A Taste of Home

Having been locked in my house for three days with no voice, I decided to make a special dessert for dinner at Jenny's. [I don't know why she keeps inviting me... I'm apparently a bad influence on her daughters. It's not MY fault they like my gory riddles and smuggle their joke books to the dinner table. At least they're exercising their minds and reading.]

What is a traditionally Canadian dessert? Well, I have to admit that the first thought that came to mind was 'tire', but lacking large quantities of maple syrup and snow, I settled for Nanaimo bars. It took 3 hours, some substitutions, and a very good Joy of Cooking recipe, but I was quite pleased with the result. They couldn't have looked or tasted better had I bought them from the Great Canadian Superstore.

I think I'm starting to get the hang of grocery shopping in the UK! Eggs are in the non-refrigerated isle next to the milk; the powder milk and longlife milk isle is better stocked than the refrigerated fresh milk (at least fresh milk is commonplace here, unlike in France); sugar and cocoa is in the tea isle, and not the baking isle; and finally, you may be able to find flavoured vinegar with the oils, but white vinegar is either with the pickling supplies or down the cleaning isle.

Disclaimer: photo is purely for illustrative purposes, 

for those of you deprived of Nanaimo bar knowledge... it is not mine.