Layer Cake Marshmallow and Chocolate Stout (Asda) By @SpectreUK

Unfortunately there's been some controversy around Brewdog recently, so I was in two minds whether to write about this beer. Personally I've never tried a bad beer from Brewdog, and I try my best to keep any sort of politics, so to speak, out of the blog. I guess it should be just about the beer or snack food that I'm writing about at the time. Besides this Layer Cake Marshmallow and Chocolate Stout sounded too interesting not to write about.

On opening the stout this 7% in volume Layer Cake Marshmallow and Chocolate Stout had a sweet chocolatey aroma. It was almost black in colour on pouring. Layer Cake smelt like a thickly coated chocolate fudge cake. I couldn't help but think "yum" just on pouring it. There was a sweet marshmallow taste on my initial mouthful, followed by a velvety malted chocolate flavour that sumptuously soothed my tastebuds into the aftertaste. Just gorgeous. Layer Cake Marshmallow and Chocolate Stout Is a perfect pudding beer. Yum!

Ferrero Roche Original Bar (Tesco) By @Cinabar

I do associate Ferrero Roche with Christmas. I even had a superb Ferrero Roche Advent Calendar last year with a chocolate each day on the countdown. How totally indulgent is that. I would like another this year, if anybody is taking notes.

This bar is smartly wrapped, and inside the card is a gold foil as it is posh chocolate. I opened it up and the bar looked smart too. Some of the pieces look like they have more filling than some of the others, which is weird. Surely all the pieces should be the same.

I gave a piece a try and was surprised that it is quite a soft and light bar to eat. There is plenty of sweet milk chocolate, but no wafer to add crispness. Inside the chocolate there were little bits of hazelnut in a soft filling, which, although they did add texture, were still quite delicate to munch on. The bar is very reminiscent of the Ferrero Roche chocolates, in a much easier to snack on format. I would buy it again.

Plant Pioneers - Grow Delicious - Slightly Salted Spread by @NLi10 #vegan

 Sometimes the Vegan products are so ridiculously close to what we usually buy that it's rude not to try them.

Especially when they are basically half price! Ignore the date - we had most of a month to finish this...

This is a cool young brand - I can't believe it's not I Can't Believe Its Not Butter!

It's all just oil! No wonder people think that bread leads to terrible eating habits.

At least it's sustainable.  If you flip it onto it's weaker underbelly for maximum damage you can see this is actually a Sainsbury's own brand - clever!

So I took some oil

And put it on the luxury farmers loaf! It was surprisingly close to the dairy equivalent,  with just enough flavour to lighten the toast up.  A win for the toast and the planet (but maybe not my cholesterol).

Mr Porky Crispy Strips (Tesco) By @SpectreUK

One time I broke a tooth on a pork scratching. I eat more pork puffs now to save on dental bills. I do love pork scratchings though, especially after a good workout with my weights at home. These Mr Porky Crispy Strips, the Lighter Bite, may be able to help with my cravings for pork scratchings. They are high in calories for the size of the serving at 198, which is also much higher, but also heavier than a regular bag of pork puffs, although I do love to try new innovative snacks. So here goes…

 

On opening the packet there was a familiar aroma of pork scratchings. As you can see from the photograph, these Mr Porky Crispy Strips are slimmer in texture if not much different in calories or fat content. On first tentative bite I was a little concerned that these Crispy Strips would be almost as hard to eat as some pork scratchings, but my poor old teeth were pretty safe in the end. I found these Mr Porky Crispy Strips very tasty, they were more reminiscent of pork scratchings than pork puffs and were certainly a decent protein hit after a good long workout with my weights.

Information on the packet; The 35g bag contains 198 calories, 12.7g of fat, 2.25g of salt and 20.7g of protein. Please see photograph for the ingredients.

Cadbury’s Chocolate Gift Card (Tesco) By @Cinabar

Is it a card or is it a box of chocolates? Actually, this Cadbury’s Chocolate Gift Card is both. This smart gift box from Cadbury can be opened and a message written inside, while the chocolate remains sealed underneath. I bought this for myself, so no message, but I have recently got a new job, so I will roll with the ‘nice one’ on the front of the pack.

Underneath the wrapper are individual chocolates filled with a white chocolate truffle. They look like flowers and so are very gift worthy. This style of packaging reminds me of Milka selling hazelnut pralines in a very similar way many years ago, so I’m guessing it has come from the European influence on the brand.

