Today's Review: Milka & Chips Ahoy!

Turns out I'm still not done with my Spanish snacks, so here's yet another Milka variety I picked up. This one contains Chips Ahoy, which is a pretty prominent cookie brand over there. I picked up some of the cookies themselves to snack on, and they were pretty awesome, comparable to Maryland cookies, but a little flakier.

So good cookies plus good chocolate must equal an awesome bar, right? Well, yes. The standard Milka creamy chocolate is as good as ever, and there's a nice thick layer of cookie throughout that gives a lovely, crumbly texture on top. Needless to say it didn't least long. This is another great Milka mashup that's well worth seeking out.

My rating: 5/5

Today's Review: Eat Natural Peanut & Popcorn Bar

Eat Natural ran a promotion a while back offering some free bars in a few interesting new flavours. I can't quite remember what all the flavours were, but I must have decided this was the most intriguing. It arrived in the post today, and I wasted no time in opening it up and giving it a go.

All the bars in the Eat Natural range contain a nice combination of fruit and nuts, but this one goes a step further. This small bar contains peanuts, popcorn, dark chocolate chunks and crispies, coconut, sultanas and cornflakes. Yeah, that's quite a lot, but it certainly makes for a lot of flavour. The amount of textures and tastes throughout is quite impressive, but I think there is perhaps a little too much going on. I often caught a hint of sultana, only to have it overwhelmed immediately by peanut or popcorn or something else. So while everything in this bar is pretty nice, it's just too busy for my liking. Next time I go for Eat Natural I'll probably go for something a bit simpler. This flavour is a good effort though.

My rating: 4/5

Today's Review: McCain Roasted Garlic Wedges

Last month I reviewed McCain's Special Roast Potatoes, and was quite surprised by them despite my preconceptions about frozen foods. So when McCain contacted me again and asked if I'd like to review their new garlic wedges, I had to say yes.

Of all the shapes that frozen potatoes come in, wedges is probably one of my least favourite (my favourite being curly, then criss cross). But, since these have some garlic thrown in, I thought they were worth a go, because garlic just makes things better, as long as it's not too much.

Thankfully, there's not too much. These wedges are light and fluffy on the inside, while nice and crunchy on the outside (provided you've cooked them long enough). There's certainly a nice garlic flavour throughout, but it did get overwhelmed at times by the potato. These could do with being a little stronger, but at least I didn't finish my meal paranoid that I had bad breath. These wedges are certainly an improvement over the regular plain ones. If you're a fan of garlic, you should probably give these a go. The flavour may not be that strong, but these wedges are still very tasty.

My rating: 4/5

Today's Review: Pizza Hut's X-Tremely Hot Meaty Pizza

The new X-Men movie is coming out, and of course somebody had to do a tie-in with it. Pizza Hut have done the job this time, and released a whopping total of four new pizzas (well, combinations of pizza toppings), all under the tag of "X-Tremely". There's the X-Tremely Meaty, which contains seven, yes, seven, different meats; the X-Tremely Cheesy, which consists of an extra special margherita with extra cheese and a cheese sauce; the X-Tremely Hot Meaty, with Roquito sweet chillies, jalapeños, onions, pepperoni and hot sauce, and the X-Tremely Hot Veggie, which is the same as the last one, but without the meat. Obviously, being a spicy food fiend, I went with the hot pizza, because who doesn't like three kinds of heat on one pizza?

I was actually quite surprised by this pizza. I regretted my decision soon after ordering, thinking I probably should have gone for the massively cheesy pizza as I wasn't in much of a spicy food mood. Thankfully, when it turned up it wasn't as hot as I was expecting. It's certainly hot, yes, but it's nowhere near the level of Domino's nightmare pizza "Meltdown: The Revenge", which made my stomach want to eject itself from my body rather than suffer the cruel torture any longer. The peppers are plentiful, but the spice is never overwhelming, only bordering on a bit too much if you get a combination of all three spicy ingredients in one bite. I was a little disappointed at the poor meat offering though. It's called the X-Tremely Hot Meaty, so why is there just pepperoni? The purely meaty pizza has a whopping seven meats, how hard would it be to add a bit of chicken or something? As such, aside from the peppers and hot sauce, this pizza is a bit bland. But it's still nice for those who are looking for a nice bit of spiciness. I'm still left daydreaming about the X-Tremely Cheesy though... Oh well, any excuse for pizza.

