What's your drug of choice?

Greetings,
Selling fruitcakes to fund a research center for developmental disabilities is a nasty irony.

RT Firefly said:

Greetings,
Selling fruitcakes to fund a research center for developmental disabilities is a nasty irony.

Click to expand...

Wifey B: Now, now....I wasn't going to comment on that.

The research center is part of the University of Alabama in Birmingham.

With so many to choose from (and so little time), it would be hard to settle on just one favorite, but Shulgin's published research might be useful as a guide.

Claxton fruit cakes are GOOD. I like them. Still, I suspect part of the attraction is they did not require refrigeration and we didn't have a reefer until the early 70's.

I remember some magazine writer came by and Mother handed her a cold beer very casually. It was shortly after we finally had a real refrigerator. When the article appeared the beer was described as being served "European-style, i.e. fished out of the river"

Bonnie O'Boyle was person non grata from that point forward.

Claxton's are not recirculated when they get to Seaweed they stop. I will admit I like them cold, sliced thin with a spot of tea in the morning. Ah, now that's life in the slow lane. You should try it again. Either Darjeeling or Constant Comment is an ideal accompaniment.

Hey, and that it supports a charity is good too.

You do buy Newman's Own stuff, right? His Hole in the Wall Gang camp up north, and Boggy Creek Gang Camp in Florida are amazing. His Italian salad dressing is yummy too.

Baby attended Boggy Creek for three summers (one week per) and really came into herself. It was a great experience for her. Anyway, I'm rambling.

I hope everyone is counting their blessings and enjoying the day. Happy Easter.

I'm with you Janice. I like fruit cakes also. Can't comment on the Claxton variety - never had one. (Anyone wanting to jettison one, I'll PM the address)

However, even though not liking them is the norm as child, once grown up many people appreciate them much more as a really decent example of a true cake. All the rest of the over-sweet, over-rich, sickly, chocolatty, or pale, washed out, Madeira types are mere pale imitations, which the kids all still love of course…but are really just empty calories. Any time I attend a birthday or some other occasion where they trot out a cake, and it's one of those over-sweet, sickly, mushy types my heart sinks. For a real cake, give me a fruit cake - a bit of old-fashioned almond icing on top and sides is ok too. The icing on the cake, as it were, literally. Almond icing is unique, and the only type I appreciate.

PS. The nicest kind of fruit cake I have ever had was one my auntie used to make, called a vinegar cake. It had a certain 'bite' to it from the vinegar which lifted it right up there and counterbalanced the sweetness.

Wifey B: I like fruit....nothing more tasty that strawberries covered in or dipped in chocolate.

Peter B said:

I like fruit cakes also.

Click to expand...

This revelation has me reconsidering the Marmite/Vegemite/Promite experiment.

Peter B said:

I'm with you Janice. I like fruit cakes also. Can't comment on the Claxton variety - never had one. (Anyone wanting to jettison one, I'll PM the address)

However, even though not liking them is the norm as child, once grown up many people appreciate them much more as a really decent example of a true cake. All the rest of the over-sweet, over-rich, sickly, chocolatty, or pale, washed out, Madeira types are mere pale imitations, which the kids all still love of course…but are really just empty calories. Any time I attend a birthday or some other occasion where they trot out a cake, and it's one of those over-sweet, sickly, mushy types my heart sinks. For a real cake, give me a fruit cake - a bit of old-fashioned almond icing on top and sides is ok too. The icing on the cake, as it were, literally. Almond icing is unique, and the only type I appreciate.

PS. The nicest kind of fruit cake I have ever had was one my auntie used to make, called a vinegar cake. It had a certain 'bite' to it from the vinegar which lifted it right up there and counterbalanced the sweetness.

Click to expand...

Sounds like a perfect delivery medium for that Vegemite you love! I'm really starting to worry about you, Peter!

Northern Spy said:

This revelation has me reconsidering the Marmite/Vegemite/Promite experiment.

Click to expand...

Why choose? Treat yourself to a Vegemite flavored cake. Yum!

I often bought fruit cakes in tins to give to customers for Christmas....not the good kind, mind you, but the really cheapo 99 cent jobs back in the late 70's. I always ended up with a few extra that just sat in my trunk, maybe till the next year. After I moved on to another job, I sent the old cakes to my friends. One friend sent it back the next year and we exchanged that same fruit cake for 17 years. The last year he had used the cake to chock the wheel of his boat trailer and severely dented the old, rusty tin, exposing the 17 year old cake....causing the Post Office to decline delivery.

healhustler said:

I often bought fruit cakes in tins to give to customers for Christmas....not the good kind, mind you, but the really cheapo 99 cent jobs back in the late 70's. I always ended up with a few extra that just sat in my trunk, maybe till the next year. After I moved on to another job, I sent the old cakes to my friends. One friend sent it back the next year and we exchanged that same fruit cake for 17 years. The last year he had used the cake to chock the wheel of his boat trailer and severely dented the old, rusty tin, exposing the 17 year old cake....causing the Post Office to decline delivery.

Click to expand...

ROFLMAO!!!!!!!

