Gingerbread-less house

We decorated a wooden gingerbread house form with this version of royal icing and every scrap of candy we could find. From my friend Gayle:

"Royal icing is made. Basically it is egg whites and 10x sugar. Easy to make with a stand mixer.

I used 1/4 cup meringue powder, 1/2 cup of water and 4 cups of 10x"

Pictures to come. I'm a tad behind.

Easter leftover cookies

My husband and I wanted chocolate chip cookies so we mixed up a crazy batter of Ghiradelli dark chocolate chips, leftover Easter candy pieces and marshmallow peeps torn limb from limb.

They are awesome.

Archer Farms Peel-apart Fruit

It's no secret that I have an uncontrollable addiction to sugary candies. Gummy bears. Licorice. Gum drops. Fruit slices. JELLY BEANS.

I don't buy these things because I will eat them until I get a belly ache.

I was buying the Market Pantry golden raisin sours, which were high in sugar but not as bad as candy, and because they were infused with fruit juice they had a ridiculous amount of vitamin C. I haven't seen them in a month or so. Those and the Pétit Écolier cookies have disappeared from my Target universe.

Now as far as processed dried fruit items go, I like the Archer Farms fruit bars. They have a nice amount of fiber and vitamin C, are made with fruit instead of high fructose corn syrup. But just the bars, not the leathers.

They have a new product, pull-apart fruits that remind me of my favorite candy, Twizzler Pull and Peels. They are rather small, don't have nearly the vitamin content of the bars but they taste remarkably candy-like which makes them a healthy replacement for candy in my universe. The fruit bars have a grittier texture, so these are actually more pleasant on the tongue.

They are organic. They have no fat, 4% RDA potassium, 1 g fiber, 12g sugar, 2% iron, 10 % vitamin C.

Quiet blog/ Weis

The blog has been quiet because my daughter went with her grandmother on Friday and has not returned home. My husband and I had a nice dinner to attend on Friday, for the first ever Greater Lehigh Valley Writers Group Literary Awards. That was a fun night.

Then yesterday we ate things like scones out of the freezer and nachos.

We went out last night and stopped at Weis supermarket for a few things I forgot. Butter, greens for the tortoise, ingredients for pumpkin crêpes. When Weis had a store in our neighborhood, I used to shop there all the time. Then they moved the store.

I can say for a fact that store is expensive and I have no intention of going back. Ever if I can help it.

We got two cans of pumpkin. I'm not sure if it's Wegmans or Giant, but one of these sells the generic can for 99 cents. Weis is $1.09. A small bottle of real maple syrup is $4.99 at Wegmans. $5.69 at Weis. Butter is $2.50 a pound, whereas I know I can get it for $2 elsewhere. And actually, if I would have gotten two of there 1/2 pound boxes... I believe those were $1 each. 16 ounces of coffeemate, $1.99. Broccoli crowns were $1.99 a pound, which made my jaw drop when I saw the receipt. But then at the end of the receipt, I see there was a club card discount, dropping the price to $1.29 pound. Red Leaf lettuce was also $1.99 a pound. Carrots were $0.99 for a one-pound bag. At Giant, they would have been the same price but baby carrots would have also been 99 cents, as would organic carrots.

A huge bag of Twizzlers was $1.85, a box of jujyfruits was $1, and their generic fancy chocolate bars are 50 cents a piece. And there was a general box of strawberry shredded wheat for $2.69 that packed a nice nutritional punch.

And the jujyfruits were bad. Half the box were fresh and delicious. The other half were crispy and gritty, not hard and stale, gritty. They are getting sent back to the manufacturer.

Forks Mediterranean Deli

This may be my best blog entry ever by the time I get done. I stopped at Forks Mediterranean Deli on the way home, and simply that is a story in and of itself. When I worked at the news editor at Lafayette College, I went to every Hillel Society function because they had the best falafel I had ever tasted and hummus to die for... And finally, the Jewish chaplain leaned over to me, after a year or so, and said "Angel, I get the platter at Forks Mediterranean Deli."

A love affair was born. I don't get there nearly as often as I should, maybe once every four months. I'm planning on homemade chicken curry soup for dinner and for some reason thought "falafel."

Now, on many occasions, Edmund, the owner, has falafel in the case all by itself ready to go. Not tonight. So I asked him. "Can I have some falafel to go with dinner, no sandwich." Of course he said sure and told me he normally puts three patties on a large sandwich, how many would I like? We settled on eight.

I have $10 in my pocket. I look at the wall. A falafel platter is $5 or $8. A large falafel sandwich is $7. How much would eight falafel patties cost? I rationalized a small shopping spree to justify use of my bank card. After all, it's such good food. All homemade and since he has groceries... I can apply it toward the March grocery budget.

So my daughter and I shop.

We buy:

• dried papaya
• random dehydrated fruits and veggies (including green beans and I have no idea what else)
• hot wasabi snack mix
• sesame nut brittle
• nougat candy and apricot nougat candy
• hummus
• whole wheat mini pitas

Then he asks my daughter what kind of candy she likes. She likes the jordan almonds, but he was out of those. He feels terrible he doesn't have any. He went back to check on our falafel. (He makes it fresh.) When he comes back, he insists on giving her some of her next favorite. She picks the sugar coated chick peas, which are really good.

The bill came to $26.09. The irony is: The falafel was $4. But I never feel guilty about money spent there. The food is too good. (And cheap.)

My daughter says she wants to work there, and Edmund told her he'll pay her in food. I laughed and said he'll lose on that deal. Then she gave him a big hug.