My rating: 4/5

Today's Review: Propercorn: Fiery Worcester Sauce & Sun-Dried Tomato

I do enjoy a bag of Propercorn. I'd only tried the sweet and salted varieties, and while they're good, I didn't think they were quite interesting enough for a review. But today I picked up this interesting savoury flavour. I've reviewed Tesco's worcester sauce and tomato popcorn before, and found it to be pretty tasty, so only good things could come from the Propercorn version.

In short, this popcorn is delicious, probably one of my favourite savoury popcorn flavours so far. The tomato provides a lovely creamy, saucy base, while the worcester sauce adds a great spicy kick that doesn't overwhelm the tastebuds. For a small pack, there's certainly a lot of flavour packed in, and it's generously spread over the entirety of the popcorn. So if you see a pack, grab it, you'll be in for a treat.

My rating: 5/5

Today's Review: Special K Biscuit Moments: Blueberry

Dieting is hard to do. Salads and porridge will only get you so far, sometimes you just need a snack. Unfortunately, while most snacks are delicious, they're also pretty unhealthy. Thankfully there's a whole load of diet snack options around that, while ordinary not incredibly healthy, can certainly help you stay under your calorie goals for the day.

These Special K Biscuit Moments are one such snack. Inside, you get two biscuity treats, filled with blueberry and topped with a nice cross cross of icing, and it all adds up to 99 calories a pack, which is a pretty good figure. But how good can they taste for so few calories? Well, pretty damn good actually. The biscuit has more of a pastry like texture to it, and combined with the icing and filling, it pretty much tastes like a blueberry Pop Tart. It's fruity, sweet, and actually quite filling for the amount you get. These are probably the best "diet" style biscuits I've had so far, they're pretty much diet Pop Tarts. Delicious, and well worth picking up, even if you're not watching your figure.

My rating: 5/5

Today's Review: Ben & Jerry's Greek Style Frozen Yoghurt: Raspberry Chocolatey Chunk

I've had this tub in my freezer for a while, but I managed to finish it off tonight, so there won't be a better time to review it. Ben & Jerry's have added to their already awesome frozen yoghurt collection, with the addition of some Greek Style yoghurt flavours. These consist of ice cream blended with greek style yoghurt, and mixed together with various swirls and chunks. I went for the Raspberry Chocolatey Chunk, but there's also Strawberry Shortcake and Vanilla Honey Caramel, and they all sound good.

This flavour, though, is definitely good. The ice cream is extremely creamy, with a very strong yoghurt flavour. It's almost a bit much for me, a little too sickly, but thankfully the other ingredients make up for it. The raspberries come in the form of a puree that seems to be mixed into the ice cream itself, giving it an overall lovely raspberry flavour. The chocolate chunks, on the other hand, are randomly swirled in, and they are pretty damn big. Finding one is always a pleasure, giving a generous chocolatey taste that really brings everything together. This is another great flavour from Ben & Jerry. It's a little different due to the greek yoghurt, and it's well executed, but it doesn't quite reach the heights of their classic ice cream flavours. It's certainly healthier though. 

My rating: 4/5

Today's Review: Weetabix Banana

Weetabix is a breakfast classic, but even though it is inherently pretty delicious, it is a little plain. You can always take to slicing some fruit and sticking them on top of your wheat biscuits, but now you don't have to bother. Or do you?

See, one of the most popular fruity Weetabix toppers is banana. I've never tried it myself, but Weetabix themselves attempted to save me the effort by bringing out their own banana flavour. Unfortunately I don't think it's truly representative of the proper banana Weetabix experience. "Flavour" is the key word here, as there isn't any actual banana in it at all. So in reality, while there certainly is a banana flavour, it's more like the foam sweetie bananas than the stuff that grows on plants. It's not entirely unpleasant, but it is a little too sweet for my liking. I'd rather just stick to the original Weetabix, and you probably will too. This is interesting for a change, and it tastes okay, but I doubt it'll beat putting actual slices on top. If you ever wanted some pick 'n' mix flavoured Weetabix though, this will be right up your street.

