Billionaire's Hot Chocolate (Costa) By @Cinabar

This was a hard decision for me to make. One of my favourite drinks of all time is the Costa Black Forest Hot Chocolate. I wait for the Christmas drinks to come into season, and then I pounce. The Christmas drinks have now launched and as I queued knowing that I could now order my favourite I knew too that as there was a new drink on the menu that should be the one I choose. These are just some of the tough decisions faced daily by a food review blogger! :-D
So yes, I ordered the Billionaire's Hot Chocolate in Costa and a small chocolate teddy bear to have as an extra treat. The drink arrived topped with cream and a light crumb. The hot chocolate was made with caramel syrup, which was very visible on the bottom and not mixed in. It looked like it was meant to be stirred, or you would risk an over-sweet last mouthful. The picture on the Costa website looks the same though, with the syrup being photographed as stuck to the bottom of the mug. I still stirred my drink, they did give me a spoon after all.
I started with a taste of the biscuit crumb on the cream, and found it do be a very mild flavour. The cream was good though, and made the drink feel like a treat. The drink itself was pleasingly sweet and the caramel and chocolate made for a lovely rather indulgent flavour. I had this in the small option, and this felt right for such a rich drink. I liked it ever so much, it is essentially caramel and chocolate as its base flavours, so what is not to like. Next up I’m still going for the legendary Costa Black Forest Hot Chocolate, I’ll let you know how I get on.

Waitrose Lunchtime Sushi (@NLi10)

My favourite quick lunch is sushi.  I discovered this at Uni and haven’t stopped the trend. Bromsgrove has a new Waitrose so I managed to pick up a selection to share for lunch. And here is one with quinoa instead of rice - super cool!

Well - until you open it and find out that they put mushrooms inside without putting that on the main label on the box. Disappointment city. Luckily I was able to trade these with my partner for some of her lunch otherwise they’d have gone in the bin!

The black rice rolls were nice, but didn’t overcome the disappointment of not getting to try the quinoa.

My partners basic veggie selection.

I also had a tiny box of Katsu bites which was a very welcome addition. The sauce is fantastic and basically a mayonnaise mix. Not healthy but very good. This felt worth the money for the box and went further than I expected.

All in all it was a nice mini meal, but I’ll have to flip the boxes in future to check for things I can’t eat - get.

Teapigs Rhubarb & Ginger Tea (Waitrose) By @SpectreUK

I don't usually like ginger in tea. Mainly because the only ginger tea I have drank in the past is Lemon and Ginger, which has a habit of tasting a little medicinal, such as a cold remedy. Teapigs Rhubarb & Ginger should taste different at least. I do love rhubarb juice (sugared, of course) from the odd bit of rhubarb I grow in the garden (if I'm lucky). Though I was a little taken aback by the fifty / fifty ingredients in this recipe, as there is no tea involved just rhubarb and ginger. Obviously I've never written a blog about Lemon and Ginger tea, because I never bothered to look at the ingredients. I'll check next time I try to avoid a cup.

The flavour described on the back of the Teapigs Rhubarb & Ginger box is; "zesty rhubarb with a sweet ginger kick". There was certainly a dominant sharp fiery sweet smell of ginger on opening the packet within the box, with a fruity hint from the rhubarb. I rarely follow instructions, so ignored the recommended 3-5 minutes brewing time and left the tea temple in my mug for ages. There was a slight pinkish tint to the liquid in the mug upon removing the tea temple. On taste this was a surprisingly calming drink. There is an initial fruity zing from the rhubarb and sweetness with subtle fire behind it from the ginger. It was actually very nice indeed. Not a bit medicinal in flavour due to the fruitiness from the rhubarb and that sweetness from the ginger. The box also recommends trying a tea temple in iced water, which could be refreshing in the summer months!

Information on the box;
The 30g box contains 15 biodegradable tea temples. Ingredients are naturally caffeine free and include 50% rhubarb and 50% ginger.

Bloody Mary Hand Cooked Crisps (M&S) By @Cinabar

Christmas season means that there are loads of new and interesting crisps hitting the shelves, all designed to be shared during seasonal gatherings. Marks and Spencer always goes the extra mile with crisps, and I’ve already written about their Smoked Salmon, Cream Cheese, Champagne and edible glitter ones. Next up we are trying these Bloody Mary Hand Cooked Crisps. The crisps are flavoured with Worcester sauce, tomatoes and vodka, making up the ingredients of the cocktail. The vodka might sound like an odd addition in potato form, and I wasn’t sure how that would transfer to a crisp flavour, but something warming I would guess. That still isn’t the weird part about these crisps, they are made with heritage potatoes that are naturally red in colour and this means the crisps are also a deep red in colour. If you are looking for a statement in a bowl, these are them, they certainly stand out.

The tomato and the Worcestershire sauce set the main base for the flavour of these crisps. They had a good slightly spicy edge, and even a bit of a chilli buzz at the end of each bite. The flavour was quite complex, and I could pick up on different warming spices mixed in too, but that lovely tang of Worcestershire sauce made these. I think the specifics of the vodka were lost in the complexity of the taste. They are a good flavour though, not too strong, and very easy to enjoy. The dramatic colour makes them quite the party piece.

Christmas Pudding Smoothie (M&S) By @Cinabar

It was actually NLi10 who drew my attention to this new smoothie from Marks and Spencer. Yes, pack away your Halloween and Bon Fire Night goodies, it is officially the Christmas count down! Already there are seasonal goodies, and that includes this rather weird sounding Christmas Pudding Smoothie. I usually associate smoothies with being healthy, and I wasn’t sure if this was going to fit into this remit but I bought one anyway. Besides nobody cares about calories now until January 1st when we all sign up to or renew gym memberships with determination.
Once I was home the ingredients didn’t actually look too bad or unhealthy, the drink was mainly made up of pureed raisins and low fat yoghurt, amongst other things.
I gave the drink a sip and was hit by how wonderful the cinnamon part of the drink was. It wasn’t actually anywhere near as sweet as I thought it would be, far from it a nice mix of acidic lemon and apple gave this drink a surprisingly refreshing edge. The texture wasn’t too thick, thanks to this drink avoiding banana, and the flavour was very Christmasy but well balanced and easy to drink. Cinnamon is the seasoning of Christmas and I welcome it opened handily as it comes into season. This is certainly a smoothie I’ll be going back for, the flavour is no novelty.