I found the quote above from Jane Austen, which rather fits our crew this week when we addressed this week’s topic:
“What are some of your small guilty pleasures?”
We are some pretty innocent folk here who also really don’t have alot to feel guilty about!
But I had to stop and think.
With my health problems a lot of former “Comfort Foods” are now verboten; (what a horrible thing to have happen to someone who had an Italian mother!)
Still, I indulge myself in picking up specialty items and trying/developing new recipes. Yes, that is fun to me, (wasabi mayo, pomegranate molasses, new grains to try!) The guilty part? There are specialty items in my cabinet that I really picked up on impulse and have no clue what I was thinking of when I bought them.(Canned mango? Pate of pork? Frozen coconut pieces?)
Not that I don’t do so well that my doctor tells me to cheat on my diet a bit for the holidays…and I do. (Guilty! I cheat more than I should.)
I do allow myself definite play-time/reading time at bedtime. The Husband retired and has so far refused to try to get into an ‘early-to-bed-early to rise’ rhythm, (despite how much he didn’t seem to like his late shift). So, he sits up and reads for a while, after he is on the PC, which is something that he just added to his routine. I change games around to keep my mind thinking in different ways.
I found that my mind had become rusty in some areas. Not good, so I tell myself that I am exercising my brain.
[That’s usually after we have spent a while watching shows or movies, so it gets to be quite late. This is something we do far too much of since his retirement, but to re-see old shows where the subtleties may have been lost on me or to see a movie again after decades, or even new-to-me old ones.(We watched “Hondo” with John Wayne the other night. I can’t believe that I never saw this one before.]
What is guilty about it? I don’t get enough sleep, or sleep a bit later than I should, when I could be getting more done in the mornings, (like writing).
The biggest SURPRISE indulgence to even myself is the time that I steal once in a while to do some ‘window shopping’ online, looking at clothes and jewelry. I never wore much jewelry; I never could carry off big blig. Even with a big lottery win, I would never feel comfortable buying gemstones, but goodness, after doing a little research and seeing what is gorgeous out there, I do allow myself a short time to do some real ‘grazing’.
I now understand why women have always gone crazy for jewelry. (That took me long enough!)
And I truly do only allow myself only a short time to indulge.
But I make the most of it. I’ve learned a lot about cultures as well, so the time is really not lost.
And I find that it releives stress.
That’s my story and I’m sticking to it!
Angela Schroeder
Patricia Kiyono
Elaine Cantrell
Jeff Salter
Joselyn
Tonette Joyce
Four Foxes, One Hound 
I can identify with a lot of your post. Because of my food intolerances, there aren’t a huge amount of food pleasures I can have unless I bake them myself and I don’t always get the time to. I hope you can find more fascinating foods to try.
Another one of my guilty pleasures is fashion. I wasn’t interested in fashion when I was younger and now, to relax, I scroll through the thrift stores on Instagram. They’ve taken off in my country like wildfire and there are some gorgeous garments available at a steal. Of course, I don’t buy them all – I do buy a few.
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Amazing how in our later years WE have taken on more interest in fashion when it’s often the other way around for most women…although I have known men who ave become snappier dressers ass they got older!
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as you said, we here may be fairly innocent folk.
Interesting that a person such as you — with all that experience and expertise in the food realm — would have purchased exotic items that you’re now puzzled about.
I suggest that you had some very particular project in mind and those were obscure ingredients for that project. You knew if you didn’t acquire them right then, that you might not ever see them again on the shelves.
Or something like that.
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I think you hit this on the head, Jeff. I bought most of what I am not sure now what to do with when I was out of town,(the pork pate was when the local Kroger had a Taste of Spain thing going on that flopped. I made out great when they had overstocked with many Spanish items, including fine olive oil). My long-term memory is great, my short-term is frighteningly bad anymore and there is so much that keeps jamming the airwaves, so to speak!
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I can definitely identify with not getting enough sleep. I think sometimes it takes me so long to get going that once I’m doing something I enjoy, I don’t want to stop. I have to be careful not to indulge on nights when I have to be up and awake for something the next morning. As for purchasing things I have no idea what to do with, I experience that with craft items. When I unearth them, I have to figure out something else to do with them. Many of my recent trips to Goodwill have included fabric, sewing supplies, and other random materials that I hope someone else can use.
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I used to be guilty of that, too, Patty. I gave away a lot of fabric and craft materials. My granddaughters too most of my art supplies, which I have no idea why I had, since I am no artist and really knew I never would be one.
I have also given away a great deal of my candymaking and baking supplies. I still have far too many.
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I love window shopping online, often times I find myself trying to figure out if I can make something similar to the item that I like but don’t want to spend that much money on. There are nights when I can’t sleep where I flip through house listings, many times in other states or countries.
I’ve never been one for jewelry either but I do like to look at it.
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When I had cable and the Travel Channel or HGTV,I’d spend too much time watching home shows, especially the ones where people chose homes in foreign countries, and decorating shows. I liked “Design on a Dime “, and that was probably the only one where I actually utilized or seriously considered any of the ideas.
Matching jewelry with dresses is something I only allow myself a short time for!
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