Kellogg's Starter Pokémon Cereal - Chocolate Squirtle [@NLi10]

 Way back in the Uni days of 1999 I returned after Christmas and got to my branch of GAME to pick up this weird Japanese game called Pokémon that all the Japanese magazines raved about. The store only had two copies - and one of them was my reserved one.  The guy managing the store was intrigued by why I'd want an obvious kids trash game and bought the second copy - and after playing that day immediately maxed out the orders for it to his store (as did the rest of the nation).  And the rest is history! I picked Pokémon Blue (still got it) - and this week my partner surprised me with the same but in cereal form.

In the actual game I chose Charmander as my starter - not knowing that you'd not be able to just get the rest later - it really was a total mystery to us.

Here we see a puzzle with the regular, great and ultra balls - I won't spoil the answer.

And of course with modern Pokémon you aren't limited by just your starter.

They even added Green (not released outside of Japan) and Yellow (where Pikachu stalks you which was my sister's first version).

Naturally it's all exactly the same cereal

And sadly it's the generic Kellogg's kids mix which barely has any texture or flavour - but works fine as a mixer with cornflakes or fruit to provide an actually nutritious breakfast (or starter meal).

Thinks like this are probably why Kellogg's are upset that cereal is being reclassified as junk food - but frankly it's also a big part of the reason.  Maybe if the kids cereals had dried fruit for the sweetness, actual whole grain for the body, with the fortified (sprayed-on) vitamins then it'd work.  Their big argument is that if you reduce the sugar much more then you'd taste the vitamins and it wouldn't be as popular with the kids.

I say try harder - you'll never beat Gary with that attitude.

Popa Boba Bubble Tea Peach Iced Tea + Strawberry Popping Boba (Ocado) By @SpectreUK

I don’t like cold tea. I’d just like to point that out. I have tried bubble tea before and not liked that either. I must have done something wrong as Cinabar has given me this Popa Boba Bubble Tea Peach Iced Tea + Strawberry Popping Boba.

Don’t get me wrong, Popa Boba Bubble Tea Peach Iced Tea + Strawberry Popping Boba sounds good. Peach flavour is good. Not sure about the cold tea part. Strawberries are good though, and apparently they pop.

There was certainly a strong smell of peaches and black tea on opening the 320ml can. The pink strawberry Boba sank to the bottom of my glass like throwing pink pebbles into a brown pond of despair. Okay, so I may be exaggerating there.

On taste this Popa Boba Bubble Tea Peach Iced Tea + Strawberry Popping Boba soft drink was actually quite nice. It’s sweet, and tastes of peaches mixed with sugary cold tea. The popping Boba tasted slightly of strawberries and popped in my mouth like a soft grape. I didn’t hate it like I thought I would. In fact, I’d say it’s easily the best bubble tea I’ve tried.

Seabrook Waffle Bites Chicken Shop (Home Bargains) By @Cinabar

I love chicken flavour crisps. They are my go to flavour of choice, so that is a bit of a disclaimer before I start this review, just so you know where I stand.

Here we have a new chicken crisp available, Seabrook Waffle Bites Chicken Shop. The “Chicken Shop” name makes me assume these are going for a fried chicken flavour, despite the crisps only coming in at 77kcal per bag.

I opened up the bag and found cute square shaped, thick, aerated potato snacks with a waffle pattern. The aroma was very herby. These felt more like a chicken dinner with stuffing than a chicken shop takeaway, despite KFC claiming to use 11 secret herbs and spices in their recipe.

I gave them a taste and the flavour was fab. I loved all the herbs and the meaty chicken taste. They are quite fragranced, with oregano seeming to be particularly prominent, which I really enjoyed.

The crunch is fun too. They are light, crunchy, and they melt away in the mouth. I love that texture. I thoroughly enjoyed these with my lunchtime sandwich, and I will definitely be back for more.

Califia Farms Peppermint Mocha (Ocado) By @Cinabar

Well, the weather is hot and I have a new cup specially for milkshakes and iced coffees, so of course I couldn’t resist browsing to see what drinks I could pick up. I spotted this Califia Farms Peppermint Mocha on the Ocado site and gave it a try.

It arrived in a good sized bottle. The drink is fairly thick and has a lovely minty aroma. It filled my huge cup to the brim and still had enough left to go back in the fridge.

This drink is dairy free. I’m not dairy intolerant, I just wanted to try it, and the peppermint flavour sounded perfect for the sunshine. I was impressed with the first sip. Coffee, mint and chocolate could have felt like too much in one cup, but the flavours were really well balanced. It’s sweet from the chocolate with plenty of cocoa, the coffee comes through nicely, and then the peppermint adds a refreshing finish with a proper minty kick. It reminded me of melted After Eights in an iced coffee. Pure yum.

Whatever you are drinking, do remember to stay hydrated in all this heat.

RAW milk from the side of the road [@NLi10]

 We got stuck in a traffic jam, behind what looked like half a house and happened to pass a milk shed selling ice cream - the google blurb says.

Milk Shed based at Caenby Corner with self serve vending machines selling ice cream, raw milk, milkshakes and hot drinks!

Because every one had a similar idea there were some queues and confusion because of so many new people using the touch screen machines 

As I’m immunocompromised from my meds I wasn’t prepared to risk ‘raw milk’ especially as we had 3 hours in a hot car to go, but I could happily justify a pasteurised ice cream from the other machine

The choice was pot of ice cream for £3 or no ice-cream, so I went for option one and added some red sauce.

And it was lovely and cold. I think it lacked a little of the sweetness of Mr Whippy,  but it was a very welcome option.

The family we were dropping off had chocolate milkshake and milk, which should be fine with the little cool bag. I’m not sure why raw milk would be more appealing to people than fresh milk - I’ve drank both on my families dairy farm back in the 90s to the degree where there is sometimes grass floating in it, but that might have been Uncle Bert messing with the townies.