Dorset Cereals – Honey Granola

Dorset Cereals and their whole muesli thing has always appeared to me as overpriced bird food. (PS: I'm not a muesli fan) I do like granola, though, especially with nuts and honey, so I decided to give this box a try. (PS: It was on offer)

This cereal is seriously stripped down. Oats, pecans, almonds, sunflower and pumpkin seeds, all baked with the tiniest hint of honey and vanilla extract. This is perfect for people who absolutely love nuts and oats, as that's pretty much the main taste of the cereal.

I'm not too big on this cereal, but it's not bad either, considering how natural and healthy it is. A good choice for organic bunnies, but is definitely not for those looking for a Crunchy Nut or Cheerios alternative. And definitely no great after-cereal milk.

Crunchy Nut Clusters with milk chocolate curls and honey

"Crunchy Nut is on offer!" my sister suddenly half-yelled as I was standing in the cereal aisle of Tesco deciding between the healthier Special K options or Cookie Crisp and sugar-coated things.

For £2 (U.P £2.69) we got a 450g box of cereal clusters and chocolate curls.

The clusters of puffed rice, peanuts, and oats were simply decadent! The honey coating was extremely yummy, and as always for Crunchy Nut, the peanut fragrance really came through, in a sweet rather than nutty way.

The clusters really stuck together, and didn't fall apart easily even when submerged in milk. The chocolate curls were not so significant, but provided the tiniest hint of taste and soft texture. The milk became quite sweet as a result of the honey, hooray!

A great cereal, I'm definitely getting it again some time. This cereal is basically for everyone – kids, granola-lovers, nut fans, chocoholics, sweet teeth, the whole lot!

Fox's Chunkie Milk Chocolate Cookies

Fox's is a good biscuit/cookie brand, and I can usually count on them to provide me with a nice packet of cookies when I get a craving for something sweet. Um that is, like, everyday After all, they claim to have been around since 1853. Plus, their packaging is matte, and that always makes a difference for me. Matte packaging is always nicer, don't ask me why, I don't know.

When I bought this packet of cookies (offered at £1, U.P £1.79) from Tesco after school one day, I was ascertained that these would be unfailing and satisfactory.

The cookies are crunchy, and full of chocolate chips, and I'm happy for that.

However, what annoys me about the cookie (yes, apparently, cookies have the ability to annoy nowadays.) is the fact that there is a strong fragrance of coconut. I have no resentment towards coconut, but when I buy a packet of milk chocolate cookies, I want to eat a packet of milk chocolate cookies. Don't make me take a bite, raise my eyebrows, double-check the packaging, turn to the ingredients list, and find out that the dessicated coconut is not only giving the cookie its crunch, but also providing it with an evident coconut smell and taste.

I mean, they are nice cookies, but no thank you to the unexpected taste!

Cadbury Wispa Hot Chocolate Drink

I received this as an Easter gift (yes I know, this post has rolled under the bed and gathered dust and crumbs for a little while) from my homestay hosts, as they know how much I love chocolate.

In Singapore, Milo is the breakfast drink for kids and teenagers – it is a chocolate and malt drink, ubiquitous in Australia, New Zealand and Southeast Asia, but is also available in some other parts of the world. (100 points for specificity!) I used to have it every morning, and sometimes in the afternoon as well, chilled with ice cubes. Milo is also served in eating places, and has developed into all sorts of different desserts.

But enough about Milo, because hot chocolate has taken its place in my heart.

After having hot chocolate almost every morning while in London, I went back to Singapore during term break, had a cup of Milo, and, no sir, something had changed in that relationship. I found my tastebuds craving something more than a diluted, malt taste with only a tinge of chocolate.

As good as hot chocolate goes, my favourite powdered milk chocolate drink would be by Waitrose Essential. It is £1.58 per 400g glass jar, and very chocolate-y and delicious. Galaxy's hot chocolate is nothing. It is a little on the bitter side, and unimpressive in general.

Waitrose's chocolate drink powder may be my favourite, but Cadbury's Wispa comes pretty damn close. They both have a rich and sweet chocolate taste, but Wispa boasts an additional feature – frothy bubbles.

