SPICE RACKS SERIES – MAGICAL SPICES TO INCLUDE IN DIET: FENNEL

As you all know, in my Spice Racks series, I am talking about some of the magical spices that we must include in our diet because of their range of health benefits. I have already covered Cinnamon, so hop on over to check that out if you haven’t already. Today, let’s talk about one of my other favourites, fennel. More commonly known as saunf in India, it is most popular as a mouth freshener (yes, I know all of you who love to grab handfuls of saunf after a meal in a local restaurant to devour later, I am one of those too  High five!) But it has a whole range of other benefits that I researched and studied for this post.

So let’s check out some of the medical benefits of fennel.

1. Indigestion, constipation and stomachache

In the most traditional use, fennel helps in the common problems of the stomach. It is always advised in Ayurveda to have a small spoonful of fennel seeds post meals to aid digestion. This use of fennel has been observed across several countries of the world. In case of stomach problems, having a decoction prepared with fennel seeds or having the seeds on their own is considered helpful.

2. Water retention and hypertension

Fennel seeds have been found to have diuretic properties. Incorporating fennel in your routine can help alleviate water retention as fennel promotes the production of urine without the loss of necessary electrolytes from the body. In this way, fennel helps in regulating the problem of high blood pressure.

3. Protection against cancer and cancer-causing mutations

In simplest of terms, the chemical compounds found in fennel were shown to protect against mutations in the DNA that can cause cancer. This effect was successfully demonstrated in animals. It is also found to have antioxidant action. Hence, we can easily incorporate fennel in our diet to have these benefits.

4. Helpful in cold and cough

Fennel is a well known expectorant. This means that it helps to dispel excessive mucus secretions that are released during cold and cough. Hence, it is quite helpful in recovering from your seasonal bout.

5. May help lower blood sugar

In animals, fennel was found to help in lowering blood glucose levels. Hence including fennel in the diet can be beneficial for diabetics.

6. Menstrual health

Fennel contains compounds that have estrogenic activity (it works somewhat like the estrogen that women naturally produce in their bodies) and hence may help promote menstrual flow in women. Additionally, it may help in hirusutism in women. In one study, fennel was also found to somewhat reduce the severity of pre-menstrual syndrome.

How to get your daily dose:

1. As mouth freshener: Yes, nothing new here. Just pop a spoonful post every meal. Instead of chewing gum, you can keep a bottle of fennel seed in your bag and use it instead. It leaves you with great breath and also helps digestion. Best is to incorporate unsweetened type so that you don’t end up adding more sugar into your body.
2. In your tea: While making tea, you can add a generous teaspoonful of fennel seeds to achieve great flavour and also get the benefits of saunf.
3. To your salads: Believe it or not, you can use fennel seeds as a spice and flavouring agent in your salads. It adds a unique flavour punch too! I especially love it in chickpea salads.
4. To your daily vegetable curries and sabzi: You can easily add fennel seeds to a lot of your regular fare such as okra and brinjal for an extremely unique taste experience.

Fennel and Beauty

Fennel has been shown to have antiaging effects. In an experiment, it was found to help retain skin moisture when used on the skin in the form of a cream. While I don’t really know of a beauty product that has utilized fennel as an ingredient, you can certainly include fennel powder in your beauty routine in the following ways:

1. You can use fennel powder as an exfoliant, mixed with honey.
2. You can also use fennel decoction as a facial toner to help improve skin elasticity.
3. Use of fennel decoction on the face is especially useful for people with oily skin and acne because it also has astringent and antiseptic properties.

Keep including this lovely aromatic to your food. You are doing more benefit to your body than you think.benefits of fennelbenefits of saunffennel and healthhealth benefits of fennelhow to include fennel in diethow to include saunf in dietmedical benefits of fennelwhy to use fennelwhy to use saunf

10 HEALTHY BUDGET SNACKING OPTIONS FOR OFFICE-GOERS

Having worked in the corporate environment for more than 5 years, there is certain insider information I can give you:

1. The work sucks your mental energy.
2. You end up becoming crazily lazy, so much so that it is exceptionally hard for you to commit to any fitness routine.
3. You are unexpectedly hungry, especially at around 4:30PM every evening.

On some occasions, I was able to take care of myself well, when I packed a fruit for myself for the evening, but for the majority of the 5 year span, I relied on the office cafeteria and the nukkad chaiwala for a helping of Maggi or some equivalent junk for the evening hunger pangs.

Today, I want to help all my readers who would like to know certain options that can be packed into boxes and kept in the office drawers or thrown into the lunch bag in a jiffy for taking care of the evil evening hunger. Yes, these would be pocket friendly and not over-the-top expensive items (I know very well, the cafeteria bills pile up into a significant number at the end of the month, hence here to the rescue). Here are some healthy budget snacking options for all of you.

1. Oats

A packet of instant oats can be made readily in the office microwave (I am truly sorry if your office doesn’t have a microwave, what a truly shitty place that must be to work!). All you need is a large microwave safe ceramic mug and any of the easily available packets of instant oats. I however, would not recommend that you make this an everyday habit, because I clearly remember, when I used to have instant oats every single day in the evening for a few weeks, one fine evening, I grew so fed up of instant oats that I did not muster up the courage to buy another packet for almost a year! The texture of oats can get boring after a point of time, hence, rotate these with other options on the list. With new flavour launches, such as Italian and Curry, apart from the regular Vegetable and Tomato, you have several options to try!

2. Nuts

What you can easily do is, pack a handful of almonds, cashew, pistachio, walnuts, and pine nuts into small containers and store in the office drawers. A fistful of a mix of these nuts is filling and also provides you an energy boost, apart from providing you with good quality fats. Do be mindful of locking your drawers at the end of the day, though!

