Not our name, but our passion
These dried strawberries from Happy Village are sourced from Turkey. Dried fruit was a staple on my canoe trips back in the day and my favorite was always the strawberries. This brand is sweetened with concentrated apple juice.
Dried strawberries are chewy with a slight gritty texture due to the seeds. The sweetness can vary from brand to brand with these being moderately sweet
8 out of 10
These Fandangos snacks from Brazil are crunchy corn chips. The chips are made by Elma Chips, a Brazilian representative of Frito-Lay. It is a very popular snack chip in Brazil and also come in several other flavors.
Crunchy and shell shaped with a nice corn taste. Alex and I both liked them a lot.
Alex 8 out of 10
Joe 9 out of 10
Costa-Rican Picadillo de Papa is popular in the highlands of northern Cartago, where they grow many potatoes. It is a popular way to serve beef and potatoes in Costa Rica. This version comes curtesy of HelloFresh.
Served on tortillas this was a tasty and different meal for us
8 out of 10
Placebo Effect by Gary Russell was the thirteenth novel in the BBC Eighth Doctor novel series. It featured the Eighth Doctor and Sam Jones. It also featured Stacy Townsend and Ssard, a human and Ice Warrior respectively, who had travelled with the Doctor in the Radio Times comic stories and the 1997 Unofficial Annual (see review here).
The Doctor and Sam go the the artificial planetoid Micawber’s World to attend the wedding of the Doctor’s former companions Stacy and Ssard. Unfortunately Stacy and Ssard fly off to their honeymoon shortly into the novel and are not a part of the narrative afterwards. The main flow of the story centers around a drug trade and some murders involving the Foamasi and the Wirrrn. There is an interesting use of time travel when the Doctor leaves to pick up Stacy’s parents for the wedding and takes several weeks giving them a tour of the universe while only being gone a few hours away from Sam. I also like when Sam challenges The Doctor for never mentioning Stacy and Ssard to her making her lie to them to spare her feelings. It is reminiscent of the scene in the series when The Doctor tells Rose why he never mentioned Sarah Jane to her. The book was a little slow and I wish there was more of Stacy and Ssard, 7 out of 10.
Dr Who’s Greatest Adventure is another of the continuing adventures of the Peter Cushing Doctor from the original Amicus movies. This is the twelfth novel/anthology from Obverse Books featuring the Cushing Doctor. This novel also features an appearance of The Fourth Doctor and Romana crossing over from the OG Doctor Who Unaverse.
I have been enjoying these Dr. Who books and this one was exceptionally satisfying. In addition to the continued adventures of the good Doctor and his family we have an appearance of the Fourth Doctor and Romana from the “real” Whoiverse and some of Guy N. Smith’s Killer Crabs thrown into the mix. We also have two new companions for Dr. Who; Mei Li and PC Blake. The villains of the piece are the Zygons and Silurians. The book rolls along with alternating narratives following Dr. Who and the Fourth Doctor until they eventually meet up towards the end of the novel. A rollicking good time 9 out of 10.