Northern Spy said:

This revelation has me reconsidering the Marmite/Vegemite/Promite experiment.

Click to expand...

Nah…c'mon Spy…where's yasensovadventcha..?

A Honey Baked Ham is flavorful and convenient. Great for sharing with family (and friends too!) as in this instance, immediately after the Coot's June 2011 public blessing ceremony. Counter-clockwise from lower left: my then-91-year-old father, myself, my first sister, my second-sister's husband; photo taken by companion Perla.

If you take 4 or 5 Claxton fruitcakes, unwrap them, let them dry out for 2-3 weeks, then drill holes in the middle and pass a chain through, you have a good anchor for a mooring.

OK. So I bought some Marmite (UK version) and tried the "hot method" on some whole grain toast this morning. It tasted like a thickened teriyaki sauce on toast. Not what I was expecting. It wasn't disgusting, or even bad tasting. Just not very breakfasty, per se, however a beer probably would've tasted good with all of the saltiness.

I'll try the cold method tomorrow.

Definitely lindt white chocolate balls.

THD said:

If you take 4 or 5 Claxton fruitcakes, unwrap them, let them dry out for 2-3 weeks, then drill holes in the middle and pass a chain through, you have a good anchor for a mooring.

Click to expand...

I grew up with Collin Street Bakery fruit cakes. Considered the best by some (I'm not a fruit cake fan). I doubt if I could get 4 or 5 on my boat without sinking it.

Northern Spy said:

OK. So I bought some Marmite (UK version) and tried the "hot method" on some whole grain toast this morning. It tasted like a thickened teriyaki sauce on toast. Not what I was expecting. It wasn't disgusting, or even bad tasting. Just not very breakfasty, per se, however a beer probably would've tasted good with all of the saltiness.

I'll try the cold method tomorrow.

Click to expand...

Yes, Spy, the cold way might be best, but remember - very thin - must see the butter through it. Even so it might not impress, as the UK version definitely not as nice as the Sanitarium Downunder version. I tried it in London and was unimpressed, although, as you say, not bad, just not great. Much more runny than our version too, so getting it thin is tricky. Can you get true Vegemite..?

Didn't try the cold method this morning. No bread to make toast. No Vegimite in town. We have a complete vacancy of Aussies. The one I know works month in month out at a mine near Darwin. I'll ask him to smuggle some back for me. But the good news is that my beriberi is now in remission.

Crawfish. Mud bugs. 15 years ago, the price would drop to 29¢ a pound live (you buy them by the sack to boil~45#s). Only local demand. Today they are a little shy of $4 per pound last time I looked. HUGE demand. I love em, but Geez are they expensive! About a month ago I sold a reconditioned forklift to a crawfish/ rice farmer close to Lafayette. He has quite an operation he was telling me- and last years sales were $6,000,000. Yup...
BTW- my real "drug"- add a shot of Patron and two lime wedges thoroughly squeezed. Yum...


1983 Present 42 Sundeck
Twin Lehman 135's

Northern Spy said:

Didn't try the cold method this morning. No bread to make toast. No Vegimite in town. We have a complete vacancy of Aussies. The one I know works month in month out at a mine near Darwin. I'll ask him to smuggle some back for me. But the good news is that my beriberi is now in remission.

Click to expand...

Great idea, he could smuggle you some Vegemite, and, down under Marmite - best of both worlds. They are similar, but subtly different. Enjoy…and report back. You might even convince Marin to try them again - if he could pick up some of the genuine article on his travels, that is.

PS. Being an ex-Kiwi, I must profess I prefer the NZ Marmite to the UK version or the Aussie Vegemite, by a narrow margin. Don't dob me in though, eh?
This might interest…
http://carondann.com/2013/05/25/marmiteversusvegemite/

Single Malt Scotch.

fryedaze said:

I am a real health nut

Click to expand...

My favorite bourbon!

so I think we can make many people happy if :
1. we give them something to dink while watching the sunset (water for wifey b)
2. after eating a meal with friends which was preceded
3. by fishing for said meal.

Somewhere in there there may have been a cool ride to the boat in the morning and chocolate or vegemite snacks during the day. And if you felt you had to bring something, 17 year old fruitcake seems perfectly acceptable.

I did the "cold method" on some very hearty flax whole grain bread this morning. It was pretty good.

Lobster diving, followed by eating the critters at any key west water front restaurant. With a Vodka tonic and lime.

jskinner30PII said:

Lobster diving, followed by eating the critters at any key west water front restaurant. With a Vodka tonic and lime.

Click to expand...

Do you have BYOL restaurants where they will cook the catch you bring in with you?

Yes, we go to Key West and dive Sambo reef for lobsters during the day and any place will cook them up and add two sides for 12.00. They make the money on drinks.

Still thinkin'

Northern Spy said:

I did the "cold method" on some very hearty flax whole grain bread this morning. It was pretty good.

Click to expand...

YES…good…that's the spirit Spy. Now, maintain the momentum…who knows, you might start something here. You might, single-handedly, enlighten and launch to the whole of North America, the mightiness of the (culinary) Mites.