Our new intern

Name: Anissa Selmani or Nissou
Age: 18
Occupation: Trainee in WOE and I study International trade and Management inToulouse.

Where are you from?I currently live in Toulouse, south of France. People call my city “PinkCity” because of its wealth in art monuments, most of which are built in red brick.  I live in Toulouse because of my studies but I am from Lavelanet in Ariège, which is near the border of Spain.  I go home at the weekends.  It is a lovely area with lots of natural beauty.

Do you enjoy living in Toulouse and where do you like best?The two places I love most in Toulouse are Capitole de Toulouse and Quai de la Daurade.  In these beautiful places I can spend my time reading, watching people, listening to music and having fun.




Courtesy of Salvatore Vuono / freedigitalphotos.net



 

How long are you in London for?
I’m in London for 2 months.

How are you finding London so far?Rainy!  But London is beautiful and it always surprises me.  The streets, buildings, people, everything is different and the city amazes me.  The people I’ve had a chance to meet are friendly, nice and cool, but also quiet!

What were your first thoughts on London when you arrived?Again, rainy!  At first I did not realise I was inLondon– it didn’t register.  I’ve always wanted to come here to discoverLondonand learn more about the city.  I look forward to doing that.

Is this your first time in England?Yes! I’m so happy to be there!

What will you miss most about France while you are away?My Mum, my bed and my best friend!  No seriously, except my mom and Nawel my bestfriend, I don’t feel I will miss France too much because every day I am discovering news things so I don’t have time to miss anything.

France is known for its cheese.  Do you like cheese?Not all of them, but I have my favourite! Try it, it’s called “Leerdammer”. Oh my, I have never tasted a cheese like this.

What is your favourite and least favourite food?Simply, I love a good plate of pasta with grated cheese and also the couscous my mum makes.  I really don’t like ham or fish.



Courtesy of Laura Collins



 

If you could travel anywhere in the world right now, where would you go?Like all people my age I’d like to go to theUSA.  But I loveLondon, it seems a really free city.  I have found Londoners to be more open minded than French people.

If you were an animal what would you be and why?A cat. I don’t really know why, but I love cats. They look so cute and I love it when they come to me for a hug.

Do you know any jokes?My laugh is a joke, so I don’t have to add anything more. Aha!  Indeed my laugh is very communicative and cheerful.

Can you speak any languages and if so, what?Oh yes. I speak English, French, Arabic, Chinese, Occitan, Spanish, and some words in others languages.

What would be your dream job?I’d like to work in human resources or a role in which I’ll be in contact with people. I really love people.  I like getting to know them, helping them and generally just listening to them.

How was your first day?I was afraid and fearful that I wouldn’t understand what people said to me or asked me to do. But now, it’s ok. Everyone puts me at ease. I have my desk, and people are really nice with me.

Do you like Jeremy?Yes, he’s good with me. He’s really respectful and friendly with his employees. I’m just waiting to see him secretly speaking French.  I know he can speak it a bit!

Does Rolf scare you?No, he makes me laugh. He looks funny but I don’t really know him yet.

Do you like Laura?
Yes, a lot. She has patience with me. And she tries to understand my English, aha.
I love the whole What On Earth team and even though I haven’t spoken with everyone yet, I will do as soon as possible

Which of the What On Earth products would you most like to try?Maybe, for my birthday, I’ll try one of the cakes! I think chocolate cheesecake would be the best.

Which of the Simply Nectar flavours do you want to try?Peach. It’s my favourite fruit so why not?

Simply Nectar is made in Provence.  That’s in France!  Have you been there?Yes, it’s not so far from Marseille.  I know this area. It’s really beautiful.

If you were to launch a new flavour of Simply Nectar, what would it be?Hmm, maybe Cherry or Lychee.

What do you expect from this internship?To be more autonomous and to learn how a company works. I want to help the company, learn their knowledge and share my knowledge with them. I also plan to work hard and do my utmost to satisfy everyone.

No sugar warnings needed for Simply Nectar

The results of a British survey are blazoned across the news today because they show that consumers consistently underestimate the amount of sugar contained in milkshakes, smoothies and some fruit juices.
This means that people are consuming more calories per day than they realise.  In fact, the research carried out by the University of Glasgow also suggests that the average person in the UK consumes almost 3,150 calories through non alcoholic liquid intake.  This equates to almost 450 calories a day.

 

The survey asked more than 2,000 Britons to estimate how many teaspoons of sugar were in a typical serving of a selection of drinks.   The research showed that the participants “significantly misjudged” the levels found in milkshakes, smoothies and some fruit juices.