3. Popcorn

While we do have Act II microwave popcorn, and you can make some once in a while, however, it has too much salt and hydrogenated vegetable oil, both of which aren’t too great for your health over time. You could, however, roast some dry popcorn kernel in a cooker at home the previous night, and fill them up in a paper or plastic bag to carry with you to office. It is not extremely filling, but with coffee, it does help. In any case, it is a healthy budget snacking option. You can skip the salt to make it even healthier.

4. Foxnuts

Foxnut, locally known as makhana in India, is being rediscovered as a healthy snacking option. I have seen several brands of roasted foxnuts in tonnes of flavours, ranging from peri peri to mint and cheese! However, all you need to do is, buy some makhana from the local grocery shop, pop it into the microwave for a bit, remove and let it rest in open air. This crunches up the makhana and makes it several times tastier. You can carry it to your office in paper bags and store it in the drawer. However, I really doubt you will have any leftovers!

5. Boiled Potato/Chickpea Salad

Boiled potato is a common entity in the refrigerator. What you can easily do is, chop up the cold boiled potato, add in some fresh cut veggies (even an onion/tomato/garlic/coriander/peppers, in any combination you like) and pack into a container. Keep a cut lemon wedge too, and squeeze on some before you eat this. The best way is to put this whole thing in the refrigerator. You can replace potato with boiled chickpea.

6. Peanut Butter

The great thing with peanut butter is that it doesn’t spoil at room temperature. You can conveniently store a small jar of peanut butter (I personally love the crunchy one, with bits of peanut) in the office drawer. You could easily combine it with crackers, or can have a couple of spoonfuls of the butter on its own, or even eat it with slices of apples. It is quite filling and a powerhouse packed with protein.

7. Banana

Bananas are special. They are a complete meal on their own, being rich in vitamins, carbs and yes, potassium. They help kill the sweet cravings that we often have, and fill you up in a nice sort of way, unlike any other fruit. A couple of bananas down, and you will be satiated for a while. And no, they will not lead to weight gain. This is merely a common pop culture myth around this fruit. It is one of the best healthy budget snacking options ever.

8. Raisins and Other Dried Fruit

Throw some raisin, dried apricot and dried cranberry in your desk for a post-meal sugar craving solution. Some dried fruit towards the evening accompanied with some nuts can fix you well for a couple of hours. Dried fruit is packed with minerals and loads of energy.

9. Carrots

Chewing on something like carrots will give you something to do at your desk. All you need to do is peel a couple of carrots and wrap them in aluminium foil for the evening. You could pair it with peanut butter. The crunchiness and chewy fibrous texture of carrots is quite refreshing when you are all lethargic in the evening.

10. Cottage Cheese Cubes with Condiments

The humble Indian cottage cheese or paneer is not only great in gravies and parathas, but it is delicious on its own too. Cold refrigerated paneer with ground black pepper or roasted cumin powder is a power food, providing you loads of protein and is super filling as well. Just remember to always refrigerate paneer, or it may turn sour, especially in summers.

I hope you find this list of healthy budget snacking options helpful to some extent! It is always a better and more economical option to carry tempting snacks in our own bags, rather than buying some from a counter every single day! I have been a culprit for soooo long. But it is never too late to start, right?

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LAY’S MAXX HOT ‘N’ SOUR PUNCH REVIEW

I am a chips person, through and through. No matter how many cheese balls come and go, no matter how many flavours of nachos they launch, no matter the availability of diet namkeen, I would remain loyal to my favourite starch, potato. Having tried and liked the barbeque flavour of this new (well, not that new anymore, but relatively newer) chip range by Lay’s, called Lay’s Maxx, I spotted a new flavour called Hot ‘N’ Sour Punch and was willing to give it a try.

Packaging: A black packing is a distinguishing feature of the Lay’s Max range. With large fonts on the pack, it’s sort of a declaration of what to expect inside, which are really large cut, almost mountainously ridged potato chips.

Taste: The pack claims that the Lay’s Maxx have “deep ridges” and “intense flavours”, which is the USP of this range. First bite into the chip gives you a hit of spice, and then you get the typical flavours expected in a hot ‘n’ sour range. I could feel a hint of sourness followed by the flavour of lime and a slight something reminiscent of ginger. The overall spice is less than the Magic Masala Lay’s, (which happens to be my favourite flavour till date) and hence, not sufficient to satiate my palate which lovvveesss everything extra spicy and bold. However, the overall flavour lives up to its name and you can actually find it to be both, hot and sour. I would have liked it if the flavour was more intense because you can never be too spicy in India! Also, I like the deep ridged design on the chip as it gives the chip an interesting bite.

Quantity: 58 grams

Price: Rs 30

FFS Rating: 3/5

Try it if:

1. You want to try the deeply ridged Maxx range
2. You like a sour angle in your potato chip

Don’t try it if:

1. You are expecting the spice levels to be equal to the one in your local chip maker’s “mirch wale chips”

Would I re-buy this?: No, as I prefer their Barbeque flavour much more than this one, plus the sour flavour is not my favourite in the world of chips.

Have you tried this new range by Lay’s? Did you like it? Share your views with us!

