Looking good

So I'm bopping along in the grocery store last week.

I had a list. No snack cakes were on my list.

Perhaps I should explain.

In my kitchen is a large jar. It is meant to hold treats for all and sundry who may be in my kitchen and be in need of a treat.

However, since we were so busy all summer (more on that later), the jar has been empty for weeks.

It was like, if you're dropping by, best BYOT. Bring Your Own Treat. There was plenty of cold water on hand with which to wash your brown-bag treat down.

But with autumn looming and summer's dust settling, I got all snack-cakey again.

One day I trolled the Little Debbie section looking for pumpkin-type cakes. None were evident, so Star Crunch and Zebra Brownies were purchased and appeared in the jar.

The Zebra Brownies went over like a ham sandwich in a synagogue. I ate one and had nightmares for a week.

Andrew took one bite and threw the rest away. They are truly horrible. Do not go there.

Somehow only three two-packs remained and when I saw my grandchildren a few days ago, I gave them each one. I warned them of the disgusting nature of the Zebra Brownies but they appeared unfazed.

Ah, youth.

So anyway, I was waiting for Little Debbie to come out with some fall-inspired cakes. On the day in question, however, snack cakes were not on my radar.

Then, as I strolled by the cookie and cracker aisle -- having no need to turn therein -- a pretty lady accosted me.

Her anxiety was apparent. Do you know where the Rice Krispies Treats are? She asked, grabbing the handle of my grocery cart as if I might try to get away.

No, I said -- I was bewildered and I'll tell you why in a sec -- Maybe in the cookie and cracker aisle?

She gestured helplessly behind her. No, she said. I just looked there!

Then, maybe with the Little Debbie cakes? I suggested.

(Because as you may well be aware, at Walmart the Little Debbie cakes are not on the cookie and cracker aisle. For some reason known only to the Lord, they are across from the pickles.)

But back to my bewilderment. I had actually been thinking about Rice Krispies Treats very recently.

I thought you had to make them. It has been twenty years since I made Rice Krispies Treats. In my opinion they are too much sticky back-breaking work for the payoff.

But -- you can buy them ready-made? The revelation was like a lightning bolt.

I looked at my frantic fellow shopper. I didn't even know you could buy Rice Krispies Treats at the store, I revealed, hoping for more information.

Oh yes! They come in a box! She assured me, then ranted: I have a little old lady friend in a nursing home and she is craving them!

The look in her eye was wild as she released my cart and turned away.

The vision of an elderly person wanting some simple treat they could not have tortured me. Someone had asked for my help. I was eager to serve my fellow man.

Plus I had a sudden burning need to know where Walmart kept the Rice Krispies Treats.

Thus I trotted to the Little Debbie section and quickly scanned the shelves. Nothing remotely resembling a Rice Krispies Treat resided there.

A brilliant thought struck me: The bakery! Sometimes there are snack-type treats on shelves in the bakery section. By the bread and bagels and buns.

I high-tailed it over there and ... bingo! Rice Krispies Treats! They were in a sort of cardboard tray rather than a proper box. Cellophane covered them. They were huge squares. My mouth watered.

I popped two packages of those babies in my cart and began searching for the desperate shopper who had wisely sought my assistance.

It took awhile but I was determined and eventually I saw her, approximately ten grocery-cart-lengths away. I began waving a package of the Rice Krispies Treats. 

Did you find them? I hollered. And even as I did, I spotted the iconic blue box in her cart. It looked like a box of Rice Krispies cereal -- silly-hatted Snap Crackle and Pop characters and all -- but it was an unfamiliar size.

My new friend lit up. Yes! she replied, and pointed. By then I was alongside her cart. The bigger-than-a-breadbox carton of Original Rice Krispies Treats took up a significant amount of room in the bottom.

They were in the cereal aisle! She pointed behind her because as it turns out, that's where we were. My little old lady in the nursing home will be so happy! These will last her a long time!

Indeed, the box seemed to be at least a 54-count. Secretly I prayed her friend would live long enough to savor every last errant crumb of gooey Rice Krispies Treat.

I declined to show the happy lady the cellophane-wrapped Rice Krispies Treats I'd found in the bakery section. It was clear I'd gotten it all wrong.

