Peeps Marshmallow Monsters (Candy Mail) By @Cinabar

Although today has been unprecedentedly warm, the evening has been wet. I don’t mean a little drizzle, I mean bucket after bucket of rain tipping its way down from the sky. This means two things: one that the tub of sweets I bought for trick or treaters barely has a dent in it, and two I’m making a Halloween hot chocolate and staying warm inside. I’m starting off by making Pumpkin Spice hot chocolate from Hotel Chocolat, because what is more perfect than that for Halloween.

Today requires some sort of decoration for my hot chocolate and what better than Peeps. Peeps are an American company who make marshmallows, usually chick-shaped, but for Halloween and Christmas you do get quite a bit of variation. These monsters look like Frankenstein, and are quite a bright colour, which weirdly puts me off a little. Only a little, once I drowned the monster in the hot chocolate I was more than happy to eat him!

There was a lightly crispy sugar coating on the Peeps and under the green was a vanilla white marshmallow that was supper soft and nicely sweet. They are fun and they go with hot chocolate so very well. I do love Peeps and am excited to have also purchased some Christmas marshmallows, but it might be a bit soon for them right now! Happy Halloween!

Mr Fitzpatrick's Blood Tonic Cordial - spooky sauce? (@NLi10)

It's Halloween tomorrow so lets round up with this spooky cordial we picked up off the display table at a posh garden centre!

It's clearly targeted at this season so lets see what it's like.

Certainly looks the part.  I remember from the Dandelion & Burdock cordial (which was great but not something you tend to drink 'still') that you want to make them strong with this so I was a bit heavy handed here.

Ooh - it's clearly blood! Even though it smells like bubble gum.

And even with the portions I went for it's a little weak.  Nicely refreshing, but not so spooky - probably best dunked into cocktails or mixed with a good lemonade...

In other spooky news we went for a Ghost Walk at Aston Hall - just as the sun started to go down.

Here you got lots of spooky tales about things that had happened in this local stately home, with a little local flavour thrown in.  Some costumes, but no jump-scares which was nice - but lots of moody lighting for the really atmospheric rooms.

Happy Halloween Everyone!

Tempest Brewing Co Mexicake Stout (The Wee Beer Shop @WeeBeerShop) By @SpectreUK

I fancy a warming stout with my steak and chips tonight. However, when I mentioned that I fancied a warming stout, Cinabar took this to heart and it being nearly Halloween and all, she found this Mexicake. It promises to most definitely warm me up on this dark damp night, as it's brewed with chiles.

This whopping 10% in volume Mexicake Imperial Stout was flavoured with chile, chocolate, cinnamon and vanilla. Produced by Tempest Brewing Company, Chipotle and Mulato Chiles were used in the brewing, as well as cinnamon spice, and both chocolate and vanilla beans. I'm expecting a fiery kick from this spicy stout, with a creamy chocolate finish to help put out the flames.

There was a deep dark chocolatey aroma on opening the can, with a promise of chile fire from the smoky spicy smell that followed. On taste this almost black stout was sumptuously creamy to begin with. It was like sipping chocolate velvet. Then the spices kicked in straight away afterwards. There was a smoky chile burn that followed the creamy chocolate outer shell, so to speak. Almost like a liquid chile chocolate bar.

I feel like I've had a visit from the Trick or Treaters. Mexicake really was a little like drinking a liquid chocolate bar with chile in it, and a little beer. Gorgeously creamy chocolate to begin with for the Treat, two types of chile with a little cinnamon for the fiery Trick, and back to a little chocolate cream to finish. Mexicake has it all, and with some reminders of malts and hops in the background. This brew left my mouth warm and tingling just like every chile should. I should imagine with their love of chiles, Mexicans would love this Mexicake too.

Happy Halloween for Monday. Boo!

Day Of The Dead Cupcakes (Co-Op) By @Cinabar

I popped to the local shop for a top up shop, buying mostly sensible items like bread, milk and some fresh vegetables. I was doing quite well and managed to not add any extras until I got to the till where I saw the boxes of these 4 Day Of The Dead Cupcakes, darn the last minute impulsive buys.

