Hershey’s Strawberry and Cream Bar (Candy Mail) By @Cinabar

I admit this Hershey’s Strawberry and Cream Bar is American, but I am still trying it in conjunction with the Strawberries and Cream theme and it being Jubilee in the UK. I know the link is weak, but this was the best I could find in my Foodstuff Funds stash, and anyway it is a new chocolate bar to try.

So, this Hershey’s Strawberry and Cream Bar is a white chocolate base flavoured with strawberries and cream, and is, in conjunction with the ice cream flavours Hershey has been releasing recently. The mint chocolate chip is a firm favourite bar of mine.

I unwrapped the pack and my bar was a little broken from transit, but it was a lovely pink colour, with each piece having an ice cream cone logo. I gave the chocolate a try and it had a lovely sweet, strong strawberry flavour, it was very fruity and sweet and did remind me of ice cream. There were dried strawberries in the bar, giving it a little texture, but mostly it was about the sweet candy taste. I have a sweet tooth, so this worked for me, I think, though the mint version still has the edge on flavour. Still a nice fun, even if not that seasonal for the Jubilee, new bar to try.

Jubilee Muffin (Costa) By @Cinabar

We are in a three-day week celebrating the Jubilee, and this means we have Jubilee treats in the shop. I felt this was a good excuse to treat myself to one of Costa’s Jubilee Muffins, all wrapped up in a Union Jack paper case. How very British. The muffin also looks rather regal with a chocolate crown on top. I couldn’t wait to tuck in.

The flavour of Costa’s Jubilee Muffin is similar to a Victoria sponge, with a vanilla base, buttercream and jam filling. I started by tasting some of the buttercream and it was sweet, rich and super creamy. It was such a good flavour, but a small portion of topping. The gold crown is milk chocolate which was nice too. The sponge under was fluffy with lots of sweet vanilla running through it. The raspberry jam was a nice fruity blast to help contrast the creamier flavours and it worked like a treat, much like it does on a Victoria Sponge. These new Costa’s Jubilee Muffins are based on a classic, and I really will miss them when they are gone. Definitely something worth picking up this week, if just to celebrate the extra bank holiday and long weekend.

Birmingham Museum Edwardian Tearoom Is Back! @NLi10

 I happened to be in town on a weekday at lunch time for my driving theory test ( I passed, go me) so I treated myself to lunch at the Museum.  It's been closed for most of the pandemic for obvious reasons but they've chosen to open one of the buildings while they continue replacing all the electrics - and fortunately for us it's the one with the cafe.

I say cafe - it's a lot more like a restaurant that tolerates you just buying tea and a sandwich.  Here we can see I had the special - some pork piled up high on veggies and smothered in tasty gravy.  Honestly it's a treat to get to eat here.  It's not the cheapest but it's certainly good value for money (I even get money off for being a member of the museum)

I also got to have a lovely pot of tea for one - three cups with some to spare - to give me a kick to survive town itself.  It's a lovely space and really tranquil.

I also stumbled into the exhibition on Birmingham's Cinematic History - Wonderland which had opened that morning. This is great because we love our little indy cinemas. 

And afterwards I got to cash in my reward points from Happy Lemon for some freshly brewed lemon tea.  Result!

Saltaire Blonde Ale (Tesco) By @SpectreUK

I fancy a blonde… oh, I mean a blonde beer with my Chinese takeaway. I haven't had a beer from the Saltaire Brewery since October 2016. I checked because this seems familiar territory. That was a Raspberry Blonde Beer, where this is a Blonde ale. Having a glance at that old blog, I did rather enjoy it and thought it's fruitiness would complement a good fruit cake for pudding one night. I'm having this Blonde ale with my Chinese takeaway tonight.

I usually have sticky barbecue ribs and Pork Yuk Sung, which is wrapped in lettuce leaves for something a little healthier. Although I have a habit of eating up all the prawn crackers provided with whatever is left of the Yuk Sung and also dipping them into the sticky barbecue sauce. I reckon this 4% in volume Saltaire Blonde ale will go rather well with my dinner.

