Next weekly menu

Here we are heading towards the middle of May, and warm summery weather is finally coming in the week ahead.  We've been fortunate so far to not have a spring that is too warm.  The rains have been plentiful, and gardens everywhere are growing quickly. 

Here are the menus for the next two weekends:

speculoos and sweet creamy cookie dip

and

triple chocolate sablés and Swedish visiting cakes.

The speculoos and cookie dip have been paired in one offering to fulfill a special request from one of the regulars here.  The triple chocolate sablés and the Swedish visiting cakes are being offered because I've been craving them.  I suppose I could just make them anytime, but it's nicer when I can make them and send some out the door so that I don't eat them all myself.  

You know how it is when you go to the grocery store and you're hungry.  At least for me, when this happens I always wind up buying much more than I intended and not all of it very healthy.  Well, in the same fashion, when I'm craving something and I make it, I'm very likely to quickly eat through the entire batch, eating much more than I intended.  It's just the way I'm wired.  I suppose a fair number of people have the same wiring.  

I will take one cookie, and then say to myself, "Well, what's the harm in one more."  Before too long, I'm doing that again and again.  Fortunately, I don't do this all the time.  And I regularly keep trays of cut-up fruit and vegetables on hand to snack on.  But there are those times when I want nothing more than a whole pile of rich chocolate cookies.

On the other hand, when I'm craving something, it's a good time to browse recipe books, looking for ideas.  It doesn't erase the craving but it's great fun.

I've read that sometimes people crave foods that contain things they need; meat and the associated iron, for example.  What does it say when one is craving ice cream or cookies then?

As I write this, I'm at the end of a morning of yardwork and tedious household chores, and I did it all without the benefit of breakfast.  I guess that's why the subject of craving is on my mind.  I'd better go eat something at least a little healthy for my first meal of the day.

I hope everyone can enjoy our first summery week of the year!