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CHUPA CHUPS SOUR BITES REVIEW

It was my sister who noticed that the very Indian sounding name “Chupa Chups” is actually a Spanish brand! Did you know, Chupa Chups is one of the oldest lollipop manufacturing companies in the world? And the name Chupa Chups is almost synonymous with a lollipop in Spain (fact: the word chupar means to lick in español, but stop being dirty minded!) So the brand launched in India with a slightly modified version of the traditional lollipop, with a bubblegum filling inside! And then they followed up with Chupa Chups Sour Bites and Sour Belts (I hear they have relaunched Centre Shock, our very favourite crazy sour chewing gum! I’m already salivating!) The company is definitely playing smart by launching innovative products in an otherwise saturated market thronged by local companies. That’s how a stuffed lolli and a sour candy entered our supermarkets!

Packaging: The bite sized candies come in a small, brightly colored packet. The pack is so delightfully colourful that it cheers you up just by looking at it!

How it looks: The candy is equally colourful and pretty appealing to look at! It looks like little pieces of rainbows, to be very imaginative (the order of VIBGYOR gone slightly crazy though :P)! The gummy candy comes in bite sized pieces. There are tiny granules of sugar sprinkled on every piece.

Taste: Once you pop it in your mouth, the sugary granules begin to give you the sour sensation. I wouldn’t call it unbearably sour, but just sour enough initially to open up your senses. If you can recall the sourness factor of Centre Shock, however Chupa Chups Sour Bites candy is about half as sour only. Also, the sourness subsides pretty quickly to leaves behind the sweet, sugary toffee. Frankly, I didn’t like the base candy too much, because once the sourness subsides, the toffee seems like eating sweetened dough (evidently because the toffee is made of maida). Once you pop the second candy, you will not find it that sour. Hence, the initial feel is nice and gives you a kick, but the ending is boring and bland. I would have preferred if the candy was sour too, or at least more pulpy and not as bland. But at this price point, it’s worth a try for your tastebuds!

Price: Rs 30 for 66 grams. Inside the packet, there are some 30 or so pieces of candy.

Try it if: You are fond of experimenting with different kinds of toffee, and particularly if you like sour flavours

Don’t try it if: You are expecting a huge, crazy sour kick.

FFS Rating: 3/5. If it was just a bit more sour, or the base toffee tastier, Chupa Chups Sour Bites would have been a 5 on 5.

Will I be stuffing my mouth with it? Probably yes! It is still an interesting and unique candy in India. Probably they could come up with a Super Sour Bites or something as the next level product?

Have you tried this candy yet? Would you like to try it? Let me know in the comments below!

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Nestle Extra Smooth Chocolate Review, Price India

Smooth. I love this word! Have you noticed how some words are so perfect?! Like ‘Hope’, which always makes me imagine a horizon with a beautiful sunset, with boundless possibilities ahead. The word ‘Glamour’, which just makes one think of high fashion glossies and a ramp! Smooth, for me, is one such pretty word, as it is so perfect, and spontaneously implies something soft and glossy and buttery and beautiful!

Smoothness and chocolate are words which are deeply connected. A chocolate which is smooth is equivalent to a rich experience! Nestle has been launching some new chocolates which are claimed to be slow churned. I recently reviewed Nestle Kit-Kat Senses Dark, which you can read here. Though I wasn’t highly impressed with the wafer chocolate, I decided to give the milk chocolate a try, to know what the slow-churning did to the regular Nestle Milk Chocolate (apart from an exponential increase in the price!!!)

Ingredients: Sugar, Milk solids (22.7%), Cocoa butter, Cocoa solids and Emulsifier (Soya lecithin)

This is what ‘slow-churning’ is all about!

Packaging: A gold plastic foil made my hopes higher! I love golden packaging, especially for chocolates  But sadly, yet again, the inner regular foil is a boring silver one. Nestle, you could learn a lesson from Cadbury.

Nutritional Information: 

Quantity and Price: Rs 40 for 36 grams! That too, for a milk chocolate! Who decides these prices, I wonder…

Appearance: Good news is that the chocolate is quite beautiful! Each piece is a tiny pyramidal structure (tiny tiny pyramid…see the picture!), which enhances the visual appeal.

Taste: Let’s get to main business now, friends! I was expecting the taste to be in line with Galaxy Smooth Milk, which is one of my favourite milk chocolates. This one smells nice and sweet and milky. The taste is very sweet and smooth. In fact it is almost as smooth as Galaxy. It completely melts in the mouth. But something in the taste reminds me of Bournvita! Gosh! In fact it really tastes a lot like Bournvita (well, stealing Bournvita from the kitchen cupboard post lunch has its benefits, you see! And don’t you judge me for still drinking it  ) The good thing is that it is smooth. But the good things end there. It is wayyyy toooo sweet. And the high sugar content just deteriorates the feeling that you are eating chocolate. It doesn’t even come close to a regular Cadbury Milk Chocolate, which, according to me, is the best chocolate in India, with the perfect balance of sugar and cocoa. This Nestle Extra Smooth, despite being Extra Smooth, didn’t impress me. At all.

FFS Munchy Quotient: 2.5/5

Repurchase: Never. I didn’t like it much. I’d rather get a Galaxy.

Final Word: If you really wanna try, then do try, but if you are looking for an out-of-the-world milk chocolate experience, you’ll be severely disappointed. The smoothness factor makes me like it just a bit, but the sugar and the odd malty Bournvita-like taste makes this a complete let down. Better skip it! Oh, and it is expensive at Rs 40!

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Cadbury Bournville Review: Rich Cocoa, Cranberry and Raisin & Nut Review, Price India

Woohoo, it’s Friday! Life seems better on a Friday, I feel most of you would agree. The great feeling of not having to get up early on a Saturday is just the icing on the cake. Plus, we get to live the life that we actually want to live, only on the weekends! But hey! Let’s not be sad. Let’s add some chocolate to our day. I feel that a chocolate makes us feel better pretty instantly. Not only are the antioxidants (in the dark ones at least..) a therapy for the body, but the aroma, the taste, the intoxicating flavour of chocolate culminate into a therapy for the soul.

