Rhubarb and Cardamon Crafted Soda (Waitrose) By @Cinabar

Gosh it has been hot today, and in typical British style I’m going to say too hot. The preoccupation with the weather here in the UK in unavoidable, the weather is mostly too hot, too cold or too wet. It is rare for anyone to say how nice the weather is! I’ve been trying to enjoy the sunshine and of course staying hydrated. We decided to try out this posh bottle of Rhubarb and Cardamon Crafted Soda as it sounded like the perfect treat in the sunshine.
The drink is a pale peachy pink colour with a light fruity aroma. There is a mild fizz as it pours, this is a sparkling drink not over fizzy. The flavour though is lovely, the rhubarb is a nice mix of sweet and tart, and the spice of cardamon gives it a lovely grown up edge. I wish there were more soft drinks aimed at the adult market, but I will definitely look forward to trying more from this range. The bottles are a little pricey, but it was a treat to have something a bit different.

Polish Pre-filled Pancakes! Nalesniki Z Truskawkami (@NLi10)

While picking up the Polish Pirogi from last week I also grabbed something for desert!

These are Nalesniki Z Truskawkami - which appear to be pancakes with strawberry jam in them - at least that's what the Western Europeans would do.

But essentially here it's just strawberry paste - maybe - I don't know...

Lets fry them!

They look a bit broken here...

The vegan (frozen Nutella) distracts from the crepe disaster that we see before us.  The filling is dark and gooey, much more like a puree than a jam.  And it's nice - but you couldn't get away with selling these to people on your Christmas market stall as it is!  The flavour of the coconut oil I fried them in really added to it but I think made them stick too much.

But you get 4 in the pack so I got creative!  Good old George Formby Grill (Turned Out Nice Again!) to the rescue - get it to temp - plop them on - roll them about every few minutes - pristine pudding!

OK - maybe a little overdone on the sides - but that's part of the crispy pancake appeal.  The tastes were very similar (minus the coconut) but the texture was much more professional.  Lets put in an application for the Christmas market and charge £5 for 2!

All round success once the cooking had been sorted, and another authentic taste to add to the pudding menu.

Mr Stanley's Superior Chocolate Cigars (Amazon) By @SpectreUK

I gave up smoking over twenty years ago. I used to smoke cigarettes mainly and also the odd cigar now and then. The now and then was mainly around my Birthday or Christmas time. My favourite type of cigar was a big fat Cuban cigar which would take me an hour or two to smoke, and usually with quite a few beverages accompanying it. Nowadays I'm more of a one drink a few times a week type of guy, mainly because of the calories and having to count them in order to keep my weight down to save my poor old knees. I don't miss fags at all, asides the odd bizarre craving when I'm really stressed about something. The only time I miss cigars are on my Birthday and on Christmas Day. Well, Cinabar, being the wonderful partner she is always looks for chocolate cigars to help me reminisce during celebratory periods.

Mr Stanley's Hand Made Best of British Superior Finest Quality Chocolate Cigars are "Carefully Crafted in England", so much for the Cuban experience, but hey anything with a name like "Mr Stanley's Hand Made Best of British Superior Finest Quality Chocolate Cigars" should be pretty good… right? On pealing back the slide card box there were four individually foil wrapped cigars with Mr. Stanley's brand wrapped around them. The presentation of the classic looking chocolate cigars was very impressive. On looking at the traditional 'olde world' type box design and the presentation of the cigars inside, I really felt like I was being spoiled… and why not, it is my Birthday after all.

So what about the taste? On unwrapping the first slimline milk chocolate cigar there was a slight swirling pattern on the outside of the cigar shaped milk chocolate stick. I usually suck on a chocolate cigar for a little while letting it melt in my mouth. Unfortunately this chocolate cigar caught me at a bad time. I'd worked out quite a bit first thing in the morning and had already burnt through the calories from most of my lunch when I came to write about this milk chocolate cigar. So this particular milk chocolate cigar didn't last long enough to take a photograph of it unwrapped. In fact I chomped straight through it in double time. The milk chocolate was certainly good enough to melt in my mouth though, and I'm sure I'll savour the next three. It was a certainly a superior treat anyway. I'll just pick a less hungry time to eat the rest of them!