The label on the bottle mentioned a balance of malt and subtle spice from Bohemian Saaz hops. So this Blonde ale should go rather well with my Chinese takeaway. On opening the bottle there was a strong sweet malted barley aroma from the deep golden Blonde ale, and with a touch of spice from the hops.

On taste Saltaire Blonde Ale was a very flavoursome beer indeed. With a biscuity almost toast like sweetness from the malts and that touch of spice from the Saaz hops providing bitterness that keeps on giving into the aftertaste. Mmm… gorgeous. Perfect with my Chinese takeaway. Now where did I put my Fortune Cookie?

Popcorn Shed - Strawberries and Cream (#Gifted) By @Cinabar

There really isn’t a more British combination of flavours that can beat strawberries and cream. It is also the dessert most associated with Wimbledon and the British summer. Therefore, I think it works well for a Jubilee year snack idea too, particularly in the form of this Popcorn Shed Strawberries and Cream popcorn. It is available in boxes or small bags, Popcorn Shed very kindly sent me some to try.

I opened up the pack and smiled when I saw the pink popcorn inside. The pieces are nicely rounded and look very pretty with a decent coating of their topping. The texture, too, is spot on, slightly crunchy on the outside and fluffy inside. The flavours are sweet and fruity with a nice creamy finish. It was incredibly moreish popcorn. I love the summer edition of Popcorn Shed.

If you are in on the bank holiday next week and want a themed snack, I thoroughly recommend pouring a box of this Popcorn Shed - Strawberries and Cream popcorn into a bowl. That is if you are okay with sharing it after you’ve tasted it.

Vegan Slice! Higgidy Family Kitchen by @NLi10

Greggs is Greatt, but sometimes you want something a little more deluxe, and more importantly that you an eat at home.

Here comes Higgidy to the rescue with their brand of veggie & vegan slices.  This first one is for the resident veggie - not vegan due to the feta - but still pretty healthy and good.

 

Here's mine - a slightly spicy Japanese version - with a spicy topping.

Look at that crumbliness.  I'd have eaten two if I had them!  Just crispy enough and spicy enough to please, and not as dry as I'd feared.  It went well with veggies and potatoes (don't get that at Greggs!)

Rolo Dark Salted Caramel (Candy Mail) By @SpectreUK

I'm both intrigued and apprehensive. Cinabar bought me this roll of Rolo Dark Salted Caramel. Although I love Rolos made by Nestle, which are almost impossible to share, I haven't had a roll of Rolos for quite sometime. There was a big advert campaign years ago on who you would share your last Rolo with. There aren't many people I would give my last Rolo to I can tell you. I could probably count them all on one hand.

These Rolo Dark Salted Caramel were made by the Hershey Company on license from Nestle. They were made with Hershey's dark chocolate instead of Nestle's milk chocolate. They were also filled with salted caramel rather than the usual sweet runny caramel I'm used to.

I'm not a big fan of dark chocolate. I don't mind Hershey's chocolate too much. I have tasted it in the past, although it has an acquired taste. Of course I like salted caramel. It's difficult not to. Well, just as long as it's not too salty. I have tried some salted caramel chocolate bars in the past which had a noticeable crunch from the larger grains of salt. So I'll have to see what this Rolo Dark Salted Caramel is like.

On opening the wrapper as you can see from the photograph there were darker chocolate Rolos inside. On popping the nearest Rolo into my mouth there was a taste of dark chocolate to start with, followed by lightly salted caramel and then back to dark chocolate at the end of the flavour. I was at once relieved of my apprehension. I thought these Rolo Dark Salted Caramel were very tasty indeed and I'd definitely have them again. I still wouldn't share them with many people either.