Day of the Dead is a festival which coincides with Halloween. They are similar in that both believe it is the night when the dead come back. I’m not going to pretend to be an expert on such things, but I like the Day of the Dead masks etc as Halloween decorations, so I'm mixing it up a bit. These cupcakes are super sweet for either celebration. There are two of each design in the pack, one with bones and black icing, the other is more colourful with a Day of the Dead mask.

The flavours for both are chocolate, and the sponges are sweet with lots of cocoa flavour. I have to admit I preferred the colour icing to the black icing as it is a little less weird to eat, but both were full of flavour and had super cool designs. This may have been a bit of a last minute buy but they certainly are a nice start to the Halloween weekend.

Justin's Of Whitby - Pumpkin Halloween Chocolate (@NLi10)

 While on holiday in Whitby I wanted to pick up some spooky snacks for review - but the majority were just things I'd seen before.

It was a lovely blue-sky day so there were no Dracula's to be seen (and we left before sun-down because we are smart)

On the walk up to the wonderful ruined abbey I spotted this little sign for an ornate looking chocolate shop

And while it's more fudge & toffee specialists - they do sell some tourist bait for me!  The website seems to be down now - but they have a phone number and Facebook if you wanted to see more

What's in that window display?

Coffins!  I bumped my head on the way in so all conversations automatically became a bit awkward so instead of finding out if I'd like a coffin I decided just to go for one of the themed bars - as I could tell that they'd be luxury chocolate even if the flavours probably were quite familiar.

We waited until we were back home so the cats got a look-in too.

And the little sugar ghosts and pumpkins were a nice touch too!

The bar is a really creamy white chocolate (similar to the classic Thornton's style - but thicker) and the pumpkin was a sparkle covered milk chocolate - very light and friendly and went well with the white.  While these are clearly designed to be easily transported gifts it was a nice luxurious treat - and not too spooky.

Unlike the wall of masks in the shop a few doors down!

Whitby really is gearing up for the spooky season, but I'll stick to the snacks thanks!

All Butter Blood Orange Curd (Stokesay Castle Shop) By @SpectreUK

Bwah hah hah haaa! It's coming up to Halloween and what better to have on my toast in the morning than a bloodcurdling All Butter Blood Orange Curd. On a recent trip to spooky Stokesay Castle, in Shropshire, we picked up this blood orange curd in the castle shop. Produced for English Heritage, this Blood Orange Curd is recommended with Gingersnaps.

 

Of course I tried this All Butter Blood Orange Curd on toast first. My favourite lunch is boiled eggs and some sort of jam on toast. It's the only meal where I eat the sweet, such as the jam or whatever on toast first before my boiled eggs. Cinabar says I'm a freak for doing that, but nevertheless I have always enjoyed it that way. I found this Blood Orange Curd tasted a little like a lemon curd had been left on its own in a dark cupboard next to a randy jar of marmalade.

I didn't have any Gingersnaps to hand so I thought I'd try the next best thing and spread this Blood Orange Curd on ginger nuts. Bizarre sounding I know, especially whilst I was spreading a little curd on the top of a ginger nut biscuit. However having said that, the Blood Orange Curd really went very well with the crunchy ginger nut biscuit. With flavours of orange curd and spicy ginger whirling around in my mouth as I ate, I rather liked it. Well, you never know until you try that's what I say. Boo!

Gingerbread Flavour Hot Chocolate (Asda) By @Cinabar

Here we have a seasonal supermarket's own instant drink, Gingerbread Flavour Hot Chocolate. I am super fussy when it comes to instant hot chocolate. I have had some good ones, but mostly they taste watery and are unimpressive, but to be fair, the flavoured hot chocolates usually fare the best.

I popped the lid off the hot chocolate and was able to immediately pick up on a lovely chocolate and ginger aroma. The instructions said three to four teaspoons of powder per mug. I went with four as I hate weak hot chocolate. I added the hot water and stirred, and then I stirred some more. Then I stopped, looked at the lumps that were appearing at the top, and stirred some more. The situation improved, but I couldn’t get rid of all the lumps. Not a great start.

