So tomorrow is a very scary day. I’m off to London to do a Very Scary Presentation in front of Someone Very Important (capital letters are strictly required to convey the magnitude of this event). I’m confident I know my stuff, I’m fully prepared – this is something I’ve been immersed in for weeks now. I know it. But I am terrified. I am lowly business analyst and the person in question is our customer’s Big Boss. There’s no one above him. There’s a lot riding on this – how I present it and what I’m presenting. No pressure then.
I am amazed at how far I’ve come since I started this job and this project I’m on. I’ve been put (pushed? dragged?) into uncomfortable situations where I felt out of my depth, I’ve given presentations to our team and customer when I thought I knew nothing, I’ve been in meetings where I’m put on the spot, I’ve even picked up someone’s slack when they underperformed – but I’ve handled it. I’m a new woman! OK maybe not new, but definitely improved. It’s been tough though – some Sunday nights I’ve contemplated calling in sick. But I haven’t. I’ve dealt with these hurdles and I’ve definitely benefited. I just hope I keep getting better.
So, the lovely people at Alpro sent me a hoard of products to have a try of. Check out my very happy grin when I saw the parcels:
It was like Christmas!
Almond milk, Strawberry Shake Soya Milk, Hazelnut Milk and Soya Chocolate Dessert.
I’ve been experimenting with all these to test them out and see what’s my favourite. The almond milk is amazing (but that’s no surprise!). I’ve been using it in my smoothies:
It adds a very subtle sweetness to them which I adore. It also works brilliantly in pancakes!
The chocolate dessert is a sweet indulgence after dinner, but it’s not actually that naughty. 110 calories per dessert (less than 1g Sat Fat as well) and it’s a fairly hefty little tub. Bigger than your standard chocolate mousses but it’s richer and thicker. Very nice. I really want to try the caramel one. I’ve even added the chocolate dessert in one of my more filling post-run smoothies:
This made an amazingly dessert-like chocolate rich thick smoothie (why use one descriptive word when you can use many??):
The only thing that I didn’t get on with with the almond milk was that it was too sweet for my porridge. I’m very particular about that – I like it to be almost savoury. Anything like jam or fruit in my porridge I’m not a fan of and sweetened milk is not my cup of tea (or bowl of porridge as it were). However, I know Alpro do an unsweetened soya milk which I love so maybe they’ll bring out an unsweetened almond milk…
My favourite was the hazelnut milk…This was delicious. I’ve just been drinking glasses of this fresh from the fridge.
It’s so yummy. Perfect for smoothies and pancakes. It has a different taste to almond milk (duh, Anna, it’s a different nut) and it has a lovely creamy brown look to it.
Now the most crazy things of all – prepare yourselves – is that Ben loves the Strawberry Shake and the Chocolate Dessert. He can’t get enough! This is the boy that hates anything that isn’t your bog-standard cow’s milk or yogurt. Greek yogurt is even a push for him. So anyone who’s a bit unsure of soya, give these a go and see what you think. I’m partial to a Strawberry one after a run just to inject some protein and sugar into myself fast:
And you feel like a bit of a kid with the little carton 
I also treated myself to the plain yogurt as well:
The pouring one is brilliant as I just pour a slug of it into my smoothies without any extra washing up. Soya yogurt tastes completely different to normal yogurt and I much prefer it (anyone else with me on that?). I couldn’t sit there eating spoonful’s of normal yogurt or Greek yogurt but I could with this.
I love Alpro because they’re a good source of a host of nutrients (calcium, vitamins B12, D, etc.) and no artificial nasties. Big thumbs up from me!
**All these views are my own – and yes, I am a bit of an Alpro fan! Hehe **
So hopefully tomorrow will go well. I won’t fall over and embarrass myself (it could happen, honestly, I’m that clumsy).
Anyone else got something scary happening tomorrow?
Or any tips on how to use hazelnut milk in some interesting recipes?
Good luck tomorrow- I think that sometimes we need to do those uncomfortable things to push ourselves and get better, I am sure once it is over you will feel a massive sense of achievement. I just think to speak slowly whenever giving presentations- it always feels like you are speaking slow when in fact you are talking fast, so slow it down I think.
I love the Alpro stuff too- I wish the almond and hazelnut milks are unsweetened though- I don’t think they taste overly sweet but I don’t think it is needed either.
Those dark chocolate pots are my faves, and the caramel ones are lovely too. 🙂
Thank you. It was such a relief to have it finished, and like you said I did feel a good sense of achievement 🙂 Yeah hopefully Alpro will extend their range a bit and do some unsweetened versions, but they’re nice in smoothies and baking so I’m not complaining too much!
Good luck with your presentation! I love those soya dessert pots, I think the dark chocolate is my favourite, but the caramel one is a close second! I’ve tried the Almond and Hazelnut milk too, but would definitely prefer if there were unsweetend versions!
Thanks! Oooh dark chocolate! That sounds good. Yeah I’m having to share them with Ben at the moment which is not fun at all haha.
I’m so proud of you today! No doom today!!