Jelly
Have re-discovered jelly again. This time in the form of 'exotic fruit'
jelly with real fruit pieces. And that is just how I like my one of five-a-day (I mean fruit and veg of course).
Rewinding back, my earliest 'jelly' memories are of birthday parties when I was 8 or 9 years old. There was usually jelly and custard on my sister's birthday or mine. We always bought the pink-coloured 'REX' jelly mix which mum would prepare a day before the birthday using the grey (aluminium? steel?) jelly mould.
Anyhow, I didn't plan on going jelly-free for so long. It just kind of happened in the way these things do. More recently, I've seen a lot of vegetarian jelly being sold and that has reminded me of the 'animal gelatin' issue which had become a concern at some point in the past.
I've also discovered numerous ways of eating jelly and this is not accounting for all the Masterchef finalists who put together some crazy stuff. Among all kinds of jelly 'pairings' and 'combinations', a small cup of strawberry or fruit trifle remains my favourite. So much so, that I believe I may have been a significant contributor to the £25 million in UK Sales as trifle made a comeback this decade. So bye bye Mr Cheesecake, make way for Ms. Trifle now. (Correct. I'm always one to spot a trend ahead of time).
The funny thing is I cannot remember eating trifle pudding till I moved to the UK as an adult. I must have tried it sometime, someplace in my childhood but it certainly didn't look or taste anything like the Marks and Spencer Trifle. In fact, I must admit nothing tastes quite like the sumptuous range of desserts at M and S.
This brings me to the real crux of the matter. I fear I am slowly but surely turning into the stereotype western sugar-junkie and chocoholic. To be fair this stereotype will soon be turned on its head as more and more young children in the 'emerging economies' find themselves addicted to processed food as researched in this paper "Increasing Childhood Obesity: An Asian Dilemma".
The only saving grace for me is that I just need a tiny bit of one of these sweet treats in a day. I still cannot finish a full chocolate bar in one go as I find it too sweet and too, err, chocolatey. Yet several evenings a week, as my feet sub-consciously turn into the dessert aisle of my local supermarket, my (alter ego's) head is disdainfully shaking "Oh, Oh, here she goes again".
This week I have decided enough is enough. I will not let the Strawberry Trifle rule over me. Nor the Mandarin Jelly Delight. I hereby have a *new* resolution: I will combine Eastern fasting techniques and traditional Greek ideas (giving up things during Lent) to work out a timetable for dessert-free and chocolate-free days in a week.
Alternately I could just sign up for a good dental insurance plan.
Rewinding back, my earliest 'jelly' memories are of birthday parties when I was 8 or 9 years old. There was usually jelly and custard on my sister's birthday or mine. We always bought the pink-coloured 'REX' jelly mix which mum would prepare a day before the birthday using the grey (aluminium? steel?) jelly mould.
Anyhow, I didn't plan on going jelly-free for so long. It just kind of happened in the way these things do. More recently, I've seen a lot of vegetarian jelly being sold and that has reminded me of the 'animal gelatin' issue which had become a concern at some point in the past.
I've also discovered numerous ways of eating jelly and this is not accounting for all the Masterchef finalists who put together some crazy stuff. Among all kinds of jelly 'pairings' and 'combinations', a small cup of strawberry or fruit trifle remains my favourite. So much so, that I believe I may have been a significant contributor to the £25 million in UK Sales as trifle made a comeback this decade. So bye bye Mr Cheesecake, make way for Ms. Trifle now. (Correct. I'm always one to spot a trend ahead of time).
The funny thing is I cannot remember eating trifle pudding till I moved to the UK as an adult. I must have tried it sometime, someplace in my childhood but it certainly didn't look or taste anything like the Marks and Spencer Trifle. In fact, I must admit nothing tastes quite like the sumptuous range of desserts at M and S.
This brings me to the real crux of the matter. I fear I am slowly but surely turning into the stereotype western sugar-junkie and chocoholic. To be fair this stereotype will soon be turned on its head as more and more young children in the 'emerging economies' find themselves addicted to processed food as researched in this paper "Increasing Childhood Obesity: An Asian Dilemma".
The only saving grace for me is that I just need a tiny bit of one of these sweet treats in a day. I still cannot finish a full chocolate bar in one go as I find it too sweet and too, err, chocolatey. Yet several evenings a week, as my feet sub-consciously turn into the dessert aisle of my local supermarket, my (alter ego's) head is disdainfully shaking "Oh, Oh, here she goes again".
This week I have decided enough is enough. I will not let the Strawberry Trifle rule over me. Nor the Mandarin Jelly Delight. I hereby have a *new* resolution: I will combine Eastern fasting techniques and traditional Greek ideas (giving up things during Lent) to work out a timetable for dessert-free and chocolate-free days in a week.
Alternately I could just sign up for a good dental insurance plan.
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