In India, I find Cadbury chocolates among the best affordable ones. Till a few years back, when it was quite hard to find a Lindt or Godiva in India, I didn’t feel the need for these luxury chocolates so badly if I had my good-ol’ Cadbury in hand.

Bournville came to India quite a few years ago, and I remember being super happy that we finally had a good dark chocolate available so easily! At that time, Bournville had 44% cocoa content. Recently, the entire range was revamped, and even the chocolate has been re-formulated with 50% cocoa (I guess they finally realized that Indians have a thing for dark chocolate, and they want it to really be dark, not a sugar-laden dessert…) I realized that I hadn’t laid my hands on Bournville for quite some time, so got home all 3 variants recently! Let’s see if the new recipe is better or not 

Variants: Right now, the 50% Cocoa Bournville has been launched in 3 variants only. It comes in the classic, Rich Cocoa variant that is plain dark chocolate, there is a Cranberry variant and then there is ‘Raisin & Nut’, which has cashew and raisins embedded in the bar.

Earlier, Cadbury had more variants like Hazelnut and Almond as well…why they haven’t introduced all these is beyond me.

Ingredients and Nutritional Count: Oh well, who checks the calories when having chocolate?? (If you do, we can’t be friends!!) But still, for the records…

Please zoom in a bit! You can click on the picture to enlarge it

Packaging: The regular foil, paper and plastic wrapping. However, like all things Cadbury, the foil is gold, which I always prefer over boring silver. It feels so much more regal!

Quantity and Price: It comes in a small size (for people like me, who need chocolate on the go!). The small size is for Rs 40 and you get 33g of chocolate for that.

The bigger pack is also available.

Appearance: It’s a gorgeous deep ‘cocoa’y brown! Chocolate is so beautiful to even look at!

Taste: Let’s check them out one by one

Rich Cocoa: This variant is my favourite: pure, unadulterated dark chocolate experience. The aroma is amazing and very inviting. The taste is a mix of sweet and dark, justifying the 50% cocoa content. The feeling it gives you is intense. It is very smooth on the palate and you won’t find any grittiness in the texture (some of the cheaper dark chocolates tend to have these coarse feeling in the mouth…). Overall, I love how smooth it is, how it leaves you asking for more, and the aftertaste is also quite nice.

FFS Rating: 4/5 (I just find it a bit too sweet..)

Raisin & Nut: You’ll find some tiny chunks of cashew embedded in the bar. The base chocolate taste is of course, same as Rich Cocoa. And it has some nuts and raisins, which provide another dimension to the texture. A must try if you are fond of nutty chocolates. But yes, the nut bits are quite small, so you won’t find them giving you a very significant taste of cashews. I personally love the raisins in this chocolate, but cashew is hardly there.

FFS Rating: 3.7/5

Cranberry: I was most looking forward to tasting this one. Looking at this bar of chocolate, I thought it was embedded with a lot of cranberries. But after a bite, I realized I was wrong. This one has almonds. Shouldn’t the name have been Cranberry & Almonds then? Well, after eating half the bar of chocolate, I realised that it contains NO CRANBERRIES AT ALL! The label claims that it contain 10% cranberry, so technically, this 33g bar should have had 3 grams of it, but not even 1? What a let down 

FFS Rating: 2.5/5 (Cadbury, you should have named it Almond)

Overall Verdict: A very decent and pocket-friendly dark chocolate. I suggest you go for the Rich Cocoa variant, as it gives you an uninterrupted feel of eating a good dark chocolate. I personally found the other variants a bit disappointing. That being said, I still feel that this is the best budget dark chocolate in India. It wins on the flavour, the smoothness and the trueness of the dark chocolate experience. If you haven’t tried it yet (have you been living under a rock?!) then a MUST TRY.

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Parle Monaco Cracker Sandwich Review, Price: Peanut Butter and Cheese Flavours

Did you know that peanuts are technically not ‘nuts’? They are actually legumes! While personally I don’t like peanuts much, but I’m a big time sucker for peanut butter  So while we are at it, did you know that Americans eat 1.5 billion pounds (which is 680 million kilograms) of peanut butter and peanut products every year! (WOAH!! ) I myself LOVE peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, and they used to be my lunch-time saviour during school and college days… I need to get a bottle of peanut butter soon now!

Parle recently launched these sandwich cracker biscuits under the Monaco line (which I’m sure all of you have had too much of in your lifetime!) in 3 absolutely unusual flavours: Peanut Butter, Cheese and Chocolate. While cheese flavoured biscuits have been explored in India, I think this is the first time that a peanut butter biscuit has been born and brought up here! Really excited to try out these new crackers, I got the Peanut Butter and Cheese flavours. Let’s check out how these fared on our taste-o-meter!

Peanut Butter Variant

Ingredients and Nutritional Count:

Taste: This became my instant favourite! With creamy peanut butter packed between two savoury crackers, it is a delight for the taste-buds, as well as for the stomach, because they actually help you relieve hunger. The peanut butter is creamy and has a hint of nutty sweetness to it. Although launched under the Monaco range, the biscuit they have used is not the original Monaco, but instead is its toned down, less salty and slightly sweet version. This would be my ‘always pick it up when out for grocery shopping’ biscuit! Thank you Parle. I’m indebted! A tiny complaint that I have is that the peanut butter is a bit dry, so I always have to reach for my cup of chai after eating this. But this is not going to stop me from buying this again, as I love it! Though slightly high on calories, you end up eating only 2-3 of these as these are really quite filling.

