A lot of readers were interested in knowing what was in the next (and any subsequent) snack boxes I received with my gift of a subscription to Universal Yums (original post here). I could couldn’t just sample the snacks on my own so I enlisted the help of esteemed snack judge Donna once again, and off we went to Poland (snack-aphorically speaking).
Contents of Poland box, artfully arranged by Donna
First up on the scorecard was Poland’s iconic dark chocolate-covered marshmallow bar. According to the brochure, this is Poland’s most famous confection and the name translates to “an unobtainable delicacy”. We’ll see!
That tasted exactly like you would expect. Maybe it was “unobtainable” and a “delicacy” back in 1936 when it was first created, but it seems pretty average now. Marshmallow bar sampling. Photo by Donna.
Next, we were guided to a salty snack. Pretzels are Poland’s favourite salty snack, according to the writeup on this one:
Now you’re talking! (Donna and I are both salty snack fans.) Cheese and onion flavoured aka pierogi-flavoured, apparently.
Back to sweet, for taste test #3:
Chocolate-covered gingerbread sticks. I didn’t think this would be such a good pairing.But I am happy to report that they were quite good! Poles love gingerbread – especially at Christmas time – and their favourite holiday film is Home Alone, according to the brochure. KEVIN!!!!!
Next was something that intrigued both Donna and myself:
Too cute to eat…almost! These are considered a national treasure in potato and salty-snack loving Poland.
The next item came from the “yum bag” included in the box: a hard candy – fruit yogurt flavoured.
The bag contained 4 wrapped candies. Two of each variety. Jogusie tasted good but neither of us are hard candy fans (caramels excepted, of course). Seventy three percent of Polish people list yogurt as their go-to dairy snack, and Jogusie yogurt candies were created to “get a yogurt fix on the go”, apparently.
The next sampling I hoped would be good, since I liked the chocolate-covered gingerbread sticks so much:
However, neither of us found anything delicious about this particular snack. Frederic Chopin, however, sang the praises of gingerbread, as described in the brochure. Maybe he should have kept his opinions to music only.
Again, I had high hopes for the next offering – it even had a cute wrapper.
It was a disappointment, to say the least. Kinda crispy on the outside and blah on the inside. We’ve both had better caramels and better fudge. Apparently this is Poland’s most popular candy. Can I introduce you to a little thing called “Werther’s”?
Last but not least was a milk chocolate bar with a peanut cocoa filling.
I thought it had a nice nutty flavour but Donna was kinda “meh” about this. Manufactured by the company run by Jan Wedel, the “Willy Wonka” of Poland, who also created “the unobtainable delicacy”, seen previously. Jan Wedel was also famous for being a humanitarian by producing food for hungry citizens when the Nazis seized control of Poland’s food for themselves.Donna, in her snacking judging glory.
Here’s what the finished scorecard looked like:
And here are the Poland box snacks ranked by us, from favourite snack to least favourite snack (LEFT TO RIGHT):
My rankingDonna’s ranking
And the winners are…..
Us! Because we got to have a bunch of laughs and spend time together sampling exotic snacks! Photo by Donna
Where in the world will we go next (in terms of snack boxes)? Stay tuned!
At the beginning of January, I received an unexpected delivery of a mysterious package. The outside was decorated with cute symbols of food in red and white and it proclaimed it was from a company called Universal Yums. Curious, I opened it up and looked for some kind of note or explanation as to who sent it but there was nothing to be found inside except some packages of snacks, a score card and a booklet. So I looked at the outside of the package again and there it was, partially obscured by the shipping label.
Mystery solved!
What a lovely gift, from my good friends back in Ontario: Jonathan and Kenn!!! Clearly the package was supposed to arrive in December, but what with all the weather difficulties and highway closures it couldn’t make it to my door until early January.
Snack contents of the box: popcorn from Taiwan, truffles from France, candies from the UK, “plum” cake from Argentina, baklava from Jordan, and potato chips from another region of France. Scorecard and guidebook from box
As you can see, the December box is a collection of snacks from around the world. The regular monthly boxes contain snacks from one country, only.
Of course, you know I couldn’t just snack (and score) all by myself…so I called someone whose food judgement I trust implicitly.
Donna is clearly taking this project as seriously as I am. 😉 What concentration! What focus!
And so we began. One by one, we carefully sampled each snack and wrote our thoughts down on the scorecard.
I forgot to take a picture of the “plum” cake. Probably because I was pretty pissed it didn’t contain any plums. Imagine a twinkie stuffed with caramel, in lieu of a photo.
And here are the results of our scoring:
Your happy judgy McJudgersons judging panel (photo by Donna).
