If you recall, I’ve reviewed a Clif Mojo bar before- the peanut butter pretzel flavor. You may also recall that while I didn’t hate it, I definitely didn’t think I’d purchase one again. Well lo and behold I went and did just that when I stumbled upon this delightful looking white chocolate macadamia flavor.

I love white chocolate, and macadamia nuts. What could go wrong?

Let’s start with the stats. 190 calories with 11 grams of sugar and 8 grams of protein. All well and good here.

The ingredient list is mostly organic with very few funky ingredients to complain about.

Appearance: Chunky with puffed rice, pretzel bits, macadamia pieces, and white chocolate chunks all held together by a shiny colorless glaze. One side of the bar has more pretzel pieces while the other seems to have all the white chocolate chunks.

Texture: Everything has a very satisfying crunch to it from the crackling puffed rice to the crisp pretzel bits. The nuts and chocolate pieces have a similar oily smoothness and density that feels good as they give way under the strength of your bite.

Taste: There is a very surprising saltiness right from the start. It’s not like individual salt crystals dissolving on your tongue either, but more of an all over saltiness as if the bar was painted with saltwater. It’s jarring at first, the acrid iodine flavor washed over everything makes your jaw tingle just under the ears like you’ve bitten into a lemon.

It’s great when you bite into a white chocolate chip and the saltiness combines with the sweet to make one cohesive flavor, but since the distribution of ingredients isn’t homogenous, some bites are a mouthful of sweet chocolate while others are just an unpleasant saltlick.

As for the macadamias, they’re barely noticeable. There is a faint nuttiness in the back of your throat if you’re looking for it, but really it’s not a huge part of the overall flavor of the bar.

Overall, while I didn’t hate it I didn’t really “get it” either. The pretzel bits seemed out of place entirely and the saltwater flavor was just impossible to get past. I would have liked this better if the nuts were salted rather than the binder and if the whole thing were better distributed so that most bites will have a bit of everything in them.

I’m really just not feeling this whole “put pretzels in everything” business that Clif Mojo has going on, so this product line as a whole is probably just not for me. And I can’t for the life of me figure out what is giving the entire bar that bathed in saltwater taste when there doesn’t seem to be a colossal amount of sodium in it.

Also….where my macadamias at!?!? What a tease.

What is your favorite nut? (I’m a cashew and hazelnut fan myself.)

November 30, 2011 Alayna Discussion 10 comments

This past Thursday I met up with a bunch of the Atlanta-area bloggers for a cocktail hour at Tuk Tuk Thai Food Loft. One look at the giant tuk tuk in the entryway told me I was in the right place.

We all sat at the bar at first which has an amazing view of the Atlanta cityscape. This photo just doesn’t do it justice.

I ordered a Boston Mule cocktail which was incredible. It had some sort of tea and elderflower vodka in it with ginger ale….I think. I can’t really remember what all was going on in it, just that it was delicious enough for me to go back for seconds….and later thirds. 😉

The owner was nice enough to set us up with a few complimentary appetizers. There were beef skewers with a sweet chili dipping sauce and crispy roti with a green curry dip. Both were excellent.

After about 45 minutes or so, we all started to feel like maybe we’d like to actually order dinner rather than just drinks and snacks, so we headed to a table to order up.

I ended up sharing two dishes with Laura. We split a chicken and rice dish with a black soy bean chili sauce and a tuna salad with a sweet and sour dressing.

We all also got a surprise mini cocktail shot from a very nice boy at the bar.  😉 Cheers!

We were all still having fun so we ordered a dessert for the table to share. It was a thai style snow cone made with rose syrup sitting atop a bowl full of gingko nuts and sweet jellies.

It was fun to watch it being made right next to our table!

Tasted a bit like bubble gum but still pretty good.

These meetups just get more and more fun as we really start to get to know more about each other. And I’m always excited to meet new people as our little group keeps expanding.

The list this time included:

• Laura – Sprint 2 The Table
• Kristy – Kristy Runs
• Stacy – Stacy Eats
• Brooke – Exercise For Fries
• Carol – Lucky Zucca
• Traci – yellow Wishbone
• Heather – Girly Ever After
• Lee – In My Tummy
• Tina – Faith, Fitness, Fun
• Heather – Better With Veggies
• Tracy – Kitchen Ambition

Whew! Takes a while to link all those up.

Next time, I think we’re gonna try a potluck. Look forward to seeing everyone again!

November 21, 2011 Alayna Discussion 11 comments

I think I may be the only person on the planet who doesn’t really like Clif bars. At least not the original variety that are like thick chalky bricks, those always give me acid reflux and make my tummy hurt. I have no idea why they do that.

I decided to give this Clif Mojo bar a try because…well…because it has pretzels in it. There’s really nothing more to it than that, I was just intrigued.

Ingredient list is pretty clean, lots of stuff in it but nothing I’m too afraid of.

It clocks in at 190 calories which is a little bit low for a satisfying snack but still good. 9 grams of protein and another 9 grams of sugar are both respectable stats. And I was worried about the salt content with this being chock full of pretzels, one of the most classic of salty snacks, but at 220 milligrams it’s really not totally unreasonable.

Appearance: I like the cobbled-together look of this bar. Loosely clinging together pieces of pretzel, puffed rice, peanuts, and peanut butter chips. I was very excited to see those adorable little peanut butter chips, I didn’t even know they were there until I opened it. Nice golden sheen from the brown rice syrup too.

Texture: Crunchy and chewy, a bit jagged but not unpleasant. There’s no sogginess in the pretzels from being in contact with the moisture from the brown rice syrup. Peanut butter chips are buttery smooth and the puffed rice is a nice subtle crackle.

Taste: I expected this to be a contrasting sweet and salty flavor, but it was really mostly salty. Not a bad thing, just not what I expected. The peanut butter chips are subtle, they provide a nutty flavor without any additional salt or sweetness. The salt comes solely from the pretzels, with some bites being less salty and others very salty when you bite into a piece with big salt crystals.

Overall, I liked this bar but I don’t think it’s one I’d add to the regular rotation. It’s definitely light years better than those regular thick pasty Clif bars, but still not that exciting. However, if you’re a lover of salty snacks more than sweets, this might be just right for you. I, however, was really hoping for that awesome contrast between salty and sweet. I think a bit of honey flavor would have taken this over the edge for me.

Salty, sweet, or both at the same time?

August 31, 2011 Alayna Discussion 8 comments