My rating: 3/5

Today's Review: Tesco Mega Chocolate Cupcake

One thing that seems to have gotten strangely popular lately is giant cupcakes. Giant cupcake moulds have been popping up for sale everywhere, and since everybody loves cupcakes, they go crazy for the idea of a giant cupcake. But you know what a giant cupcake is? Just a cake. Case in point, this "mega chocolate cupcake" from Tesco. From the outside it does, indeed, look like a giant version of your regular frosting topped cupcake, but once you've cut a slice, it looks like this:

The frosting was a lie! Everyone knows the best part of a cupcake is the frosting on top, piped all thick and swirly like. But this cake has deceptively thin frosting on top, and only a little in the middle. So yes, this is distinctly more cake-like than cupcake-like, not that there should be much of a difference anyway. But hey, this is still good. The frosting is fantastically creamy and chocolatey, and the sponge is pretty good too, flavoursome and quite moist. However, as you can probably ascertain from the picture, there's not quite enough frosting to go around. The bottom half is a bit of a dry affair before you reach the buttercream border in the middle, but it's not exactly a chore to eat it. 

All in all, this is a nice cake. I gladly picked it up at a reduced price, but I'd say it's worth the regular £6 price tag. It's certainly not perfect, but it's pretty big, and extremely chocolatey. Can't really go wrong with that.

My rating: 4/5

Today's Review: Milka Choco-Swing

Yes, more Milka, I couldn't pick up enough Milka on my travels. This isn't your average Milka bar though, it's a monstrosity. It might look small in the picture, but this is a long, thick bar that set me back over €3. How thick is it? Here's a blurry photo to demonstrate:

Look at that. Gorgeous. I understand that this bar is mostly biscuit, but it's a damn good biscuit. Rich Tea like in taste, but coated in a lovely vanilla cream, and all wrapped up in Milka chocolate, it's something else entirely. This may well be my favourite of the Milka varieties I picked up in Spain, it's deliciously creamy and filling, with some great flavours working together to reach an interesting middle ground between chocolate bar and chocolate biscuit. The bar may be a little pricey, but you get a lot for it. It took me a few sitting to be able to polish this one off, but I enjoyed every minute.

My rating: 5/5

Today's Review: Milka Caramel Luflée

Luflée is an interesting variety of Milka that I haven't seen too much of. I didn't find any of the standard Luflée in Spain, but I did pick up this caramel flavour in the airport on the way home, so I had to give it a go.

Luflée is basically the aerated version of Milka, so you get a nice, bobbly bar of milk chocolate bubbles, and each one has a pocket of gooey, smooth caramel. The chocolate itself is very nice, fluffy and creamy, and could probably give Aero a run for its money. As for the caramel, well, it's okay. I'm a big fan of the Luflée bar by itself, and while adding caramel was an interesting idea, it doesn't really add much, and in fact detracts from the flavour of the awesome chocolate. If you can find a bar of standard Luflée, it's worth picking up, but this caramel variety is a perfectly fine alternative.

My rating: 4/5

Today's Review: Frijj Coffee Caramel Latte

Chilled coffees have been on the rise recently, so it's only a matter of time before all the big names have a go. Today I picked up this Frijj coffee. Yeah, Frijj, the guys who make awesome milkshakes. Looked interesting.

Indeed, it is. In true Frijj style, this is a coffee milkshake, so it's significantly frothier and thicker than other hills coffees. It's smooth and creamy, like you'd expect from Frijj, but also boasts over 20% coffee, and you can really taste it too. I picked up the caramel latte variety, but to be honest, there wasn't much caramel in the flavour, as the much larger percentages of milk and coffee took over my tastebuds. The result was certainly a nice, creamy pick me up, though it was a little bland. There's also a chocolate mocha flavour that's probably more tasty, but this is certainly a nice drink.

My rating: 4/5

Today's Review: Haribo Flower Power

I was pretty excited about finding these Haribo on holiday, as they looked to be very similar to Pico Balla, a Haribo variety that I found a few times in the UK years back, but never again since. Indeed, they are very similar, and in either case they are pieces of fruit flavoured liquorice filled with a soft, creamy fondant centre. The Pico Balla had different coloured fondant, while these settles for just white, but in a neat flowery pattern. 

It's pretty much pieces of cross sectioned liquorice pencils, in a nice array of colours, but these taste awesome. I may not be a fan of liquorice, but when it's flavoured and has fondant inside I can't help myself. Each one of these little flowers is sweet and fruity, chewy and soft. I wish I'd have picked up a few more bags of these, as it'll probably be a while before I find another variety like it. Pico Balla were one of my favourite Haribo varieties, and now Flower Power have joined the ranks too.

