Ben and Jerry's Topped Strawberry Swirled (Morrisons) By @Cinabar

I have to admit to enjoying the new ice cream season, aka summer. It is such an easy dessert, and there seem to be a rainbow of flavours that get released every year. Ben and Jerry's latest offering is this new Topped Strawberry Swirled. Under the lid you can see a thick coating of soft white chocolate sealing the tub, which of course is the inspiration for the name Topped. The ice cream consists of  creamy ice cream swirled with strawberry and marshmallow, containing white chocolate and shortbread pieces.

The base flavour of the creamy ice cream worked wonderfully swirled with the strawberry and this gave the flavour a lovely rich fruity flavour, it was summery too with its strawberries and cream. I liked that the flavour varied depending on how much strawberry there was, this kept the ice cream interesting. The addition of the shortbread pieces bought texture, and worked well with the other ingredients adding a nice buttery biscuit taste. The white chocolate topping was soft and very rich and sweet in flavour. I loved finding pieces of it in my bowl. The problem I guess is that I used up half the tub in two portions, and the way that it got served was that I used the top half and therefore all the white chocolate topping. I’m thinking the next serving isn’t going to be anywhere near as yummy as the first ones. Secondly the topping came away in quite big awkward pieces, which was ok but offered little benefit. The conclusion is that I loved the flavours and combination of ingredients but the actual style of the topping was more novelty than useful. I’d rather have had all that white chocolate from the topping in pieces like white chocolate drops mixed in the tub.

The leaning soft drinks cans of Pisa (@NLi10)

Our holiday in Italy took us to many amazing sights - including this one The Leaning Can Of SanPellegrino!

As you can see tourists are flocking to pretend to hold the can upright and push it over.



Even I look shocked to see it!



In reality these luxury soft drinks that I only really see in restaurants in the UK are quite common in Italy, and it's great!  I get to drink top end fizzy fruit at a reasonable price - a Euro for a can is not too shabby.  I love the lemon and orange flavours and they do seem to help keep me hydrated in this sun.



They also go really well with luxury pizzas.  I was worried that at this particular location I'd be paying tourist tax and not getting something that was worthy - but this was the best Pizza of the trip.  A lovely mix of meats, rocket and just enough cheese to add flavour without making it a salty mess.  Bellissimo!

I also got to try the other main soft drink that I lived on Lemon Soda.  This is maybe a little less sweet than the San Pel, but that just means It's more of an accessible drink for everyday use.  Not something I'd need to seek out back home, but I'll certainly be drinking more when I go back to Italy some day.

I even took a picture of the can for you all!

Sadler’s Hop Bomb Beer (Waitrose) By @SpectreUK

It's certainly been a hot day here in the Midlands. I caked myself in Factor 50, with Cinabar covering my back, before I had a long cool swim outside at the gym. So I thought I should pick a summery sounding beer to write about to reflect the glorious sunny day. This Sadler's Hop Bomb was brewed with Maris Otter Pale Ale malt, as well as Caramel malt and wheat malt. Hops used in the brewing were; Amarillo, Cascade, Citra, Chinook, and Nelson Sauvin. Quite a concoction of hops there, so no wonder this beer is called what it is.

I could tell why they called this ale Hop Bomb as on opening there was a heavy citrus and floral hop aroma. This pale ale filled my beer glass with a cheerful fizz and all the golden glow of summer. Instead of a bustle of bitter hops fighting over each other for first taste, this beer delivers them all in unison in one bitter blast of citrus fruity and floral flavour. Boom! As the hop explosion dissipated on my tastebuds there followed the pale and sweet malts driving into a slightly floral hoppy aftertaste. This is a very refreshing beer, perfect for a hot sunny day and a spicy smoky barbecue outside with some friends and family.

Happy summer! ;-)

Oasis - Kiwi Apple Sour (Independent Cafe) By @Cinabar

I found this new Kiwi Apple Sour drink from Oasis in an independent cafe. When I asked for it, to go with my sandwich, the lady serving took it out of the fridge but told me it was the first one she sold as they had been newly put out that morning. As it happens I saved it for the train on the way home. The drink doesn't mention anything on the front of the bottle about it being sugar free (or indeed new or limited edition),  but the label on the back describes itself as being a fruit juice drink with sweeteners, and I couldn't see any added sugar on the label. Perhaps that is the way of things these days with companies trying to reduce added sugar, that it is just becoming the norm.
I was a little wary of the word “sour” in the name, and hoped it wouldn't be too acidic, on a warm muggy day I was hoping for more of a focus on refreshing. On this the flavour delivered. Kiwi is an unusual choice for a mainstream drink but it forms the initial taste and is surprisingly soft and every enjoyable. The sour taste kicks in with the aftertaste, and this is the sour apple element. It isn't too sour but leaves a lovely fresh clean zingy flavour that lingers on the palette. The taste is just enough to be refreshing but still steers away from lip twisting. The conclusion is that kiwi and apple go surprisingly well together, and that there really should be more kiwi flavoured items on the market. I noticed a second new Oasis flavour in the shop too which was Sour Cherry, I’m going to have to give that the taste test next.

Italian late night Snacks (by @NLi10)

One night in Italy we timed our food badly as Siena isn't as late night as Florence and all of the restaurants had closed. To avoid going to bed too hungry (we had a massive lunch) we visited a tabacco shop and raised the snacks.

Seen here with the surprise plane for scale.

The Twix was just a regular Twix but the others were new to us.

The crisps were the fantastic waffle cones we had abroad before, a vegetarian smokey flavour with a lovely crunch. Would have been better with the salt and chocolate of Norway but at least we could afford these.

They did not last long at all.

I think that the Nutella B-ready is a breakfast bar but as a late night snack it was good too. The bready outside has a Nutella filling with flakes too and was really nice.

It didn't crumble either so was a good way to eat this while out or sitting on a hotel bed.

Both things I'd happily eat again if I saw them in the uk!