IP Food: Boiled Peanuts

Happy Birthday to The Help!

The Ds and I got him his birthday gift a few weeks ago. . .a Yeti cooler for his ride.  We managed to find it in the ever-elusive gray color.

We will celebrate later today with a cake.  I am hoping Hilo will not be as crazy as it was this past week. 

Whenever it's Merrie Monarch Festival time, the town takes on a whole different persona.  We get inundated with visitors.  This is great for our economy but creates havoc with the normal flow of business and traffic.  Nakaz said it took him close to an hour to get from his place (just across the "Singing Bridge") to Target!  To put it in perspective, it took The Help, D2 and I about an hour to drive the entire length of the Saddle Road!

In an attempt to escape the craziness in Hilo, The Help, D2 and I ventured to the other side of the island.  Apparently, the rain had the same idea and met us in Kona!  Upon embarking on our journey, we passed a familiar sight...the pop-up tent on the side of the road selling boiled soybeans and peanuts, two of D2's favorite snacks.

Over the past few months, I've made multiple attempts to perfect boiled peanuts in the Instant Pot.  I have found that the ideal cooking time is somewhere between 8-15 minutes.  If you prefer your peanuts on the crunchier side, go for 8 minutes.  If you prefer them softer, then go for 15 minutes.  A 6-quart Instant Pot will hold a pound of raw (dried) peanuts. 

Many other recipes suggest using something inside the pot to keep the nuts submerged.  I have never done that.  I find that by allowing the pressure to come down naturally (about 45 minutes) and waiting an additional 15 minutes, the peanuts will all be submerged when the pot is opened.  This wait time allows the brine to penetrate and flavor the nuts.

If you prefer to make this the conventional way, I posted a recipe a few years ago.  You can find the post here.

 click on recipe title for printable recipe

Instant Pot Boiled Peanuts

     1 pound raw peanuts (dried)

     1 1/2 quarts water

     3 tbsp rock salt

     2 star anise

Place all ingredients in Instant Pot.  Place a heat-proof plate on peanuts to keep submerged. Set cooking time for 8 minutes (crunchy nuts) to 15 minutes (softer nuts) on high pressure.  When cooking is done, leave for 60 minutes before removing from pot.  Drain and serve.

Peanut Butter Brownies

My summer vacation is over.  Waaaaaaahhhhhh!

It sure didn't last long. 

D1 already made the journey back to the valley of the sun.   It feels like it was only a few weeks ago when KikukatDad and I went to pick her up in Kailua-Kona.  Shout out to Mr. Dependable for being a great dad and taking her back.  She had lots to do, and she is lucky he was there to help her.  Thanks to a rented minivan, they were able to get her shit out of storage and into her new apartment in one trip (would've taken at 3+ trips with her sedan).  I cannot imagine she would have so much stuff. 

Just like summer vacation, D1s visit didn't last long either.  I know I will see her in 4 months, but it  was nice having her home.  Who else would remind me to clean the house?  Who else would tell me it's too early to drink alcohol at 3:30?  School for her won't start for nearly 2 weeks, but she had recruitment practice and some other things she needed to get rolling.

In all seriousness, I will miss her many talents.  D1 can do all kinds of things once she sets her mind.  This summer, she conquered macarons.  Having never made macarons before, I was shocked at the lengthy and tedious steps to produce a batch of macarons.  I can also attest that a batch of macarons makes a mound of dirty dishes (and extra egg yolks).  I need to start a list of recipes which use just egg yolks or, at least, use more egg yolks than egg whites, so I will know what to do with the egg yolks (other than throw them away).

It took several attempts, but I think D1 perfected the filling.  Initially, the filling she used was just too sweet.  She experimented with different bases and flavorings and came up with a good filling which didn't try to compete with the already-sweet macaron shells.

D1 put her macaron talents to good use.  She made some for the American Cancer Society's Relay for Life event in July.  I helped her package them and did the clean up.  I also decided that I won't be making any macarons on my own.  I will stick to less fussy snacks. . .with a lot less dishes to wash. 

