Tag: Food

Fictional Foodie Favorites

Last week we talked about our Summer Writing Plans and it pains me to say that I haven’t yet managed to get started. Today was the closest I’ve come to feeling like I was on track. Our son promoted from middle school to high school yesterday, our daughter had finals, my car got clipped by another parent waiting to pick up the kids on Monday, and my husband had his wisdom teeth removed last Friday. It’s been a busy week! This week for our How I Write series, my accountability group is talking about Fictional Foodie Favorites. We were asked, “What would your main characters (hero and heroine) say are there favorite dish and why? Bonus if you share a recipe for the dish or if you have made it share a picture.”

My characters LOVE to go to Gunter’s for ices. It’s like heading over to Dairy Queen, Coldstone or a Ben & Jerry’s shop today. Something to cool you off and a social place to hang out while the weather’s warm. Marcia and Barrington end up there in Revealed. Hubert and Camilla meet there in Sweet Temptation. I’m sure others will probably drop in at some point since the ton had decided it was a place where a gentleman could take a lady unchaperoned and not risk censure.

Fictional Foodie Favorites: Drawing of people eating ices at a confectionery.

Over at Historic Food, British food historian Ivan Day has a comprehensive article on Georgian Ices that includes lots of pictures, drawings and several receipts (an old fashioned way to say recipes). Definitely worth a look!

We’ve become very bland in what we think of as acceptable ice cream and sorbet flavors these days. In the Georgian and Regency Eras, ices could be sweet or savory. Parmesan Ice? You betcha! Elderflower, muscadine, currant were just a few of the other varieties that sound so exotic to our modern ears.

It’s funny that my heroine’s are much less food conscious than the men in my stories. Although, I have it on good authority that Tabitha (Beneath His Touch) prefers her toast with a hearty dollop of jam. Marcia’s favorite has to be the muscadine ice, a sweeter white currant ice scented with elderflowers. She might not be very experienced with men, but she’s no stranger to sensuality.

The scent of spring rose from the bowl. She dipped into the ice and scraped off a dainty portion. Raising the spoon to her lips, she reminded herself to savor the first spoonful as long as possible. Subsequent ones never satisfied the same way. Cool, tangy crystals burst in her mouth releasing the delicate, subtle taste of summer. Marcia closed her eyes and leaned against the squabs while the world around her melted away like the ice on her tongue.

On the other hand, the men like Barrington and Hubert and even Ambrose in Beneath His Touch are something of foodies. Barrington doesn’t always know the proper terms, but he knows what he likes. Ambrose, well, lets just say no one would ever accuse him of skipping a meal and he appreciates the finer fare. But Hubert, he has a definite sweet tooth and very strong memories tied to food.

Hubert Langham, Lord Dendridge, strolled along Berkeley Square, his nose lifting to catch the tantalizing scents wafting on the easterly breeze. Gunter’s iconic golden pineapple beckoned him closer to the teashop. Soon individual aromas emanating from the confectionery were distinguishable: vanilla, caramelized sugar, fresh fruit. But the floodgates of his memories erupted with the rich, luxurious scent of chocolate. His mother had brought him here prior to his being sent away to school at a tender age.

YOUR TURN: What are some of your best food associated memories? What foods set your mouth to watering just thinking about them?

And if you’d like to read about how the rest of my accountability group answered, you can find their blogs here:

* Alexia Reed * Kimberly Farris *
* Angeleque Ford * Danie Ford * Emma G. Delaney

My Top 9 Books for 2011

Last week, our How I Write series laid out our writer’s toolkit and resources. This week we were asked, “Which books that you’ve read this year would you put into a time capsule for 2011?” It’s funny how you can almost tell who picked the questions each week by how whimsical or practical they are. This week’s question was put on the list by Alexia, but I picked it.

I read a wide variety of books. Our house is filled with Science Fiction, Fantasy, Mystery, Romance, Non-fiction, and even numerous collections of poems and literary short stories. Oh and comic books. I don’t just mean graphic novels, I mean individual issues as well as collected editions. Yes, many of those are not mine, but I’m often just looking for something different to read.

I wish I had kept up with keeping my reading list current in GoodReads, but I’m going to make an effort to do so again this coming year.

