Hey Gang, happy Tax Day!
Posting is going to be a teensy slow this week as Lappy 6000 is finally going into the shop to have her keyboard replaced after last December’s unfortunate scorpion incident.
If you recall, an unwelcome barb-tailed beastie presented itself in my bed, scaring what can only be medically described as the bejeezus out of me and causing me to knock over a glass of water onto my laptop, an act for which several of my keyboard keys have not yet forgiven me.
After last week’s terrific conversation about feminism, I just didn’t want to plop us back down to shiny shoes and pretty clothes (although I do love shiny shoes and pretty clothes, and have some very exciting news about jeans for my long-waisted curvy sisters later this week) so I thought I’d open up today’s comments as a sort of catch-all forum for what’s been on your mind.
Recently I’ve been thinking about cravings.
I’m still convalescing from the stupid cholera (I know! That is, as my friend said, some “straight up Oregon Trail bulls**t”) that laid me low almost two weeks ago and although in an act of pure bravery I ate some very thin cauliflower soup yesterday, solid food is probably another day or two away.
Yet I am craving potato chips the way crack addicts crave, well…crack.
I tend to crave salty over sweet anyway, I have low sodium so I guess that makes sense, but potato chips –Grandma Utz’s being the superior variety– are always #1 with a kettle-fried bullet on my list of constant cravings.
Other recurring characters are:
- Seaweed Salad: probably my #3 craving after Coca Cola and potato chips
- Mexican Coca Cola: made with cane sugar, served in a freezing bottle
- Buttered Toast: Buttered before toasting, of course, with a sprinkling of (you guessed it) salt
- Utz’s Cheese Balls: the zenith of cheezy poof achievement
- Mango: I do myself a gastrointestinal disservice at least once a year gorging on delicious ripe mangoes. A dusting of curry is nice, too.
Do you have cravings, constant or otherwise? Put it –or anything else you’ve got on your beautiful mind– in the comments.
I’ll do my best to respond to any comment directed at me, so if you have a question you’d like me to answer specifically, be sure to direct it to @MissPlumcake.
Mmm… Utz is certainly near the top of the chip list, though my childhood was filled with Herr’s. I don’t know if growing up just outside of PA Chip-Land made me a chip addict, or if it was just my childhood Eden… The Cape Cod salt & pepper flavor are pretty kicka$$ too.
But my number one, ultimate, crave-till-I-die craving is for nachos. The combo of chips, cheese, and spice, with the ability to turn bits of leftovers and condiments into a masterpiece… YUM!!!
Comment by Leah — April 17, 2012 @ 3:19 pm
Oh, man, I don’t think I should even read these comments. It’ll give my cravings cravings.
Comment by Rebekka — April 17, 2012 @ 3:59 pm
I crave in phases. I will eat something constantly for weeks/months–it will be the ONLY thing I want–and then suddenly it falls out of favor and I’ll go years without eating it, if I ever eat it again. For example, I fiended for Cheese Chex for months, they were my go-to snack food, I could not possibly get enough of them, and then I was done and haven’t touched them in years. Same with Yoplait yogurts, pumpkin seeds, Funyuns, and seaweed snacks, among other things.
Comment by Siege — April 17, 2012 @ 5:13 pm
I crave high waist, beautifully fitting, non-see through white jeans with a nice long inseam….
Trying out INDI – just sent the first pr back for modification. Process was fairly painless but I have not received the results you.
Do you have any preferred high end jeans??
Comment by txbunny — April 17, 2012 @ 5:42 pm
Salty: Tortilla chips with Rotel/Velveeta dip. I rarely submit to the craving, because I can totally eat enough of that stuff to hurt myself.
Sweet: Bluebell Homemade Vanilla ice cream with Hershey’s syrup.
Umami: Lorna Doone shortbread cookies. Nothing else will do.
Comment by Jezebella — April 17, 2012 @ 9:05 pm
Oh, and when I’m missing Texas: bean and cheese tacos, with guac and salsa fuego, from the original Taco Cabana in San Antonio.
Comment by Jezebella — April 17, 2012 @ 9:06 pm
Imo’s pizza and Gerber sandwiches are often craved as a taste of home, but I only make it to St. Louis about once every two years. The provel cheese is the source of the crave.
Comment by Haeiley — April 17, 2012 @ 10:22 pm
Wait, wait, wait–Plummy…you had ACTUAL cholera?! Sweet baby Jebus, I hope you’re ok! I watched a French film with a terribly handsome actor but horrific scenes of cholera epidemics and I think I’m slightly scarred from the experience.
I crave balsamic vinegar and sea salt chips which I have only ever seen in the UK :(
Comment by teteatete — April 18, 2012 @ 1:37 am
Plumcake, you should try unripe mangoes with a dip of finely sliced chillies and soy sauce. Sweet food is not usually my thing but a grilled chunky peanut butter and banana wholemeal sandwich is all I want some days. And instant noodles, I love instant noodles so much that I only have them during Times of Great Necessity.
Comment by retna — April 18, 2012 @ 2:18 am
Well, yesterday I had a craving for sushi flavours that forced me into buying supermarket sushi. I’m not proud of that one, because it’s a lame substitute for what I really want, which is really fresh, spicy, salty, crunchy tempura-battered sushi but there you are.