I gave the drink a sip and there was a good flavour. It wasn’t too strong with four teaspoons, so I’m very glad I didn’t risk three. The gingerbread flavour has a nice ginger spice and a golden syrup treacle taste, and the milk chocolate was gently there. Asda Gingerbread Flavour Hot Chocolate is a warming drink and very enjoyable. Definitely one to top with cream and marshmallows for the ultimate luxury. That would also cover those stubborn lumps I could mix in! 

Ritter Sport White Cinnamon Crisp (Ocado) By @Cinabar

I’m still loving cinnamon season, or autumn as some of you may call it. My favourite spice comes to life at this time of year. I wish it was around all year, but it gives me a reason to look forward to the colder weather. Ritter Sport has a whole new bar dedicated to the spice and I couldn’t wait to give it a try. This Ritter Sport White Cinnamon Crisp is made with white chocolate rather than milk chocolate, so it should be an interesting combo. I unwrapped the bar and found the usual Ritter Sport square pieces, on a white base but packed with a darker speckle. There were more dark bits than the picture on the front of the bar, which is fine by me because I do love cinnamon.

I gave it a try and found the bar to be sweet and spicy. Now, as someone who loves cinnamon, I was always going to like this bar, accept I’m biased on that front. There is plenty of cinnamon and it seems to be in a sort of brown sugary crystal texture to the bar. There is also rice crispy bits mixed in. This makes the bar fun to eat as it has an interesting texture. Two things struck me though, firstly that the white chocolate was fairly solid and usually white chocolate is soft. I was okay with this, it just distracted from the fun texture a small amount. The second thing was as I was eating it, I was thinking how much nicer it would be in milk chocolate, as overall the flavour was a bit sweet. I have a high sweet tolerance, so I think it might be a bit much for some. So yeah, I came a way liking this Ritter Sport White Cinnamon Crisp bar but trying to work out why I didn’t love it. It was close but somehow missed the mark.

Buttermilk Truffles - caramel & speculoos (Biscoff) flavour (by @NLi10)

 It’s the most wonderful time of the year! Haloween and Christmas generate a lot of Festivus Foods that are suitable for presents and reviews. In one of the healthier shops on holiday in Yorkshire I spotted these vegan buttermilk balls - in a new flavour no less.

These are spiced Caramel and speculoos (which is what those Biscoff biscuits are) which is both Halloween  spooky and Christmas spice.

And here are the ingredients - no dairy!

And here is Wilburt who climbed down off the top of the kitchen cupboards just to check these were not cat treats.

They look a little like snowballs - and taste a little dark and mysterious

The texture is a little dry - one of the testers remarked it was like cooking Choc (but that they liked that) and my partner took one bite and disliked it enough to hand me the rest,

The insides is certainly a goo - and is very much a burnt caramel flavour.

Not my favourite of the buttermilk range - a little sharp for my tastes - but certainly a good fit for those that like chocolate with a kick - or happen to be vegan.

Pilgrim Pumpkin Spiced Ale (The Wee Beer Shop @WeeBeerShop @AbbeydaleBeers) By @SpectreUK

I fancy a spicy brew on the run up to Halloween. This Pilgrim Pumpkin Spiced Ale may be something I've been looking for quite sometime. I do love a spicy beer, and I also usually love a pumpkin beer. There has been only one pumpkin beer I didn't particularly enjoy, but that was so strong in other flavours that I couldn't taste the pumpkin flavour.

Produced by Abbeydale Brewery this Pilgrim Pumpkin Spiced Ale was made with pumpkin, Allspice, cinnamon, cloves, ginger and nutmeg. This 5% in volume ale should warm me up from the dreary cold damp weather outside. On opening the beer there was certainly a spicy aroma from the deep golden ale inside. There was also quite a herbal hop smell mixed in with all those various spices.