In reverse amazon purchase order, here’s my top 9 books for 2011:

The Black Hawk by Joanna Bourne
I love the way Joanna Bourne uses language. That shouldn’t be a secret by now. Adrian’s story was one I eagerly awaited and while it wasn’t what I was expecting at all, in no way did it disappoint. In addition to her command of language in general, she also uses it in such a way that her characters are expertly drawn and brought to life with their very own voices.
Pure Red by Danielle Joseph
I read a lot of YA, mostly to know what my daughter’s reading, but also to scout out great books for her to read. This one caught my eye because it tackles the topic of searching for your passion. An excellent read for anyone on this journey of self-discovery, I can only wish it’d been around when I was my daughter’s age.
A Night to Surrender by Tessa Dare
This is the first book in The Spindle Cove series and it packs a wonderful sense of humor and also addresses some serious topics at the same time. I fell in love with the main characters, but also several of the secondary characters. If you haven’t read the companion novella for this series: Once Upon a Winter’s Eve, You’ll want to go grab a copy and settle in for a cozy winter’s night read.
We Are Not Alone by Kristen Lamb
This book is a must read for the person who isn’t technically savvy or is new to social media. I sent a copy to my father-in-law, it was so useful. I’m still working on fixing a couple of mistakes Lamb pointed out from learning the hard way, first hand experience. Great advice, very personably and entertaining voice, and a great sense of cheering you on in your efforts. Lamb also encourages people to use the #MYWANA hashtag on twitter for additional conversations with others in the same boat.
Thief of Hope by Cindy Young-Turner
One of my friends from college published her first book this year. She had me at “thief”. But you add in a fantasy world with an interesting magic and political atmopshere, and you’ve got a fantastic read.
Texas Gothic by Rosemary Clement-Moore
Yep, more YA. I know want to go read more about the other Goodnight witches. Paranormal with lots of wit and real life dilemmas for the characters. I have yet to read a book by Clement-Moore that I didn’t love.
Too Hot to Touch by Louisa Edwards
If you love food and you love steamy romances, you need to indulge yourself with the richness of Louisa Edwards’ culinary explorations. She’s earned her kitchen credentials and is a bona fide foodie and it shows in her books.
Story Engineering by Larry Brooks
I love Larry Brook’s website Story Fix Lots of practical information for this theoretical plotter. I’m not sure I’d recommend it for pantsers, but if you’re interested in what makes a story work, this is a great read.
The War of Art by Steven Pressfield
I was on a big kick last year with Sun Tzu’s The Art of War and The Art of War for Writers: Fiction Writing Strategies, Tactics, and Exercises by James Scott Bell, so this one by Pressfield was a natural follow-up. Learning to be an artist is definitely a lot different than strictly practical professions such as business and economics. You may need some of those skills, as well as many more today, as artists are no longer relegated to garrets or ivory towers.

YOUR TURN: What books would you put in a time capsule for this year?

If you’d like to see what’s in my friends’ time capsules, you can find their blogs here:

* Alexia Reed * Kimberly Farris *
* Danie Ford * Emma G. Delaney * Angeleque Ford *

How to Write While Dealing With Holiday Madness

Photo of a Christmas Tree with eclectic ornaments.
A typical Koster Christmas tree.

This week, my accountability group is writing about “Holiday Plans and Are You Writing?” Last week, we blogged about the topic of “Where do you stand?” in terms of our writer’s journeys. The entries are part of our How I Write series.

Ya know, I’ve always wondered about Chris Baty’s sanity for picking November for NaNoWriMo. Then I think, “Student, not mother!” and nod to myself and keep going. My plans on the NaNo front went well for the first week and then I hit a wall. Having kids home sick from school on a revolving basis this week didn’t help either. I’ve been trying not to catch whatever they’ve had, but my focus and motivation has been completely shot in the whole process.

I enjoy the holiday season, but I’m always looking forward to the restful and relaxing aspects of it more than the hustle and bustle. I was sickened by seeing Christmas decorations up in the stores before Halloween weekend. The idea of Black Friday sends me to the corner to curl up in a whimpering ball. Cyber Monday is more my speed, but I try to spread it out through the month of November and the first week or two of December.

While I was growing up, the Holidays always meant food, family and travel. Thanksgiving has always meant a lot on my dad’s side of the family which traces its roots to the Mayflower and beyond. Turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy stuffing, green bean casserole, sweet potato casserole with the pineapple and marshmallows, fresh yeast rolls, Apple Harvest Cake and pumpkin pie have always had our table groaning. But last November 1st, DH and I gave up grains, legumes, potatoes and most white sugar. Thanksgiving felt kinda funky. Not as funky as the year we went to his uncle’s in NYC and didn’t have turkey, but a huge pork roast. My Puritan roots were shocked, but I survived. Christmas dinner is usually a replay of Thanksgiving as well.

