Category Archives: snacks
A Taste of Nostalgia
Yesterday I had a little afternoon snack, and as I took my first bite I was inadvertently thrown back in time to my childhood. Suddenly I wasn’t eating a delightful nibble of pâté and crackers… I was in my school lunchroom, eating what was then known to me as a meatspread sandwich. It was completely humbling.
As a child I really disliked meatspread. Little did I know then that it was a grocery store version of what I would covet as an adult, under the name of goose liver pâté. It was an inexpensive sandwich filling, a change-up from canned tuna or egg salad. My mom did her best to make it appealing: she put it on fresh French bread and added sliced sweet pickles.
The problem was, in those days “French bread” was in the shape of a fat baguette but it was still soft bread. The meat spread was rather firm stuff, and by the time it got distributed across a slice of bread, there could be squished places or even worse, holes, where the pickle juice would seep through and give the sandwich a soggy spot by lunchtime.
I ate my meatspread sandwiches anyway. They were certainly my least favourite, but I was a growing girl who was perpetually hungry so I wasn’t going to not eat. I saw other kids that had lunches with less appealing ingredients than meat spread, in my opinion. I was lucky my mom was a good cook, and a crafty packer of a bag lunch. (Her best trick was to take a piece of Chocolate Wacky Cake and pull the bottom half away, sticking it on top of the icing. Then you didn’t lose any icing when you unwrapped it from the waxed paper!)
I had a rueful smile yesterday as the memory of pickles and meatspread washed over me. It didn’t taste that bad at all, on one of my sourdough crackers. But then, I’m a much wiser foodie now, aren’t I?
Filling a Hole
It’s a day off today, so we made a plan for our free kitchen time. In the spirit of Sunday morning, a day of traditionally indulgent eating, we chose to make donuts.
My dad and I made cake donuts a few times when I was a kid and it was a very fond memory. We did it again years later when I was in my thirties; we couldn’t find the original recipe so we worked out another one. We called the recipe “Born Again Donuts“, as it was a resounding success.
Today I went wild and created a new variation (it’s listed with the recipe in the link). My dad loved an adventure; I’m pretty sure he would have approved of the new chocolate orange flavour. I got a kick out of the new Rabbit Hollow-inspired shape, too.
My hubbie decided to make a yeast donut, so that we could have a variety of flavours. He created a chocolate caramel glaze for the usual donuts with holes, and then filled some round donuts with strawberry jam we had in the fridge (not a house-made preserve, but strawberry is the kind of jam you need to put in a donut). I also made a rosewater honey glaze that we dunked a few twists into, just for a bit of sticky fun. All those flavours covered the retro and foodie angles nicely.
Donuts are certainly not a healthy food, what with being deep-fried and coated in sugar or honey. However, homemade with no chemicals or preservatives they are at least natural. And they can provide a sense of emotional wellness.
My dad would have been tickled pink if he could have sat down with us to sip on a cup of fresh coffee and a homemade jam buster.
Here’s looking at you, Daddy!
March Madness Leads to April Calm
We are basketball fans in this house, but I’m afraid we can’t keep up with March Madness the way we used to. We do, however, like to catch up on the final run and appreciate the mastery of the final four teams. Today we sat back and watched the recorded game between the Oregon Ducks and the North Carolina Tarheels.
We are cheering for the Ducks, with their Canadian contigent. Of course we can appreciate the other team, both of us remembering the golden age when Michael Jordan played for North Carolina.
Ultimately, it’s about spending an afternoon relaxing together and enjoying a great North American pastime. (I don’t have to say “American”, since it was a Canadian who invented basketball.)Thankfully, I didn’t even have to feel bad spending a spring afternoon inside. I had already spent part of the morning selling Girl Guide cookies with some of our Sparks, and the rest of it trimming our lilac hedge in the front yard. The weather turned ugly after that, with the wind kicking up and the clouds darkening.
So, we hunkered down with an afternoon cocktail and some pretzels with dip. (One part thick yogurt, one part sour cream, a spoonful of your favourite hot sauce and about half a part of a flavoured mustard – I used a chili garlic mustard I had in the pantry.)
The score went back and forth, and back and forth again. We debated plays and cheered great shots. We groaned when the other team broke away and took the lead.
The game clock played on. We nibbled our pretzels in anticipation, with excitement, and then in hope that our team would pull off a win.
It went down to the final seconds. North Carolina 77 – Oregon 74. North Carolina missed 3 foul shots in a row, and when the ball bounced off the back board into play, the Ducks took it down the court, They scored, for 2 points, with 5 seconds left in the game.
Unfortunately, Oregon didn’t manage to get that last point. North Carolina will play against Gonzaga on Monday night for the national championship.
But there were some fantastic plays on the court. And the pretzels and dip were really tasty. It was a wonderfully relaxing afternoon.