Crunchy Praline Wonder Bar [@NLi10]

Recently we went to see the wonderful Steve Backshall do a talk about how wonderful nature is and I took along a snack for the interval.

I'd picked this up at a service station a few weeks before and saved it up for when we needed a little something to nibble on. In the box you only get two of the little bars, but if there are only two of you then this is fine.  

Inside it's quite a soft but gritty praline with enough melty smoothness to give the flavour a big boost.  I don't think these are quite as luxurious as they make out from the packaging but they certainly are nice. 

The range is really varied with lots of variations on the chocolate and a filling theme and I'd certainly be willing to try a few more to see whether they are the magical one.

Lovely Steve was really entertaining and informative, and we got to meet him afterwards at the signing.

Mi Goreng Fried Noodles (Vanguard Supermarket) [By @SpectreUK]

I haven't had a noodle pot for lunch for a while and I've noticed their slow build up on the Foodstufffinds Shelf of Noodle Pots, making it have a noticeable bend through their weight. And so I picked up the one with an egg on the pot simply because I fancied some fried noodles with my traditional three boiled eggs on a Saturday lunchtime. Although the "tradition" has not been about for more than a couple of weeks, but I'm thinking of phasing it in. Mainly because boiled eggs are the only things I can cook properly, and having said that "properly" equates to 70% of the time!

So I unwrapped the plastic wrapping around this pot of Mi Goreng Fried Noodles, produced in Indonesia by Indofood, and I was at first taken aback by how many sachets there were. There was a sachet with Bawang Goreng Seasoning and also a Bumbu Seasoning sachet, as well as a sachet with more separate compartments for Minyak Bumbu Seasoning Oil, Sambal Seasoning Sauce and also Kecap Soya Sauce. My first instinct was that this was going to be complex to prepare. That sinking feeling threatened my resolve as I was hungry after a trip to the gym and just wanted to eat straight away. I shook the feeling off and dropped the plastic fork into the spare cutlery compartment in the drawer, and opted for a more robust metal fork. I scanned the instructions as the kettle boiled and was pleased to see that once the clump of fried noodles had been soaked in freshly boiled water with the plastic lid on for three minutes, all you have to do is dump all the sachets on top of the wet hot noodles and stir.

I added freshly boiled water and left the pot with the lid on whilst I boiled the eggs. Then I added all the sachets in one big blob and mixed them all well in to the wet hot fried noodles. The concoction smelt just like a traditional Goreng, which I've eaten many times in restaurants. It had a medium warming chilli spice and tasted just as good as it smelt and just as traditional feeling, even in its little cardboard pot. I ate a few noodles and was impressed how my chin weathered the storm, as generally I end up wearing most sauces from noodle pots during the eating process. Having said that this Mi Goreng Fried Noodles was messy and yet fun to prepare in a strange sort of dump everything in and stir way. The blobs from the five sachets were very easy to mix in to the stringy fried noodles and the finished noodle pot meal was very very tasty indeed. Especially whilst enjoying slightly overly boiled eggs!

By Spectre

Grape Mulled Fruits Drink (@StarbucksUK) [By @Cinabar]

I know we are on the countdown to the christmas red cups at Starbucks which signify their festive drinks, but to keep us going they have released some autumnal treats. New to the menu are Mulled Fruits drinks, available in apple or grape. I went for the grape version and crossed my fingers it wouldn't taste too much like the American grape flavour you get in imported sweets. I still couldn’t resist choosing grape over apple as it sounded a bit different.
When my drink arrived it came with a cinnamon stick floating on top making it look like a lovely brew, dark purple in colour. I noticed the poster above the counter showed a slice of orange in the example drink as well and I probably should have queried it, but went on to just go and get a seat as it was so busy.
The flavour was rich and fruity and the grape tone was delicate, and sweet. It was like an English grape in flavour, giving it a slightly wine like taste, obviously alcohol free though. The best part of was the seasoning of chai spices that made this such a good cold weather drink. Each sip was so soothing and sweet, it was a pleasure drink. I should point out my bias for cinnamon, it is my favourite spice. The best thing about the cold weather is that it gains a certain popularity and starts appearing everywhere.
As the drink went down the intensity from the cinnamon stick rose, as it had time to brew but less liquid to dilute it. This meant that the very last mouthful was delivered with a spicy buzz, perfect preparation before venturing back out into the cold. I am loving the Grape Mulled Fruits Drink and can't wait to try the apple version next time I'm at Starbucks.

By Cinabar

Christmas Cake Curd (Marks and Spencer) [By @Cinabar]

So we've all packed away the pumpkins and put Halloween to rest in peace for another year, so let's pull out all the stops and just accept that Christmas is on its way. Yes okay, it is a bit early for me too, but when items sound as interesting as this one you will have to forgive me for the odd early review.
Marks and Spencer have brought out Christmas Cake Curd. Now there have been quite few biscuit flavour spreads coming out and now that I'm used to spreading Custard Cream on my toast I didn't think there would be much that could surprise me. Christmas cake on toast is definitely new though and I couldn't wait to try it. As I popped a couple of crumpets in the toaster I pondered that classic jam / spread query, butter or no butter. I always put butter under a jam but not under a chocolate spread or a biscuit spread so I decided to go without the additional layer. I opened up the jam and inhaled the aroma of warm and fragrant spices, which reminded me a bit of hot cross buns, but with a heavy fruity undertone.

The curd was like a jam in texture, smooth, light and quite soft and silky to spread, this meant I probably should have gone with the butter route but it gave it a purer base to test it on without. It was also a dark red colour making it more jam like in that respect too. Now the flavour was interesting, it had a hint of Christmas cake about it, but the balance wasn't quite there to be exactly the right taste. To be fair this comes down to the seasoning balance and perhaps some cakes are quite heavily seasoned with Christmas spice, but this one seemed heavy on flavours like clove and nutmeg. The base taste was that of a rich raisin, which worked well. The flavour was sweet but not overly so, and there was an aftertaste of sour from the fruit. I liked the warming spiced mixture, it's a nice idea and certainly a fab novelty for the Christmas season. It will be a big hit if you like raisins too. Not sure it will be that greatly missed in the new year that I'd be stocking up, but who knows by then Marks and Spencer might be releasing Hot Cross Bun curd?

By Cinabar

Three Little Pigs - Rare Breed Chorizo (spicy) [by @NLi10]

It's not every day that you get sausage in the post. When you do it's usually a good bet that it's a pretty special one.  This sample from Three Little Pigs is certainly that.

It came in this wonderfully whimsical packaging with little piggy reminders on it which certainly added to the charm.

Like all chorizo and sausagey products it doesn't look like much by itself, but...

Chopped up you can see there are lots of things going on inside though that promise great flavours.

I decided the best way to experience this for the first time would be in a home made paella- using vegetable stock as the base so that I mostly got the chorizo flavour

And it worked really well! I think that the little bit of extra cooking with the rice really brought out the flavours and the selection of the spicy option sausage worked really well.  I'm not sure that the rareness of the piggies that worked hard to manufacture these sausages would sway me, but the flavours certainly are magical. Also, unusually for me, I think I used too much and was a little over full. Half a curve of sausage is a lot of meat!

The next time I had the meat cold with pasta (and a cheeky pot of Nandos Perinaise) and this was also a magical experience, but I only used 1/4 of the curve so it was more manageable.  I don't tend to get to eat much meat at home, living with a veggie, so having something of a high quality like this to drop in is fantastic.  I'm certainly having this again!