Australia 2013: Lil' Sweet Treats

There is quite possibly, no hope for a post on my trip to Australia earlier in July (it's been almost 4 months now). But, I will be posting bits from that trip. Well, bits that I brought back to Singapore. Sweet treats that I didn't want to blog about till I have actually tasted them. I wanted to accumulate a number of eaten treats before I did a post (*ahem* not because the treats were near their expiry date *cough cough*).

First up on the menu, Pantheon Nougat Macadamia Bar. I bought it at the Caversham Wildlife Park's souvenir shop. You can't miss the shop cause you'll have to go through it to exit the park. Yet, the nougat wasn't overly expensive. The price was reasonable & rather tasty, might I add. It's a tad sweeter than the other brand of nougat I bought (you'll see it soon) and a lot softer / yielding as well. Given Singapore's weather, all the chocolates and nougat I brought back from Australia softened within hours of touch down. *sigh*

repackaged by yours truly! *grins* just look at the macadamia nuts! 

That (the above photo) is not the original packaging. Well yeah, the wrapper is. But not the bottle / jar it's taped around. The nougat comes as a really long bar, like Bettenay's nougat, which I would then cut up into bite-sized pieces and put into a glass container. Any airtight container ought to work just as well though. I just happen to have a glass jar / bottle / container lying around.

Next up is Bettenay's, Margaret River Nougat Company. I bought 3 bars of nougat at the Nougat Co. Would have bought more if I knew I would wind up liking it this much! But then, they don't seem to have a long enough shelf life. The ones I bought expires in just a few weeks shy of 6 months (bought in July).

the bars were put into this netting you'd normally see for apple or oranges

1 x bar of Cranberry & Pistachio Nougat would have expired in October.
1 x bar of Chocolate Hazelnut Swirl Nougat expires in December.
1 x bar of Wildberry & Macadamia Nougat expires in December.

Now I'm pretty certain you can make an accurate guess on which flavor nougat I sliced up first. heh~ No prizes for getting it right!

half sliced up bar of Bettenay's Cranberry & Pistachio Nougat

Which I promptly transferred into a clear container (the same type of container that I used for the Pantheon Nougat & the rest of the nougats to come).

(´ q ` ” ) *drools*

Doesn't it look wonderful? *grins* It was really good too. To think that I don't like cranberries. haha!
The 2 other bars expire in Dec 2013, which is next month. Wildberry & Macadamia was sliced up & bottled first.

some nutrition information ought to come in handy

But after a few pieces, I started to think of Cranberry & Pistachio. So I decided to slice up Chocolate Hazelnut Swirl and try out some chocolate nougat for a change (thinking that chocolate would make me forget about Cranberry & Pistachio).

But oh, how wrong I was. Eating the chocolate nougat only made me think "why, why did I not buy more cranberry & pistachio nougat?!" .. *wails*

After I've tried all the Bettenay's Nougat (that I had), here's what I realized.
1. I like my cranberries in nougat, not bread.
2. Pistachio is surprisingly good in soft nougat.
3. Wildberry tastes just like cranberry (looks quite similar too).
4. I prefer to have my hazelnuts in gelato / ice cream, not nougat.
5. Nibbling away at a small slice of nougat means you don't get that sudden super sweet punch in your face (usually occurs when you munch on the whole slice in one go).

Next up is my Tim Tam haul! In treat pack size of course. I have yet to try all of them, but I will get around to it. Sooner than later, cause they all have something called an expiry date. haha. I bought a treat pack of all the flavors there was at Coles.

Honeycomb, Choc Orange, Dark Chocolate Mint, Double Choc Vanilla,
Dark Chocolate Rum & Raisin, White, Turkish Delight

I have had the honeycomb and choco orange Tim Tams already, but I missed taking a photo of the honeycomb Tim Tam. *shrug* The honeycomb Tim Tams were quite sweet, though they weren't as sweet as the usual chocolate coated honeycombs that I get. It is honeycomb, so do expect it to be sweet. As for Choc Orange, please don't be mistaken. The "Choc" in "Choc Orange" is not referring to milk chocolate. It is actually dark chocolate with one of its classic combination of orange.

Choc Orange Tim Tam

If you like milk, you'll like this flavor of Tim Tams that gives a nice milky aftertaste. The "Choc" in the "Double Choc Vanilla" here, as you can see, is milk chocolate. And because it's double coated, the Tim Tam is bigger / fatter. You can actually feel and see the difference too!

Double Choc Vanilla Tim Tam

The final sweet treat I brought back from Western Australia has given me a new found love for Snickers. Something that cannot be found in Singapore (or even in most countries), here's the limited edition, Hazelnut Snickers! Whoop whoop! ヾ(@°▽°@)ノ *cheers*

m( ★ω★)m

I bought 22 bars (24 bars = a full box) and gave most of them away. With the bars I had left, I sliced up 2 and stored it in the usual glass container I used for my nougat. Because, as good as the hazelnut snickers are, they are made sweet. But don't let that put you off. The limited edition snickers are different from the usual peanut snickers (I have yet to try the almond snickers).
I've always remembered the peanut snickers to be all gooey and chewy, & always getting stuck on my teeth. *raah!* Then here comes hazelnut snickers to the rescue! They're not as sweet & not as infuriatingly sticky which is totally good with me. It's a must try, honestly.

goodness comes in hazelnut snickers  o(*ﾟ▽ﾟ*)o

If you noticed, most of my treats have been sliced up into bite sized pieces. I do that for a few reasons.
1. With some self control, a whole bar can last me a minimum of 1 week (or a month - it was my last bar).
2. Storing bite sized pieces is a lot easier & convenient (think of fun size m&ms).
3. There'll be more to go around for tasting (I get about 10 slices in a bar of snickers).

I recently finished eating my giant rainbow, a.k.a. Giant Freckle. And because I've finally finished the humongous piece of treat, I might as well blog about its colorful & chocolaty goodness.

Yarra Vally Chocolaterie, Milk Chocolate Giant Freckle
& its nutritional information

It was a gift from Ms Cheng from her trip to Sydney. This giant milk chocolate freckle was huge. It was difficult to break it into smaller pieces cause, how could you want to put a crack on that pretty rainbow face. But I did, and it was still pretty~ ヽ(‾⌣‾ )ﾉ
The giant freckle is not something you'd want to finish in a sitting. That'll be a recipe for sore throat or chocolate overdose, which ever hits first. But I cannot deny the fact that it was fun eating the chocolate freckle pieces. hehe~ *grins* & I did a little research & hey! You can make little freckles in the comfort of your own home. Just melt some chocolate you desire & pour loads of hundreds & thousands over it before leaving it to cool. Cool eh? haha

That's all for the first post on Australia 2013. Stay tuned!



( ˘▽˘)旦~