Hot Cross Bunny Bar (Paul A Young) By @Cinabar

As famous chocolatiers go Paul A Young is one of the most prestigious, I’ve seen him on ITV and the BBC this Easter talking chocolate. I decided I would investigate what he sold online and there I found this Hot Cross Bunny Bar chocolate which sounded like the perfect Bank Holiday Monday treat.

The Hot Cross Bunny Bar consists of four large pieces, one side is decorated with a white chocolate and a cute bunny pattern which is very prettily decorated. The main chocolate is a 40% cocoa milk chocolate flavoured with hot cross buns. I broke a piece off to try, the hot cross bun flavour was infused in the chocolate and there was a nice bit of crunch from a biscuit like crumbs. The flavour has lots of seasonal spice and I was very much enjoying the cinnamon. There was a little bit of heat to in the flavour and I couldn’t quite place what was causing it, I thought perhaps black pepper. The spices blended really well with the milk chocolate and there was still lots of rich cocoa in the taste. This Paul A Young Hot Cross Bunny Bar is pure luxury and a little bit of Easter chocolate fun too. It was a nice way to finish the long bank holiday weekend with this Easter chocolate, and at least the rest of the working week only has four days.

Lindt Easter Eggs - A Study In Size (@NLi10)

 My partner and I both got Lindt Easter Eggs off her parents.  I didn't really note the differences at the time as I got Blue for Boy and She got Red for Girl.

I didn't however notice the size & price differences.

So - these are different price point eggs - one is bigger than the other,

And while hers has lovely little chocolate eggs - we have the actual truffles!

On the Official Lindt Easter Site everything is already reduced and almost sold out - but the Blue egg was originally £10 and I guess based on what was left the Red one was more than £5 but less than mine (It's £8 at Morrisons but I couldn't see the other one).

This is also evident in the size of the egg - the extra few grams really increases the impressiveness of the egg.

Lovely little truffles!

So nice on a warm day like Easter Sunday is!!

So - sure I think the Blue one was more expensive but not by much - and I'd happily pay the extra tax to get a few more treats and the larger egg.  I am very likely to share this one with my partner and live to tell the tale.

Happy Easter All!

Black Russian Beer (Brass Castle Brewery @BrassCastleBeer) By @SpectreUK

This Black Russian is not a cocktail made with vodka, nor do I particularly like vodka. I remember drinking a whole bottle of Vodka when I was a student and it didn't go well after that! I haven't touched a drop since... although I am rather partial to honey liquor and also rum.

Anyway, Cinabar ordered me quite a few beers from the Brass Castle Brewery, in Yorkshire. This Black Russian is a coffee infused Baltic Porter. Whereas I'm used to drinking English Porters, which are ales, a Baltic Porter is a lager. This Black Russian is brewed with malted barley and also malted rye. I do love the spiciness of a rye beer. At 7% in volume this Black Russian should have plenty of kick with its spicy rye and coffee flavours.

On opening the can there was a deep rich coffee aroma. This is a proper rich coffee smell, rather than the roasted chocolate malt often associated with porters, which lend to an aroma akin to coffee. This Black Russian has an obvious coffee smell to it that it just can't hide, and why should it? The roasted chocolate malt takes a step backwards for the infused coffee to step forwards and take a bow.

The depth of colour on pouring this Black Russian made my lips smack. There was the redness from the rye peeking through the deep dark cracks of blackness from the malted barley and infused coffee. With that depth of colour comes an equally bottomless depth of flavours. There is an initial roasted chocolate malted sweetness, followed closely by a heavy infused coffee flavour. There is then a herbal bitterness from the added hops and a spice from the malted rye. Then the infused coffee makes a return into the aftertaste.

This is a gorgeous Baltic Porter. I couldn't tell that it was a lager. It wasn't too bubbly. It could be used as an after dinner beer. Personally I washed down sausages on toast with plum tomatoes on top. I love black coffee. I love beer. I love Black Russian, because it's just like drinking both at the same time. It's just living the dream!

Meals For All - Freshly Cooked Authentic Food #Gifted By @Cinabar

Happy Good Friday everyone, I hope you have been able to enjoy some of the nice weather this bank holiday. We were threatened with snow but have so far had lovely sunshine, but it is Britain so anything is possible yet this Easter weekend! We are having a curry tonight though and it was very kindly sent for us to try from the lovely people at Meals For All. They make and delivery restaurant quality food which you can heat and eat straight away or freeze for another day. They are delivered chilled. When you order from them for every meal purchased they donate a meal to the needy, which is such a wonderful way of working. They started because of Covid19 but I hope they go on to flourish long into the future.

We chose a selection of curries, rice and some onion bhaji and some naan. My choice to start us off was the Prawn Bhuna Curry which I had with yellow rice. To heat the dish you simply zap the curry in the microwave for 4 minutes so it is very quick and simple. The curry was a very good quality. The prawns were still moist and juicy and they took on all the lovely rich spices. There was a nice bit of heat and the tomato based curry was restaurant standard, by the end of the meal I was using the naan bread to mop up every last drop of the spicy sauce. The onion bhaji was lovely too, full of flavour. I like that the website lists all the ingredients of the dishes too and I can’t wait to try more from them. This made such a nice Friday night treat and it is from such a wonderfully ethical brand too. I was lucky enough to be gifted my first order but can’t wait to choose some more dishes for the future and the freezer. If you want to try them out, please take a look at: https://mealsforallshop.org.uk

Holy Cow! Mughlai Korma Kit (@NLi10)

 Not a very exciting one this week, no fools theme here, but look at this fab Curry Kit I picked up.  Decent restaurant Curries is one of the things I've missed food-wise during lockdown.  

Very luxury, very ethical, very exciting!

Lots of ideas in here - we made it with sweet potato and veggies.

It dried it out a little maybe, but it was a great creamy curry which was full of flavour and something I'll buy again.  For my tastes I'd sprinkle some finely chopped chilli on top for that little bit of a zing, but I can understand why they'd not put that in the sauce bag for everyone on the mildest version.