Reese's for Halloween

It wouldn't be Halloween without Reese's. I love their peanut butter chocolates, but I always think they taste better this time of year. And every year, I get more and more desperate: I have a hard time finding their classic Jack O'Lantern edition. They used to be everywhere, in many supermarkets and in the local sweet shop as well. Now it's like they disappeared. Thankfully, like last year, I found a pack at the nearest Aldi. Which has some great range of Halloween food, by the way. Anyway, it also has bats and ghosts as well as the more classic Jack O`Lanterns. I have to share them with Wolfie of course, but not my wife, as she doesn't like peanut butter. And we don't give them away for trick or treat of course, because, you know, allergies.

Reese's for Halloween

 At last! I was getting desperate since the start of the countdown: I could not find any Reese's chocolates for Halloween. I mean yes, I could find some, but not the one with pumpkins, just normal ones and (shudder) Xmas ones. The latter have no place on the shelves right now. However, a short trip to the nearest Aldi changed it: not only do they have bags of Halloween Reese's, but they have loads of different figures: the usual Jack O'Lanterns, bays and ghosts. I'm in high protein and sugar heaven. It's not Halloween without Reese's. It is a brand I rediscovered in adult age, but for some reason I really got hooked on it.

Reese's Pumpkins

 It's a staple of the season: Reese's chocolates. Especially the ones shaped like pumpkins. I see them from time to time in the local sweet shop, but come October, they are everywhere. They are among the earliest sign of the season. I don't see Reese's given for trick or treat anymore, probably because of peanut allergies. As a child, I don't think I ever ate them except during Halloween, after trick or treat. Now, as an adult, I always buy some when I see them. I share them with Wolfie of course. Hey, it's not so bad: the peanut butteris full of proteins.

Les arachides de l'Halloween

 Oh des fois l'Angleterre offre des trucs cools pour l'Halloween. Ce n'est pas encore assez célébré à mon goût, mais il y a de l'espoir. Toujours est-il que j'ai trouvé à Lidl une gamme de produits spécialement conçus pour l'Halloween, avec un emballage parfait: un épouvantail à tête de citrouille en guise de mascotte avec une maison hantée en arrière-fond. J'ai acheté pleins de trucs, de desserts surtout, mais aussi ce sac d'arachides à différentes saveurs. Pas si tant génial, je préfère les arachides salées "ordinaires", mais ça se prend bien avec une bière et je l'ai acheté rien que pour l'image.

Peanut butter and proteins

Yesterday I went downtown for a quick grocery shopping as we were short on a lot of things. It was a simple top up. On my way back, I bumped into one of Wolfie's teaching assistants, maybe his favourite TA (and I think he is her favourite pupil too). We had a quick chat, she told me: "I need to go to the shop. I have two boys, one 28, the other 25 and they just eat all the time. The quantity of proteins they need every day, it's mad!" I told her that it was similar with Wolfie as he was growing up and seemed to never feel full. Then I told her: "The males in our household live mainly on a diet of peanut butter." I think it deserves to be a new great unknown line. She agreed that peanut butter was great anyway, because of the protein intake. Anyway, that made my evening. I feel safe knowing that Wolfie has a TA that understands boys so well and knows what's good for them. And I also now that peanut butter is going to be an important part of family life for years to come.

Reese's: first sign of Halloween

Something made me very happy recently when I went to the local sweet shop: I found Reese's chocolates. The ones Jack O'Lantern shaped. Which makes it officially the very first sign of Halloween I have seen this year. Okay, so I could see ones shaped as Christmas trees too, so they probably were from last year anyway, but all the same, it still counts. Reese's is a staple of treats during trick or treat in any case, so it is all the more fitting. Especially since it has been feeling borderline autumnal recently.

