I’ve been reading a lot on Twitter about the ‘outrage’ (said quite sarcastically from me there) regarding the Asda Christmas advert this year! It depicts a Mum organising the whole of Christmas with very little help from the rest of the family and at the end says something along the lines of  ‘Thank Mum for Christmas’. So some people have taken this as a massive sexist hit at women and the ‘how dare they’ brigade have been out in force…

Oh get a life. That’s all I can say! I’m grateful to the suffragettes, I really am. I can vote and I’m not treated like a second class citizen but that’s enough thank you very much and as for feminism and being a feminist, oh for crying out loud! That drum’s been banged, it bonged a long time ago! We’ve got it, we have equal pay, we have the same rights as men, now let’s just get on with life and life, for most families, is Mum doing everything for everyone else… Yes, yes I know not in every house! In some houses Dad does the buying, Dad does the wrapping, the cooking, the cleaning, the breast-feeding… Oh well perhaps not that last one but seriously? Why have some people got such a bee in their bonnet about it? The men in my life take a back seat when it comes to the day-to-day organisation of the house let alone Christmas. We’re different sexes, we’re built differently and different things appeal. DIY does not float my boat but it does for my husband; we’re genetically different and I’m not saying women can’t do DIY just that we’re less likely to want to. My Father  and my Father in law have both in the past complimented me on pieces of jewellery that they have bought me for a present. They didn’t recognise it because they didn’t buy it, they didn’t pay attention when they were shown it before it was wrapped and they probably wouldn’t have remembered even if they had. They, like my husband, let their wives deal with that sort of thing. I’d say this is normal. My husband doesn’t buy anyone a present apart from me, he doesn’t even write in cards, who cares? I’m good at it and enjoy it so why wouldn’t I do it? Asda is just mirroring lots of people’s lives! Not all, I KNOW that, but lots and why can’t they? You can’t show everyone all of the time or the advert would go on forever! Oh and it’s funny that another shop seems to have built its whole advertising campaign around ‘Mum having gone there’ yet they don’t seem to have the same reaction from people? Perhaps Chavtastics don’t care if Mum does it all and people with a slightly more discerning shopping penchant do? The words chip and shoulder spring to mind.

Anyway, I like the Asda advert. I haven’t taken it as them trying to portray a sociological study or make a statement – funnily enough. I found it humorous and light-hearted, tongue in cheek and enticing. Just as they intended I’m sure. And I like Asda in general really. I use them for not just my food shopping but loads of stuff. I think the clothes are often fab (for me and the children), they have a great selection of toys, household products and all sorts of other things and mostly they are all at exceptional value. I’ve had a preview of some of their Christmas things and I’m pretty sure it’ll be an Asda catered Christmas at our house. I often use things from there and find them handy. Me, a MUM, not a Dad!

I love my stacking set of four plastic mixing bowls for instance! They look funky, store inside each other and work as well as you would want them to as mixing bowls! Jonny even used one as a salad bowl the other day. Well, he doesn’t really know where our salad bowl is kept, if he even knows what it looks like… That’s mainly my domain you see – shock horror! He does cook but cause he doesn’t care too much about what goes where he ends up using random things for things you wouldn’t expect. Still, it was a bowl and it worked… (They’re only £4 on offer at the moment by the way – bargain and even better is that currently, with every purchase there is a donation of 20p to CHILDREN IN NEED)!

And Florence uses the funky mixing bowls for their intended use – mixing!

Another great thing Asda are good at, that people might not immediately think of as synonymous with a supermarket, is wine! They do really, really good wine actually and having been to a special wine event with them, I now know why! So last night I went wine tasting with them and met their Master of Wine, Phillippa Carr who was so informative and interesting to listen to. I had absolutely no idea that wine is sourced in the way that it is and had presumed that for a supermarket the wine would just be bought in bulk with price in mind and not really much thought to the content. Not so actually! Phillippa has over thirty year’s experience and says she absolutely never, ever compromises. For any given price the wine will be of the absolute best quality it can be and she not only buys the wine but she sources it, tastes it and chooses how it’s blended. She is personally in charge of the whole of Asda’s wine range and even gives her signature to the back of their own ranges. She has a pretty exciting job visiting countries all over the world and tasting up to 450 wines during every range change (she spits it out obviously or she’d be far too sozzled to make the important decisions she makes for us, the customers – at the event I didn’t spit anything out and I enjoyed tasting it all, just so you know)!

I was so impressed with her knowledge and her recommendations. I now know exactly what we’re going to buy my husband’s parents for Christmas. They always ask for a bottle of wine but they, unlike us, really know what they’re looking for and spend a lot of time at their place in the South of France drinking good wines. I usually (not my husband) choose them something which should be fairly pricey but comes out at around the £8 mark on an offer and I have no idea if it’s any good or not. This year I am buying them, on the recommendation of Phillippa, Vinalba Malbec Syrah from Patagonia. It’s a really heavy and full on red, Phillippa called it a ‘real boy’! It wasn’t my cup of tea as I’m not wild about deep reds but I know my in-laws will love it and I wouldn’t have known that before or presumed I could get them a bottle of something really good from the supermarket? Even better is that full price with no offers and it’s just £7.48.

Personally I usually like very sweet wines and my favourite taste of the evening was the Moscatel Valencia which is a desert wine but Phillippa recommended it to go with Sushi which is one of my faves (and the wine is totally yummy). I was also really surprised to find I liked the Sauvignon Blanc Marlborough Sun with its cheeky naked men on the front! From New Zealand its crisp and fresh and Phillippa says to eat it with something salty as it changes the acidity, dampens it and makes it even more palatable. She definitely knows what she’s talking about as I tried it with some really salty cheese and crisps and it completely changed the experience. I usually buy wine based on price then pretty much drink it whether I enjoy it or not but I try to avoid anything really dry. It’s great to know I can now choose something I know a little bit about, know I like and still at a really great price. I had a fab evening learning about it and could have listened to more of what Phillippa has to say, she really cares about her job and it makes me so much more confident buying wines at Asda! Phillippa is a working Mum and her eldest turns 18 soon, she’ll be having Asda’s Extra Special Prosecco (which is delicious by the way) at her birthday party not only provided by Mum but chosen by her too! How cool is that! Phillippa has two daughters and juggles her important job with her even more important role at home as ‘Mum’! She’s also married to a Master of Wine, wonder who out of the both of them finds the time to wrap the presents, decorate the tree and cook the Christmas lunch? My betting’s on her!

Well, to the Ms (Not Miss or Mrs of course) feminists – you want women to have it all? I guess pouring the carefully selected wine and cooking the roast on Christmas day is just part of that all wouldn’t you say?! I’m pretty sure Asda have hit the nail on the head with their fun Christmas advert! Bah humbug to those who have a problem with it! And for me, my Mum and Mother-in-law, who will be like the women on the advert, bring on the wine! The Asda wine thank you very much! (And if my husband is reading, I wouldn’t mind some more kitcheny bits like those bowls for a present if you don’t mind – after all, I use it so I want the best – Oh and perhaps some perfume and make-up so I smell and look pretty for you too darling ;-))!

Sorry about the quality of my pictures, I forgot my camera. The wine I didn’t think I’d like but it surprised me on the left and Phillippa talking about her passion on the right.

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