The biggest take away here is that our routine shifted and we survived. I HATE change and new things. But I’m learning lots of new tricks as I work on trying to build up my discipline and continue to improve my craft while balancing it with the bustling life around me. I think I’ve learned that I can’t throw all my hopes and dreams into the single biggest writing month of the year (NaNoWriMo), not and still maintain any resemblance to balance and sanity.

So about those promised tips in the title… They may sound sarcastic in places, they may be a little tongue-in-cheek in others, but they are all things that I’ve found that help me and to me are worth trading money for time and sanity in some cases. Your mileage may vary, but do what you can to keep your creative tanks full.

How I Write While Dealing With Holiday Madness:

  1. Consider an Online Christmas — All your ordering can be done between writing breaks and many offer gift wrapping options. And really, who has time to wrap? We seriously considered saying it was an Amazon themed Christmas one year and the boxes would have been deemed as acceptable. Saves your gas and time and sanity! Ok, maybe not the most carbon conscious option, but it still has appeal. Just don’t hand your kids scotch-taped boxes and tell them to wrap their own presents. I HATED not knowing what was in those boxes until Christmas Day. (*waves* Hi, Mother!)
  2. Add Writing Time to your Wish List — You won’t get it if you don’t ask for it. And if you ask nicely in advance, I’ve found people are more likely to respect your time and space. I also find that just taking it by getting up earlier than everyone else works wonders. They get to feel superior because they slept in so late, and you get a quiet house to yourself — until they get up. At which point, feel free to direct this hapless soul that has wandered into your creative space to dump the ingredients for dinner in the crockpot to let you finish this section.
  3. Decide What Matters Most — Only YOU can answer this one. Plan according to your priorities and don’t feel guilty about it. If you have a family, next summer consider talking about what people enjoy doing most during the winter holidays and adjust your traditions to drop ones that no one likes or try new ones that appeal to your family’s values and tastes. If something doesn’t work for you, make a note of it so you don’t repeat it next year.
  4. Make Ahead Meals — Dump chicken is a staple in my freezer. Buy a bargain tray of boneless skinless chicken breasts or thicker pork chops. Buy a couple bottles of BBQ, Italian Dressing, Ranch Dressing and some quart-sized ziploc freezer bags. For my family of 4, I put 4 breasts or equivalent servings of chops in a ziploc. Then add approximately 3/4 cup of the BBQ, Italian or Ranch Dressing (I also add some minced garlic and some black pepper to this one). Zip and freeze flat. You can bake one of those suckers from frozen at 350˚F for 50-60 minutes and get two solid 25 minute writing sprints in while it cooks. It marinates as it freezes and also more if you let it thaw first, but honestly, who remembers to do that in time?!
  5. Make Sacrifices to the Crockery Gods — I can’t tell you how many times throwing something into the crockpot in the morning has saved my bacon! Look for simple recipes with 5 ingredients or less, dump chicken and pork loins work well for this too. Most of dinner cooks while you’re doing your thing. Husbands and teens CAN be taught to dump the ingredients in. They may claim to have forgotten how the next time, but this is where all that practice at being a persistent writer comes pays off!
  6. Pamper Yourself — De-stress by relaxing. Curl up and read a book. Go see a movie. Go get a mani-pedi if that’s your thing. You’re running around doing everything for everyone else right now, right? Hopefully, they won’t forget you deserve to be pampered and treated like royalty, but… yeah. Trust me on this one. You’ll feel better for giving yourself a treat like this in the middle of the chaos.
  7. Holiday Parties, Concerts, & Get Togethers — Don’t let them get you down. They’re a great opportunity for people watching! If you see or overhear something you’re afraid you’ll forget, slip into the bathroom and pull out your trusty notebook or smart phone or whatever and note it down for later! Same thing goes for that Aha! moment that strikes you in the middle of the concert… don’t lose it!
  8. Say ‘NO!’ When Appropriate — You know your deadlines and obligations. Don’t short-change your own goals just because every family on the block has invited you over for some eggnog and carols. You know the connections you can’t miss, but you’re not lying if you say you have other plans and what you mean is you want to write. Give yourself the gift of time for yourself.
  9. Houseguests — Whether you have them or are one… be sure to schedule downtime for everyone. Some may need more than others.
  10. Remember Why You Celebrate— To me, this is the most important one… if my writing slips, it slips. If my holiday prep slips, it slips. I’d much rather spend time with the people I love having a good time than run around like a chicken with its head cut off, scrambling to get everything done and feel miserable about it.

