IIIII
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Posts posted by IIIII
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Anyone who is raving about Tenjindaira as a resort needs questioning further! Great views and apparently great backcountry, but as a resort it is tiny and not very interesting.
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Here's a "review" of a Creme Egg by a Creme Egg Otaku:
The Crème Egg and I have had a somewhat difficult relationship over the years. My attitude towards them has varied from year to year. One year I was addicted to them and was bereft when my mum could no longer buy them for me. The next year I did not like them so much. Every Easter I would always get Crème Egg Easter egg but last year the person who did that died before Easter. In fact last year I only had one Crème Egg ad that was in June. I was staying with my sister and it wasn’t even a nice Crème Egg because my sister’s kitchen was too warm so the chocolate had gone all soggy (I find Cadbury’s chocolate does not so much melt as go soggy). My sister is something of a Crème Egg addict which is why she still had a box on the go in June.
As far as I am aware the Crème Egg was still being sold in some shops in September and I first saw the new batch before Christmas so I am assuming that Crème Eggs are unavailable for Halloween. Crème Eggs have been around for a very long time and are the number one selling confectionary item between January and Easter. In the run up to Easter you can buy Crème Eggs in virtually any self-respecting food store. You can buy them singly for around 30p to 50p or in boxes of 3, 6, 12 or 24. They are also available in mini size in bags or tubes and of course you can get Easter Eggs of them. Incidentally there is also a campaign for a King Sized Crème Egg.
Despite seeing Crème Eggs before Christmas I refrained from getting any until it was Shrove Tuesday. Note how I said ‘get’ and not ‘buy’? For I was lucky enough to find a newsagents that gave you a free Crème Egg if you bought a paper. Not only that but I had money off coupons for said paper. 20p for a paper and a Crème Egg? Bargain. Over the course of two weeks I collected 8 Crème Eggs and then stopped because I had yet to eat any and decided that I had better eat what I had before getting more.
Since last year the Crème Egg has undergone something of a wrapper change. It used to be red and blue but now is red and purple. Presumably this is to tie it in with Dairy Milk. They have also done away with the little yellow chick! (Cadbury’s what did I say about the Wispa? What did the chick ever do to you? Hhhmm? What?) . The words “crème egg” appear inside a yellow splash which is sandwiched between the purple and red. The wrapper describes the Crème Egg as “milk chocolate with soft fondant centre”. However the ingredients are hard to read and I could see no allergy warnings on the wrapper.
As usual some of the fondant filling has leaked out which makes the foil wrapper somewhat reluctant to part from the chocolate. As much as the use of foil chocolate wrappers is to be applauded I cannot help but think that it needs updating in the case of the Crème Egg. The foil is very easily ripped and if you examine the eggs in the boxes (usually right next to the checkout) chances are that some of the foil wrappers will be ripped revealing the chocolate underneath. Which is a little unhygienic.
However I persevere and manage to remove the foil. The Crème Egg looks much the same as it always has. It is egg shaped with grooves running around either half and a star in the centre. Admittedly it does look a little smaller than the ones I ate as a child but that is probably because I have gotten bigger. The smell that the Crème Egg greets you with is very distinctive. On the one hand you have the smell of the Cadbury’s chocolate with its malty, sweet creaminess and then added to that you have a quite dry sweet, a bit like meringue only less eggy (if that makes sense) which can only come from the fondant filling.
Now there are many ways to eat a Crème Egg (see below for more details) but for the purposes of this review I will eat the Crème Egg in the way that the majority of people seem to do. First of all you bite off the top end. Chewing this mouthful reveals the taste to be that of Cadbury’s Dairy Milk with its malty, creamy, sweetness and mouth-coatingly claggy texture. But added to that you have the first hint of the fondant filling. At first all you can tell is that it is very sweet but then the flavour starts to come through. It is not quite vanilla, not quite fruity it sort of tastes a bit like a meringue crossed with a marshmallow. It also reveals the generous thickness of the chocolate shell and the white and yellow filling (just like a real egg!). Once you have swallowed this first mouthful you can then begin to like out the filling and nibble away the chocolate as you so wish or until public decency requires that you shove whatever is left into your mouth all at once. When that last mouthful has been masticated and sent on its way to be digested you can then commence the licking of your chocolate and fondant covered fingers.
My first Crème Egg of 2005 was a damn good Crème Egg. Sometimes the filling inside the egg can go all gritty and solid but luckily for me the fondant filling in my first egg was glossy and smooth as it should be. All this was enough to reconfirm my love of Crème Eggs. Unbelievable as it may seem there are some people who have not yet tried a Crème Egg. So I would recommend these to anyone who likes Cadbury’s chocolate, especially if your favourite chocolates in Roses are the crème filled ones. However the filling is very sweet and sticky. An adult can easily make a mess of eating a Crème Egg so while their size may make them seem ideal as a child’s snack (and I would not discourage giving children Crème Eggs for some reason Crème Eggs make me feel generous) if you are going to give one to a child make sure they are not wearing their best clothes at the time.
