The velvetiser!

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They are rolled . The nearest description I can do is like those dried cinnamon sticks you see. I bought them in Marks. A few years ago they sold chillI tortilla chips dipped in dark chocolate and those were smashing.

I choked on a peanut so that serves me right for scoffing them even though I was stuffed!
I had those tortilla things once, never again. I thought they were vile. Good thing we don't all love the same things, or shopping would be really boring. All those who love them, or are trying them for the first time: enjoy!


Aldi are doing what looks like their own dupe of a velvetiser on their special purchases.
 
Boil the water and let it stand in the kettle for at least 5 minutes. I've always done this before getting our Bosch coffee machine. My friend's husband who drinks a lot of different coffees always says mine taste good and asked me what I did.

A friend does this. He never puts boiling water on coffee as he says it burns and causes bitterness.
 
Getting down to the end of the box of sachets. I tried the ginger one last night and sadly it was disgusting..it was far too strong, had it tasted chocolately with a hint of ginger it would've been lovely but you could hardly taste the chocolate at all - it was just a burning sensation, I had a few mouthfuls then cut my losses and poured the rest of it down the sink - just vile. The white chocolate/vanilla combination was nice if a little sickly, the mint was fairly nice and the choc/orange was divine! Oh has baggsed the salted caramel and the regular choccy ones which leaves the chilli for me, hopefully it won't be like the ginger one. He has grated some 80% cocoa choc from Aldi today and he said it was wonderful..so he's sorted. I will be splashing out on a box of choc orange sachets just for me though!

Try a tiny drop of Nielsen-Massey orange extract in Mr. Merryone's grated cocoa choc before you order. If it's not quite right try a lower cocoa %.
 
Try a tiny drop of Nielsen-Massey orange extract in Mr. Merryone's grated cocoa choc before you order. If it's not quite right try a lower cocoa %.
Too late, I've placed the order. The orange sachets are for me, as oh prefers the regular ones, but thanks anyway!
 
One very kind friend sent me a “large everything hamper” from Hotel chocolat for my Christmas and birthday this year...

I see it was £42.50 from amazon where she got it - the contents can only add up to £30 ish all in.
(Not meaning to sound ungrateful was just cross with HC for charging £10 or £12 for a box!)

Anyway it’s got a sachet of the hot chocolate flakes in it.
I love chocolate - well a lot of it! - but hot chocolate makes me gag!
Always have - even the good stuff!

Any idea what else I could do with the flakes? Or I could just give them to someone who likes hot chocolate!

But it also contained - intriguingly - a little thing of teabags called “teaolat”.
It’s Assam tea leaves with cacao shell pieces?
Praying it’s just malty and not chocolatey!
 
One very kind friend sent me a “large everything hamper” from Hotel chocolat for my Christmas and birthday this year...

I see it was £42.50 from amazon where she got it - the contents can only add up to £30 ish all in.
(Not meaning to sound ungrateful was just cross with HC for charging £10 or £12 for a box!)

Anyway it’s got a sachet of the hot chocolate flakes in it.
I love chocolate - well a lot of it! - but hot chocolate makes me gag!
Always have - even the good stuff!

Any idea what else I could do with the flakes? Or I could just give them to someone who likes hot chocolate!

But it also contained - intriguingly - a little thing of teabags called “teaolat”.
It’s Assam tea leaves with cacao shell pieces?

Praying it’s just malty and not chocolatey!
Nothing worse than messed around with tea imvho. Just give me a cup of PG tips or something of that ilk (I find most supermarket own brands are as good). Apart from enjoying the occassional cup of Earl Grey, there's been the very odd exception. Brooke Bond brought out some teabags with a hint of orange back in the 90's and they were lovely, I know Earl Grey is orangey, but these weren't so delicate and subtle, but somehow it worked. I also bought a tin of Christmas blend tea from Fortnum's a few years back and that was nice too.
I've been gifted boxes full of different teas presented in muslin bags and they were really wishy washy and unpleasant. As for those horrible teas you have to drink without milk....Eugggghhh! It doesn't matter what fruit they're supposed to taste like, to me they all taste like you're drinking the dregs of the washing up bowl (I'd imagine of course)! Green tea? how the hell does anyone drink that stuff?!
 
A friend does this. He never puts boiling water on coffee as he says it burns and causes bitterness.
Nothing worse than messed around with tea imvho. Just give me a cup of PG tips or something of that ilk (I find most supermarket own brands are as good). Apart from enjoying the occassional cup of Earl Grey, there's been the very odd exception. Brooke Bond brought out some teabags with a hint of orange back in the 90's and they were lovely, I know Earl Grey is orangey, but these weren't so delicate and subtle, but somehow it worked. I also bought a tin of Christmas blend tea from Fortnum's a few years back and that was nice too.
I've been gifted boxes full of different teas presented in muslin bags and they were really wishy washy and unpleasant. As for those horrible teas you have to drink without milk....Eugggghhh! It doesn't matter what fruit they're supposed to taste like, to me they all taste like you're drinking the dregs of the washing up bowl (I'd imagine of course)! Green tea? how the hell does anyone drink that stuff?!
I hate ordinary tea but like the fruit ones. Green tea is ok for me but I can only let it steep for about 30 seconds otherwise it tastes bitter. Camomile is an acquired taste,one I haven't managed.
 