My rating: 5/5

Today's Review: Maxibon Brownie

I love Maxibon with a fiery passion, and it pains me that they hardly stock them anywhere in the UK. I found a Maxibon Cookie last year at London Zoo, but since then I could only dream of trying another. Thankfully, I picked up this Maxibon Brownie while in Spain. Well, I actually picked up four, as after finding it out of stock in one shop, I went and bought a multipack at a supermarket. I assume it's pretty new, as it was heavily featured in a lot of the posters. 

This isn't quite like the other varieties of Maxibon, and has more in common with Ben & Jerry's 'Wich. This certainly isn't a bad thing though, as if I could identify one weakness of the Maxibon, it's that there's that chocolatey shell part instead of more delicious cookie. This beast is all wrapped in cookies, and chocolate brownie ones at that. They're soft and chewy, with a generous smattering of chocolate chunks. In between, there's some lovely smooth vanilla ice cream, with some swirls of chocolate syrup, in case they're not chocolatey enough. 

To be honest, this is the best Maxibon I've had. It's chocolatey, creamy, chewy, and absolutely delicious. Only my daughter fancied trying one, so I was left to eat three in quick succession in the afternoon sun, but I don't regret doing so. This Maxibon is ice cream heaven.

My rating: 5/5

Today's Review: Bacon Tuc

They say everything is better with bacon, and that's certainly true, if we're talking actual bacon, As for bacon flavoured things, well, they're a bit hit and miss, mostly miss. Generally, bacon flavouring, while nice and smoky at first, often becomes quite bitter and harsh on my throat after a while. But I couldn't resist these bacon Tuc, and seeing as I often find myself stuffing Tuc until they give me a nice salty heartburn, a little bit of bacon flavouring wouldn't hurt, right?

The interesting thing about these is that the bacon flavouring itself lies in a nice pink strip in the middle, with regular Tuc surrounding it. This means the flavour doesn't saturate the cracker as much as it has in other bacon flavoured foods I've tasted, and in fact the flavours work quite well together. While I do find bacon flavouring to generally taste quite fake and too bold, when blended with the crunchy, salty Tuc biscuits, it's actually quite tasty, although I did tire of the bacon taste a little the more I went on. These Tuc don't win out over the original in my opinion, but this is a nice flavour that's executed quite well. 

My rating: 4/5

Today's Review: Magnum Sandwich

I have returned from my travels to sunny Spain, a holiday full of sun, sand, and stuffing my face. I picked up many a treat over the last week, mostly in the ice cream and chocolate departments, so I first present you with the one that got me excited the day after my arrival: The Magnum Sandwich.

While there have been a fair few varieties of Magnum appearing in the UK lately, before then there was a distinct lack of interesting flavours, although the regular ones are amazing anyway. But the mere sight of this Magnum Sandwich on the boards outside the shops was enough to make me drool.

Yes, it's like a Maixibon and a Magnum had a baby, a beautiful, beautiful baby. The top half consists of the classic Magnum chocolate, sprinkled with almonds, while the bottom is a deliciously soft cookie, and it's all filled with that gloriously creamy Magnum ice cream that we all know and love. The standard chocolatey top is good, but it's all about that chewy, gooey ice cream sandwich at the bottom. It may not beat the Maxibon, but it's certainly on the same level. Good stuff.

My rating: 5/5

Today's Review: Blogger's Scheduling Feature

I've been on holiday for almost a week now. But really, I haven't, because I'm writing this on the morning of April 8th, and using Blogger's lovely scheduling feature to make sure this review is published on the 14th, the day before I return. So really, I'm like a time traveller, and that's awesome.

You see, when I started writing A Review A Day, I didn't really take into account that I may be going to places in the future that don't have internet access. But Google always had my back, and now I can line up any number of reviews to publish at specific times on specific days, to ensure that I can still publish one review every day. Other sites probably have it, but this is the one I use, so this is the one that I'll sing the praises of. It's a nice little feature, that is probably useful to everyone at some point, but to me it's a lifeline that allows me to keep up my sometimes... inconvenient posting mechanics. So thanks, Google. People may say you're evil, but I appreciate what you do for me.

