Friday Favorites - How Did I Miss This?

 

Flicking through You Tube yesterday, I came across this - Inside M&S at Christmas 2025.  I LOVE Marks & Spencer - I shop there every opportunity I have and I'm sorry that I didn't spend more time there when we were in England in December.  I did notice a few of the items in the video when we were there but didn't spend enough time or I would surely have brought some of them home with me.

I learned a lot in the video - I had no idea M&S has a Christmas Panettone and 2025's dark chocolate and cherry version sounds delicious.  I loved listening to Harry, who is in charge of the panettone range, "I love all parts of my job, who doesn't want to eat cake?"  2025's panettone had a perfect elongated crumb and was pillowy and soft.  Not sure I've heard of panettone described this way, but I'll certainly look for it in the next one I buy.

Colin the Caterpillar is huge in the UK too.  I'd seen Peppa the Pig on the shelves, but I missed Colin.  Any mention of a Swiss roll dessert always makes me think of the Great British Baking Show and the sometimes-hilarious attempts to fill and roll a Swiss roll!  Each Christmas, Colin gets a new makeover and in 2025, he was a Christmas cracker.

I found the segment on cheese really interesting.  I guess I never thought about all the research that goes into selecting a new cheese.  I've never heard of a cheese technologist; Amy certainly has a great job, traveling and sampling various cheeses.  In her segment with Chris, a specialist cheese buyer. she calls him "a wizard when it comes to cheese".  Do you have a cheese board during the holidays?  Do you like Manchego?  How about Manchego flavored with mushroom, fig, or black garlic?

I love a Sunday roast dinner, and the Yorkshire pudding wraps in the M&S Cafe sound amazing.  From something that started out "looking like a dog's dinner" to a wrap that delighted cafe customers, it was a hit.  

And finally, party food.  Fish and chips in a one bite picky bit with a mushy pea sauce on top.  What's not to love?

The segment on the renovation and expansion of the Northern Ireland Craigavon M&S was delightful and I just loved Ashley, the manager.  I think I could listen to the Irish lilt of the customers over and over again.  I'm a sucker for the accent!

I hope you'll check out the video - from the product developers to the test kitchens to the store, it's a behind the scenes look at what makes M&S such a fabulous place, not just at the holidays, but every day.