Ahead of the times: Room 101

I've just opened a tray of "treats" - marketed for Christmas, bought @Scrungee style last month. It is lavishly described as "Treasure Trove Delight" (sounds scrummy, huh?) and it *was* a premium price until last month when the price was slashed and I had an opportunity to get an extra shaving off that too.

Today, that Treasure Trove was unlocked ...


... erm ... how very disappointing!

Growing up, as a pre-teen child, I would, and could, be tempted to raid Mother's baking cupboard. If the bag of "mixed fruit" was already opened, well, who cared if a small handful went missing now and again

Back to "Treasure Trove": it is simply mixed fruit with the odd chocolate coated crunchy bit in it (think Malteser's). Sold at Premium price as a luxury item!

Clearly, I was way ahead of the times as a pre-teen, sneaking the odd handful of mixed fruit from Mother's baking cupboard, which now equates to "healthy snacking"!

This made me curious: as a child/youngster which things, now promoted as "luxury/healthy eating" and now commanding premium pricing, do we look back on with a sense of

Treasure Trove Delight goes into room 101

 

He he, in times of desperation for something sweet i'd also grab a handful of sultanas out of the "baking cupboard". Makes me laugh when you see those over priced little red boxes of a few raisins.

 

I used to love grabbing a handful of currants or sultanas from my mothers baking cupboard . Cracking little snack

 

He he, sultanas or a sneaky cube of strawberry jelly. YUM!

 

Guilty

Goodness knows why but my mother kept a box of sugar cubes in the cupboard .... while they lasted

 

Did you ever have those silver ball thingies that were used for decorating cakes? They'd break your teeth!

 

They definitely wouldn't make it into the "healthy snacking" box

The cubes of jelly were meant to make your nails stronger - the baking cupboard never stood a chance after that.

 

I used to clean round the bowl after the cake mixture had been put in the tin to cook, it was always sweet and buttery.

Raw runner beans in the summer, sitting in the middle of the row hidden from view, dont half give you indigestion though.

A raw stick of rhubarb dipped in a saucer of sugar.

OH, BTW, what does room 101 mean

 

Raw rhubarb!!! Isn't that poisonous?? Mmm raw cake mix love that ha ha.

My grandma and her two sisters used to dare each other to do goosegogs.... getting a raw gooseberry and biting hard down on it on their back teeth-very sour! Ha ha. Wouldn't catch me doing that.

Ah room 101 is from Orwell's 1984-the torture room full of your worst nightmares. But also referred to as a room to banish rubbish things to...like the Room 101 tv show on BBC.

 

It's rhubarb leaves that are poisonous, oxalic acid I believe, the stems are just acidic.

 

My mom would let us have a palm full of sugar. We'd go sit in the garden next to the rhubarb, rip off a piece and dip the raw stems into the sugar each time we had a bite- same as @pete. I'd make myself brown sugar sandwiches - lots of margarine with brown sugar mashed into it then wrap it in wax paper and out the door I went with sandwich as my lunch.

I guess we were so active none of us got fat!

 

Put an oxo in a cup, pour boiling water on it and a good dollop of pepper.
Nice on a cold day.

 

Oxo made into a drink has always been one of my winter favourites. During my golfing days a thermos of it was very warming on the 10th tee

 

The last time I used a cube, I found the broth to seem pretty salty. Course I didn't throw it out