Tesco Spicy Coated Peanuts - Sweet Chilli [@NLi10]

 It's football season still!  I'm not watching today as I have both teams in the sweepstake so either way I'm through.  What is more interesting is that I've failed to procure more of teh Budweiser nuts so have had to resort to the store brand ones.

Ordinarily I'm fine with that - they are probably made in the same factory etc - but here they aren't quite up to scratch.

I mean - I'm still going to eat them all - but I'm not guarding them like Gollum and contemplating where my next hit is coming from.

The problems are two-fold.  Firstly these are sweet chilli instead of buffalo sauce flavour.  This means there is less of a spicy hit and more of a family friendly tingle.

The coatings as well just don't have the rough battered texture of the others.

So in summary, I think I have to trek to Asda tomorrow whether the local football men score sufficiently or not.  Hopefully if they do get knocked out the Women's team will let them have a selfie with their trophy.

Dookit’s Lucania Porter (Wee Beer Shop) By @SpectreUK

I have the rare treat tonight of steak and chips. I haven't a stout to hand, but I do have the next best thing, in my mind, a Plum Porter. This 5.3% in volume Lucania was made in Glasgow by Dookit Brewing Company in collaboration with Closet Brewing. It not only has the traditional; barley, hops and oats, it also has plums and natural plum flavouring in the ingredients. Oh, this could be good.

On opening the 330ml bottle there was a quick fizz and then an eruption. I managed not to lose more than a few drops. As a seasoned beer opener, I usually have my beer glass close to hand for instances such as this. There was a deep fruity plum aroma and malted barley from this dark brown Porter.

On taste Lucania had a sour kick to begin with that I wasn't expecting. Further bitterness was added from the herbal hops to the sour fruitiness of the plums. I'm not a lover of sour beers, and this was my first sour Porter. The malted barley eased the sourness somewhat into the aftertaste with the oats giving fuller body to this almost face twisty dark brew. Not so sure about this one, I'm afraid.

Cadbury Crunchie Blast Cones (Iceland) By @Cinabar

It is a warm June Friday, so what better way to start the weekend than with this Cadbury Crunchie Blast Cone? This is also another box from my stash of new and interesting ice creams, and you can never go wrong with Cadbury. These are essentially cornetto ice creams themed with Crunchie Bar, with an element of blast that is popping candy. I have never grown out of popping candy, and it never fails to make me smile.

Inside the box are four cones. I unwrapped one and gave it a try. I bit in and got a nice chunk of chocolate off the top, Crunchie, and loads of popping candy. I loved the texture and taste. The little pops and crackles were just so much fun and tingled in my mouth. The top had a lot of texture with loads of Crunchie taste. The ice cream itself was flavoured with golden honeycomb; it was rich, sweet, and a delight. I enjoyed munching through the cone too. This Cadbury Crunchie Blast Cones is a lovely addition to the ice cream range, and I, for one, am all for more popping candy. 

Peperami Lunchbox Chicken Tikka Bites [@NLi10]

 The junk food place had lots of spare packages of these so I figured I'd give one a shot.

I think they come from a multipack

And they are designed for children's lunchboxes - which is surprising as I didn't think small kids liked chicken tikka, and I didn't think big kids...

...would appreciate the tiny portions!

I almost put some money in shot for scale here - but I figured that it's obvious enough.

These are spicy little chicken chunks, but no matter how small your small person is I think they'd need a sandwich or similar alongside them.  Maybe these are more to replace the crisps in the lunchbox.

Angel Delight Butterscotch flavour ice cream dipped in milk chocolate (Iceland) By @SpectreUK

After all the rain for the last six months or more, we seem to be having a hot spell here. What could be better than a choc-ice in hot weather? Well Angel Delight may have gone one better with this new butterscotch flavour ice cream dipped in milk chocolate. Knowing my favourite Angel Delight flavour is butterscotch, Cinabar let me write the blog for this one. She also told me a fascinating fact that Sean Connery invented the choc-ice with a stick.