Amazingly, pomegranate juice contained nearly 18 teaspoons more sugar in a serving than people realised.   Participants guessed four teaspoons when it actually contains 22.  Pure apple juice had four more teaspoons than people thought and a chocolate milkshake had 7.5 teaspoons more.  Consumers guessed it contained six when actually it contains more than 13.5 teaspoons of sugar. Serving sizes varied.

Courtesy of graur codrin/freedigitalphotos.net

Participants were also asked to estimate how many teaspoons of sugar were in fizzy drinks but they actually overestimated the amount.  This goes to show that consumers are not aware by the levels of sugar in any soft drinks, which could be down to being misinformed.

The worse part of this story is that certain soft drinks could be adding to obesity levels because half of the participants who admitted to drinking three or more sugary drinks in a day said they did not compensate by reducing the calorie intake of their food.

UK guidelines recommend that added sugars – those used to sweeten food, fizzy drinks, and fruit juices – should not make up more than 10 per cent of the total energy we get from food. This is around 50g a day.

Our answer to this problem is to drink Simply Nectar!  Sorry, we don’t mean to blow our own trumpet but look at the facts about us:

• Simply Nectar drinks contain pure fruit
• They are free from pesticides, colours and refined sugars
• If the drinks do need sweetening at all only natural grape juice is used – definitely no sugar!
• The fruit is sourced locally to the production site in Provence, south of France, and it is organic where possible
• What’s more, our drinks are made in an ethical fashion.  In fact, the production site is almost self sufficient.  For example, any fruit leftovers are turned into a hard matter and fed to livestock.  The water used to clean the juicing machinery gets filtered and purified and is also fed to livestock
  

We would love to try and educate the nation on sugar levels in soft drinks but that could take us a while.  So at the moment we’ll just give out a big clue: GO FOR SIMPLY NECTAR! 

So there we have it…simple!

Simply sugarfree.

Simply Nectar

(Main story from PressAssociation)

Exotic food exploration continues

The quest for exotic fruits in Borneo continued so I visited a few more markets to see what I could find.  I went to Kuching’s Sunday market, which intriguingly actually starts on Saturday morning.  It runs until late Saturday night and then starts again at the crack of dawn on Sunday, finishing around lunchtime on Sunday.  The stall owners come from miles away - a complete other part of Borneo - so they actually sleep at the market so they can sell as late as possible and start again the following morning as early as they can.  

I also visited an indoor food market in a town called Sibu, about 114 miles north east of Kuching.  In was in Sibu that that I saw an even wilder variety of new and interesting food – from fruits and vegetables to meats and fish.  The colours and smells were once again incredible, although not always a blessing on the nose!

While looking at all the glorious but strange foods, I realised that I should tell you more about ALL of what I saw, not just the exotic looking fruit.  I can't keep all of those delights from you.  What follows will therefore consist of a photo diary of the different types of produce that I discovered.  I have to be honest, the names of some of the food are still missing – mainly because I don’t speak Malay and the stall owners didn’t speak English.  Still, it was exciting enough just looking at all the products, and of course tasting them where possible.  If you know any of the names please let me know.

Indoor market at Sibu

 

These may look unappetising but the fruit inside was sweet and juicy

My investigation into Borneo food was helped a great deal by an awesome local man called Ming.  He was superb and in the evenings he took me out of town to the local food courts where we tucked into some of the most delicious food I have ever eaten.  It was here that I tried a lot of local delicacies - from sting ray to jungle fern.  Below is a picture of some fresh jungle fern at the market.  It's so tasty when cooked with chillis and served as a side dish.  Mmmm.

Jungle fern

What alarmed me most about the markets across Borneo and, come to think of it, several other countries I have visited is the lack of cleanliness, hygiene and proper storage of the food.  The fish and meat, for example, just sits out in the heat with flies and other insects doing a jolly dance on it all until they are beaten away by the stall owners.  At least the flies are having an absolute blast!  Having said this, all the fish that I sampled while in Borneo was absolutely delicious so I can't grumble too much.  When in Rome and all that...

So there we have it.  The latest in a long line of photos that illustrate my time in Borneo, soaking up the local food, culture and traditions.  I'll be sure to regale more stories and photos from the rest of my trip, which took me to Australia, Singapore and Bali.  Until then...

Simply Borneo.

