I was at T&T Supermarket and saw this bag of KitKat’s Baked Sweet Potato version of the classic candy. It’s more unique than other other KitKat’s because it requires baking in the oven to enhance the flavour and to brown the top.

In the bag, there are 13 pieces thats are individually wrapped.

Place the unwrapped Kit Kat bars in a toaster oven and bake for a few minutes until the chocolate turns a crisp brown.

I couldn’t get it exactly like the front of the package, so I just turned on the broiler to get the tops at least brown.

I let it cool off before digging in. It’s definitely a lot sweeter than other KitKat’s that I’ve had. I wouldn’t eat this again as the sweet potato flavour is just strange. I’ll stick with regular KitKats.

Hardbite is a Canadian company that make amazing chips. If you haven’t hard their regular chips, you really have to.

They have released another new bag of veggie chips but this time it’s beets -Drop’n Mad Beets as they call them. Unlike Terra Chips, each bag only have one type of vegetable.

Other flavours of veggie chips from Hardbite:

• Eat Your Parsnips
• 18 Carrot Gold

The chips contain beets, non-hydrogenated sunflower oil and/or non-hydrogenated canola oil, and lastly sea salt.

I love beets, so it was a joy to eat them. They definitely don’t taste like beets anymore. Good flavour and has a subtle sweet taste to it. Even though they are dehydrated, they still have crazy intense red colour to them. If you eat a lot of them…your poop will still turn bright red.

Another great addition to the Hardbite line up of chips.

Website: 
http://hardbitechips.com/

One of the strangest obsessions of 2015 was the Korean Fire Noodle Challenge featuring Samyang Food’s Buldalk Bokkeum Myeon (불닭볶음면) AKA Korean Fire Noodles.

It has been said that it’s one of the spiciest noodles in Korea. Dozens of Youtubers have filmed themselves trying to eat a pack of these fiery noodles and screaming in pain. I shared a pack with a friend on New Years Eve to kill some time while waiting for the countdown…

To prepare the noodles, you need to:

1. Bring a pot of water to boil
2. Add uncooked noodles to the boiling water
3. Once the noodles are cooked, drain water and transfer noodles to serving bowl
4. Add the seasonings (hot sauce and seaweed/sesame packets) and mix well
5. Eat
6. Fell the burn

The first few bites were actually very enjoyable an it has a good balance of spicy and slight sweetness. After about 30 seconds, the intense heat will hit you in the mouth. I thought I could handle a decent amount of spicy since I love Korean food, but this was definitely very spicy. After a few slurps, we could fell heartburn-like pains.

The next morning, lets just say it wasn’t fun to be in the washroom…it burns.

If you want to try this, you can find it at most Korean specialty stores.

I love trying snacks from around the world. My manager at work bought me 2 bags of Willards snacks from South Africa – Cheese Curls and Flings. I’ve only had Cheetos Puffs when I was a kid or other variations that are available in Canada.

I never really thought about the different types of snacks from other countries.

Willard’s Cheese Curls are your standard cheese puffs. The name is quite fitting as they do have a curl to their shape. These are baked and not fried.

At first I was skeptical to see how different they would be but the ‘cheese’ flavour was pretty good. It kinda reminded me of Trader Joes.

Willard’s Flings has a stronger corn taste to it. I can’t really put my finger on what it reminds me of. It’s like the Cheese Curls but no cheese flavouring.

You don’t need to fly all the way to South Africa to get your hands on these snacks or other addictive South African products. African Breese sells these at their North Vancouver and Kitsilano locations.

Address:
3654 W 4th Ave, Vancouver
1054 Marine Dr, North Vancouver

Website: http://www.africanbreese.com/

The SodaStream Power is an automatic sparkling water maker featuring a one-touch activation providing a choice of three carbonation levels. Unlike their other models, you only have to tap the one button and it will determine how many pumps of carbon to add to your water. With the past models, I hated how it was hard to figure out how many times to push the machine to get it super fizzy. This is also the only model that requires a source of power.

SodaStream has a few different models out in the market ranging from $50 – $180.
Here is my past review about the SodaStream Source.

Power Starter Kit includes:

• Power Automatic Sparkling Water Maker with anodised aluminum finish
• 1L reusable BPA-free stainless-steel accented carbonating bottle
• 1 power adapter
• 1 reusable SodaStream CO2 cylinder that makes up to 60L of sparkling water

Putting the parts together is pretty simple. the CO2 canister screws into the back of the machine. Then, put the panel back in and plug in the power cord.

The design of the machine is quite sleek and easy to operate.

You fill the bottle up with cold tap or filtered water up to the line on the bottle to ensure it can trap the carbon in the water.

The carbonating bottle easily locks into place with a single-push motion. Since it is powered electrically, it makes sparkling water in seconds.

I just wanted a simple drink, so I cut some lemons and cucumber to add with the sparkling water.

I like my sparkling water extra fizzy, so I chose level 3 amount of carbonation. One tap was all it needed. I love this machine more than the other ones because I’ve always been second guessing how many pumps to add.