As you can see from the photographs, on opening the wrapper there was a slim milk chocolate coated choc-ice with a stick, courtesy of the first James Bond. On biting in and trying not to lose any crunchy chocolate, there was a soft mallowish butterscotch ice cream inside. Perfect together, the milk chocolate complimented the Angel Delight butterscotch flavour in a moreish refreshingly naughty but rather delightful fashion. Yum. Just what I needed on a hot sunny afternoon.

Information on the box; The 3 x choc-ices in the box have 215 calories in each one, with 13.4g of fat, 20.7g of sugar and 0.07g of salt. Please see photograph for the ingredients.

Dime Bar Strawberry Edition (Home Bargains) By @Cinabar

Look at this summery new chocolate bar! I spotted it in Home Bargains; here we have Dime Bar Strawberry Edition. It is warm today, and perhaps I should have gone for ice cream as a treat, but this is meant for the season too, so I thought I would give it a go.

There are three individually wrapped bars in the pack. Three is a difficult number to share, but that is a problem for another day. I opened up the wrapper and found what looked like a regular Dime Bar inside. There wasn’t much difference in the aroma from the usual chocolate. I snapped it in half, and the filling was the regular golden colour, which is better than a hot pink, to be fair.

The flavour was lovely. I was worried it could have been sickly. It was chocolatey; it had a rich almond brittle flavour, and then there was a delicate strawberry milkshake too. It probably shouldn’t have worked, but the strawberry was mild enough to balance but strong enough to be present. It worked really well; I liked the berry taste with the brittle and chocolate, and I would definitely buy these Dime Bar Strawberry Edition bars again. It is really nice to see a flavoured Dime bar; I hope they bring out more. 

Mars Croissants (Iceland) By @Cinabar

As far as crossover products go, I have to admit this is a bit of a strange one. I would never have considered merging a Mars bar with a croissant, but here we are. Inside the heavily branded pack of Mars Croissants are four individually packed croissants, again very much branded to Mars. I like the fact that the others remain sealed, so they don't need eating right away, but I also don't like all the plastic, so there isn't an easy compromise. 

 

I opened one up and found a slightly smaller than expected croissant; isn’t that always the way? The pastry didn’t seem to be as flaky as a regular croissant. I normally split a croissant in half and add butter; this strikes me as the kind of treat you just eat. I gave it a bite, and on my first taste, there wasn’t much filling. A second bite in, and I found the filling; it was nice but not especially like a Mars bar. The chocolate and caramel were there, but it was lacking that nougat layer and the distinctive taste. The croissant didn’t have enough crispy layers either; it was so dense that it was almost like a sponge. The end result isn’t bad; it was a nice, sweet treat. I just felt they spent a lot of time branding this as a Mars Croissant, and the result didn’t really meet my expectations. 

Digbeth Day - Indian Street Food [@NLi10]

 There was a mini festival in Digbeth to encourage people to wander down from Birmingham town centre now that Birmingham council have moved most of the roadworks.  They haven't finished - but that's another story. 

As the shops down here were hit twice, by Covid and the traffic issues it's a great thing to see them being supported.  I went mostly to pop into Wayland's Forge and to see the street food.

I spotted this Indian street food place on the way past so knew I'd be fine, but was shocked to see there were 3 food stalls and one cocktail bar - and that they'd squeezed them in at the back of the carpark.  I know it's probably important to have an area for the vendors to park but it seemed a bit cramped and out of the way of the rest of the activities.

You do get a good view of the old custard factory from here, and as you can wander into Zellig and the Custard Factory courtyard I suspect most people won't have spotted this bit.  

The prices seemed a little on the high-side which didn't put me off, but then I'd just been given a free beer by the team at Bene Culture (t-shirt shop, art space, and general local arts venue) so was more than happy to pay £12 for Samosa Chaat and a sit in the sunshine.  The other stalls had similarly event pricing.

