A visit to Vegas

This past week we visited Las Vegas. It was amazing. My wonderful partner put us up in a suite on one of the top floors of the Cosmopolitan hotel. The room had a beautiful balcony with an amazing view, but don't believe me. Let me show you -

The trip was amazing but that's not what I am here to tell you about. I am here to tell you about a few little things that we brought back. So here are some of my favourite US purchases

The Drop-Catch Magnetic Beer opener

This thing has been circling the blogosphere and pinterest for the last little while and it definitely caught my eye.

This ingenious device is magnetic on both sides, so the same thing that makes it stick to my freezer draws the bottle caps to it, quite artistically I might add and it makes for quite a fun party accessory.

The second purchase was also for drinking but of the day time variety.

Teavana Contour Tumbler

When I lived in America I loved shopping in Teavana, so it was a must visit for me. There I picked up this beauty on sale and I would highly recommend it

This beautiful piece of tea-ware is not only a perfect colour but also a fantastic design.

As you can see it breaks down into 4 parts.

1- a cover lid, that doubles as a drip holder for the tea strainer
2 - a drinking lid
3 - a tea strainer and
4 - a vacuum sealed holder that stays cool to the touch while keeping your drink warm for 6 hours.

This is the perfect travel mug for having fresh tea any time of day. Of course it would mean putting the water in at 100' and using a tea that requires less than 100' as it undoubtedly loses at least a degree or two.

I also particularly like the any angle drinking lid

Now we move on to the edible items -

PB2

This stuff is fantastic!! Peanut butter with 85% less fat, it can be re-hydrated with water, or yoghurt to make a mouse. It can be used in baking and I will hopefully be posting some recipe ideas that I have already.

Next is this Trader Joe's Ginger, Almond and Cashew Granola

This was a firm favourite of mine when I lived in Boston. Trader Joe's was one of my local markets and I miss it terribly on this side of the world. 

This granola was and still is my favourite of theirs. They do not skimp on the nuts or ginger and it is so rare to find a ginger granola, even in ginger obsessed England. Although generally I have found that here they focus more on ginger as a flavour rather than the crystallized kind.

Another favourite granola - Nature's Path Hemp Plus Granola

I love this granola and it is relatively low in sugar compared to many others. Nature's Path have distributed to the UK for several years now and I constantly ask them to bring over their Hemp Plus or Flax Plus Granolas without joy. Therefore, I brought over some of my own. I eagerly anticipate the day they see the light and sell these granolas on this side of the world.

Onwards to the increasingly less healthy -

Trader Joe's Chocolate Orange/Raspberry Sticks

These are not awful for you, they contain a decent amount of natural ingredients and no nasty chemicals or colours. However the first 3 ingredients are all sugar, so you know what you're getting yourself in for. That said - these are delicious. The chocolate orange sticks taste like everything that is good about Jaffa cakes and the raspberry works beautifully with the dark chocolate. I must be very self controlled with these lest I finish them too quickly. Thankfully the tubs come in health 510g sizes as standard, so I'll be ok for a while

And finally, for this list anyway, is my least healthy but most favourite candy -

M&Ms!! But not just any M&Ms

Almond M&Ms!!! These delicious candy's have the amazing excuse of containing a powerhouse of healthy eating, taking that delicious nut and covering it in processed chocolate, sugar, and artificial colourings and I friggin' love it!!

So that's my list for today. There are a few more items that we got in the states that I may share with you in the future and I will definitely have some recipes up including these and potentially those items but in the mean time. I hope you enjoyed this post and if you are living in the states I greatly envy you and recommend that you go to Trader Joe's and Teavana now, Now.....Are you there yet? ;)

Ok see you next week =)