Wednesday, January 16, 2008

Changing tastes

On Christine's blog there has been a discussion on ham in which I contributed with a comment about pork scratchings - a hairy snack. I have to admit in my younger days I loved pork scratchings but I'm not sure I still would as tastes change as we get older. Sometimes our tastes improve - I now like things like anchovies and olives which I detested when younger.
Recently, I found an example of something that should have been left well alone in my memory.
In the two university holidays when I was 18 and 19 I went to babysit Christine and Joanne in Toronto. Aren't kids resilient? They've both turned into two well adjusted lovely women anyway. One of the activities we used to do was go to an outdoor swimming pool. It was about one tube ride north and then a bit of a walk East. Outside the tube station was a donut shop. I have to say, I found this donut shop rather exotic and exciting - this was before we had even Macdonalds in the UK. Anyway we would go to the swimming pool, the girls would have a great time and I would either have a swim or sit on the benches around the pool and read a book. Inevitably, the time would come when we would head back. I think Joanne was usually ready to go but Christine never wanted to. And she would be quite literally turning BLUE! Now I didn't know a lot about kids then but I could tell this was not good. At that stage I didn't understand about the stick part of child care (I am going to count to 5 by which time you are to be out of the pool and dressed!) I only really knew about the carrot. So what better carrot than that donut shop. Both kids were ready in the wink of an eye. We stopped at the donut shop and bought a variety of donuts which we would scoff on the train on the way home.
Now, I have imagined since that those donuts were fantastic probably better than they ever actually were. In the last few years in the UK Krispy Kremes have started a few emporia over here but not near us. Everyone raved about them, even the Guardian. Recently when somebody left work she brought round a tray of kripsy kremes to say goodbye. I was quite excited, thinking that I would be reliving my youth. I saved it up for my post prandial cuppa, bit into it and YUCK! Soooo Sweeeeet! What a disappointment. I felt a bit sick for the rest of the day! (Because I had to eat it all to make sure I didn't like it!)
Ah well, the moral of that story is that I had better leave the Findus Crispy pancakes safely in my memory!

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

So you're the evil person who led our kids on a path of depravity!

Actually I suspect the donuts were not as yukky as Krispy Kremes, Tim Hortons is the iconic Canadian Donut store and theirs are better, but still too sweet for old age. Next time you are in Canada I'll buy you one.

Sea dog

oreneta said...

Sea dog is right, Krispy Creams are gross...way over the top too sweet, even at my relatively young age (sort of, but my kids agree) Some of the donuts in Canada are gross, I think they use lard and it kind of adheres to the roof of your mouth, but some are indeed still very good....maybe this is where I got my taste for them....

Anonymous said...

I too remember , from my childhood in Canada, the wonderful taste of the donuts there. They were so good because they contained malt which is the taste that lives on. Over here for some reason doughnuts are not flavored, they are bland and depend on the goo spread on top or put inside.Boo remember malted ring donuts lightly dusted with sugar ummmmmmm!

Helen said...

Tastes undoubtedly do change with age and the desire for really sweet things seems to diminish. Unfortunatly the chocolate one doesn't though it is - in my case- much keener on dark chocolate. It is as though the palate matures and enables you to appreciate the sharper and more subtle savoury flavours rather than just the sugar sugar sugar/

Joanne Vive la Fr said...

Now I understand why in my teen years I spent most of my spare time hanging out in a donut shop next to school - and always went there right after swim team practice.... strange childhood influences. Luckily I now live in a relatively donut free country - but they do have their own version here "paczki" which are great - filled with rose flavored jam, and more like a big round ball... they do stick to the roof of your mouth sometimes though. And I also once eagerly tried a krispy kreme after reading all about them and thought it was totally gross!