Reese's for Halloween

For today's countdown to Halloween post, something I found in the local sweet shop. They have lots of Halloween sweets (or candies as Americans call it) and a few classics. I don't know much about Reese's, I mean I had some in the past, but I understand this is a classic for trick or treaters in the US. For me, it tastes like a spoonful of peanut butter, coated in chocolate.I do remember having some from time to time, I ate then dutifully, but otherwise I never felt overly impressed by them. Well, it turned out they invented the most perfect Reese's for Halloween: shaped like a jack o'lantern. In milk or white chocolate varieties. It still tastes like chocolated sweetened peanut butter, but all the same, I could not help but buy them. And I really enjoyed eating them. Because they were shaped like pumpkins.

About peanut butter sandwiches

When I started working from home, peanut butter quickly became the main part of a quick and easy meal. Well, I had started using it again in the office of my previous job, the one I hated, but it is since lockdown that it became my main mean of sustenance, at least for lunches. It is in many ways going back to uni. I either use it on toasts, or in a sandwich, if I have a good enough bread. A peanut butter sandwich is quick and easy to make, it is filling, it gives you plenty of energy, it is also delicious. Peanut butter sandwiches have many virtues.

Of caviar and salted peanuts

 I did not have time to blog about it, but two days ago was the birthday of Mickey Spillane. And I found on social media this delicious (forgive the pun) quote from him, which explains in a nutshell why I always come back to crime fiction. You probably heard of it too. Here it is: "Those big-shot writers could never dig the fact that there are more salted peanuts consumed than caviar". I don't know for you, but I can relate. Fittingly enough, two days ago, I was blogging about peanut butters. Anyway, I only read one book of Spillane so far, but I intend to read more.

ManiLife peanut butter

Since I have been all out of Kraft peanut butter for some time, I try to find the best possible peanut butter here as this is the main part of my diet for breakfast and often for lunch as well, especially since I have started working from home. My wife does not understand this love of peanut butter, which is shared by Wolfie, and how we can get through jars of the thing so quickly. I explained to her that it is a family thing: "With any luck, this will get him through uni life, just like it did to me and my mother and he will never know hunger". This deserves to be a new great unknown line, by the way, but I digress. Anyway, last weekend I bought in one of the local food shop one of the best peanut butters I found in this country: Manilife's original roast smooth peanut butter. Like many posh peanut butters, you need to stir it with a spoon before spreading it. But it is worth it and absolutely delicious. It is thick, creamy, filling, in sum everything it says on the jar. It is not cheap, nevertheless it was worth the investment for quality breakfasts and lunches.

Les réserves de Kraft

Quand je retourne au Québec, je repars toujours avec des réserves de beurre d'arachide Kraft, ce quime permet 1)d'avoir des déjeuners qui ont de l'allure, avec le meilleur des beurres d'arachide selon moi (je suis très sérieux) et 2)de me faire oublier un instant le mal du pays. J'ajouterais aussi bien entendu la nostalgie: c'est toute mon enfance, le Kraft, surtout le crémeux, parfois le croquant, avec quelques variantes. J'ai souvent blogué sur le sujet. Cette année je n'ai rapporté qu'un pot de beurre d'arachide et il est déjà entamé. Je vais essayer de le faire durer, mais ça sera difficile: maintenant je dois le partager avec mon fils, qui l'aime déjà autant que moi.

Pic's Peanut Butter

During last week's grocery shop, I stumbled upon Pic's Peanut Butter. I did not know this brand and, as I am always on the lookout for good peanut butter (I do miss Kraft though), I bought a pot, even though it was not cheap. According to its label and the website, it is gluten free, has 25% more good fat, 26% pure protein per serve, no added sugar, no added preservatives, emulsifiers or flavorings and so on. In fact, it boasts so much about its quality that I said on Facebook: "If it is all it says it is on the label, I’ll be in protein heaven." Which deserves to be a great unknown line. So anyway, I tried it for breakfast and to my surprise it turned out to be true. So I was in protein heaven. And Pic's Peanut Butter is my latest happy gastronomical discovery.

Have a Kit Kat (with peanut butter!)

