Category Archives: snack

ESSENTIALS

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We all have essentials–you know, the absolute thing or things you can’t do without.

When I was single and surviving on my own–my two things were ketchup and dark chocolate. I discovered that if I plopped a decent dollop of ketchup in pot-roasts, hamburgers and pasta sauce, it brought the taste level up several notches. My Italian best friend, Rina and I were in perfect agreement about our secret ingredient. When her Nonna discovered our secret, her eye-rolling looked like an out-of-control seizure, accompanied with rapid Italian spewing from her lips. Rina and I spent a lengthy session in her cozy kitchen, making pasta sauce from scratch. We each brought home a few jars of Nonna’s treasured sauce and it wasn’t until years later, that we tried to remember exactly how she did it and what she actually used. At the time, we only knew her sauce tasted tons better than Heinz. And being young, we both felt Nonna would always be there for more sauce.

Both Rina and I graduated into more elaborate dishes and the Heinz was retired as our secret ingredient.

Home-made pizza–crust and made-from-scratch tomato sauce. . . .

Nonna would have danced with joy. . .

Which brings me to my second essential—chocolate. And not just any chocolate, this is the Belgian dark chocolate, at least 72%.

Bakers all have failures. Let’s face it. We’re all learning, especially if baking powder was accidently omitted; an oven temperature set too high; a heavy hand stirring the ingredients. For someone learning to bake, there are a slew of pitfalls to be avoided–cakes that sink in the middle; cookies needing something to make it better;, cupcakes that never grew to adulthood but stayed the same as when it first went into the oven.

This is where chocolate comes to the rescue. Drench any pastry with chocolate and it will be a guaranteed winner. I don’t have too many failures but I still enjoy melting pieces of dark chocolate bars on top of cupcakes just out of the oven. If the cupcake failed to rise, no one would notice with a chocolate bar melted on top. No-one except a crass, rude person who doesn’t appreciate really good chocolate bar cupcakes.

When all else fails, there has to be a back-up plan. Mine are doughnuts and not just any doughnut, it has to be a Yonnie’s. AND, if it’s a foodie emergency, Yonnie’s is just down the street. . .

A Yonnie’s regular doughnut dusted with fine sugar. . . .

Or a Yonnie’s fritter drizzled with a bit of glaze. . . .

Rina and I did survive with cooking lessons from her Nonna and my Mom. We are both older, wiser and married, sharing our culinary skills with our granddaughters, who are far away from home and experiencing life on their own.

Over a coffee at Yonnie’s, Rina showed me a text from her granddaughter: Hi Nonna, My housemate Leesa swears all I need in our cupboard is Heinz ketchup and Belgian dark chocolates. But I told her I really can cook and bake. . . .thanks to my Nonna.

We laughed as we remembered our early days on our own. Some things never change. But some things do.

somewhere, somehow, sometime,

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Somewhere, Fate hands me a silver bowl, loaded with all the nifty things I want to do, but there are only 24 hours to do them. My day–like everyone else’s day–only has 24 hours, so how the HECK am I going to enjoy my bowl of fun and pleasure before it all expires?

According to one of my helpful neighbors, “Forget eating and sleeping, Honey. This is your golden opportunity to shed a few pounds, be the energizer bunny and enjoy your fantastic bowl loaded with stuff from your wish-list.”

Okay, I like writing. Mostly fiction. The kind of stories where there are bodies, a sleuth, a bizarre mystery and ample fuel stops–that’s spelled desserts–pointing the way to a clever solution. Well, I made it into an Anthology, appropriately titled “Murder on the Menu.” AND it’s written by 6 crime-writers who all have creative, devilish minds filled with murder and mayhem. Somehow, I’m included among them. We are collectively the “Second-Act Sleuths.” The 6 short stories will grab your eye-balls and never let go. This is the book you won’t be able to put down unless it’s a dire emergency.

Then, there’s all the other books I want to read, start to read and absolutely don’t want to read. Do you do this? Since I only have limited hours, I can start with one fabulous book–even though I can’t finish it in my allotted time, but I will ’cause it got me hooked. . . .somehow.

Did I mention I like desserts? I can nibble my way through the appetizers and main courses, but desserts crushes my resistance like a tank rolls over a Porche. I’ve always wanted to be beside the baker at my favorite Italian bakery, watching him create the light, buttery almond croissants, the flaky little cream-filled horns, those delectable cannoli and the unforgettable chocolate almond cakes.

There is absolutely nothing that compares to a slice of moist, dark chocolate almond Torta Caprese or the mouth-watering tray of Cannoli. Nothing imperfect would ever pass through the kitchen door as I would volunteer to be quality-control. However, I would probably starve for a taste, since the baker never makes a mistake, except maybe. . . . sometime.

My neighborhood is a bonanza of flowers and blooming trees. Taking a leisurely walk, the magnolias are magnificent, but once they burst into full bloom, it seems their days are numbered. The pink and white Japanese cherry blossoms already lined the boulevards in late Winter/ early Spring. Now, magnolia and cherry blossom petals “snow” on the lawns and sidewalks. That’s a sign that Summer is fast approaching. . . . somewhere.