The jar of 246g costs £2.79 (Tesco), and contains some carbon-dioxide related ingredient (again, 100 points for detailed description!) within the powder to create a frothy layer which rests on top of the drink.

The powder fizzes audibly when water is poured onto it, and a fair amount of bubbles rise instantly, so pouring becomes careful business, while you gotta ensure that the drink doesn't overflow. This frothy layer really makes a difference to the overall experience of the drink, and is also quite fun to scoop out and eat, if you are a weirdo like me. However, the bubbles don't stay forever, and will dissipate eventually, so drink it up!

If you're getting bored of having the same old drink for breakfast, why not try Wispa's Instant Hot Chocolate for a change? Unless you despise chocolate (what are you even doing on this blog?) you are bound to love this drink!

Fox's Viennese Melts

I brought these back to Singapore in my suitcase for a visit during the winter of 2012 along with all the other packaged British treats, because they were more than worthy to cross oceans the Asian continent for 13 hours for my friends and family to try.

Don't know why this picture looks as if it has been dipped in a bloodbath.

Luxurious is the word to describe it. Fox's Raspberry & Cream Viennese Melts (£1.59) are decadent.

The buttery biscuits crumble so softly and wonderfully as you bite into them, and lead you politely (my imagery is on crack today) to the filling within, which is made of raspberry jam and vanilla-flavoured cream. Red berries and cream are a popular British combination which works very well together, like maple and pecan nuts, or cookies and cream, or chocolate and hazelnuts, or Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling.

I might even go out to get a another packet after this.

Cadbury Crunchie Bar and Biscuits

I only discovered about a week ago that, in the world of confectionary, honeycomb isn't actual, hanging-from-a-tree-bees-live-in-it honeycomb. Yes, I have eaten real raw honeycomb before, but no, it didn't occur to me that the crunchy, golden, yellow, aerated stuff in chocolate bars and stuff were not dried-up honeycombs, but heated, risen and hardened sugar syrup.

Revelation aside, here is a review of Cadbury's Crunchie bar (65p), which is a block of honeycomb coated with milk chocolate.

If this sounds like diabetes to you, I assure you that it probably is. It is a sweet, decadent treat, and the crunchy honeycomb melts warmly in your mouth, with a great burnt sugar taste. However, a few bites into it and I started getting an uncomfortable, sharp feeling in my throat, from the sugar overload. It may have 185 calories (just think – half the bar is made up of air bubbles), alright for a chocolate bar, but every ounce of it is sugar, which is too much for one to handle.

On the other hand, the biscuit version of the Crunchie bar has become one of my favourite things ever.

There are 8 thick and round , chocolate-coated biscuits in a pack, which I grabbed at a good Tesco offer of £1. (U.P £1.79)

These biscuits are really ones to try. The chocolate coats a layer of biscuit and a layer of honeycomb, so you get varying textures – smooth milk chocolate, crunchy biscuit, and crispy honeycomb. The flavour in it is also really good. The honeycomb gives the biscuit a lovely taste instead of being overpowering, like in the bar, while the biscuit prevents chocolate and honeycomb combination from clogging your throat.

I often fill half my suitcase with cookies when I return to Singapore for visits during term break – these biscuits are definitely going in there.

Magnum no. 5 Stolen Kiss: Tarte Aux Pommes

Spring is here, and anyone who has been faced with six months of gloom, rain, sleet and howling wind will find any possible opportunity to have an ice cream.

Or maybe it's just me.

The 9th of April was a good day all around the UK.

I enjoyed the scoop of 'Vermonster' flavoured ice cream from the Ben & Jerry's at Leicester Square's Odeon, which is a maple syrup ice cream with pecans and a caramel swirl. Such lovely flavours in that ice cream... there really is nothing else to say about Ben & Jerrys' ice cream, other than 'yum.'

This caught my eye in Tesco Express because a) it was in a fancy green box b) it is packaged and named like a fragrance and c) tarte aux pommes means apple tart, ooh yeah.