I gave one of the chocolates a try and was very impressed. The chocolate shell is quite a thick Cadbury chocolate and underneath the truffle is super creamy and sweet, it is a flavour burst of white chocolate and was absolutely lovely. These are good quality, and ones I’d be pleased to receive. Hopefully, next time I won’t have to buy my own Cadbury’s Chocolate Gift Card.

Limited Edition Intergalactic Coca-Cola (Ocado) By @Cinabar

We have had some strange flavours of soft drinks over the years, and several we have had to guess. The latest limited edition from Coca-Cola is this new Intergalactic flavour. You do sort of have to guess what that means in terms of taste as it isn’t too easy to work it out from the name. I’m not sure it even inspires a vague hint of what it might taste like. So the question is what does Intergalactic mean in terms of a flavour, and I’ve got nothing.

I poured some Intergalactic Coca-Cola out into a glass and realised the drink had a fun red tinge to it. Was that a clue to the flavour? I gave it a sip and the first taste was sweet, I know cola is always sweet, but this was sweeter. Then there was a lot of creaminess, like vanilla. Finally, the flavour ends on a burnt sugar note, just like candy floss. I think the mystery flavour must be candy floss. That is my best guess. That flavour at the end of the sip is just so distinctively sweet and reminds me of the fair ground rather than space. Why is it red, why is it space themed? I don’t think I have the answer.

Have you tried it? What are your thoughts?

Cadbury Creme Egg Cakes - by @NLi10

Easter is over, but that doesn’t mean that we have to stop buying chocolate!  

Here we have cakes, but in the style of a Cadbury Creme Egg.

Portion control has never beeen so easy!

So what do you get? Well - a lot of tiny Choc buttons for a start which was lovely.

It’s actually a giant Swiss roll, sliced up, and coated in dairy milk style chocolate! Fantastic. And unlike the eggs themselves it’s not too sweet.

A lovely little light cake for with a Cup of tea.

 

Edel Spezialbier Beer (@ABKbeer) By @SpectreUK

I sometimes feel a little late to the beer party. I'm especially feeling late to the party on this Edel Spezialbier, which was produced by ABK Brewery in Bavaria. They have been brewing beer since 1308, and I don't mean since early this afternoon. So brewing for 700 years and they are still going strong. Although I sometimes feel that old myself after a long workout session. I could definitely do with a 5.8% in volume pick me up at the moment. I have a 500ml bottle of that pick me up right now. So I'm going to pop it open.

Edel Spezialbier Is a deep golden fairly bubbly lager. There was a herbal hop smell on opening the bottle, with the yeastiness that sometimes comes with a lager and then sweet malts at the back of the aroma. On taste this traditional Bavarian lager had a crisp bite of hops to begin with followed closely by a caramel sweetness from the malts. Very nice indeed.

I found Edel Spezialbier a very flavoursome, very pleasant yet excitably bubbly lager. I found this lager went rather well washing down my IKEA style meet balls, chips, peas and Lingonberry sauce for dinner.

Ribena - Raspberry and Rhubarb (Ocado) By @Cinabar

The sun is shining, the sky is blue today, we are ignoring the wind howling in the background. I was after a nice summery soft drink and decided to try out this Raspberry and Rhubarb edition of Ribena. Firstly, I always get confused when a new variety of Ribena doesn’t include blackcurrants, because that is their thing, but here we are. These are just the two fruits in cordial with no blackcurrants in sight.

I poured some Raspberry and Rhubarb Ribena into the glass and topped it up with water. I could immediately smell the rhubarb and couldn’t wait to give it a try. When I took a sip, I realised it was actually the raspberry that shone through first, sweet, fruity and juicy and then at the end of the flavour came the sharper tangy flavour of rhubarb. It was quite a moreish taste and one that is like summer in a glass. Sweet then a little tart. OK, so maybe I can cope without the blackcurrants because this combo is definitely a winner for me.

Rana Pan Fry Gnocchi - Spinach & Mozzarella & Carbonara varieties by @NLi10

We are already part of the Rana family, it says so on the packets.  The pan fry gnocchi have been another revelation, and now they are doing more exciting flavours.

First up is the veggie friendlier version, spinach & mozzarella.  I know some veggies don't eat certain cheeses so you might need to check the fine print on this one.  Look at the lovely sizzling, crispy balls!

