Food Tricks

So these new uses for old things from Real Simple don’t excite me too much. But, it could be that I’m just not a big fan of chocolate covered strawberries. “Melt a Hershey’s bar in a saucepan over low heat and dip some fresh strawberries in it to make a treat for your sweetheart.”  I tend to like my chocolate with milk and my strawberries with whipped cream. I’m a purist in this way. Also, if I was going to go to the trouble of melting a chocolate bar I would rather pour it over some vanilla ice cream than strawberries.

The other food suggestions are a bit sketchy to me as well. Take two candycanes and make them into a heart over cupcakes? I mean, I have been known to make cupcakes, but as my sweetheart is always trying to avoid sugar, trying being the operative word, then I’m not going to go to all that trouble for him. Also, candycanes are a little easier to find during Christmastime. Or maybe some people actually have leftover candycanes. Our household has, um, devoured ours.

The last one is just not a true new use for and old thing. I mean. A regular ketchup bottle is NOT going to give you as fine a line as the one in the Real Simple picture here. So please do NOT try it at home. Or at least try it with a real ketchup bottle first and see if you can write with THAT unwieldy bottle. If you want to look like a pastry pro, then you actually need to purchase a NEW thing — a condiment bottle like the one pictured to the left — and fill it with chocolate sauce. Or caramel.