A little bit coffin-like in presentation, but I was delighted to see that the chocolate coating was white.

The only other time I've had apple pie-flavoured ice cream was when I had a mini cup of Ben & Jerry's Oh My! Apple Pie, a vanilla ice cream containing chunks of apple and pie crust. It fared well, but Magnum one-upped that by coating a similar mixture with cinnamon-infused white chocolate, which really enhances and completes the taste of an apple pie/tarte.

If I had an endless stomach pit + insane metabolism + immunity to fat + all other physical traits I can't have, I would have this ice cream everyday!

What is life without cereal? | MEGA-POST!

I feel like I have gone through a rite of passage with regards to the type of cereal which I eat.

Before coming to London, if someone mentioned 'cereal', I would think of Nestlé's Honey Stars, Cookie Crisp, or something sweet and crunchy which involves chocolate. (Click here for my first post, in which this mindset is demonstrated perfectly.) In my household, the normal cereal in the main cupboard was for my third brother and I, while the wheat-nut-leaves-whatever-stuff-grown-in-a-field-sort-of-thing cereal in the corner cupboard was eaten by mum and my second brother. I never cared to find out the difference between 'muesli' and 'granola' – I was happy with the Honey Stars.

This whole cereal business has become a different story ever since I came to London. The supermarkets' cereal aisles are filled with so many boxes of different brands and varieties, with font sizes getting bigger and bigger as they boast about their health benefits and energy releasing-powers.

There are choices of granola, muesli, oats, shredded wheat, puffed rice, cornflakes, porridge, bran, pillows – and half of them come in grab & go sizes, such as cereal bars, and even biscuits.

This post is going to be as long as the cereal aisle in a Tesco Extra.

These White Chocolate and Strawberry Cereal Bars from Tesco is an awesome buy, at 76p per box. Although each bar is relatively small, (20.8g) they taste fantastic. The bar is more chewy than crunchy, and sweet, with strawberry-flavoured bits, plus white chocolate chips – delightful.

This Kellogg's Special K Red Berry Cereal Bar tastes great too, and is slightly bigger than the previous one, but costs a lot more, at £2 for 5 bars (Tesco), and has a drizzle of yogurt for a topping instead of white chocolate chips, which doesn't do much for the bar, when you can really enjoy the white chocolate chips in the other one. It may be Special K, but doesn't have much calorific difference from the 76p option offered by Tesco.

While the cereal bar is yummy and sweet, I could not stand having more after the first serving of Kellogg's Special K 'Red Berries' cereal, which is made of rice and wheat flakes, with added dried red berries.

I had the impression that the cereal was going to be really good, because it is famous, and, gosh, just look at those generous, dried fruits. I had this cereal with milk, and all I tasted was the sourness of the dried berries, together with the bland cereal – needless to say, I did not like it at all. It would probably be edible with yoghurt, but it was just so unsatisfying with milk. I gave the rest of the box to a friend, in exchange for this:

Jordans Country Crisp with Chunky Nuts is probably one of the best cereals around.

This box of sweetened granola with hazelnuts, pecans, brazil nuts and almonds flakes just makes the world go round. They stay crunchy in milk, and the combined nutty flavours, with the perfect level of sweetness, make the cereal extremely moreish. 

It took me a while to realize and register that 'porridge' in this country does not refer to rice cooked in broth with meat, ginger, peanuts and sesame oil, but oats soaked in warm milk or water, until it all becomes creamy mush.

I have the impression that oats are pretty bland things, so I was a tad sceptical about Quaker's Oat So Simple porridge with Golden Syrup, but I trusted the promise of a Golden Syrup flavour.

I ended up really liking this porridge pot by Quaker Oats. After pouring boiling water into the pot, an aroma of golden syrup causes those nearby to turn their noses curiously. The taste isn't strong, but the porridge is satisfyingly creamy and yummy, and also very filling!