YOUR TURN: With the holidays’ coming up, what are you holiday plans? What are your favorite holiday food traditions? And how are you plan to balance your creative endeavors with your real life obligations? Or are you taking a break?

And if you’d like to read about how the rest of my group approaches their research, you can find their blogs here:

* Alexia Reed * Angeleque Ford * Danie Ford *
* Emma G. Delaney * Kimberly Farris *

Stop this crazy ride…

merry go roundThis week has been insane. It seems like everything that could have gone wrong, has and if it hasn’t yet, it’s waiting to do so until just the right moment.

Dealing with crazy vendor issues with the rental property we own. Trying to get an estimate for some work done there totally ruined my day yesterday. I was going to take off and go to the grocery store around noon since I usually go on Sunday and hadn’t made it there yet (I finally got there around 6pm tonight, actually). But I ended up having to wait for one of the estimators to call me back, only he didn’t. Then I had to run errands and pick up my new prescription sunglasses and it took 45 minutes to convince them I couldn’t see out of my left eye with my new progressive bifocals and for them to figure out that lens was in crooked. MUCH better now.

It was also DD’s 12th birthday. EEEEEEK! One year left. *gulp* So I spent a crazy amount of time running around to pick up some last minute presents for her. We have to return one. Borders was out of the Extended Edition of HSM3. 😛 The grocery store wasn’t, if only I’d gone there on Monday! And for her birthday we always go out for Chinese food. Usually PF Chang’s but just as often a smaller local place that’s really good. We were smart and made reservations last night. We JUST made it in time too.

Today was supposed to be more low-key, and in many ways it was, which was nice. I spent the morning working on changes to Chapter One of the project I’m working on with my mentor. I didn’t get as far as I wanted to though. I kept having to deal with more phone calls about the rental property. The pool guy called to tell me the tenants were moving out — property manager reassured us only 2 of the 4 were, don’t panic. Phew. That mortgage is barely covered by the rent.

So, I was planning on picking up groceries again today, only my friend Romance Diva friends, Dana Belfry, who called at 11 am to ask what I was doing for lunch. She sounded disappointed when I said I’d just popped leftover Chinese into the microwave. Turns out she was down in my neck of the woods (or in SoCal does that translate into “my wing of the mall?” Anyway…) So we went out for lunch at Claim Jumper (I drooled over the bread pudding for you, Mother!) and she brought me a big box of books she’d picked up for free and didn’t want. Out of 13, I’ll probably read over half of them. Someday. My TBR pile is too big as it is.

So what did I pick up in the grocery store? Yep. Another paperback. LOL

So, I’m sitting here, the kids have gone to bed and I’m going to now try to focus on getting more of Chapter One revised. I don’t think I’ll finish, but I need to get further along than I am. Must. Go. Write.

The TeePee Cake

Blue & Gold Dinner teepee cakeI figured since I talked about it so much, I better share it.

The cake was baked as part of my son’s annual Blue & Gold dinner for Cub Scouts. Each year a different theme is chosen for the cake decorations. We’ve done sports & games (a 3-d chess piece), space (a 3-d Vader’s Tie Fighter & Death Star), animal kingdom (a 3-d Mayan pyramid with animals & trees stuck on it), and patriotism (the Washington monument with fireworks, 2-d thanks!) in the past.

So this being our last year, I said, “OK, we can try 3-d again.” And I convinced him that we wanted to do a teepee. I don’t know if I’ll work with fondant again, but it was definitely a learning experience.

The cake base is a tube cake and a 8″ layer with a layer of 3 texas-sized cupcakes and a single one on top of that. Then I took a couple bamboo skewers to use as the poles and cut a hole in the fondant. The first attempt resulted in much torn fondant. The second with a hole in the center and a slit out to the edge still wanted to tear as gravity pulled it against the skewers. Hence, the second apron at the top reinforced by the three holes cut into the center.