My rating: 5/5

Today's Review: Bed Covers That Don't Come With Sheets

Getting new bed covers is exciting. Well, it is for kids, what with all the super heroes, cartoons and teen heart throbs you can choose from nowadays. I wish I could get a Mario bed spread, but alas, I'm left with pastel colours or floral patterns. But I digress. Buying a new set of bed covers is all well and good, but there's something fundamentally wrong in the bed cover market.

Your standard pack of bed covers includes a duvet cover, and one or two pillowcases, depending if you're going for the single or double bed. But where's the sheet? Everyone has bed sheets, right? No one sleeps on a bare mattress, underneath their fancy new covers. Every time I've bought a pack of bed covers, I've had to buy the sheet separately. That normally involves going to a different aisle and finding the right colour to match what I'm planning to put on top. But why? Why aren't they included in the pack? It can't be a size issue. You're clearly buying covers for a certain size of bed, so you'll need a sheet for the bed of the same size. Perhaps I'm supposed to buy less sheets than bed covers, but when I change the covers I invariably change the sheet too. I'd say it was some kind of racket by the bedding companies to make me pay more, but I'd gladly pay a bundle price to get everything I need for my bed in one handy package.

Maybe there's something I'm missing. Perhaps other people make up their beds differently, and don't need sheets for some reason. But it just baffles me that bed sheets and covers don't come in a complete set. At least give me the option of having a sheet included or not. I just don't understand.

My rating: 0/5

Today's Review: Bin Bags

Once upon a time, people threw their rubbish on the floor. Probably. I mean, cavemen most likely didn't have much rubbish after they'd skinned the sabre tooth tiger for a coat, eaten the meat and used the bones to make xylophones or necklaces or something. I don't know, I'm clearly not a historian. But at some point in history, there was enough rubbish being chucked around that it necessitated some form of receptacle to keep it all in one place. Thus, the bin was born. This was in itself quite an invention, but there were probably enough receptacles lying around by then that it was merely a case of putting two and two together. Perhaps the Romans just used one of their spare ornate urns to throw away their soiled togas (again, I am far from a historian). 

But, at another point in history, another invention was needed. Humans were becoming more wasteful, and the things we were trowing away were becoming sticky and gross. Who wants to wash out a bin all the time? I know I don't, and that's why I'm thankful for bin bags. Quite simply, they're bags you put in your bin, which you can then fill up with rubbish, and then remove and throw away, thus sparing you from scraping any ickiness out of your favourite trash receptacle. Every day I am thankful to the bin bag for not making me have to properly deal with my disgusting rubbish, and I'm sure when someone first used one it was like a revolution. Nowadays, bin bags are one of those staple grocery items, right up there with bread and milk, and it's not hard to see why. We all need bins, so we all need bin bags, because bin bags are awesome.

My rating: 5/5

Today's Review: Tesco Sugar Waffle

I can't say I eat waffles very much, but they're always nice for a breakfast or dessert treat. Now Tesco have brought out these individual sugar waffles. I know that waffles normally have sugar in, but this one has even more, in the form of sugar chunks spread throughout the dough. So sweetness is expected, but is it sweet enough?

Well, it's easy to see why these waffles are individually packaged. This waffle is pretty large, and very thick too. As such it is a little stodgy, but the sugar pieces do offset that a little, adding some nice crunchy, sweet pieces in every bite. However, it doesn't really do enough. The dough itself is quite flaky and dry, and although I know waffles should never be eaten dry, even with syrup it just seemed a bit too stodgy for my liking. This waffle isn't awful, but I didn't particularly enjoy it. I think I'll stick with regular thin waffles in the future.  

My rating: 2/5

Today's Review: Tesco Pepperoni & Tomato Chilli Crumb Pizza

I don't often buy supermarket pizzas, they normally come in quite bland flavours that don't interest me too much. But this pepperoni pizza caught my attention with its tomato chilli crumb topping. I love chilli, and crumbs are awesome too, so I had to give it a go.

Underneath, it's a generic pepperoni pizza. Not bad, but nothing special either. The crumb really adds some extra tastiness though. It's not overly hot, but it adds a lovely hint of spice throughout the whole pizza. The tomato flavours adds a nice creamy texture too, and because it's in breadcrumb form rather than chunks of topping, it's evenly and generously spread. The crumb works well with the pepperoni, but I was left wondering if there's anything more interesting that they could have paired it with. Still, I wasn't expecting to enjoy this pizza as much as I did. It's not the best pizza I've had, but it's well worth picking up, especially as it's a limited edition flavour.

