Caramel Egg Taste-Off!

    In the spirit of commercialized Easter (after all, it's less than a month away), I caved in to the 3-for-1-pound caramel egg deal at the grocery store last week. 'Pound' being Great British pound, although it may also well refer to the amount of weight that 3 of these little buggers will add to the balance on your scale. Evil eggs.
  Anyway, seeing as I had these shiny caramel eggs staring at me from the kitchen table every time I walked by, I decided to taste one each night for three nights, and then decide which was the best. The contenders were: Cadbury Dairy Milk Caramel Egg, Galaxy Chocolate Caramel Egg, and Thorntons Caramel Melts Egg ('Gorgeously gooey caramel in a milk chocolate shell').
  All things were going according to plan, until I somehow ate 1.5 eggs on the second night. Still, I figure that 2.5 eggs in 2 nights isn't awful, and I'll even justify the extra 0.5 egg by saying this: the first half an egg I ate on night two was so not worth eating that I pitched it into the garbage and just moved onto the final egg. See? Taste testing at its best! And actually, it probably would've been most fair to eat all of the eggs at once and judge them that way, but no way was I going to gorge myself on 3 eggs in one sitting (tempting as it might have been). So forgive me if I'm a bit vague on the differences between Egg 1 and Egg 3 when I compare: I'll blame it on the 24 hour time difference in tasting.
  So, on night 1, I started off with Thorntons Caramel Melts egg. Reason for starting with this one was simple: Keila got ahold of the eggs, and this was the first one she managed to unwrap.
 How was it? Delicious! Thorntons makes lots of bon bons and boxed chocolates here. While they're by no means artisan chocolates, they're also pretty darn good in comparison to your average boxed chocolates. Pretty tasty chocolate for being milk chocolate, and the caramel inside was nice and creamy. Top points to Thorntons!
 Night 2 rolled around, and Keila had attacked the Galaxy egg just before bed, ripping off half the shiny foil. So I took a big bite of that one...and immediately thought 'Ugh, cheap chocolate!' It just tasted....cheap. You know what I mean if you've ever had the cheap stuff, like those fake 'chocolate flavored' bunnies and eggs Palmer makes around Easter. Honestly, who in their right mind buys imitation chocolate??  Galaxy's stuff wasn't quite that bad...but anything that reminds me of Palmer has got to go. And, on that thought, I threw the rest of the Galaxy egg into the bin. In case you're wondering, the caramel was cheapy tasting too. Not at all creamy. Yuck.
 On to the third and final egg (had to get the cheap chocolate taste out of my mouth!). Cadbury Dairy Milk Caramel Egg. I already knew what to expect with this one, having consumed numerous Cadbury caramel eggs over the years. And it didn't disappoint. Classic Cadbury taste (real Cadbury, not fake licensed-to-Hershey's-made-in-the-US Cadbury) and pretty decent caramel inside, too.
 Still, overall, I'd say that Thornton's wins this taste-off. Cadbury is good, of course, but I dislike the fact that they add vegetable fat to their chocolate. Thorntons relies on good old cocoa butter instead of cutting costs like Cadbury does. Perhaps I'm becoming something of a grocery-store-chocolate snob, but Cadbury is losing favor in my eyes by contaminating their products in such a way.
 Final consensus: if you're out and about and looking for some caramel eggs, pick up Thornton's Caramel Melts!

  

                      The contenders: Cadbury Dairy Milk Caramel Egg, Galaxy Chocolate Caramel Egg, and Thorntons Caramel Melts Egg

                                         Keila examining the Galaxy Caramel egg: Shiny!

                     
                                Inside the Thorntons Caramel Melts Egg

Keila is 16 Months Today!