Information on the box;
The 80g box contains four cigars. At 100g the calories are 539, with 31.5g of fat, 54.9g of sugar, 6.4g of protein, and 0.2g of salt. Please see photograph for the ingredients.

Walkers Katsu Curry Crisps (Iceland) By @Cinabar

There would have been a time in the early days of this blog when the idea of Katsu curry crisps would have blown my mind, as it happens I’ve tried Katsu Curry crisps a couple of times before, but these are the first ones from Walkers that I’ve seen. Don’t get me wrong Walkers are quite adventurous too. The other KAtsu Curry crisps were from the Co-Op and Marks and Spencers, the choice of crisps is good in the UK.
These Walkers Katsu Curry Crisps are part of the restaurant menu where Walkers are recreating classics as crisps flavour. I like Katsu Curry but haven’t had the ‘Yo!’ version, but I have had the meal at other places (Wagamama).
These crisps had a surprisingly strong flavour, although the curry taste was creamy it was also packing a punch of spice and flavour. For me it was like a Katsu Curry Plus, strong and tasty and very moreish. I think there was tomato in there too. Perhaps the curry from ‘Yo!’ is stronger to the one I’m used to, as a crisps flavour this worked perfectly. I rate these above the previous versions I’ve tried, hot spicy meaty chicken for the win.

Mrs Brown’s Kitchen - Chicken Fajita Crowns (Iceland) By @Cinabar

I did my first online Iceland shop order which was quite exciting and as ever with a new shop I have a good browse to see if there is anything that I needed to try because it is a bit different and that is when I stumbled across this, Mrs Brown’s Kitchen - Chicken Fajita Crowns. I found this quite a confusing concept, firstly curry flavours with cheese, odd; in pastry, odder; it is marketed with Mrs Brown’s image, oddness overload.
Mrs Brown’s Boys is a silly, rude, sweary TV show but it does make me laugh, it shouldn’t but it turns out I’m not very high brow. The bakes are popped onto the oven and they smelt lovely. The curry flavour was rich with lots of paprika and gentle kick of heat. The chicken was moist, and there was plenty of veg. The cheese worked, it probably shouldn’t have but it did. The pasty was tasty too and the whole thing was very enjoyable, it was a weird medley of flavours and ideas but I have to admit I liked these Mrs Brown’s Kitchen Chicken Fajita Crowns a lot. If you are not a fan of the Mrs Brown’s Boys show do put it aside as these pastry bakes are surprisingly good, even after you have binned the box.

Francis Hartridge's Celebrated Root Beer - Sweet Sweet Medicine (@NLi10)

Root Beer isn't a particularly English thing - we have Dandelion & Burdock after all.  This however is an English Brewed traditional Root Beer with a little bit of history behind it.

The guy himself is pictured on the bottle and they've been brewing it his way since 1882 (presumably updating the recipe as food hygiene and safety regulations allow).  And while it doesn't look that exciting...

It's got a pretty potent taste!

There is of course a hint of medicine about this, as with all of these old botanical style drink, but it's not a negative experience.  There is almost an overtone here similar to one of my mouth-washes! It's a confusingly pleasant (and rather sugary) experience and more of a sipping drink than a big gulp of cola.

All in all it's something I'd probably get for myself again - and would make a nice 'unusual drink' component to a snack-food gift package.  And I think it's available in a few UK supermarkets still (i've had this bottle a while) which is great!