Care should also be taken when storing Crème Eggs. Their incredibly flimsy packaging means that they will not take a bashing. They should be kept somewhere cool as they will melt very readily and this may cause the fondant filling to go gritty and solid. However Crème Eggs should not be placed in the fridge because this will harden the chocolate so much so that when you bite into your Crème Egg the chocolate will snap and break unevenly most likely causing the filling to be lost or for the whole egg to fall apart.
The Crème Egg is quite expensive when you consider the size and compare it to what you could normally buy for that amount of money. But the Crème Egg is only available for a maximum of 51 weeks per year so I think this makes the extra cost a little more worth it. Or perhaps it is the nostalgia that makes me willing to pay (when I eventually get around to buying a Crème Egg as opposed to claiming them for free) that bit extra money. In the years gone past Crème Eggs would start appearing around the time Spring was beginning. The return of the Crème Egg was the confectionary world’s equivalent of the return of the swallows. Hang about, you don’t think that global warming could be affecting the availability of Crème Eggs, do you?
Anyway as promised there are many ways to eat a Crème Egg:
The Traditional Way: bite off the top, like the filling, nibble away the chocolate, lick the filling and so on until the egg is gone.
The In a Hurry Way: bite off the top and then shove whatever is left into your mouth whole.
The Not in Public Way: bite off the top and then remove the filling either with your tongue or you finger and then consume the empty shell.
The It’s-Not-That-Kind-of-Egg Way: place egg in egg cup, use a spoon to break off the top. Eat the top. Use biscuit fingers or wafer to dip into filling. When filling is gone eat the remaining chocolate.
The Crème Egg Challenge: place whole egg in your mouth and eat without opening you mouth.
But no matter what way you choose I guarantee that afterwards your fingers will be covered in fondant and you will have that post Crème Egg glow.
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Oh dear. "Purity Balls". Pure balls more like.
Feel sorry for that 4 year old having to wait for a few years.Quote:His two older daughters, aged 11 and 18, have attended the balls while the youngest, aged 4, must wait a few years. -
Quote:Jan/Feb you will find lots of snow. Perfect fresh snow everywhere.So which was it again?Quote:but february and march rocked
So your region didn't have a weak winter then? Was it a good one? Perfect fresh snow everywhere? That sounds good, but the fact is that most of Japan - and most of the most popular regions - did have a weak season, so I think a generalisation is quite acceptable. -
Managed 10 now. I think that's it for me due to work getting busy a possible trip overseas.
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Compared to a normal year for Kagura? While I don't doubt you had a good time, it seems hard to believe it is having a particularly good year. Surely compared to a normal late February it isn't as good. (?)Quote:Kagura has been very good this year
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When are there actually any decent PS3 games going to be released? There seems to be almost no reason to buy the thing now.
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Fluffy white present! Can't wait. I'm really up for a day on the snow again.
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snowboards are GO!!
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Good one, some other good news ones up since then.....
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Heights scare me but I'd like the challenge.
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Delete key eraser
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Chinese New Year? I thought it was this coming weekend. But it probably isn't as busy as a Japanese 3 day holiday.
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Watching Prison Break at the moment, good stuff.
And got the 7th season of West Wing lined up as well. I can't remember the last time I watched any tv (as in broadcast tv).
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Whats the tone of the thing YellowSnow?
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Going to Gifu to meet some friends and hoping to hit Dynaland on the last day of the holiday hopefully it won't be too bad then in terms of crowds.
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No other lifts meant that you could enjoy that difficult snow hiking course that tsondaboy outlined to us the other week hey
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Mr Oz is always rather full of himself with his self-promotions, no change there.
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I was out yesterday, didn't have lunch and was worn out by 2pm. My legs couldn't continue. Mistake, from now on I think I'll lunch it.
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I was just looking over last years reports and it did all come at once almost - not that much in Feb at all. Interesting.
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THE POLICE WILL REUNITE TO OPEN THE GRAMMY’S
Apparently.
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Friend just sent me this, some of it is quite funny:
What critis say
What they mean
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Theatre
Genuinely popular
Coach parties only
The play reaches a shattering climax
The rest of it's like watching a tap drip
The supporting players shine
The leads were planks
A commanding performance
This actor had a very loud voice
A subtle portrayal
This actor was practically inaudible
Kill for a ticket
Because 30 years in prison would be a better use of your time
Spare, economical designs
Looks like it cost about a tenner
Epic
I thought it would never end
Mature
Way too old to be playing a sex god
Muscular
Written by a man
This play is young and raw
This play is written by someone whose sole experience of drama is watching EastEnders
Desperately moving
Made me think about my own sad little life
Cutting-edge
I hated it, but don't want to sound like a fuddy-duddy
Crepuscular lighting
I couldn't see a thing
A welcoming venue
The ladies' loo actually flushes
Dense, intelligent and deeply witty
Laugh knowingly even if you don't understand a word
A devised play
A total mess
Domestic drama
Doesn't mention Iraq or the state of the NHS
Concise Too short
Dreamlike
I fell asleep
Had me on the edge of my seat
So eager was I to vacate it
Seasoned and mature
Oh God - not him again
Exuberantly physical
Why can't they learn how to talk?
