Irish Imports

One of the mixed blessing/curse aspects of being married to a "ferenner", as my mom says with her Southern twang, is that I have been spoiled to some of the lovely treats & habits of my Irish in-laws. While I am normally one to fully appreciate home-baked goodies and their intrinsic value of being notches higher than anything you can buy in a store, I confess I have fallen in love with some garden variety off-the-shelf treats found at your local Dunnes, Tesco, Superquinn or their loftier, snobbier cousins, the Marks & Spencers brands of same.

Oh, the Jaffa Cake! What a delectable treat, which I believe I have rhapsodized about before. Soft vanilla spongecake topped with orange marmalade and then coated in a delectable dark chocolate that cracks perfectly (as all good tempered chocolate should) when you bite into it. Mmmmmmm. And Cherry Bakewells are a particular weakness of mine...I absolutely adore this crumbly pie. It has yummy almond filling topped with raspberry jam and then a thick layer of vanilla fondant icing, topped with a half cherry. YUM-MY!! My DH's particular favorite is Viennese Whirls--vanilla buttercream cakes with whipped cream and raspberry jam fillings.

So when I got an email from Goodwood's British Market (curse the world wide web, anyway...these are all treats I should not be able to get since I am about 5500 miles away from the nearest Tesco or Superquinn!) saying that all Mr. Kiplings cakes were on sale, I crumbled like the super-short crust on their tasty treats. I have ordered seven assorted varieties, yes I said seven and yes I know I am dieting and Lord the Weight Watchers POINTS but they are SO GOOD and I only eat one at a time, I am not going to devour them all! I will be good. They will last several months in our pantry, just like the Trader Joes goodies we bought Wednesday. See, I haven't even cracked open any of the TJs chips or crackers, I am being good...I know better than to eat it all up within the first few weeks.

I wasn't even going to open the Goodwoods email. But DH ran out of his Irish sausages from Tommy Moloneys, so I had to order some more for him. They are the best Irish sausages you can buy state-side, and are a nice little treat when we have the occasional breakfast for dinner or Irish-style fry-up for lunch on the weekend. I don't like sausages, though, you see, so after buying 6 lbs for DH I was feeling a bit deprived of special treats myself. Of course at the time I did not think about all the goodness from Trader Joes that is in our pantry--no, I just thought DH is getting 6 lbs of sausages and it's such a nice treat for him, but woe is me there is nothing special here for MEEEE and I should get some special treats TOOOOO because I am being a good girl Mommy and... Oh wait. That is what my DAUGHTER says to me. Hmm...I am beginning to see where she gets it. Oh dear.

Well, at least it's in the budget, and I have a balanced checkbook again (miracle of miracles, praise God for letting me get through balancing our checkbook and paying bills today!). And I still have some money left over to go toward our vacation next month. We are borrowing our neighbor's RV and hitting the open road with the kiddos to visit a national park. Yippee! Hey, now I know what special treats are coming along in the pantry!

Oh yes, and I've figured out the cost of our shower tiling, just in case you were wondering. Far less than $1000--and probably more like $500, if we design the tile layout properly. Woohoo! Still haven't gotten the "yes" from DH, but he knows it's coming...HA! God is good, all the time.