We said our fond happy goodbyes.

I wandered down the cereal aisle, wanting to appear casual but in fact, dead serious. I was looking for the name-brand ready-made Rice Krispies Treats. The kind that, six or seven minutes previously, I had not even known existed.

And I found them! Original and Cocoa Krispies kinds!

Yes. I bought both. Turns out they don't exactly taste like the ones you make but, like most highly-processed snack foods, the more you choke down, the more they grow on you.

And it's so easy. Simply tear off the wrapper and get ready for a primo sugar rush accompanied by a dash of blink-or-you'll-miss-it nostalgia.

The shiny blue-and-brown-wrapped Rice Krispies Treats filled my snack jar, to the surprise and delight of all who spied them there. There were so many bars, they wouldn't all fit. I had to stash some in the cupboard.

Those quickly filled space in the jar as the level of Rice Krispies Treats went down. Soon the jar will be empty. But not to worry. As my TG is fond of saying: There's more at the store.

Speaking of which: Little Debbie has come out with Pumpkin Delights and Fall Party Cakes. In addition to both flavors of Rice Krispies Treats, those got bought and dumped into the jar too, to keep brief company with a few leftover Star Crunch.

Prompting my sincere sentiment to you as we teeter on the brink of the Fall Equinox: If Little Debbie Fall Party Cakes come, can Little Debbie Christmas Tree Cakes be far behind?

I think not.

And that is all for now.

=0=0=0=

Happy Monday :: Happy Week

Comments

[sally]

hahahaha!

Only you!

I'm glad you "had a thought" today as I've been wondering how you're doing. I could have sent an email but oh no, I didn't think of that.

There was one spot in your post 'treats filled my snack jar' (because I read fast) I thought you were saying "tears filled my eyes". They nearly filled mine though thinking about the little old lady would finally get her treats also.

Thank you for posting; enjoy those snacks. :)

xoxo

[Jennifer]

@Sally ... hahaahaa if I had been thinking more about the little old peckish lady than my own need to get my hands on some of those treats, my eyes would have filled with tears too. xoxo

[Barb]

I am learning how determined you can be, Jenny! (When it comes to snacks...) My grands and I could whip up some Rice Crispy Treats for you in a matter of minutes.They like to add chocolate chips or drizzle melted chocolate onto theirs. (I approve.) When we make them in the winter, they disappear quickly because parents and Pop Pop can't keep their hands off. Please don't ever read the contents of those snack cakes. It would take all the pleasure out of them. Have a great fall - don't eat too many sweets.

[Jennifer]

@Barb ... My treat jar is a judgment-free zone.

[Audrey]

They are really on to something with marketing because something about the changing seasons really does make me want to buy all the Fall cakes. I in fact I did buy Little Debbie Fall Party Cakes (twin wrapped) last night. MmmMMMMMMmmmm...Dagny had some "Cake, cake" she said...

[Jennifer]

@Audrey ... Excellent choice! Those are delicious. It's the WHITE cream ... Haaahhaa go Dag

[Cheryl Arment]

Those rice Krispie Treats are just the best! You are right, they do taste differently from the ones we make at home. I really like them, but they don't like me. Alan cannot pass up the pink snowballs, you know, the ones covered with coconut. I have to stick with my gluten free cookies. YUCK! Oh, I did find a gf recipe for M&M cookies that are so goot. (As they say in PA Dutch)

[Jennifer]

@Cheryl ... Alan and I are on the same page with those coconut-covered snowballs! Now I won't be able to stop thinking about how soft and marshmallowy they are! Sorry about the gluten-free cookies. And I hope you share that goot M&M cookie recipe! I know some folks who would love those! xoxo

[Mari]

:) I can just about picture this! I must admit that I'm not a fan of the Little Debbies, but those Rice Krispie treats are pretty good, and dangerous to have in the house!
I do appreciate what you did to help your fellow shopper!

[Jennifer]

@Mari ... even with my ulterior motive? Altruism tainted by shameless snack-cakerism? Haaaa xoxo

[Judy Miller]

Yes! In the cereal aisle--big and bold and luscious!!!

[Jennifer]

@Judy ... That could have been my whole post! xoxo