    Keila is 16 months old today! Time seems to be going faster and faster...as is Keila. Here are the updates on her various areas of progress:
 1. Speech. She is talking a lot!!! Keila now gets out her toy mobile phone AND her corded phone and will happily talk into both of them. She's mastered the art of walking and talking with the cell phone, and sometimes will also use blocks or toy bananas to talk into, too. As for actual words: 'Oliver' is still a strong favorite, but new ones include 'No no no no no!' (oops), 'An Pan Man' (a Japanese cartoon character of which she has the stuffed doll, 'Up', 'Gaagug' for dog now instead of 'daa', and 'Baa' for bird. I think there are others but they aren't coming to mind at the moment.
 2. The day after she turned 15 months, Keila popped 2 more teeth through, upping her count to 16. 4 more to go! She may/may not be teething again right now. She's been holding her mouth and ear a bit today but also has a cold, so we've got to head over to the doctor in a bit and make sure it's not an ear infection.
 3. Sleep! I'm not even going to discuss it any more. If and when she does start sleeping through the night, I'll let you know.
 4. Keila is great on her own two feet now! We go to the playground a lot, and she walked about 2 blocks on her own downtown a few weeks ago. Now if only I can convince her that climbing isn't always a good thing....
 5. Food issues...lately, she doesn't want any sort of protein besides beans. I've tried ground turkey, ground beef, fish, eggs prepared all ways, paper-thin slices of ham, etc etc etc. If only tofu was as easy to get here as it was in Japan. Otherwise, Keila is eating well, lots of fruits, veggies, and healthy grains. If you've got any sugggestions for the protein problem, let me know!
 6. We've got all sorts of new actions going on these days. This kid continues to amaze me in terms of how fast she's learning. Recently, Keila loves to have me sing 'Twinkle Twinkle Little Star' while she follows along with the actions (and hums, too). I had to repeat it 5 times one afternoon....need I mention that I really don't like that song any more? 'Itsy Bitsy Spider' is also a good one, but definitely a runner-up to 'Twinkle Twinkle'. Last week, Keila saw me cleaning off some of her toys with wet wipes....so later, she got them out herself and proceeded to not only wipe the toys but also Wasabi, at least for as long as Wasa allowed.
 Keila wants to do anything and everything herself now, to the extent that she shoves away our hands if we're trying to help her. We definitely have a strong-willed little girl! Oh, and she had her first temper tantrum last week, when we had to leave the playground earlier than she wanted. The fun has begun!
 7. Just weighed Keila and measured her height this morning...she's at 10.4 kilos and 80.5 cm. Which is both skinnier and shorter than I was expecting. Still fine for her age of course, but I need to check her growth lines to make sure we're still on track!
  That's it on Keila until next month!

 

Cadbury Creme Egg Ice Cream

          Easter products appear in stores early here, and I first spotted this Cadbury Creme Egg ice cream in mid-January. The label proclaims: 'Delicious vanilla ice cream with Cadbury chocolate chunks and added Goo'. Goo apparently being the yellow 'yolk' bit inside Cadbury Creme eggs.
 Based on this description, I was expecting ice cream that tasted like, you guessed it, a Cadbury Creme egg. Not too much to ask, considering the name, right? Apparently I was aiming too high. What I actually got was vanilla ice cream with little chocolate specks (definitely not chunks) and some swirls of goldish-yellow colored 'goo'. If you got a good spoonful of the goo (by determinedly digging it out of the vanilla, not that I'd do such a thing of course!), it did taste like the yellow yolk of Cadbury Creme eggs....but there just wasn't enough swirled throughout the ice cream to convey that taste in a normal scoop. Basically, the overall impression I had was of plain vanilla ice cream with some chocolate flecks in it. Imagine a generic brand chocolate chip ice cream. Ok because it's ice cream, but they could've done SOOO much better.
Overall consensus: Bypass this ice cream and spend your calories on the Cadbury Creme Eggs instead!

                             Looks great...tastes like plain vanilla!

