Why I Knew I'd Love My 9 Bar

I knew, even before I tasted it, that I'd love the Wholebake 9 Bar. The sample in the post was accompanied by a letter from Wholebake. The twenty or so people employed in North Wales bake - and it is bake rather than make or produce - the delicious carob topped, seed bar; but what convinced me wasn't the fabulous tasty delight of the thing but rather that I liked them, the bakers.

This is important because when I sat down to give a serious appraisal of 9Bar I found myself thinking the packaging dull and the chances of it competing with Kit Kat or Mars bar to be slim. That was when I realised that the key was in the letter - this is a snack for people who think food is more than a means of providing your body with the means to go on. 9 Bar is for people who care about where their food comes from; care who makes it and care about what they are putting in to themselves.

So, if 9 Bar is a little bit harder to find than the brightly coloured confections near the tills, look a bit harder, it is worth the effort.

It is also perhaps worth noting that Wholebake can also make you a bespoke snack, branded to your own requirement. I quite like the sound of 'Crofty Crunch'. I also thought that, seeing as Fuel My Blog have arranged these reviews, they might like 'Fuel for Your Blog' bar.

Gosh I'm good, I should be in marketing!

Crofty's Nearly Back

The last few weeks have been some of the hardest but most worthwhile. In short, as I wrote a couple of weeks ago, we have been seeing off a loved one to the great beyond.It was a privilege to share in those last days despite the emotional toll.

I am not a great one for emotion, as many chaps aren't. But I keep getting ambushed:

Eddie Reader did it, for one. Do you remember her album The First of a Million Kisses? There I was minding my own business when I couldn't help but muse on the number of tender moments in the fifty eight year partnership that we have just seen the end of - at least in this life.

Then it was Tesco; having shopped for the dear old thing during his long illness, I was taken by surprise when I found one of his shopping lists in his tiny cramped writing in my pocket - that was an inconvenient moment in the bean aisle.

Still, move on we must and will. So, in answer to the anxious e-mails from the excellent Fuel My Blog team: yes, I have my stylish King of Shaves Razor and my tasty 9Bars and will be immersing myself in their offered qualities so to write a review shortly.

See you all soon.