache to make them more delicious. Some people go the extra mile and also add a dollop of butter and thus, you get really smooth, silky and shiny Ganache filling for your chocolate!

  • Raspberry Cream – Quite a few people would be craving a box of chocolates of any sort after reading about the chocolates and their fillings so far! But, if you are looking for a lighter and fruity filling to the heavier flavour of chocolate, you should try chocolates with raspberry cream fillings. Their acidic flavour, pretty pink shade combined with a hint of vanilla and finely crushed raspberries in fluffy cream are heavenly delights that will only enhance the magic of the chocolate it is put in.

 So get creative with the traditional tasty delight – chocolate – by experimenting with these and many other types of fillings that you will find in the market. Coconut, buttercream with apricot or mocha, peanut butter, peppermint – the list is endless as should be your quest for new flavours in chocolate!

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Easy homemade Vanilla fudge recipe

February 19th, 2015

Have a sweet tooth? Well, the good news is that you do not have to rush to the nearby patisserie to get your fill of the sweetness. With easy-to-make recipes at home, you can make your own goodies and they will be filled with the goodness of hand selected products and time-tested recipes.

So, whether it is a celebratory occasion or just the sweet cravings that wake you up in the middle of the night, here are some easy recipes that we think will easily become your go-to-recipes for all things chocolate:

CREAMY VANILLA FUDGE

Ingredients:

  • Granulated sugar – 1 lb
  • Butter – 3 0z
  • Milk – 150 ml
  • Evaporated milk – 6 0z
  • Vanilla extract – few drops
  • Vegetable oil

Method:

  • Take the sugar and tip it into a heavy based pan along with the butter, milk, and evaporated milk. Heat gently and remember to stir frequently until the sugar has completely dissolved.

  • Bring the mixture to a boil without stirring, and continue to boil until the sugar thermometer reads 116°C (240°F). If you do not have a sugar thermometer, you can test the readiness of the fudge by taking a small amount of the sugar syrup and spooning it into iced water – the sugar should immediately curl into a soft ball.

  • Keep stirring the sugar fudge mix so that it does not stick and burn. Then, remove the pan from the heat and add a few drops of the vanilla extract into the mix. Beat the fudge mix with a wooden spatula or spoon until it thickens.

  • Pour the fudge mix into a shallow square tin that has been brushed with a little vegetable oil. Leave it at room temperature for about 10-15 min to set. If you are in a hurry, you can pop the tin into the fridge and cool the fudge faster.

  • Now, cut the fudge into small squares. Cool completely before eating.

  • For decoration, you can use sugar sprinkles or edible sugar pieces. Fruits like frozen strawberries and crushed honeycomb also work well and enhance the subtle vanilla flavouring of the fudge. You can use the fruits as flavouring or just sprinkle them on top while the fudge sets to add the extra crunch.

  • Once you are done, you can seal the fudge pieces in zip-seal bags for storing.

 

Cooking time involved: About 15 min

Total time taken: 35 min

Expert tips:

  • To add a little zing to the fudge, you can sprinkle in some salt while you are cooking. Adding a teaspoon full of sea salt to the mix when it has reached the soft-ball stage will only bring out the delicate flavours.

  • While cooling the fudge in the fridge, do not leave it there for a long time or the sugar will congeal and harden and it will become impossible to cut it into pieces.

Homemade treats are great but if it seems tedious, then online chocolates delivery – does help in moments of crisis! This easy recipe makes great treats for kids, as well as for gifts. So make it, bag it, and share it – after all a sweet tooth deserves a royal treatment doesn’t it?

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Easy homemade chocolate gift recipe

February 18th, 2015

Chocolates make for great gifts. Whether it is Valentine’s Day when giving chocolates is considered a norm, or any other special occasion that calls for exchange of gifts, you can never go wrong with a hamper of assorted chocolates that everyone can enjoy. There are so many different varieties of chocolates that you will almost always find something to suit the other person’s tastes. Almost, unless the person in question just happens to not have a sweet tooth as some sort of a genetic quirk!

Now, as much as chocolates are great there is something even greater – handmade chocolates made with tender loving care and dripping with all the goodness of organic products sans preservatives. So, if you are one of those people, who love everything handmade, this recipe for simple homemade chocolate gifts will come as an absolute delight

 

CHOCOLATE NUT BARK

What you need:

 

·         Chopped semi-sweet chocolate – 12 ounces

·         Mixed nuts – 2 1/2 cups

 

What you need to do:

·First, take a heatproof bowl and start melting the chocolate. You need to set the heatproof bowl over a saucepan with gently simmering water (take care not to put the bowl inside the pan) and stir continuously as the chocolate melts.

