Wednesday, June 26, 2013

Honest Tea - Mango Acaí White Tea


Hello everyone, Valerie here! As you all know, the both of us made a trip down to Supernature yesterday, a very atas (high class) grocery store which carries a considerably wide range of organic and uncommon products and food which can't be found the usual fair price, cold storage and so on.

It was a well spent hour of fun, obsessive excitement and chatter over the kinds of products we discovered (e.g., bars, apple butter, chia seeds, Acaí powder, the amusing $650.00 tiny bottle of 6/7 small black truffles, etc.) , and of course the usual "if I were rich I'd buy these"/ "I wish I was rich enough to shop here all the time" conversations~ 

Anyways these were what I bought, and the honest tea is what I'm going to review! 






Honest Tea: Mango Acaí White Tea

 70 kcal per 16 oz/473 ml bottle (35 kcal per serving)

$3.00

The food doctor: Fig and Mango bar

103 kcal per 35 g bar

$3.00




Just like the lemon tea that Jill drank, this bottle of honest tea was really "just a tad sweet" and it felt very honest indeed. There was a faint yet not completely inactive Mango Acaí flavor which accompanies the stronger, yet not too overpowering presence of the white tea. It wasn't that the fruity flavor was diluted, it's just that its less prominent than the White Tea fragrance. I'd say this is the perfect harmonious balance between both. Refreshing, natural and light, this tea was not yucky sickly sweet like the regular highly processed and sugary fruit teas (e.g., lipton ice lemon tea, seasons ice lemon tea). I'm not a tea fanatic but I do drink tea quite often, and I find that I highly appreciate this tea for its unique clear taste. But I wouldn't recommend it to non-tea lovers or the sweet toothed because the tea will most probably come across as "barely there" and too faint. This tea should be drank chilled and by itself, not with other food or fruits. The taste buds should enjoy, appreciate and pin point the special taste without other distractions. I love it so much, the next time we go back to Supernature, I'm definitely trying other flavors and buying a few at one go!

Love,
Val

Tuesday, June 25, 2013

Bars, bars and more bars!

These were the three bars that I purchased at Supernature the other day.


Larabar - Banana Bread
CALORIES: 230
Made with only 3 ingredients (almonds, dates, unsweetened bananas), contains no preservatives, artificial flavorings or colorings!!



Luna Bar - Lemon Zest
CALORIES: 180
A bar chock full of protein (total of 9g!!!!) and 3g of fibre,  plus it's 70% organic!


KIND Bar - Pomegranate Blueberry Pistachio + Antioxidants
CALORIES: 190
Never tried this one before, but it sounds delicious! Can't wait to review it for you guys.


- Jill



The 2 Bar-holics

In the recent trip that I made to the USA, I visited beautiful places like Trader Joes and Sprouts: A Farmers market.


Sprouts: A Farmers Market


Trader Joe's


I remember spazzing and flying from aisle to aisle. I swear I was trying sooo hard to exert some form of self control in order to muffle the strong urge to fit the whole store into my grocery trolley. I wouldn't mind being trapped in there forever. There's practically almost everything I could dream of. 

I stashed up on a variety of famous bars and cereals that have been featured on numerous health and fitness blogs, and also picked out a few for Jill! 



Mine: Apple pie Lara Bar (190 kcals), Peanut Butter and Dark Chocolate Protein Kind Bar (200 kcals), Cranberry and Almond Antioxidants Kind Bar (190 kcals), Lemon Zest Luna Bar (180 kcals), Peanut Toffee Buzz Cliff Bar (240 kcals), Chocolate Caramel Kashi Go Lean Crisp! Bar (150 kcals) 

I'll review them after I try them, meanwhile, Jill has already tried some of hers so she might review it! 



I also got a packet of Sunspire Dark  Chocolate Almond butter cups. I was pretty curious and decided to get it because "its now or never". It's made of all natural ingredients!

Comparison to Reese's:

Sunspire: 
3 cups/ packet. 
190 kcals/packet
Made of natural ingredients

Reese's: 
2 cups/ regular sized packet
210 kcals/packet
Contains unnatural chemicals and preservatives

In short, what makes us go crazy over these bars and stuff is because they're made of wholesome and natural ingredients! Not that we're sourcing for and trying to consume 100% organic, gluten free, non GMO products all the time, we're just pretty uncomfortable with putting anything into our systems that has an ingredient label is chock full of funky strange names. 

Love,
Val



Kraft - Philadelphia Strawberry Cream Cheese

Hi everyone! Before I talk about this strawberry cream cheese, one must know my relationship with cream cheese. I'm a huge lover of cream cheese - be it cheesecake, cream cheese pound cake, you name it - as long as it has cream cheese in it, I will eat it and I will love it. 






This Philadelphia strawberry cream cheese is amazing. I don't have it too often, but when I do, I can't get enough of it! Probably one of the best spreads I have ever come across. This is what a good marriage of foods tastes like - the perfect harmony of sweet strawberries and tangy cream cheese all come together to form this wonderful spread. As shown in the picture below, I pair this spread with a rice cake - and before some of you question the nutritional value of the rice cake, let me be the first to say that I use it more as a vehicle to carry food into my mouth as opposed to a "healthy" substitute for other foods. I also like the slightly nutty taste of rice cakes - they pair well with the delicate strawberry cream cheese.


Overall score: 9/10

- Jill

Honest Tea - Lori's Lemon Tea

Valerie and I made a trip to Supernature today, an organic grocery store that carries many specialized items that "normal" grocery stores (such as NTUC or Cold Storage) do not. We went a little crazy there after seeing the variety of different items, such as Ezekiel bread, kale and rainbow swiss chard! To fellow readers not from Singapore, these items may be a commodity where you live but they are certainly not common here in Singapore! 

Moving forward, today I purchased several items, which included this Honest Tea - Lori's Lemon Tea! This drink is certified USDA Organic, and there were 4 other flavours as well! Valerie is going to review hers... :) 





Disclaimer: If you are a fan of sickly sweet teas that taste of sugar and fruit flavouring more than anything else, you might not like this tea!! 

Lori's lemon tea provided a good balance of sweet (from the lemon) and bitter (from the black tea). The scent is pleasing, and as for taste, I would say it is quite refreshing! However, I was expecting for a stronger lemon-y taste. Nonetheless, this tea "feels" really hydrating and it soothes the soul~~ For the calorie-conscious people out there, there are two servings in this 16 fluid ounces (473 ml) bottle, with each serving being 30 calories.




Ultimately, I would give this tea a 7/10, simply because I am not a HUGE fan of tea, but for those who do like tea, I recommend Honest Tea's teas!

- Jill

Introduction to us!

Hello! My name is Jill, and together with Valerie (a really close friend), we are going to be reviewing interesting food products that we can get our hands on!

We're both very much foodies at heart, but enjoy the healthier stuff in general (i.e. fruit, veg, organic food if possible, etc). We both dance so I think it's safe to say that we do have to keep fit and healthy, and through this blog you will be able to see what we like to eat/ create. Most of our posts will be reviews on the foods we buy, the recipes we try and other fun things!

Do tune in for more~

Love,
Jill