On taste the combination of spices in Pilgrim Pumpkin Spiced Ale tickled my tastebuds to begin with, followed by a light bitterness from the hops, and then a fruity pumpkin taste which merged with a the sweet barley malts. This was a warming spicy aromatic beer with a noticeable pumpkin flavour followed by sweet barley malt into the aftertaste.

Pilgrim Pumpkin Spiced Ale was a very flavoursome ale indeed, with a spiciness and fruitiness which went very well with my Chinese takeaway. I also reckon it would go rather well with a cheese and cold meats meal on a Sunday night. It's just lucky I have another can to try it with too.

Hostess Coffee Cakes - Cinnamon Streusel (Candy Mail) By @Cinabar

I actually searched the online import shop for cinnamon, that is how committed I am to my favourite flavour and this Hostess Coffee Cakes Cinnamon Streusel appeared, so I bought a pack. It says that the cake has a ‘new look’ which I can’t comment on as I didn’t see the original. Was it more crumbly? Hostess cakes are best known for their Twinkies and although you can find those in the UK, you don’t see much else from the brand, so I was very happy to find these. I unwrapped the cake and the topping was crumbly, as a streusel should be. There was a lovely aroma of cinnamon. The cake was quite moist, almost sticky and the crumble, well crumbled. There were also two cakes in the pack and so pretty generous as each one was a nice chunk of cake.

I gave one a try and there was plenty of spice. This is a proper cinnamon hit, which was wonderful. The flavour was a lot stronger than I had expected, it was sweet though, which gave balance. These cakes are designed to be had with coffee, so that is what I did and the sweet heady flavours of cinnamon did go very well with a nice cup of hot coffee. This is the perfect autumnal afternoon treat. I love these flavours and can’t wait to tuck into the other cake tomorrow. I am biased, I do believe cinnamon is the greatest of all the spices and these Hostess Coffee Cakes Cinnamon Streusel will be a repurchase on my next order. Gosh, I hope they are not just seasonal.

KAH - Day Of The Dead Tequila & Spooky Cocktails (@BettyBB & @WolfStudiosArt)

Guest review from @BettyBB & @WolfStudiosArt as they are experts on spirits of all kinds...

Ok so it’s the spooky season and here in the Wolfie household, we love all things Halloween, bring on the ghouls, the zombies and all the sweets.

Now as much as we love a variety of horror films (my fave is The Devils Rejects and Mr Wolfe's is Blair Witch Project), tequila can also be enjoyed a variety of ways. But don't get it twisted, tequila has always been my shot of choice but as I've gotten older, I like to experiment with how I can enjoy it.

The Mexican traditional holiday of “Day of the Dead” or “Día de los Muertos” is where the souls of those who have passed are celebrated is something we love in casa del Wolfie (it played a huge part in our wedding and I have two Day of the Dead inspired tattoos myself). So when I discovered that KAH tequila had a new sugar skull inspired bottle, I had to give it a go! Not only is the bottle pretty (It looks great in the drinks cabinet), it tastes yummy. For a a blanco tequila, it has a grassy, floral note, a subtle citrus flavour with the sweetness of the agave, taking away the sharpness that usually leaves you with that burning sensation as you take a shot. This flavour profile also makes it great in cocktails as it blends nicely but still gives the distinct presence of tequila. Oh hi, there you are.

As a fan of the margarita, I whipped up a classic with lime sours and a special green syrup giving it a great two tone - giving raised from the dead vibes - and a blood red cherry and raspberry frozen margarita with a chilli rim (gotta bring that spice!!) as well as raising a shot to those that have passed.

As we settle into the season of the witch, we don’t foresee this bottle lasting long. Stay spooky!!! 🖤

Artwork by @WolfStudiosArt

Tic Tac Fresh Grapefruit Mint (WH Smith) By @SpectreUK

I only seemed to have Tic Tacs when I was a kid on holiday somewhere in France. I don't know why I only had them in France, as we traveled all over Europe when I was a child being dragged on holiday by my parents. I actually loved the big road trips from where we lived near Birmingham right down to the south of Spain. There were lots of stop offs in different places along the way and quite a few motorway services, which were generally next to the tolls. My favourite Tic Tac flavour was orange. I did try a few other flavours, but orange was always my favourite.

