Sugar….ahhhh honey,honey

I visited my many relatives in Ohio last week. I think I have realized why a good percentage of them have adult-onset Diabetes (or “Sugar” as they call it.) In addition to having at least three desserts at each get-together (there were actually 4 at my dad’s 72nd birthday party last Saturday,) just about all the side dishes are sweet as well. The salads: my mom’s macaroni salad (with a “healthy” dose of sickeningly-sweet Miracle Whip), my Aunt Carol’s broccoli salad (with Miracle Whip again, raisins and bacon), my mom’s deviled eggs were unusually sweet (she remembered the Miracle Whip and sugar, but forgot the mustard) and of course, sweet pickles. There were a couple of salty things-- creamed chicken sandwiches (mmmmmm—I ate two) and hot dogs (don’t forget the sweet relish) and one fresh, unsweetened fruit— cantaloupe. I’ve got to give my Aunt Rhea credit; she made lima beans—no cream, no Miracle Whip—just lima beans. They were yummy. There may be something to that diet, though; my grandma is 95, has her mental faculties and is still living alone. Perhaps someone needs to research the link between Miracle Whip and longevity in German-American women.


Mail-in offer enclosed…

Will has discovered the joy of mailing off for toys from cereal boxes. Last year we mailed-off for swim toys: an inflatable Nemo and a floaty Bruce the Shark-- a “pool shark,” if you will. This year it is Star Wars-themed tableware. We are currently waiting for an R2-D2 bowl to go with the light-saber spoons he already has. Will is so used to immediate gratification that the concept of 4 to 6 weeks is almost unfathomable. He checked the mail the same afternoon that we sent off the order form to see if it had come yet (maybe our mail carrier was using The Force?) We put the 4 week mark on his calendar though he still checks the mail often. His faith in the Kellogg’s mailroom is better than mine.

There is a good side to this— the two boxes of cereal I bought for this transaction are unsweetened. He promised he’d eat it if I bought it, so he’s learning to appreciate fresh fruit on Crispex. As you might guess from my entry above, I grew up eating sugared cereal. It was not until my husband repeatedly made fun of me (“mmmmmm, candy for breakfast”) that I started to try to buy adult-like cereals. I can still get away with Honey Nut Cheerios and Quaker “Ohs” (they look grown-up, but taste like Captain Crunch.) Now I catch Travis eating the sweet cereal at night… “mmmmmm, candy before bedtime!”