Oh God! that takes me back to NYE 2001, Me and Oh decided to have a quiet one and he cooked a lovely meal of fillet steak with all the trimmings, and he roasted some cherry tomatoes on the vine, I burnt my tongue to buggery. It was so painful, I remember chugging loads of cold water, and I thought I was ok until the next day, my tongue felt red raw and looked red raw too. I carried on drinking cold drinks and taking painkillers but it didn't improve. Went to the doctors as soon as I could and ended up being given a course of antibiotics as it had become infected. Cleared it up quickly but I'm still very wary of scalding hot food or drinks !
Owch!!! Sounds like the apple pies from mcdonalds. Do they even still do those or did H & S stop them?
 
Decorations are down and most of the junk has been eaten in preparation for a detox starting Monday.

Happy New Year to all (it really will get better won’t it?)
I'm tempted to take my decs down now but to be honest, since not really feeling like I've had a christmas break due to doing a few overtime shifts and I'm not really up for the work it entails. So as per I'll be leaving it to twelfth night. Then I'll put the unwanted gifts into the donation bag and take it to the nearest charity shop. I know the velvetiser was oh's present from me, but I'm in love with the ****** thing. I'll take back all the stuff I've said in the past about other methods producing just as good results....take it from me - they don't. I've tried making hot chocolate in a regular milk frother, yes it worked to a fashion but it was messy, and frothy (not velvety) as was using an handheld aerolatte. This little beauty does one job, but it does it well. It's small and compact and complete simplicity to use. It's such a shame that the chocolate tubs and sachets are so pricey, but they're so flippin' convenient. No faffing around grating chocolate or measuring out, just open a sachet pour it in and press play. I guess that you have to pay for that sort of convenience!
 
I bought 2 as presents last year and worried that they weren’t worth the money or hassle but you have sort of put my mind at ease Merry as if they enjoy it even 50% as much as you do I’ll be satisfied (plus they didn’t /probably wouldn’t have paid for them)

Mr L would be a good candidate for one but not going there !
 
Aren’t you all worried about the number of calories in these hot chocolate drinks? I’ve tried the low calorie drinks in the past, such as Options, but I dislike the artificial sweeteners.
I think it comes down to everything in moderation. Personally, I could do with putting a bit of weight on, as unlike many people I'm not a comfort eater, in fact I'm the opposite. My lockdown pounds equated to me losing about a stone, and last year I was also under quite a lot of stress at work which didn't help. So finding something delicious and comforting like this, for me is ideal. Oh on the other hand, could do with losing some weight, and the diet starts tomorrow as we've got a family get together today, so he'll be having them as a treat once or twice a week. I don't intend for it to be shoved to the back of the cupboard with all the other rarely used gadgets, but as I said, moderation is key!
I also agree that Cadbury's options aren't very nice, they taste really artificial and don't blend very well, you end up with clumps of undissolved powder however hard you try and mix it in.
 
People have different tolerances of hot drinks. When I was a barista years ago it broke my heart when customers asked for their coffee to be served at boiling point. Mr Akimbo can drink tea as steam, whereas I can't. It's not great for your throat to take liquids that hot. He doesn't mind that our Velvetiser doesn't produce boiling hot drinks; otherwise the milk would taste different. It's the perfect temperature for me. Maybe the Velvetiser chocolate should be sold as a liquid chocolate experience rather than a hot drink? But we'd take the p!ss if they started saying that!
In fact, your cappuccino should be warm not boiling hot.
 
Where I live, the barristers never serve 'hot' drinks hot. They are always served tepid. I have to ask for my cappuccino 'boiling' and even then it's not as hot as I'd like it to be. I'd never ask for hot tea, because all I'd get would be warmish water in a China pot and a weak tea bag and a lemon wedge. I have also heard from several people that it's bad for your throat to drink liquids very hot, but I still do it!
I am the same, I have lived in Italy for years and worked in a bar but can't bear tepid drinks.
 
Shopping list done and I've just spent an obscene amount of money on hot chocolate. I went direct to HC and got a set of flavoured sachets with a short date, a large tubful of choc flakes in the sale, and a box of chilli flavoured and a box of orange flavoured. (full price) Despite getting 15% off for signing up to their newsletter with p&p I still ended up spending over £40. The sachets work out at £1.30 a cup (which is frankly ridiculous for a a hot drink you're having at home). I'm tempted to cancel the order, but I've decided no, I'll let it stand and enjoy the luxury over the next couple of nasty winter months. I have had a stern word with myself and once these have run out it will be a cheaper alternative all the way!
Enjoy them ! Don’t be hard on yourself .. you deserve them … 🥳
 

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