This was a whole lotta fun. And I get to do it every month for a whole year! Don’t worry, I won’t post it on WOYPBC each month…just this first time. While I was waiting to get together with Donna to do the scoring, my January box arrived:
Hmmm….what country am I going on a snack holiday to, next?It’s Poland! (Which has bison, apparently…who knew???)
I am so tickled by this subscription. I really love the scoring aspect of it. Something fun to do with friends and family. I think it is both a great idea for a gift to give, and also a joy to receive!
Once again, my co-host Donna and I are using a linkup for people to share their posts on. Please find it here:
Not sure why InLinkz hates me. What have I ever done to it???If the button doesn’t want to work, you can always join up at Retirement Reflections or try this link HERE.
Of course, you are still more than welcome to let Donna or myself know what’s on your plate at your house, in the Comments of either Donna’s or my post (or both, if you are so inclined!). Please check out Donna’s mouth-watering February post, here!
Please enjoy these photos taken at Friday’s hike. It was the first time the sun had broken through the fog in about a week!
We weren’t the only people enjoying this foggy early morning.Fog is lifting and the sun is peeking through! (And rejoicing was heard throughout the island 🙂 )Blue skies to the north and east, and fog to the south and westSpookyView of lagoon when the tide is inDistant ships in the fogThe tree looks to be cradling the sunSalish SeaDonna on the lagoon side, with Salish Sea also in background…and the welcomed sun!Donna, further along the trailIt’s good for people to rest at this time too.Beautiful mainland mountainsMountain peaks framed by treesWe are having a lovely timeDistant islands viewed from a rocky outcroppingStill foggy when looking to the south. There were 3 river otters swimming in the sea below us, but unfortunately they were hard to capture effectively in a photo.Logs, beach and islandsTypical log-encrusted island beachWhat a glorious morning to be at Pipers Lagoon Park!
Having a word to guide me and align my thoughts, goals, and dreams for an entire year has been good for me, for a few years already now. (In fact, my 2020 WOTY was Alignment and it really helped me to remember to make decisions both big and small that aligned with my values in that critical first year of retirement). I find having a single word to focus on works better for me than a list of goals or dare-I-say-it: resolutions. So I was excited to learn of Donna and her circle of Australian bloggie friends coming up with a WOTY Link Party. I’m in! I may not post on this topic every month but for sure I am joining the party this month.
My 2022 Word of the Year is Limber.
Inside cover of my 2022 journal with WOTY and sigil. Doesn’t it look like a figure flexing and balancing? Creating a sigil or symbol for your word or goal is another mental trick to help embed it and keep it in the forefront of your noggin.
I created a sigil from the phrase “I am lean, limber and strong”. Spoiler alert: I am none of those things…currently. Our brains can’t tell reality from fantasy, apparently…so if you say it is so, your trusting little brain believes you! This explains a lot, really.OK, OK, I am not going there even though I feel a huge rant about anti-vaxxers, climate change deniers et al coming on.
A-hem. Anyways, if you want to make something a reality you are supposed to speak and think of it as already being a fact. Hence the phrase. Which I have distilled down to one word: LIMBER. And for me, it is just as important to be limber in mind as it is in body. Especially in these trying times of lockdowns, shutdowns, and cancelled plans in general.
One of the things I do to help me with my LIMBER attitude is a daily practice of Qigong. My massage therapist introduced me to this practice, and I fell in love with what is does for my body and mind. I follow a practitioner on YouTube and am now at the point that my body craves a session every morning.
I track my progress in my journal.
From my January habit tracking spread in my 2022 journal.
I am also incorporating strength workouts in my routine, as evidenced in the above photo. My living room has become my Badass Anytime Fitness franchise, and I am loving it. I’ve also decided that this year I want to be able to do a primal or resting squat at some point….you know the one where you squat as far down as you can, and yet your feet are planted entirely on the ground.
At this point I can’t do it without my heels coming up but I have hopes that I can work on my…uh…limberosity (is that a word? lol) enough to achieve this in due time.
Got my February habit tracker spread already set up and ready to go!
And I am already busy working on increasing my hip mobility (one of the manymobilities I need to work on if I want to achieve this squat…sigh):
Look at me being all mentally limber and learning how to insert a photo gallery into Ye Olde Blogge!
Happy 2022 and end of January, fellow Badassians! Stay strong. Stay flexible. Be LIMBER. Off to join the Link Party!
