Top Banana Porridge {by @NLi10} [Rude Health]

Occasionally I get a food parcel from Cinabar with products in for me to review, or just ones where we got given more samples than one family can eat. This porridge was one of these, possibly included due to the banana content.

I first tried this product some weeks ago and Ms. NLi10 made a bowl for me and I didn't really enjoy it. It just seemed to be a massive amount of food for one person to eat so early in the morning. I eventually got through it and discovered that my general dislike of the breakfast was due to the fact I was coming down with the flu. I spent the next week in bed, and barely did anything at all (except for fall down a few stairs and play a few kids games on the Xbox).

Because of this I didn't go back to the box for a while and was wary that I would forever associate porridge with becoming ill. Bravely I decided this morning to give the porridge another go, but decided to use 40g of oats instead of the recommended 50g.

After microwaving and stirring I let it cool and set a bit and then had my first proper taste. Still too hot and not sweet enough. I decided to add some sugar to it as I tend to like things a little sweeter and tried again. The oats are lovely and soft, the banana tastes like the actual fruit in a desert of some kind and overall it's really nice. It was still too hot though but unlike Goldilocks I couldn't just mix the porridge that was too hot with the other porridges to make it edible so I carried on surfing the internet and listening to 6 Music until the temperature had dropped to very warm instead of piping hot.

This was far more my style, I could happily eat away and 40g turned out to be not enough to satisfy my hunger. The texture of school porridges was nowhere to be found, and even with leaving it to cool it never became mush and still had a chewiness that was enjoyable. I'll certainly be eating this on weekends as it's a bit time consuming for someone as rushed as I am in the mornings, and as the winter draws in I may even appreciate the added heat. I think that I could get back into porridge as a breakfast, as even though I miss the ice cold milk part of the experience there is a certain draw to the sustaining oaty goodness.

by @NLi10

Timmermans Lambic Beers [By Spectre] (Selfridges)

Cinabar bought me these beers to torture me with the crazy flavours. Tradition, Peach, Cherry, Raspberry and Forest Fruits… I mean seriously; Forest Fruits? She thought I’d drink one every now and then and write something cute about them. Alternatively I decided to get rid of them one after another in one evening in an experiment to see if I could still say “Timmermans” without slurring by the end of the evening. Timmermans brew Lambic beer, which is specially brewed in the Pajottenland region of Belgium. I say “specially” as it is brewed through spontaneous fermentation, which means it’s exposed to wild yeasts and bacteria from the Senne valley. Only slightly worried that this was a spelling error on Wikipedia and the beer is actually exposed to “wild beasts”, I popped open the first beer… “Timmermans”, so far so good…



Faro or Traditional Lambic beer
There is a definite cider edge to this beer, but it’s not like the pub’s rugged Snakebite, it has a sweet apple and brown sugar taste. This argues against Wikipedia’s description of dry with a slightly sour aftertaste. All in all it was a good strong sweet cidery beer that made me regret the small size of the bottle, as I would have been happy enough to have drunk this type of beer for the rest of the evening. “Timmermans”



Peach Lambic beer
On opening this beer there was a strong whiff of peaches, which seems obvious given the name, but I wasn’t prepared at how strong the smell and taste of peaches would be. Strong as it was, the peaches didn’t overshadow the cidery taste. Although the sweetness of the last beer was dulled by the peach flavour, this beer tasted more like a Peach Snakebite – try asking for that in a Rocker Bar! “Timmermans”


Cherry Lambic Beer
Regular readers will know my distaste for cherries and after being subjected to several cherry beers in the past, I expected this beer to taste like a cherry wine. I was wrong. It didn’t taste like a cherry wine, or in fact a cherry beer. This reddened liquid tasted only of cherries, but not just cherries, but CHERRIES!!! Cinabar loved the taste of this beer, which loosely means there definitely was no beer flavour. This could be mistaken for a child’s cherry pop drink, but without the pop and with a whole lot of Cherries. “Timmermans”



Raspberry Lambic beer
Red in colour, this beer had a strong, powerful taste of raspberries. Again, no wine or beer taste here, just a whole lot of raspberries. It has a sweet start on the palette and a sour aftertaste. Alcoholic children can rejoice everywhere, as there’s no real way to tell there’s any alcohol in this beverage, just raspberries. Not sure that’s a good idea though? Probably not… “Timmmermans”



Forest Fruit Lambic beer
This beer is purple in colour, which fits well with the mainly blackcurrant flavour. There is a hint of strawberries and raspberries in there also, and I’m sure some other fruits mixed in, but primarily blackcurrant. It tastes like a strong sweet Ribena. The last two beers were not subtle in flavour and this fruit flavoured beverage stayed with that theme. Again, not a wine or beer taste, just overflowing with fruit flavour.
By the end of the last beer I noticed that I was fairly light headed. If I repurchase I think I’ll stick with the lighter flavoured Lambic beers, such as Tradition or Peach. Okay, maybe not the Peach, it just doesn’t help the image…
“What’re you drinking, Spectre?”
“Ooh, I think I’ll have a Peach Snakebite!”
Nah…
“Timmmmmermanz” Te, he… hic!

