when I was a little kid....

....my Mother always told me not to play with my food.

Good advice, I guess. But with all that color and texture on my plate, it was hard not to...

Well, I'm the Mother now, (and Grandmother) so if I want to play with my food....well I'm gunna..... nanner nanner....

(that is soooo not grown-up of me....)

Anyhow, this week-end I found some new foods to play with. Not exactly new foods like in a new and exciting discovery. Actually, it was sort of a new and exciting discovery for me, anyway.

I found crumpets!! Isn't that just the best? I heard about crumpets, I've read about "tea & crumpets" but I had never seen (or tasted) an actual crumpet. Never really know what a crumpet was....

Well, now I know. If you haven't tasted one, it's sort of a cross between an English muffin and a pancake...

I toasted it and put butter on while it was still hot. The butter went into all the little nooks and crannies ( love the word "cranny"!) but I felt it needed just a little something more...

As Al Pacino would say......"let me introduce you to my little friend..." (you need to read that in a fake Spanish accent for it to be effective...)

TaDa.....................

Oh yeah baby! Not only is the name heavenly, Cloudberry, but the taste is too. Different. I never even knew cloudberries existed before Ikea came to town! Yum-O.

So, OK, that was a good combination. Crumpets & Cloudberry preserves....

...hey wait, that could be a name of a hioty-toity soap/lotion line...Crumpets & Cloudberry...kinda like Crabtree & Evelyn...it could smell like toast...and butter...and preserves... !! Would drive the boys wild, I'd say!

OK, so here's another good combination.....

As if one candy isn't good enough...

......the Lindor quartet!

So you don't think I eat only sweets, and Crumpets (I love saying that! Crumpets..Crumpets..Crumpets..) I do have the occasional vegetable...

Potatoes are one........

But wait! These are no ordinary potatoes! These are funny-funky-looking potatoes begging to be transformed into.............tada!

Braxton & Grandma's cat, Bones!

(Bones has one ear that's 'folded' over - an old war injury...)

As I close, I want to make a PSA.....(yes, I've been watching television..I know what public service announcements are...)

Ahem....To all you little kids.........go ahead and play with your food...as long as you don't waste it. Make silly hot-dog men, eggs in the nests, pigs in the blankets and frog-eye salad. And always eat your veggies....

(well, maybe the one that DON'T look like Braxton & Bones......)

Have a great Monday!
-me