Brewdog Quench Quake (Asda) By @SpectreUK

What's with all these sour beers Cinabar keeps buying me? I'm sure I've done something wrong! It's only the odd one here and there that I actually enjoy. Produced by Brewdog, this 4.6% volume Quench Quake is a citrus sour. The additional grapefruit and tangerine in the ingredients are supposed to create a seismic quake in your tastebuds. Boasting tart flavours of lemon, tangerine, grapefruit and sour apple, and with barley biscuit flavour, this Quench Quake does sound like something to drink in the summertime.

On opening the bottle there was certainly a very sour citrus aroma and with a touch of malted barley. This bright shining golden sour beer is also pretty fizzy. On first taste the sourness pounced on my tastebuds without the slightest warning or tremor. Gosh what a tart blast to my senses it was, but it was not unpleasant like some of the other sour beers I've tried. However I couldn't pick out the different citrus flavours in the sourness. There is certainly an initial sour citrus flavour though which is fairly closely followed by a sweetness from the malted barley. There is still that citrusy sourness throughout the flavour, which like I said, is not unpleasant but certainly quenches any thirst I had before starting!

Doritos Stax - Mexican Chilli Salsa (Asda) By @Cinabar

This tube of Doritos Stax - Mexican Chilli Salsa really did stand out on the shelf because of its shape. I say ‘tube’ it isn’t technically a tube as it is triangular but as my Maths GCSE was some years ago I can’t remember the correct geometry term for such a shape. Anyone?
Anyway the tube is bright and made of thick cardboard, and we decided we would have some with a chilli con carne. The Doritos seem thinner than the ones you would get in the bag, which made them oddly sharp. I prefer the thicker version in the bag. The flavour also seemed muted, I have eaten Doritos in the bag where the seasoning has been so thick that you have to lick your fingers, but these were quite plain. The taste was mostly of that corn like taste that Doritos have, and a hint of chilli. No heat really from them, I thought they were a bit dull.
Doritos Stax - Mexican Chilli Salsa is one of the products that the packaging is the best part but the product is far better in its original format. We don’t need Doritos in a tube (or whatever the shape is called) we need them in a thicker format with seasoning that makes your fingers go orange. If it isn’t broken don’t fix it.

Polish Pierogi Dumplings with Spinach (@NLi10)

Way Way back in the early days of lockdown (April) I found these dumplings full of red jam and reviewed them.  Now (hopefully) near the end of lock-down I discovered that one of the other flavours is more suitable for dinner - and is both veggie and no cheese/mushrooms.

Pierogi are essentially filled dumplings, and take the position of Gnocchi or Gyoza in the Polish food section.

These are dumplings with spinach - and you can either fry them for crispness, or just parboil them - and this time I read the instructions first and didn't keep boiling after so they were a much more solid texture and less weird.

Two persons sweaty dumplings look like this

Here they are having a nice hot (but short) bath.

My partner had hers with a mixed salad as she is healthy.

I had a bit of fruit and olives.

You can see the spinach mix here too - like a filled pasta this is where the 'luxury' versions could hide all kinds of magic.  For these cheap, import ones the spinach was nice - all mushed up but still having a texture and flavour you could recognise.

I'm not sure these are 'normal' enough for an English palette but I do like these and wonder if I should be doing more gravy based things with them.  I'll have to find a Polish restaurant and find out!

Berliner Kindl Weisse Das Original (Germany) By @SpectreUK

The name of this beer reminds me of the famous JFK speech where he said "Ich bin ein Berliner", and the running myth that this loosely translated means "I am a jelly doughnut". I saw the speech on YouTube earlier and the massive crowd of people knew what he really meant and cheered like crazy anyway.

This 3% volume Berliner Kindl Weisse Das Original was brought back from Germany by Cinabar's Dad whilst on holiday there. Wikipedia tells me that sour wheat beer of this type has been produced since the 16th Century originating in Hamburg. It was produced all over Germany in the 19th Century, but only in a couple of breweries in Berlin these days, and a few in the US and Canada.