Rigorously textual
Why can't they learn how to move?
Avoids fashionable gestures
Completely out of touch
Jazz
This album was slow to reveal its treasures
I wasn't listening properly
A dependable rhythm section gave the saxophonist selfless support
It was tough staying awake during the bass and drum solos
Maybe this artist has arrived a little early
Maybe this artist shouldn't have arrived at all
They whipped the crowd into a frenzy
Ten people clapped
A mine of fascinating jazz materials, but a little editing wouldn't have hurt the second set
In the second set, I lost the will to live
The musicians looked beside themselves at the privilege of being in each other's company
What a bunch of self-congratulatory posers
The reaction of an appreciative audience was out of all proportion to its size
Nobody was there except the musicians' mates
An extremely challenging new work
People were drifting off to the bar within 10 minutes
Visual art
Video installation
A cinema without seats and a film without a plot
Relevant
Fashionable
Shunning the merely fashionable
Completely irrelevant
Emerging artist
Fresh meat
Post-conceptualist
An artist who had an idea once, but wore it out
Rigorous, body-based practice
This artist has threatened me with violence
Relational aesthetics
Forget the art, let's talk about me
Institutional critique
Dissing the sponsor
Pop
The atmosphere was phenomenal
I was plastered
The mood in the crowd was subdued
I was sober
The band look fantastic
The band sound awful
You really have to see them live
Don't, under any circumstances, listen to their records
Epic
A pop song with a string section
The singer is excitable
The singer is on drugs
They're the new Libertines
The guitarist is on drugs
The band are famous for the creative spark between the singer and the guitarist
The singer and the guitarist hate each other
They are experimenting in uncharted territory
They are a mess
DJ Shadow is a master of the mash-up
Let's put a flashy name to throwing together bits of other people's songs
With his new band, the Good, the Bad and the Queen, Damon Albarn has once again shown his maverick spirit
Damon Albarn is rich enough not to care if it sells
Robbie Williams is still pop's greatest showman
Robbie Williams would pull rabbits out of hats if it got him attention
A singer-songwriter in the mould of James Blunt
I want to die
With their own personal Bez
I'm assuming the monkey on stage is with the band
Cruelly underrated
Despite me banging on about them for years
Like X meets Y en route to Z
They haven't got one original idea
Cryptic
Even the songwriter can't understand the lyrics
Controversial Obnoxious
Troubled
Drug-addicted
Ambitious
I feel guilty about disliking them
Bookish
Wears glasses and once read a Penguin Classic
Reggaeton was the dance sound of 2006.
Dubstep will be next year's thing I haven't a clue what I'm talking about, but I may sound hip
Of all the 1990s boybands, Take That stood out
I never missed a chance to slag them off
Pain resounds from every anguished syllable Cat Power sings
Pain resounds in my head when I have to listen to her
The band powered through their set
The band wanted to get home as quickly as I did
The band have an uncompromising reputation in interviews
They're surly, monosyllabic and I wanted to belt them
Their talent is intuitive
They seemed a bit thick
The album was a hit in the blogosphere
No one bought the album
Classical and opera
The soprano has a majestic presence
The soprano is fat
A spontaneous performance
Under-rehearsed and winging it
May not be to everyone's taste
Particularly not mine
For connoisseurs
Dull, dull, dull
The singer's non-musical qualities have clearly not impeded her career
If she wasn't so gorgeous, they'd never have let her in the studio
An idiosyncratic performance
The composer would have a fit
She has the perfect looks for the role
She has the perfect cleavage for the role
They have onstage chemistry
They are sleeping together
The orchestra was on recalcitrant form
The orchestra clearly despise the conductor
Dance
An energetic cast
A bunch of talentless, hyperactive nobodies
The ballerina moves with an eerie delicacy
The ballerina looks anorexic
Endlessly inventive
I want to lie down in a darkened room
The dancers commit 100%
The material they've been given is awful
Comedy
Comic genius
I'm copying this straight out of the press release
Madcap
Irritating
Like X on acid
I've never taken acid, but want to sound like I have
Observational
Full of unoriginal generalisations
Acute
We share the same prejudices
Humorous
Unfunny
Wry
Unfunny
Sidelong
Unfunny
Hilarious
Moderately funny
Comedy legend
An obscure, unfunny American
Surreal
I don't know anything about surrealism
Film
This promising young actor
I want to sleep with him/her
This magnetic and superbly charismatic actor, whose early promise has been richly achieved
I have slept with him/her
This undoubtedly talented actor has none the less recently given some uncertain performances and made ill-advised career choices
He/she keeps telephoning me at home and threatening to make a scene
This rubbish actor
I am now divorced, bitter, and living in a reeking, squalid bedsit
De Niro prepared meticulously for the role
De Niro put on weight for the role
Life-affirming
Stars Morgan Freeman
Quirky Irritating
A grower
Boring
Challenging
I don't get it
A great entertainer
Fame-mad
Miss at your peril
I can't think of a last sentence.
Wii vs PS3 vs Xbox360
in General off-topic discussions
Posted
Interesting read from the team that develop different parts of the Wii experience
http://us.wii.com/story_shop.jsp