REVIEW - Galaxy Duet Cookies and Cream

After a pretty decent experience with the 'Toffee and Popcorn' Galaxy Duet bar a month or so ago, I've been looking for an excuse to try the other two varieties in the range. Getting through my first (and worst) exam seemed like quite a triumph, so off I popped to Tesco for a celebratory sugar-hit.

I went for the 'Cookies and Cream' variety this time around, but I'll definitely be giving the 'Caramel and Shortcake' one a try at some point as well! Each sounded as good as the other so I spent a fair bit of time dithering between the two.
Incidentally this is described by Galaxy as "milk chocolate with a lightly whipped filling (15%) and cookie pieces (3.2%)." Yum!

REVIEW - Galaxy Duet Toffee and Popcorn

My friend Laura is wonderful, for many reasons. One of those reasons is that she quite often surprises me with spontaneous little gifts, the most recent of which was a bar of Galaxy's Toffee and Popcorn Duet. I've never actually tried any of the Duet bars before, despite always being intrigued by them, so I was pretty excited to give this one a go (and was also incredibly grateful to have been gifted chocolate at a time of immense stress i.e. dissertation hand-in).

The bar is described as "milk chocolate with a toffee flavoured caramel filling, popcorn pieces and toffee pieces". Me being me, I got distracted whilst eating it (I'm incredibly absent-minded) and failed to notice if the bar was split equally with caramel down one half and popcorn down the other. I would presume so... but a repeat purchase might be necessary to make sure...

REVIEW - Double Peanut Butter Magnum

Magnum have released 3 new flavours to their range fairly recently - Double Caramel, Double Chocolate and Double Peanut Butter. I probably would have overlooked these (being more of a fan of tub ice cream rather than stick, as nice as Magnums are!) had I not been such a huge fan of peanut butter. It took me two Tesco trips to get hold of them, as they were out of stock the first time - I can't decide if they were really popular or if the store just didn't order very many in. Either way, I managed to snap up a box on round two.

It was £2 for a box of 3, which I presume is an introductory offer and will probably jump up in a few weeks. Grab them while you can!

REVIEW - Gu Zillionaires' Puddings

I can't be the only one who doesn't really understand Valentine's Day, can I? I'm all for showing love and affection to your partner, but I don't think you need a designated day in the middle of February in which to do so. I also don't understand why shops and supermarkets seem to think that all women would LOVE an enormous teddy bear as a gift (sure, they look cute, but they take up a lot of space).

Still, I do appreciate Valentine's Day because it means that there's always lots of nice food on offer in the shops. There's also usually an abundance of half-price chocolate in the days that follow. Tesco have currently got Gu puddings on offer for £1.50 (half price!) and, fancying an indulgent treat, I picked up the Zillionaire puddings the other day, which I haven't tried before. With 2 in a pack, these are an ideal Valentine's dessert for a couple - but, for singletons like myself, it's even better because it means you don't have to share.

Valentine's treat for one

REVIEW - Ben and Jerry's Save Our Swirled

My Christmas this year (or technically last year) was lovely - a full 5 days of festive tunes, lots of food, family get-togethers, slobbing around watching tv and occasionally going on blustery walks in the afternoons. Sadly it was over all too quickly and the period since then has been a bit of a whirlwind of working at my part-time job and trying to squeeze in some revision for my January exams. This evening I definitely decided it was time for a treat and I finally got stuck in to this Save Our Swirled tub of Ben and Jerry's.

Ben and Jerry's is definitely up there in my top 3 favourite brands of ice cream, my only niggle being that I can only ever buy it when it's on offer! However I am also blessed to have an amazing mum who picks me up a tub every now and again as a treat for when I come back from university in the holidays. I've been waiting months to give this one a try, as I know she bought it some time back in October.

Healthy January?

REVIEW - Sainsbury's Chocolate Treats

Does any household NOT have a large box of chocolates kicking around at Christmas? Even after filling yourself to the brim with turkey, roast potatoes, pigs in blankets and a big helping of Christmas pudding, there always seems to be room for a handful of chocolates snaffled from the tub.

We're usually fans of Celebrations or Quality Street, however this year my mum decided to go for something a little different and bought this tub of Chocolate Treats from Sainsbury's. At 800g, it's slightly heavier than the big brand leaders and also slightly cheaper (my mum picked up this tub when it was on offer for £3.50, and I think it's usually priced at £4). There are 10 different types of chocolates inside, including well-known favourites such as the strawberry creme and vanilla fudge, but also some that are a bit more novel (anyone for a popping candy truffle?).

REVIEW - Cadbury Festive Friends

Was my childhood deprived? It seems that Festive Friends feature in almost everyone's childhood Christmas memories - but not mine. Whilst I have fond memories of Cadbury's selection boxes, chocolate fingers and After Eights, Festive Friends were not something that seemed to be a part of our family Christmases. I only became acquainted with them a couple of years ago, no doubt picking up a box just to find out what exactly my childhood had been missing. 

Not remembering much about them, I picked up a box in Sainsbury's the other night when I was aimlessly browsing along the Christmas aisle. My box was £1 which is pretty much the same in any supermarket you go to. Cadbury don't give these biscuits a particularly exciting description ("biscuits half covered in milk chocolate") but the packaging is cute and suitably festive so we can overlook that.

A key feature of all childhoods... except mine

RECIPE REVIEW - Vegan Brownies

As well as buying food, eating food and writing about food (partly for fun and partly because my degree requires me to), I also love making food. Specifically baking food, be it cakes, biscuits, puddings, muffins, pies... give me a recipe and a kitchen and I will be happily occupied for hours.
To supplement my blog when my cupboards are looking a little boring and my social life is taking a break (which occurs specifically during January and June exams) I thought I would start reviewing some of the many recipes that I attempt throughout the year. It can always be helpful to see how a recipe has gone for someone else before you head out and spend a small fortune on ingredients!

I'm kicking off my first Recipe Review with a review of these Vegan Cherry and Almond Brownies, taken from the BBC GoodFood website (see here). I didn't make these recently but thought now would be a good time to review them - with Christmas coming up, many people host parties and get-togethers and it's quite common to find that you need to cater for a huge range of different dietary preferences! Not only that, but perhaps you like to make homemade gifts and need something suitable to gift to someone who follows a vegan diet or doesn't eat dairy.

REVIEW - Cadbury Snow Bites

For me, Christmas food is all about the mince pies, the roast dinner and the chocolate. COPIOUS amounts of chocolate. Chocolate consumption begins on December 1st with that first opening of the advent calendar and gradually increases over the following weeks. I find it usually peaks a couple of days before the day itself, when I start stress-eating it as I fret about presents I haven't bought/presents I haven't wrapped/cards I haven't sent. Chocolate is everywhere - brave the Christmas aisle in any supermarket and I'd say a good 70% of it is chocolate.

I try to refrain from buying *too* much chocolate in the lead up to Christmas (mainly because I know that a. I'll probably be given a fair amount for Christmas and b. buying it in the post-Christmas sales is more fun) but I was shopping at lunchtime yesterday (never good) after a Zumba class and was desperately in need of some sugar. Sugar in the form of Cadbury's Snow Bites, those delightful balls of solid chocolate covered in a crispy sugar shell and absolutely drenched in icing sugar.

Aka festive mini eggs