Berliner Kindl Weisse Das Original is another sour beer selected late in its shelf life from my beer fridge. It's created at low temperature for its cloudiness, and has a secondary fermentation in the bottle to add to its sourness. So this beer should be full of flavour. I'm slightly worried that it is the wrong type of flavour for me though, as I'm not usually keen on sour beers!

On opening the bottle there was a sour and yet slightly fruity aroma. I took it that the fruitiness was from the malted barley and hops. I wasn't expecting that fruitiness and it settled my nerves a little. This Berliner Kindl Weisse Das Original actually smelt quite inviting…

From the description on pouring I was expecting a really cloudy beer, but this golden coloured wheat beer isn't all that cloudy. With a decent frothy head and that fruitiness fighting through the sour aroma, I just couldn't help but take a tentative sip. Yes, this is a sour beer… I can tell why Napoleon's troops called it "The Champagne of the North" in 1809. The initial sourness slowly gives way to a sweetness from the barley and a light bitter fruitiness from the added hops. This is a beautiful really tasty flavoursome beer, and I could drink it by the bucket load. I can taste the hundred's of years of brewing genius in every mouthful. It's a pure joy. I hope that I can get another bottle or two or more in the future.

Godiva Blood Orange Dark Chocolate (Waitrose) By @Cinabar

I do really like Godiva chocolate but it is a brand I associate mostly with being a gift and I quite often forget they do quite a bit for the impulse buy too. I found this Godiva Blood Orange Dark Chocolate bar in Waitrose and just fancied something a bit different, for myself. The tasting notes on the bar describe one of the stages as ‘a crunch of orange’, which sounded curious! ORanges do not normally crunch and if they do you should eat something else! :-D
I unwrapped the bar and it is quite dark in colour, the aroma is rick and fruity. I tried a pieces and was very impressed with the flavour. The dark chocolate is quite full on, rich and and quite intense. The orange does balance it out perfectly it is sweet, and so very zesty that it brought balance to the bar. It was a magic combination. The flavour was packed into blood orange crystals which is where the curious crunch come from, either way I was sold.

Oggs Victoria Sponge Cakes (Sainsburys) By @Cinabar

It was Spectre’s birthday so as a treat I wanted to order his favourite cake from the supermarket, Victoria Sponge. I had a look and the only thing that wasn’t out of stock was this box of individual cakes. That seemed like it would work for us so I added them to the order.
The box arrived and my first thought was how much smaller they were than I thought they would be, this is the problem with internet shopping you can't judge it like you would in the shop. This was meant as a birthday treat so I was hoping for something a bit naughtier.
We shared them out the Oggs Victoria Sponge Cakes, and had one small cake each. The cake sponge was moist and soft, the buttercream was sweet and nicely textured. The jam inside was pleasingly fruity. All together they made a nice Victoria sponge treat. My only negative comment was that I would have liked more jam, the fruity taste adds contrast and I would have liked more fruit. Other than that I enjoyed the Oggs Victoria Sponge Cakes very much, they made a lovely birthday treat. It was only after uploading the picture of the box that I realised they were vegan! Now that is impressive, nobody noticed! :-)

Blue Dragon - Thai Red Curry Kit #Vegan (by @NLi10)

Authentic Thai food can be a pain to find - especially if you want it to be veggie - so meal kits are great.  Where as the jar sauce contains the fishy bits, the kits let you decide to add in the nam pla yourself.

This is one we've had waiting around to be used.

I figure it's for two as children are not the best at spicy food!

Essentially you pop the paste on your meat/quorn and then once that's all coated you put the coconut milk in and simmer away.  We only put one of the three chillies in.

Then after I took out my partners portion I put the other two in just mine - yum!

With the sticky rice that i got in a sack it made a nice little meal.  I decided not to put the extra water in at the end to make it authentically sloppy (there are a few other suggestions on the sleeve too) but it was a great, quick meal for two!

Will buy again - we tend to alternate between the colours for variety.