My rating: 5/5

Today's Review: Tesco Raisin Brioche Swirls

Although I love all kinds of French pastries, I've never really tried brioche. The one or two times I have. I've found it to be quite heavy and stodgy, so I've passed up on it since. I was tempted to try again with these new Tesco brioche swirls, embedded with raisins. I love me a good pain aux raisin, so I was willing to give these a try.

Once again, I found the pastry itself wasn't particularly great. It's extremely soft, but very filling and quite stodgy. Thankfully there's a nice smattering of raisins throughout, and this provides some juicy relief. The swirls do taste good, nice and buttery and fruity, but the texture was a bit too much for me, leaving me feeling quite full after just one. If you like your brioche, these will probably be great for you. But while they did make me appreciate it a little more, I don't think I'll be going out of my way to get them again.

My rating: 2/5

Today's Review: Pret A Manger Swedish Meatball Wrap

I'm at the airport, off on holiday. Hooray. But it's never too early for a review, and I picked up this meatball wrap from Pret A Manger. There were some more vanilla options more suitable for breakfast, but I'm not a sensible person.

Good thing too, 'cause this wrap is awesome. It has several sizeable meatballs, mixed in with cheese, red onions and chilli ketchup, all wrapped up in a lovely, crispy tortilla. It's a saucy, slightly spicy, meaty experience, and definitely brightened up my dreary, tired morning. Give it a go.

My rating: 5/5

Today's Review: Rowntree's Randoms Tandems

Wow, Randoms are releasing a lot of different varieties lately. Are Rowntree's the next Haribo? Not likely, but it's nice to see some new sweet ideas coming from other people. Here we have Randoms Tandems, which promises both chewy and foamy in the same sweet. Also, the name rhymes, so that's fun.

The sweets are in the "random" shapes that the brand is known for. I didn't take a picture of any, but there are postboxes, turtles, boom boxes and the like. Each is constructed with a foamy base, and a chewy piece or two on top, and each sweet has a couple of flavours just to make things even more interesting. It's a little odd at first having so many different flavours and textures in one, but overall these sweets are a nice juicy, chewy experience. they're very flavoursome and moreish, and I can definitely recommend these to anyone who likes Randoms, or just sweets in general.

My rating: 5/5

Today's Review: Kettle Chips Lime & Black Pepper

I do love a nice big bag of crisps every now and then. I normally go for the most outrageous or spicy flavours, but when it comes to Kettle Chips even lightly salted is a good choice. I stumbled upon this new "seasonal" flavour the other day, and while it does sound a little bland, I figured it was worth a go.

There's not too much to say about these. They are lime and black peppers flavour, and they taste like lime and black pepper. It's a nice combination of flavours, and in the right quantities too. The lime is bolder than I thought it would be, but isn't overpowering, allowing the peppery tones to blend in well. This is basically just a nice flavour. It's nothing outlandish, but they're Kettle Chips, and they're tasty. Can't go wrong with that.

My rating: 5/5

Today's Review: Rowntrees Chewy Tots

I'm a big fan of Jelly Tots. They may be small, but they taste awesome, and once I open a bag I can't stop, even when my tongue starts hurting from the abrasive sugar coating. So imagine my excitement when I saw these Chewy Tots. Could they bring the Jelly Tots experience, with a smoother shell that's easier on the tongue? 

Well, no. You see, Rowntrees have another awesome sweet, in the form of Tooty Fruity, which I can also never get enough of. While Chewy Tots appear to be in the same camp as Jelly Tots, they are actually small, round Tooty Fruitys. Same shell, same texture, and I'm pretty sure the same flavours. It's certainly not a bad thing taste wise, they're still bold and fruity, and easily devoured. But I was expecting something different, and I was a little let down. I won't let that affect the final score too much, these are still worth eating, but just be aware that they aren't quite what they seem.

My rating: 4/5

Today's Review: Rockstar Pure Zero Fruit Punch

I've reviewed a few Rockstar flavours in the past, and while some are better than others I can't say I've overly enjoyed any. My major complaint is how sugary and sickly they are, so I picked up a sugar free one today to see if that fared any better with my tastebuds. After all, I've had a sugar free one before and found it to be the best that I've tired so far. 