Lotus Biscoff & Go (B&M Store) By @Cinabar

This biscuit and dip pack reminded me of being a kid. I used to pick up a pack of biscuit sticks with a chocolate hazelnut dip after school sometimes to have as a treat while doing my homework, and for reasons unknown haven’t really touched that type of confectionery for years. I guess the homework stopped? I couldn’t resist a new version though, these Lotus Biscoff & Go.

I think I assumed that these would be Lotus biscuit sticks with a Lotus biscuit dip, which, if I had stopped to think about for a few minutes, I would have realised it wouldn’t quite have worked. Lotus biscuits are rich and brittle and therefore making a chunky version for dipping. The biscuits inside are plain, it is just the dip that is Lotus Biscoff flavoured.

I scooped a good portion out with the biscuit stick and gave it a try. I loved the taste, it was rich and full of that nice spiced biscuit flavour, all with a lovely crunch. I found them fun to eat too, and filled with nostalgia. I have to say Lotus Biscoff & Go is a lovely twist on a classic treat.

What The Fanta 3 Mystery Flavour 2022 (Ocado) By @Cinabar

We have been getting an almost annual What The Fanta Mystery Flavour, and it always causes mild panic in me. This is because I feel like I should be better at guessing flavours than I am. I taste test so many foods and drinks, and curious combinations that I should be able to do this, but inevitably I struggle. I know I’m over thinking this, I’ll just open the bottle.

Firstly, this drink is bright pink, it has an epic colour, but I’m also aware this bottle of What The Fanta 3 Mystery Flavour may in no way be related to the pink colour. Fanta are probably messing with us. Next thing to note is this drink is made with artificial sweeteners, worth noting as I know it puts some people off.

I took a sip and let the flavour wash over me in the hope that inspiration would kick in. I think there are two tones in the drink. There is a mellow tone which reminds me of peach or melon and a sharper berry tone, possibly blueberry. The drink is also sweet, very sweet through and through. I liked it, but then I have a very sweet tooth. I thought it was a fruity, refreshing drink for summer. I would still welcome anyone else's guesses. I fear I may be nowhere near the mark!

Looking for the 2023 updat e- click here: What The Fanta PURPLE Mystery Flavour 2023

Butterm!lk plan powered peanut nougat copy-bar - but is it a Snickers or a Mars? by @NLi10

We love the Buttermilk brand - it's probably the best thing to happen to Vegan snacks in years! It's genuinely better than the real thing in most cases.  Here we have an odd one - a copy-bar -  an imitation of a popular snack bar containing peanuts - it's a ...

...natural alternative to one of the more popular chocolate snacks on the market that is caramel and nougat so it must be a...

...smooth chocolate outer instead of the ridged surfaces - which suggests it must be imitating a...

... well - pass! It's got the half peanuts of a snickers, the nougat is somewhere between the consistency of the Mars & Milky Way - and it also has the caramel layer that if anything is sticky like a Twix. Argh.

Safe to say it's a little bit too soft for me - I prefer the hard Snickers & the crunch of the Twix - but it's a really nice mix up of all the popular snacks but completely vegan.  If you've always wanted a Mars with peanuts and a little more caramel then go for it!

Veltins Pilsener Beer (Tesco) By @SpectreUK

I have a huge schnitzel for dinner tonight. Very German, I know. I'll have it with some potatoes and vegetables on the side. What better to have a schnitzel with than a German beer? This Veltins Pilsener was brewed in Grevenstein, in Germany, by the Veltins Brewery which was established in 1824. At 4.8% in volume I'm just guessing that this Veltins Pilsener has Pilsner lager malt in it? Just a hunch, though.

So on opening the bottle there was a strong herbal hop aroma followed closely by a yeastiness and sweetness from the malts. This deep golden beer had an excitable bubbliness on pouring. Veltins Pilsener had quite a bite of herbal hops to begin with followed by the sweetness of Pilsner lager malt. I certainly found this beer a perfectly tasty accompaniment to my rather huge schnitzel dinner. It was all very tasty indeed. Cheers.