Now I do like grapefruit, especially tart grapefruit juice that makes my face twist a little on drinking first thing in the morning. Grapefruit juice is a good waker-upper. Grapefruit and mint I'm not so sure about. Grapefruit and Mint Tic Tacs with "Cooling Crystals" definitely sounds like it would wake me up in the morning. Although it also sounds a little like a flavour of toothpaste.

These New Tic Tac Fresh Grapefruit Mint are sugar free. I had the timeless pleasure of popping open the top of the plastic Tic Tac box to get to the white slightly flatter looking Tic Tacs than I remember. On first crunchy taste there was certainly a tart zing of grapefruit followed quickly on its heals by a sheer minty flavour, and then a sharp cooling sensation that slapped me around the face a little. Despite the strange flavour combinations and cooling sensation to finish, I actually quite liked the Tic Tac Fresh Grapefruit Mint, but I have to say that they just made me crave the orange flavour. Now where can I get those?

Whippet Black Forest Marshmallow Cookies (Candy Mail) By @Cinabar

These Whippet Black Forest Marshmallow Cookies are from the import store and came from Canada originally. When I look at them I want to say Tea Cakes, not Teacakes, which is something totally different, but Tea Cakes two words. I think that must be the British (or maybe even more regional than that) name for this sort of biscuit, with mallow and chocolate.

These Whippet Black Forest Marshmallow Cookies are baked with a dark chocolate biscuit, a cherry jam and dark chocolate coating and the vanilla marshmallow and you have the basic flavours of black forest gateau, one of my favourite desserts.

I opened up the box and was a bit disappointed that all of them were in one container, so once it is opened it is you have opened the lot. I only wanted a couple and would have liked them to be in two sections at least. I gave one a try and it was super nice. I was impressed that the dark chocolate was quite strong and the cherry jam was good and fruity. The biscuit on the base had plenty of chocolate and wasn’t too hard. They really did make me think of Black Forest gateau, so they did the joy really well. The only issue I have with them is the amount in the box, and how long it will take to eat versus how long they will stay fresh. Oh well, first world problems and all that.

Pop-Tarts Eggo Frosted Maple Flavour (Candy Mail) By @Cinabar

As a British person, my only knowledge of Eggo Waffles is from Stranger Things and that they are the favourite food of the character Elle (11). I admit when I first watched the show I looked for them here and couldn’t find them, but I did want to know what all the fuss was about. I sort of gave up until I was browsing an import shop and didn’t find the Egoo waffles, but did find these Eggo Pop-Tarts, which I guess will have to be close enough!

I haven’t had Pop-Tarts for years, though I used to love them as a student. We don’t get that many flavours here, and if I ever stumbled across the brown sugar and cinnamon I would buy loads! I remember that you have to turn the toaster right down, so I did this and put the two pop-tarts in and waited for them to cook.

Once the toaster popped, I went to put the Eggo Frosted pop-tart on a plate but it was hot and was crumbling. In fact, one pot-tart lost a corner and the other broke in half. Perhaps the lowest setting on my toaster is still too hot? The pop-tarts are smart and have a nice yellow waffle pattern which is all icing rather than the actual shape. The flavour if quite gentle, and just nicely sweet with a hint of maple syrup. They were fun to have for breakfast and I enjoyed them with my morning cup of coffee. They aren’t quite as exciting as the mystery behind the Eggo waffles is in the UK, and I can’t say even now I’ve tried a proper Eggo waffle, but they were certainly a good start to the day.

Pumpkin Spice Cake Espresso (Nespresso) By @Cinabar

Let me start by explaining about Nespresso’s flavoured coffees as they are not what you’d expect if you have never tried them. Normally, a flavoured coffee is an overly sweet, overly flavoured drink from a massive hit of added syrup. I like this style of drink so I’m not complaining. I am more than happy to try the syrup heavy varieties in the high street coffee shops and enjoy every bit. Nespresso are in to subtle flavour with no added sweetness at all. Interestingly, if I have regular coffee I don’t add sugar, so this also works for me.