I would have liked a bit more decoration on the teepee itself, but Dh usually does the fine artistic details on top of my structural base, but he had a horrible headache yesterday and we ended up leaving it more “functional than decorative”. The firepit is made from white M&Ms and the fire itself is pretzel sticks, Cherry & Orange Wildfire Fruit roll-ups and a few red M&Ms for coals. The log beside it is a tootsie roll. The grass is just green decorator sugar and the scuffed dirt is chocolate cake mix.

The cake was part of the live auction last night and I ended up spending $40 to get it back. 🙂  I’d told the kids they could bid up to $25 each on cakes and DD decided she wasn’t bidding this year. It’s all for a good cause and I was happy to finally have a cake in the live auction instead of just on the side for the silent auction. A very sweet ending to the night.

Happy 4th of July!

Fireworks over San Diego Bay
Fireworks over San Diego Bay

Happy Independence Day
to everyone in the States!

We’re having Bacon Cheddar Burgers, Watergate Salad, Broccoli Salad, Macaroni Salad, probably some chicken and/or shrimp thrown on the grill as well.

We’ve often gone down to sit at the intersection across from our high school to see the local fireworks display, but we realized last year we can see three separate displays from our house. Escondido and Poway from our back patio and the local one from our driveway.

Hope you all enjoy a great
3-day weekend with lots of fun, food, and friendship.

Opaque

Dining in the dark logoLast night we dumped the kids at the martial arts studio’s beach party and went downtown to eat at Opaque, one of those dining in the dark places. We were early for our reservations, so we sat in the lobby of the local W hotel and drank $10 cocktails.

The décor there was cool with some bright beachy colors and three giant rear-projection screens showing local surfing movies off-set by about 30 seconds each beneath a wall studded with surfboard fins. The neatest thing was the second floor walkway that ran along one side of the lobby. Every five feet or so, giant circles of a frosted translucent material punctuated the floor/ceiling. Whenever someone walked across, you could see the soles of their shoes fairly clearly and the rest quickly blurred.

Continue reading “Opaque” →

Thanks and Possible Breakthrough

FirstShabu Shabu set, link to wikipedia article off, I want to thank everyone for their birthday wishes yesterday!

I had a great day and we went out for Japanese for dinner for something different that the kids and I’d never had before: Shabu Shabu, which is named for the “swish” sound the meat makes when you drag it through the boiling water.

So what’s this have to do with a breakthrough? Not much, really. Except that I’ve been looking at this story as a single big chunk of meat plopped down on the counter. Wrong. It needs to be sliced thinly to bring out the marbling, the texture and flavor. It needs a variety of veggies on the side to season it. And most importantly, it needs that pot of boiling water to steep in, to meld everything together into something tasty and new.

Dare I hope that by forcing myself to face this story head-on this week (see boiling pot reference), I’ve managed to push through past the stale synopsis on Wikipedia to something interesting, fun, and that will qualify as a romance (see the something tasty and new reference)?

What I realized is that everything I’ve done so far has been solely for my benefit. The majority of what I’ve cluttered up my brain, blog and hard drive with regarding this story so far will never see the page in the final story. I don’t consider it wasted time at all because I had to know it and work through it to find the story that was hiding underneath.

Unfortunately, what I did realize is that I’ve mostly abandoned the approach I was trying to take. I still think it’s very puzzle-like in trying to determine what goes where, what A means for B, and why C has to happen before D can. But thinking about the “layout” and who and what need to populate the story have been pushed aside in my quest to find the story I want to write itself.

Now that I have an overview of what I want to do (and it might not look like it contains all the same plot points as before, but they’re still bouncing around my head and woven in and around what is there. The original folktale seems to be mostly backstory and supporting details for the hero’s storyline, but the heroine is taking over the show and what the story is about has changed because of the decisions I’ve forced the characters to make and the histories I’ve given them.

So, back to swishing these poor characters around. Mmm… it’s starting to look like soup… I mean a story! What do you think?

Alexander can’t help helping others and when he learns a woman has been kidnapped from the old gypsy woman he rescued from a ditch, things start to go wrong. He finds the woman, but Anthea refuses to leave before she can recover the key to her father’s breeding program that was stolen by her “captives”. Meanwhile, the matriarch plans to force Anthea into marriage with her eldest son because of her own impeccable bloodline. Eventually, Alex figures out that he needs a little outside help in order to help solve Anthea’s problems and that he likes her as she is. Alex and Anthea manage to escape with the key but the family pursues them. Will society’s notions of propriety trap her forever or will true love free her to be her self.

