Tag Archives: csn stores

CSN Store Ceramic Peeler Review!

Posted on by Abi

You may remember me mentioning that I was offered the opportunity to become a preferred blogger for the CSN family of online stores. This meant I was given another chance to review an item. It took me ages to decide what to review, if you take a look at the family of stores there is a huge variety to choose from. But I finally settled on reviewing the:

Kyocera Ceramic Bladed Peeler with Rotating Head and

Let’s Make Animal Chocolate Moulds (sert of 2)

Delivery and Packaging

Delivery was fairly quick and arrived by UPS. I was out at the time but they left the parcel with my neighbour, I prefer this to trudging down to wait in a line at the Post Office. The packaging can be seen in the picture, not over the top and easily recycled (which is always a bonus).

Did the peeler work?

There has recently been a lot of interest in the use of ceramic knives but they are rather expensive. So this peeler appears to offer the benefits without the cost. But does it work? In a word, yes! Both Anne and I put the peeler through it’s paces and it’s hard to believe that a peeler could get two people so excited. It literally glid across carrots, potatoes and even a squash! Hardly any pressure was required, infact if you applied pressure you lost a chunk of vegetable. You’d think a peeler might be dull, but this one is so quick and effort free you can’t help but love it. The rotating head also means you can adjust it perfectly depending on the job.

Did the chocolate moulds work?

Yes they worked very well. They are quite deep moulds and we filled them with milk chocolate, but as you can see from the following pic I think they came out quite well. The children were certainly impressed!

Would I recommend both items?

I would indeed recommend them both. I was particularly impressed with the peeler. I think it would make a very thoughtful gift for someone older or perhaps suffering from reduced hand strength, this would make life that little bit easier. But in truth everyone can appreciate how easy and quick this makes the job of peeling.

Both items came from the www.cookwarebycsn.co.uk store, just like last time I was not paid to write this review, but I did receive the items.

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CSN Preferred Blogger :)

Posted on by Abi

I have just had an email asking me to become a CSN Preferred Blogger! You may remember that I reviewed some products from one of their stores somewhile back. I’m very excited by this opportunity to review another item, CSN have several stores selling everything from lights to furniture. They are definitely worth a look, a lot of the items also have free delivery on top of good prices.

I’m not sure which item I will review this time. Last time readers suggested items they’d like to know more about, is there anything you’d like me to review this time? Here’s a list of their UK stores (they are also in the US).

http://www.csnstores.co.uk
http://www.allmodern.co.uk/
http://www.cookwarebycsn.co.uk/
http://www.furniturebycsn.co.uk/
http://www.lightingbycsn.co.uk/
http://www.tvstands.co.uk/

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CSN Store Cupcake Review

Posted on by Abi

You may remember me mentioning a couple of weeks ago that CSN stores had contacted me to ask if I would like to review some items from one of their stores. I was really excited about this, I didn’t get paid to write the review but I did get to choose a few goodies to have a play with and I can now share the results!

What I Chose

I chose three items from the www.cookwarebycsn.co.uk store. There was a lot to choose from, but I finally settled on:

The Chicago Metallic 12 Cup Dainty Daisy Cupcake Tray

The KitchenCraft Ciroa Miniamo Cupcake Wire Tree

and The Rushbrookes Piping (Set of Ten)

Delivery

Each item came seperately and delivered by UPS. Delivery was also free at the time I ordered. I liked the fact they used UPS, I’ve always found them to be a careful delivery service and if you’re out they’ll try and leave it with a neighbour so you don’t have to wait for redelivery or go and pick up your parcel from a depot.

Using The Items

This is what I received. The real review is about using them and not just admiring their pretty packagaing, although the wire cake tree box does look beautiful 🙂

First I decided to put the wire cupcake tree together. I’ve seen similar items before in places like Lakeland (quite a bit more expensive there though I think) but always wondered if they were either hard to put together or really wobbly. When I opened the box I was pleased to see only three pieces to make the tiers and a long metal rod with a screw either end and two metal tubes.

Basically you attach the rod with a screw into the base piece, slide a tube over, put on the second tier, slide the other tube over and screw on the top piece. No screwdrivers or much arm muscle required (which is a bonus as I have none!) I am happy to report that the assembled tree was very sturdy, I honestly thought it might be wobbly but no, it’s really quite solid!

Next I decided to tackle the Daisy Cupcakes. I was a little apprehensive when I saw the moulds as the top of the cupcake is wider than the bottom. Techincally the tray is non stick, but as I’ve never had much luck with non stick I crumbled and brushed each cupcake mould lightly with melted butter, then spinkled over a tiny bit of plain flour (shaking off the excess). I filled them quite full to make sure they spread right to the top to make the petals.

They came out beautifully, petals and all! At this point I had to hold the children off from eating them all before decoration.

When they’d cooled I set about icing them. I’m not usually an icing bag fan, I prefer the syringe style icer so this was quite new to me. The set is quite small, with fairly large attachments, so not for fine icing work, but perfect for chunky cupcakes. You do have to fill the bag quite full, but then it’s easy enough to move about. I did get the kitchen side in a glorious mess while I filled it up though 😀 The bag is also plastic lined so easy to clean.

Finally I thought I’d show you the finished effect. I should apologise here for the lack of Daisy Cupcakes, only the top tier survived, little hands couldn’t resist and all the cute daisies were snaffled before I could take a pic. So they now take pride of place at the top with smaller cakes at the bottom.

I will definitely be using all these items again. If I had to pick a favourite though it would be the cupcake stand, it’s so cute and can hold 23 cakes, perfect for a party! So www.cookwarebycsn.co.uk definitely get a thumbs up from me 🙂

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