Taste Testing Irish Snacks For the Very First Time!

You all know I love a good taste test. Especially an international one. And what better way to start out a new month than with a new international taste test? And how about one from none other than the Emerald Isle aka Ireland, home of B*Witched, Guinness, and Saorsie Ronan? And the homeland of Conan O’Brien, who I personally love and think is the best late night host ever (don’t at me, because I will win. Team Coco forever!).

Now, I’ve already done a SnackCrate taste test before of British snacks and candy, but that was a one off box from their store. SnackCrate (totally not an ad!) offers you a one time trial size box for a $1 (which I paid for myself, thank you very much!), in hopes that you will buy a full subscription to their snacks. And if I had the money, I totally would! (Want to sponsor me, SnackCrate??) Because I was so impressed by their packaging and selection! Plus, it even comes with a card describing the country of the box, plus fun facts about said country, and it includes descriptions of the items! (Probably very helpful if the country’s native language is not English, which is probably 98% of all other countries in the world. We English speaking people really take everything for granted.)

I honestly had so much fun taste testing this box, plus they included more snacks than the original five they said they would (thanks, SnackCrate!), and the box came with fun Irish themed stickers (which I’m totally giving to my niece for St. Patrick’s Day), plus the contents of the box were wrapped with the cutest Irish themed paper, sealed with a circular Irish flag sticker. I’m a sucker for good packaging and SnackCrate nailed it. Plus, SnackCrate sent me TWO brands of cheddar and onion crisps, so I think we may have a crisp taste test battle on our hands!

Let’s get tasting!

Taytos Cheddar and Onion Crisps

What Is It/What’s In It? Crunchy Irish potato chips (or crisps, if you want to be totally Irish) flavored with vintage Irish cheddar and onion.
How Does It Taste? Delicious! I’ve had cheese and onion chips/crisps in my British snack taste test (again, by SnackCrate. Wanna collab, guys?), but I’ve had previously heard of Tayto, a very Irish crisp brand from Conan O’Brien, on his show. He visited an Irish American Cultural Center in Chicago and was teasing the people who ran it on how many packs of Taytos they had stocked there. So for a while, my sister and I would just randomly say, “Taytooooo!” to each other in a fake Irish accent, mimicking Conan. (I really love Conan, you guys)
Would I Eat It Again? Yes, please, thank you. I personally like rippled chips better, but the taste and cut of these chips were perfectly crunchy and lovely, so 10/10 would eat again. Why don’t they sell these here in grocery stores in the States??

StarBar

What Is It/What’s In It? A milk chocolate candy bar with caramel and crushed roasted peanuts.
How Does It Taste? Pretty good! I was a little thrown off by the crushed peanuts because they almost mimicked the texture of rice crispies, which made me check the ingredient list to see if there were any in there! But the caramel was nice and stretchy and there was LOTS of it!
Would I Eat It Again? I enjoyed it, but it didn’t knock my socks off. I personally like whole peanuts for the texture better, so maybe if they had peanut halves instead of crushed peanuts, I probably would eat it again. But I’m a picky American who loves my peanuts, so what can I do?

Snack! Shortcake Bar

What Is It/What’s In It? A Cadbury (so you know it’s gonna be good) bar with buttery shortbread squares covered in chocolate.
How Does It Taste? Um, so freaking amazing! It tasted really similar to Keebler’s Fudge Stripes cookies or those Girl Scout cookies that were shortbread that had the bottom of the cookie covered in chocolate (those existed, right? I’m not just making them up?). But I don’t know if it was the shortbread or the silky chocolate but they almost reminded me a tad bit of Maltesers. I have no idea why, because they didn’t taste malty, but I couldn’t help but think of them as I ate them.
Would I Eat It Again? Yes! These were a total winner! Shortbread and chocolate? You can’t go wrong!

Snack! Sandwich Bar

What Is It?/What’s In It? The same ingredients as the Snack! Bar, but a sandwich version! Two shortbread biscuits/cookies with sandwiches together with chocolate, and then covered in chocolate. *drools*
How Does It Taste? Just like the regular Snack! bar version, but a bit more hearty, since the biscuits/cookies were thicker plus there was more chocolate.
Would I Eat It Again? Um, heck yes! I don’t know which Snack! version I liked more, but I would happily eat them both again, with no hesitation whatsoever.