Obligatory selfie, with Donna of Retirement ReflectionsBeautiful forest pathsDelightfully spooky treesThis might be a moss called Stairstep (according to iNaturalist)The trail featured many wooden paths over boggy areasLooks a bit rickety but quite safe to walk onThis could be Cat’s Tail Moss or Witches’ Hair (according to iNaturalist) and I am here for either name!Mists rising above the treesCould be smoky polypore or turkey tail fungus. Take your pick!Water droplets on rosehips (no need to consult iNaturalist for this one!)Donna, nicely framed by mossy branchesThe last of the snow from the late December/early January stormsSome nice person created a benchSo many moss-covered branches!Obligatory tree bark closeup 😉Apres hike chow-down! Tofu stir fry with noodles at Saigon Kitchen in Parksville. (Pardon the blurry shot, please)
Ah, yes! That butt of a lot of Yuletide-themed jokes…the long suffering fruitcake. Gentle readers, you might have suspected that when Donna gifted me with the Canadian Living Christmas Book and I found the bonus mystery recipe stuck within its pages, that a seed had been planted within my wee brain. You see, I am one of those weirdos that actually likes fruitcake…IF it is well-made and aged. Don’t get me started on the crap fruitcake you can purchase at ye olde grocery emporium. It’s dry as dust and made with cheap ingredients – no wonder people don’t like fruitcake if that is what is being served!
I hadn’t made a fruitcake in probably…uh…decades. I haven’t let fear or rusty skills stop me in the kitchen thus far, so shortly after that blog post (and even before my poll closed) I was assembling my ingredients to make not one but two versions of fruitcake for the upcoming festive season – Violet Burke’s and the Canadian Living Christmas Book Light Orange Almond one.
Oh, and thanks for voting on my poll! 52% of you said I should GO FOR IT, when it came to attempting Violet’s recipe. Another 20% said make the Orange Almond; another 23% wanted further investigation into piecaken. And I think 100% were pissed that Black Forest Trifle was not a choice, amiright? 😉
Orange Almond fruit (and nuts) assembled, and ready to be soaked in Grand Marnier overnight prior to baking.Violet Burke’s fruit mixed and ready to marinate in sherry overnight, prior to baking. (Violet’s recipe did not specify any booze but I FIXED THAT!)Orange Almond fruitcakes out of the oven.Violet Burke’s cakes out of the oven. Can I just say that my house smelled amazing for more than a day?
Since late November, I had been giving the cheesecloth-wrapped cakes generous lashings of the same booze I had soaked the fruit with, every couple of weeks. The results speak for themselves:
Violet Burke recipe on the left, and Orange Almond on the right – ready for testing (and voting!) I’d like to publicly thank the holly bush outside my balcony for contributing to the table decor.Closeup of the Light Orange Almond fruitcakeCloseup of Violet Burke’s fruitcakeNew Year’s Day “judging panel”, including Donna (renowned fruitcake hater critic) behind the camera. Once again, I am rocking the Canadian cashmere, just like Christmas Day (different plaid, though). Hmmmm, am I in a (lack of) fashion rut?More festively-dressed Donna trying the Orange Almond cake. She liked it! After enjoying the New Year’s spread my daughter and I had laid out though, there was absolutely no room for a piece – no matter how small – of Violet’s cake. However…
…Donna was kind enough to send me this photo the next morning – proof she tried (and liked!) Violet’s cake too.
I thought both recipes turned out beautifully – moist and flavourful. However my favourite (and the favourite of the Esteemed Judging Panel) was the Light Orange Almond Cake. (Sorry, Violet!)
The orange almond cake is non-traditional in its citrusy flavour and light colour. The inclusion of the slivered almonds and almond extract in the batter adds a lovely nuttiness that I really appreciated. I think this makes it a great cake for “fruitcake haters and nonbelievers” to try. Both Donna and Richard liked it and said they would definitely eat it again if given the chance, and they also both profess not to like fruitcake. The rest of us already liked fruitcake in general, and we also preferred the light cake.
Violet’s cake was leaning more towards the traditional fruitcake/plum pudding in richness and the addition of the sherry certainly lent it that old-time English fruitcake taste, in my opinion. Definitely a great fruitcake, and definitely head and shoulders above anything store-bought. I think next time I would make it with brandy instead of sherry, and play around with some of the ingredients and add chopped nuts…maybe pecans?
Or maybe I will make Suzanne’s mother’s fruitcake recipe next year instead. Suzanne wrote a lovely blog post recently, in defense of the much maligned fruitcake.
I had so much fun reading your comments about my finding of the Violet Burke recipe. You are so imaginative and creative and some of you really should go into the sleuthing business! Who knew a fruitcake recipe found in a thrifted cookbook would generate such wonderful responses? Certainly, not I.
