I finally got myself some Reyka vodka!

When I was in Iceland I only actually had 1 vodka, it was pretty expensive, especially when you’re mixing it with Redbull, it’s expensive here in Newcastle in bars, so you can imagine the prices in Reykjavik. I’ve seen it in the shops for a long time, and always not bothered getting it, but as it was Christmas I decided that I’d go ahead and get a bottle.

It’s not the cheapest vodka, with the bigger, more well known brands like Smirnoff and Absolut much more affordable, but I do like vodkas and have owned so many over the years, from Beluga to F:Fashion Vodka, Roberto Cavalli, Danzka, Wyborowa Exquisite and the others. In the vodka price range it sits around the premium price level, similar to Grey Goose, Ciroc and Belvedere, and cost me around £26.

They say it’s a small batch vodka hand crafted in Iceland, made from Arctic spring water with lava rock filtration. Iceland certainly has the natural resources available like no other, so how does it translate into a vodka?

It’s a really nice premium vodka, smooth and goes down well. It is very clean and crisp, which is something you’d expect when you talk about Iceland and their water. You can tell the difference from this premium vodka to a cheaper alternative, and know where the extra money goes. Where cheap vodka is sharp and uncomfortable to drink, Reyka is strong without being overbearing and easy to drink.

If you are looking for a premium vodka and want to try something a little different to the more commercialised options, I can recommend Rekya vodka.

Did Someone Say Hygge?! 😉

For so long now I have needed to buy a new duvet for my bed, and I wanted to buy a good one. For the past year or two I have talked myself out of getting a new one, my (now old) feather and down duvet was still pretty OK, but had lost it’s “fluffiness” and was quite flat. I had to decide not only which duvet I wanted to get, but also what tog rating I wanted. The TOG rating is pretty simple to understand, the bigger the number the more warm it’s supposed to be; So 4.5 for the summer, and 13+ for the Winter. The fill is also important, there’s natural fill like feathers and down, and synthetic too.

I wanted to get a natural filling one again, so that took one of the options out of the equation. But then it goes further; There’s different qualities of natural fillings too. These are such things like standard goose feather & down, Hungarian, Canadian, Siberian…All different qualities and all at different price points of course. Since this is somewhat of an investment (I don’t buy quits everyday!), I decided to go for something a bit expensive, and got myself a Hungarian Goose Down Duvet.

I could not remember what the tog rating was on my original duvet, I think 13.5, and I was torn between a 10.5 and 13.5 version, than I found a 4.5+9 tog duvet, which is actually two duvets you can clip together to make one. The good points is that it is supposed to keep you warm in the Winter, then in the summer you can put the heavier one away and use the lighter one; It’s like 3 in 1! But you do pay more money for this pleasure, this cost £190 which is pretty expensive, a similar standard goose feather & down only costs £68 for the same 4.5+9 tog set.

I have to say though…This duvet is so warm! It’s been really cold in the past couple of nights, and it’s kept me really toasty. It’s pretty lightweight, but the quality of the fill means it keeps you warm while being light.

The two quilts are easy to put together, and are fixed using 12 clips. Once the duvet is in a cover, it does not move around at all, which is something I was worried would happen.

Overall I am happy with this, and look forward to the hot summer and using the thinner one when we get our amazing hot Summer of course 😉

The two duvets clip together at the corners and all around the edges of the duvet like this.

What a year 2016 was!

For me personally, 2016 was a great year, it did feel like it at least. We did have a lot of sadness with so many celebrity deaths, lots of controversy and bad things going on in the world which just seems to be the norm now, everyone in the country got political with the UK leaving the EU and Brexit, then everyone in the world got political when Donald Trump won the U.S. election. For one reason or another, it was memorable, but I look back on a couple of the highlights positively and think it was a good year for me.

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Let the Santa, see the milk and cookies!

Take Me Out is back for a celebrity special! It will see 30 girls from the older series come back to get a chance to go out with one of the celebrities and jet off to the isle of Fernandos! Previous celebrity guests include Jo Swash and Keith Lemon, and this year Paddy will be looking to get one of the celebs a date with someone from the flirty thirty.

The celebrities looking for a date are model and former rugby international Thom Evans, presenter Roman Kemp and Ritchie Neville from the boyband 5ive. You can watch the show on ITV1 at 8PM on  Saturday 31st December 2016.

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