Frantic Festivities!

Well I hope that like me by now you have Christmas pretty much wrapped up! Sorry about that pun but I have just literally finished my wrapping and quite proud of the parcels beneath the tree. I know it seems like I've left it to the last minute but have no fear I spread my workload over the last week. Meaning no rushing and panicking at the last minute, in theory.

In reality I was having to frantically finish a few of them due to running out of paper and doing a mad dash down town before they shut. Seems I wasn't the only one too as I had a hard time finding any suitable paper. Luckily I found a few Disney themed rolls that were just about gender neutral enough to do for everyone. But at least now it's done and I can relax indoors and take shelter until the boxing day sales are well underway. Much safer especially when you factor in the town shaking weather we had last night.

Festive feces... I mean faces, festive faces

Now I am safely inside I can curl up eat some treats and tell you about them. I have a fair few too. We have biscuits, chocolates, bread and pies. I know a hectic post for you today, but it is the festive season and I thought I'd make the effort. So without further ado the first item is a McVitie's festive face. The reason for this is that on returning I was in desperate need for Tea and therefore a biscuit too. I wasn't expecting much from these if I'm honest, really I only bought them because they scared/amused me. They are pretty much BN's (if you remember those!) I think but with the shape of a jammy dodger. Basically a double copycat and fiend then. They taste like the old BN biscuits too, the biscuit base and lid is a vanilla tasting rich tea type affair and the jam and cream taste sweet and chewy. They aren't bad just a bit boring, to me at least. Let's face it the only reason people liked the BN biscuits was because of the advert and the chocolate version. These have neither and their expressions are terrifying!

This will forever haunt my dreams!

Next American chocolate with a Reeces snowman and Christmas tree and a Butter fingers coin. The tree and snowman are the same as the Pumpkin version I reviewed for Halloween. Delicious Reeces milk chocolate covering a beautiful peanut butter paste. A perfect mix of sweet and salty as always. The Snowman is a beast too, I had expected him to be like a hollow Easter egg but no it is all chocolate and paste no air at all. By the time I finish this I'll be so full I won't have room for turkey. Seriously though this thing weighs 141 grams and is nice to see dedication from a company. The Butterfinger coin achieves a similar balance but the milk chocolate isn't quite so sweet. The peanut in this is also small crispy flakes of peanut paste that creates the effect similar to a chocolate bar with cereal pieces like crunch. But with a great nutty taste to it.

All looking rather... cool

Now we visit Italy in the form of a traditional festive treat called Pannetone. Which is a fruity bread similar to Brioche or a hot cross bun. As I bit into it I found it a bit hard and dry but this soon changed as I began to detect the fruit that was mixed in. The taste as I say is very similar to other fruit breads with orange seeming to be the dominant flavour. The combination of fruit peel and raisins gives it a nice texture mix. It goes really nicely with some tea and coated in butter.

Lastly as you can see this has been a long post, it has been a bit of work for me and I now need something to fortify my nerves. Which calls for alcohol and in particular a festive liquor, Brandy. Thankfully MrKipling was kind enough to oblige in these deep fill Brandy mince pies. Now as I have mentioned I'm not a fan of mince pies, especially when they arn't homemade. But these are different enough to peak my interest. They arn't too bad but still suffer from the soft waxy pastry problem that mass produced pies have. Aside from that though they taste pretty good. The Brandy isn't too sharp and the filling isn't too sweet. The flvours mix to some extent not amazingly however.

Overall it's been a hectic day and a hectic challenge. With one final post before completion I'll be glad when I ca stop eating tinsel!

Score
Festive Faces - 4 out of 11
Reeces - 9 out of 11 plus 1 for effort
Butterfingerz - 8 out of 11
Brandy Mince pie - 6 out of 11

Found 
Festive faces in Poundland
Reeces and Butterfingerz in American import stor (although the snowman was Tesco)
Brandy mince pies in Sainsburys

Final Thoughts
I'm so full of merriment it hurts, damn yuletide!

Sorry if You Had To WAFER-IT

Money makes the world turn, not literally obviously. Yet somewhere in our evolution we developed a worrying worship and obsession of the dreaded paper prison. A worship that means if we have a lack of it our world seems to come to a standstill. Which means we work for the privilege to acquire the paper, why am I starting like this? Well I hope it will ease you in to the possibly devastating news I bring… about why my posts may become less frequent.

I go back to work this week, in an effort to keep the planet going. Up until now I've been doing this blog during my holiday. It’s given me the luxury to post a lot, sometimes daily. Unfortunately work will be taking up my time from now and until I develop a routine in writing my posts may become sporadic. Remember every cloud has a silver lining, as my old early mornings return so does my “cup of Joe” and the biscuit to accompany him. Today’s review is of two said coffee treats specifically two interestingly flavoured wafers.

Sorry for no picture of Marzipan as I say was in a rush to try them.