Carullo Especial Beer (Aldi) By @SpectreUK

I was trying to find out where this Carullo Especial was produced and stumbled over a few reviews of this lager, which seems to have been brewed in the Netherlands. The reviews were a little scathing or at least the drinkers seemed to believe that nothing Especial is happening with this lager. Oh well, I've decided to write a review about this 4.8% volume, Carullo Especial, so here goes…

I must admit I've written quite a few reviews about beers from all over the place, but I can't for the life of me remember writing or even drinking a beer from The Netherlands. There was a lot of red on this bottle, which I suppose was 'red rag to a bull' to some people who drank it (pun intended regarding the bull on the front of the bottle). I did notice on the back of the bottle in tiny writing (give me a minute… I'm getting old and can't see so well) that the calories are 108 per half pint, which is quite high for a regular beer. I'm just glad I've worked out today.

So after the one time revelation of reading other people's reviews of a beer, even the bright red label wasn't particularly inspiring me to open the bottle, but open it I did… There was a deep wheat and yeasty smell to begin with, almost toast like in aroma. This bubbly lager had a deep golden colour with a slightly frothy top. On taste there was that almost toasty flavour of wheat and mixed sweet malts, with a lightly herbal hoppy bitterness closely following. It was pretty inoffensive, and I couldn't quite tell why people seemed to dislike it so much.

I agree with one of the reviews that the frothy top disappeared pretty quickly. I must say that I didn't dislike this beer. I know many people said that it is a mid-range uninteresting less than Especial beer. Personally I kind of wish I'd drunk it with my evening meal though, instead of waiting until later. It would probably go better with a spicy dish though, rather than my salmon meal, so maybe not. I probably wouldn't rush out and get another one, but I certainly wouldn't be miffed if Cinabar bought another one back from the shops… it would probably go well with a good spicy curry!

Heinz Chilli & Lime Salad Dressing Spray (Waitrose) By @Cinabar

I eat more salad in summer than I do in winter, I’d say this season is healthier but I also eat more ice cream when the weather is warm so it balances out. I was having a look at salad dressings and I saw this spray-on dressing and it is low calorie too. My first thought was I had never worried about the calories in a salad dressing before, I mean you only put a splash on and the rest is literally lettuce. Do people loose sleep over calories in salad dressing? Anyway, it is low calorie, it is also in the form of a spray which seems quite innovative.
Opening the pack wasn’t fun, the plastic seal was quite thick and difficult to rip into on the ‘tear’ here strip. It broke, I fought with it, I won but it made me unhappy. I put some lettuce in the bowl and sprayed a few times, and then tossed the salad. I needed a few more sprays than I had anticipated but at 2 calories a spray I guess it doesn’t matter. The dressing was tasty though, the chilli was just a little warm but the zesty lime was fresh and tasty. It does work on a summer salad. I couldn’t decide if I liked the spray element but I’ll happily use up the rest of the dressing on summer salads.

Homemade Kombucha and Loganberry Jam (@NLi10)

One side-effect of the whole lock-down thing in the UK has be a change to how we use our leisure time.  I've spent more time on the games consoles as I can't go out and play people in person.  Friends and family however have turned to more creative pursuits.  Everyone in this little circle has also continued to work full time (or greater) in essential roles!

First up - my sister made Loganberry Jam with berries grown in her garden.  It's super strong and the colour is remarkable.

Tea, a drink with jam & bread!

I've been using this on my home-made scones from last week and all kinds of lovely sandwiches and snacks.  The best kind of birthday present!

One of my colleagues talked about obtaining a 'scoby' and making her own Kombucha.  And this week I got to taste one of the results.  Kombucha is basically fermented tea with all kinds of other things thrown in to make exciting yet social drinks.

It's all a bit scientific - this one is apple and ginger flavoured science!

It tasted a little less sour than the store bought ones can be (varies by brand) and the ginger wasn't so strong that it put me off.  I'd love a rhubarb and ginger version and I've been tempted to try and make my own - but it's not an easy thing in a tiny kitchen.