I’ve never had an instance where it was under-carbonated. When I poured the water into the lemon and cucumber, there were so many bubbles! I was very impressed.

Overall, the SodaStream Power is my favourite machine from their whole lineup, but of course it is the most expensive at $180. I ended up giving this to my parents since they drink sparkling water a lot more. One thing my family said about this machine is that its a lot easier to use, plus the bottle locking system prevents any excess water from spilling out. With our older model – SodaStream Genesis, we had some issues with it leaking.

I would highly recommend this product if you love sparkling water.

Pros:

• Easy to use and set up
• Stylish design that suits any modern kitchen
• 3 fizzy settings
• Snap-lock mechanism

Cons:

• Requires power
• Bottle isn’t dishwasher safe
• Only comes with 1 bottle in the starter pack
• Need to refill CO2 canister at select stores

Website:  http://www.sodastream.ca/

Prana recently launched their line of organic dry roasted coconut chips. They offer a unique and exotic taste, and are also 100% organic, gluten-free, with no cholesterol, and offer an excellent source of fibre. They sell in 100g bags for $5.99.

The coconut chips come in four savoury flavours: Spicy Chilli, BBQ, Salt & Pepper, and Original.

We tried Jive, their spicy chili flavour. It went well with the coconut but it wasn’t the best tasting. Still, it was more tolerable than their other flavours. I took these coconut chips to my coworkers and a majority of them agreed that this was the best flavour. The spiciness balances the sweet/savoury taste well.

The classic flavour was definitely a miss. I felt that it was so bland that it was painful eating them. I think I needed a bit more sweetness in them. This might be good if you were incorporating them into your morning granola or cereal, but not good eating on their own.

Hula is their sea salt and pepper flavour. This tasted pretty bad too.

Charleston is the BBQ flavour and was the worst out of the 4 flavours. They just don’t belong together.

Overall, this was a product that was definitely a miss. The saltiness in the 4 flavours made it quite unbearable to eat. I did enjoy the texture since it was very crunchy, but really needed a dash of sweetness. I much prefer the Hippie Snacks Coconut chips.

Website: https://www.prana.bio

Disclaimer: I was provided these by Prana to try. Although these were complimentary, the views and opinions expressed are entirely our own.

I was a pretty big fan of Starbucks’s Tazo Joy Tea, but it was discontinued a few years ago. It was a pretty good tea blend, but all good things have to come to an end right?

This holiday, Starbucks is selling boxes of Teavana’s Joy 2015 tea with 12 tea sachets in a box for $11.95.

This tea blend has black tea, jasmine green tea and oolong tea with notes of apricot and florals. The difference with this year’s joy tea is the notes of apricot and florals.

Each packet has the tea pouch filled with the loose leaf tea.

You brew it at 96 degrees celsius for 3 minutes. You can reuse the tea bag for extra cups later in the day.

Once it’s done brewing, you can really smell the aroma of apricots. I’ve never been a fan of floral teas because of the artificial fruity smells. The taste of the tea was good but it was just the smell that turned me off.

This particular tea does have a lot of caffeine, so don’t drink it too late at night. M had trouble falling asleep, so he stayed up playing video games and reading.

Who knows what they will do for their Joy 2016 tea blend, but hopefully it will be another unique flavour.

Website: http://www.teavana.com/us/en/tea/tea-blends/joy-2015-flavored-tea-blend-32729.html

When my parents went to Taiwan this year, they brought me back a bunch of Lay’s chips that we didn’t have here in Canada. It’s pretty funny how this Summer I got the most amount of chips from friends and family going away on vacation. I guess the best present for a foodie is foreign snacks. I don’t mind at all.

One of the bags were Lay’s Roasted Garlic.

Lay’s Roasted Garlic was quite an usual flavour. It did not taste like garlic at all. It was more like a cheesy onion if that makes sense. They could have done a better job perfecting the flavour.

I’m pretty sure I won’t be getting this chip in the future.

The Thai Spicy Crab chips were so much better.

When my parents went to Taiwan this year, they brought me back a bunch of Lay’s chips that we didn’t have here in Canada. It’s pretty funny how this Summer I got the most amount of chips from friends and family going away on vacation. I guess the best present for a foodie is foreign snacks. I don’t mind at all.

Lay’s Thai Spicy Crab flavour is on their original chip. When you open the bag, you will get a predominant crab flavour. Once you begin munching away, it’s mostly crab with very little heat.

I quite like this flavour actually. Very good and if you are ever in Taiwan, do pick up this bag of chips.

lays.com.tw

Earlier in 2015, Lay’s America asked fans to submit regionally-inspired flavours. They got some wacky flavour submissions, but there are only 4 finalists:

• West Coast Truffle Fries
• Southern Biscuits and Gravy
• New York Reuben
• Greektown Gyro

They need your vote to win the $1 million grand prize.

Since I’m Canadian, I was intrigued by these flavours since we don’t have them in Canada. We have a separate contest. You can check out the Canadian versions here.