Oatfield Glucose Barley Hard Candy

What Is it?/What’s In It? A hard candy flavored like Glucose Barley. My options were either of getting Chocolate Orange or Glucose Barley. They gave me Glucose Barley. So basically it's a sweet wheat treat. You guys, I’m scared.
How Does It Taste? You know, it wasn’t too bad! It honestly just tasted like a lemon cough drop without the menthol, or just a lemon flavored candy with barely any lemon in it. So not as scary as I was expecting, but not at all flavorful (which is maybe a good thing…?)
Would I Eat It Again? Most likely not. Sorry, Glucose Barley!

Elite Kimberley

What Is It?/What’s In It? Sweet cookies topped with marshmallows and dipped in milk chocolate.
How Does It Taste? You know, this sounded really, really good, like American Moon Pies, but once I tasted it, something tasted a bit odd to me. It wasn’t the chocolate or the marshmallow, but it was more like the cookies themselves. Like something it was flavored with something a little heavier than just a simple cookie. I had to Google the cookie itself and discover the cookies are flavored with ginger! Huh.
Would I Eat It Again? Honestly, probably not. The heaviness and almost mealiness of the ginger cookies (which really doesn’t taste like ginger to me) isn’t very appealing to me. But I love the idea of these and just wish I liked them more!

ChewIts Xtreme Sour Apple Chews

What Is It?/What’s In It? Sweet chews that are tart but end up sweet at the end. I had the option of either getting Sour Apple or Tutti Frutti, and they gave me Sour Apple. Thank god.
How Does It Taste? It tasted like my childhood! I used to love sour apple flavored things, so eating one of these was like revisiting my youth. The pieces were individually wrapped (for some reason I just thought it would be one long piece of chewy candy, like a huge Laffy Taffy), and was really tasty! Not too sour, with just enough sweet. Plus, on the package it says it's suitable for vegetarians, which is something you don't often see on candies in the States.
Would I Eat It Again? As much as I enjoyed this nostalgia trip, I’m more of a chocolate fan now if I’m going to eat sweets. Though I do love the little alligator/crocodile (or is a dinosaur?) mascot they’ve got going on. We need more branding like that in the world!

Hunky Dorys Cheddar and Spring Onion

What Is It?/What’s In It? Ripple-cut crisps flavored with cheddar cheese and spring onion.
How Does It Taste? Yummy! I love me some ripple-cut chips, and these tasted really good. Like Ruffles but with a much better cheese and onion flavor (possibly even better than cheese and sour cream? Don’t tell anyone I said that!)
Would I Eat It Again? Ooh yes! These should be a requirement in the chip bowl at any party in Ireland. (Do Irish people have chip bowls at parties? I thought that was just a thing everyone did!)

But which crisps/chips win in this ultimate battle? Tayto or Hunky Dorys? In my opinion, it has to be... Tayto! As much as I love ripple-cut chips, I loved the aged cheddar flavor of Tayto more, plus the kettle style of the chips gave them a great crunch. The Hunky Dorys ones seemed to have a more powdery flavoring covering them, which made them taste more artificial (but still tasty!). Tayto is the clear winner for me!

And that was my taste test of Irish snacks! I’d say this SnackCrate sample box was really varied and had some great tasting (and not so great tasting) snacks and candy in it! I wish I was able to buy more of these sample sizes, but I understand why they want you to try one and then get a full subscription (they wouldn’t be making very much money if everyone was just buying $1 boxes!). But SnackCrate, again, if you’d like to send me a full box to review I’d love to try it and post about it! *wink wink* *nudge nudge* *mouths “Email me”*

And if you love reading about my taste tests, feel free to check out my Ko-fi page, where you can donate a cup of coffee so I can keep making more posts like this! (No pressure though! You have no idea  how much people just reading and commenting on my blog means to me! But just in case you were wondering, I do have a current goal I’m trying to reach on my Ko-fi page which I'm trying to reach, if you're at all interested!)