Both the beer and the crunchy Indian street food were amazing.   You got two fat samosa, lots of chickpeas, and the noodle and veg mix on top and the sauce beneath. The sauce had most of the heat, and the rest had the fragrant flavour - just how I like it.  And it was a good lunch-sized portion.  I've had food-festival portions before that left me wanting more - but this satisfied.  And the beer is one I'd want to have again - very light and summary.

Digbeth is still only half finished so I'm not surprised this was a smaller than expected thing. And Queens Heath Pride was the following day so a lot of people will have saved their cash and energy for that.

There were loads of stalls for people half my age to buy clothes, art and accessories and most seemed to be doing a good trade.  It's just a shame that the food area wasn't more of a focal point for the music and activities - especially as the weather was decent.

Opposite the event the buildings have gone, but nothing has come to replace them.  The delays to the road & tram here have removed all the interest until the new development between the two is finished.  Until then I guess Digbeth is it's own little village hiding just out of reach.

Lilley’s Piña Colada Cider (Morrison’s) By @SpectreUK

It's a lovely sunny day outside and I have scampi and chips for dinner tonight. I used to joke with an ex-boss that whilst working at home during the lockdowns he was drinking Pina Colladas in the garden. This Lilley's Piña Colada Cider is a 3.4% in volume fusion of pineapple and coconut blended with Somerset cider. I'm hoping it's going to wash down my fishy dish a treat tonight.

I was given a Piña Colada in a restaurant once that was ordered by someone by mistake. I tasted it surreptitiously and realised that it had so much alcohol in it that if I had a second sip I'd be over the limit for driving. So, unfortunately, I gave it back. I think the waiter drank it surreptitiously after that, as he was a little bit wobbly for the rest of the meal.

On opening the bottle of this Lilley's Piña Colada Cider, there was a subtle fizz followed by a summer aroma of apple cider, pineapple and a little coconut in the background. This murky fresh lemonade coloured cider tasted funnily enough of pineapple and coconut and cider apple, there was an extra sweet hit of pineapple into the aftertaste.

Not as alcoholic as the one I was given in the restaurant, this ridiculously moreish flavoured cider was so good, I could quite drink it all night. Well, I am at home, and my car keys are resting this evening. I just need some more bottles.

Friends Doughnuts (Krispy Kreme) By @Cinabar

I love the Friends series. I have watched every episode and am currently watching it a second time, enjoying seeing Spectre experience it for the first time. I don’t know how he hasn’t seen it before, but he has no idea where the whole Ross and Rachel thing is going, which is very entertaining. Somehow it is Friend’s thirtyth birthday, and to celebrate, Krispy Kreme has brought our celebration doughnuts. I picked up a box of three to try. They have cool names, too.

We Were On A Coffee Break

This is a very cool-looking doughnut, complete with a white chocolate disc with the Central Perk logo. It is a ring doughnut, but there is a dollop of vanilla frosting in the gap, and the main doughnut is coffee-glazed. The sponge was soft, and the icing was lightly crisp. The flavour is absolutely lovely and reminded me of coffee cream. Not too strong, but sweet and delightful. We need more coffee-flavoured doughnuts in the world. 

How you doin’?

The doughnut is very pretty purple with a yellow frame made of icing. It is made to look like Monica’s door and named after Joey’s favourite chat-up line. The doughnut is very fruity; the main icing is passion fruit, and the yellow is mango. This gives the doughnut a wonderful tropical feel, perfect for a nice, warm evening. 

Trifle

Trifle gets a special mention in one of the Friends episodes when they try and make the classic British dessert, but thankfully, unlike the episode where the recipe got mixed up, there is no beef sautéed with peas and onions as a layer in this doughnut. There is, however, a lovely filling of strawberry custard and chocolate sprinkles. This one is a bit more of a classic flavour, but still a yummy addition to the set. 

Bubbleology - Milk Tea Mixology Kit - Taro Flavour [@NLi10]

 I got this bubble tea kit for Christmas, but had been saving it til the weather was a bit warmer as it's nicer as a cold drink (the bubbles in warm drinks are a little too unnerving). 