If you are like me and don''t like having too many dishes to wash, then these peanut butter brownies might be in your wheelhouse.  They are totally unfussy, whip up in no time with ingredients you likely have on hand, and are mega-delicious.  You will also not be left wondering what to do with extra egg yolks.

click on recipe title for printable recipe

Peanut Butter Brownies

     1/2 c butter, softened

     1/2 c peanut butter

     3/4 c sugar

     3/4 c brown sugar, packed

     2 eggs

     2 tsp vanilla

     1 c flour

     1 tsp baking powder

     1/4 tsp salt

     1 c chocolate chips

     1/2 c chopped pecans

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Line a 9 x 13" pan with foil (or grease a 9 x 13" pan).  Stir together flour, baking powder, and salt in a small bowl.  Set aside.  Cream butter, peanut butter, sugar and brown sugar.  add eggs, one at a time, then add vanilla.  Add in flour mixture a little at a time.  Stir in chocolate chips and pecans.  Spread in prepared pan.  Bake for 30 minutes.  Cut into bars when completely cool.

A few months ago, I purchased a bag of Korean chili pepper powder.  The ingredients are chili pepper and salt.  I use it occasionally and store it in the fridge.  Last week, I discovered another use for the powder.  I've made the notation on the Spicy Soybean post.

It's been a little over a year since my mom passed.  Although I still miss her dearly, I feel like some normalcy and routine have returned to my life.  I'm hoping to post more frequently since I'm cooking more now (I have another mouth to feed during the work week).  Over the past few years, I've become more adept at knitting, something which would have made KikukatMom proud.  While I will continue to share favorite recipes, I hope to also share my knitting triumphs, fails, WIPs and FOs.  

Shredded Mango

I am completely exhausted.  I cannot even think how I got through the week, but I must have because here I am.  I'm hoping this week will be kind.

My weekend was quite busy.  I worked on Friday night at a game.  Since it was late, I ended up with my favorite fast food dinner. . . monster taco and curly fries from Jack In The Box.  Yummm.

The Help and I sped off to Kona on Saturday afternoon, hoping to beat the closing time of a lighting store near Costco.  We made it, but the store did not have what we needed.  Now I need to decide what I'm going to do about my dining room lights.  Currently, the lights I have are unusable.

I felt a little guilty about dragging The Help to Kona on his birthday, but he was nice about it.  We ended up buying food for his birthday dinner.  Costco is the only place I know of on the Big Island where you can buy prime beef.  Costco parking lot was crazy, and the inside was just as bad.  For the second trip in a row, I was unable to locate beef brisket.  With the warm weather, I'd like to smoke a brisket soon.  I meant to go back to the seafood kiosk for giant prawns, but by the time I remembered, I was out of the store and didn't have the gumption to brave the masses once again.  Next time I will remember.  I need to get my fill of crab, lobster, and shrimp before D1 gets home.  I don't want to be party to tempting fate.

One thing which paid off this week was having leftover ham from the weekend.  It was nice to come home, knowing dinner was gonna be easy.  You can do lots of things with ham.  I made chowder, quiche, and, of course b-f-d.  I didn't bother cooking much this past weekend (remember the craft projects needed to be finished) so I won't be as lucky this week.  I'm hoping Aloha Mondays will have something I can eat (no mustard or wasabi).

During the first part of spring break, I ordered a handful of craft books.  Only 2 have arrived, so I've been diligently reminding The Help to stop off at the mailboxes daily.  On one of the stops (I make him get the mail while D2 and I look for our friend the green anole), I noticed a bunch of small, unripe fruit on the mango tree in the backyard of the corner house.  Later, when I looked at fb, I saw that a friend had posted a pic of pickled mango.  I guess GREEN mango season is here.

I love green mango season even more than ripe mango season.  While pickled mango makes a kick ass snack, my favorite mango snack is shredded mango.  Making shredded mango is a bit more labor-intensive than pickled mango, but the results are definitely worth it.  And with all the publicity about the shit that people find in imported preserves, making your own is the way to go.

click on recipe title for printable recipe

Shredded Mango

     10-12 green mangoes, peel and slice in 1/4" thick strips

     4 tbsp rock salt, divided

     1 1/4 c turbinado (raw) sugar

     1 lb brown sugar

     1 tsp grated orange rind

     1/4 tsp red gel food coloring

     1 tsp 5-spice

In a large bowl, sprinkle mango strips with 2 tbsp rock salt.  Toss gently.  Cover and let sit overnight.  Rinse mango strips and drain well.  Place mango strips in large pot and add 2 tbsp rock salt, turbinado sugar, brown sugar, orange rind, food coloring, and 5-spice.  Bring to a boil.  Cook for 30 minutes on medium heat (gentle boil).  Cool completely before packing.

Shiro An

Happy 2016!  Happy new year!  I got a little distracted with updating this post, hence the late posting.  It's been a hell of a break!

I am still recovering from the holiday party season.  Having two holidays a week apart is brutal.  My family doesn't do much for Christmas, but it is still a monumental task to get the decorations put away.