I hope you enjoyed this very Irish themed taste testing post! What did you think of the snacks and candy and the variety of them? If you’re Irish, do you eat any of these treats? Also, what kind of international snacks should I try next? I have still yet to try Irn-Bru and it intrigues me! Let me know what you think in the comments!

Pin It!

Unboxing: Cherry Wallis & Geek Gear's Curation of Magical Curiosities CHRISTMAS Box

It’s the most wonderful time of the year… meaning my Curation of Magical Curiosities Christmas box from Cherry Wallis and Geek Gear finally came! If you haven’t seen my first review/unboxing of Cherry’s first collab with Geek Gear, you can read it here. But for Cherry and Geek Gear’s second collab, they did a Christmas edition of the Curation of Magical Curiosities box and I couldn’t be more thrilled! What’s better than Harry Potter at any time? Harry Potter at Christmas time!

Before we begin, for those of you who may not know, Cherry Wallis is a British YouTuber who focuses on all things Harry Potter (and who I adore so you should go subscribe to her!) and Geek Gear is a British based subscription box company who has a fan-based (not official) Wizardry Box. Cherry and Geek Gear teamed up to do the first one time box of Curation of Magical Curiosities box back in late August/early September, and right after I received my box (and posted my review!), Cherry announced that she would be doing another Curation of Magical Curiosities box, but this time it was Christmas themed! So I just knew I had to get it. (Treat yo self, right??)

Cherry and Geek Gear offered it in a classic sized box with seven items in it or a Maxima box with eleven items in it, but both still very magical. I decided on the Maxima box (again, treat yo self and also an early Christmas present to myself!). I’ve been trying my hardest not to see any spoilers until I opened my own box (which is very difficult because people in England always get theirs first, and Cherry did her own unboxing of the Christmas edition on her channel, so it was torture NOT to watch), but the owl post finally delivered it this week and I am ready to share my thoughts and excitement about the box!

*FYI, I bought this box with my own money, so all opinions and thoughts about it are my own. And still would be even if this box or any other subscription box was gifted to me. Ahem, subscription box companies!*

**Also, I again apologize for my photography skills. There’s only so much my phone plus a photo editing app can do!**

First, the box came in wrapping and I, of course, was very excited to see the Royal Mail sign on it. It’s official! It came from England! My anglophile/Harry Potter heart was aflutter!

And then came the box itself! It looked just like the first one, except for a giant Christmas bow on top. Plus, it came with a poster tube along with it in the bag. I vaguely remember Cherry tweeting saying that one of the items didn’t arrive on time, and that makes me wonder if that’s why the tube wasn’t in the box. (Or if it just didn't fit! Most likely that it didn't fit.) But what could be in said box and tube?? Let’s open and see!

The first thing I saw when I opened the box was a bunch of Christmas colored “wiggly worms,” as Cherry calls them, along with what looks to be a card wishing Neville a Happy Christmas (I always love the British way of saying “Happy Christmas” instead of “Merry Christmas!”). So cute!

On the back of the Christmas card for Neville, there was a note from Cherry:

“Dear Friend,

‘I couldn’t risk sending Hedwig. Ever since the World Cup the Ministry’s been intercepting more and more owls and she’s too easily recognised.' - Sirius

That reminds me, did you feed the owl upon arrival? It’s quite cold this winter and it’s flown quite the journey to get to you.

I can’t believe the festive season has arrived, it’s the most wonderful time of year don’t you think?

This year has been filled with such magic, and our community is thriving. Our Wizarding World has some of the most incredible, passionate, and kindhearted wizards and witches within it, and I’d like to say a huge thank you for all of your support with the Curation of Magical Curiosities this year.

I wish you all a Merry Christmas, and a very magical New Year!

Always,

Cherry”

How sweet! Cherry is such a sweetheart and so sincere and lovely! I know she puts her heart and soul and all of her creative juices into these boxes, so I know I can expect nothing but the best from her! I couldn’t wait to see what was next.

After lifting up Neville’s Christmas card, I got to see the box. So many packages of various sizes and lots of wiggly worms!

I picked up this small package first, which I thought was adorable. I loved the designs on the box, with the flying keys, snitches, stars, and snowflakes! But to my great surprise was what was in the box!

