REVIEW - Mr Kipling Frosty Fancies

Christmas must be Mr Kipling's favourite time of year. Not only do his sales of mince pies sky-rocket but he also gets to roll out the festive classics, such as his Festive Bakewell Tarts, Gingerbread Whirls and the good old Frosty Fancies.

I do like French Fancies and won't turn them down if they're in front of me, but they're not really something I would go and deliberately buy for myself. My mum brought these with her as a gift when she came for a recent visit, hence why they ended up in my food cupboard. Now that I think of it, my last packet of French Fancies (the Halloween witches' hat editions) were also a present from my mum - maybe she likes giving them as gifts, who knows!

"Exceedingly merry"

REVIEW - M&S Christmas Spiced Buns

With just one more full day to go until the advent calendar can be opened and Mariah Carey is playing on every radio station, I think it's ok to start reviewing festive treats. We'll ignore the fact that I ate these at the start of November - in my defence I was passing time whilst waiting for a train and they were reduced in the M&S Simply Food store. Although I love nearly all M&S food, I am particularly fond of it when it has a little yellow sticker on it.

I got these reduced 'spiced festive buns' for £1.55 but sadly in my excitement I didn't actually note the original price. I imagine it would be somewhere around the £2 mark, in line with their other similar buns such as the classic 'iced and spiced'. The buns come in packs of two and are described as spiced and fruity iced buns with a sweet brandy sauce centre.

The festive food is upon us

REVIEW - Tesco Goodness Cereal Bars

I have an on-off relationship with cereal bars - I really want to like them (they're convenient and good snacks to keep hunger pangs at bay) but I'm always left feeling slightly underwhelmed by them. They're always too crumbly, too crunchy, too sweet or simply just a bit bland. I haven't yet found a brand that I can be consistently loyal to and for that reason I'm always on the lookout for new and different bars.

I noticed a while ago that Tesco had brought out their own range of cereal bars, many of which are uncannily similar to some of the big brand leaders (the 'oaty granola' bars and 'fruity bakes' specifically spring to mind!) and seem to be on a permanent 2 for £2 offer. Also included in the range are their 'Goodness Cereal Bars' which are supposedly aimed at children; but, being drawn to all things banana-flavoured, I still ended up picking up a pack to try out. I mixed up my selection and also got the strawberry flavoured ones to try. There are 6 bars in a packet and they've been described as "oat cereal bars with banana/strawberry flavoured pieces".

LET'S EAT - Turtle Bay

I love going out to eat - whilst it's not something I do particularly regularly (my student budget doesn't always allow it), I love the social side and the huge range of restaurants we have now means that you have the opportunity to try so many different cuisines. One place that myself and my friends have frequented on a few occasions now is Turtle Bay, a Caribbean restaurant who definitely don't scrimp on the use of spices and flavours in their dishes!
They also do an incredible range of cocktails, most of which are based around rum (obviously) and probably explain why we love this restaurant so much. No celebration is too great or too small for Turtle Bay's Happy Hour.

Last week a group of us were supposed to be going to a Thai restaurant for a friend's birthday - but, in true style, we managed to miss lunch service by 8 minutes meaning that a last-minute change of venue was needed. I think we were so hungry by this point that we would have eaten anything, so when we rounded the corner and came across Turtle Bay, the decision was mutual.

REVIEW - M&S Owlloween Sweets

As a huge fan of owls and squidgy gummy sweets, I have to confess that I was incredibly excited to hear about these Halloween sweets from M&S - so much so that I made a special trip into store with the sole purpose of getting my hands on some. I appreciate that it's approaching the end of November (you can practically hear the sleigh bells ringing us into the festive season) and maybe a Halloween-based post isn't entirely seasonal, but I enjoyed these too much to pass up the chance of giving them a review.

I grabbed these when they were on a 3 for 2 offer in store (I couldn't resist getting two bags of these but I also mixed the selection up and got the 'Wicked Witches' Stockings as well). In true M&S form there was huge range of other sweets and chocolate but it was these that stood out the most to me (and appealed to my inner owl).

My favourite animal in sweet form

REVIEW - Whitworths Dried Figs

So, here I am, kicking off my adventure into the world of blogging with a review of... a packet of dried figs. 'Whitworths Soft Smyrna Figs' to be precise, but figs nonetheless. Maybe dried fruit isn't the epitome of snacking for most but if you're anything like me (aka a dried fruit fiend), then these may well be right up your street.

I haven't always had an easy relationship with dried fruit - I think the only dried fruits I touched throughout childhood were the small packets of raisins that my mum always managed to sneak into my lunch-box when I was in primary school. That, and I probably encountered some when I was eating a hot cross bun or a toasted teacake. It was only a few years ago that I became aware of what I was missing out on and since then I have done my best to make up for lost time! Dried figs have always been on my 'to try' list but until now they've never managed to make it into my basket.

Fig-tastic

*Waves hello*

Hello!

I'm Beth, a self-confessed foodie and a student studying for a degree in Nutrition and Food Science. Having been a reader of food blogs and lifestyle blogs for a couple of years, I decided that it was finally time for me to take the plunge and get into blogging! This is partly a way for me to procrastinate (even more than I do so already) but it's mainly a way for me to document and review the various snacks and food-related things that inevitably end up leaving the supermarket with me.

Stay tuned!

(ps - I can't promise my posts will be regular, student life is sporadic at best) :)