Bagel Spot & Shake It Well - Birmingham [@NLi10] @bagel_spot

 I try not to go out and buy lunch when in the office - it can get expensive! I bumped into a friend who was unexpectedly on site today and we made lunch plans.  A new Bagel shop has opened near work that's just a little too far to get to and back in a normal quick lunch so we made a special trip.

The shop is small but exactly what you need - and it looked like you could eat in too at the back

And look at those juice varieties - I've only had about half of these before so will have to keep popping back.

£5.99 gets you a stacked bagel of your choosing, and a large portion of freshly cooked fries - a good size for a lunch.  I opted for the jerk chicken - taking a risk on the heat levels by adding spicy mayo.  All perfect - great flavours, definitely worth the walk.

In addition to the can with my meal I picked up a Shake It Well juice - Guava Berry Bravo Juice - which appears to be another Birmingham based juice company (what can I say - we need all the Tropical we can get!).  This was a great companion to the meal and I want to try more of these flavours too.

All-in-all a successful trip - It'll take a great effort to stop this becoming a weekly visit!

Joe & Steph's: Dungeons and Dragons Sweet & Fiery Gourmet Popcorn By @SpectreUK

I must admit that I haven't seen the latest Dungeons and Dragons Honor Among Thieves movie. I know it's just come out on DVD, and it's more expensive on Amazon Prime, so I'll wait for the prices to come down first.

I'm quite the grumpy old man, and can't abide the crunching and slurping that goes on in cinemas these days, not to mention the playing on phones during movies. So, I'd rather do my crunching and slurping in the comfort of my own home, play on my mini iPad instead, and pause whenever I need the to refill popcorn or pop to the loo.

These Dungeons and Dragons Sweet & Fiery Gourmet Popcorn were sent to me by a friend, amongst other goodies, she had won from a competition. These Chilli Chocolate Caramel Gourmet Popcorn were produced by Joe & Steph's. They state on the back of the packet that these air-popped corn should have a smooth caramel flavour to start with, followed by Belgian Chocolate, and then Red Chilli Pepper, maybe to represent the burn of the dragon's breath. We shall see.

Bizarrely I decided to have these Dungeons and Dragons Sweet & Fiery Gourmet Popcorn with a barbecue turkey sandwich at lunchtime. On opening the packet they smelt like caramel and chocolate. On taste there was indeed caramel to start with, then creamy milk chocolate, followed by a fiery kick from the red chilli peppers in the ingredients. This left a pleasant warming medium burn on my tastebuds with all that sweet caramel and creamy Belgian chocolate. I found these Dungeons and Dragons Sweet & Fiery Gourmet Popcorn crunchy, sweet, fiery and very flavoursome. I'd definitely have them again.

Information on the packet; The 30g packet has 96 calories per 20g serving, with 5.5g of fat, 7.9g of sugar, and 0.12g of salt. With no artificial flavours, colours or preservatives, gluten free and suitable for vegetarians, please see photograph for the ingredients.

Cadbury Caramilk Crispy (Tesco) By @Cinabar

When I was a kid, I thought I was the only one who liked a bar called Caramac made by Nestle. Everyone thought I was weird; I had a very sweet tooth that seems to still be going strong. I still like Caramac, but in recent times, it seems that style of chocolate is having its moment in the spotlight. Cadbury brought out Caramilk, a caramel-flavoured chocolate, and suddenly everyone has that same sweet tooth. I’m obviously very pleased about it.

Caramel chocolate is doing so well. Cadbury has now brought out Cadbury Caramilk Crispy, which is their caramilk chocolate but with the addition of rice crispy bits. Not only do I have a sweet tooth, but I also love texture, so for me, this is just about the best thing ever. The flavour is sweet, mellow, and rich with toffee tones. The crispies aren’t noticeable from the front, but turn the bar over and you can see how many they packed in. The texture was nice and had a light crispiness that was a delight. It would be hard to complain about this bar, it ticks the boxes for me. The only issue is that it is just 85g in weight, so for the size, it is a thin bar, and frankly, I wanted more.

Lindt Choco Wafer (Tesco) by @cinabar

New product alert! And from one of my favourite chocolatiers too. Lindt has always been about a little extra luxury with their products, and here we have their new Choco Wafers. They come in a very nice box and would be a perfect gift or stocking filler, and they're not a bad price either at £6. Lindt can be on the pricey side.

 

Inside the box are ten individually wrapped wafer chocolates. There are three flavours: milk chocolate, dark chocolate, and milk chocolate hazelnut, all in colour-coordinated wrappers. I opened up the hazelnut one fist because I am nuts about them. Chocolate and nuts are always my first choice. 

The wafers are a decent size, and this one looked appealing as it was sprinkled with hazelnuts on top. I have to admit that I was rather impressed by these, they are quite substantial, they have the smoothest chocolate, and the wafers are spot on in texture. They are crispy but firm. The nuts on top added a lovely bit of texture, and they were a complete luxury. I would be over the moon to receive these Lindt Choco Wafers as a gift, but in the meantime, I’m rather pleased I treated myself to a box!

Turmeric - does it work for me? Tasty & medicinal versions. [@NLi10]

A new(ish) café has opened on our high-street (one of two highstreets we are in the middle of!)  called Hello Café (Bearwood) and my partner noticed that on the menu they had a turmeric Late.  

I have rheumatoid arthritis and turmeric is one of the many (many) things that has been recommended over the years to help - and the amounts I'd taken in teas etc really didn't make a difference.  Chatting to the lady at the counter she said this is made with powdered turmeric so I thought I'd give it a go.

It looks very pretty in it's drink form - very yellow.  Naturally I had it with a lovely pastry which I think helped with the digestion.  Within 30 mins I had a lovely fuzzy glow which I'd not expected - kind of like I'd taken a lot of ibuprofen but without all the horrible side-effects. This was worth investigating!

In the Holland & Barrett a few doors down they had the Better You spray for Turmeric - half price at £12 as they are discontinuing it!  Probably because it has a tendency to go everywhere when you spray it - which is why there are yellow fingerprints all over this.

Spray in mouth - wait for effects!  Compared to the heap of powdered turmeric in the late this contains very little.  I suspect that the powder is a lot better value for money.

And while it is very convenient, it doesn't really have that massive effect that the first late did.  Useful though as it does make me feel a lot less fragile than I usually do which is a big bonus when you have a day that you want to be more active.

A week later I returned to Hello Café and had another Late (and one of the soft strawberry ice-creams). The effect wasn't quite as profound this time (no pastry to absorb it maybe) but it was still quite pleasing and took the edge off the day.

Naturally - if you are like me and on medications this doesn't replace them (in fact its always worth discussing with your consultant if you plan on doing this long term).  It also doesn't actually prevent the RA from doing the nasty damage that it tends to do - but it does help a lot with the inflammation.  As this is (in the right amounts) proven to be similar in effect to Ibuprofen (but without the IBS style symptoms that causes over time) I think I'll look into other ways of drinking it at home.