Hellman’s Gravy Flavour Mayonnaise (Iceland) By @Cinabar

I can’t help wondering how this Hellman’s Gravy Flavour Mayonnaise came about. It isn’t exactly an obvious combination of flavours. Don’t get me wrong, I have both a Northern parent where the cultural choice is chips and gravy and my other parent is European, where it is all about mayo and chips. The result is that I like either. I can appreciate both flavour combinations but, significantly, I like them separately. I have never ever thought of combining the two, but here we go.

I opened up the tub of Hellman’s Gravy Flavour Mayonnaise and dolloped a portion on the side next to my chips. I gave it a try and wasn’t sure about the flavour. The mayonnaise base is rich and creamy, which was nice with the salt on the chips. The meaty gravy flavour was also salty, but it was fine. It was okay with the chips. I think I will be quite happy to finish the tub, but I can’t honestly say I’d be rushing out for another pack. The conclusion is that, for me, it is still about chips or gravy, but not both.

As an alternate view, Spectre had some of this Hellman’s Gravy Flavour Mayonnaise the next day with boiled potatoes, and said it was fabulous, so perhaps I will have to give it a chance on other things too.

Waterhouse Fayre - Raspberry Jam - by @NLi10

My partner liked to bring back food from her trips and this came from Westward Ho! which is the actual name of somewhere in England.  I'm not entirely sure where Waterhouse Fayre are based, but lets look together shall we.

So far, so normal - but again this has an award!

Small batch jam from what I presume is a West Country farm - awesome!

And look at that richness - exactly how jam should be - like a blob that slowly sinks into the scone or bread you popped it on.  This is full of fruit - lots of little bits of flavour and joy all rolled in to one.

And this only got Silver?  What were the judges thinking - I can only assume that Waterhouse Fayre submitted another flavour alongside this.  And I shall be hunting for that on our next trip to that area.

 

White Chocolate Smarties (Morrisons) By @SpectreUK

I love white chocolate. That's no secret. I often have a bar or two of white chocolate for pudding with a white hot chocolate drink, and a tub of low calorie vanilla ice cream for pure indulgence. I used to like Nestle Smarties when I was young, many, many, many moons ago. So these new White Chocolate Smarties sound like a real treat.

When I enjoy other chocolate bar puddings, such as milk chocolate, I have a habit of tipping Minstrels into my tub of low calorie vanilla ice cream. I feel that Minstrels and vanilla ice cream were made for each other. That does make me wonder if these White Chocolate Smarties, and now indeed regular Smarties would be the same. Well, there's only one way to find out.

As you can see from the photograph on popping open the recyclable cardboard packaging (no original plastic Smarties tube tops here) there were a multitude of colours of White Chocolate Smarties. On biting one in half the Smartie was full of white chocolate. I thought these Smarties were nice and crunchy with smooth and creamy white chocolate inside. They also went rather well with my vanilla ice cream, so I'll have these again. A good bonus was that they made me feel young and gave me a smile.

Information on the tube; The 36g tube had 87 calories per half tube, with 3.6g of fat, 11.5g of sugar, and 0.05g of salt. Please see photograph for the ingredients.

Tropical Muffin (Costa) By @Cinabar

The sun is shining, we can start to smell the barbecues, the pink flamingoes are roaming (maybe) and the summer specials are in at Costa. There are definitely pink flamingos all around his new Tropical Muffin from Costa. I couldn’t resist giving it a try, it is super cute too topped with a pink flamingo and did I mention the pink flamingo wrapper?

Inside the muffin there is a lovely tropical medley of fruit that tastes like summer. It is a golden fruit flavour combining mango and passionfruit, and I loved every bite. I was surprised by how much fruit there was, including small pieces in the texture.

The muffin itself was a plain vanilla base, but it was moist and sweet too. It was a good fluffy sponge. I love the decoration, the theming and now just want the weather to hold out. I am a big fan of mango and am so pleased to see the flavour becoming a bit more mainstream. It is perfect for the warmer weather, even when served with a hot coffee inside!

