The things women crave

OK, so maybe I can't really pass the buck and get away with saying "The things women crave", as opposed to the more realistic "The things me, myself and I crave", but somehow the latter just doesn't sound quite so poetic. It's not all that often that I get killer cravings, but blame it on the rainy-reminds-me-of-home day today or an outright painfully boring end-of-the-day FRIDAY meeting that got my mind and stomach wandering something like this ...

(Figure this is my brain talking ...)

"Mmmm. Girl Scout cookies. Chewy tagalogs. Or those peanut butter ones .... mmm. Wonder if the PB ones have been recalled this year with all the peanut butter salmonella hoopla. It's probably about Girl Scout Cookie season; maybe I should call mom and see if she'll send me a box of two. Then again, they probably cost an arm and TWO legs these days ..."

"Or muddy buddies! Gosh, those would be good right about now. Meant to make those when I was home over Christmas, but ate too much and then forgot about it/didn't feel like them anymore. Wonder if I could ever find the cereals to make them here ..."

"Actually, chex mix sounds even better. I saw worcestershire sauce at the grocery store this morning ... same problem as the muddy buddies with finding cereals, though. And don't have a microwave ... making them in the oven sounds like far too much work."

"SNICKERDOODLES!!! Those were always my sister's favorite - she makes them perfectly every time. Gosh, I haven't had those for ages. Yes, that's definitely what needs to be made tonight. Wonder where the heck I'll ever find creme of tartar. My boss in is NY right now, maybe I can get him to bring a bottle back for me. Doesn't solve my immediate problem though - I can't really make them without it ... "

(Never mind that I'm sitting through a three hour meeting about needs assessments, accountability prioritising funding for UN refugee programming. My needs assessment and initial evaluation according to the stakeholders and beneficiaries tells be that about the only thing I'm accountable to at this point is a priority search-and-find mission for creme of tartar.)

Following a frantic search through not one, not two, but FIVE grocery stores, including the fancy-schmancy find-anything-you-can-imagine-and-pay-out-your-nose one without having seen even a granule of the stuff, I finally surrender to my best senses and trudge over to the American store. You think they'd carry creme of tartar, but noooo.

But instead, I see a bag of marshmallows. Hmm, those could translate into rice crispy treats - not an altogether bad alternative. Except that they freakin' box of Rice Krispies costs $10.50. Thank goodness it was the one cereal they were out of stock with, or at this desperate stage I probably would have bought it, just about blowing my food budget for the week.

Totally defeated, I pay $3 for an itsy bitsy Reeces Peanut Butter cup and head home, semi-relieved that there are just some potentially waist damaging cravings that just can't be satisfied from the other side of the world ....