Melting Hot Chocolate Bombe (Co-Op) By @Cinabar

Today we had a large online order delivered where we stocked up on lots of things, and as we unpacked it soon became apparent I had forgotten to buy any bread. Christmas scented air freshener refills - check, something you actually need for lunch tomorrow - fail. I forgot to buy any ham too, weirdly the four tubes of toothpaste (they were buy one get one free) aren’t that appetising. This meant that I still had to make an emergency trip to my local Co-Op to buy essentials that I forgot, not sure where my brain has been recently.

In the Co-Op there were one or two new Christmas bits but as it is a small shop not that much that grabbed my attention, except for these Melting Hot Chocolate Bombes. I love hot chocolate, I’m happy to drink it all year but I totally understand that the varieties increase in the colder months. I snapped up a couple of these, my perfect way to cling on to the weekend vibe. Each one consists of a large ball of chocolate that is filled with marshmallows. You place one in your mug and pour on hot milk, it then dissolves and the marshmallows are also released floating to the top. It is fun to make and it is fun to watch it dissolve!

I supped my drink while watching Stranger Things, because frankly that programme needs something soothing and this did the job perfectly. It made a rich rink with plenty of marshmallows. The taste was good, lots of chocolate and a nice creaminess that was just what I needed. I may have messed up the online order but it seems every cloud has a silver lining.

McVities Digestives - Cherry Bakewell (@NLi10)

 Digestive biscuits are a British staple food, but with all products seasonal variations are a must.  So - here we have Cherry Bakewell Digestives.

 

Looks like a biscuit.

Snaps like a biscuit.

Tastes like a biscuit with some cherry flavour in it, and maybe a hint of almonds.  I'll keep eating them, but I'd rather have the normal ones (and that's rare for me!)

If you've always wanted biscuits that taste of cough sweets then these are for you!

Brookston Premium Lager (Aldi) By @SpectreUK

This Brookston authentic American style Premium Lager states that it is "Perfectly balanced". The last time I heard that phrase was from the troll cook whilst he was making his snot broth in the Hobbit! Anyway, that aside, I'm sure this 4.5% volume Premium Lager is of the highest quality. It does state that it is "!00% Premium Quality", so I expect nothing less. However that's where the information on the bottle stops dead. There is no other guff other than lots of other "Premiums". So it should taste REALLY good! what does it taste like?

Even though it states "Premium" everywhere on the bottle, I'm hoping that this isn't a mass produced belly burping lager. It shouldn't be though as the bottle is screaming "Premium" at me from every direction I look at it. And it's a big bottle too at 660ml. It has 37 calories per 100ml, which is pretty whopping for such a big bottle. I know I've worked out a lot today and I've also just finished my first rather stressful week at work for quite sometime, so I could do with a big beer anyway!

On opening the bottle there was a pleasant fizz and the usual lager malts and yeasty smell tickling my nose hairs with the bubbles. On taste this lager has a herbal hoppy bitterness that bites away at my palate to start with. This crisp bitterness is soon smoothed by those sweet lager malts and a touch of yeastiness into the aftertaste, but only the merest touch. This is a flavoursome lager and the bubbles aren't too belch inducing. I'll enjoy the bottle and toast my next week at work. Hopefully I'll settle in a little better to a routine and figure out my "work - life - exercise" balance sooner rather than later.

Mr Kipling After Dinner Chocolate and Mint Fancies (Sainsburys) By @Cinabar

After my success with trying out the new and improved Mr Kipling Fondant Fancies in their orange format (Mr Kipling After Dinner Chocolate and Orange Fancies) I was very keen to try this new mint version too. These Mr Kipling After Dinner Chocolate and Mint Fancies are also packed in a very posh new style box, but are still in the more traditional paper cases inside. The fancies are made of a square of sponge topped with a mint creme and covered in chocolate fondant icing (decorated with icing stripes). The creme filling thankfully was nowhere near as bright green as the picture on the box (vegetables aside I have issues with green foods), it was a gentle pale pastel colour.

  

They are soft to eat and the mint flavour was lovely and strong and sweet. I love mint and chocolate (even milk chocolate) and they made a nice treat with plenty of peppermint. Refreshing and tasty. These feel the most ‘after dinner’ of the two flavours and the ones I liked the most, but this is mainly down to my love of mint. I will be buying these again, I’m rather impressed by the posh make over these cakes have had.

The Split - Online Waitrose Shop - Avocados that Aren't (by @NLi10) @theforagingfox

 Mummy and Daddy had a fight and have split up - Waitrose products are no longer on the Ocado store.  Middle_class_crying_emoji!

This means that if I want to get Waitrose things I either have to leave the house, or switch to a Waitrose online order - and maybe even cancel my Ocado Smart Pass!  I know this all happened Sep 1st (and today is Oct 1st) but I've been holding back on the online orders and using up things we already have.

I decided that we should do an order from each store and see how it held up.  The deciding factor on who went first was that Waitrose had loads of delivery slots, and Ocado had none.  So lets create an account and see what happens.

The interface isn't as good, even compared to the Web version of  Ocado, and it's not as natural to find things.  Some searches also brought up some crazy but fun products.  I searched for Avocado and found this.

This picture contains me and I don't like it.  Not only is it natural mayo, but they added lemon, somehow got avocado involved because mayo wasn't already fattening enough, then slapped a fox on the jar.  No idea how crazily expensive this must be compared to regular mayo. Don't care. Bought.

This is more seed than bread.  Correct ratio - straight in the basket.  This was on special too.

so soft!

Add some fox mayo

More lemon, this time in olives? Of course!

Yup - they are huge olives.  Red pesto just to make sure you have all the flavours.  This was within an hour of the shopping arriving (in fairness I couldn't have lunch till it arrived).  And it was on time (a little early) and while the driver was a bit rushed they seemed nice enough.  

We got charged for carrier bags (like Ocado) but unlike Ocado we didn't get money back for handing the bags back to the driver from last time.  Boo.

Overall some great food at reasonable prices and it's great to have some of my favourite things (Owl Beer!) back in the cupboard after so long.

We also found this on the avocado search.

It's just gingerbread and sugar, but it made a great cinema snack.

It's good to see that Waitrose have kept up the quality and while they may not be as effortless to use as Ocado they certainly had some fun quirky products to try.  I'm sure it'll start recommending them to me from next time, but the next order will be an Ocado/Marks & Spencer's one.  See you for part two in a couple of weeks.