The best part of the holiday season usually comes after Christmas when my cousins come to town.  This year, three of them made it to Hilo.  I had them over for a cozy NYE dinner.  I made prime rib, roasted garlic crab, garlic noodles, and caprese tomatoes.  I've included links to the Rasa Malaysia recipes (crab and noodles), but the noodle recipe is actually different from the one I use.  If you follow the Rasa Malaysia thread, the garlic noodle recipe was originally posted years ago.  Since then, the recipe has been re-tooled.  I use the original recipe from years ago.  I have not tried the new recipe (with the Maggi seasoning), so I don't know how it compares.  I didn't have time to check on a link to the original recipe.  And really. . .the original recipe was kick-ass, so I'm not sure why it needed to be changed.

For NYE dessert, I served amaretto custard bread pudding.  My cousin brought a Hawaiian Pie Company strawberry guava pie.  Both were delicious.

The Help was thrilled with the bottles of RedBreast and Laphroaig brought over from Oahu.  I am definitely not a fan of whiskey, but I cannot help thinking they'd taste awfully good in some kind of dessert.  Maybe when he is not looking. . .

Although the food and drink were fabulous, the best part was being able to just sit and hang with the cousins, something you cannot do at a restaurant.  My cousins are all so awesome, and we don't always have the luxury of being in one place all together.  They had a rough start to 2015, so I'm hoping 2016 will be a better year for them, despite the fact that Kikukat Dad is hounding them to go to Japan with him again.  I know, I know. . .I will owe them big time for the travel-sitting.

The second half of the school year begins tomorrow (for teachers...begins on Wednesday for many students).  Glad I got my grades and pacing guide done before I left for vacation.  I'm the lazy type who doesn't like to work, but there are a bunch of people I work with whom I adore, and it will be nice to see them again.

What I am NOT looking forward to is D1's departure in a few days.  Gotta brace myself for that.  Even though she drove me crazy at times (and cost me over $200 to replace a car key she "misplaced". . .wtf, can make dean's list but cannot keep track of a car key), it was really nice having her home.  Even Shaka is now saying her name!

Since I'm trying to stretch out the holiday season (since it means D1 is still here), I'm going to continue last week's recipe, which was microwave daifuku mochi.  While a variety of fillings can be used, including the ever-convenient pre-made koshian and tsubushian (comes in cans of plastic bags), my filling of choice is shiro-an, shiro meaning "white" in Japanese.

click on recipe title for printable recipe

Shiro An (Lima Bean Filling)

     1 lb lima beans (dried)
     2 c sugar
     dash of salt

Soak beans overnight in water to cover.  Slip skins off before cooking.  Place beans in pot with water to cover and cook until soft.  Add sugar and salt and cook until mixture is almost dry and forms a ball, about 30 minutes, stirring constantly.  When cooking, add as little water as possible - if there is too much water, it takes much longer to cook to the stiff stage.  Yield:  50 "an" balls (using a #60 disher).

Zoku Fun: Frozen Cantaloupe Pops

Last week was so darn hot and humid.  I had no choice but to go swimming to cool off.  Then at the end of the week, The Help told me he had to treat the water for excessive phosphates.  This can only mean one this. . .pee in the pool  Euwwwww.

There were a few guests over in the past week so I'd hate to think any of them were responsible, but I who else could it be?  The Ds themselves have never caused a phosphate explosion, probably because they don't wanna swim in piss water, and they are well aware that pee doesn't magically disappear.

I came to the realization that summer vacation (what vacation?) is coming to an end soon.  In 10 days, I will need to report to my regular work site.  Cripes!

D2's summer program ends this week, and D1 will be writing the next chapter of her life in less than a month.  It feels surreal.

Meanwhile, I've been feeling like I'm about to melt.  The weather here has been terribly muggy.  On Saturday, the temperature was in the high 80s, but with the high dewpoint, it felt like it was close to 100 degrees.  Everything felt like it was sticking to my body.  I took to the water to try and cool down a little, but the water was over 90 degrees.  I always said I liked the water warm, but 94 degree water at night pushes even my level of tolerance.

In order to cool off, I've been trying to eat a bunch of cold things.  We had cool somen one night, and I must've gone through a dozen of those sparkling ice tea drinks from Costco.  The heat also prompted me to get off my butt and try out my Zoku pop maker.

A few Christmases ago, I bought a whole bunch of Zoku pop makers to give my nieces and nephews.  I had purchased one for the Ds a few months before, but I only got so far as to stick it in my freezer.  I finally got to use it.