Price: Rs 25! ONLY! This is for a 100gram pack. This has got to be the most pocket friendly treat I’ve had in recent times. One pack has about 12 sandwich biscuits.

Munchy Quotient: 4.5/5

Cheese Variant

Ingredients and Nutritional Count:

Taste: Another great variant. It has a cheesy creamy sort of filling between the same crackers. This biscuit smells like butter and cheese and dairy! The cheesy filling has a hint of milky sweetness to it, which I liked. This one is also quite filling, and a few biscuits would sail you through the evening very easily. This variant is slightly higher on calories than the peanut butter one (come on, it has cheese!). Recommended for all the cheese lovers!

Price: Rs 30 for 100 grams, which I feel is totally justified and complete value for money

Munchy Quotient: 4/5

Final Word: A MUST TRY! I’m so glad that Indian biscuit is evolving faster than ever, and the importance of innovation is being realized. Grab these amazing crackers whenever you’re out next, I’m sure they will become your evening-favourites too (I even love them in the morning when I’m out of options  )!

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Kit-Kat Senses Dark Review, Price India

Chocolates are my weakness and I’m a self confessed chocolate addict. (All my friends reading this, please note, I accept chocolates gladly on birthday, and other occasions  ) I love it in all forms, be it white, milk or dark, with nuts, raisins, rice crispies, caramel, chilli (I like the Lindt Chili Dark Chocolate too!), anything. But I’m quite choosy about the quality of the chocolate. In fact anyone who loves chocolate would be able to tell the difference between a good and a bad one on the basis of the fundamental taste that it has. And I have had enough experience with bad chocolates in India.

First things first, I’m not extremely fond of wafer chocolates. I buy them least often. To me, the whole point of eating chocolate gets diluted by the wafer, which forms the major bulk of this type of chocolate. However, the advert for the new chocolate by Kit-Kat, called as Kit-Kat Senses, made me a bit curious. For this new range, they claim to have churned the chocolate for a good 12 hours. And slow-churned chocolate is synonymous with a smooth, rich tasting chocolate. So being all determined to try this mysterious new wafer coated with slow-churned chocolate, I asked my sister to get this for me when she went to the mall.

Variants: This comes in the regular Milk chocolate variant (one in the red-wrapper) and the Dark chocolate one (deep brown wrapper). I got the Dark chocolate variant.

Ingredients:

Packaging: It comes packed in a regular foil wrapper colored deep dark brown. I was expecting the chocolate to be wrapped in a luxurious golden foil paper, as it is being marketed as a luxurious range. But I was disappointed to find the chocolate fingers in the same silver foil. Bad, huh?

Nutritional information:

Quantity and Price: Rs 50 for 37.3 grams. This chocolate has 4 regular sized Kit-Kat fingers. Only.

Appearance: Same as your regular Kit-Kat.

Taste: Well, I had really high expectations. I broke a finger from the set and took a bite. Yes, the taste is different. It is definitely nicer than the regular Kit-Kat. You can taste the slightly bitter chocolate coating on the wafer. The chocolate tasted smoother. The aroma and the taste were nice. But, as I had expected, they have made it a bit too sweet, which is what I was afraid of. The wafer is of course the same as your regular Kit-Kat and was crunchy. I would say that it is one of the better wafer chocolates I have tasted. Had it been less sweet, it would have been top-notch.

But alas, my verdict is that this is ultimately only a wafer chocolate. And at Rs 50, one of the more expensive ones in India. Despite tasting better than the other similar chocolates in the market, I would rather buy something more substantial to satiate my chocolate craving.

FFS Munchy Quotient: 2.8/5 (too sweet for my taste-buds, expensive)

Repurchase: Nah. I might accept it as a gift though (  ), or as a freebie. If they reduce the price to Rs 30, I might buy it again. But at Rs 50? Nope.

Final Verdict: If you’re fond of wafery chocolates and want to eat a good one, plus you don’t mind shelling 50 bucks for a wafer chocolate, then please, buy this one all the time. If you, like me, need a full-bodied chocolate instead, then this can be skipped.

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Britannia Good Day Chunkies Review, Price

Chocolate is divine in any form, isn’t it? The saddest and gloomiest situations seem a bit better when you have some chocolate to indulge into.. Nothing good enough for lunch? Follow your regular sandwich with a chocolate, and the afternoon seems better. A fight with a friend? Get some chocolate to soothe your wounds. It has been proven scientifically that chocolates help release the happy hormone, serotonin, in your body. So you automatically feel a bit better when you include some chocolate in your day!

Chocolate chip cookies are one of my favourite things ever. They are my go-to desserts on the go  Any new chocolate chip cookie on the shelves comes home with me as soon as I set my eyes on it  A new launch by Britannia Good Day, their Chunkies chocolate chip cookies seemed quite promising, what with the lovely Deepika Padukone endorsing the cookies (oops! As per the advertisement, it’s not a cookie, it’s Chunkie! :D) I brought these home recently, let’s see how this fared on our meter!

Ingredients and Nutritional Information:

512 cals for 100 grams, that means each cookie is ~85 cals

Packing: These biscuits come in a very luxurious looking box. These days, it has become trendy to launch luxury cookies in a giant box. It does look nice! Inside, all the biscuits are individually wrapped. Full points to the packing.

Quantity and Price: Rs 50 for 100 grams, that’s 6 biscuits only. What’s with this high pricing thing, huh? We expect some decent pricing, are you listening Britannia!