By Spectre

Norfolk Bloody Mary Crisps [Pipers]

Pipers are a brand I first heard about because of the Specialty & Fine Food Fair, and thought they deserved a bit of a shout out on the site. Bloody Mary is a bit of a strange flavour for a packet of crisps, but I have to confess that is why it caught my eye. Essentially a Bloody Mary, in its liquid form, consists of tomato juice, vodka and some sort of spice usually Tabasco or Worcestershire Sauce.
Given that we are talking about crisps, it seems fair to assume that the vodka element won’t be making its presence known, which leaves us with a spicy tomato as the main flavour.
The underlying potato is thick and crunchy and it delivers a satisfying bite. It is nice to be able to taste the potato, and this really added to the overall quality of the crisps for me. The flavour of the coating is really well put together, I was afraid it might be over sweet from the tomato, but it is a wonderful savoury taste. There is a gentle spice, and a hint an onion that complements the tomato really well.
These are moreish crisps, with a rich tomato taste, and a good quality crunch, I thoroughly recommend them and look forward to trying other flavours in the range.
As footnote Spectre found that these crisps were an excellent addition to a cheese platter, working particularly well with smoked cheese. It’s his new favourite ‘DIY’ Ploughman’s.

Dorset Cereals- Fantastically Fruity Roasted & Toasted Muesli {by @NLi10} (Sainsbury's)

I love cereals, I love mixed up cereals with bits in them, but I hate raisins and sultanas.

Very few muesli type cereals don't have dried grapes in them, except for the chocolate based ones (which I keep forgetting to review...) which leads to excitement bordering on boy-band proportions when I find one unexpectedly. This one is a fine example, as Ms. NLi10 bought me a pack of 6 Dorset Cereals all of which had hidden raisins in them, but redeemed herself amply by spotting this hidden in their range at Sainsbury's. I'd found a couple of normal Dorset Cereals with no raisins but only their plainest muesli fitted the bill (I add cranberries :) ).

Essentially it has loads of fruity fruit in it (cranberries, mango, dates, raspberries to name but four) but none of the dreaded articles. The grain types are nice too. I was a bit wary about the dates and slipped a few of mine into my partner's bowl before bringing them upstairs but needn't have worried. The balance of fruits to grain is not one I'm used to as I like a lot more cereal in my cereal, but this actually works. It becomes a very chewy experience and is a great weekend cereal for when you have time to enjoy breakfast.

I've not been back for a second helping yet (I've only had them for one weekend) but was enthused enough by the experience to write about all the other cereals I've been holding back on. I'd put this at the top of the health cereal tree, next to Lizzi's Apple Granola and above the standard offerings.

Of course, if you are one of those people who actually like raisins etc. you may have different experiences of this section of the supermarket, but I'm sure there are other fruits that people dislike, and due to its fruity nature they may be hiding in here waiting to catch you out instead.

by @NLi10

QQ Orange and Grape flavour sweets [By Spectre] (China)

A friend on Xbox Live called sent me these jellies from China. After a bit of digging online I managed to find out these are made in Taiwan by Want Want who started out in 1962. I first burst open the orange flavour. The 70g packet is filled with 1cm wide orange coloured jelly shells, although I later realised these were supposed to be slices of orange. The jellies are very soft, with a good orange tang and dangerously moreish. They also make you want to shove as many of them in your mouth at the same time to see how many you can fit in and eat. Once I’d eaten one packet I wanted another and another. I hungrily tried to rip open the grape flavoured packet, and realised that my fingers were strangely greasy from the orange flavour, not sticky, but slippy in a way that I couldn’t get a grip on the grape packet. On violently knifing the packet in my desperation for more Taiwanese squidginess I noticed lots of purple grape-bunch shaped sweets the same size as the orange jellies. It was then that I realised the orange sweets were not shell shaped at all. Shoving the grape flavoured jellies in my mouth I was at first disappointed that they weren’t the orange flavour and then a little confused due to the fact that they tasted more blackcurrant than grape. Nevertheless there is a grape flavour there and these grape jellies, although to my chargrin not orange flavoured, were almost as moreish. I now have to go cold turkey on the orange until I can beg Farley to send me another batch. Maybe I’ll have to stop setting him on fire in Left4Dead? Nah…

By Spectre