When I was eleven, I took a trip to California with my grandparents.  We stayed at a hotel in San Francisco which was across the street from a Baskin-Robbins.  It was the first time I had ever had been to Baskin-Robbins, even thought I had seen the commercials on TV.  The first ice cream I had there was cantaloupe, and I never forgot how refreshing and tasty the cantaloupe ice cream had been (this was in the days when I wasn't allergic).

Since I had a cantaloupe, I figured I'd make my own cantaloupe ice pop.  The Help said it was good.  The Ds tasted it and said they'd prefer chocolate.  Well. . .I'm not taking it personally because that's something they'd say no matter what it was (other than chocolate).  And in spite of my allergy, I decided to indulge.  I had the benadryl right on the counter, just in case, but I guess I didn't have enough of it to react.  Whew.

click on recipe title for printable recipe

Frozen Cantaloupe Pops

     2 c diced cantaloupe, no larger than 1/2" pieces

     1/2 c milk

     1/4 c sugar

Heat milk for 45 seconds in the microwave.  Add sugar and stir to dissolve.  Cover and chill.  When milk mixture is cold, puree fruit using an immersion blender, conventional blender or food processor.  Add cold milk mixture to fruit and puree a few seconds longer.  Pour into Zoku maker, following instructions.  The first batch of pops will take 11 minutes to freeze.

Please do not eat this if you have a melon allergy.

Toaster Oven Food: Thyme Roasted Almonds

This summer has been anything but quiet.  I have been busy trying to develop my pacing guides.  Luckily, of the three classes I'll be teaching, two of them are also taught by someone else.  I was glad that she was willing to collaborate on the pacing guides with me.  I was even more astounded that she trusted my judgment.  It will be difficult for me to ever turn my back on her, as she helped me without promise of any gain.  I have gained a deep respect for her, and she has gained my trust and loyalty.

I've also spent tons of time (and money) on my classroom.  I managed to secure the use of an lcd projector, and thanks to Kikukat Mom, I have 2 laptops and a desktop for my classroom.  The former DH gave me a new (still-in-box) desktop computer for me to use, and he even found a monitor for me (all 15" of it).  I may need to swap out my monitor from home because the last time I used a 15" monitor I was under 30!

I brought in my own swivel chair from home, and I took advantage of a great sale (and free shipping) at OfficeMax.com.  I'm $200 poorer, but I have a cart for my lcd projector and a locking file cabinet.  $230 got me a nice fridge/freezer which is made by a brand that normal people buy.  And for about that same price, I indulged in a document camera by HoverCam.  Now I normally wouldn't be so quick to shell out my own $, but given that it was immensely difficult to get the custodians to remove the unwanted (junk) furniture I inherited and to have the school provide me with an lcd projector, I decided it would be best if I took care of myself (and not wait for the school to kick in the $).  The only thing I'm missing now are students!

I'm realizing that although I've been complaining about the pacing guides taking up a lot of my time, the outfitting of my room has taken up a lot of my time as well.  While I feel I've been terribly busy, I think D1 has been even busier.  Last week she attended a student leadership conference at UH-Manoa.  A few days after she returned, she participated in two-and-a-half days of intense jumping, kicking, and screaming at cheer camp.  And although she fulfilled all her required time for her internship, she has continued to volunteer her time at the lab, extracting DNA from various fly species.

D1s internship this summer has been a totally different experience from her internship last summer.  Last summer she was at Gemini Telescope in the HR department.  She was too young to go up to the mountain, so HR was the only option.  She enjoyed Auntie Carolyn, but the experience convinced her that HR was not something she wanted to pursue as a career.  In spite of the disgusting media (flies in all stages of the life cycle), D1 loves the work in the lab.  Without flinching, she talks about handling fly larvae and pupae.  Early on, I got to look around at the lab, and I was led into a room full of fly cages.  The room reeked.  I cannot even describe the smell, but I was told it was fly pheromones.  I can say with certainty that I am NOT attracted to the smell of horny flies who want to get it on! 

D2 hasn't been as busy as D1 or myself, but I've been cracking the whip about her keeping her room tidy.  My efforts have produced very little results, but soon I'll just give up and stop yelling.  The Japanese guests who will be here in two weeks will need to tiptoe and stay on the narrow path through the mess in order to get to the futon.  She has been keeping tabs on all the school supplies we've purchased so far.  I'm glad to see her at least taking an interest in that.  It tells me that she is looking forward to school, and that IS a good thing.