Appearance: A slightly subdued ‘woohoo’ was what came out of my mouth after I ripped open the pack. Why subdued, you ask? The cookie is not as big as I wanted it to be. In fact, I found it quite small in size. But, just FYI, it is quite thick. But a cookie, for me, is good if it is large on the diameter! Being disappointed with size does not mean that it does not look good! It looks very inviting, what with great cracks and huge chocolate chips embedded like jewels!

Taste: The most important parameter. Now let me tell you one thing. I like my chocolate chip cookie to be a typical American styled one. The American choco-chip cookie is a bit soft and crumbles at the drop of a hat. So if you, like me, like your cookie to be soft, then you’ll be disappointed. This one really is just as “chunky” as they claim in the ad. This one is quite hard, and you really need to take a hard bite. It reminds me of Parle Milano, in terms of the size of choco chips it has, but I remember Milano to be softer in texture. Chunky has a slightly artificial vanilla scent, which I didn’t like very much. It has quite a lot of chocolate in it, which is the best part of the deal. The chocolate in it was of a good quality and tasted fine. The overall taste of the cookie is not very sweet, which again gets a thumbs up from me, as they get too carried away by sugar in India, and end up making everything too sweet. In all, I liked the taste, but was let down by the texture, as I personally prefer softer cookies.

The cookie is loaded with chocolate chips, but is small on size..just see the comparison with a Rs 10 coin! And that is the approx. price of one cookie!

FFS Munchy Quotient: 3/5 (It loses on size and texture)

Repurchase: I’m not sure. I might buy once in a while, but not regularly.

Overall Verdict: I would say that if you are fond of choco-chip cookies, then do try this once. You just might like the hard chunky texture! As for me, my search for the perfect (read: affordable, soft and big on size!) chocolate chip cookie in India continues…

How do you like your choco-chip cookie? Have you tried this one by Britannia? Share your experience!

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Cottage Cafe by Smoothie Factory: Review and Best Things to Try!

Roaming in Connaught Place on the weekend is one of my favourite activities ever..Just looking around, absorbing the hustle-bustle, watching families out for shopping, groups of girls giggling, observing people bargaining with a variety of vendors, shopping..and gorging on food at one of the many many restaurants in the place! All this is an integral part of my life.

Smoothie Factory opened up in India last year, with 2 outlets in Delhi. One of them is in Nehru Place and the other in Connaught Place. I decided to check them out after a day’s shopping in CP. With only a rough idea of the location, I started looking for this outlet. It was really hard to locate as I just walked and walked with absolutely no idea where this was! Finally, after asking a number of people, I managed to spot this in the Cottage Emporium building, which is just opposite to McDonald’s in Janpath.

Well, a little frustrated I was, as I was too tired from all the walking, but all the tiredness vanished as I entered the place. It was so colourful! All the interiors were in youthful, zingy hues of orange, yellow and green.  Certainly designed keeping the young crowd in mind. The seating space is a little less from my perspective, but the outlet is not very large so this can’t be helped. But we did manage to find seats on a weekend. Probably the place is not very popular yet, that’s why.

Bright interiors make the place lively!

Ambience and Staff: The music was good, the lighting was good too! The view from their glass door is amazing..all green! And a major plus is that, since they are not in a very visible location and not many people know about it, the crowd was a bit less. The place is self-service based. The staff was good; they helped me make a nice choice in waffles so they know their stuff well. The overall vibe of the place was really nice! It is cozy, and an apt place for long conversations, catching up with an old buddy or a date!

Food: They offer a variety of shakes, smoothies (of course), fresh fruit juices, frozen yoghurt or Froyo, salads, focaccia sandwiches, pasta, waffles and flatbreads. I and my friend had not eaten anything since morning, so we ordered a bit of a lot of things.

Southwest Paneer Flatbread

The Southwest Paneer Flatbread (Rs. 139) was quite good. It was almost a very thin crust pizza, loaded with a lot of jalapenos and quite a lot of paneer and corn. Thank god, it had a good amount of toppings. The base was a bit chewy, but otherwise it was good.

Peri Peri Chicken Focaccia Sandwich

Then came the Peri Peri Chicken Focaccia Sandwich (Rs 229). The portion size was quite small..The filling was good however. It was actually quite spicy! But that’s what I loved. It was grilled well, and was quite filling. However, I found it expensive.

The smoothies were a delight! And healthy too!

We had smoothies to accompany our meal. Their ‘Island Delight’ smoothie (Small: Rs 109) had a significant taste of oranges and banana, and I found it decent. The helping size was also fine. The taste of banana and oranges together felt nice! The ‘Factory Original Smoothie’ (small: 149) completely stole the show. It had strawberries, peaches, pineapple, papaya, banana etc. I completely loved it! It tasted mostly of strawberries and peaches, the flavour was awesome! All in all, the smoothies were the showstoppers. I’m surely going to try more of them.

Banana and Walnut Waffle

The last thing, and the best thing of the day was their multigrain waffle! I was quite confused by the array of waffles they had..so I ended up asking the staff. They recommended Banana and Walnut Waffle (Rs 119 for Half), with which they suggest caramel sauce. So I decided to go with it. The waffle was crisp on the outside and had a lovely banana flavour inside. It was served hot, and had walnuts sprinkled on top. It was a visual delight! The caramel sauce (I asked for extra!) was complementing it really well. It was the perfect ending to the meal. The waffle is something I’m going to have everytime I visit Smoothie Factory!

Store Location: Get to Janpath flea market in CP, keep walking towards Saravana Bhavan and McDonalds. Across the road is the red building of Cottage Emporium, and inside the complex is where you’ll find Smoothie Factory.

What to Try: Do taste their waffles and smoothie. I also want to try their Froyo, which they offer at Rs. 1.09/gram.

