Skittles Original Punch
This is the drink that's supposed to blend the original Skittles flavour in. When I opened the sachet, I sensed a bit of strawberry and was not sure whether I would like the drink. Then, once the powder was added to the water, it had a red flavour which strengthened the little anxiety I had that it would taste of strawberry.
Well - after a few sips (or rather big gulps), I was relieved to taste no strawberry. None of the Skittles flavours stood out, however. It just tasted.. fruity. Therefore, it tasted exactly as it should.
Rating: *** 1/2
Skittles Tropical Punch
The colour of the Tropical Punch drink was a thick cloudy blue, if that makes sense. Visually, it reminded me of a Soda Stream drink I enjoyed as a child - Mr T's Knockout Punch. Ironically, this Skittles drink, just like the others, are 'punch'. In this case, going by the flavours of the real sweets we're meant to taste a combination of the following: banana berry, kiwi lime, pineapple passionfruit, strawberry starfruit, mango tangelo.
Just like with the original, no single flavour stood out. It was a nice refreshing drink, but so was the first.
Rating: *** 1/2
Skittles Wild Berry Punch
When I tore the sachet, and caught a whiff of the powder, it brought back memories of a sweet I used to find at the shop on the way to school back in the day. It had a plastic top and you would pull it off and it looked like a lipstick (Well, to be fair - it more resembled a stick of faded pink chalk). It had a cherry, possibly berry, flavour.
I didn't get the sensation of the lipstick-chalk sweet once I drank the purply coloured drink. The taste was, just like with the other two Skittles drinks, very nice and refreshing without one flavour overpowering any other.
For what it's worth, the flavours inside the wild berry version of the sweets are: berry punch, strawberry, melon berry, wild cherry and raspberry.
Rating: *** 1/2
Result
On paper, it's a three-way tie with each getting three-and-a-half stars.
If I had three packets in front of me and told I had to choose one to remain and the other two to go forever, I would - without hesitation - pick the blue box. Therefore, the winner - by a nose - is the Tropical Punch.
The current issue of the Codeword magazine I get each month arrived in the post last week.
I leafed through it and noticed that one of the 'Star Codeword' puzzles - in which the face of a celebrity is featured and their name is found inside the puzzle itself - had a picture of the BBC's Clive Myrie.
Taking a picture of part of the puzzle, I thought it would be funny to tweet the newsreader and host of Mastermind.
On June 13th, I published a post in which I wrote about my experience trying one of the Italian-inspired burgers McDonald's has brought out for its 'Taste of Italy' summer promotion.
The Italian Stack was meant to, as the reviewers claimed, taste like lasagne. In the post, I noted that the sauce did make the burger taste like the famous Italian pasta dish.
As well as The Italian Stack, there is another burger. This one is The Crispy Chicken Italiano. I had no desire to try it.
Until I woke up this morning and decided I would have one for lunch, that is.
When it arrived, the burger looked as described. It had a lot of lettuce, the 'juicy tomato slice' and a big sheet of mozzarella. The toppings looked so abundant that they hid the chicken itself.
I cannot recall ever seeing a McDonald's burger looking so nice when it comes to lettuce and tomato. I often get it a lot with the food I purchase from Burger King. McDonald's? Close to never.
After taking a few bites, I noticed the pesto flavour. It brought back memories of a pesto salad I used to buy from Asda. The pesto was more powerful as I neared the end of the burger.
As for the chicken itself - it seemed like it was more herby than the usual fillets you find at McDonald's. With that said, I don't know if that was just the pesto ingredient forcing me to reach that conclusion.
It was nice. On top of that, it felt more premium than the usual McDoanald's menu items. That's got to be because of the toppings and sauce!
With all that said - even though I enjoyed the burger, just like with The Italian Stack, I don't think I would ever go out of my way to buy The Crispy Chicken Italiano again.
The Crispy Chicken Italiano is available until July 29. After that, a new range of summer-themed products will launch. I might give those a try when that time comes.
There was an excellent job of product placement on today's episode of Neighbours.
Glen Donnelly was sitting at home, whilst trying to fight off his painkiller addiction, and decided to switch on the television.
When the TV came on, the character was greeted by the Paramount Plus screen.
I thought it was clever placement considering that today - June 22nd 2022 - is the day that Paramount Plus has launched over here in the UK and Ireland.
It was no coincidence that Paramount Plus was given the short screen time. Channel 5, which airs Neighbours in Great Britain, is owned by Paramount Networks.
Paramount is going all-in as it pertains promoting the launch.
As well as today's brief scene in Neighbours, I saw that Sylvester Stallone was in London yesterday plugging his Paramount+ series - Tulsa Kings (coming later this year), Kevin Costner appeared live in Lorraine Kelly's studio this morning to talk about his programme Yellowstone and Halo - one of the programmes exclusive to the streaming service - will air its premiere episode on Channel 5 this evening.
Paramount's streaming service - Paramount+ - launches over here in the UK on Wednesday.
As I wrote in March, I was unaware that a TV movie was made to tie up the loose ends that were left when the series was cancelled a few years ago.
The film came out on Showtime in the US on January 14th of this year. I found out about it more than a couple of months later.
If I know for sure that the movie is on there from day one, I will sign up for the free trial and quit before the subscription kicks in.
I have annual subscriptions to the services provided by Amazon and Disney and pop in and out with the content on Netflix, so I am content not to pick up another service.
For now.
The reason why I went down the 'For Now' route is because I read that there's a series starring Sylvester Stallone coming to Paramount+ at the end of this year.
