I love television adverts. Some of them are so simple yet so effective I could watch them on a loop for hours. My current favourite are the Schweppes Christmas Entertainment spots. They are quite effective and very brand savvy.

Enjoy and I hope your Christmas is entertaining!

It seems that for every holiday there is a much loved holiday pie that i cannot eat. For Thanksgiving it's pumpkin pie. For Christmas it the much beloved mince pie. On paper I should really love a mince pie after all it's loaded with cinnamon, cloves, orange peel, brandy and spice. My aversion comes from the fact that the whole pie is centered around raisins and sultanas. Those little wrinkly dried fruits push my gag-factor to the limit.

Now you are probably wondering why I'm spending my time writing about gag inducing mince pies?  Well in my household the search for the perfect mince pie is akin to searching for the perfect little black dress for the holiday party season.  We spend weeks going from shop to shop, buying their best mince pie in the hopes of finding the perfect little pies to consume over the holiday season.  You can't be hasty in the search for the perfect pie and assume that the best pie from last year will be the best pie again this year.

My personal mince pie expert Christian will do the duties as a guest judge. Christian has an opinion on everything, especially mince pies; their merits and shortfalls.

Christian's mince pie expedition has taken him to sample pies from Marks & Spencer, Sainsburys, Fortnum & Mason, Mr Kipplings, Asda, and Tesco.

I remember as a child that when I went to my local K-Mart in October, all I would find was Halloween decorations and costumes. Once November 1st came then the Halloween clobber was marked down and moved to make room for some lovely Thanksgiving paraphernalia, like cut out paper pilgrims and honey-comb tissue-paper turkeys for display on the Thanksgiving table.

Then magically ( I say magically because when you are a kid most things happen like magic) the Christmas aisle would appear on the day after Thanksgiving. Now that's what I call seasonality.

Now a days you get the major department stores (namely Harrods and Selfridges) opening their Christmas departments as soon as the summer merchandise is cleared away in late July. Talk about rushing the seasons. I believe in the effects of global warming on the changing seasons, but this pulling forward of the seasons has got to stop!

One exception that is, Starbucks. Monday lauded the return of the Christmas Drinks Menu.  I have been waiting for this day like kid waiting for Christmas morning to come. Do you want to know what Yuletide libation I sip with utter glee? The Starbucks Eggnog Late of course!

07/10/2009 UPDATE: Harrods no longer stock FACES, however House of Frasers do seem to stock part of the range online and in some stores)Wandering through my partners favourite haunt, Knightbridges finest, Harrod's this evening I was pleasantly surprised to run into an unexpected face in the kitchen department. None other than the gastronomic genius Ferran Adria.

That is a bit of an exaggeration, I did not come face to face with Senior El Bulli himself, but rather his new range of table and cookwares called FACES by Ferran Adria.

I'm not generally a huge fan of 'Chef' branded cookware, utensils and gadgets, but I am in love. In my opinion most 'Chef' branded lines appear to have no real assimilation the the chef that is lending their name. There are a few exceptions to this, but generally I avoid the celebrity chef products. But it this case , I am in L. O. V. E. LOVE!

As a chef I admire and respect Ferran's dedication and attention to every detail at every level of the dining experience. This this dedication can easily be spotted in the FACES range, a range that is filled with little touches of genius that makes the whole collection a must have!

My personal favourites include the 'Frankie' cutlery collection. The pieces sit beautifully n your hand, perfectly weighted, making you wonder what everyday cutlery felt like. It is sold in a 18 piece set, consisting of 6 place setting of knife, fork & spoon. There is a dessert cutlery set, which is the same as the Frankie but in smaller proportions. Each set is priced at £169.00, given the designer is an excellent value.