It was a flying key ornament! I’ve been dying to do my own little Harry Potter themed Christmas tree and have been collecting ornaments for it for a few years now, but have been wanting a flying key to put on it! I even bought a key ornament to make my own flying key, but now I have an official one! And I love how it even has the Deathly Hallows set into the top! What a great little way of making it even more Harry Potter-esque! And of course, Cherry would have included a flying key, since she loves them so much! They’re honestly one of my favorite images from the books/movies, too.

After a great start to the box, I moved on to the next little package. I loved the design of this one as well. It looked like just a simple box that an owl might deliver, brown and covered with string. I thought it was a cute touch to have the Owl Post stamp on the top, too! But I was even more thrilled to see what was inside!

It was Neville’s Remembrall! This must have gone with his Christmas card! In case you’ve forgotten, Neville received this from his Gran in the first book/movie, and the Remembrall glows red if you’ve forgotten something. Mine is clear, thank goodness, so I haven’t forgotten anything important just now, but the design and quality, even though it’s plastic, is just so amazing!

Next up was a pin! If you don’t have a pin in a Harry Potter subscription box, is it really a Harry Potter subscription box? This one was so cute! It’s a Christmas wreath, with the Hogwarts “H” on top, a lightning bolt dangling in the middle, and a snitch at the bottom. Plus, they have little faux House colored jewels on it and in the green of the wreath, there’s a Deathly Hallows symbol, plus glasses, snitches, stars, and lightning bolts. It’s so festive and jolly! I know Cherry loves her pins and I’m sure she’s thrilled to add this to her collection, just as I am! She designed it with Amelia, who you can find over on Instagram as @Amelia_B83.

Another box I picked up was a checkered box with a crown on it. Hmm. I was genuinely confused to see what could be on the inside until I opened it. Duh! Of course!

It was a queen chess piece from Wizard’s chess! Now the crown makes sense! I’ve never been a chess fan, but I loved in the first book how Ron teaches Harry how to play the pretty violent Wizard version of chess, and we all remember in the first movie how appalled Hermione is when she sees Ron and Harry playing it during Christmas time. (“Hermione: That’s totally barbaric!” Ron: “That’s Wizard’s chess!” The detail on the queen is pristine and so defined. I’m very impressed by how quality it looks! Wow, I honestly can’t wait to display this piece, (Wizard’s) chess fan or not. (Also, I like how worried she looks. Literally me as a chess piece.)

After the queen chess piece, I saw a pretty giant wrapped present. Ooh! I was intrigued! What was inside? It seemed pretty soft…

It was a Molly Weasley-inspired scarf! It’s nice and long and has the perfect 70’s colored yarn that just screams “Molly Weasley made this!” Thankfully, the 70’s colors translate well to autumnal colors, with the orange, darker reds, and very dark green. I honestly was really surprised and pleased at how nice and authentic this piece is. I can’t wait to add it to my scarf collection and finally get to wear it when it cools off here! (It’s still not that cold out here in the desert.)

The next item was wrapped in bubble wrap, so I had a pretty good hunch it was going to be a bit fragile. And when I unwrapped the bubble wrap, the most pretty decorated box was awaiting me. Could it be Yule Ball themed with those colors and two dancers at the bottom?

Yes, it was! And not only that, it was a clear glass pumpkin juice bottle, inspired from the fourth film! With a blue bottom and a silver snowflake on the side, this bottle looks like it was just picked up by a student after a night at the Yule Ball! I even love how the pumpkin stopper on top comes off! If you’ve been to the Harry Potter Studio Tour at Universal Studios, you’ll have seen very similar bottles like this at their Yule Ball set up, and I’m sure Cherry was inspired by it. I absolutely love the item and the craftsmanship of it is just off the charts!

Could it get better than the Yule Ball version of a bottle of pumpkin juice? Possibly! The next box probably has my favorite design out of all of the packages included in this entire box. It looks like a package wrapped up in brown paper, but with white holly leaves and red berries decorating the paper. With tied printed string and a tag that says “Happy Christmas, Harry!” and “Happy Christmas, Ron!” on it, I was absolutely dying to know what was inside if it was for both of them.

