On the beach there's nothing better

My newest find, Sali-Kritz, is something I just tried for the first time, and I curse myself for not ordering more than one bag. Medium-to-strong salt licorice in a fruity hard candy shell...incredible!
Since I'm gonna need to be seeing less and less of it in the coming weeks, I wanted to dedicate an entire post to the thing I love the most in the world (well, besides my dog): CANDY.

You heard me. I. love. candy.

I inherited a prize-winning sweet tooth from both parents - my brother did, too. My mom (who raised us) tried to stop us from catching it by banning ALL candy, cookies, ice cream, sugared pop, kool-aid-y drinks, cereals, little debbie snack cakes, etc... anything with sugar.

The backfired result of this approach is that my brother and I are each about 25 lbs overweight, even though we're both pretty active - and this is entirely because of our food choices. Basically, either of us'll practically do tricks for candy.


One candy type has been in my top 10 list since 1989, when I went to Europe and spent some time in England, is Rowntree's Pastilles. They are incredible, and luckily have been available, off and on, at the larger Jewel supermarkets here in Chicago. As imports, they're $4 a ~5 oz. box, but it's worth it. The potent and untypical fruit flavors are so good...

My licorice habit began in childhood, too, with my Mom's secret love of Necco wafers (the black ones are licorice) and Good and Plenty. As an adult, I discovered various licorices, including Scandinavian licorice when I moved to Chicago's Swedish neighborhood (the little cats, pipes and coin-shaped ones I could get from the specialty shops) but one day, I grabbed the wrong Finnish Halva brand licorice (the packages for their original sweet licorice versus the salty-strong, or Salmiak, licorice are the same design but different colors), and it was all over; I had discovered salt licorice, and I love the stuff!

Yummy Halva Salmiak Licorice

When I started working in (and eventually moved to) Chicago's "German" neighborhood, Lincoln Square, whole new arrays of delicious candy awaited me at a local deli, the meatshop, etc. (and even the apothecary, because among the natural remedies, they carry the Halva licorice!).
Not the MEGA Roulette size, just normal-sized. Mmmm...perfect!
Now, I've always loved Haribo's classic Gold Gummi Bears - they are amazing, and should probably have their own spot in this post, because lord knows I've eaten about 1 million of the little guys - but they've been eclipsed. At some point in my life, maybe while travelling, or maybe just at a Cost Plus World Market on a whim, I discovered that the same amazing Haribo gummi flavors come in the perfect mouthfeel and taste-amount disc shape of Haribo Roulettes! (FYI: Green is my favorite flavor, with the clear/white a close second.)


I give full credit to the WX regarding these ones: Salzige Heringe are fish-shaped, sugar-coated semi-hardened salt licorice imported from Germany. They are so delicious. After he introduced me to my new fishy friends, I quickly found them at Germandeli.com (which I love, and now order nearly all candy items from - yes, gd.com is my drug dealer). I no loger see the WX but I can honestly say that this particular candy is way up on the plus side of his rap sheet.


Another WX intro (he was/is actually German, after all) was to schnecken - or Haribo Rotella - great licorice flavor (not too sweet with a strong licorice kick) in a fun-to-eat shape. With these, I learned the hard way that I do prefer the imported ones from Germany, not the schnecken made for the US market. I ordered a 5-lb. bag, and they're just not as good. (Must be a slightly different recipe?) Just remember, if you are buying, go for the tub, not the bag!

I've come to the end, and I didn't even mention chocolate! It'll have to wait. Part 2. Now I have to take a go-go dance class, then floss, do situps, and do my pushups. Maybe I'll even talk to a new guy, too...about licorice.

Happy Friday!

Let the love flow

Here's a group shot of my friends at the Assyrian nightclub on Sat. night (check out the neon lines at the top of the wall). It was super fun! There was a wedding going on (A total middle eastern wedding, but the bride was Suzy and the groom was 'Bob from New Jersey'), and a live band all night, the owner of the place is the (excellent) singer, and there were two sets by a fabulous bellydancer.

H. (with the napkin, above) noted that at every table besides ours, there was at least one pinkie ring on a man, and at least one head of really long, really big, frosted hair on a woman. All the women had super high heels. I would add that there was also at least one mustache at every table (on a guy). And much clothing made of various degrees of shininess. There was a nice man of this type - in his late 40s maybe? - that came out and danced with me. I found out he was from a far away suburb and was the cousin of the band's doumbek player. But when he asked about wanting to do ballroom dancing sometime, I had to back away slowly.


Here was my favorite threesome - they came in around midnight: Mini-me and his two women friends. One, we were sure, was a transsexual (on left) and one or both we thought might be - well, professionals.

