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!

 

Sinister Sour Sweets (Marks & Spencer’s) By @SpectreUK

Halloween is fast approaching. We need to stock up on sweets to give out to Trick or Treaters. There are ten mini-bags of these M&S Sinister Sour Sweets in a multipack. If they’re really good, they may not make it to those pesky kid’s sticky fingers.

In each mini-bag of these M&S Sinister Sour Sweets there are sour sugar coated gummies of different spooky shapes. There are ghosts that taste of sour lemon. There are pumpkins that taste of sour orange. There was a bat that tasted of sour blackcurrant. There was a spider that tasted of sour cola.

Not too face-twisty on the sour sugar, these M&S Sinister Sour Sweets were very flavoursome though, and very moreish. They’re certainly a Treat for anyone who likes their scary Halloween snacks. Boo!

Information on the bag; Each 30g bag contained 110 calories, with 0.5g of fat, 17.4g of sugar, and 0.08g of salt. Please see photograph for the ingredients.

Wonka Oompa Loompa Sweets (Morrisons) By @Cinabar

The Wonka brand has had a bit of a relaunch, and thanks to a new show on Netflix, we now have lots of new goodies to try, all inspired by the magical chocolate and sweets factory. I was very excited to find the new range in the supermarket and couldn’t resist picking up these Wonka Oompa Loompa Sweets, along with a stash of other goodies from the brand. Don’t worry, reviews of those will follow soon!

These Wonka Oompa Loompa Sweets come in two flavours, strawberry and blueberry, and both have a berry cola filling. I opened the bag to find two different colours, and the sweets looked super cute. They are small gummies designed to look like little Oompa Loompas, which makes them rather fun.

I tried the redder one first, and it had a good strawberry flavour with a liquid filling that tasted like cherry cola. It was a fun combination and a lovely surprise when I bit into the sweet. The darker one is blueberry, which is slightly sharper but still sweet, delivering a proper berry blast with a hint of floral flavour, too.

I loved both flavours. The gummies are soft and easy to eat, and the liquid centres make them a little bit different from your usual sweets. They are fun, tasty and definitely worth trying if you spot them in the supermarket. I can’t wait to work my way through the rest of the Wonka goodies!

Thai Pocky - Mango Style! [@NLi10]

 The new Oriental grocers in Birmingham is Korean focussed but has a good mix of Thai and Japanese things for me to eat too.

Here we have authentic Thai Pocky!

I've never seen mango flavour - but it's a big part of the typical Thai tourist breakfast - along with dirtmelon which we didn't enjoy. 

Pocky still sounds like cat-treats

Even the ingredients are of interest

But the Pocky are still Pocky

Very fruity smelling and fondanty - a surprisingly effective flavour considering these are the basic '30p' Pocky - but I bet even in Thailand these cost double what they did 20 years ago when I was last there.

Worth a pick up (even at £1 a box) but probably not a regular treat.