Today's Review: Cathedral City Sweet Chilli Mature Cheddar

The festive season isn't complete without a whole load of cheese, and while I've devoured my fair share over the last week, I can't say there's ever anything new and exciting happening in the world of cheese. But yesterday I spied this new variety of Cathedral Cheddar, and since it's my family's go to cheese, and a spicy version at that, it flew off the shelf and straight into my basket.

This cheese cost £2.50 for a pretty meagre block, but I know the base is all good stuff, so I didn't mind paying a bit extra. The cheddar is your good old Cathedral City, a bold, creamy cheese that's packed with a lot of flavour. The kicker here is the chilli, and it's pretty good. It's not an overly spicy element, but there's a lovely undertone of heat that sticks around for a while after the cheese is gone, accompanied by a nice peppery flavour. Sadly, in this case, the great taste of the Cathedral City is its downfall, as the mature cheddar somewhat overtakes the chilli, leaving it a bit imbalanced. But it's still a nice tasty cheese that's good for those who want a little bit of spice.

My rating: 4/5

Today's Review: Nescafé Café Menu Gingerbread Latte

Christmas may be over, but this afternoon I did my first food shop since the big day, and I've picked up a few festive dregs from the clearance aisles, as well as this limited edition version of Nescafé's Café Menu sachet drinks. I've grown to like gingerbread over the years, and it suits a latte pretty well, so I figured I'd give this a go while it was still relevant.

The instructions seem fairly simple, although there seem to be a lot of precise numbers on the back here. 85 degrees? 20 second wait time? I'm just trying to make a cup of coffee, I don't want to have to pack a thermometer and a stopwatch, and apparently a proper glass coffee house mug as well. Okay, I jest, I'm not up in arms about it. Basically you empty the sachet into a mug, pour some not quite boiling water on top, and stir it up twice, with an interval in between. This is meant to give it a lovely froth on top, but when I did it it didn't quite produce the amount that's displayed on the box. Maybe I should have prepared it in a proper glass mug after all.

The froth is present though, and it's quite latte like. The coffee is smooth and has a nice flavour to it, but the gingerbread sadly doesn't live up to the rest of the drink. I noticed on the ingredients that there's a distinct lack of ginger, and it shows in the taste. There's some amount of spice, but it's quite acidic and not particularly pleasant. I was somewhat glad when the milkiness of the coffee itself overwhelmed the flavour. While the gingerbread element isn't up to scratch, this is still an adequate latte. Not the standard you'd get in a coffee shop, but for something you knock up in your house with just a mug and a spoon it's not bad.

My rating: 3/5

Today's Review: Market Deli Crisps: Flame Grilled Spanish Chorizo With Roasted Onions

Looks like I'm back onto the crisps, and while I've skipped over the Market Deli crisps before (mostly due to price) I did pick up this bag the other day. The other flavours are mostly generic sounding, but this chorizo and onion sounded interesting enough. Market Deli crisps are from the makers of Walkers, and aren't by Walkers, even though Walkers make crisps and these are still crisps. But hey, go figure.

These crisps are pretty good quality, they're nice and thick cut and have a satisfying crunch to them. On top of that, they're pretty packed with flavour, and it's a good one. The chorizo part is pretty meaty, and has a nice hint of spice to it, though it does feel a bit imbalanced, relying more on the heat than the meat. I guess it's a good thing, spice is easier to get right than a meat flavour, but the result is just a little bit off. The onion is well represented, providing a nice flavoursome undertone that evens out the flavour. All in all, it's a good packet of crisps that delivers the flavours it promises on the front. They may be a little imbalanced, but I certainly enjoyed them.

My rating: 4/5

Today's Review: Sweet Sounds Fizz Bombs

Christmas is over, as well as the weekend, so the shops are open like normal again (except for the end of this week of course). So I popped into Poundland today on the hunt for something interesting. Sadly, there wasn't much on offer, but my eye was certainly drawn to this vibrant boombox style box of sweets. These are Sweet Sounds, and apparently they are fruit flavoured fizz bombs. The music references are certainly piled on heavily on the exterior, with the repeating catchphrase "Turn Up The Fizz", but in reality I fail to see are related to audio in any way.