Blogger and real-life friend Janis was even inspired to write another one of her beautiful short stories; this time about Violet Burke and how her recipe ended up in the pages of the cookbook. You can find it on her blog here. I highly recommend reading it. You might want to have a tissue handy. 😉
Thank you, everyone – for making this ol’ blogger’s heart so happy!
Speaking of Violet’s recipe – here’s what it looks like, now (like a real recipe should):
Donna and I are trying something new this month, for WOYPBC, a linkup!
Fingers (and toes) crossed that it works well, and that people like this way of checking out each others’ WOYPBC posts. (If you don’t like it, it was Donna’s idea. If you do like it, it was our idea. Bwahahahaha!)
Of course, you are still more than welcome to let my co-host Donna or myself know what’s on your plate at your house, in the Comments of either Donna’s or my post (or both, if you are so inclined!). Please check out Donna’s January post, here!
Hope you all had a lovely holiday, if you celebrated. And all the best for a happy, healthy 2022!
It snowed and we had a white Christmas. Apparently, the first one on this island since 2009!
Holly bush outside my balcony.I made this Christmas tree for my mother many years ago. (Remember when ceramics was all the rage?) It’s mine now. I am happy I took a lot of care when painting it. Always give your parents well-made things because they will become yours eventually. 😉
My daughter and son-in-law came over for an early Christmas dinner. We looked at each other and thought we had accidentally coordinated well, in black, red and plaid. We thought it would be good opportunity to take a Christmas photo. Clearly I am we are not good at this.
Photo fail #1. Do not show the remote shutter in the photo. Also (another note to self), do not take photos when hair is still wet and unbrushed.Photo fail #2 The one holding the remote shutter is not sure it is working.Photo fail #3 And then we decided we really needed to try to get more of the snowy background, well…in the background.Photo fail #4 Someone is distracted and not looking at the camera. Someone else is looking oddly and excitedly cheery. No, I was not drinking yet.Photo fail #5 We decided to move out onto the balcony. Daughter decided husband’s hair needed some attention.Photo fail #6 OK, this is really not working. Get it together, people.Photo fail #7 We give up, almost.Photo #8 Not a fail. Let’s quit while we are ahead, and eat!Roasted Brussel sprouts with bacon and balsamic glaze. Mmmmmmmmmmm.The glorious turkey of 2021. Soon to be expertly carved by the son-in-law.
A tiramisu was requested, which I had assembled a couple of days before.I decided to finish it with a Dutch twist, instead of cocoa powder: dark chocolate hail. The tagline (in red above the words Jumbo Hagelslag) translates to “a party on your sandwich”. Yes, Dutch people put chocolate on their sandwiches. What a country! 😉The final verdict was that it was no Widow Badass trifle, but it was tasty. Ignore the bloom on the hagelslag. Being a non-chocoholic, I can’t go through a box fast enough so why did I think it was a good idea to buy such a big box of the stuff? Beats me.Postprandial food coma relaxation.
Hope you had a wonderful Christmas celebration, if you celebrate. I know I did.
Unexpectedly beautiful day. Waiting for the Brentwood Bay ferry to take us across to the Saanich peninsula.Nice views while passing the time.Our tickets were for 3:45 so we explored the gift shop etc., until it got a little darker. This is me and Sarah (friend of my daughter’s – now also a friend of mine!) – under a beautiful tree. Pic of said tree in full dark coming a bit later on…Immediately we were impressed by the sheer number of lights and the quality of the displays.The theme was the 12 days of Christmas…and we saw the partridge in the pear tree first, natch.Gorgeous projection on these trees.Looking down into sunken garden.Of course we brought along the trippy special viewing glasses from Milner Gardens. This is what the displays looked like with the Christmas Star ones. In sunken garden. My son-in-law looking like a demon…LOL. Thanks, Sarah! 😉Now, in his human form. With cute wife (I made her!) and the lovely Sarah. 🙂And here is the lovely Sarah revealing revelling in her true form. Sigh…there’s always gotta be that one in every group…. 😉5 golden ringsWe were lucky not only with the weather, but that it was also the night of the full moon! Expect a lotta full moon photobombs…Gorgeous lights AND the full moon!Per the sign: clap or sing loudly to brighten/change the colours on this treeThat’s a lotta maids for milking only 1 animated cow!I don’t remember “1 dragon spitting” in the song but I am sure it is in there somewhere 😉Giant Christmas bauble topped by the moon.The Italian gardenLast full moon photobomb, I promise!Wire-framed trees and icicle tree, now in full dark.Back where we started. Tree from beginning, now in full darkWe couldn’t figure out where the 12 drummers drumming were at, until we exited the gardens and saw them overhead. Pardon the blurriness. Taken by me in the back seat of my car as my daughter drove us home.Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays from all of us to all of you!