I had one just for review purposes, but this was not my dinner. The balance is good enough that it could have been though. The cheese doesn't overpower here - it's an ingredient not the only flavour.

I chose the carbonara - creamy meaty goodness.

As always it tells you how to cook them - butter and frequent shaking of the pan to roll them in the butter and their own juices to get an even coating.

And they look and smell fabulous once done.

Not quite as distinct as the pics on the box (but they are still 'chopped not blended' ingredients) but they were fantastic.  Needed more carbon/pepper for my tastes but that's easily added - as is cheese for those of you that like that sort of things.

Simple sophistication and they take literally 5 mins to prepare from start to finish.  A personal favourite.

 

Gnaw Deggmond Dinosaur (Moonpig - for Easter from my Bro) By @SpectreUK



Brrr… Brrr… “Please state your emergency service.”

“Er… Police please.”

“I’ll put you through”

“Hello, this is the police, how can I help you?”

“Er… Hi, I’ve found a dead body. I… I think he’s been murdered!”

“Steady on, Sir, calm down. Tell me where you are and we’ll send someone over.”

Knock… knock… “Er… Hi, Officer.”

“Good evening, Sir. I’m Sergeant Bob, and this is my assistant, Constable McCluskey.“

“Wotcha”

“Tut… I’ll do the talking, Constable. The Chief Inspector will be here later, Sir. Please show me where the body is.”

“Er… it’s through here in the kitchen.”

“I see. Did you move the body, Sir?”

“Er… No… no.”

“NEVER move the body!”

“Er… I didn’t, I swear.”

“It just seems to have been conveniently murdered on kitchen paper, so I see.”

“Er.. I didn’t move it, honestly.”

“Okay, Sir. If you could step into the corridor and I’ll ask you some further questions. Constable, keep an eye on the body will you?”

“Righto, Sarge.”

“So, do you live with the victim, Sir?”

“Er… no, I live across the street and I heard a scream. He was a quiet fellow. Such a nice guy.”

“Now, now, calm down, Sir. McCluskey, are you okay in there? Constable? Excuse me for a moment, Sir… Alright, Constable, where’s the head gone?”

“Sarge, he was just so tasty. One of the most creamiest, milkiest milk chocolates I’ve ever tasted. And the crunchy coated eggs in his mouth and on his spine were to die for.”

“McCLUSKEY!!!”

“Sorry, Sarge.”

Candy Pop Popcorn Twix (Candy Mail) By @Cinabar

The latest snack hybrid, Twix meets popcorn. I have had a few different varieties of popcorn from Candy Pop. They seem to have one of the most creative American companies for flavours. Here they have merged the chocolate bar Twix into their latest product. The bag even states “made with Twix candy pieces”, so I was looking forward to seeing how it worked out.

I poured some out of the bag and I could immediately see the chocolate and caramel drizzle generously zigzagging the popcorn. That is all I could see though. I couldn’t see the promised chopped Twix candy at all. The popcorn tasted amazing though, the milk chocolate and caramel were spot on and sweet and indulgent. The fluffy pieces of popcorn had a lovely texture, and the chocolate and caramel a delight to eat. The only criticism was that I couldn't get a biscuit taste or spot any biscuit pieces. Perhaps I got a bad bag that is missing it? The problem was that I would never have identified this as being specifically Twix popcorn, but what I did have was still a delight to eat.

Muller Light Banana Split Yoghurt (Iceland) By @Cinabar

This is the latest new flavour from Muller and it is in their Light range, which is helpful after all the Easter chocolate. The new variety is Muller Light Banana Split, and I was looking forward to it. Banana as a flavour seems to be as controversial as Marmite. Some people really hate it and some like me rather like it.

I opened up the pot and found inside it a light coloured yoghurt speckled with chocolate. I was trying to think what a Banana Split was like a retro dessert. I think it was banana, ice cream, chocolate sauce, cream and a cherry on top. Now idea how that went out of fashion! This yoghurt is just a banana base with some chocolate sprinkles in it, which, although nice, doesn’t seem quite as exciting as the dessert would make me in a restaurant.