·Take a baking pan lined with parchment paper. For the purpose of making this nut bark, a 9-by-13 inch baking pan would do perfectly.

·Spread the melted chocolate in the pan forming a thin even layer.

 

·Sprinkle the chocolate layer in the pan with a layer of nuts. Depending on your taste, you can keep the nuts whole or chop them up to get fine pieces.

 

·Refrigerate in the fridge for about 30 minutes, or until the chocolate layer hardens perceptibly.

 

·Break the bark into pieces. Remember this chocolate bark will keep at room temperature for up to a week.

Storing and packaging the gift:

This chocolate bark, as with other homemade chocolates, will keep up to a week at room temperature. Refrigeration will not help much as the chocolate may just happen to ‘bloom’ – this happens when the cocoa butter separates out leaving white spots in the chocolate layer – so remember to tell the person you are gifting the chocolate this. Also, it is always best to prepare the chocolate bark the day before or on the day of the celebration since it hardly takes time to make. This way, you would prolong the shelf life of the chocolate.

For packaging, ensure that you buy a tin box which is airtight. If you are making an assortment of chocolate gifts, you can package them in layers with wax paper strips or food-safe coloured tissues between each layer. You can then decorate the box with handmade name tags, and colourful paper and ribbons for a festive feel.

Chocolates and sweet treats often rule the day. And they are easy to make, try this simple recipe at home! If it seems difficult, you can always buy chocolate gifts online for your loved ones.

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Delightful chocolates for your needs

January 23rd, 2015

Chocolate is a product made from cocoa mixed butter and sugar. The products made from the cocoa beans are called by different names in various parts of the world. The type of chocolates made usually depends on the amount of cocoa used in the process. The chocolate industry uses chocolate liquor containing equal proportions of cocoa butter and milk solids. Cocoa butter is the fatty part of the cocoa bean extracted through segregation methods. On the other hand, cocoa solids are the non-fat parts of the cocoa bean. Different flavours of chocolates are produced by varying the quantity of the ingredients used in the process of making chocolate.

Types of Chocolates

Unsweetened chocolate

The taste of this chocolate is bitter and used for baking. The flavour is far from good and it is not eatable. This type is best used for making recipes that absolutely require adding of unsweetened chocolate. The chocolate is bitter as it contains 100% cocoa solids and half of it might be the cocoa butter.

Bittersweet chocolate

This bittersweet chocolate contains at least 35% of cocoa solids. The best quality of bittersweet chocolate contains 60-80% of cocoa solids according to the brand. If the chocolate is bitter, the content of sugar is usually less giving it a rich chocolate flavour. Bittersweet chocolate is usually used for baking and cooking. European style of bittersweet chocolate may contain a larger amount of cocoa solids making it bitter taste.

Semi-sweet chocolate

This is known as a classic baking chocolate that is available in the most grocery stores. Semi-sweet chocolate is often used in baking to make cakes, brownies, and cookies. As this chocolate has a good sweet flavour with 40% cocoa solids, it is well suited for baking.

Sweet dark chocolate

Sweet dark chocolate is very similar to the semi-sweet chocolate. It is very difficult to distinguish them. If sweet dark chocolate needs to be added to a recipe, the semi-sweet chocolate can also be added instead.

Dark chocolate

Dark chocolate contains a high amount of cocoa solids and a small amount of milk. Dark chocolate can be any one of sweet, semi-sweet or bitter, bittersweet. If you need to use dark chocolate for a recipe, you need to use semi sweet dark chocolate first.

Milk chocolate

The milk chocolate is made with 10-20% of cocoa solids and more than 12% of milk solids. Milk chocolates are never used in baking. In some cases, milk chocolate is used for baking cookie.

White chocolate

The white chocolate is made from cocoa butter, emulsifier, milk, vanilla, and other flavourings. There are non-fat ingredients from the cocoa beans used in making white chocolates. White chocolate cannot be called as white chocolates in some countries as it contains very little amount of cocoa solids. The white chocolates are used to make desserts because of its mild chocolate flavour.

Hope this information helps you to find the right type of chocolate for gifting or simply to eat delights, and with the internet at your disposal, one can get their favourite chocolates delivered next day without any hassles.

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