THIS 100% Plant Fillet Steak with pepper [@NLi10]

 I like vegan food, and I like trying new things so when I spotted this variation on the steaks-but-vegan idea I decided to give it a shot.  It was orphaned on the shelf so it's price was a mystery until I got to the till - £7! But fortunately £5.50 as a 'deal'.  This still seems a bit much, but everything does these days.

It looks luxury - and there are two!

So - what is it? Water! Mostly anyway, just like real meat. Then wheat & soya, unlike most meat. Although cows do eat a lot of grass.

Almost as off-putting as the real thing!

Just a block of red stuff - covered in pepper and sizzling away

It went a bit too crispy on the sides, I'm not sure exactly how they wanted me to ensure that it was cooked without burning it.

I think the idea that the middle looks red so you feel like a carnivore is fun, but my resident vegetarian wouldn't touch this so I get to eat both.

Texture was great, and the flavours were nice - if not mostly pepper and not really 'steak'.  Again - this kind of stuff needs to be less homogenous and have 'marbling' or at least gaps to really feel correct.

Overall - like a luxury soft cut of meat, but with lighter flavours and a slightly odd texture.  A win for me, but way too expensive to eat weekly.

(ignore old test video)

(ignore old test video)

Halloween Wicked Pickled Worms (Marks & Spencer’s) By @SpectreUK

Marks & Spencer’s have brought out a lot of different snacks for Halloween this year. These Halloween Wicked Pickled Worms are potato snacks with pink pickled onion flavour seasoning.

I do like pickled onion crisps with a cheese and cold meats meal, so that’s what I’ll have with these. I will eat my dinner whilst watching Bake Off. It’s not very scary, but a cheese and cold meats dinner is very tasty especially with a glass of port, or rum and lemonade.

On opening the bag it was full of pink dusted wiggly worm shaped potato crisps. Very crunchy to the taste, there was a saltiness begin with, quickly followed by a tangy pickled onion flavour, which was also quite heavy on the vinegar, seemingly to make these Halloween Wicked Pickled Worms more sour. 

I certainly liked these wiggly worms and would have them again, especially with a cheese and cold meats meal. Yum.

No real worms were harmed during the writing of this blog.

Information on the packet; The 125g packet contained 469 calories per 100g, with 21.8g of fat, 2.8g of sugar, and 1.8g of salt. Please see photograph for the ingredients.

Peak Peppermint Fondant (Gloucester Services) By @Cinabar

Wow, this Peak Peppermint Fondant chocolate was something I spotted at the wonderful farm shop at Gloucester Services. It took me straight back to thoughts of a legendary chocolate bar from my youth, Pyramint. Made by Terry’s, it was a dark chocolate pyramid filled with peppermint fondant, and I loved them!

This particular chocolate is made with dark chocolate too, but it is topped with white chocolate, giving it more of a snow-capped mountain feel. It looked very pretty, and the white chocolate came off easily. It was lovely and creamy, too.

I took a bite and wow, the flavours made me smile! Rich, dark chocolate with a touch of bitterness, followed by a full-on, sweet, minty blast. It is a proper kick of flavour, and the combination works so well together.

My only criticism is that it was super messy to eat, and part of that was down to the dark chocolate. One side was so thin and fragile that it cracked as I bit into it, spilling peppermint fondant everywhere. The other side was so thick that it was difficult to bite through! If the chocolate had been more evenly distributed, it really would have been perfect.

Despite the mess, I'd still pick up another one when passing through Gloucester. Anything that brings back happy memories of Pyramint and tastes this good deserves another go!

Cinnamon Roll Hot Chocolate (Whittard) By @Cinabar

Having tried the fantastic Spiced Pear tea from Whittard, it should come as no surprise that, as a cinnamon lover, I also picked up this tub of Cinnamon Roll hot chocolate. This time of year is perfect for those of us who love the warming spices that make an appearance as the weather gets colder.

Cinnamon is my favourite spice, so I was really looking forward to trying this drink. It has a white chocolate base, and I mixed some of the powder into hot milk. It dissolved easily, with no lumps, which is always a good start!

I took a sip and have to say I was a little underwhelmed. The sweet white chocolate flavour was there, along with something pastry-like and a mild hint of cinnamon. Yes, a mild hint! I was hoping for a big, warming hug of spice, but instead got a sweet, lightly spiced drink.

It wasn't bad by any means, but it didn't quite hit my craving for winter spice. I think I was hoping for something with a little more cinnamon punch!

Knife Shaved Noodles - Taste The Orient, Chinatown, Birmingham [@Nli10]

I'm a big fan of noodles, and the hand cut ones at Brummie Noodle Company in the Han Dynasty food hall are the best ones (even though I think they changed their name on the big sign!).  So - I decided to try and do my own at home.  The newest oriental grocer is mainly Korean, but does have other nations included and it's a younger, fresher selection than Day In (but only they sell my favourite tea) so I got a set of frozen noodles.

There are 5 in a box but only 2 of us so I could have a solo mission to try it out.

Raw they aren't a great treat.  And I needed to have the water hotter before I dropped them in to make it separate faster - but some clumping is part of the joy.

In the end it turned out ok, and unseasoned with no sauce they were still a decent meal.  The texture was good but not as good as fresh.

I added soy sauce 

And shwarma kebab rolls as I had some left.

The plan is to use dried chillies and some kind of gravy to make an approximation of the dry beef noodles I love, but with quorn so that they are suitable for vegetarians.  If I ever get around to it i'll let you know.

It's still a treat to get these as getting frozen noodles back from town on the bus is a chore and I'd rather just go have the real thing.  It's nice to have options though!