And, sometimes, I will drop everything and go directly to whatever can dispense a very tall, very icy (with the ice cracked in it) glass of fizzy soda water. If it’s not available, iced soda (root beer is preferable) has to be substituted. Or tonic water, or, if it can be found, bitter lemon.
Comment by ChaChaHeels — April 18, 2012 @ 7:28 am
Can we talk about this Oregon Trail stuff for a minute instead? Because YOU have cholera, and last year *I* had whooping cough, and a friend of mine has dysentery, and seriously, Plummy, I am pretty sure that the germs of 1850 have constructed a time machine! It’s terrifying!
Comment by Scarlett — April 18, 2012 @ 2:36 pm
That picture: Is it food, or the head of Medusa with lice? Because what I might have been craving, I’m not, anymore.
Hope you are over your mini-epidemic. Any idea of the source, so that you never ever get it again?
Comment by marvel — April 18, 2012 @ 2:49 pm
Cholera is unfortunately very common outside the US, folks–it kills about 100,000 people a year. :( Hug your local sewer company and water engineers.
Mexican Coca Cola is too frisking awesome. It’s like free-basing sugar. So, so, sooooo good, in the little bottles so you aren’t drinking much.
Comment by Lisa from SoCal — April 18, 2012 @ 3:29 pm
Various cravings I’ve had in the last year include: ribeye steak, sushi, cheesecake, fried polenta, and Indian food. Three of these could be easily cured if I could go to Houston and eat at the Brazilian churrascaria/sushi buffet I liked to frequent.
Comment by ChloeMireille — April 18, 2012 @ 3:30 pm
I’m with @Siege: I crave in phases, eat what I’m craving non-stop for days, weeks, or months, and then don’t eat it again for a long time, if ever. Mini Nutter Butter cookies? Ate ’em by the boxful for a couple of months about ten years ago. Haven’t had ’em since. Peanut M&Ms? Mainlined them for months back in 2000 and now eat them only once or twice a year. Lately my cravings have been for more savory fare. Currently I get intense cravings for vegetarian BLTs, either made at home using Smart Bacon and sourdough bread, or eaten at Bouldin Creek Cafe here in Austin, which makes the best fake bacon BLT you will EVER eat. I had one for lunch today, as a matter of fact, and it was DELICIOUS.
Comment by Cat — April 18, 2012 @ 4:09 pm
Miss Vickie’s Black Pepper & Lime kettle chips turn me into a ravenous she-wolf. Woe be to he who eats any of those chips from my bag. They are MINE.
Oh, and teteatete? They also have a sea salt & balsamic vinegar flavour. http://www.missvickies.ca/en/prod-sea.php
Get in touch with them and see if they distribute anywhere near you.
Comment by La Petite Acadienne — April 18, 2012 @ 8:29 pm
¡Ay, caramba! I’d claw out someone’s still beating heart for a bowl of Haagen-Dazs Mayan Chocolate Ice Cream. Did I say a bowl? I meant a tub.
Comment by Desideria — April 18, 2012 @ 9:54 pm
At the moment I am constantly craving kimchi fried rice with Spam. My husband is horrified about that. Even worse – I like to put a bit of mayo and an egg on top of it. I have also just discovered Yakitori – pan fried, Japanese noodles, like ramen but without the broth. I never crave typically American fast food but I love Asian and Mexican fast food. But it has to be from places that make it nice, like the little Mexican place right next door where all the Mexican Americans go on Sunday after church. Oh and Bhan Mi sandwiches from our local Vietnamese place that makes their own French bread every day. (Living in Chicago is awesome)
Otherwise when I am hungry I am extremely suggestible. I will walk past a place and smell something and want it or watch a movie and somebody will eat something and I will want it.
Comment by Ali — April 18, 2012 @ 11:23 pm
Hamburgers. Ummm…
Comment by Astra — April 19, 2012 @ 2:04 pm
wait — how can you butter the bread before toasting it? Doesn’t get all melted down in there like the time my kids put the crayons in the toaster? (one of several lessons learned that day: they don’t pop up).
Do you use an actual toaster? I can differentiate an equation but this is perplexing me.
Comment by missm — April 20, 2012 @ 12:39 pm
@MissM: You use a toaster oven, not an upright slot toaster.
Comment by Miss Plumcake — April 20, 2012 @ 2:30 pm
You can, however, toast already-buttered bread. Or if your toast didn’t quite melt the butter, you can put it on a very low setting and pop it back in. I saw my MIL do this and thought her house would burn down, but she is nearly 80 and if it were really dangerous, she’d have burnt the place down long since.
For me, there are cravings that take hold temporarily (when I was four I could eat as many pancakes as a grown man; at six I could put away hot dogs until I passed out; at eight I would inhale Fritos; and at ten I ate four peanut butter and jelly sandwiches a day. I am now 30, and since those ages I would go hungry rather than eat any of those things). But there are a lot of things I have always loved and always will. I have never not loved Reese’s peanut butter cups. Or brownies. Or chocolate frosting (delicious with a spoon). Or chocolate chip cookies right out of the oven. Or fresh homemade bread. Or French bread slathered in butter. In law school, I think French bread and butter formed half my caloric intake. And lately I’ve been buying Trader Joe’s Tuscan Pane, and my suits don’t fit…hmm.
Comment by the misfit — April 21, 2012 @ 11:03 am