Grapey Goodness - All Hail the Jolly Joe...

Back when I was a kid, I remember running off to the candy store with my cousins with a fist full of money, and dreams of sugar saturated goodness in my little head. One of my favorite treats were Mike and Ike Jolly Joes...grape flavored chewy candies very similar to jelly beans, but larger.

Grape has always been one of my favorite candy flavors. As I got older, I eventually forgot about Jolly Joes and other childhood treats, until there was a massive revival of Mike and Ike candies, including Hot Tamales, the cinnamon flavored Mike and Ikes. While I noticed the increased availability of these candies, I noticed a decided lack of Jolly Joes in the local candy stores. They carried all the other basic flavors, but no Jolly Joes!

Obsessed, I checked Mike and Ike website to see if they dared to discontinue my childhood treat, and to my relief, they were still in production...but NOT IN CANADA!!! ARGH! So if I wanted to deal with my sudden craving for purple grapey goodness, I would have to ship them in. Don't get me wrong, I really did want them, but I didn't want to deal with forking out shipping and customs just to get my fix.

So over the weekend, I came across a candy store I haven't been in for a while. I was actually on a mission to find Tart N Tiny candies (only to discover that they have indeed been discontinued - I grieve for the loss of Tart N Tinys). Lo and behold (cue angelic choir and trumpets), there was a box of Jolly Joe packs on the shelf! My boyfriend was goading me into buying out the stock, but I was a little strapped for cash and stuck to 4 packs instead.

I don't know what was more enjoyable. The hunt for my elusive Jolly Joes, the discovery of them, or the actually eating of them. I suspect it was a combination of all three which made my first Jolly Joe in over 20 years taste so good. And while the artificial sweets will probably be the death of me someday, they made me feel young again...like a kid running to the candy store, spending money in hand, and dreams of sweets in her head.

Holy Buffet Bloatness, Batman!

So last night my boyfriend and I went to New Asian Village on 10149 Saskatchewan Drive for dinner. It's not the city's best kept secret or anything, but it's a great place to go for an introduction to Indian food. I had been to a buffet before and had received a coupon that would give me 10% off the next one. The buffet is reasonably priced at $19.99 per head, and I knew that my boyfriend was dying to try it out.

It was pretty quiet on a Sunday night around 6 PM. There was only a few other tables that were occupied, which makes me happy since I'm not overly fond of busy restaurants. The lack of customers was not reflective of the food, however, but perhaps the heat of an almost summer day. We first sat at a table by the window that was baking in the evening sun, however, the waiter kindly let us move to a cooler location. The restaurant itself is finished in dark woods, with semi-private dining areas in the back decorated with airy fabrics and beaded curtains.

New Asian Village's savory selection is much more diverse than your English saucy version of Tandoori chicken. My personal favorites beyond the butter chicken and saffron rice would include the vegetable pakora, which is infused with a healthy dose of cumin, one of my favorite seasonings. I really enjoyed the vegetables in cream sauce, although I have to admit that the majority of the taste got lost amidst the spiciness of the curry. I'm also a big fan of lamb curry...New Asian's version leans towards the salty side, so my servings of it were small, and accompanied by a couple glasses of water. Not for the heat...but to wash the saltiness away. Still, it was probably a bad idea since water is a no no to wash spicy foods away and can cause indigestion. Too bad I didn't think of it while I was actually there. Ouch.

My boyfriend couldn't get enough of the mushroom masala. He told me it contained a healthy dose of spicy that hit him during his 2nd helping rather than during his first, as per evidence of the sweat he worked up by the end of dinner.

One of the little treats I looked forward to was the cinnamon naan bread slices they come around to give you while you're in middle of the meal. How I wish this sweet naan was available in the dessert section of the buffet rather than just little tasting bits. However, considering how full I was after the meal, it's probably a good thing there wasn't more of that honeyed goodness, or I really would have been in trouble.

So while we left contently stuffed to the gills, we paid for our buffet greediness and water indiscretions after the fact. I suppose I should put a sharpie reminder on my hand to drink tea instead of water, and more yogurt to combat a burning tongue. Then I wouldn't have suffered from a mild case of indigestion, and that painful bloated feeling of having consumed more than my capacity.

Ah well, live and learn...and eat some more. New Asian Village's buffet is too good to resist and I would rate it 4 out of 5 tasty pieces of cinnamon naan bread. Yum!