Treats


Onwards and upwards

Part of the strength of fatclub is the fact that I stick to the same breakfast every morning
Two slices of dry toast and two eggs fried in low fat spray!
As I prepare this feast ( and it is a feast) George totters into the kitchen and waits patiently.
He knows he is the chosen one at this time, for he, and he alone, is allowed to lick my plate clean.
It's his treat for the day.

The shop assistants at the Garage Shop always smile knowingly when I stop by, for Invariably I will add a packet of cheap Spar Spicy meatballs to my basket.
" For the dogs?" They will say conspiratorially, enjoying the " secret" that the dogs are being spoilt
The meatballs are adored by the pack and in Winnie's case are swallowed whole.

The Prof's weakness is a small packet bacon flavoured crisps!
Albert goes wild over slivers of strong Cheddar cheese
And Sylvia's eyes roll back into her head when she is presented with a slice of processed white bread.

We all need a treat from time to time.
And we all need to give a treat from time to time

Before she died my mother went suddenly partial to strawberry tarts and would happily sit in Sainsbury's car park on her piped oxygen munching away on one after another.
Weeks later I would still be finding bits of pastry and strawberry jelly in the footwells and glove
compartment.
Fifteen years after her death, the mere sight of one, sat proudly on a cake stands in the confectionery counter takes me back to those bittersweet days.

Foodtreats are synonymous with love in my book.
I understand the problems based with this but it is ingrained in me from my childhood days when my grandmother sat us children down with a slice of homemade Victoria sponge, a cup of sweet tea and a kiss that smelled of cold cream and baking.
To feed a treat to someone you love, meant you loved them.
This came from a woman who knew austerity and hardship.
Subsequently the treat had even more resonance with her.

Of course treat giving says more about me than it does about any of the recipients.
And it doesn't take a talented psychotherapist to work that one out!





86 comments:

  1. "Treets" were my favourite confectionery until they were Americanised and turned into M&M's. And while we are on the subject, why was the "Marathon" bar renamed "Snickers"? I love a "Marathon", a "Topic" or best of all a "Picnic" but generally I resist the temptation.

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  2. Treats are few and far between these days but when I get one I appreciate it that much more. Certain foods do bring back memories of special people don't they? Someday, someone will remember us for certain signature food items.

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  3. Keep sharing treats, kindness, and fun.

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  4. Treats are synonymous with love for me, too. One of my daughters buys me a coffee every week and it is such a small thing but I always feel it such a treat

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  5. Jill hears me scrape my plate, no matter where she is, and comes running. I leave scraps for her too. I still find myself dividing them up as if Jack would get his 'share.'
    Tacky has learned about those little kitty treats, and asks for them all the time. Loudly.
    Giving treats is a form of hug, I suppose.

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  6. I think the consistent breakfast of two pieces of dry toast, two eggs fried in low fat spray has been your winner . . . for George too.
    I find a bunch of memories floating into view with thoughts of Banana Cream pie, Cornish Pasty, "Special Dip, "White Chicken Chili. Treat giving says a bunch about me as well . . . "Treat" for me to hear . . .
    "make this granny . . . yours is the best!"

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    Replies
    1. Food and smells.......the biggest memory jogger

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  7. Glad your Mum at the tarts BEFORE she died lol 😀😙

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  8. My treats in my childhood were the marrow from the lamb bone dug out with an apostle spoon and bacon rinds.

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    Replies
    1. It must be a Sussex thing; I did exactly the same (with the end of an Apostle spoon too).

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  9. Making cookies and desserts are my way of telling my loved ones that I want to see them happy, and yes, it is it is as much for me as it is for them.

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  10. Treats remind me of childhood and the 1950s. Treats are always good and special though.

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  11. Comfort food. I'm a big believer in comfort food.

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  12. the cats have their treats and so do I.

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  13. On Sundays my mum would take the roast beef out of the oven and after removing the joint would tip the roasting tray up so all the fat ran to the bottom. Then she would soak up the top meat juices with a slice of white bread. Heaven.

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  14. I am eating chocolate covered peanuts by the bagful at the moment...it is my treat to myself.