The Best Katsu Chicken Curry Pizza (Morrisons) By @Cinabar

Sometimes you just need a quick and easy tea, and what better than a limited edition pizza? I spotted this Morrison’s The Best Katsu Chicken Curry Pizza, and thought that it sounded a bit different and worth a try. Katsu Curry is one of my favourite Japanese foods, and pizza is my favourite take-away, so this sounded like it was made for me.

We popped it into the oven and then gave it the taste test. I was in two minds about this pizza. I think the first part was that it didn’t remind me of Katsu Curry. The base felt a little like a thin naan, and the topping like a mild curry, specifically a Chicken Tikka Masala with added cheese. I liked the cheese element, not a problem. So the other part is the fact that I really liked the pizza, there was nice spice from the chilli pieces making it hotter in places, plenty of chicken, spinach and a decent base. It was thoroughly enjoyable to eat. The only issue is this Morrison’s The Best Katsu Chicken Curry Pizza didn’t feel Japanese to me at all. I felt it was tasty. I’d even buy it again, but I couldn’t quite get passed the feeling that it did not quite hit the Japanese brief.

Miles Finest Teas - West Country Original Blend - by @NLi10 #TeasAroundBritain

 As part of my accidental (but ongoing) Teas Around Britain series my partner picked up this West Country Original Blend while on holiday in that general area.  The West Country is vaguer than the Black Country (where we all live) and is basically centred around Devon and that area (of which we are huge fans).

I'm not sure if she actually went to Porlock, but was in Devon next door and got this on the way back.  Dedication!

It's an Assam blend so people who like regular tea will be happy, and those who like to add fruitiness (or drink without milk) will also be happy.

Reasonable tea-bags and colour on brew.

I couldn't get a picture of the tea colour with the milk in, but it was fairly normal there.

It has a great taste though and is very much something you'd expect in a tea-room or cafe.  A good, all round blend that I could happily drink all day (especially as I've run out of the similar Lifeboat tea at the moment).

Skinny Brand Premium Lager (Tesco) By @SpectreUK

I hate counting calories. I have to count calories. I hate counting calories!

I've been counting calories for about two years now. With a great deal of exercise from around 6am every morning, asides the weekends where I generally get a lie in until 10am, and then start exercising. My exercise is a mixture of light weights and yoga, and then also limiting myself to around 2,200 calories a day. I can pretty much lose a little weight, keep my muscle tone, and then keep my weight to a minimum. If I don't do this, I get fatter and heavier and can't walk upstairs due to my sore old knee after it's second rather specialist operation. However I'm now lighter and fitter than I ever have been, which is good for a guy in his mid-forties.

Did I say I hate counting calories? These new Skinny Brand Premium Lagers are 89 calories. So after some serious management I get my tuna sandwich,mpacket of Space Raiders, a tomato, protein yogurt, an apple, and a mini Soreen loaf for lunch. Then for dinner I can have a McDonald's triple cheese burger, small fries, and a McFlurry to finish, and then snack on a whole bag of Orange Maltesers Buttons whilst watching the end of Midnight Run later. Like I said, counting calories is time consuming and tedious, but really worth the effort to eat whatever I like within reason.

Skinny Brands is in Ashton under Lyme in the UK. At 4% in volume this 330ml bottle of Skinny Brand Premium Lager has 35% fewer calories than other premium lagers, and is said to be "Full flavour". On opening the bottle there was a citrus hop smell with barley malt just behind it. This was quite a fizzy and yet very flavoursome lager. It certainly didn't taste like such a low calorie beer. There was a citrus bite to start with and then that sweetness from the malted barley into the aftertaste.

I'll definitely enjoy the other three bottles with other meals in the future. Now with the onset of summer, this flavoursome, refreshing lager will be rather good in the garden with a good book, some sunshine, and a packet of pork scratchings on a lazy afternoon. Ah, counting calories isn't so bad you know, it's just a matter of balancing things out. Oh and there's the working out like a crazy person aspect with it though.