Great tasting and very refreshing though - a great summer cafe drink if we are ever allowed out to play again.

Tick Tock Wellbeing teas (Degusta) By @SpectreUK

I drink quite a lot of tea during the day. A coffee is rare for me. I generally have a black coffee after my lunches over the weekend. It's not that I dislike coffee, but i find it quite heavy in flavour and it can give me bad dreams if I drink one too late in the evening. So I drink tea like it's going out of fashion. I drink tea right from the get-go until my last cup around 8pm.

I have tried many brands of tea, as well as many blends. I haven't, however, heard of Tick Tock Wellbeing, which seems strange been as though they were established in 1903. Benjamin Ginsberg started undertaking experiments with wild rooibos around that time. I have three Tick Tock Wellbeing teas to try that have been created in the spirit of old Ben's (… not Kenobi) botanical experimentations.

Presumably these three teas are supposed to be drunk throughout a day. I have twenty teabags of each tea. They really haven't got the hang of how much tea I drink. The boxes state to infuse the teas for two to four minutes, which I'll incline to ignore. I generally leave the teabag in a mug for a good ten to fifteen minutes whilst I'm faffing with whatever I'm doing at the time. There is Bounce, which possibly could be used to bounce you out of bed in the morning. There is Balance, which could be a midday kind of drink, and then there is the more obvious Bedtime. I'll start at the possible beginning…

Bounce

I like the monkey drinking a cup of this Bounce on the front of the yellow box. Yellow for the sunshine, which has been missing for the last week or two. It's made with green rooibos, lemongrass, ginger, and cinnamon. I was a little worried that this Bounce may taste too strongly of Lemongrass, which can have a habit of tasting like washing up liquid if excessively used as an ingredient in some foods.

There was a hint of lemongrass on opening the box of loose teabags. I was kind of expecting the teabags in packets. I guess it's because the box looks so posh. It does save on packaging though. After brewing this tea has so many flavours in it that it is difficult to pick out many of them. Bounce is like a spa break in a mug. It tastes super healthy with light flavours of rooibos, citrus, fruity leaves and spice. I was worried it might taste like bathwater and was relieved it didn't. It's a bit too relaxing to call it Bounce though, as that implies a 'get up and go', where to me this blend is pure relaxation.

Ingredients;
Green rooibos, lemongrass, ginger, blackberry leaves, orange peel, lemon verbena, cinnamon, eucalyptus leaves, liquorice, and hibiscus.

Balance

There is a deep red flamingo on the front of this pinkish box, with a setting sun behind it. That's why I figure this is an afternoon type of tea… besides, Balance, gives thought to the middle of the day where some of the trials of the morning, such as my crazy workout sessions, are over, lunch has been eaten and my stomach needs something to help with digestion. Balance sounds like it fits the bill (pun intended), as it is created with rooibos, fennel, turmeric, and cardamom.

I usually have a ginger tea straight after my lunch to help with my digestion. I decided to have a mug of this Balance instead, hoping it may have the same soothing effect. On opening the box there was a slightly stronger fruitier smell to the teabags inside. After brewing and leaving to cool this Balance has a strong dark colour to go with the smell, and a taste of rooibos and turmeric, with a fruity leafiness from the blackberry leaves, an added cardamom spice and then a little aniseed at the back of the flavour. This is a stronger tea and seems to find its place in the afternoon rather well.

Ingredients;
Rooibos, blackberry leaves, fennel seed, lemongrass, aniseed, turmeric, and cardamom.

Bedtime

The sleepy cat on a branch reminds me of a tired looking furry animal who plonked itself down on a branch in front of us at Longleat safari park during our visit a year or so back. Tick Tock's Bedtime blend is made with traditional bedtime ingredients such as camomile, lemon balm, lavender, and of course rooibos as its staple.

