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A Bargain Summer Drinks Special

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I drink more in the summertime. Both non alcoholic and alcoholic drinks. A glass of prosecco tastes so much better in the sun. I don’t drink to excess ..in fact I typically only drink one as I’m breastfeeding but I REALLY enjoy that one drink and when you are limiting the amount that you drink well you want it to taste good.

We have recently started to do a lot of our food shopping at Aldi as one has opened very close by and it’s so reasonably priced for most of the products we use. This is not a review.. Although I guess it is but I want to make it clear that I paid for all of these products myself. We have been so impressed by the drinks in particular that I wanted to tell you about our favourites.

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Starting with the Prosecco. I’ve tried quite a few proseccos over the years and this is by far my favourite. It’s light, crispy and goes perfectly with some strawberry syrup. Delicous. Plus it’s only £5.99 which is a bit of a bargain.

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Next the Alska Strawberry and Lime cider which I LOVE! I really like the rekorderlig version of this drink but it’s a lot pricier and this at just £1.59 is just as good in my opinion.

The Orchard Premium Original Cider is a favourite of my OH and is a steal at 99p.

The Cosmopolitan cocktail is priced at £4.99 and is delicous, although I prefer it in a tall glass filled with ice and wedges of lime as it tastes quite strong when it’s neat.

L’esprit D’Orange is the Aldi version of Cointreau and is perfect for mixing with cocktails or even just added to chilled lemonade and crushed ice. It’s priced at £5.99 which when compared to a price of around £13.00 plus for holes of Cointreau is a bit of a steal.

We have also been really enjoying the Mexican Lime and Raspberry and Mint Vive soft drinks. Priced at 49p for a litre they are an ideal budget mixer.

If you are planning a party or BBQ you may just find it worth popping along to your local store.

*All items were paid for in full by myself.

Hotel Chocolat Beer, Gin & Cocktails – Review

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You would be forgiven for thinking that Hotel Chocolat just make chocolates.

That’s definitely not the case. They also do a pretty amazing selection of oils, pestos, vinegars and boooooze.

I was recently sent some of their cocoa beer, cocoa gin and mojito chocs to sample and review…it’s a hard job but someone’s got to do it ..right?

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So let’s start with the Gin ..just because that’s a very good place to start.

What do Hotel Chocolat have to say about it?

A classically cool and crisp English dry gin infused with the flavours of our Rabot Estate in Saint Lucia – lemon zests, juniper, coriander, mineola and angelica, with peppery notes of roasted cocoa shells and the rich creaminess of crushed macadamia nuts.

And what did we think?

For me the overriding flavour was citrus when mixed with the tonic water.This is not a bad thing as I love citrus flavours. I found that I could taste more cocoa when I tasted it neat. We both enjoyed and it was fresh and crisp.

Next onto the chocolates.. Mojito chocolates to be precise.

These are divine. I’ve had liqueurs before and flavoured chocolates plenty of times but these are just perfect. They taste so rum like that it almost feels like you are having a very sweet, indulgent drink with a bite of delightful chocolate. So so good.

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Next up is the beer..

What do Hotel Chocolat have to say about it?

Our distinctive, English, small-batch beer, brewed with traditional Fuggles hops and the warming flavour of cocoa shells to create a complex, rounded ale of real character, with pleasing savoury bitterness and notes of tobacco, cocoa and coffee. Our cocoa shells are left over from making chocolate, but they’re just too good to throw away

And what do we think?

I’m not much of a beer drinker so I totally left this up to Andrew and he really enjoyed. He has just recently discovered the joys of coffee and said he definitely picked up the coffee and cocoa notes which made it a little bit different to a normal bottle of beer.

So overall a very pleasant trio of goodies. Not just chocolate in the Hotel Chocolat selection.

* we were sent these items for the purpose of the review.

Foodie Penpals Reveal

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A few months ago I read about the amazing foodie penpals run by @thisisrocksalt in the UK and @leangrnbeanblog in America. It’s a simple enough concept you join up and then each month you are given a name of a foodie penpal to whom you send a parcel, you then receive a parcel from another penpal. So a parcel each month of surprising, new foods to taste.. whilst having a good excuse for shopping for delectable foodie items sounded too good to be true! I had lots of fun making up my parcel for the very sweet Catriona in Glasgow who loved it (thankfully) and has written a lovely blog post about it which you can read here: http://whitecatherblog.wordpress.com/2012/05/31/spicy-thai-hazelnut-heaven/

I was like a child at Christmas waiting for my parcel to arrive and when it finally did today from Lex @LadyNom1 it was just lovely.. Very well presented minus one spillage and it contained two of my favourite things: alcohol and cheese! Ha.

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I read the letter that accompanied my parcel first which was nice in itself as its been a long time since I have had a hand written letter and it explained all of the items and gave serving or recipe suggestions.

My parcel contained 4 items:

1. Dunham Massey Beer: Lex explained that this is a locally brewed beer and is great for cooking with beef so I think I’m going to save it for a special meal.

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2. Marmalade: This looks yummy. This was homemade by Lex using oranges from her friends orangery. I wish my friends owned an orangery! She advised that this can make a lovely sauce when combined with white wine and coriander for chicken or duck so I will certainly be trying that out.

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3. Port & Duck Liver parfait: Unfortunately this didn’t survive the journey so well and was kinda smushed up out of the pot but some managed to stay in the pot so will give it a whirl later with some toast. This was homemade by Lex so I’m disappointed that it didn’t make it in one piece but that’s royal mail for you!

4. Burts Blue Cheese: Lex wrote that this was handmade by a woman in Altrincham and although I rarely eat blue cheese I’m quite excited about it as I love to try new recipes and she said its fantastic in a souffle which is what I intend to use it for.

All in all I really enjoyed my first foodie penpals experience, it was lots of fun and quite exciting for a foodie like me. I would urge anyone with an interest in food to join in.

I always have two lovely new blogs to follow which is a bonus.

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