Both are rather large bags I picked up at pound land so I’m hoping I like them or else there are some dreary mornings ahead. As both are slightly odd flavours they hopefully will at least be interesting. At least they damn sure aren’t the banana ones from this review Here! The first has a marzipan filling, a taste I have a bit of an obsession for. The second is cappuccino which I am interested to see how well it mixes with coffee.

Packing five whole layers of disappointing wafer!!

The packaging on both is rather cheap looking and uninspiring, but remember it’s what’s inside that counts. On opening the marzipan wafers I’m delighted to be met with a joyous sweet almond smell. A good sign this bag will be demolished quickly, a good job too with no reseal ability. They are disappointingly small ad I get through quite a few in a short sitting. Added to my woes is that I opened the bag in such haste that all the crumbs (and there was a lot, but they were only a pound) scattered across the counter leaving it looking like a scene from Scarface.

End on a light note, a wooden llama

My haste was great and I ate quite few before the kettle had a chance to boil, it had a very strong almond taste. It was heavenly. The wafer was still nice and crunchy and not chewy as a lot of cheap wafers can be. They were also not waxy or papery and generally were good quality. There is enough cream filling for the flavour to standout, they dunk well in coffee. Mixing great and a good balance is struck between the bitterness and sweetness of the opposing forces. Definitely worth a pound, and a recommendation.

The next bag, cappuccino was a bit disappointing in the smell department and was certainly lacking. However they are slightly larger and technically seem to contain more cream. With this is more wafer layers though and the wafer on offer isn’t good. Tasting stale and rather airy, they are slightly chewy too so perhaps nearing retirement. It doesn’t get much better on dipping, turns out mixing coffee with well to be honest coffee produces little excitement. If they felt fresher and had more flavour perhaps they would be ok on their own but they’re not. Perhaps I’ll try them with some ice cream. 

A Tad Too Over Dramatic

Readers, I bring excellent news! I have it on good authority that these economically depressive times will soon be over. It will still be hard for a while; none of us can be expecting the tides of riches to wash over these shores quickly. Yet my friends, I can see hope on the horizon. Where do I get this information that fuels this prophetic vision you ask? Have I a senior official in my pockets? Well yes, however that’s not where the glad tidings come from.

No this news comes from the high streets themselves; moreover this sign came from… well a sign actually. The management of “Poundtown” is my source, for they have seen the future and rebranded as “Town”. Admittedly the decision hasn’t been taken cautiously as they have only covered the “Pound” part with cardboard. They have seen the possibilities of a monetary boom however and don’t want to tie themselves to such a measly fee for their bulk goods. A more serious belief can be seen in their new slogan of “Everything a pound and up” and I place my faith in their belief.

What does all this amount to? Well long story short I’ve been to the pound shop which with me means biscuits! (Probably could have begun here but where’s the fun in that.) So in I went to find some cheap oddities and did I find some, the highlight in the toy section in the form of a wrestler figurine. I stayed strong and resisted the urge of this perplexing item and instead bought two packs of biscuits for a pound (good deal any day). One of these packs was a pack of wafers and while some may not apply the term biscuit to them I do.

Honestly I laughed at this for about ten minutes, staff weren't impressed

I have found a recent liking for wafers where before I saw them as dull, perhaps a sign I’m maturing? I mean they aren’t too filling that you feel guilty for the extra one or two. They also go very well with a strong black coffee or tea which I’m partial to on occasions. Problem is they really only come in vanilla or chocolate so when I see banana flavour you understand the need. This need transferred into kinetic energy that got me home quicker than usual to make a brew and try a few.

Whilst I waited for said tea to brew I opened the pack. Immediately I was met with a very strong artificial banana smell. This worried me a bit, but at least it was the right fruit. So I took a bit, let me highlight that. I took a single bite out of these things and regretted me purchase even more. These fail on every level the wafer is cheap and stale and has a weird powdery texture. The banana flavour is non-existent and well when I tried dunking them, they become soggy like no bodies business. They are terrible, tasting like the cheap ice cream cones handed out by the dodgy looking vans you were told to avoid.

You have been warned!!!

This thought gave me an idea, Ice cream! perhaps that will save them. So I had some with my dessert that night. Nope. Still terrible and to make matters worse ruined my after dinner treat worse for it. Not often will I throw away in date products but honestly these make everything they touch bland and powdery. So I had to get rid of them and the black cloud they brought upon my house.

Clearly these were a mistake, fuelled by my optimism of better times ahead. Now I feel empty and I’m even more suspicious of the reliability of the sign. I’m off to withdraw all my savings and stuff it into my mattress.

Score

2 out of 11 (They smelt of banana after all)

Found

Local pound store, "Poundtown"

Final thoughts

In what situation would a wrestler need both a chainsaw and a frog half his size, doesn't bear thinking about.