I might dip in just for that.
The American football season is just around the corner.
The first sign landed on my doormat yesterday morning when Lindy's Pro Football 2022 Season Preview came in the post.
I received the Los Angeles cover. I suppose the newsagents here in the UK will all have this edition because the Rams are the current Super Bowl Champions.
Each time I buy Lindy's, I think back to the very first time I bought one.
I was in a newsagent in the middle of nowhere, west Wales during the summer of 1995. I looked for something to read on the coach back home and Lindy's stood out.
There was a many-year gap between my first and next purchase. However, I have tried to buy it each season for at least the last fifteen years or so.
I guess I am loyal to the title simply because it was the first publication I ever bought. They're certainly one of my favourite aids to building up anticipation for upcoming seasons.
As of the time of this post, there are eighty-one days 'til kick off. It's coming.
I have never tried Kellogg's Eggo waffles because - as far as I am aware - they have never sold the frozen waffles over here in the UK.
With that all said, I have - over the past few weeks - managed to eat other breakfast products Kellogg's have produced bearing the Eggo logo.
The first thing I tried was Kellogg's Eggo breakfast cereal.
Someone on The Sun website reviewed it. She seemed very taken by its similarity to a real lasagne. The burger is made up of, and I'll quote the McDonald's website, '..layers of two 100% beef patties, mozzarella, onions, crispy onions, a rich tomato sauce, lettuce and a smooth cheese sauce all served within a freshly toasted tomato-and-basil flavoured bun'.
I had to try it.
Here's what it looked like as soon as I opened the packaging, which - in a way - is also Italian themed as it looked like a pizza box (if I say so myself).
I was looking through the TV guide on my cable box yesterday morning and noticed Larry the Lamb was about to air on Talking Pictures TV.
To steal - and adjust - a line from Obi-Wan Kenobi in Star Wars Episode IV: now that was a name I hadn't heard in a long time.
Back when I was very young, I owned a Larry the Lamb annual. So, I was aware of the programme. However, I couldn't recall ever watching an episode.
I gave it a go yesterday to try and trigger my brain cells.
I had to do this.
Never, in my lifetime, have I had the chance to bet on Wales to win the World Cup with the team confirmed as participants.
On Monday, a few hours after Wales secured a place in Qatar following a 1-0 win against the Ukraine, I noticed they were 200/1 to win the World Cup later this year. I had £2 in my betting account, so backed them £1 each-way.
I am not stupid. I know this bet won't win. I just wanted to do it because I hadn't bet on Wales in a World Cup before and - most importantly - I don't know when I'll ever get to do it again.
Later on this summer, WWE will release the thirtieth anniversary of SummerSlam 1992 on Blu-ray and DVD.
I've already preordered my copy because it is an event that means a lot to me because it was the first major PPV to take place here in Great Britain.
I already own it on VHS (both when I taped it on Sky Sports and the copy which was released months later in the shops) and even transferred the tape to backup. However, I want this special edition because there are 'bonus extras from the time' advertised.
That's all it states. I hope it includes a lot of unseen footage. For example, there was an interlude of sorts during the taping which involved wrestling legends being introduced to the audience. I read about that segment at the time, and was told about it by a classmate who was lucky enough to go to see the show live, but I have never seen it on film.
The release date is August 29th, which will be thirty years to the day since the event was filmed at Wembley Stadium. However, the show aired for the first time on PPV/TV a couple of nights later.
This past weekend was one of the most memorable I've experienced in my entire life.
It was technically a four-day weekend if you consider that Thursday and Friday were Bank Holidays in Great Britain due to it being the Queen's Platinum Jubilee.
The Jubilee was eventful.
The highlight of the entire weekend was Wales' 1-0 win over Ukraine in the World Cup qualifier. I am still, almost forty-eight hours removed from the final whistle, asking myself if it has really happened.
Below is yesterday's issue of the South Wales Echo. It's something I'll treasure and - for the next few days - refer to in order to answer my 'Did it really happen?' thoughts.
And what a main event it was (I caught it when I woke up a couple of hours later). Cody Rhodes, torn pec and all, won against Seth Rollins.
Even though there's a WWE event tonight, the only thing I am really looking forward to is to see if Wales manages to get a win against Ukraine and secure a place in the 2022 World Cup.
It'll be the first time, in my lifetime, that my national team will make it to the tournament. The last time they competed on the World Cup stage was at Sweden '58.
With everything that is going on in Ukraine right now, it's safe to conclude that Wales will not enter the game as the people's favourites.
My fingers are crossed.
Earlier this week, I read some reports that the final words - on the last ever episode of Neighbours - will be said by Kylie Minogue and Jason Donovan.
Okay, if this speculation is true, I have a slight problem with it.
In my opinion, the only persons I believe should have the last words are the current longest-running characters in the soap: Karl and Susan Kennedy.
I am well aware that Jason, but especially Kylie, became megastars because of the popularity of Neighbours and it would be fitting to close with both of them having the last dialogue. However, I feel it should go to Alan Fletcher and Jackie Woodburne who have both played their roles since joining the cast in 1994.
Nostalgia shouldn't win in this case. Longevity should.
I have visions of the final episode seeing Scott and Charlene Robinson renewing their vows to mirror one of the soap's biggest deals when they were married in 1987 (or 1988 when it aired over here in the UK).
The nuptials between the two popular characters scored huge television ratings back then with two million tuned in for the Australian airing and ten times that amount for the November 8th 1988 UK showing on BBC 1.
