Bacon re-incarnated

This is the first I've ever heard, seen or tasted bacon… in a pretzel. Stopping into a Polish grocery store on Roncesvalles to pick up some perogies, my pal Tomi spotted these and gave me the nudge to buy them, not that she had to nudge that hard. She's a vegetarian so bacon pretzels aren't exactly on her to-eat list.

I ripped open the package when I got home and settled in to watch some Olympics (men's speed skating 1500m) with a fresh gin and tonic in hand. Smoky, salty, dry and crispy… bacon pretzels are pretty addictive. I wrapped up the remainder of the package with elastic bands and hid it away, in fear I'd down the entire thing in one sitting.

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A snack that clowns might eat

My childhood friend Sunny sent over a sample of her latest snack obsession last weekend— popcorn cake. What the heck is popcorn cake, you ask? I like to think of it as the slightly eccentric step-sister of the rice krispie square. I told Sunny that it looks like a snack a clown would eat. And really, it's made from ingredients that would be readily found at a carnival: popcorn, marshmallow and brightly coloured candy-covered chocolate pieces. Despite its clownish appearance, popcorn cake is highly addictive; sweet, salty, chewy and crunchy all at the same time. Sunny likes to make it with Papa Jack's pre-made popcorn (check out that crazy retro line drawing on the bag) and when she says "Papa Jack", she likes to say the "Papa" part really fast. Try saying it. And try the recipe, but be warned… it's very, very addictive.

POPCORN CAKE
1 stick butter 1 bag mini marshmallows 4 qts. popped corn 1/2 lb. bag M & M's Melt butter and marshmallows. Add popcorn and M & M's. Spread into greased angel food cake pan.

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I heart airplane food!

Porter Airlines. What a civilized and pampered way to travel. And flight attendants who sport stylish uniforms with pillbox hats. Almost makes me want to become one just so I can wear those cute uniforms. But what I like better is to travel in style, and check it out– even the snack box of my 4pm flight home from Ottawa is *designed*. Sliced baguette, paté and Kiri cheese make for a lovely afternoon nosh and before I could finish clicking my heels, I was already back home in Toronto.

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Almond Joy

Its 11pm and the only snack I have in the house are some stale almonds from Sobeys that I've been munching on for days while cursing Sobeys for selling me stale almonds. I can almost understand how in the olden days people would make the trip back to grocery store to return their food. Instead, I was inspired by wanting-a-snack-at-11PM-and-having-nothing in-the-house-but-stale-almonds-creative and remembered my recent time in Spain and how good the almonds were, and searched how to do it in one of my Tapas books. I didn't even think about cooking the almonds, but you can and they're good and perfect for an 11pm snack. Next time I will just stock up on blanched almonds instead of doing the 'blanching' myself, but I suggest doing the whole thing yourself for the first time, its pretty satisfying and in comparison to cracking sunlower seeds, its way more satisfying for what you get. Spanish salted almonds -- take almonds and boil them for 4 minutes, drop in cold water for 1 min. Then take each one between your fingers and pinch the skin off, those little fuckers slide right out. Drop on a baking sheet and coat with olive oil and bake on 350 for 20 minutes. After, cover with paprika and sea salt for a tasty snack. The next time you do it, just get blanched almonds and throw them right into the oven instead of boiling. They're good with the late night Stiegel.

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