Today we have the honor of Kerri Sparling, from Six Until Me, blogging for us! We are happy to share with you a story from her.
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For Valentine’s Day, Chris and I went to a French restaurant to celebrate our marriage and our growing family. (And for those of you who are familiar with my husband’s new-found Francophile tendencies, you’ll realize that he is the one who chose this restaurant. The guy is addicted to crème brulee.)
Since I’m seven months pregnant, we didn’t crack open any bottles of wine during this dinner, but instead decided to indulge on a delicious fruit plate with chocolate fondue, with white chocolate and hazelnut dipping sauces on the side.
“What is this stuff?” I asked, easing my strawberry into the small dish of hazelnut spread.
“It’s Nutella, baby. You’ve never had that before?”
“No. It tastes like hazelnuts and sort of like chocolate. But it’s not chocolate. And it’s seriously awesome. What’s it called again?” I couldn’t stop rambling – this stuff was totally hitting the spot, appeasing my craving for something sweet and decadent.
“Nutella. You’re being serious? You’ve never had this before?”
“Dude, why would my mother ever introduce me to this sort of thing? I’d have stolen jars of it from the store and eaten them in one gulp, had I known.” I smiled ruefully, thinking of the E.L. Fudge cookie binges I went on as a kid, rearranging the remaining cookies in the sleeve to hide the holes where the missing cookies had once been.
“Good point.” He handed me another strawberry. “Bolus away, love.”
I forget how many of those “treats” I haven’t missed during the last twenty-three years. I hadn’t ever stuck a spoon into a jar of Fluff and tgobbled up a few bites, and I hadn’t ever had juice “for fun.” (Always “for lows.”) It was strange to picture a childhood where Ring Dings weren’t eaten in secret, or where rice cakes weren’t used as hopeful barter in third grade for a Snicker’s bar in the cafeteria. (For the record, no one ever wanted my rice cakes. They usually ended up shoved back into my book bag and eaten on the bus by this weird kid who also ate mud pies – literally.)
Food is such a tricky, tricky thing for me, and enjoying a sweet treat in public isn’t ever easy. I usually swallow a little bit of guilt with each bite of sweet, but I know that carrying the guilt isn’t fair. So long as I’m respecting my diabetes control when I indulge, there’s no hard in finding out just how delicious Nutella can be.
But when the check arrived, and with it, a wand of freshly spun, light pink cotton candy, I exclaimed excitedly, “Oooh! Cotton candy! I’ve only had that once before!”
Chris’s face broke into a wide smile as I twirled off a small section of the spun sugar and tasted someone else’s childhood.
That reminds me of the first time I ever had my very own 7-11 slurpee. I had tasted sips of my brother’s before. But I had never gone to get my own until I was 19.
We really did miss out on a lot back when sugar was taboo. To this day, I’ve never had a S’more.
Nutella + Spoon = AWESOME
Nutella + Spoon+ Peanut Butter = AWESOME & DECANDENT.
Never had Nutella until I went to France when I was in my 20′s. Now I keep a jar on the top shelf of the pantry and indulge w/a spoon once(ok,twice)a week! I can reach Blood Sugar Nirvana when ever I feel the need to get all Nutella-fied!
PS Nutella has a FaceBook page – I joined it- you should 2!
Kelly K
I was dx’d at 15, so I do have some of those childhood sweets…but I find that, as an adult, I have a lot of “I’m sorry, I’ve never tried that” replies when people talk about the latest crazy concoction at Starbucks or the newest flavor of Gatorade or whatever. It’s weird, but I find that this sort of thing bugs me more than all the stabbing and worrying, etc.!
I had my first Nutella only about a year ago. It’s hard to find in my small town….which is a good thing. Cause I’d eat it all the time too!
My “Nirvana” was spending my ninth summer at a Yeshiva day camp where not only was there always bread at lunch, and not only were we allowed to eat it, tradition required we eat it after the ritual of washing our hands for the meal. As for Nutella… I tend to avoid it because of the HFCS and trans fats. I did find a store-brand version that wasn’t quite as ingredient-bad, and agree that it’s tasty, but not (IMO) bolusworthy.
You’re not alone; many of us have never had Nutella before!
Kerri, what a great blog! Yes, my child-hood treats consisted of PB and H’s… peanut butter and honey (mini) sandwiches, when I was low. Then when I went to college nothing was “off limits” and I took it all for granted. Now that I am “back on track”, Nutella is is one my favorite treats, as is plain yogurt with a little spot of jam (pick your favorite flavor) in the middle. [I was just remembering how I used to pretend I was low in grammar school to sneak some of my Halloween candy!] And if you are feeling REALLY low (or indulgent), ice cream with P.B. and Nutella on the top is decadent.
Fantastic blog!
You’re not alone Kerri, as I have never had Nutella either! One of my good friends from college LOVES the stuff so I’ve known about it for quite some time plus I’ve been seeing it advertised in commercials and available for purchase in grocery stores more recently. I just may have to give in and try some. Or will I then have a new addiction???
I totally get this and it makes me really sad
Nutella plus fluff between graham crackers equals, “Can I have s’more?” We’ve only recently discovered it too. It’s heavenly. Caleb even had a Nutella and soybean butter on potato bread sandwich for lunch today. Totally bolus worthy!
Okay – I am the elder of all you little young PWD’s and I am ashamed to admit this <> that I have been eating Nutella for years!! Having living in Europe, that’s what we eat (peanut butter yuck – tho’ I do love it just as much as Nutella). If any of you ever come to stay here at my little home in Montreal, you will have Nutella, or anything else you desire, because I am the Devil Diabetic of all things evil in nonD foods (tho’ I don’t keep it in the house all the time, mainly when visitors come – excuse, excuse, excuse).
Okay, off to see if I can fit thru’ the bathroom door, think I’ve put on weight since reading about candy floss (I love it when it’s freshly spun, but can rot your teeth out, and not just make your BG’s go up if you don’t take the correct amount of insulin).
Waddle, waddle ….
Oh how guilty I feel that I was not a Diabetic child. I got all the fun good eats. Strangely enough I wonder sometimes if the reason I like them more now than when I was a kid is because they weren’t “off limits” back then.
Thank you for posting with us Kerri.
PS I make an awesome Nutella cake filling, after cookies and cream, it’s my favorite one.
I love this blog posting! My fiance and I went to a greek restaurant on Valentine’s Day and the same thing happened when the check came out – there was a HUGE MOUND of cotton candy! I literally attacked it. I was so excited! Matt, my fiance didnt know if he should wrestle the cotton candy out of my hands or grab my pump and bolus for me. (There was also Nutella as part of the dessert…maybe we were at the same restaurant…France and Greece are near each other, right???)
Say, you got a nice blog.Really thank you! Really Great.