Updated once home - Blogger is appalling on the iPhone...
31 July 2022
Birmingham Commonwealth Games - @NLi10
30 July 2022
Batemans Dark Fruits Porter (Aldi) By @SpectreUK
Produced by Batemans at Salem Bridge Brewery, in Lincolnshire, this Dark Fruits Porter is 4.6% in volume and made with crystal, chocolate and roasted malts. Sported on the bottle as "packed full of dark fruits", I can't decide whether to have it as a pudding beer or washing down my main meal. I have a MacDonalds takeaway, and then a bag of Thornton's Vanilla Fudge for pudding. Oooh, pudding beer it is.
After enjoying my usual triple cheeseburger with bacon, and regular fries with barbecue sauce, I popped open the bottle. There was a deep fruity aroma with sweet malts behind it. I was expecting more of a roasted chocolate malt smell, but the beer was called Dark Fruits Porter after all.
It was certainly dark in colour, almost black on pouring. Although this Dark Fruits Porter lost its head almost immediately. As an ex-barman I'm usually better at pouring than that, so I'm not sure what went wrong.
On taste this Porter was very fruity indeed. This fruitiness cut through the touch of sweet crystal and chocolate malts, and then kept on giving. With a little spice mixed in with the mild bitterness from the hops, this really was a fruity warming beer. Very nice indeed. It went very well with my vanilla fudge pudding too.
29 July 2022
The Spicy Spanish Stack (McDonalds) By @Cinabar
So the burger is on a bread bun flavoured with paprika. It has a spicy salsa and chilli cheese slice. I gave it a try. The first thing to note is that there are two burgers under the bun, making it feel rather substantial. I liked the warmth of the salsa ketchup and the chilli cheese, it was gentle but worked well. I think calling it ‘spicy’ might be a bit optimistic but there was a nice tingle. I couldn’t taste much paprika on the bread, but I had an awareness it was there. The onion was lovely too, it gave the burger a fresh feel. The best thing, though, is the heavy hit of tomato on the burger. I could eat that spiced ketchup all day. Not enough chilli to overpower anything but a good flavour. I’d have taken a second helping of that with the chips had there been the option.
28 July 2022
Pepero - snowy almond - heatwave resistant Choc style snacks (@nli10)
I’ve been writing these for so long it’s inevitable that we come full circle - my first ever post here was about Pocky - the lovable Japanese stick of chocolate. Today we are talking about something I picked up while it was far too hot - Pepero - which is basically the same snack. Only I got these from Sainsbury’s - a big supermarket - instead of obscure speciality oriental grocery stores. How times have changed.
27 July 2022
Salted Caramel & Butterscotch Milkshake (Hotel Chocolat) By @SpectreUK
There was a strong smell of salted caramel and milk chocolate on opening the packet. Filled with gooey runny butterscotch and cream, and coated in a salted caramel milk chocolate, these salty chocolate balls burst with flavour as soon as I put one in my mouth. Explosive butterscotch flavour with a little cream to begin with, then the salted caramel milk chocolate melted in my mouth. Gosh these were good. I'm not sure about them being reminiscent of a milkshake, but I washed them down with my favourite white hot chocolate drink. Gorgeous :-p
Information on the packet; Each 2 x Salted Caramel & Butterscotch Milkshake chocolates were 114 calories, with 7.8g of fat, 7.6g of sugar, and 0.08g of salt. Please see photograph for the ingredients.
26 July 2022
Cadbury Dairy Milk Mint Fingers (Tesco) by @Cinabar
The biscuit fingers are covered in milk chocolate flavoured with mint, but do look like regular Cadbury Fingers. I gave one a try and the chocolate mint flavour was a lovely combination. The mint was refreshing and well balanced and the chocolate, sweet and smooth. I like the texture of Fingers with the chocolate being thick enough to be soft and the biscuit crunchy, making them quite moreish. They dunk well too, even the mint ones, in coffee (not tea). I’m not crazy.
25 July 2022
Mini Cheddars - Banging Cheese Burger (Sainsburys) By @Cinabar
I opened up the bag of biscuits and poured them out. They had a light aroma, and didn’t look like they had too much seasoning. I gave one a try and it was alright. I have to admit I had been expecting a bit more strength in the flavour. There was a mild beef meaty taste and a little cheese, and even just a bit of herbs in there too. All in all, the flavour sounded much more exciting than the actual taste. These Mini Cheddars Banging Cheese Burger are pleasant enough and I’ll happily eat up the rest of the packs, but I wouldn’t rush out to buy any more. I’m not sure they quite hit the ‘banging’ flavour that was promised in the title.
24 July 2022
Beware The Fuffle Man - local Fudge/Truffle Hybrid (@by NLi10)
I'm amazed I'd not bumped into this sooner - maybe I managed to resist the free samples up to now.