The Pumpkin Spice Cake Nespresso pods are a limited edition but do appear every year, which is awesome. The box is quite subtle but the pods themselves are a fab orange colour and perfect for the season. I pooped the pod in the machine and made myself an espresso. Even as the coffee was running through I could pick up the spices.

This is a good strong espresso, there is a lovely rich dark coffee taste, and through it there is a warming but gentle spice from cinnamon and nutmeg, and just the subtlest hint of sweetness presumably making up the cake element of the flavour.

This is a soothing autumnal drink, and I love the gentle spices it contains. I will try making up one of these pods as a latte, and think that will be amazing too. A lovely afternoon pick me up.

Intuition Pale (The Wee Beer Shop @WeeBeerShop @AtticBrewCo) By @SpectreUK

Intuition - "a thing that one knows or considers likely from instinctive feeling rather than conscious reasoning", was the definition from a quick look on a popular search engine (okay, it was Google). I don't usually look up words in a blog. I know what intuition means, however, I'm not always very good at it. I have a habit of bashing myself against a brick wall until whatever it is I should know instinctively finally sinks in. I guess it depends what it is, but I think many people have that same feeling of; "no it can't be like that, maybe it's like this." I guess it can often be considered as "denial".

Where denial is concerned in this blog is the fact that I may be slowly running out of beers to blog about. I have a few beers in my cavernous beer fridge, but running through many last night I was a little taken aback by the fact that I'd already written about most of them. Super markets are not so full of varieties of beer as they used to be in the UK. However, "we endeavour to persevere" as the old Indian mentioned in a favourite Western of mine, Josey Wales. So we have found one or two suppliers we can look to online.

This Intuition Pale was produced by Attic Brewery. At 4.4% in volume it's their "flagship beer", sported as having a taste of "pineapple and ripe peaches with a pithy bitterness". I even had to look up 'pithy'. I think I'm getting old and maybe forgetting things I already knew. Being a session pale ale, meaning a beer with less alcohol by volume for when in the "good old days" (so they say) a worker could have a beer and a break from working on heavy machinery. These days a lot of machinery seems to be at a touch of a button. Yet no beer at break time for those who may want it. I'm definitely getting old. Some twenty-odd years ago I did like a quick half and a bag of ready salted crisps or pork scratchings in the nearby pub in the afternoon at work sometimes.

Having said all that, I'm hoping for a "terse and vigorously expressive" bitterness from the hops in Intuition, rather than too much pith from a fruit. On opening the can there was a fruity tropical aroma with a touch of sweet pale malt to finish. This misty golden pale ale poured with a cheerful head. On taste there was a definite pineapple fruitiness with a touch of peaches. There was also a keen sharp edged bitterness that followed those luscious fruits, and then the sweet pale malts rolled along into the aftertaste. This beer went rather well with my scampi and chips for my dinner. Yum.

Swiss Miss Unicorn Marshmallow Coca Mix (Candy Mail) By @Cinabar

I recently had an online from an import shop and I couldn’t resist adding a box Swiss Miss to my order. They make hot chocolates and do themed ones like this Unicorn Marshmallow Coca Mix. They are instant hot chocolates but are generous with the powder and are nice and sweet. Good instant hot chocolates are hard to find, so I do like this brand, and they appeal to my sweet tooth and love of novelty.

Inside the box are double sachets, one half has chocolate powder and the other half has marshmallows. I poured the cocoa into my mug and I poured most of the mallows in too, but left a few for sprinkling on the cream topping. Now the whole box is centred around these being unicorn marshmallows and in reality they are just small bits, which is disappointing. I was hoping for them to have some shape. Not to worry, they looked pretty in the mug.

I added hot water and the cocoa dissolved super quickly. Then I decorated, and it did look smart. The flavour, too, is a blast of sweet and a lot of chocolate. It is a soothing drink and one of the few that passed the test for me in the instant section. I loved the fun nature of the drink and it is pretty with coloured specks everywhere, it looks like a party more than a unicorn. I will still smile when I make the rest of the sachets, they are good fun.