A healthier little treat
AH, temptation. Funny old thing, isn’t it? Got a friend who loves to quote the old line that he can resist anything, except temptation. Reckon he’s not alone. Everywhere you look, there are folk cheerfully giving in to it whenever possible. If you are wondering what I’m on about, allow me to explain.
It all started when I was out with my dear wife the other day. We had things to buy and shops to visit, along with a good long list to prove it. But we also had the dogs with us. Which meant that one of us had to stay outside, on doggy daycare duty. Sigh. That would be me. Obviously. Shopping is one of the many temptations in life I find easy to avoid. Very much so.
Trouble is, buying groceries is not something that can be hurried. So the pooches and I were left standing outside for quite some time. Now, normally in these circumstances, the modern thing to do is to pull out a mobile and do whatever people do on those things. As I wasn’t carrying mine at that moment, I had to think of something else to do instead. So I started to people watch. In particular, I started watching the people going in the food shop and then watching them when they came back out again.
Didn’t take me long to spot a pattern, a trend, a way of buying that followed a certain logic. In plain terms, the larger the waistline of the shoppers that went in, the less healthy the goods they came out with. Simple.
As it was early in the morning I’m guessing that most of them were buying their lunch for the day. The skinnier folk would come out clutching a healthy green salad mix of some sort, with maybe a piece of fruit for afters. While the larger-than-life brigade would waddle out with a fistful of assorted fats and sugars. As another mate of mine, a medical sort, often likes to point out, it ain’t rocket science. You are what you eat.
But I don’t want you think the dogs and I were standing there getting all judgmental. Far from it. I was actually thinking about an email I had received the day before. From a man who makes chocolate. Pure Heavenly chocolate, he calls it. Got a website where you can buy it, and everything. He was offering to send me some, so I could give it a twirl. Reason he sprang to mind, is that his was not just any old sweet treat. Oh, no. Far from it.
The story goes that he started the business because his daughters have dairy allergies. So the chocolate is made without any dairy products onboard. Then, for reasons known well to diabetics, this chocolate-obsessed gent decided to get rid of most of the sugar as well. All of which means that giving into this particular temptation is not so much of a sin as some others. If you see what I mean.
Having thought all of this through while standing outside a shop, I decided to take up his kind offer to have a taste of this intriguing treat sent over to Cullimore Cottage. Turns out, it comes in a wide range of varieties. For a start, there are milk and dark versions on offer. Though the milk bit refers to rice rather than dairy. After that, there are a dazzling array of flavours to choose from. In the Dark corner there are such stalwarts as cherry, coffee and ginger.
In the milky section you can choose from exotica including banana, coconut and salted caramel. I know all this because two delightful boxes filled with various samples arrived in short order.
However, this is where the story starts to get a bit blurry. You see, although I am definitely a fully paid-up member of the sweettoothed gang, I don’t have a huge thing for chocolate. Don’t get me wrong. It deserves its place in the pantheon of sweet treats. But for me, it is nowhere near the top of the tree. I prefer biscuits, cakes and more biscuits.
Which means I had to leave most of the actual taste-testing to one of my smaller granddaughters, who also has issues with dairy goods. Trouble is, small children are not the best when it comes to giving you tasting notes. She happily wolfed down a bar or two and when asked to comment, announced that they were yummy and she would very much like some more. Which tells you all you need to know, I suppose.
Hope you and yours are safe, well and happy.
Until next time, all the best.
❝ Shopping is one of the many temptations in life I find easy to avoid