Super “Dry” Asahi 0.0% (Cannock Designer Outlet - Wagamama) By @SpectreUK

Off to the shops today to buy some new trainers. Although to be honest, I'm so old now, I'm not sure they call them trainers anymore. Believe it or not, when I was a kid back in the 70's, they we called plimsolls. They seem to have had name changes many times since then.

Anyway, my trainers have holes in them and are falling off me. I like Skechers, and there is an outlet shop at Cannock Designer Outlet near where we live.

We decided on a meal at Wagamama. We haven't eaten there for years. Been as though I was driving there, I thought a zero alcohol beer would go down rather well with my meal.

Super "Dry" Asahi 0.0% in volume had a pilsner aroma. On taste there was a sweet flavour of malted barley, followed by a crisp bite of herbal hops, and then a strong corn maize flavour into the aftertaste. It washed my meal down in an authentic flavoursome way, but there are other alcohol free beers that don't taste so strong of corn.

Wonder Woman Doughnut (Krispy Kreme) By @Cinabar

There’s a new Superman film out this week, and we’ve been catching up on some of the other superhero films we missed first time around. I have to admit I’m quite enjoying them, though maybe not all the Batman movies… sorry, Mr Clooney! On our way back from a Comic Con, we stopped at a service station and spotted a Krispy Kreme cabinet featuring their new superhero doughnuts. The timing seemed perfect, so we decided to treat ourselves.

I went for my favourite superhero, who I was even wearing on my T-shirt, and picked the Wonder Woman Doughnut.

It’s a ring doughnut that looks very striking, with bright red icing all around. It’s topped with the Wonder Woman logo and decorated with blue sprinkles, white stars, and a yellow stripe.

I took a bite and was really impressed with the flavour. It was lovely and fruity, with the red icing delivering a strong raspberry taste, not from jam like usual, but from the icing itself. The doughnut was sweet, soft, and fluffy, with the icing adding a fresh berry kick that worked perfectly. It was a genuinely enjoyable treat, both in taste and presentation. Just the pick-me-up we needed with a coffee, and it powered us through the drive home.

Milkshake With Oreo Toppings (Iceland) By @Cinabar

My latest grocery order was from Iceland, and of course I had to search for new milkshake flavours. Most summers I discover plenty of new varieties in the shops, but this year I’ve really struggled. I’ve been keeping a proper eye out and trying different supermarkets, so I was pleased when I spotted this Milkshake With Oreo Toppings.

 

It comes as an all-in-one cup with a drink and a section of toppings. I took off the lid on the toppings side and found the instructions underneath: open the milk section, open the toppings, then shake them together. I had visions of this getting messy after removing the foil seal, but I decided to give it a go.

The toppings looked like crushed Oreo biscuit pieces, without the filling. The milk section had a slightly grey colour which wasn’t very appealing, and it was also quite thin in texture.

I poured the toppings into the milk, put the lid back on, and gave it a gentle shake. Visually it seemed fine, with cookie pieces floating on top.

Taste-wise, it was a bit of a let-down. The biscuit bits made the drink lumpy, but not in a good way, it felt more like accidentally swallowing chunks rather than enhancing the drink. The milk was watery, and the biscuit flavour didn’t taste quite right. Overall, it was sweet and vaguely biscuity, but with an odd aftertaste that didn’t work for me. By the time I got to the bottom, the Oreo bits had turned into a soggy sludge, which didn’t help matters. Sadly, this isn’t the exciting new milkshake flavour of the summer for me, but I’ll keep searching!

McVitie's PINK Digestives - Raspberry & Cream flavour [@NLi10]

 We love pink on this blog, and it's a fight to see who finds and reviews the latest pink things.

We also have a pink bedroom, which is perfect for these new, limited edition McVitie's pink digestives - they are raspberry & cream flavour from Sainsbury's

And Pink Marvel artwork to show that these are really just regular (shrunk) digestives with a pink not-chocolate coating.  But that's fine too - I love pink mice, and non-chocolate chocolates.

The biscuits show up much better on the black & gold

My childhood memories of digestives have them at least 25% larger than this, but then everything has to conform to the insane portion size rules now (even though I'm allowed to eat all 15 in the pack because I'm a grown-up and no-one will ever know except you guys).  The charts on the front are per biscuit so nothing flags as red, but three biscuits is 36% of my 'saturates' for the day.

They also aren't so pink as to feel unhealthy, we get the idea but will not end up with red tongues.

And the flavour balance is good.  The fondant seems too thin on inspection, but if you put much more on it'd overpower the crunch and earthy tastes of the digestive.  While I'm happy this is the literal flavour of the month (they even put stickers on the floor to alert you to their presence) I hope this is part of a trend and we can get mandarin ones in a lovely pale orange.  Easy Halloween win there for any biscuit-makers that stumble across this.

Overall a win, but not really ideal in a heat-wave so I'll have to buy more once the sun has calmed down a bit.

Shandy Shack Elderflower Lager Top (Co-op) By @SpectreUK

I fancy a shandy. I haven't had one in years. I used to drink sweet lemonade shandy all the time when I was a kid. It just seems difficult to find it in the shops these days.

Shandy made me feel grown up as a kid, with the feel of drinking a little beer with my lemonade. Now I prefer beer, but sometimes I do reminisce for the simpler times.

This Shandy Shack Elderflower Lager Top should go well washing down my calamari and scampi and chips tonight. It is a pilsner lager with a top of elderflower cordial. At 105 calories per can, gluten free and with an ABV of 2.5%, it won't give me a headache for my early start in the morning to Milton Keynes Film and Comic Con.

On opening the can there was a light aroma of elderflower and pilsner. The elderflower cordial was fresh and sweetened the lager shandy, making it very moreish indeed.

Shandy Shack Elderflower Lager Top was a very refreshing drink, and after a very hot day, I could see why the can mentioned simpler times of summers on the village green.