Dalston's Real Lemonade (+ some scones) [@NLi10]

 We popped to a garden centre today - so I got to see new snacks and try a few to take home.  I don't buy as many new things these days as I used to - it's hard to eat healthy and then try all the snacks - but I can't resist a good drink.

The HipPop crate I bought is down to it's last few cans so I picked up a lemonade for the hot days ahead.

Dalston's is a new-to-me brand that looks like it's been around a while.

very cool branding - almost essential these days!

Ticks all the ethical boxes as well as the low sugar ones.  

Oddly - the second ingredient is concentrated white grape juice, explaining the sweetness but also the flavour profile. It's a pretty grown up lemonade.

And being neither too sharp or too sweet puts this in a nice spot for a sunny day social drink.

I'll be re-visiting this brand in a few weeks when we go back round the garden centres I'm sure!

They also had a lovely display with four kinds of scones (although they were shaped like rock-cakes so tore terribly!)

I had Raspberry & White Choc, with proper clotted cream and a pot of Raspberry Jam (and a nice cup of tea) - yum!

Well worth a mention as often these things are underwhelming, but here I could happily have had a second helping and will hopefully see other fruity (but not raisin/sultana) varieties on offer.

Valerie's - The Scone Specialist - Monmouth UK (@NLi10)

I was by myself in Monmouth and looking for a quick sit-down and a tea, before I did the serious business of shopping.  The very first street I walked down from the river had lots of cafes and bars - but one had a phrase I don't think I'd seen before.

"The Scone Specialists" is something that is pretty exciting to me.  I grew up on a diet of Irish Scones and the idea of a place that specialises in them is more than a little exciting.

So while my partner went off on a river adventure...

...I had tea at Valerie's!  Good tea too - big spacious tea-bag in a lovely little pot that didn't leak when poured.

And look at that magnificent scone!  This is a pretzel and chocolate chip scone, and my recommended sides were Nutella and clotted cream.

Irish style switch-toppings so that both Devon & Cornwall write angry letters.

And it was amazing.  Everything about this was quality, from the detailed menus and options, to the ingredients in my final choice.  This is a passion project, and if we gave out stars I'd just hand them the packet.

The balance is great - the pretzel adds a touch of salt and a little chew. The chocolate chips gave their flavour and the mix of Nutella (which I'm currently on a massive fad of having for lunch) and clotted cream was pure luxury.  And I was a mess after eating it too which was great.  If I hadn't had bad experiences with home made scones (usually either being huge, or terrible) I'd have got two for a big lunch - but this was a reasonable light-lunch portion seeing as I'd promised my partner dinner once she'd finished.

I did however get a cheese and chilli scone for my partner which was "very tasty, and nicely warming" for lunch the following day.

Like the best little cafe's near me in Lichfield, these sway my decision on where to go shopping really easily.  Not only would I encourage a return to Monmouth to get supplies of these I'd probably take a little box so I could take 4 home too.  I look forwards to adding to the options I've tried in future months.

Scones by the seaside (@NLi10)

What's better (and more English) than a nice cup of tea by the seaside?

Look - genuine sea views (for my partner)

This is Combe Martin bay on the way to Ilfracombe, and a lovely little tea shop with the bonus of outdoor seating.

And lovely warm fresh scones and jam.

I'm having them Devon style as we are in Devon.  This prevents the clotted cream from melting or falling off.  Usually I do the reverse, but I'm usually eating more cold scones (or crumbly Irish style scones)

 

And needing an extra box of cereal and having to do a costal walk to get back to the car enables me to take odd holiday pictures with snacks!

No Bonfire Snacks to review - have some Blueberry & Cinnamon Jam (@NLi10)

 For all the seasonal food we get there is very little to celebrate fireworks day/guy fawkes night/my Grandma’s birthday.  We did get a few during the burnt caramel era, but I guess they didn’t appeal for long, so more general winter themes have been used.

If you know of any specific fireworks snacks then please share away!

Instead - we have the first of the slightly festive things on my camera roll, cinnamon jam.

This tiny little jar is another one of those small batch things, and the stall owner that sold us this said it’s the most popular one!  My suspicion is that’s because you just don’t see blueberry jam that often, and the cinnamon edge makes it sound very exciting.

As always - add to scones.

I bought another expensive jar of Blueberry jam recently, and my main take away from that was the reason there is so little of it in standard ranges is that it’s just not that good. It’s essentially like a weaker black currant jam, and that’s just not that exciting. Where the genius of this product shines through is that a strong flavour would bury the cinnamon (or make it so you needed to add loads). Here, you get a festive tickle of cinnamon but with the fruity sweetness of the blueberries. A lovely harmony of flavours, that’s fine on scones but really shines on toast - more like a marmalade I suppose.

So, if you spot something like this to try out then I’d recommend it - just festive enough for a crisp November morning, but not necessarily just for saving for the big day itself.