Oh, and you can expect to hear a lot more about a couple of my presents in the future: DH got me Robert McKee’s Story: Substance, Structure, Style and The Principles of Screenwriting and my mom got me a copy of Nancy Kress’s Beginnings, Middles & Ends.

Thursday Thirteen: Recipes

 

13 of My Standard Recipes

 

I like to cook, hate to clean. If there’s something besides books that I collect, it would have to be recipes. I love reading recipes and I love knowing some history behind the recipe as well.

Back in 2000, I found a wonderful site. At allrecipes.com you can collect recipes in a virtual recipe box, read and write reviews and rate recipes. You can now also do things like compile your collected recipes into a cookbook that they will print up for you. It’s been interesting to watch this site grow over the years and watch how features have been added.

Many of the recipes I’ve collected from this site have turned into family favorites. My MIL always requests the P.R. Meat Patties when she comes to visit. My mom and her best friend always request the Lasagna. The Berry Slush and the Potato Rounds are popular party fare. The Garlic Cheese Chicken Rollups freeze really well.

1. Amy’s Garlic Egg Chicken
2. Awesome and Easy Creamy Corn Casserole
3. Berry Lemonade Slush
4. Best Easy Chicken Croquettes
5. Best Unsteamed Shrimp
6. Broccoli Cheese Soup
7. Cheese and Bacon Potato Rounds
8. Cheese Cake Cups
9. Garlic Cheese Chicken Rollups
10. Honey Garlic Ribs
11. Puerto Rican Meat Patties
12. Puerto Rican Pork Roast
13. White Cheese Chicken Lasagna

Links to other Thursday Thirteens!

1 Susan Helene Gottfried 2 SandyCarlson 3 Tamy
4 Winter 5 Kathleen Oxley 6 The Pink Flamingo
7 Heather L 8 Alice Audrey 9 Vixen
10 Amanda 11 Di 12 Debora Dennis
13 Sandier Pastures 14 Jennifer McKenzie 15 Kimberly Menozzi
16 A. Catherine Noon 17 Paige Tyler 18 Joyce T.
19 Sarah 20 Debbie Mumford 21 Gwen Mitchell

Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!

View More Thursday Thirteen Participants

The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!

Thursday Thirteen: Candy Loot!

At our house, Halloween Candy lasts until Valentine’s Day. I may have actually forgotten to throw out last year’s loot. While it’s bundled into Ziploc bags with the kids’ names on them, I can resist the temptation. It’s that whole out of sight, out of mind thing too. We only had two bunches of trick-or-treaters come by the house last night. This was in addition to the 4 we sent out to beg for sugar. DD’s figured out that our neighborhood gets better hauls than her friends who live in apartment complexes with lots of kids so she’s usually inviting someone else along for the fun. DH said they saw like five other groups last night. Ahh, the joys of living in a community with mostly retired folks.

Ok, so _why_ does candy last that long at our house? DD is a type I diabetic, so we dole it out in small quantities over time. The next couple of week’s she’ll think of it constantly and beg and cajole for pieces at every possible chance. Eventually, the out of sight, out of mind thing will kick in for her as well and it’ll sit lonely and ignored in the cupboard until I think to grab something to toss in their lunch box.

I decided I’d make a cheat sheet this year as I’m tired of looking everything up all the time, so I picked the 13 most popular candies at our house and figured out the carb counts for a single piece. This way I can refer back and easily add up the totals so she can take the correct insulin dose easily even when mixing and matching. BTW, the Daily Plate was helpful for figuring out the unlabled ones — they also have calories and other nutritional info.

1. Nestle’s Crunch Fun Size 8.67g
2. KitKat Snack Size 9g
3. Pay Day Snack Size 10g
4. Hershey’s Milk Chocolate Snack Size 8.33g
5. Milky Way Fun Size 12g
6. Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups (1 piece) 12g
7. Reese’s Mini Peanut Butter Cups 5g
8. Twix Fun Size 10g
9. Butterfinger Fun Size 15g
10. Almond Joy Fun Size 10g
11. Plain M&Ms Fun Size 12.5g
12. Skittles Fun Size 17.5g
13. Starburst (2 squares) 8.25g

Links to other Thursday Thirteens!

1 Deb 2 Jennifer McKenzie 3 Susan Helene Gottfried 4 Tempest Knight
5 Gina Ardito 6 Kelly McCrady 7 8

Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!

View More Thursday Thirteen Participants

The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!