Dinner at the White Elephant first, in Parksville. Thai food, yum! With my daughter and son-in-law, and Donna and Richard.Milner Gardens & Woodland– offering a festival of lights as a fundraiserStarBrowsing doeGingerbread manReflections in the pool beside the gift shopSnowflakesThis way to Santa!Swans in the pondSnowmanDonna and I, having a good ol’ time!The former residence, now a tea roomPeeking in the windows to see the decorated roomsA teddy bear ChristmasPictures of some famous visitors, including Princess Di and that dude she married 😉Santa’s sleighWearing our trippy glassesDonna gifted me a pair. I had never heard of these.This is what my balcony lights look like normally.This is what they look like on drugs with the glasses on. Like I said, trippy!
Next weekend I am heading (with the fam) to check out the light display at Butchart Gardens, strictly for comparison/research purposes only 😉 . My daughter and I will be packing the trippy eye wear, for sure!
A while ago now, Donna and her hubs Richard, and myself went a walkin’…along the Great Trail (aka Trans Canada Trail) down to the pretty town of Chemainus. It was a dark and stormy night…er…light and rainy day but we didn’t let that dampen our spirits. It also didn’t dampen our appetites. In fact it enhanced them. We were so hungry by the time we arrived that we promptly fell into the first restaurant we came across, that – so fortunately for us! – was also the most excellent Indian eatery.
Near the beginning of the hike, and soaked already.
As for myself? Well…
Somebody thought to bring an umbrella 😉 Photo by DonnaPhoto taken by our gracious waiter, at Invitation Indian Cuisine. Closeup of our food. Clockwise from top left: palak paneer, butter chicken, naan, eggplant bartha. Photo by Donna.
I hadn’t had Indian food at a restaurant for over a year (not since I left Ontario) so this was especially delicious to me. And inspiring! I bought a new cookbook, determined to add some easy-to-make dishes to my repertoire.
The Amazon ratings and reviews sold me on this book.
The first thing I needed to do was to buy the spices necessary to make the garam masala spice blend recommended to use for the dishes in this cookbook. Thankfully it was almost Diwali, and everything was on sale!
Spices ready to go in the coffee grinder (which thankfully made the cut for the move!). Note THE BAY LEAVES.Finished garam masala. Smells delicious around here already!
I started with the book’s recipe for palak paneer. Which was simple and easy to make. Here is similar recipe, found online. Does not require a pressure cooker (although I recommend the pressure cooker version and the cookbook I bought – definitely faster and easier!).
Frying the onions and spices right in my Instant Pot-type pressure cooker. Adding the spinach, under His Eye. 😉Blending after cooking. (I don’t mean for Seashell Jesus to photobomb my cooking adventures always, but I do have a very small kitchen. It’s more of a hallway than a kitchen, really – so He will inevitably pop up in some shots.) Next step: add the cubed paneer.Closeup of palak paneer, over basmati rice. Tasted almost as good as at the restaurant!
The next dish I attempted to recreate was the eggplant bartha. There was a similar recipe in the cookbook, but it asked for liquid smoke (which I didn’t have) and I didn’t want to do another smoky dish like last month’s. So I went searching online, and found this one. It also called for a smoky addition (in fact all the ones I looked at did so I just gave up) but at least I had the smoked paprika it called for and that is the one I ended up using.
Ingredients for the eggplant curry, including my homemade garam masala in a repurposed condiment jar.Tomatoes and spices frying on the stove.Simmering curry, with roasted eggplant and coconut milk added. Smells heavenly.Finished! And delicious with reheated store-bought naan. (I could not detect any overt smokiness in this dish. Yay!)
This eggplant curry was really delicious! I made a few changes to the recipe I used. I added cumin instead of the chili powder and I used 1 tablespoon of my garam masala instead of the cardamom and coriander. Next time I would cut the coconut oil and olive oil back to a couple of tablespoons each instead of a 1/4 cup each. It was just a tad too oily for my taste.
As always: please feel free to let my co-host Donna or myself know what’s on your plate at your house, in the Comments of either Donna’s or my post (or both, if you are so inclined!). Please check out Donna’s post, here. She has written about her adventures with a guilt-free hot drink mix!
Remember: if you decide to blog or Facebook or Instagram about it, to use the tags #whatsonyourplateblogchallenge or #woypbc so we can find you out on ye olde interwebbs!