It was a set of gloves! One blue with an “H” on it for Harry, and the other maroon with an “R” on it for Ron! Inspired by the famous sweaters that Molly Weasley makes for all of her children (including her surrogate son Harry), I now have the cutest pair of mismatched best friend gloves! Too cute! Also, my style has always been a bit on the quirky side, so having two mismatched gloves isn’t so far off for me (no wonder I’m a Ravenclaw!).

The next item I saw was a Chudley Cannon pennant! Chudley Cannons is Ron’s favorite Quidditch team that seems to always lose their matches, but Ron loves them anyway. I remember in the books Ron’s bedroom at home is decorated all orange in honor of Chudley Cannons, which seemed to clash with his ginger hair. But I can see Ron hanging this pennant up next to his bed in the Gryffindor dormitory! So original and a great display piece!

I then saw a rather long and shiny/glittery envelope (which was super hard to take a picture of, so forgive me for not having one) and inside was an invitation to the Yule Ball!

Both sides of it are utterly gorgeous, with shiny gold foiling designs and the prettiest blue color, and it then opens up to reveal details about the Yule Ball, including the date, what to wear, etc. According to Cherry it was designed by Danny from MuggleMagicDIY. What a gorgeous replica! I feel like I’ve been invited to the Ball myself and now have to find a date. Um. Awkward. I now know how Harry felt trying to ask Cho, getting rejected, and then trying to find another date. I think maybe I’ll just go with some gal friends and focus on what dress robes I’ll wear!

The poster at the very bottom of the box that I had to literally turn the box upside down to get (worth it!), was of a lovely painting of a Howler (if you can call a Howler lovely), painted by Miss Cherry Wallis herself! In the first Curation of Magical Curiosities box, she painted a very pretty picture of a Mandrake, which I love, and this Howler print is no exception. I can’t wait to put it up for all to see!

And for the last item (sad!), I finally picked up the poster tube to see what was inside. And lo and behold, it was in fact a poster! For the Yule Ball!

Created by the same person who designed the Yule Ball invitation, Danny from MuggleMagicDIY, this poster is so gorgeous, I’m honestly in shock! It was hard to take a picture of, since I had to use items to prop it open, or else it would keep curling, haha. But it described what would happen at each stroke of the hour, such as “At the First Wand Stroke, Lead Your Partner to the Dance Floor” and “At the Fourth Wand Stroke, Witch and Wizard of the Ball Will Be Announced.” So creative and beautiful! I also liked how at the bottom is said “Strictly Dress to Impress. See Professor McGonagall for details.” Danny really hit it out of the park with this one! I honestly can’t wait to frame this one. Actually, I think I have a lot of framing to do in my future from these boxes!

And last but not least, the cheat sheet with all the information about the items by Cherry!

All in all, the Christmas edition of Curation of Magical Curiosities Maxima version had eleven items and I honestly was so impressed by each and every one of them! They were all so Christmas-y and winter-y! Cherry outdid herself once again! It’s going to be so hard for me to pick which one I loved the most, because I loved each and every one of them in their own way. I definitely loved the glass Yule Ball pumpkin juice bottle. So beautiful! But I also loved the flying key ornament (again, perfect for my mini Harry Potter Christmas tree!), the Remembrall, the Harry and Ron gloves, and the Yule Ball poster. Okay, basically, I just love them all! And I'm not going to lie, I'm going to keep ALL of these amazing packages the items came in! I just love the designs, I can't throw them out! Cherry has such great taste that I knew her boxes would be fantastic and they’re basically the only Harry Potter subscription boxes I buy (unless a Harry Potter subscription box would like to send me a free box or two in exchange for an honest review. Ahem…).

That was my unboxing and review of Cherry Wallis and Geek Gear’s Curation of Magical Curiosities Christmas edition Harry Potter box! It really got me in the mood for the upcoming holiday season and I really, really hope she ends up doing another box! What did you think of all of the fun trinkets that were inside?? Which one was your favorite? And let me know if you watch Cherry Wallis and have bought one of her boxes before! I’d love to know!

Stay Weird!

Pin It!