It has everything you need - except the milk, and ice - in the box and is enough to make 4 decently sized drinks.

The instructions tell you how to mix all the bits together, but the QR code also links you to a video that says slightly different things.

It says you can use plant based things too so I used almond milk

It does worry me that they keep saying that it's science

Impressive little kit!

For the Taro version you pop the powder & milk in the blender and give it a zap, and then microwave the little tadpoles

Unfortunately I put it on for a few seconds too long and it popped.  Three seconds less and I'd have likely been fine.

I managed to get them all into the pepsi glass

I then added the blended milk mix (with a little blended ice too) and gave it a swirl.

And it worked surprisingly well!  The smells were those of the bubble tea shop, and the taro tasted pretty authentic too.  Using the non-dairy milk seemed to have not changed a thing and worked really well too.

My complaint with these has always been that it's more of a posh milkshake than a novelty tea - but behold - they say you can add 1/4 of pre-made tea to the mix for a more tea based drink - so for the next set I'll do that and see if it makes a difference.

I'll probably add another review for the tiger stripes one.

Nestle Kit Kat Chunky with Lotus Biscoff White Chocolate (Morrison’s Local) By @SpectreUK

I could do with a break. A chunky break, like a Nestle Kit Kat Chunky with Lotus Biscoff White Chocolate. I do love white chocolate. I do love Lotus Biscoff, especially with ice cream. They make great edible ice cream shovels. I usually love Kit Kat Chunkys. There's something about biting into them, whereas you can snap a regular Kit Kat, you still don't get so much extra flavour. A Kit Kat Chunky is all about the extra flavour.

I've previously tried the milk chocolate Bite Size and also the milk chocolate Chunky Lotus Biscoff before and loved them. This new Nestle Kit Kat Chunky with Lotus Biscoff White Chocolate bar will be an afternoon treat after my workout today. As you can see from the photograph on opening the wrapper the white chocolate bar had a Biscoff spread on top of two wafers inside.

On taste the white chocolate had luscious creaminess, the Biscoff spread gave way adding mixed spice to the creamy white chocolate flavour, and the wafers gave a good crunch. I could quite honestly eat this Nestle Kit Kat Chunky with Lotus Biscoff White Chocolate bar for breakfast, lunch and dinner, and more for afters all day everyday. I think they should probably put a warning on it.

Information on the wrapper; The 42g bar had 224 calories, with 5.8g of fat, 19.5g of sugar, 0.13g of salt. Please see photograph for the ingredients.

Mocha Mudcake M&Ms (B&M) By @Cinabar

I was in B&M, and I saw a new M&Ms flavour, and I was super excited. There was this fab bag of Mocha Mudcake M&Ms on the shelf. In other countries, there are many different limited edition versions of M&Ms, but in the UK, we get very few, if any. So this was exciting, until I turned the bag over and realised they too were an import. They were made in Australia. Oh well, at least some of the flavours from abroad are making their way to the UK shelves, even if they weren’t intended to be sold here. 

I opened up the bag and had a look at the M&Ms. They look like most of the other varieties I’ve seen; they are the usual prime colours, and they looked bright. There wasn’t much aroma, but they are covered in a hard candy shell, so it wasn’t that surprising.

I gave one a try, and the texture was the first thing I noticed. The filling was almost like that of a toffee; it was firm and chewy. The taste was good; they were rich and chocolatey, and there was a good tone of coffee running through them too. I had another, then another, and then I remembered that M&Ms always catch me like this. They are tasty and easy to eat, and I ate far more than I intended. Chocolate and coffee are one of my favourite combinations, and these Mocha Mudcake M&Ms chocolates were just my kind of thing. I’m going to need another bag. 

