Nice and Nobbly Granola

Firstly I must apologise for the year long hiatus. My only excuse is the fact that my millennial tendencies led me in the belief that other foods, such as kale smoothies and avocado on toast, were perhaps a better start to the day than a humble bowl of cereal. However, having explored all options fully, I have returned full circle realising that nothing compares to you, cereal.




With the leaves on the trees turning a wonderful array of amber and pumpkin spice taking over every flavour combination in any food outlet, it's difficult to ignore the first signs of autumn. In a celebration of the turn of the season, I myself have decided to delve into the flavours of fall having been recommended Nature's Path Organic Gluten Free Nice and Nobbly Granola. The bright orange packaging was enough to entice me on a chilly September morn. While those with an intolerance to wheat will naturally gravitate towards this wonderful gluten free option, I fear that the amount of sugar in this granola could turn even a bumble bee diabetic. The cinnamon flavouring is overpowered by these high levels of sugar, which is somewhat of a shame in my opinion as cinnamon is the essence of warmth, the edible equivalent of a cosy tartan blanket. Nonetheless, this granola stays true to its nobbly namesake with generous helpings of almonds, pumpkin seeds and raisins, as promised on the packet. As for the crunch factor, this granola turns from nice and nobbly to soggy and wobbly in a matter of seconds, however, the seeds, nuts and raisins make up for this adding extra crunch, chew and intrigue. Perhaps the lack of glutenous fibres could explain this granola's tendency to go soft so soon, but in my opinion it doesn't affect the overall experience.

Here are my ratings for Nice and Nobbly Granola:




Crunch Factor: 3.5/5


Flavour: 3/5

Aesthetics: 4/5

Filling: 3.5/5

Overall Rating: 3.5/5

Honey Cheerios

It is with a bitter-sweet sadness that I wave goodbye to my more hedonistic days of a croissant, café et clop chaque matin, re-immersing myself back into my former, simpler routine of academic life on the very tip of Scotland's East Fife Coast. It's for this reason that I chose to review Honey Cheerios; a humble cereal with an added flourish on top, a little je ne sais quoi.

Having previously reviewed standard Cheerios, I thought it was time to treat myself to the honey variety. Honey Cheerios take a good few minutes to go soggy, maybe even longer than regular Cheerios as they have an extra layer of honey for the milk to penetrate. The flavour remains bafflingly intact despite the milk tasting strongly of honey towards the end. My one qualm would be that the 'o' shapes were a lot smaller than I remembered. I am not sure whether this is due to Nestlé's cut backs and profit margins after the credit crunch or if I had just romanticised their size in my head...

Here are my ratings for Honey Cheerios:

Crunch Factor: 4/5

Flavour: 4/5


Aesthetics: 3/5


Filling: 3/5


Overall Rating: 3.5/5

Advent

There are some people who believe that being with friends and family is more important at Christmas time than things of actual value. I, however, have always been a firm believer of the latter and was delighted when I received my "Adorable Lindt bear and friends advent house" in the post. Top work there Mum!

For the month of december I gave up cereal and transitioned, with a surprising amount of ease, onto chocolate each morning. Day one was a little disappointing with only a mini Lindor 'truffle', at least each one is lovingly made by the swiss chefs just like in the adverts. The second day definitely made up for it though when I received a little Lindt teddy bear. Over the whole period I got 6 mini chocolate snowdrops with a creamy double milk filling, 6 Lindor mini chocolate truffles with a smooth melting filling, 5 Lindt Chocolate Napolitains, 3 Lindt Mini Bears, 3 Lindt Gold Reindeer and finally, this morning, my calendar gave me a full sized Lindt Teddy Bear, which I half ate before I took the picture, hence why his face looks like he just had a botched batch of botox, I couldn't resist. 

Overall I would say that the calendar was a success and I actually looked forward to waking up and discovering what chocolate I would get each morning. Could I eat chocolate every day for breakfast? Most definitely, but I must admit that I'm super duper excited for my next bowl of cereal! I would give the calendar a 4/5 as the chocolates were evenly distributed in size. I'm already looking forward to next year's.

Nestle Chokella

Working 9-5; what a way to make a living. Occasionally my mind wonders elsewhere, usually to the heady days of summer when there were no time constrictions placed upon my daily habits and my most important query was whether or not Dolly sung live. At 7am, when faced with another day in my glamourous Parisian life of making PowerPoint Presentations about the major competition in the packaging world, sometimes it’s only the prospect of trying a new cereal that can really motivate me to embark upon another day.

Dare I say it, but In France, cereal has one major competitor each morning, Nutella. Therefore when I found Chokella, a chocolate-hazelnut flavoured cereal, you can imagine my delight. A cereal combing my two favourite breakfast foods; it would be insane to not try this. Chokella has the distinctive hazelnut smell of Nutella, but unfortunately smells a lot more flavoursome than it tastes so I was a little disappointed when my first spoonful didn’t quite meet my expectations, it isn’t an unpleasant flavour, it could just benefit from being a little more powerful. On a more positive note, the cereal per-se is in the shape of mini toasts, a novelty that is still exciting, even at the age of 20. However, unlike toast, it keeps it’s crunch upon impact with milk, and takes a good 15 minutes to go soggy. And for those of you who don’t like cereal flavoured milk, this is the cereal for you. Despite my own previous beliefs, the milk retains its milk flavour once you have finished the cereal. Chokella is closest you will ever get to a cereal version of Nutella on toast, but is it the perfect breakfast cereal? That’s hard to say.