Swiss Miss Luck Charms Hot Chocolate (Candy Mail) By @Cinabar

Swiss Miss is a brand of American instant hot chocolates, usually in sachets. I guess they are the USA’s version of our Options hot chocolate, they have various flavours and seasonal editions. I spotted this one via an import site and realised I hadn’t tried a mug of Swiss Miss for ages, and I could I resist the new one with the breakfast cereal Lucky Charm’s marshmallows.

Each sachet is is two parts, one with a portion of instant hot chocolate the other with the marshmallows. The mallows here are dried, they are like the ones you put in cereal, they need liquid to become squidgy again. I boiled the kettle and made the hot chocolate, it mixed up really well, no lumps even after a quick stir. 

I poured in most of the dried mallows and gave them a stir too. They were super fun shapes, rainbows, unicorns all the cool stuff. I left to go on top of some cream, because I was doing this properly. The hot chocolate looked fab, I couldn’t wait to give it a try. The drink itself had really good flavour for an instant. It is a little thin because it is made with water, but there was plenty of chocolate taste and it was a soothing sweet drink too. The Lucky Charms mallows were really pretty and a lot of fun, they added sweetness and made me smile. I came away making a note to get another box of these on my next order, so a total thumbs up from me.

Cheerios Vanilla O's - Low Sugar and High Fibre - by @NLi10

 Breakfast time is a fun time, even though they banned all the toys in the packs.  Here we have the good old favourite of Cheerios but now with a hint of vanilla.

So - what's changed?

Same basic cereal but with a tiny hint of vanilla.

And dipping the cereal in the milk (here - almonds) washes all the vanilla off - but then it tastes like Cheerios in really very hint of vanilla ice-cream.

In all honesty I'd probably not have noticed the vanilla if the box wasn't different - but I did enjoy the cereal (although I always seem to be hungry by 11 with this sort of thing).

Worth a shot if you already like the cereal, but not a must buy like the Shreddies variants.

Crazy Sours Skittles Giants (Sainsburys) By @SpectreUK

I've tried Skittles Giants before and rather enjoyed them. These Crazy Sours Skittles Giants are the same three times larger than regular Skittles, but sour in flavour. Hence the name, I guess. It states "Share the rainbow taste the rainbow" on the packet, and as the bag was pretty high in calories, I opted to share them with Cinabar whilst watching TV on Saturday night. The packet also stated, "Same crunchy shell bigger soft centre" which I'm keen on too, as alternative sweet Tutti Frutti can be pretty hard on my old teeth.

There are five flavours of Crazy Sours Skittles Giants; sour pineapple which was yellow, sour raspberry was pink, sour cherry was purple (I hate cherries, why could it not have been blackcurrant?), sour mandarin was orange, and finally sour apple was green. As you can see from the "Skittles Distribution Chart", there were quite a few of each flavour, so we shared them out as evenly as possible.

I thought the yellow pineapple had a really good pineapple flavour, being very fruity and had the sourness into the aftertaste. I thought the pineapple was reminiscent of the old Fruit Salad sweets I loved as a child. Pink raspberry was quite sharp in raspberry flavour, again was very fruity, and with the sourness at the end of the flavour. Orange mandarin did really taste of mandarin (which is also my favourite jelly). However the mandarin wasn't very sour, but still was very fruity. It had a soft fruit flavour to it. Green apple was very much apple in flavour. Not particularly sour at first, but it became sourer. The Purple Cherry flavour had a dark cherry flavour to it, in fact very cherry indeed. It had a sweetness that made it quire nice and was face twisting sour at the end.

My favourite flavour was pineapple. I thought the most face twisting sour was the apple at the back of the flavour. And the Mandarin just made me want to eat orange coloured jelly again. Still all very nice indeed. I'd definitely have these Crazy Sours Skittles Giants again.

Information on the packet; The 170g bag contained 412 calories per 100g, with 4.2g of fat, 75g of sugar, and 0.02g of salt. Please see photograph for the ingredients.