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  15. Food treats the same here..which is why I am trying hard to lose weight now, as you are! Home baked treats as well as the occasional bakery treats.....my current breakfast is a diet shake....to busy/ lazy to make an egg before I run off to yoga or swim...

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    1. Beware! Yoga, swimming, running will make you very hungry. This is what the fitness preachers will not tell you about.

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    2. So I guess the answer is, just sit on your butt and you won't get hungry?

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    3. No, of course not. Moving (swimming, walking, running etc...) has many health benefits. Loosing weight (in my personal experience),is not exactly one of them, as it opens up the appetite. When it comes to loosing weight, adequate nutrition and the 7 hours sleep do a nice job.

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  16. McVitie's dark chocolate bikkies...mmmmmm!

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    Replies
    1. Oh noooooo milk chocolate every time

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  17. Life would be a very grey place indeed without treats!

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  18. I could eat a whole packet of ginger biscuits right now. But a bar of galaxy would also be really good!

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  19. I don't really get the point of food as treats.

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  20. Rick is very well behaved and doesn't ask for treats. Didn't stop me from 'dropping' a piece of saucisson at lunch today, a secret between the two of us.

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  21. Alan's treat would be a full pack of M&S Viennese Whirls .... I have to physically wrench the box from his grasp to put them away ... and then I have to hide them if he's not to eat the lot!!

    My foodie treat is a full tub of Caramelised Onion Hummus with Garlic and Onion crackers :-)

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  22. Treat !
    When I trained my Scotties, the word treat or cookies made them come running. When young if they asked to go out, sat or came when called they got a treat. Magic !
    "chkikin" is the other magic word.

    cheers, parsnip

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    Replies
    1. I just wave a packet at them and go " ooooooooooo"

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  23. My breakfast bowl goes to my dog, Lovey. She sits patiently, fixing me with her big moo-moo eyes until the bowl is placed on the floor. And goD help me if I've eaten it all but a little pool of cream....

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    1. I love the way you used moo moo eyes... I use the phrase too

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  24. "To feed a treat to someone you love, meant you loved them."

    I think it still does. Sometimes you can't do anything else, so you feed them.

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    Replies
    1. Especially in a crisis!
      In a crisis the British make tea! Strong tea with milk and sugar

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  25. Oh gosh, how I love a key lime pie
    . What a treat

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    Replies
    1. Tried it once in pittsburgh. Hated it too sweet

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    2. You must have gotten a bad pie. They are a southern thing..and they are tart..more of a sweetly sour pie. Key limes are from the florida keys. Not surprised a northener made it incorrectly.

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    3. You must have gotten a bad pie. They are a southern thing..and they are tart..more of a sweetly sour pie. Key limes are from the florida keys. Not surprised a northener made it incorrectly.

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  26. My Mum always handed out food as though it was the cure all for everything. Her home made bread (tear off the crust while it was still warm and lather it with best butter) was such comfort food.

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  27. My Granny had a couple of milk cows that grazed in a pasture full of clover. The BEST treat from her was a glass of milk right from the bucket, still warm from the cow, with a bit of sugar & Watkins vanilla extract. You could taste the clover in the milk. I know it sounds awful - but it was heaven!

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  28. Coffee ice cream in a waffle cone. My granddaughter and I go frequently, at either's urging, and take our neighbor. I don't know what my granddaughter gets, but my neighbor is addicted to coffee ice cream, now.

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    Replies
    1. I adore coffee ice cream, coffee cake, coffee pudding....coffee

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  29. Now days I let myself have one, larger than the usual, plump, melt in your mouth and dusted with sugar, cookie. But grandmas' tuna salad or peanut butter cookies bring back my childhood so clearly.

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  30. Your Grandmother's "kiss that smelled of cold cream and baking" took me back. That wonderful memory of that moment was a treat for me today, thanks!

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    Replies
    1. It was a treat for me too jack....remembering it

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  31. Canned evaporated milk on Rice Krispies
    (with loads of sugar)
    was my childhood treat while spending
    summers with my Great Grandmother.

    I think it is awful stuff now.
    But every time I see a can of milk
    I feel the love all over again.

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    Replies
    1. We still love it and have it almost every day.

