Fox’s Chocolatey Milk Chocolate & Salted Caramel Rounds (Waitrose) By @SpectreUK

I'm quite partial to biscuits, as you may have noticed from previous blogs, so when Cinabar mentioned that I should try these Fox's Chocolatey Milk Chocolate & Salted Caramel Rounds, I almost bit her hand off! So salted caramel flavoured shortcake biscuits covered in milk chocolate then…? I must admit it's a hard life being a Blogger at times. However, it wasn't always this way. Sometime ago if you'd have mentioned salted caramel to me I'd have laughed at you; "I only eat sweet caramel bars!" I'd grumpily say, and I'm sure I said it the first time Cinabar mentioned salted caramel to me. I tasted it then and preferred sweet caramel. In fact, I still prefer sweet caramel, but I have developed a taste for the salted variety too.

On first taste these these Milk Chocolate & Salted Caramel Rounds aren't just a bit good. Once I'd bitten into the soft Milk Chocolate to get to the crunchy salted caramel shortcake biscuit inside, I'd already been transported to another plane. The hard day at work was just a mere memory washed away on a Milk Chocolate crunchy shortcake biscuit boat of tranquility. The only trouble was trying to stop eating them. I ignored the black coffee I had on the side also, in fear it might impair the flavour. I'll have it later, I thought!

If you want to lock yourself away and forget everything whilst gorging on biscuits; I'd certainly recommend these biscuits. Don't let anyone in. Jealously guard them. You won't regret it or feel an ounce of guilt… well, maybe a smidgen. These biscuits are Milk Chocolatey to the last taste with shortcake biscuit crunch, caramel dancing merrily alongside the biscuit boat, and a sliver a salt to tickle your fancy. Wow… Joy!

Information on the packet;
The 130g packet has eight biscuits with each biscuit having 87 calories, 4.5g of fat, 8g of sugar, and 0.17g of salt. For ingredients please see photograph.

Mars Choc Brownie Edition (WH Smith) By @cinabar

I found out about this new edition Mars chocolate bar by chance browsing the WH Smiths next to the train station I commute from. Sometimes new edition chocolate bars come with press releases and anticipation, other times they are quite low key, like this one which just appeared. They were on offer as they were new so I took a gamble and picked up a handful.
The bar looks like a regular Mars under the wrapped, but once cut in half I could see the change of colour of the lower filling. It looked darker, and yes a bit more Brownie like. Not quite spongey though.
With the taste test it became apparent that the overall flavour was remarkably similar to that of a regular Mars bar, albeit a little more chocolatey. There was a hint of darker cocoa tastes, and that baked chocolate flavour. However their was still the chocolate coating, caramel and a hint of the usual nougat that made the whole thing scream Mars bar. This was a tasty chocolate bar and that was because I like regular Mars Bars. The Choc Brownie part was quite a simple edition, and the base lacked the sticky sponge texture, but did have the flavour. Part of me thinks you could buy one of these without noticing the Choc Brownie reference on the packet or the mild change in flavour. I shall enjoy mine though, and working through my stash.

New Cappuccino Freddo (Starbucks) By @Cinabar

On a warm day, which was muggy rather than sunny, I decided to stop off at Starbucks and pick up something like an iced latte. I’m not a fan of the frappuccino style drinks, I don’t think we have the weather for them in the UK. They never seem to melt in time, and if rushed cause an ice cream headache. My summer drink of choice had always been a latte over ice, which is far more fitting for the average warmth of a British summer.
As I was standing in the queue at Starbucks I noticed their new drink being advertised, the Cappuccino Freddo, and after checking it wasn’t ice blended I decided to give it a try. This looked like a complicated drink to make. It started with espresso’s being poured over ice to cool them. There was a couple of pumps of syrup, but there was also the fun of chilling skimmed steamed milk to pour on top. I took the drink back to the table and gave it a sip. I had a sweetness overload, and really didn’t like the first sip at all. It was so very unpalatably sweet. I realise this was the syrup and that it wasn’t mixed in, I’m not sure if this was intentional, I wasn’t given anything to stir it with, but I couldn’t see why you’d leave it like that either. Thankfully after a few sips the sweetness hit wore off and I got a lovely rich dark flavour of the strong coffee from the espresso. This was much nicer, and it had a slight bitter edge which I much preferred. The more I drank of this the more creamy the drink became as the milk element blended in and the whole thing came together. I think this would be by drink of choice in Starbucks for the summer, but I will certainly be asking them to skip the syrupy stuff, I don’t like sugar in coffee so this had absolutely no positive impact on my drink at all. Was I supposed to have stirred it in anyway? Who knows, but the dark espresso to the milky finish was a lovely way to drink the rest.

Disappointment Wars - on Tour! Romanian crisps in Italy (@NLi10)

Italian snack food isn't all that reviewable - it's either standard euro fare or something you'd sit down and eat with friends. Then, tucked away inspotted our old friends the Gusto surprise crisps. Yay!

Alongside they had another brand that I'd not seen before, and they were still very cheap.

Here they are in front of one of Florences many many many churches.

The crisps inside were slightly nicer. Not nice enough to eat. And not nice enough for the birds to. BOther finishing either.  We chose a blue bag for a boy in the hope of a transforming car.

A pull back and go airplane is pretty cool. I'm rsure viewing this out of sequence as it shows up in a fair few of my holiday snaps - it's a fun little thing to have.

Disappointment score: Not Dissapointing!

I managed to eat some of the crisps due to added salt, and the toy is a keeper.  I think I'm going to halt with the crisps and toy bags from romania 

 As it's unlikely to get better than this.

Yeastie Boys Gunnamatta Earl Grey IPA Beer (Waitrose) By @SpectreUK

When I was younger I never liked Earl Grey tea. Couldn't stand the stuff, even up to a year or so ago I just didn't like the smell of it even, let alone the taste. It was all about the added bergamot orange oil extract added to the black tea that made me shy away from the flavour. Now for some reason, if only that our taste buds change and we should now and then try things that we previously didn't like, I can't have enough of the stuff. I have a box of Earl Grey in my drawer at work amongst the Kenyan tea, Chai tea, and cafetiere coffee, and I have a box at home on the go amongst the other teas here.

The reason I'm babbling on about Earl Grey is that this Yeastie Boys Gunnamatta had Earl Grey tea added during the brewing. At 6.5% volume this golden ale had a very punchy citrus smell on opening. As a matter of fact I'd dropped the can a few minutes before not concentrating, and expected it to explode all over the place. I opened it over the sink in the bathroom and there was a pleasant fizz, a little excitable foam, but no spillage. There's hardly anything worse than lost beer! Funnily enough I didn't like beer until I was in my late teens… er… eighteen! Yes, eighteen years old!

Anyway, on taste the bergamot from the Earl Grey immediately sprang to the fore pushing aside the malted barley and slapping my tastebuds with its presence. There was also some citrus hops in the background trying but failing to push past it. Even though there was some separation of the bergamot, I could really pick the Earl Grey tea from the other citrus hop flavours and sweetness of the malts. There was the malted barley, then the bergamot, some further bitterness from the citrus hops, and then there was the black tea right behind it all moving into the aftertaste mixed with sweet malt. This was quite an inventive combination of rich flavours in a small can of perfectly crafted beer.