Product Review: Kraft Cadbury Milk Chocolate Philadelphia Cream Cheese

           As soon as I saw the new Kraft Philadelphia Cadbury Chocolate Light Cream Cheese at our local Tesco super store, I of course had to buy a pack to review. The UK doesn't have as many 'exotic' products as Japan does, so I tend to pounce on the interesting ones I do find. (FYI: Kraft bought out Cadbury a while back, thus leading to this new chocolate/cream cheese blend).
 Not sure what I was really expecting out of this chocolate cream cheese, but what I got is basically akin to a tub of pre-made frosting. Not bad, but definitely a cheap sort of pleasure. I probably won't buy it again, but I can't say I hated eating it, either! A newspaper review commented that this chocolate cream cheese may compete with Nutella, but I'm sticking with the canned frosting comparison.
  While we're on the topic of Cadbury, I can't remember if I mentioned that we visited Cadbury World in January. It turned out to be a bit of a disappointment---most of our time there was spent sandwiched in between groups of hyperactive schoolchildren, but perhaps I should've expected that situation in a place that looked like Willy Wonka's candy factory? The rather psychedelic ride at the end was the one thing worth the wait, however. Crazy cows and weird little chocolate characters at every turn; Keila loved it!
  Seeing as Easter is fast approaching, the next post will be a review of Cadbury Creme Egg ice cream. Here's a hint: my experience with it was a bit like the one at Cadbury World: high expectations that weren't quite met. Until next time.....
 
                                  Kraft Philadelphia Cadbury chocolate light cream cheese

                                                     Keila had fun with the packaging

                                    Crazy cows at Cadbury World

A Mishmash of Florence: Santa Maria Novella, Santa Croce, Ponte Vecchio, and Pizza

  Seeing as I don't have much more time to write this evening and am still determined to wrap up Italy by midnight, this post will briefly touch on the what I didn't get the chance to earlier.
 I'd love to do an in-depth review of our hotel in Florence, but unfortunately that's just not going to happen. I'd highly recommend it, however. The Grand Hotel Minerva, located just south of Santa Maria Novella, a stone's throw away from the train station. The staff were all unfailingly polite and friendly, our room was modern and very clean with a great bathroom, the buffet breakfast was well-attended and featured a variety of tasty food, need I go on? I've seen some mixed reviews of it online however; it seems like most of the negative ones were posted during the high season and had lots of complaints about drunks being loud in the piazza just outside the hotel. We had a room facing an inner courtyard and never saw any drunks on the way in/out of the hotel, but maybe we were just lucky. Whatever the case, I'd definitely stay there again.
  We never actually made it inside Santa Maria Novella, but it was a great sight to see every time we walked through the piazza. It's one of Florence's 'top 25 sights' in my guidebook, but our trip featured more of the 'top 10' than the top 25.
  Santa Croce, however, was one church that I really wanted to do a post on, all by itself, but again never found the time. The final resting place of Michelangelo, Galileo, Machiavelli, and many others, it also features a memorial to Dante. The architecture is amazing, inside and out. It's especially lovely when seen in the early evening, just after sunset.
  Ponte Vecchio is Florence's most famous bridge: lined with old shops (selling gold and jewelry), the current structure was one that was rebuilt in 1345. It was the only bridge that wasn't destroyed by the Germans in WWII. When you're walking on it, it's hard to remember that you aren't just on a narrow street, but it also makes a great scene when viewed from the banks of the Arno.
   Ok, that's all on Italy! I was hoping for another post tonight but it's just not going to happen. So, until our trip to Belgium in April, it'll be about life in England from here on out!


                                     Santa Maria Novella

                                      Pizza. Florence has great little pizza shops on just about every large street

                                                 Ponte Vecchio

                            Ponte Vecchio as seen from the banks of the Arno

                                                 Santa Croce (courtyard)

                                    Santa Croce during the day

                                        Keila at the buffet breakfast. She's not a morning person

Gelateria Carabe in Florence. And More Perche No!

  Here's post #1 of the day....#2 and maybe a #3 will be following shortly!