Value for Money: The sandwiches were not, and they could be priced cheaper. The waffle, though, was a steal! So overall, I would say it was satisfactory.

Munchy Quotient: 4/5

Final Word: This would be my go-to place from now, instead of McDonald’s or KFC. Though a bit difficult to locate, you won’t regret if you try the good things on their menu! Do drop in if you want a not-so-crowded place without spending a huge sum, and some good food!

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Sunny Sunday at Naturals Ice Cream – Connaught Place: Review and All Details!

What Gelato is to Italy, Naturals is to India! And finally when an outlet opened up close by for me to explore, I couldn’t resist! On a recent visit to Connaught Place, I had my heart’s content of Naturals ice cream. I had heard a lot about this place as a ‘Must Visit’, when you are in Mumbai. This place is extremely popular among the food buffs all over as THE place for some authentic, real fruit ice cream. Well, I couldn’t visit this in Mumbai, but I got all excited when I knew they were here!

The store has opened up in the Outer Circle of CP, in L-Block. The store is reallllyyy large for an ice cream parlor. They have a ground floor seating as well as some overhead seating space. The place was jam-packed on the sunny Sunday that I went.

This brand started out in Juhu, Mumbai

I really wasn’t aware of all the hype until I went in and read all the boards that they had displayed. Honesty, all I knew was that they had all natural ice creams in fruit flavours. What I didn’t know was that they have a number of imitators! I guess they really want to claim they are THE ORIGINAL Naturals, as ‘Original’ was the word I could read everywhere!

‘Original’ is their favourite word! Features everywhere!

Next thing that blew me away was the sheer variety of flavours. From the regular Mango, Strawberry to the very rare and unheard of Sharifa, Mulberry, Chikoo, Watermelon, Tender Coconut, and, hold your breath, Jackfruit! But they do not have a Vanilla..boohoo.. 

Naturals Menu

They have this 2015 Berry Festival going on till the end of January, in which they have all these limited edition flavours – Cranberry, Raspberry, Black Currant, Mulberry and Blueberry.

• Ambience and Service: The place was pleasant, with a lot of material to read! They had this story of Naturals Ice Cream on their wall, and some more everywhere I looked..not bad! I like a place filled with little nuggets of information. The staff was friendly. I requested tasting multiple flavours and the girl serving me had a smile..despite the crowd! They had apparently run out of regular ice cream cones though..that was bad. So I had to get the waffle one. One major problem that I did notice was that, since they have advertised ALL their flavours- even the seasonal ones which they don’t have right now- there remains confusion among the customers. The customers ask for all the unusual seasonal flavors, and then get disappointed since those are not available. I guess something could be done about it, as it leads to bad publicity.

• Taste: The most important parameter! I tasted quite a few flavours – Cranberry, Raspberry, Blueberry, Tender Coconut, Roast Almond – before buying my scoop. I quite liked their unusual tasting ice cream. It was unlike any I have ever tasted in my life! The taste is really milky and smooth..unlike the regular ice cream which are loaded with a lot of synthetic flavours. Naturals ice cream completely lacked the base vanilla aroma that every ice cream in India has. I believe they do not add any chemical colors as well, since none of their ice creams had scintillating colors, they seemed really natural in appearance. I bought Tender Coconut and Blueberry in their waffle cone. At Rs 55 and Rs 60 respectively and + Rs 10 each for the waffle. The scoop was a generous sized, real value for money quantity. Tender coconut is one of their most popular flavours, and as per their hoardings, one that they invented. This was a creamy white colored ice cream with shredded tender coconut mixed in. Very unusual, and I found it quite hearty and tasty. Might not be a favourite for everyone, so I recommend that you do taste before buying. The blueberry one had a bright blue-purple color and real blueberries thrown in a good measure. The fruit seemed a bit frozen to me, but you do get good chunks of the fruit in your bite. This also had a very milky base taste. The flavours are not ‘in-your-face’. They are mild, but real.

Tender Coconut and Blueberry Ice Cream!

• Price: The regular range is priced at Rs 55 for a scoop in a cup or a normal cone. Rs 10 extra for the waffle cone. Some premium range is also there, such as the Berry ones right now, which are at Rs 60 per scoop. They also offer take-away packing of 500ml at some Rs 275.

• Store Location: L-Block, Connaught Place. The other outlet in Delhi is in GK-2

• Worth the Hype? Well, you should definitely try once. Up to you whether you like it enough for the second round. I’m definitely going back for more. I liked the new flavours, the new feeling that this ice cream gave me. I’ll try some chocolate ones next  And some more unusual fruity flavours (dunno whether I’ll ever have the courage to try the jackfruit ice cream though!!)

• Value for Money: Certainly! The scoops are quite big compared to your Gelato Italiano. Plus, I liked the taste and the variety! The novelty counts too!

• Final Word: Do visit once for tasting the all natural ice cream. And if you got all excited over Burger King coming to India, let’s support a nice Indian brand for a change 

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Britannia Nutri Choice Heavens Cookies Review: ‘Banana and Almonds’ and ‘Cranberry’ Variants

It is Christmas today! A very Happy Christmas to you all  Christmas is my most favourite festival of the year, with the chill in the air and festivities all around, beautiful Christmas tree decorations everywhere, Santa Claus roaming in streets and malls! The cheer and happiness is so tangible!

Britannia came up with this really cute advertisement for their new range of luxury cookies called Heavens! And I feel they have been launched with the correct tone in their ad..the background vocals feels so wintry, and heavenly. The promo shows all the great ingredients of the cookie, such as cranberries, bananas and almonds flying up to heaven. The jingle goes like, “Good things go to..Heaven!!” I loved this promo, and everything about it felt so right for me to go and pick up this box of cookies ASAP!

