Not Worth Resisting

It was part of me well before I even knew enough to resist it. How's that for a disclaimer?

On an infrequent but regular basis throughout my childhood, my brother and I would arrive home from school to a rather large, meticulously packed, corrugated box (you don't dare utter "cardboard" growing up with a father in the "box business"). Between the two of us, this was cause for immediate excitement; on the other hand, the only indication we had that my mom had even noticed the box was that along with her usual scurrying about, we'd hear an occasional "oh mom!" muttered. It wasn't hard to detect that those words commemorated another one (or more!) of Granny's great "finds".

And while the contents of those boxes certainly aren't the foundation for my love of all things 'culinary', nor did they amount to much interest from my parents, they held (lbs and lbs of) treasures in the eyes of my brother and me; within the walls of that sturdy corrugated box held everything that my mom would never dream of buying us (that's what Grannys are for, after all!). Package after package of Oreos (sometimes Double-Stuffed!), ramen noodles (to go with the hundreds of won tons Granny and I had made and frozen earlier in the year), cheese crackers, granola bars, fruit snacks, and an endless supply of gum; you didn't get between Granny and her "clear the shelves" deals.

I've never resisted this (in fact, I happily embrace it), but I share more with my granny than just a middle name (er... well, first name - long story there). Put yourself in my shoes - pints of deliciously red strawberries greeting me at the entrance of our market for $1! Knowing that price was too good to be true... I bought every last remaining one. The only thing is - strawberries aren't so 'mailable', though I dare to say they'd have been better received than the piles of pre-packaged and processed foods Granny used to lovingly stockpile for us. But this being summertime, I had more than enough easily accessible strawberry recipes at my disposal - so I wasted no time.

Strawberry frozen yogurt it was. And I mean "was" because it's gone. If my memory serves me correctly, this lasted approximately 48 hours in our house of two. Granny would be so proud - both of the deal I snagged and the fact that I turned it into ice cream - the 'food group' I am quite certain she would have been content to eat for the rest of her days.

Make some now so it can disappear in your house too.