Fruit punch is a pretty good flavour to go with here. I always look kindly upon fruit punch flavours, as I am a massive fan of the Snapple flavour of the same name. Oddly enough, this drink tastes just like a Snapple, although there are some distinct chemically undertones to go with it, but I guess that's part of the territory when you're dealing with sweeteners rather than good old fashioned sugar. Thankfully, while I started out not really liking this, the chemical taste went away after a few sips, leaving me with a bold, fruity flavour that was actually quite enjoyable. It seems, for me at least, that sugar free is the way to go with Rockstar. This flavour may not be perfect, but it's a lot better than others I've tried.

My rating: 4/5

Today's Review: Morrissons White Chocolate Milk

Morrissons is a pretty recent addition to my high street, even if it is a Local. I must admit I've held a bit of a grudge against it, as there used to be a Burger King there, but that's not Morrissons' fault. So today I ventures in there looking for some treats I might not be able to find elsewhere. I didn't find much, but I did find this.

Yes, nestled amongst the regular old store brand flavoured milks, there was this white chocolate milk, a flavour I've never seen before. Everyone does chocolate milk, so why not white chocolate milk? Why not indeed, as this stuff is great. It took a couple of sips to get used to, as the mixture of milk and white chocolate tasted a little too... white? I'm not sure how else to put it, it was just very creamy and sweet. But once I'd gotten used to the flavour, I chugged the rest with no problem. Quite simply, it's like chocolate milk, but with white chocolate. I'll definitely be popping in for another bottle, as this is a unique flavour that is pulled off really well. Tasty stuff.

My rating: 5/5

Today's Review: Aquafresh's "Nurdle Passport"

I took my son to the dentist today. It was a pretty standard visit, teeth checked and fine, a few minutes and it was over. But then we received the rewards that medical professionals like to give children for not screaming and destroying their things. Apparently the dentist used to give out lollipops, but now since the focus is on healthy children, and not repeat business, they get stickers. But not just stickers, oh no. Now they get the Nurdle Passport.

What's a Nurdle Passport? How could you possibly not know what a Nurdle Passport is? Well, I'll tell you. The Nurdle Passport is a booklet that you can take to your dentist every time your child has an appointment, so that they can stamp it and fill in details. It's like one of those child progress books, but purely for the medical wellbeing of your teeth. When your baby is grown up, you can show them all the walking and talking milestones they went through, the photo albums you've compiled and now all the times they went for a check up, thanks to this book filled with some odd little creatures called Nurdles.

Yes, the Nurdles are a gang of anthropomorphised squirts of Aquafresh toothpaste, and apparently they live in a place called "Nurdle World", which exists beyond the bathroom mirror. Thanks, Aquafresh. We already have the Easter Bunny, Father Christmas and even the Tooth Fairy to contend with, but now I have to stop my children trying to break my mirrors in order to access a fantasy fluoride world. I mean, I get it, they're cute little toothpaste splats, but if I had to think of a dentistry mascot, I'd probably go with toothbrushes or something. Or just not bother at all, because some things really don't need cutesy mascots.

I understand why the Nurdle Passport exists. It's a way to engage the kids, to give them a reward for something that can often terrify. But some things we go through are just inherently crappy. There's a comments section on every dentist check up in this book, but what can really be said? The very best thing is that the teeth were fine, but it can also be riddled with mention of cavities, misplaced teeth and wear and tear. I don't see any reason to keep an in depth record of dentist visits like this, especially with some baffling toothpaste mascots. While my son was only interested in the stickers for a while, some children may like this odd passport. But I really don't get it.

My rating: 2/5

Today's Review: Tiger Tiger Thai Sweet Chilli Nutties!

I wandered into my local Asian supermarket the other day in search of some interesting treats, and while I didn't find much that was new, I did pick up this "Nutties!" The exclamation mark implies I should be excited about them, and to be fair they were pretty cheap at 50p. They're basically peanuts coated in sweet chilli flavouring, and they're two ingredients I can get on board with.

As for the taste, well, they taste like peanuts coated in sweet chilli flavouring. Simple, but effective. The peanuts are quite small, and the coating is quite generous, giving a nice spicy kick that isn't overly strong. I quickly devoured the bag, and it was a tasty experience. There's really not much else to say about these. They're not anything revolutionary, but they certainly don't do anything wrong. If you love chilli coated peanuts, and you can find some "Nutties!", go ahead and chow down. You won't regret it.

My rating: 5/5