They have been launched in two variants: One with ‘Almonds, Bananas and Oats’ and the other with ‘Cranberries and Oats’.

So did the cookie live up to the high expectations I had set? Read on..

Ingredients and Nutritional Count:

Packing: The cookies come packed in this cardboard box, with a huge cookie drawn on it. They have pictures of all the cookie ingredients on it. They have written how good these cookies are, on the box side.

Within, all the cookies are individually packed. Think on the lines of Sunfeast Dark Fantasy and Sunfeast Delishus cookies, which also come individually packed. These types of cookies are great to carry around, as you can drop one in your handbag, or a couple in your laptop bag for on-the-way munching. Plus, you don’t have to worry about half-eaten packs becoming soggy.

Quantity and Price: Rs 50 for 100 grams. The huge carton made me think there would be a number of biscuits inside, but to my dismay, it had only 6 cookies. Seriously? One cookie for more than Rs 8?? What were you thinking Britannia?

Taste: Have you tried Sunfeast Delishus? These cookies have been launched in competition with those most definitely. I have tried both of these, and found these quite similar in appearance and texture.

Almond and Banana Variant: I was really excited to try this as I totally love the flavour of banana. I adore banana and walnut muffins and even banana ice cream! But where was banana in this? I only found a mild scent of banana in the cookie. I was thinking more in terms of this cookie having real, dried banana chunks. But on reading the ingredients closely, this has only 1.4% ‘Banana Powder’!!! I mean WHATTT?? I have been let down severely. It does have almonds, and yeah you can feel them and even see them. But I wasn’t particularly overwhelmed by the taste of this variant. It was quite OKish. You can see real big oat chunks too. So if you want a cookie with the goodness of oats and just almonds, then go for this. But yeah, at Rs 8 per cookie, this is quite pricey.

Cranberry Variant: After tasting the banana variant, I had low expectations from this one. But I was pleasantly surprised! This one really contains big, actual dry cranberries. And no, this one didn’t let me down, as it had at least 3-4 good sized cranberries in each cookie. This also contains visibly big chunks of oats. I really liked the taste of this one, atleast 10 times better than the banana one. At least I’m consoled by the fact that some good (and expensive!) fruit went into making this one. So I feel this one is more value for money (check the prices of dried cranberries in any store, and you would know what I mean!). Plus, I like the chewiness that a cranberry brings to the biscuit, making it more versatile in terms of texture.

The overall cookie texture is quite nice, and you don’t feel that you’re eating a flour laden biscuit (like Marie or Nice..). I feel these are great to have in your evening coffee break in the office, or when you want to eat something while commuting.

Rating:

Banana Variant: 2.5/5

Cranberry Variant: 4/5

Repurchase: I would spend my buck on the cranberry variant only. It is one good biscuit to try!

Overall Verdict: Only the cranberry variant met the high expectations that I had after the really cute advertisement. They are a bit expensive too. The banana one could have been made so much better. But this cookie is a fresh change from the usual biscuits on the market. And it is, to a certain degree, ‘Heaven’ly! 

Have you tried this cookie? Do you love banana walnut muffins? Do share your experience!

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My Love-Affair with Hazelnuts

I’m a major foodie. It is a very difficult task for me to control my obsession with delicious things  I have a love-hate relationship with nuts and dry-fruits though. Being an Indian, it is almost customary for every home to have a bowl full of almonds soaked in water kept overnight, to be peeled and had in the morning. And I never ate these, as the almond loses its crunch. I love raisins and cashewnuts though. Peanuts are another matter…Ah, well. I discovered the magic of Hazelnut when I ate my first Ferrero Rocher when I was a kid. And it left me asking for more. And I never even knew what this nut was called back then!

It was quite later that I learnt that this gorgeously crunchy nut was called a Hazelnut. Though I found it quite similar in texture to almond, but there is something about things that are not easily available, that make them so enchanting. Hazelnuts were never easily found in our grocery shops, as these are not native to India, nor are they grown here. I was always on the look out, nevertheless! Maybe, some day, they might appear magically on a local shop’s shelf. But they didn’t come. I had to quench this thirst with an occasional Ferrero Rocher, or a Hazelnut Galaxy chocolate. Nutella served it’s purpose too, but since it only had Hazelnut flavor and no real Hazelnut, it didn’t satisfy me.

Then, I had an opportunity to go abroad. And it was there, in ICA supermarket store, that I ran to a store assistant, and asked, “Do you have Hazelnuts?”  And I heard the thrilling answer, “Yes Miss.” And I bought my first bagful of Hazelnuts!

The round cute nuts, sometimes a creamy white or a nutty yellow, when completely peeled, or a decadent lovely striated bown, with the skin on, are a beautiful thing to even look at! The nut, sometimes whole, or at times when the nut falls apart into two, is so delicious. Their scent is heavenly, I sometimes feel like having a perfume of this sort.

Since then, my beloved Hazelnut has also hit my local market, although steeply priced, but I don’t mind buying it, I’m just glad that I can go and buy it whenever I run out 

I can gorge on them at any time of the day, without any regret, as it is healthy with a lot of good fats and vitamins. It can be added to muffins, cakes or cookies for their beautiful flavour and texture. Hazelnut coffee is something that I just sort of like, but not love, as the flavours seem artificial to me somewhat. I toss them into salads and with pancakes too, as they make evrything seem a lot crunchier and tastier.

My love for the Hazelnut is eternal.

Do you like them as much as I do? Share your crunchy memories with me!

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