Earlier this summer, when D2 was in summer school, her class maintained a small garden.  She brought home a beet and a small tomato.  She must've enjoyed gardening because she has been bugging me to start a garden.  I guess she didn't realize that I attempted to start a garden too, but it didn't work out the way I wanted it.  I tried growing lettuce hydroponically.  I did it before with success, but this time, the lettuce just didn't grow.  The seeds sprouted, but the plants never got big.  When work starts up, I'll ask my colleague how he does it.  He always posts pics on Facebook of huge mustard cabbages and cucumbers.

I also tried planting kale and basil (twice), and that didn't work out well either.  The bugs loved it!  They completely overlooked the sage, tarragon and thyme which I had growing in the same area.  All three of these herbs can be chopped up alone or solo and mixed into softened butter.  A pat of herb butter on a grilled steak does wonders.  I love to use sage when I roast poultry.  It also tastes great in a grilled cheese sandwich (honest!).  I use tarragon in a chicken salad and also in hunter-style chicken.  Thyme is one of my most favorite herbs because it is so versatile.  Turkey brine needs thyme, and I'll throw a sprig of it in soups.  And I love it as a seasoning for roasted marcona almonds!

click on recipe title for printable recipe

Thyme-Roasted Almonds

     1 lb marcona almonds, roasted and lightly salted
     2 tsp fresh thyme leaves, minced
     2 tsp extra virgin olive oil
     1/2 tsp salt

Preheat an oven to 350 degrees.  In a flat pan with a low rim, toss ingredients together.  Roast for 10 minutes, stirring twice.  Remove from oven, and place almonds in another pan.  Toss for 1 minute.  Cool.  Store in an airtight container until ready to serve.

In two weeks, my vacation will be over.  I feel like I haven't even started my vacation.  A little break would be nice.

Blond Brownies

Welcome to the first official day of spring break for public schools in Hawaii!  Yay!  Double yay!!  I really needed the break, and I am NOT going in to the office.  I am not going in to the office.  I am not going in to the office.  I need to keep repeating that so it sinks in.

The office needs to find another person to dump on.  I'm not dumb enough to get caught doing all the work, especially on my vacation.  The boss needs to get his shit together.  

Mr. Dependable was supposed to take the Ds on a trip, but he decided to postpone the trip and wait for good prices.  Uh, yeah, when will that happen when kids are on vacation?  Nearly fifty years on this earth and he hasn't figured that one out yet.

During the last break, D2 invited a friend over for a baking session.  They wanted to bake with bacon.  They made chocolate bacon cookies.  Turned out pretty good, at least the first few.  After about a half-dozen, the bacon flavor got really old.  I never thought I'd feel like that.  So far, D2 hasn't extended a baking sesh invite to anyone, but she did ask me if KN could spend the evening.

"KN spending the evening" entails hours of pool play (not sure how much of this will happen with the cold front) and tons of snacking.  Both D2 and KN are big time snackers.  In preparation of KN (or RT, perhaps) coming over, I prepared some blond brownies.  I guess my mind was elsewhere (not at work, thats for sure) because before I realized what I was doing, I added the nuts in the batter.  Both D2 and KN don't care much for nuts, so I guess I'm going to be eating the brownies without any help from them.  Anyone wanna come over for brownies?

click on recipe title for printable recipe

Blond Brownies

     1/2 c butter
     3/4 c sugar
     3/4 c brown sugar
     2 eggs
     2 tsp vanilla
     1 1/2 c flour
     1 tsp baking powder
     1/2 tsp salt
     1 c white chocolate chips
     1 c semi-sweet chocolate chips
     2/3 c chopped macadamia nuts or pecans, divided

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Grease a 9 x 13" pan.  Stir together flour, baking powder, and salt.  Set aside.  Cream butter and sugars until light and fluffy.  Beat in eggs and vanilla.  Gradually stir flour into butter mixture.  Stir in chips and 1/2 c nuts.  Spread evenly in prepared pan.  Sprinkle remaining nuts evenly over top.  Bake 30 minutes.  Cool completely before cutting into squares or bars.

doing the Captain Morgan

Mr. Sun hasn't been seen for a while here.  In fact, its been freaking cold.  The electric blanket The Help got me for Valentine's Day Boss' Day has come in handy.  The last time I owned an electric blanket was when I was in college.  Speaking of college days, one of my friends from my freshman year, Flo Beck (Anchorage, AK), was known for a potent potable. . .Flo Tea.  Flo Tea was a staple at all the weekend/weeknight parties in her room.  It was Crystal Light iced tea (in those days it only came in 1 variety) spiked with Captain Morgan Spiced Rum.  I made some for my grandfather when I came home for summer vacation after my freshman year, and he loved it.  He said he was happy I was learning a lot of new things in college.