There was a 2-drink minimum, and every drink is $8 - beer, coke, liquor, water - anything you get. But there was no cover, and the entertainment was really top-notch. Plus, the best part is that you push a button and your waiter (George was ours, the best!) comes running out from the back bar area. I've heard it's a really "authentic" arab/middle eastern club. If that's true, then I love arab clubs!

HabitWatch -
#1: talked to a couple guys at the bar last night. Getting warmed up.
#2: 7 pushups Monday and today.
Swam: Sunday and Monday.
Run: tonight, with M (though I am super tired. We'll see.)

And now for something I *really* love...

Today's post is about a material posession that truly does fall pretty close to the category of if-you-love-it-so much-why-don't-you-marry-it: It's my "new," used Nokia 6230 phone. I bought it on ebay and it arrived last weekend. I am SO happy with it! My old and trusty 6010 (the plain and uncool kind of Nokia which no one has anymore but that I had much love and loyalty toward) was finally starting to break, and it took me forever to find the exact phone I wanted - I knew there was a phone out there that would be perfect, because my ex had owned it, but I forgot which model number it was, lost the paper where I'd written it down, and didn't feel like contacting him for it, and let me tell you - if you don't know the model number, it's a nightmare to sift/search through the discontinued cell phone world!

But after a couple weeks of browsing websites, ebay, craigslist, and many reviews, desperately trying to find it, I found my perfect phone! I bid on a couple of them on ebay, and this one came with the headset (which I needed, to use my favorite function, the FM radio) and another charger (which one can always use two of) so it was, I think, a good bargain at $60... and without signing a new AT&T contract.

Oh how I love it so.

I've already synced it with my computer and have all my contacts backed up, and as you can maybe tell in the pics, it has a (low-quality, but still!) camera, so Lois is always with me! And, after a very late night of way too much internet use, I downloaded 20+ supercool ringtones and I am totally sporting Desmond Dekker's "007" as my incoming call ring at this moment. It makes me so inordinately happy, it's actually ridiculous.

I can even wake up to the radio as the alarm. And it has a really good speakerphone, the kind where the other person can't tell you have it on. Seriously, I am in cell phone heaven. Best of all, it uses the same charger I had before, so my car and home ones work, and it feels (weight and ear-to-mouth ratio is so important for me) and functions like the awesome 6010, which was a solid brick phone that I dropped a million times and still worked and had the best reception anywhere. No flip phones for me; I love the shape, weight and feel of this thing. I am so geeked over it, it's scary. Of course, in the "things I love" theme, I had to tell you about it.

7 pushups tonight, 7 pushups yesterday. Swam today, rode my bike a lot both days - even in the snow last night to the Assyrian nightclub. Plus, talked to a stranger guy there, while dancing with him. More on that later.

xo

Another thing I love!

...is this guy's last.fm station. He lives in Spain, I found him randomly one night when I was on there. I've been listening exclusively to his music this week! It is so great! Lots of music that's new to me, but that I fall in love with when I am listening to it, mixed in with lots of artists I already love. Excellent! Tailor-made for me! I have a feeling I may be buying some CDs very soon and going to a few shows I wouldn't have checked out before.

I emailed to tell him and he has emailed back a few times! It's nice to make a music buddy.

So, habits: At the doctor's office today, there was a cute, single-looking, my age-ish guy. I smiled at him a lot, but it was awkward; he was getting pee tests and blood tests and skin things, and I was having a terrible time with my insurance about the brain CT scan my doctor prescribed. So there was never a good time to strike up a conversation. Darnit. Failed at habit #1.

#2: Did 7 pushups just now before posting this, swam at lunch. Planning on doing the running store group run tomorrow at 8am, and got M. to say he'd come along, but forecast calls for 30s and rain/snow, so we'll see...

Things I love

I decided that, since I usually just kvetch on this blog and my last post was extra whiny, I would do some posts about things I love. So today it's low sodium V-8 - I love this stuff!!

I always have it stocked in my little mini-fridge at work, and even if I miss lunch (like today) and only eat raw almonds and an orange, if I drink this little can of LSV8 I can make it till the end of the day and I am totally fine and happy. Even with less, it's still salty enough for me, and feels like I am being healthy when I drink it, and when it's super -cold, it's perfect (usually I like things room temp).

I especially love it when I find it at Aldi on super sale (which has only happened once, and I bought three 6-packs). Otherwise, it's a little pricey, but I still love it. Yum.

HABITS:
I posted on Craigslist plus messaged a stranger on Last.fm, so that counts for habit #1, right? Also I introduced myself to one of the Bill T. Jones dancers and another guy in line at the fancy gala benefit show I went to last night, so I am doing good.

#2: 6 pushups every day this week, plus swam 1/2 hour yesterday, and walked around in heels a lot last night. That's more annoying than pushups.