Besides the magnolia blooms above, there is also the spotted tiger toad plant and the deep pink, hanging clusters of peiris.

Somehow, my favorite store, Good Things, is open and ready for me to peruse its contents. I have fond memories of the treasures I was able to photograph before they were sold to some discerning buyers . .

This has been a curiously note-worthy experiment of what can-be-done in 24-hours. Has it made you wonder what you would do if given the opportunity? It’s been an impulsive, yet fun moment, with no time to plan. BUT, I discovered I do love to read and enjoy my desserts.

I have an hour left so I’m going to enjoy a cup of caffeine plus a Yonni doughnut or two. Perhaps, a honey lemon cruller or a cinnamon sugar ring or . . .both?

So, somewhere, somehow and sometime—what do you plan for a spontaneous 24 hours? Don’t think. . . . just do. . . . .and ENJOY!

LESS IS MORE. . .OR MAYBE NOT

humour, snack, thoughts and observations

Since the Covid isolation tentatively ended, I’ve noticed friends and family have looked more well-rounded, if you get my drift. Perhaps social interactions–pre-Covid–were often linked to group exercise and snacks, so the enforced self-isolation still linked to snacks, but without the closeness of social activities.

I have a theory about myself. There were no mini-donuts because the weekly Farmers’ Markets, the Arts and Crafts shows, the Collectible Car shows and all the other stuff that brings on the mini-donut carts were all cancelled for 2 long years. I should have been cured of mini-donuts and should have emerged, at least svelte, even if I was still short.

It didn’t work that way–at least, my Fairy Godmother didn’t make it happen.

You know that old saying, “If one addiction flies out the window, another will fly in”?

Well, I discovered a cookie that was so disgustingly healthy, that I can’t believe Hubby and I are devouring them. These cookies are dairy-free, gluten-free and vegan. AND, it shouldn’t have been delicious, but it was.

On one of my long walks, I had stopped to buy some fresh fruit and a bag of Rebel’s Peanut Butter cookies. The Chocolate Chip, the Cashew Butter and the Triple Chocolate with Walnuts slots were empty. There was a bag of White Chocolate with Macadamia Nuts left as well as a couple of bags of Cranberry Oatmeal, but I snagged the last bag of Peanut Butter and eternally grateful that I did. The taste buds were happily saturated with that real peanut butter flavour. And, the cookies were healthy.

Hubby tried one and declared it “O-kay,” which is equivalent to my enthusiastic “a Keeper!”

I tried to remember which store along which route that I got these scrumptious cookies from. None of the stores I returned to had any and no one recognized the brand-name.

I resorted to logical thinking. Selling a cookie that was dairy-free, gluten-free and vegan to boot would need a specific market, so I tackled the organic markets next. The first one I checked carried the Rebel brand but they were waiting for their next shipment that had been delayed by transportation problems. Having the bakery on the Mainland and living on an Island had its drawbacks. But being a resourceful person, motivated by the craving of having my cookie now, I remembered there was a second outlet enroute home. At that store, the new shipment had already been delivered so I got my bags of Peanut Butter, Chocolate Chip and Triple Chocolate with Walnuts.

Hey, you didn’t think I was going to miss out on the chocolate ones, did you? I had checked the list of ingredients and all the chocolate was dark and the chocolate chips were real dark chocolate and not carob. Hubby and I unanimously voted that these were all “keepers.” The best part is I know where to get more when the cookie jar is empty. . . without turning my oven on.

MARSHMALLOWS and . . . .

humour, snack, thoughts and observations

I bought a 5-pound bag of marshmallows the other day. I was at the checkout and it fell into my cart. I told the lady it was for the grandkids but she gave me such a knowing look–she may as well have done the wink-wink thing.

It wasn’t really 5 pounds, probably more like 2 pounds. These were definitely not your normal size marshmallows. I would describe them as marshmallows on steroids. They were huge.

Monster Marshmallows

I will confess I had a craving for some marshmallows. I actually pictured them smaller and dipped in dark Belgian chocolate. Somehow, I got the big bag of colourful ginormous ones that decided they wanted to come home with me.

After he stopped laughing, Hubby told me I was on my own with the monster marshmallows. And after I ate about 5 or 6 or 7–spread over 2 days–I had to figure out some way to use them up. I decided on a pan of the family favourite–the familiar Rice Krispie Squares made of rice krispies, marshmallows and a dollop of margarine.

The bonus of the whole project was a nutritious snack composed of puffed rice, melted marshmallows that were light, slightly chewy and not too sweet; a generous splash of pure vanilla flavouring and a dollop of margarine—low-cal, low sugar, low fat and nutritious as heck.

What could be better for a normal human? Maybe next time I could melt some dark Belgian chocolate into this mixture or even peanut butter. After melting these colossal marshmallows, the colours disappeared somewhere but the results were still delicious.