Jeff Solensky is the creator of the New York Reuben chip flavour he was inspired by the Reuben sandwiches being sold at his work place as it was their big seller.

New York Reuben flavoured Lays chips are using the regular chip-style. On first bite, you get hints of the smokiness to represent the meat with a slight sour finish. It was ok, but not my favourite chips to eat.

If you like New York Reuben flavoured Lay’s chips, give them a vote on the dousaflavour.com site.

Earlier in 2015, Lay’s America asked fans to submit regionally-inspired flavours. They got some wacky flavour submissions, but there are only 4 finalists:

• West Coast Truffle Fries
• Southern Biscuits and Gravy
• New York Reuben
• Greektown Gyro

They need your vote to win the $1 million grand prize.

Since I’m Canadian, I was intrigued by these flavours since we don’t have them in Canada. We have a separate contest. You can check out the Canadian versions here.

Angie Fu is the creator of the West Coast Truffle Fries Flavour and was inspired by seeing Truffle Fries on restaurant’s menus. Apparently, it is the first thing that she orders as the aromatic flavour of truffle is mouth-watering.

The West Coast Truffle Fries are on Lay’s Wavy chips, so its thicker and has more of a crunch to them compared to their original type of chips.

At first taste, we really couldn’t get the truffle oil essence from the chips. The taste was more like a baked potato with sour cream. Not very impressed.

If you like West Coast Truffle Fries, give them a vote on the dousaflavour.com site.

Earlier in 2015, Lay’s America asked fans to submit regionally-inspired flavours. They got some wacky flavour submissions, but there are only 4 finalists:

• West Coast Truffle Fries
• Southern Biscuits and Gravy
• New York Reuben
• Greektown Gyro

They need your vote to win the $1 million grand prize.

Since I’m Canadian, I was intrigued by these flavours since we don’t have them in Canada. We have a separate contest. You can check out the Canadian versions here.

James Wagner is the creator of the Greektown Gyro Chip from Wichita Falls, Texas. He got the inspiration from a great little Greek place in his town that makes the amazing gyros.

The Greektown Gyro is on the Kettle cooked Lays chips so it is crunchier and slightly thicker than the regular chip.

At first taste, there was a creamy tang flavour like tzatziki and cheese. If I was blind folded, I probably wouldn’t be able to guess it was a gyro.

If you like Greektown Gyro, give them a vote on the dousaflavour.com site.

In 2014, the winning flavour of the American ‘Do us a Flavour‘ contest by Lays was Wasabi Ginger. They have this contest every year and the winner gets $1,000,000 or 1% of net sales of their flavour for a year.

The list of contenders were:

• Kettle Cooked Wasabi Ginger
• Cheddar Bacon Mac & Cheese
• Wavy Mango Salsa
• Cappuccino

Meneko Spigner McBeth, a nurse from Deptford, New Jersey created the unique Wasabi Ginger flavour.

Since I live in Canada and make a few trips to the States, I wasn’t able to get my hands on the other flavours last year. Of all the flavours, I was really scratching my head trying to figure out why Americans would love this flavour.

After picking up the first chip, you really get a strong taste and smell of ginger and then a spicy feeling in the nose. This bag has everything except the sushi to go with it. I did like the Kettle chips as it is a bit thicker than normal chips, so it adds an extra crunch.

I found it to be ok, but I will stick with my Canadian Ketchup chips.

I gave the rest of the wasabi ginger chips to my coworkers and surprising a good amount of people did enjoy it.

Website:
https://www.dousaflavor.com/

Hardbite is a Canadian company that make amazing chips. If you haven’t hard their regular chips, you really have to.

They have introduced a line of ‘root’ chips that uses other vegetables besides potatoes. With ‘Eat Your Parsnip’ chips, they went with the cream-colored, carrot looking vegetable. It is also made of non-hydrogenated sunflower oil and/or non-hydrogenated canola oil, and sea salt. 3 ingredients, that’s it.

M went to the grocery store to grab me these chips and he knows I like to try cool products. A week earlier he got me Hardbite’s ‘18 carrot gold‘ chips.

The chips were super crunchy and reminded me of the carrot chips, probably because of the oil they use. Good flavour and has a subtle sweet taste to it.

I thought the shapes were so awesome because it’s essentially the cross-section of the parsnip.

Another great addition to the Hardbite line up of chips.

Website: 
http://hardbitechips.com/

M was in the grocery store and saw that Hardbite has a new line of chips made out of root vegetables. This one in particular is the 18 Carrot Gold. It’s basically carrot chips that are lightly salted. The other kind that they had were parsnip chips. Also quite interesting, but we chose to try the carrot chips.

The carrot chips aren’t large in size, which I guess is due to the long nature of their shape. The taste of the chips were good and reminded me of the Terra Chips. The carrot taste was not overly strong and worked quite well for chips.

I ended up eating the entire bag quite quickly as there was only 150g of carrot chips. Next time I think I’ll give the parsnip chips a try.

Website: 
http://hardbitechips.com/