Sometimes there are weird things that just work. Take the traditional Kit Kat bar for instance: it's a biscuit bar disguised as a chocolate bar and it's a good enough dessert and a delicious if not very filling snack. My wife loves them, I like them. But they introduced a number of variants to the bar, among them, the Kit Kat with peanut butter. As my readers know, I have during weekdays a bit of a beaver's diet: to get through my working days, I need some food that gives me endorphin and energy. Thus, I need something sugar. This specific variety gives a bit more energy, thanks to the peanut butter. And it even tastes just right, to my great surprise. I love peanut butter, but I am always skeptical to add it to a dessert or indeed anything sweet. This time, it worked, it even gives a smoothness which the normal Kit Kat is devoid of. It may not be my favourite chocolate bar, but I will have it from time to time when I need an energy boost.

This Friday's sandwich treat

Every Friday, I don't eat a lunch I made myself, instead I buy one at the local sandwich shop near work. It is my treat to celebrate the coming of the weekend. I am a man of habits, so I have the same thing: a can of Coke, a baguette with chicken mayonnaise, with tomatoes, lettuce, onions and black olives (green olives when I can, but they seldom have green olives). The olives make the difference and truly turn this rather banal sandwich into something else. I sometimes add peanuts. They don't have salted peanuts, so I go for dry roasted peanuts (from KP). I bought the bag of peanuts today as well, because this weekend is a three days bank holiday weekend, so that deserved a bag of peanuts to celebrate. But this time, the guy at the till, who knows my order by heart, had forgotten the onions. So it was somewhat disappointing: something was missing. On the plus side, this coming weekend I intend to renew with other gastronomical treats. I will blog about them, for now suffice to say I know they will not be disappointing.

Starbar

Sometimes after lunch, I try to calm my sweet tooth and give myself a sugar boost with a chocolate bar. This is what I did today, with Cadbury's Starbar, something I did not remember trying before. I sually have a Snickers, but this is not exclusive. This one has many things similar to a Snickers bar actually: it has peanuts and and caramel. The caramel is smoother though. That said, I can't help suspecting strongly that this is Cadbury's answer to Snickers (Starbar was launched in 1976, Snickers in 1930). And I was unconvinced. I am not sure why. It is a good enough chocolate bar, it's just not... original enough, I guess. Snickers is stocky, it's like a working man's chocolate bar. This has a fancier wrapping, a pompous name, but it's just an imitation. I will stick to the original for now on, thank you very much. Or the Snickers with hazelnuts, which is maybe my favourite chocolate bar nowadays. But Starbar? Even the wrapping irritates me a bit.

Les réserves de Kraft commencées

Ceci est l'un des trois pots de beurre d'arachide Kraft que j'ai achetés à Montréal. Trois pots, pas des géants parce que je ne pensais pas pouvoir transporter des pots trop gros, alors j'ai pris les gros formats (ou les formats moyens?). Tout ça pour dire que j'ai donc entamé les réserves de beurre d'arachide Kraft. Je les mange sur mes toasts les fins de semaines, avec du vrai pain (si j'ai pas de pain qui a de l'allure, je ne gaspille pas mon beurre d'arachide) et les soirs de Krav Maga, parce que je rentre tard. Au rythme où ça va, ils devraient durer pendant quelques mois. Après ça, il me faudra songer à un retour au bercail.

Friday treat with a (slight) twist

Sometimes circumstances change your usual treat. Like today. I had made my own salmon sandwich with horseradish sauce on... Monday, as I had made it myself. It was not as good really, but anyway. So I decided to have the usual, but with Philadelphia cheese instead of horseradish sauce. The guys at the sandwich shop know me well enough, so they know exactly what I will ask, minus one or two details. I had the usual Coca Cola on the side, however, as they didn't have cashew nuts, I had chilli flavoured roasted peanuts instead.

And on my way back home, I stopped at one of the local wine shops to taste some samples. On an empty stomach and tired, it is a sure way to get to your head quickly, but it was so pleasant. I won't mind the headache later.