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    2. The day i leave fat club, i will try it

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    3. My mum always had Carnation evaporated milk in her coffee when I was a child.

      Jo in Auckland, NZ

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  32. Toast with butter and real coffee (in a cup obviously not on the toast!).

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  33. When my dad was alive he grew the most amazing tomatoes and corn. It was a wonderful meal to have corn on the cob, dripping with butter and a toasted tomato sandwich...sighhh...
    Barb

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    Replies
    1. Corn.....i miss growing it..... I need to get back to bosoms me thinks

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  34. I wasn't loved with food until I was 28 and met Jerry's mother. I enjoyed every minute of it but am grateful my mother didn't love us until we burst (one of the reasons, possibly, we didn't have problems with our weight)... although Jerry's mother loved us until we burst even when she wasn't feeding us. And I spent the first 25 years of my life way too skinny. Oh, forget it.

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    Replies
    1. Other family's declarations of love are often more attractive than our own

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  35. Oh yes. I use food to express love too. And my own weight shows it.

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    Replies
    1. Mine too but im getting a hold on it

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  36. I'm a 'feeder' - always making biscuits and cake for people, I find it hard to visit anyone without taking some sort of food treat.

    Personal 'comfort food' - Bird's Custard, made with powder not the ready-made or instant stuff.

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  37. "To feed a treat to someone you love, meant you loved them." I do this still. But it isn't well received by some or understood by others. I might not hug and kiss, but I 'll make eggplant parm or Christmas cookies

    Spicy meatballs? Your pack must have cast iron tummies.

    lizzy

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  38. My Granda remembered I loved Maltesers before we left Scotland. I returned for a visit at 17 and there was a box of them for me.

    I'm partial to a Jelly Baby which have suddenly become available in Canada.

    Oh, and Battenburgs, I've converted the German spousal unit into a fan. Buy them when we go shopping in Gibralter on our holidays.

    Meringues with whipped cream between them, strawberry tarts, Strathdee's had a lot to do with forming my tastebuds.

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    1. Battenberg cake my granny used to buy us one every week

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  39. Using a frying pan i half fill it with water then when its boiling break an egg in it. It gives a poached egg that looks like a fried egg but no fat.

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    1. Real Maltesers not those horrible imitation “chocolatey” coated ones that I now see on sale in Quebec.

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  40. My cat alsoloves cheese and it has enabled me toclicker train him to come and get his twice daily meds wrapped in a little bit of "plastic
    processed cheese slice. (The clicking comes from the childproof top on his pill bottle) Its a magic way to get the pill down. Apologise for this John but a pub down the road specialises in scotch eggs... heaven. My memory of mum, stealing her:)cheese on toast and a green apple whenever my father wasnt at home for supper.

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    Replies
    1. Oh be still my beating heart! I have not had a scotch egg for months!

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  41. I can't stop drooling but I can't stop reading either! So many good treats have been mentioned.

    I am another who feeds people as a form of love. Including myself, which is not a good thing.

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  42. Anonymous11:04 pm

    Coffee cake my absolute favourite, granny used to make one that was a heart attack waiting to happen, it's not a popular cake here in Australia. My daughter made one for my birthday and it was magnificent. You're right treats and good food are all about the love in the home and it's not just the humans that line up for treats my 13 yo lab/border collie x can still hear the rustle of a cheese wrapper at twenty paces.
    Susie

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    Replies
    1. I do love a good coffee and walnut cake. Seldom find a really nice one these days

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  43. My chickens know that I am the treat giver. They run to me when I go up the garden towards the chicken run but ignore my husband. The rattle of the corn or seed tub gets them running or the opening of the store cupboard where the treats are kept. They also get daily greens and if I hold my hand they run to it just in case I have something for them. Friends (watching me with them) say my chickens obviously love me but of course I know it's the treats they love really.

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  44. John, Bacon crisps are my absolute favourite and the ones in the big multi flavours pack from Aldi are absolutely yummy. I have no willpower whatsoever so made the hubby take them to work in the car boot so I don't scoff the whole lot.

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  45. A lovely post, thank you. I agree about the food treats, it's the only way some people know how to show love.

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  46. The love behind the treats brought a tear to my eye.
    xoxoxo

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