Poppets: Minty Brownies (B&M) By @Cinabar

This is a bit of a strange crossover for the brand Poppets, as they are stepping into the cake market. I associate Poppets with the boxes of sweets, and the mint ones are little peppermint sweets coated in chocolate, which I really like. Here we have a box of five, individually packed, Poppets Minty Brownies.

Inside the box are the five cakes in the branded wrapper. Each brownie also has chocolate pieces mixed in. I opened the wrapper and found that they were also in paper cases. They looked quite cute. Once you see the final size of the cake, multiply it by 5 and try to work out why the box is so big. I was a bit lost. I guess the goal was to stand out on the shelf with a large box and imply that the cakes are huge. 

The Poppets Minty Brownies were nice, though. The sponge was moist and soft, and it had a light crispiness to the top. The flavour was nice and chocolatey, and there was a good hint of mint; it wasn’t overpowering like an actual Mint Poppet. I enjoyed the brownie; it was a nice treat. The smaller size meant that the calories were lower too, just 110 kcal per brownie, so a nice treat with a coffee even if you are watching the calories. 

I think there was an opportunity missed in making them a proper tie-in with Mint Poppets. They should each have a Mint Poppet on top, or Mint Poppet pieces in each cake. To just make a chocolate mint-flavoured brownie and call it Poppets just seems a bit like they weren’t really trying to link the cake to the brand and were focused on just getting the logo on the box. 

Budweiser -Buffalo Chicken Wings Crispy Coated Peanuts [@NLi10]

 It's football time! This means that the majority of the country buy bigger TVs and watch the standard definition broadcast version of the match anyway, meanwhile I look for new snack options.

This one isn't specifically football themed but seems to have been added to the section for people actually planning to watch.  I took them to work because Buffalo sauce is one of my favourite things to add a tiny bit of to food - It's basically spicy vinegar and is great.

Lots of guff about the inferior beer (even Budweiser make a better beer than Budweiser - Budvar!) and a brief mention of these nuts.

Peanuts contain lots of energy so a bag is 5 servings.  That's not too unrealistic really as spicy snacks at work are a multi-day proposition.  I'd say that two days snacking dealt with half a bag.

Willpower was required as these are pretty good.

I reckon these are the KP nutsters/Nobby's Nuts mix but with the new flavour dust added - and it's a doosy.  Like Spice & vinegar instead of salt & vinegar this is a great way to chug back peanuts (from a glass if you want your keyboard to stay clean) and I kind of regret not getting a 2nd bag to sit and eat at home.  I'd have to share them then though!

I wonder if they do bigger bags.  Happy Euro's to those that celebrate and I hope your chosen team does marginally better than expected.

Northern Monk: Fruit Twist IPA (Tesco) By @SpectreUK

I do like a Twister ice lolly now and then, especially when we're adventuring somewhere on a hot sunny day out. I haven't had a Twister for sometime, mainly because it's rained for most of the year so far, and on the rare occasion when it is hot, we seem to be doing something else.

This Northern Monk Fruit Twist might go some way to help make up for the lack of adventure this year. Natural flavourings of strawberries and lime, as well as pineapple purée were added in the brewing of this 4.7% in volume Indian Pale Ale. I'm hoping it's going to wash down my home cooked fish and chips a treat tonight.

I haven't had a fish and chips takeaway for a long time now. The last three fish and chips takeaways we had were getting more and more expensive and all of them made me ill. Apparently due to cost cutting, many Chippies have changed their oil to a cheaper brand, which unfortunately doesn't agree with my stomach at all. So, unless perhaps the economy changes, I guess I sadly can't enjoy my favourite takeaway anymore.

On opening this Fruit Twist there wasn't a pleasing fizz from the can. However, this hazy IPA poured with a wholesome fluffy head. This Indian Pale Ale did smell like a beer mixed with a Twister ice lolly, on taste there was strawberries to start with and then a little herbal and citrus hops merging with lime and pineapple, the sweetness of pale malts showed up towards the aftertaste to see what was going on.