These sweets come in five flavours. Well, I use the word "flavours" loosely, as these are nothing but sugar, acid, flavourings and colours, so I'll say these come in green, yellow, orange, red and blue flavours. To be fair, that's exactly what they taste like. The sweet itself is a relatively inoffensive offering, clearly not the best quality you'd find, but pretty much your run of the mill boiled sweet. Fruity tasting, yes, but clearly not authentic. The kicker in these is the "fizz", which consists of a sherbet coating that adds a nice amount of fizziness when you first pop it in your mouth. It is gone a little too soon, but thankfully there's some more at the centre that rounds it off nicely. The sherbet is a nice touch, it elevates these from boring boiled sweets to something pretty nice. Certainly not great, I've popped a few in my mouth while writing this review and I can already feel the scratchiness on my tongue, but they're good enough for a hit of something sweet.

My rating: 3/5

Today's Review: Flaming Grill Pubs' Chilli Brownie

Desserts nowadays may be all about salted caramel and peanut butter, but haven't you ever just had a hankering for a spicy pudding? Flaming Grill has you covered, because now you can stuff your face with this chilli brownie. It consists of a chilli and chocolate brownie with chocolate sauce and raspberry coulis, topped off with a chilli flavoured ice cream. 

Sounds like a lot of chilli, right? Well, it's not bad actually. The brownie is nice and moist, and also fairly filling. It has a lovely dark chocolate flavour, with a fair amount of chilli that does overwhelm at some points, but the chocolate does a good job of balancing it out. The sauces add some more sweetness, although they are quite rich. The ice cream is probably the most interesting element, providing some more spice but also a nice cooling sensation, and it works quite well alleviating some of the heaviness of the brownie. All in all it's a nice dessert, but it is a little imbalanced, relying more on the chilli than it probably should. Swap the ice cream for plain vanilla, and hold back on the sauces, and this could be a lot better. As it is, it's just a little too spicy and rich. Definitely an interesting alternative to your regular dessert though.

My rating: 3/5

Today's Review: Candy Kitten Sour Grape Candy

I don't have allergies, nor am I gluten free or vegan. But I've always had my eye on these Candy Kitten sweets, they look pretty tasty, but their gluten free nature is reflected in their price. Thankfully I found this bag for a pound the other day, so I took the plunge and picked up the sour grape flavour.

These may be gluten free, but they do have a lot of gelatin, so disregard my vegan statement. These do have a bit of a fruity flavour to start with, and it's a little bit fruity, but since there's no actual grape in the ingredients it's certainly not an authentic flavour. Not that it matters too much, it quickly fades, and turns into simply a chewy, not particularly nice sweet. For some reason I feel like I can taste the beef gelatin, the flavour seems to be much like a barn at a farm smells like. Probably not the actual case, but if you can't tell it means I certainly didn't like these. I think I'll stick with the regular sweet from now on.

My rating: 1/5

Today's Review: Pie Face

It just ain't Christmas without a good party game, and this year the highlight of the household was Pie Face, popularised by a video that did the rounds on Facebook which then became the official ad for the game.

The premise is simple, there's a base with a crank, attached to a hand that you load up with squirty cream (or maybe shaving foam if you're feeling sadistic). Then you take it in turns to place your head on the chin rest, spin for a number, and twist the crank that number of times. If the hand doesn't launch cream into your face you win some points, if it does then, obviously, you get cream in your face.

It's a simple game, but it is certainly good for a chuckle. Despite having a set of rules, our game just devolved into laughing at each other for getting a face full of cream, and that's really what it's all about. It's certainly not in depth, but that's great, as kids of any age can join in. In a world of Monopoly and various other intense, long lasting board games, this is a great little party game that will get everyone laughing. Just make sure you put a towel down first.

My rating: 5/5