23 July 2022
Lunar Lager (Aldi) By @SpectreUK
I have to try to keep a balance of healthy foods, and bad for me foods, and also to finish on a decent pudding whilst limiting my calories to keep my weight down for my knee. I understand that I didn't include my pudding as 'bad for me foods', but who cares? Strengthening after a second more severe operation, or any operation, can be very time consuming and painfully challenging, but I have to persevere and keep fighting. It's the good things in life such as Birthday trips to Spa Hotels, days out, a beer or two a week, and the odd takeaway as a treat I look forward to in life.
On opening the rather cheerful busy 330ml can covered in space ships, astronauts and aliens, Lunar Lager had a malted barley aroma with a little herbal hops. Pleasantly fizzy, on taste Lunar Lager had a sweet malted barley flavour to start with, followed by a light refreshing bitterness from the herbal hops. This lager went perfectly with my fish, chips and battered sausage. Yum and cheers.
22 July 2022
Peppermint White Drinking Chocolate (Hotel Chocolat) By @Cinabar
Today, though, had been a more normal temperature for Britain, and there was even some rain thrown in, so today was the day to try the new drink. Inside the box are sachets and they are designed to be used with the Hotel Chocolat Velvetiser, but can be used on the hob with hot milk and a bit of whisking. As a hot chocolate addict, I have the machine, I added some milk and the powder and waited for the drink to heat and mix up.
The drink is very creamy and the white chocolate base is ever so nice with the peppermint tones running through it. There is plenty of mint but it isn’t overly sweet, just creamy and fresh. There aren’t many flavoured white hot chocolates in the Hotel Chocolat range so this one makes a nice change. The mint is cooling and I love mint and chocolate flavours, so I was enjoying it. I actually liked it more than the milk chocolate and mint that they do. It is soothing, but still feels refreshing, perfect for the warmer evenings.
21 July 2022
Pink Prawn Cocktail Quavers are Back! (@NLi10)
I know Cinabar talked about these when she first spotted them but I thought that I would try them for nostalgia's sake too. So they are back in two senses of the word!
20 July 2022
Skittles Stix Wild Berry (Iceland) By @SpectreUK
Okay so taking a photograph of an ice lolly in a hot room wasn't the best idea. As you can see, the Skittles Stix Wild Berry ice lolly fell apart pretty quickly whilst we tried to set up the shot. The ice lolly itself tasted lovely and fruity, with blueberry to start with followed by raspberry and then strawberry, and also a little apple. The 'secret pearl centre' was made up of broken crunchy bits of skittle's shells. It was certainly a fruity refreshing treat and I'll look forward to more hot days and fruity ice lollies in the future.
Information on the packet: 4 x Skittles Stix in the box. Each ice lolly is 59 calories, with 2.5g of fat, 7.3g of sugar, and 0.04g of salt. Please see photograph for the ingredients.
19 July 2022
Mint Maltesers Cake Bars (Tesco) By @Cinabar
Under the chocolate is a malt flavoured creme and it has mint crystals running through it. The sponge is also mint flavoured. I gave it a try and the first thing was the textures. The sugar crystals do add a pleasing crunch and super hit of mint. There is more mint in there too and these cake bars really are a proper chocolate mint affair. The only problem was that I couldn’t spot the malt. I mean, maybe there was a little in the background but the whole thing screamed chocolate mint, so much so the malt's voice was lost.
The product is made by Maltesers, so it was odd that the malt is so very mild that they didn’t seem particularly on brand. However, there is a lot of mint in this, and I love mint. I stored these in the fridge and they were super refreshing with an iced latte. A nice cooling treat, they just could have done with turning up the malt.
18 July 2022
Slush Puppie - Strawberry and Blue Raspberry Cones (Iceland) By @cinabar
They are bright! If you buy the original Slush Puppie drinks, they are always quite epic colours, usually blue and red, and this ice cream cone is just the same. As I have an inner child, it made me smile. The flavours are bright too, strong and sweet. Lashings of full on raspberry and strawberry, intermingled with vanilla ice cream. An absolute treat on such a hot day. My freezer is my favourite appliance at the minute and I still have more cold treats to discover, even so, I’m looking forward to the temperature coming down a bit.
17 July 2022
Buxton Well Dressing - avoided! Cake & Escape instead (by @NLi10)
On our way back from Matlock we decided to visit Buxton, a nice little place with lots of great shops and cafes - only it looked a little busier than we were expecting! Today was their annual Well Dressing festival - and the first since 2019 - it was a big deal - and meant that if we were still in our car-park at 1:30 then we'd be locked in til 5 and not able to get home until late - so the race was on.