Taste wise, it was nice, there was sweet banana which tasted quite natural, and the chocolate added a little bit of cocoa flavour to the mix, but sadly not that much. As someone who is in the camp that likes banana flavoured treats, this worked for me. Muller already makes a Banana and Custard flavour yoghurt though and this Muller Light Banana Split doesn’t seem to add enough difference to make it worthwhile having both. I think it needed a heavier hit from the dark chocolate.

Montezuma's Peanut Butter Mini Eggs by from Waitrose @NLi10

Happy Easter!!

I popped a few Easter treats into the latest Waitrose basket ready for the influx of reviews - and almost forgot to schedule them for the right days.  The main thing of interest is these Montezuma's Peanut Butter Mini Eggs.

Nothing too special - just finest luxury milk chocolate & lovely peanut butter (British style not American)

They aren't really Mini eggs though - they are more like our Creme Eggs but instead of the sickly goo inside (which I secretly get fed up of every year) we have some lovely smooth peanut paste.

Not much to look at - and the multi-bag bashes them about a bit

But perfectly filled eggs with a surprisingly nice peanut butter.  I tend to get the really healthy stuff which only has two ingredients (peanuts and violence) but this is a little saltier which works really well with the strong flavoured chocolate.

A win from me and better than anything I've had from Cadbury's this year! I wonder if they are in the sale yet...

 

Salt Denim HDHC IPA Beer (Tesco) By @SpectreUK

Ah, the old HDHC IPA, eh?! Nope, I've got nothing.

Okay, so HDHC stands for High-Density Hop Charge. Apparently it's where a large amount of hops are packed in for the biggest boldest flavour. I found on the side of the can that three hops have been used in this Denim, which was produced by the micro brewery Salt. This 7.2% in volume India Pale Ale is supposed to be as hard wearing as it's name sake implies.

On smell Denim certainly had a strong herbal hop aroma with a hint of citrus followed by the sweet malts in the background. This misty golden IPA had a biting herbal hop start, really biting in fact. Denim has a sharper herbal bite than I can remember any other IPA I've tried in the past. This was not necessarily a good thing.

Once I'd clawed my way out of the pit of herbal hops there was a mild sweetness from the pale malts into the aftertaste. Denim was definitely a bitter IPA and no mistake. I couldn't decide at first if I liked this India Pale Ale. It was as if it was trying too hard to be bitter. Unfortunately it just become uncomfortably bitter after less than half a pint. I don't have many beers these days due to my diet, so I do really like to enjoy a beer when I drink one. Unfortunately I didn't enjoy Demin.

Thorntons Hot Cross Bun Shortcake Bites (Co-Op) By @Cinabar

These are making me cross. There are a couple of things that really annoyed me about these Thorntons Hot Cross Bun Shortcake Bites. Firstly, they are called Hot “Cross” Bun Bites and they didn’t even manage to put a cross on each piece. How simple would the theme for that have been? A cross on top would even have been less icing. These are an Easter treat so I’m not sure how they missed that.

 

Secondly, once you open the packet, there clearly would have been space for nine bites but they chose to space them out and only put eight in. That just seems a bit mean. So, yeah, before I started I was feeling a little grumpy about the product. When I bit in I have to admit my spirits lifted. There is so much cinnamon in these bites I was in heaven just one taste in. Mood reversed.

These bites do tick all the boxes when it comes to the texture. There is a solid shortcake base, chocolate, juicy raisins and a gooey caramel. There are lots of chocolate and caramel flavours all set off by that wonderful, surprisingly strong, hit of cinnamon. Oh my, they are divine. Perfectly seasonally spiced. It is Good Friday, I really hope I haven’t missed my chance to buy a couple more packs of these Thorntons Hot Cross Bun Shortcake Bites before they disappear.

Jord - Nordic Oat Drink made from Oat & Hemp - by @NLi10

I tend to use almond milk, but pea milk is slightly better for the planet (but far less available) so  when I see an odd white plant drink to try I tend to pick it up.

I'd not heard of Jord, but I had had Hemp stuff before and liked it.

Like all of these it's basically 86% water, and less than 1% hemp.  This is probably a good thing.

And it's pretty simple too.

And it does indeed taste like oat milk with an aftertaste of hemp.

It's nowhere near as strong as the CBD style things, and honestly past the first spoonful you forget it's even there.  And it's enjoyable.  I'm not sure whether adding 1% hemp seeds really impacts the environmental side of this (more than carting this over from Norway), but as long as it doesn't make it worse then adding a little taste is quite fun.