Last weekend whilst Maison Cupcake was whizzing through the air between Blogger and WordPress I was whizzing through the air myself from Birmingham to Dublin.
Ted was safely despatched on Grandma’s boat for the weekend whilst Nick and I had two nights away as a joint celebration for our wedding anniversary and his 40th birthday.
We spent a peaceful if somewhat wet weekend taking refuge in various shops and cafes along the way.
Most of our meals were eaten on Exchequer Street and I had spied the Butler’s Chocolate Cafe with interest. We managed to shelter from the drizzle and squeeze in a visit for hot chocolate and a macaroon before leaving for the airport on Monday morning.
Butler’s Chocolate Cafe is a chain of a dozen or so branches mostly dotted around Dublin and others in Cork and Galway. There are also a handful further afield – New Zealand, New Jersey and the UK one is at Westfield White City. I shall definitely be popping by on my next shopping trip there.
I cannot think of an equivalent chain in the UK, this lovely cafe has a very continental feel and would not look out of place in Belgium. They sell hot drinks, their own brand of chocolates and a selection of cakes and cookies. There are lots of beautifully wrapped gift sets to take away too.
Seated opposite a mesmerising flat screen tv showing a loop of what can only be described as chocolate porn, we each ordered the hot chocolate – one white and one normal and shared a coconut macaroon. Since I have made so many macarons, I thought I ought to try the coconut macaroon version. I think I’ll stick to the French style in future but it made a nice change.
Alas our trip to Dublin was too brief to go to Butler’s more than once but I will shortly do some other posts about other places discovered on our visit.
In the meantime, it’s time for that giveaway….
Giveaway – Interflora Tower of Treats hamper
To celebrate the relaunch of Maison Cupcake on WordPress I am offering you a chance to indulge yourself too with this fantastic giveaway from the hampers selection at Interflora. The Tower of Treats hamper has an RRP of £60.
You may not have realised that these folks don’t just deliver flowers but that they have a range of foodie treats for all occasions too.
Take a look at this list of what you could receive in this giveaway:
- Presented in a Tower of Black Wheatbraid Baskets with Ribbon Tie
- Rietvallei Estate “John B” White Wine 2005 75cl
- Edinburgh Preserves Sun dried Tomato Chutney 90g
- Cocoa bean Chocolate Marshmallows 150g
- Farmhouse Honey Crunch Biscuits 150g
- Gift Ballotin of Belgian Chocolates 6’s
- Gift Ballotin of Belgian Chocolates 6’s
- Fudges Cheddar Cheese Straws 100g
- Cairnsmhor Orange Spicy Biscuits 200g
- Mr McKenzie’s Oval Basil Biscuits 150g
- Cocoa bean Choc Bar with Chili Flakes 100g
- Treegate Freedom Teas 15’s
- Dormen Salted Pretzel 25g
- Mrs Bridges Four Berry Preserve 113g
- Cairnsmhor Tomato Chili Cocktail Oatcakes 150g
- Kshocolat Cocoa Dusted Coffee Beans 40g
- The Fudge Tree Clotted Cream Fudge 125g
- Cocoa bean Cube with Chocolate Peanuts/ Raisins 100g
- Edinburgh Preserves Wholegrain Mustard 100g
- The MacAllan Whisky Marmalade 113g
- Kshocolat Toffee Balls 40g
- Highland Croft Mini Bites Apricot & Mango Crumblies 125g
Rules
This giveaway is open to all readers with a UK mailing address. International readers are also welcome to comment on the post however a new name will be selected until a UK reader has been drawn. The winner will be chosen using an online randomiser and announced in a subsequent post on this blog.
There is one mandatory way to enter and several ways to get bonus entries. You must leave a further separate comment for each bonus entryotherwise they will not be counted.
Closing date: midnight BST on Monday September 20th.
1. MANDATORY: Leave a comment on the bottom of this post.Note for entrants commenting without website addresses: You will also need to leave your name/town in the comment and then email me separately at sarah AT maisoncupcake DOT com to tell me your own email address and confirming your name/town so I know which commenter you were. Unless I can match up your comments with valid contact details, I won’t know who you are.2. SECOND CHANCE TO WIN:Using Twitter, Tweet a link to this giveaway as follows “Interflora hamper RRP £60 to be won @maisoncupcake blog” with a link to this post as it may no longer be on the home page by the time you tweet. Then leave a separate comment saying you’ve done so.3. THIRD CHANCE TO WIN:Follow this blog with Google Friend Connect in the side bar of this blog. Then leave a separate comment saying you’ve either just done so or already were.4. FOURTH CHANCE TO WIN:“Like” this blog on the Maison Cupcake Facebook page and then leave a separate comment saying you’ve either just done so or already were.5. FIFTH CHANCE TO WIN:Share a link to this post on Facebook then… you know by now… leave a separately comment saying you’ve done so.
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