Tag Archives: nutella

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One of my favorite stories from my study abroad experience at the University of Oxford in England is about crepes.

I was out shopping one day, a day that happened to be one of my last abroad. I had just purchased an excellent new turquoise handbag and a hot pink skirt with rosettes at Primark. I was on a shopping high.

And when I say high, I mean high. Colors were brighter as I exited the store. I was so thankful for the sunshine and the blue sky and being in Oxford and I thought I was the happiest I could ever be—until I saw the crepe truck.

The crepe truck seemed like an oasis in the desert (even though, in this metaphor, the desert was pretty awesome). I had never had crepes before. During my trip to France the previous year, I opted for steak frites and chocolate mousse at the fancy pants cafe we went to rather than crepes.

So, of course, I stepped up in line. The line was fairly substantial, so as I waited I watched the crepe man work. He carefully poured the batter on the griddle and smoothed it out. As that cooked, he pulled another crepe off another griddle and piled in with freshly whipped cream and berries. His movements were smooth.

He was a skilled crepe man.

I finally approached Mr. Crepe Man, handed him my 5 pound note and asked for Nutella crepes. With banana. As he crafted my snack, I tried to control the drool.

He eventually handed me a tray filled with a huge crepe folded over several times and smeared with hot melty Nutella and tiny slices of banana.

I walked back to my dorm, eating my crepes as I walked. I looked at the old buildings covered in ivy while chewing. I savored the chocolate hazelnut taste as I passed all my favorite places in Oxford.

I spoiled my dinner that night. It was worth it.

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Snacks, Part 2

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Gettin’ to the good stuff. These are the snacks that you will hide in your drawer for the Sad Times. These are the snacks that you will hide from your best friend because you HAVE TO HAVE EVERY LAST BITE, NO SHARING, THANKS. These are the artery-clogging, hyper-child-creating, gloriously unhealthy snacks that I can’t get enough of.

1. Nutella

I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to say enough about Nutella. One of the coolest moments of my life was being in a grocery store in Paris seeing that they had NUTELLA. In a HANDY SNACK PACK. Like we have cheese and crackers in the states? THEY HAVE NUTELLA AND BREADSTICKS. I’m off Nutella for life, but if you love chocolate and hazelnuts, I encourage you to indulge.



2. Fried Pickles

Whether you call them frickles, pickle chips, or just plain fried happiness, pickles dredged batter then fried to a golden crisp are truly a delight. I’m from Texas, so of course I’ll eat anything fried. And the only thing that can make fried pickles better? Ranch dressing. Sign me up.

3. Dibs

I first had Dibs at a movie theatre. They combined my two loves: ice cream and Buncha Crunches, my usual movie snack. Dibs are bite-size pieces of heaven. You don’t have to commit to a full bowl of ice cream or an entire Crunch bar. You can just pop a few (read: all) into your mouth. What a champion snack.
 


4. Kettle Brand Honey Dijon Chips


When I used to live in a dorm with a convenience store in the bottom of the building, I would pick up a bag of these chips to study with. Restraining myself from eating an entire bag at one sitting was a bigger challenge than memorizing the proper uses of the subjunctive verb tense in Spanish. Unfortunately, I CANNOT FIND these chips ANYWHERE anymore. Kettle Brand? A little help here? I would pay handsomely for a bag of these beauties.