For some reason, this year we do not have the usual horrifying amount of treats and leftovers. I did bake a couple of pies and a fruitcake (shut up) but the pies are gone now and the fruitcake is almost gone. The difference is that hardly anyone gave us food this year – no huge tin of popcorn, no candy or mixed nuts. I guess that’s a good thing but it somehow seems wrong that we’re not overwhelmed with food, mostly of the bad-for-you variety, so, in our weakness, while we were at the store picking up a few necessities, we bought a couple of things.

We bought a tray of marked down Christmas sugar cookies that were way, way too sweet even for me but the really interesting thing that we saw and couldn’t resist even though we were a little bit afraid of it was jalapeno* peanut brittle. Wow! That was, surprisingly, really really good stuff. The first small piece I tried was, initially, a bit of a disappointment. It tasted just like regular peanut brittle and I was thinking, “Where’s the jalapeno*?” but then about half a minute later I get this pleasantly warm sensation. Wow. I want some more.

Sadly, though, it is time to return to the boring routine of responsible eating. On the one hand, I’m not ready to give up grazing on goodies, but on the other, I’m feeling rather like a blob. I have been avoiding the scale but I look down at my various bulges and think, “Is that bigger than it was last week?” So, unfortunately, no more peanut brittle for a while.

(* Dammit! I know there’s a code for the “n” with the “~” but it isn’t on this list anymore along with a lot of other stuff that used to be on it that I need once in a while.)