Here are my ratings for Chokella:


Crunch Factor: 4.5/5


Flavour: 3/5


Aesthetics: 4.5/5


Filling: 3.5/5


Overall Rating: 3.8/5

Miel Pops – Cœur à la Noisette

Hello cereal fans, or should I say ‘bonjour céréale fans’. I am so sorry that I have neglected you for so long but I have been rather busy trying to forge my new life in France and stumble my way around the French supermarkets in search of the cereal aisle and decent milk! Having lived off a mixture of croissants, Nutella and baguette every morning for the past 2 weeks, I was really craving some cereal and was therefore delighted when in Franprix, after about 5 minutes of broken ‘franglais’ on my part, and several looks of incomprehension and bemusement on behalf of the employees, I was finally shown to the aforementioned sacred aisle.

Faced with a choice of cereals from all over the globe, all that I knew was that I wanted to try something French and it was this desire that spurred my decision to pick Miel Pops – Coeur à la Noisette, translated as Honey Pops with a Hazelnut Heart. This description makes the cereal seem rather lovely, almost as if after a bowl all your worries will just melt away. I wouldn’t say that all my worries have completely disappeared; this is a breakfast cereal and not a psychiatrist or magic genie, but while tucking into my breakfast at 6:30 in the morning I felt unusually chirpy for that hour. Perhaps it was just the temporary euphoria one experiences when trying a new cereal for the first time, or perhaps it was due to the wonderful mélange of honey and hazelnut in the same bowl and the sunshine yellow colour of the cereal per se. However, after about four or five spoonful’s, this very sweet cereal begins to get a little sickly. On the plus side, the longer the cereal stays in the milk, the softer the hazelnut centre becomes but the outer shell keeps its crunch, c’est formidable!!! A final note is that despite the sweetness of the cereal the milk remains milk tasting, an added bonus for those who don’t like their milk tainted by other flavours.

Here are my ratings for Miel Pops – Cœur à la Noisette:

Crunch Factor: 4/5


Flavour: 3/5


Aesthetics: 3.5/5


Filling: 4/5


Overall Rating: 3.5/5

Céréales Fourrées au Lait

It's been over two months since I have posted anything and I am deeply apologetic. So far, this summer has been extremely busy; I not only helped and witnessed my own dear grandmother's near breakdown when moving her from North Yorkshire so she can be closer to our family down south, but my parents also decided to move house and I have therefore been living off microwave meals without access to a fridge, fully functioning kitchen and internet access. However, having jetted off to Mallorca, I have regained access to all of the aforementioned luxuries, and a whole host of foreign and exciting cereals to titillate my tastebuds for the next few weeks. 

Walking through the cereal aisle in the Spanish supermarket 'Mercardo' was more stressful than passing through security at Terminal 5. There was an array of completely different cereals to back home and some even had smarties and jelly babies thrown into the mix. Given that it was the start of the holiday, I decided to maybe tone down the extravagance a little and opted for the Céréales Fourrées au Lait (Milk Pillow Cereals) as they reminded me of when I would stay at our friend's french home every summer, although I was a little confused to see a french cereal being sold in a Spanish supermarket. Nonetheless, this cereal was as good as it was all those years ago. You bite into the crunchy exterior to reveal a delicious milky, gooey centre that tastes almost like white chocolate. Granted, these are not the healthiest of all cereals, nor do they look that appetising from the packaging to when they're in you're bowl. But holidays are a time for indulgence and extravagance in my opinion, and I feel that I indulged my inner child as memories of summers spent in France during my childhood came flooding back with every mouthful.   

Here are my ratings for Céréales Fourrées au Lait:

Crunch Factor: 4.5/5

Flavour: 4/5


Aesthetics: 3/5


Filling: 4/5


Overall Rating: 3.9/5

Coco Pops Croco Copters

When the possibility of a trip to Tescos becomes the highlight of your day, you know that the monotony of revision has kicked in. I therefore decided, like almost half of St. Andrews, to head home for a little bit of TLC and to fully prepare myself, mentally and emotionally, for the looming exam period. Having foolishly booked the 09:22 train home the Monday morning following Sunday's frivolities at the Kate Kennedy Club Charity May Ball, I was absolutely delighted when upon my arrival home I was greeted by an amply stocked cereal cupboard courtesy of my loving mother. 

Indulging my inner child for a few days, I was immediately drawn to the most novel of all the cereals: Coco Pops Croco Copters. Despite the fact that it's clearly advertised and marketed towards children, I fully enjoyed my first taste of this new cereal; it doesn't taste exactly like classic Coco Pops, but nonetheless has its own unique flavour. The cereal takes a long time to go soggy and, as with Coco Pops, you are left with chocolatey milk at the end. What's more is that the plethora of games and activities to be found on the side of the box, including a word search and maze, were a great stimulant each morning, meaning that I was mentally prepared for a day's worth of revision. The only confusing thing about this cereal is the fact that each individual piece is shaped like a clock cog whereas the packaging would suggest that theme was revolving around helicopters. However, if you can find it within your heart to overlook this minor issue, i'm sure that you too will thoroughly enjoy Coco Pops Croco Copters. 

Here are my ratings for Coco Pops Croco Copters:

Crunch Factor: 4/5

Flavour: 3.5/5


Aesthetics: 4/5


Filling: 3.5/5


Overall Rating: 3.75/5