I found this pic on my waterproof camera a few days ago.  It was taken before last week's post (Korean Tofu Salad), and that's probably the last time we saw the sun.  The Ds took advantage of a string of sunny weather days and went for a dip.  After a small battle over who had to get a dead bee out of the water, they decided it was easier to get along with each other than deal with me.  One of their pool play activities was attempting to do the "Captain Morgan".  Where do kids get these ideas?  I don't even buy Captain Morgan!  As a self-described "rum snob", my preferred brands are 10 Cane, Pyrat, and Tommy Bahama.  My current pour, Cross Keys, is also very smooth.

Since we had some time this past weekend (Mr. Dependable said he had to work), The Help got his background and lights set up for a photo sesh with D1.  I enthusiastically helped him with his equipment because it was a treat that there was someone else willing to pose.  It was a great opportunity all around.  The Help got to practice his action shooting skills with his new toy.  D1 got some neat pics, including portrait shots which she can distribute when yearbooks come out since her picture was again left out of the yearbook.  She happened to be away on a Key Club service project when it was her turn to take class yearbook pics.  D1 had a good week.  She was officially notified that she will be Junior class president next school year.

This is my favorite pic from the session.  She doesn't care for it, but I love how her hair is wanging all over the place.  Kinda reminds me of Medusa.

D2 was camera-shy and refused to pose for any pics.

Snack Food Party Mix

I'm dedicating this post to A, a self-proclaimed party mix connoisseur.  I hope she reads this and drools.

Party mixes have been around since I was a kid.  I remember buying Doodads from the supermarket and snacking on them in the car on the drive home.  When I was in the third or fourth grade, Mom's coworker gave her a recipe for something called "Nuts and Bolts".  Nuts and Bolts was a mix of three kinds of Chex cereals, Cheerios, peanuts, and pretzels.  My favorite item was the rice Chex; I hated the wheat Chex.  The mixture was coated with a sweet, garlicky, buttery mixture, then baked in the oven forever to dry out.  The whole thing needed to be stirred every 15 minutes.  People went crazy with Nuts and Bolts, adding everything from M & Ms candies to Honeycomb cereal.  Somewhere along the line, "Party Mix" replaced "Nuts and Bolts" in the local lexicon.

About a decade after the debut of Nuts and Bolts, Aunty's friend brought over a different kind of mix.  This one was peanut butter based and had the same cereal-nut mixture as Nuts and Bolts.  It was made using the same principle . . . pour sweet peanut butter mixture over cereals and nuts, then bake.  This one didn't take quite so long to dry out, but somehow, it never enjoyed the epic popularity as Nuts and Bolts/Party Mix.

Fast-forward another decade or so, give or take one or two of them (I was never good at math).  I was at a friend's house, and another guest brought over what appeared to be a mixture of Frito's Scoops, Cheetos, pretzels, and Bugles.  Puzzled as to why anyone would just randomly mix these together, I avoided it, preferring to eat the won ton I brought instead.  While helping tidy the place (okay, maybe this is an embellishment. . . since when do I clean up)  at the end of the evening, I happened to taste a Bugle, and I was blown away.  It wasn't straight out of the box.  The Bugle was coated with the same sweet, garlicky, buttery mixture as Mom's Nuts and Bolts!

Since the cook has the authority to cook what/how she pleases, I decided to put only what I want into my snack food party mix:  Cheetos and pretzels.  I like the balls or the curls (puffs), but I'm waiting for Frito-Lay to make paw shapes again.  Any pretzel shape will work, but I don't use the sourdough-type they sell at Costco.  And I leave out the stinky garlic powder that many other mixes contain.  This permutation of Party Mix is definitely my favorite.

A. . .call me.  Your bag of party mix is waiting. . .next to the kitty treats.

click on recipe title for printable recipe
Snack Food Party Mix

     3/4 c butter

     3/4 c sugar

     1/2 tsp Worcestershire sauce

     1 lb. pretzels

     9-10 oz. Cheetos

Melt butter.  Add sugar and Worcestershire sauce.  Stir until sugar is dissolved.  Pour hot sauce over pretzels and Cheetos.  Bake at 250 degrees for 1 hour, stirring every 15 minutes.  Cool completely then store in an airtight container.