Usually when eating a Twister ice lolly there is the pineapple and lime first, with the strawberry flavour on the inside. Strawberry was the predominant flavour here, but that was okay by me. There was no adventuring to be had outside though. There was a thunderstorm over the house as I drank it, whilst washing down my home cooked fish and chips. Bizarre, but welcome to British summertime.

McVities Iced Gems Candy Floss Limited Edition (Iceland) By @Cinabar

I think I might have been around eight years old when I last had Iced Gems. I remember the cute little biscuits with a dollop of solid icing from my childhood. I specifically remember having a bag of them as an after-school treat, but I just don’t remember buying any in adulthood. I do remember the flavour though, the sweet, sugary goodness and crunchy biscuit. What prompted me to buy them again after all this time was the inevitable ‘limited edition’ label that lured me in, and what an interesting new flavour. Here we have McVities Iced Gems Candy Floss Limited Edition.

Inside the pack are 5 mini packs for a portion-controlled snack. Inside the bag, they do look the same; some had pink and some had blue icing on top, and some had the icing fall off. The aroma was slightly different; it had a much stronger, sugary scent, unless my memory was playing tricks on me.

I gave one a try, and the nostalgic crunch was all there. I could remember the crispy icing, and it took me back to childhood. The flavour is as sugary as you would expect, but there is also a slightly burnt sugar taste, the candy floss element. There was enough of the original flavour for it to bring back the memories, but the twist of candy floss was there, and it worked too. I absolutely loved eating Little Gems again, and this McVities Iced Gems Candy Floss Limited Edition was so nice. They also made me feel like a giant with these tiny biscuits. I will try and pick them up more regularly now as an afternoon snack; they are too good to leave it so long before having them again. 

Oreo Sunshine - Lemon Flavour (China) - with Ltd Ed Designs! [@NLi10]

 Oreos are great.  Kraft taking over Cadbury and putting Oreos in everything isn't so great - so even though I could walk to Cadbury World from my house - we still have to rely on imports to get exciting Oreos.

This Chinese version (from a Korean supermarket) is not only Sunshine / Lemon flavour, but it has limited edition designs on the biscuits too.

And they come in inflated packs so you know they are fresh.

Peepo designs are common on these, but the box says there are 6 ltd edition designs you might see. 

All taste the same though! 

The lemon is great - not too artificial and has a sherbet hint to it.  Otherwise - these are your normal Oreo - but with an exciting fruity flavour. 

The Real McCoy’s Epic Eats Tex-Mex Flamin’ Fajita (Morrison’s) By @SpectreUK

I'm a sandwich type of person, if there is such a thing. I don't like wraps, though it's not what's inside them. I eat most things, especially meats and veg with spicy sauces. It's the thin bread that they're wrapped in I don't like, I find it quite dry, and there is my habit of overloading everything to excess. I'm an everything to excess type of person. Some may say it's greed, others varying types of descriptions, but that's the way I am. I gave up trying to fight it years ago. I just work out more so I can eat more snacks.

I used to loath chicken sandwiches until I had a brainwave and added barbecue sauce to them, now I can't get enough. These Limited Edition The Real McCoy's Epic Eats Tex-Mex Flamin' Fajita flavoured crinkle cut crisps sound like an interesting alternative snack to Fajita wraps. Although probably not nearly as healthy, it all depends on the taste, and of course, whether they go well with my barbecue chicken sandwich.

On opening the packet the crinkle cut crisps inside were a deep orange almost red colour. There was a heavy aroma of paprika. On first taste there was a spicy scrumptious flavour of paprika, a little smokiness and then some red chilli burn into the aftertaste. These Limited Edition The Real McCoy's Epic Eats Tex-Mex Flamin' Fajita crisps were more paprika flavoured than some paprika flavoured crisps I've had in the past. I loved them. On a blind taste test, the last thing I'd say is Fajita flavoured though.

Information on the packet;
The 25g bag contained 132 calories, with 7.8g of fat, 0.6g of sugar and 0.15g of salt. Please see photograph for the ingredients.