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Monday 20 December 2010

Nurturing Beauty, Security and Hope

As you may be aware our exquisite Luxury Gift Boxes are handmade and painted by a community of artists in Kashmir, a country torn apart by political unrest and extreme poverty. We are proud of our artists, all members of the company Persian Dowry who we’ve been working with for 7 years, and we remain immensely grateful for all the hard work they put in to creating our beautiful boxes and Easter Eggs. Their achievements are made all the more remarkable when we consider the harsh conditions they live and work in.
Kashmir is situated between Pakistan and India and the situation there doesn’t receive much attention from the British media. But we know that our friends there are living under the constant shadow of severe violence. They also face daily practical challenges of curfews, road blocks and disrupted transport links. When we consider that there have been times, very recently, when basic food and medical supplies have been almost impossible to come by, it is miraculous indeed that our artists manage to keep creating, keep working and consistently fulfil our orders. It is invariably difficult for both our artists and their materials to move around and our most recent shipment was delayed for a number of weeks for fear of the boxes being looted on their way out of Srinagar.
Our trade with the artists of Persian Dowry is essential to the livelihood of more than 80 families and we are committed to maintaining this relationship for many years to come. Our trading arrangements are designed to nurture security, with long term contracts paying above the market rate, and we are delighted that our friends in Srinagar have been honoured with a Best Exporter of the Year Award for the last two years. It is a testament to their commitment, professionalism and courage.
Have you ever bought a Booja-Booja Luxury Gift Box?
Were you aware of the story behind them?
Please tell us what you think and share your views about our hard-working, extremely talented friends in Srinagar.

Monday 6 December 2010

Winning Words!
We recently ran a competition in our BoojaBubble e-newsletter and were absolutely delighted with the response. We asked people to complete this sentence: "I need a little Booja-Booja now and then because..." and loved reading the answers - it's great find out just why people really like our products!
We felt the 2 winning entries (whose authors will each receive a Luxury Gift Box) captured the Booja-Booja spirit particularly well, they were:
I need a little Booja-Booja now and then because if I ate it all the time, I'd forget the importance of fresh fruit and veg, which would never pass with my mother! Occasional Booja-Boojas give me a great chocolate health fizz, and leave a tantalising want for more.  Yes please!
and 

I need a little Booja-Booja now and then to wake up my taste buds and sprinkle my soul with warmth to remind me that not everything pleasurable has a downside.

We also liked these entries because they made us smile, but unfortunately there could only be 2 winners, sorry...

It’s autumn – no, wait – because it’s winter… no, ummm, because i’s cold and wet outside… no, rubbish…. let me think… because one piece is NEVER enough…. No, it’s because…. oh, who am I kidding? I don’t need an excuse... I just love it!!

I need a little Booja-Booja now and then because ...... well truthfully it's a bit more than now and then and that's because Booja truffles are umptious, scrumptious, oompa- loompalitious cocoa kisses and I'm addicted.


I need a little Booja-Booja now and then because the divine taste coupled with the exquisite aromas gives me time to relax in a fantasy world of bliss


If you’d like to start receiving the BoojaBubble (to read all our latest news and hear about any future competions) just email louise@boojabooja.com with your name, gender and email address and we’ll add you to our mailing list.
We don't have any more Luxury Gift Boxes to give away at the moment, but if you'd like to tell us why you need a little Booja-Booja now and then we'd still love to hear from you...

Thursday 11 November 2010

Divine Vegan Chocolate Cake

We found this delicious recipe on Suma Wholefoods website. Suma supply our chocolates to many independent health food shops in the UK. The recipe was originally created by ex-Suma worker, David Wilson, who has gone on to open up the award winning vegetarian restaurant, Dandelion and Burdock. Click here for more great vegetarian and vegan recipes.
champagne-truffle-choco-cake-70

For the cake:

Ingredients

3 cups/390g plain unbleached white flour
2 cups/440g raw cane sugar (LJ251)
6 tablespoons Suma cocoa powder (LJ189)
2 tsp baking soda (HE299)
1/2 tsp sea salt
2 cups/500ml soya milk
3/4 cup/187ml vegetable oil
2 tbsp cider vinegar
2 tsp vanilla extract

Method:

Preheat oven to 177 degrees. Mix dry ingredients first. Once the mixture is even, mix in wet ingredients. Continue mixing until you obtain an even batter (no lumps). Pour into a greased 9″/23cm cake pan and bake for 40 minutes, until a skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean.





















For the chocolate icing

Ingredients

1 cup/220g raw raw cane sugar (LJ251)
6 tbsp corn starch
4 tbsp Suma cocoa powder (LJ189)
1/4 tbsp sea salt
2 tbsp vegetable oil
1 cup/250ml soya milk
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Method

Mix the sugar, corn starch, salt and cocoa in a medium sauce pan. Whisk in the soya milk. Heat over a medium heat until it gets thick and starts to boil. Simmer for 1-2 minutes. Remove from the heat and stir in the oil and vanilla. Cool and spread on cooled cake. This cake is shown to be topped with a Booja Booja vegan champagne truffle.




















Enjoy!!

Wednesday 3 November 2010

Supporting Independant Health Food Shops

As you know, we are passionate about supporting independent health food shops and think it is really important to promote to the public the benefits of shopping in locally owned, independent health food stores.
When we found out that the National Association of Health Stores had recently teamed up with the Health Food Institute and started an initiative for training health store workers in the products they are selling, to support this industry by building a trained and knowledgeable workforce, to secure its future and ensure that there is a good standard of customer advice available in all its member stores, we were very excited and happy to help support them.
Visit their site if you are interested in further information about the NAHS and the HFI or to use their store search facility to find your nearest health food store .

Friday 15 October 2010

Booja Blog Launch!

We are so happy that we finally have a Booja Blog!

The first thing we wanted to tell you is that we have been busily working on a brand new website, which will hopefully be launched some time in November, so watch this space!

We are also back on Twitter , and would love you to follow us and hear the latest goings on at Booja-Booja...as everyone needs a little Booja-Booja now and then...