Simply Nectar

Simply Nectar goes exotic

As you may know, I am currently undertaking an extremely exciting period of travel.  That's right, I've packed my bag and have hit the road in search of awesome adventures and new experiences.  I'm not only doing it on behalf of myself but also for Simply Nectar and our friends at What On Earth.  I feel my travels can help with research and future ideas.

At the moment I am based in Sydney, Australia, and I have been here for just under a week.  I have another week to go and I'm excited about the prospect of what the next few days here will bring.  Before here I was in Kuching, Borneo, for a week and my time there was unforgettable.  The part of Malaysian Borneo that I saw was magical and I would love to explore more of the area.  I have also had a brief stopover in Singapore, which is a country I will be spending a few more days in next week.  Unfortunately it has rained pretty much everywhere I've been but I'm trying not to let that stop my adventures.

Tropical storm in Singapore

One of the biggest elements of my journey so far has been the food and drink that I've tried.  This gave me inspiration and encouraged me to go in search of new fruits that could be used to make delicious Simply Nectar.  We already have eight exciting flavours but we're always keeping our eyes peeled for more.  There are so many different types of fruit out there after all.

My investigations into different fruits started in Borneo and got off to a brilliant start.  Not only could I admire the fruit and all the colours and smells they offered (the durian fruit not included) I could also taste them.  The kind people at the markets allowed me, a clueless foreigner, to tuck into the fruits they were offering before buying them.  I think this was mainly due to the fact they got a good laugh out of watching me eat these fruits, many of which I had no idea how to eat.  Some had hard skin that needed to be peeled, some had stones in them, some needed to be slurped, some chewed and some sucked.  Eventually, after sampling lots of new types of fruit, I got round to eating the durian fruit.  This is the fruit I was most intrigued about as I saw it many years ago when I travelled through Thailand but never got round to trying it.  I was therefore looking forward to giving it a go.  The durian fruit is an interesting looking fruit - it is hard, green and rough on the outside but once cracked open the middle offers beautiful, bright orange fleshy fruit.  Looks can be deceiving though.  The durian fruit may appear amazing but it gives off a pungent pong.  To put it better, it stinks!  In Singapore the durian fruit is banned from public areas because it smells so bad.  And sadly, for me, the smell overpowered the taste.  The fruit tasted just as bad as it smelt.  It wasn't sweet like people described it, it was more horrible than anything else.  What makes it worse is that the stringy fruit got stuck in my teeth so for hours afterwards all I could taste was the eggy, unsavoury flavour of the durian fruit.  Now, don't get me wrong, many people love eating durian.  It is a bit of a delicacy in Asia but for me it was not an experience I would like to repeat.  I'm glad I did it and am pleased to say I finally got round to tasting durian fruit but would I do it again?  Never!  Maybe I had a bad one, maybe it wasn't ripe....maybe it was just vile!  Either way at least I got to try it and I can safely say we will not be going in for a durian fruit Simply Nectar.  I wouldn't put anybody through it!

As well as the durian fruit, there were lots of other exotic looking fruits through Borneo.  Can you name any of the following?

Send your ideas to laura@whatonearth.co.uk, put them on our Facebook page or tweet them to us on Twitter - @simplynectar.

Simply exotic,

Simply Nectar

Grab yourself a slice of natural love

Valentine’s Day got us in the mood for some lurrrve this week but rather than purchase silly presents or wait in for that delivery of roses (that never did turn up) we thought we’d invest our time in other love related things…aphrodisiacs.  Yes, you read that right.  We did say aphrodisiacs.  We wanted to see what natural aphrodisiacs exist in the world so we did a bit of research, and we were actually pretty darn pleased with our findings.  It turns out that certain fruits, including one particular fruit that comes in the form of a Simply Nectar drink, are aphrodisiacs.  Hurrrah.  Get drinking and get loving, that’s what we say!

To get your natural juices flowing, as it were, you should opt for the Raspberry Simply Nectar.  This is the drink of choice because apparently raspberries are high in vitamin C and “invite love”.  Sounds good to us!

As well as raspberries you can also tuck into bananas and strawberries.  Bananas are obviously rather phallic shaped but they are also rich in potassium and B vitamins, which are necessities for sex hormone production.  Well I never.  Tuck in boys and girls.  We used to do a Banana Simply Nectar and it was delicious.  Why don’t we do this anymore??  I better speak to the boss about this one…



BRING BACK BANANA SIMPLY NECTAR!!