Source

Weetabix is barely edible until you know what to surround it with. Made from wheat, they come in "biscuits" which are basically round blocks which soften and separate in liquid. I have this in the mornings, as they warm me up in the ridiculous "spring" weather of two degrees celsius. After microwaving half a bowl of milk, I stir in two tablespoons of hot chocolate powder (Waitrose's own brand – my favourite so far), then drop in the biscuits and mush them around, making a warm, delicious chocolatey porridge. Golden syrup, honey, or sugar is also a popular choice of topping.

Tesco's Maple and Pecan Crisp is more in crumb-form than it is in cluster-form, and the pecans are barely distinguishable, but they're there among the crisped rice.

But mother of god, this is one good box of cereal. The maple and pecan flavours are so perfect and satisfying, you really can't help but want ten more spoonfuls.

Sainsbury's sells the same kind of cereal, and although it looks more promising, with whole pecans, solid clusters and all, its taste pales in comparison to the awesomeness of Tesco's version. There's just something in the fragrance of Tesco's Maple and Pecan Crisp which ruins it for the rest of the supermarkets' own brands.

I used to take horseback riding lessons when I was 10, so when I see the word 'bran', the first thing that comes to mind are the plain, brown pallets which serve as horse food. Needless to say, I was sceptical of anything on the shelves which call themselves 'bran'.

However, these snack packs of Kellogg's All-Bran Golden Crunch was on offer at Tesco, so I decided to give it a go. Boy, were they good. These were honey-coated or something, and each bite was sweet and yummy.

Kellogg's 'Krave' shouldn't even be classified as a type of cereal. They're more like chocolate-filled biscuit pillows, really.

They're not actually florescent yellow. Lighting issue!

Each biscuit pillow is filled with chocolate hazelnut cream which provides a nice burst of flavour when bitten into. The cream is more of a solid than a liquid, but that can be solved with the use of a microwave. Once you pop a Krave into your mouth, it's impossible to resist a second one. And a third.

Kellogg's Crunchy Nut is apparently voted the best-tasting cereal by, uh, some people, and rightfully so.

The nut in mention is the peanut. Its smell dances under your nose when you open the bag of cereal. Each cornflake is infused with peanut bits, and coated with sugar or something, which goes off into the milk and creates the best after-cereal milk result ever. I often find myself eating Crunchy Nut straight from the bag, unable to stop.

Happy Easter! – Cadbury

Happy Easter! Probably the only real reason why everyone loves Easter is because of the chocolates. This causes half of every supermarket to be filled with bunnies and eggs of all types and brands.

Cadbury is the obvious captain of the team – no supermarket is legitimate without their range of Easter chocolates. Cadbury is the staple brand of Easter.

These notorious sugar-bombs are everywhere between January 1 and Easter Day. They come in bite-sized versions, ice cream bars, splat-shapes, McFlurries, and everywhere else you never thought they could go.

Hey, look, they still care about the resurrection of Jesus Christ!

These eggs can be eaten in at least two bites, and are as substantial as a chocolate bar. Once bitten into – if you don't break a tooth – gooey, sweet fondant says hello, like an verbally-advanced baby in a cradle.

The yolk makes its appearance after some disgraceful licking, or another bite.

However, you don't really want to eat loads of these. Put simply, a creme egg is liquified, flavoured and coloured sugar surrounded by a layer of milk chocolate. You eat it because it'll only be here for three months, but they're not something I would kill to have.

Although not much better health-wise, I prefer the Caramel Egg over the Creme Egg. You get caramel in chocolate bars all the time, and they are a familiar flavour – they have great flavour. The fondant in a Creme Egg is sweet, but flavourless.

This is a really bad, good chocolate treat, if you know what I mean.

My sister bought one of these to experiment having them placed in her wedding favour goodie bag, and I ended up taking it home afterwards.

The pastel-coloured eggs are realistically speckled, and have a matte, powdery texture, resembling an actual egg, except for the fact that it's a quarter of an egg's size.

Much like a fat m&m, a Mini Egg is milk chocolate covered with a thin, candy coating. These are easy to pop in your mouth one after the other after the other after the other after the other, and don't disappear in your mouth as quickly as an m&m. You get to bite and feel some chocolate melt in your mouth before it all goes away.

Happy Easter, and watch those chocolates!