Sweet AND salty

Lunchtime came and went during the meeting that would not end, and I’m starving and cranky and feeling entitled to a treat so I ask the cabbie to drop me off at the mall instead of the office. I’ve recently started working out three days a week again, so I’m also trying to instill a sense of self-discipline in my eating habits.

The perfect meal is free, has zero calories, is instantly available and tastes like heaven in a styrofoam box. As I make my way toward the food court, I am weighing (pun intended) the options to find something that balances fiscal prudence with calorie-counting and my insatiable sense of entitlement. The most evil (read: satisfying in the short term) alternative is the New York Fries poutine. Melty cheese-curdy goodness swimming in delicious gravy. With ketchup, bien sûr.

The least evil alternative is the new microwavable Soup at Hand I have stashed in my desk drawer. Perfect score on the financial aspect, not bad from a dietary choices perspective. But yawn. Plus, I know I’ll be rooting for a snack in an hour. I think about stopping for a bag of chips as a side dish, which while still within reason on the financial side, begins to seriously affect the validity as a low-fat option.

Then it occurs to me: popcorn! Soup first with a popcorn chaser – less than $3 and less than 300 calories. Ladies and gentlemen, we have a winner. So I make my way over to the Kernel’s counter. Then another agony of indecision as I try to decide between the Buffalo Wings and the Low Fat Air Caramel. Oh evil choices, why do you plague me.

As the clerk regards me imatiently, I try to decide between spending the afternoon stuck with teeth that feel as though they are wearing sweaters because of the fuzzy coating of sugary caramel on them, or spending the afternoon tasting (and tasting, and tasting) the fading flavour of Buffalo Wings. It’s good the first time around, but by the third hour it gets a little stale.

“Excuse me,” I ask, my eyes scanning the selections I’ve read a hundred times before, “but what is Kettle Corn?”

“It’s a mix of sweet and salty,” the bored clerk answers.

It’s sweet. It’s salty. It’s sweet AND salty.

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is how another junk food addiction is born.

What’s your “I so deserve it” food treat? (What? You mean not everyone self-medicates with food? Okay, if not food, what’s your favourite little indulgence?)

Author: DaniGirl

Canadian. storyteller, photographer, mom to 3. Professional dilettante.

16 thoughts on “Sweet AND salty”

  1. OH I AM DROOOLING!!! Yes, Kernels was a favorite for me back in the UofO days. I would “treat” myself to a walk to Rideau Centre once in a while and while there I would pick up a back of delicious candy coated popcorn. Ack! If it weren’t 7:25am I think I would be in the car right now falling off the wagon. But, the sweet and salty I will have to try.
    Anna – very jealous of your commitment to work out three times a week! Good for you and you alreay looked great the last time I saw you.

  2. i have a bag of peanut m&ms in my purse. i LOVE chocolate and it’s the middle of midterm exam season and so stress and chocolate seem to go hand in hand in my world.
    although, chocolate covered almonds are my favourite treat 🙂

  3. Personally, I’m not a fan of kettle corn. I like my popcorn doused in salt only. But, when I really want to treat myself I’ll reach for one of two things: either a glass of wine (or two) or some chocolate chip cookie dough…Yummy!

  4. Kettle corn is quite addictive.
    M&Ms are my favorite food self-medication. The peanut type is best, but plain will also do in a pinch.

  5. What to I treat myself with Lindor chocolate or a bag of lays Salt and Vingear…I’ve always been a potatoe chip fan.
    And Yes I self medicate with food. The reason I went to Weight Watchers. too bad I can’t self medicate with an apple or something healthy.

  6. food to chase the blues: Nutella or barbecue chips, which we don’t have in the house anymore 🙁

  7. KETTLE CORN>?!>!>!>
    I love the stuff. It’s best bought fresh at the fair, as someone said earlier. We’ve learned to buy the jumbo bag, otherwise there isn’t enough to go around.
    Otherwise, I have many favourite culimary indulgences: peanut butter cups from Truffle Treasures (they have a big dollop of caramel inside!), Hagen Daaz Caramel Cone Explosion, and Miss Vickie’s chips.
    Must. Stop. Thinking. About. Food!

  8. I was just thinking the same thing, Andrea – must stop thinking about food!!
    Choco chip cookies and bbq chips are the top of my comfort food list for sure. When going through a breakup at the same time, a (male) friend and I ate an entire package of that pilsbury scoop and bake cookie dough… I couldn’t eat it for years afterward!
    I was wondering why I had an association in my head between kettle corn and fairs – now I know to watch for it next year!
    xo Dani, off to eat some microwaved choco-chip cookies (they get all melty that way – mmmmm) and enjoy Survivor!

  9. Ice cream–usually mint chip. Not a kettlecorn fan. As a general rule,I don’t like my sweet and my salty mingling. I do like the raw cookie dough a lot, too. Haven’t done that in a while–and I’m kind of craving it now.

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