Other treats include:

• Almonds
• Oysters
• Pine Nuts
• Chocolate
• Carrots
• Aniseed
• Coriander
• Vanilla
• Liquorice
• Pineapple
• Asparagus



Coutesy of Paul / FreeDigitalPhotos.net



• Avocado
• Mustard
• Nutmeg
• Garlic
• Ginger
• Coffee
• Fennel
• Honey
• Figs  



Courtesy of Paul / FreeDigitalPhotos.net



And last but not least, and our personal favourite ….. wine.

What better excuse to feast upon some of the most delicious ingredients going.  We all know what you’re going to be up to this weekend don’t we ;)

Simply aphrodisiacs.

Simply Nectar

Appley chocolate and chocolatey apples

Today is Chocolate Day.  Hurrah.  You know what this means, right?  Yep, you guessed it, everybody is allowed to eat lots of chocolate.  About time too.  What's more, we've just read that eating chocolate cake can help people lose weight.  This is FANTASTIC news.  Chocolate cake for breakfast all round me thinks.  Click on the delightful looking chocolate cake below and visit the Daily Mirror link for more information.

Image taken from www.mirror.co.uk

As well as chocolate, we are also celebrating apples.  Why?  Because it's National Bramley Apple Week of course.  All these national days need to be abided by so I think it only right that we pay our respects to the apple as well.  I thought long and hard about how we could do this best and I think the solution is to combine the apples and the chocolate and have one massive celebration.  We could create appley chocolate or even chocolatey apples!  We could also make some delicious desserts using both ingredients. Granted, the apples may not necessarily be Bramley apples but hey, they're all part of the same family.

Here are some of our suggestions on how you can enjoy both apples and chocolate together:

1. Drink Apple Simply Nectar and munch on an organic chocolate bar such as Go*Do.  Mmmm

2. Tuck into a fabulous What On Earth Organic Chocolate Cheesecake and either top it with apple slices or eat it with some apple sauce. Yum

3. Create some Chocolate-dipped apples - they're a step up from toffee apples!  The image below is taken from Food Network.  Visit the site now for their amazing chocolate-dipped apples recipe.

Courtesy of www.foodnetwork.co.uk

4. Bake a chocolate apple pie.  Like the look of the below?  Then visit the Kayotic Kitchen blogspot for the recipe

Courtesy of http://www.kayotic.nl/blog/

5. Roll your sleeves up and make the below chocolate apple crumble using the recipe from the Satin and Salt Blog.

Courtesy of satinandsalt.blogspot.com

Right, is that enough suggestions?  I hope so.  They will keep you busy for hours so get into that kitchen and see what you can come up with.  We hope you enjoy all the apples and chocolate.  We certainly will!

Simply appley chocolate.

Simply Nectar

Celebrating the Carrot

Today is 3 February. It is also a Friday and it is sunny, plus it is my uncle’s birthday.  But despite these observations today is something quite special for another reason. Oh yes it is.

I imagine that when you looked out the window this morning you were thinking about the day ahead, not actually about what today means and the exciting things it could bring.  Luckily I was thinking about what it could bring so I am now bringing those things to you because today, my friends, we are going to be celebrating that bright orange vegetable, THE CARROT.  That’s right.  Today we are dedicating everything to the carrot.  Why?  Because it’s National Carrot Day of course.

Yes, you heard (or read) correctly.  Today is NATIONAL CARROT DAY!!

Don’t look down on this day as commercial rubbish.  It is a proper day that has a National Anthem and everything.  Check it out:

We also saw this cute (?!) and slightly odd video that is also related to singing carrots. Take a look if singing carrots are your thing!

Also in respect of National Carrot Day we’d like to give you some carrot based facts:

• Carrots are a root vegetable that originated in Afghanistan. They were purple, red, white, and yellow, but never orange
• A 2005 poll revealed that carrots are the third most popular vegetable in Britain (Brussels Sprouts are the least popular) 
• Carrots are about 87% water 
• Eating too many carrots can cause a person's skin to turn yellowish orange, especially on the palms or soles of the feet. This is called carotenemia. It is completely reversible once the consumption of carrots is reduced
• The longest carrot ever recorded was nearly 17 feet long 
• The largest carrot ever recorded weighed 18.985 pound

We didn't make these facts up either.  Oh no, we did our research.  Thanks for www.healthdiaries.com for providing us with the information.

Finally, we’d like to leave you with a picture of a certain carrot cake we know and love.  Why?  well, because it’s DELICIOUS of course...and because it's made by our favourite food company What On Earth.

YUM!

It's a shame we don't make a carrot Simply Nectar really.  Perhaps we should....  If you want some let us know.

Simply Carrots

Simply Nectar