Sweet Designs Chocolate Ha ha ha

 2 years since I've written!! What compels such action? Sea parted? Writer's block, cleared? An omg feeling that I need the accountability of dates otherwise I lose them? So baby I'm back.

With a tres moi reason. I'd like to rant about Sweet Designs being closed Jan 1 -10 which is just absurd. Where am I to go. What am I to do? There is no answer. 

So I went to Heinens. Handy and I needed whipped cream (remind me about my apple crisp:old school recipe) .After walking around their "bakery", deciding that a yummy coffee cake sounded like it would do but of course finding nothing!! and feeling like a weirdo cause I ended up looking at everything and I'm sure the look on my face was nice. But I did find, tucked in the brownie case, a very tasty brownie/caramel/cookie dough layered bar. And I ate it with tea, quite hit the spot.

BUT back to the dearth of good chocolate and the need for everyone to stock up! Now there is a thing called damp January and if you're doing any of those alcohol things you can probably do it but you'll need tea and good sweets. Everyday I think of driving over the bridge to Lakewood and it's a few days yet till Sweet Designs (a most european thing in my neighborhood) reopens. Try the nut patty. Either cashew, pecan or almond, dark or milk chocolate, caramel. It's all you need really because right there all you math majors can tell me how many variations you can indulge in. Six, I think. Ok the toffee and brittle are smashing as well. 

Chic Eating - How to Start

A yahoo group I've belonged to forever recently had some posts about clean pantries
and more frequent, but less acquisitive, stops at the market. We been thru this before on that group (french chic) and it's understandable as this is one of the cornerstones of a healthy, chic way of relating to food. Lean pantry, eat seasonally,
realistic portions, unprocessed foods - all building blocks of your personal chic culinary lifestyle, one that will satisfy your mouth and your soul. Wow, who knew. Anyway I also love that it is thriftier (yes,despite costlier organics etc) and just a superior way to conduct yourself (earth consciousness, the whole picture).
You've got to clean that refrigerator out. First timers must take every single item out, wipe the fridge clean, and sort and restock, wiping down the condiment bottles as before returning to their shelves. I try to do this a few times a year- seasonally seems right, and once you do it, and you keep a sparse, clean fridge, it's not too time consuming. First timers - for you it is tho, almost certainly. So worth the effort.
As you go make a list of what you need to eat asap and what you need to replace.
You can make some quick menus from these items. Today I had 1 1/2 lemons (squeezed them right into the existing, summer-fridge omnipresent pitcher of lemonade). One cooked chicken breast and 2 hard boiled eggs - made a quick bowl of chicken salad adding some celery and green grapes. Get the picture? "yes, we see".

Don't forget the freezer. And the dry pantry of course.

The pantry basics, well you can find lists everywhere and you will want to make it
'your own' anyway. The flavors of jelly, the particular spices, what sort of mustard you enjoy - this is what not only makes all sorts of delicious sustenance easy for you to prepare daily - it is your way of treating yourself to what you love! Pick what rocks your world! Experiment! What do YOU like? Indulge yourself here. Condiments are the accessories of your pantry and, as we chics know, accessories are essential, fun and can make or break it.

Off to pick some golden raspberries for the yogurt that needs to be eaten up. It was my first attempt in years to make homemade. And it is delicious, thick Greek style stuff. Maybe I'll post about that process...
La

Informed Produce Shopping

Happy Monday!
Here is some information that I found to be interesting. It concerns genetically modified, organic and conventionally grown produce and how to tell the difference
between them, easily.
Hopefully we will all be buying from the farms this time of year (or growing our own, my garden is doing very well so far), but if not, I hope you find this tip
helpful.



PLU (Price Look Up) codes are four or five number codes that bring up the price of each item. Within these codes is information about the food itself.

If the code number (you can see it on the label or price tag) is four numbers, the product was grown conventionally.

If the code is made up of five numbers, the product is either organic or genetically modified. An organic product code starts with the number 9, while a genetically modified product code starts with the number 8. Never buy a product (unless it's at a farmer's market or direct farm to consumer) without a PLU code so you know what you are buying.

La