   After leaving the Galleria dell'Accademia, we headed back south towards the Duomo, stopping at Gelateria Carabe on the way. I'd seen Carabe listed as one of Florence's best, so we figured why not give it a go and see if it stood up to Perche No! (Click HERE for the link to my Perche No! post). Plus, we had a coupon from their website Click HERE for a link to the free scoop upgrade coupon.
Now, it wasn't bad gelato by any means...and the owner was a really nice guy who spoke excellent English. But our hearts (and tongues) are still loyal to Perche No! So much so that I had to eat it one more time about an hour after we ate at Gelateria Carabe. Yuki was by this point convinced that something was wrong with me, seeing as that made gelato #3 of the day. And I didn't admit to him that I probably could've eaten more!
 One more point about Gelateria Carabe: apparently their fruit granitas are rumored to be excellent, but we only tried the gelato. Maybe we'll give them a go again whenever we get back to Florence.
Gelateria Carabe, Via Ricasoli, 60r, a few blocks from the Galleria dell’Accademia (between the Duomo and Accademia).

                                              Be careful not to miss it, as the shopfront is rather unassuming

                                                      Cookies 'n cream gelato

                                 Keila loved the new earmuffs we found in the market near the Duomo

                               The Duomo in late afternoon light

                                   Third (and final) gelato of the day at Perche No!

Michelangelo's David and I Due Fratellini in Florence

   On our last afternoon in Florence, we had reservations at the Galeria dell'Accademia to see Michelangelo's David.
 Meaning that, after spending the morning mooning about the Piazzale Michelangelo (Click HERE if you missed the Piazzale Michelangelo post )  we had only limited time for lunch. Following the advice of a trusted friend (thanks Suzanne!), we stopped at I Due Fratellini for some sandwiches. Let me say these 2 things: if you ever want to visit sandwich heaven, then I Due Fratellin is your place and 2. I wish we would've tried them sooner than our last day in Florence! That being said, we did go back and hit them up again late that afternoon, in order to have something for dinner on the train ride back to Venice. They were just that good. And not at all expensive, either. I think the priciest sandwich we got was maybe 3 euros, and that had porcini mushrooms and special cheese. I'm drooling just thinking about it.
  After our wonderful and quick lunch (Yuki took advantage of their wine-by-the-glass, too), we headed north past the Duomo to the Galeria dell'Acccademia, most famous for being home to Michelangelo's David. If you've got a lot of time in Florence, I've heard that the Uffizi is also of course amazing, but since we were on a tight schedule (and with a baby who may/may not have more patience in museums than I do) we skipped that one.  Oh, and most importantly, if you know when you're traveling, book your tickets NOW. As in, stop reading my blog and go book them N-O-W. Advance tickets sell out quite quickly, and do you really want to spend your time in Italy waiting 3-plus hours in line for a museum? No! You want to spend it eating gelato after wandering around said museum! Here, I'll even throw in the link for the official ticket site, so you don't spend a half hour searching the web for it like I did: http://www.firenzemusei.it/  This site covers the Accademia, Uffizi, etc. You're welcome.
  We covered the entire Accademia in maybe an hour; there are of course other exhibits but the David is by far and away the highlight of the museum. I don't think I've ever seen a work of art that's been so moving. Definitely worth the ticket price if David is all you see!
  Finally, if you happen to be carting a diapered baby around with you, you'll be pleased to know that the Accademia women's bathroom (on the way out, after you've been through the whole museum) does have a diaper-changing unit. I only mention this fact because diaper-changing stations are relatively rare in Italy, at least from what we saw of Venice Florence, and Siena!
  Seeing as today is already February 28th, and I'm still intent on honoring my vow of wrapping up Italy posts by the end of this month, be on the lookout for at least one if not two more posts by tomorrow night!
 

                                          Random accordian player we came across on the way to the Galeria dell'Accademia

                               I Due Fratellini   The best sandwiches I've ever had.

                                                  Paradise on bread

                                                  Michelangelo's David. Simply breath-taking.

                                           Line at I Due Fratellini Later That Afternoon