I decided to drink this Bedtime tea later on in the day. The clue was in the title, but then again, I don't drink tea too late in the day, so late afternoon had to do… besides, I'd already had my nap! There was predominantly an aroma of rooibos and lavender on opening the box. After brewing the dark tea smelt much the same, having a strong flavour of rooibos mixed with camomile and lavender, a sweetness from the liquorice and honeybush, as well as the aniseed at the back of the flavour. I'm not sure about Bedtime, but this tea is an all round flavoursome late afternoon tea for me.

Ingredients;
Camomile, apple, rooibos, honeybush, lemon balm, liquorice, lavender, aniseed, and blackberry leaves.

Nexba Watermelon, Cucumber and Mint Drink (Sainsburys) By @Cinabar

I’ve heard a rumour that there is hot weather on the way so I decided to see if there are any new soft drinks to keep my hydrated. Also my favourite Shloer drinks were not on offer and I didn’t fancy paying the full £2.20 for a bottle, so wanted something new. I have a £1.50 rule on soft drinks, and this Nexba Watermelon, Cucumber and Mint Drink was £1.40, huzzah!
The drink sounds rather refreshing too for any hot weather, I am a big fan of cucumber flavoured drinks, or indeed just putting cucumber in water (a remarkably cheap alternative). :-D
The Nexba Watermelon, Cucumber and Mint drink is rather fizzy, but the flavour was good. It isn’t overly sweet, but has enough to keep me happy. The main taste is watermelon which is refreshing, followed by the slightly more savoury cucumber, this might be an acquired taste but I rather loved it. The hint of mint gives it a nice mature finish. I’ll be buying this again. In conclusion it is good to try something new from a brand I hadn’t looked at before, and it was cheaper than my regular choice so it was win win.

Trolls - Barb BBQ Beef Rock Strings (Asda) By @Cinabar

I am happy to confess to enjoying animated movies, I don’t mean manga particularly, I’m mean kids films. I have eclectic tastes; I love a dark thriller, I love a comedy and just as much I also enjoy kid’s films. Netflix is struggling to build a profile for me. I haven’t seen the Trolls movie, not because I’m too high brow, I just haven’t got round to it. These new crisps are based on the movie and I’m guessing the character on the right is Barb in the name of the product and that rock music features in the film. These Trolls Barb BBQ Beef Rock String are actually crispy chickpea sticks. The packaging is well designed and stands out, there are six bags in the pack.
As much as my film/TV taste is mixed, so was my lunch. For reasons of sell by date we had a bag of Caesar salad, I’ve been eating a lot of toast since lockdown so we threw in some of that and finally the obvious accompaniment was a bag of Trolls - Barb BBQ Beef Rock Strings. Yes, I know, please stop judging me, I think it was actually relatively healthy? These crisps are baked.
I really enjoyed the crisps too, they have a lovely layered crispy texture that made them enjoyable to eat. The flavour was pretty strong, there was quite a bit of sweetness, but lots of smokey tangy barbecue sauce to balance it off. They were moreish and went well with my strange lunch. I might not have seen the Troll films but I’m still going to add the tomato ketchup variety to my next order, these were just so good.

Finally Making Those Matcha Green Scones (@NLi10)

What is this, powder upon more powder?  What kind of snack food is this?!

Well the green is easy to explain - that's my Matcha powder that I got send to review ages ago.

It's great stuff and while I drank most of it I reserved the last half a pack for baking.  And while it's taken 2 years for my health and procrastination to do that baking - here it is!

This green sausage is a half dozen of Delia's scones.  With a table spoon of matcha.

They don't look that green now

They bake up nicely

And they compare well to the normal batch I did for comparison

Tea scones with more tea is maybe a little much, but they worked really well (as expected) and the flavours still came through.  I definitely used less sugar than the recipe needed (or the wrong grade) but generally it worked as expected.  I needed the clotted cream and jam in stock before I did this!

So all in all the baking grade matcha was a success - now to do a chocolate cake - but with matcha instead of chocolate - the possibilities are endless!!