Nutella

This was take post-Nutella experience. Hence my smile.

The year was 2005. I was studying abroad in Europe for the month of January. Part of our grade was to plan a "free weekend" where we got to go anywhere in Europe for the weekend but we had to meet up with the rest of our group in Paris at a certain time. My friends and I decided to go to Rome. It was awesome. When we made our travel plans to get ourselves to Paris, we decided to take the Euro-rail and sleep on the train. We went to a market to buy some snacks and things to make sandwiches to munch on as we rode. We thought we'd make peanut butter and jelly sandwiches because we wouldn't need to refrigerate anything, but when we got to the market, we couldn't find any peanut butter. Our train was about to leave, so we grabbed a nutty protein that I had never heard of before and ran to our platform. Once we found a car that would fit all of us, we settled in and started the operation of putting together the sandwiches. The peanut-butter replacement was good. It was sweet and chocolatey. That was the day that my life was changed. That was the day I first tasted Nutella.

Nutella. I am certain that this delicious treat was found in the garden of Eden, among the fruit trees. Plastic jars of happiness hanging from branches just waiting to be plucked. I am pretty sure the rest of Genesis 2:17 went something like this in the original Hebrew "[the LORD commanded the man] not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, but that Nutella tree, whoo boy! you slap that stuff on everything else!" I think the second part was just lost in translation.

This looks like a good sized serving.

I have been a fan of Nutella ever since that train ride to Paris and can eat it any time of the day. For breakfast, I have whole grain toast with Nutella and a half a banana sliced on top. There have been times when I will spread Nutella on top of apple slices and then sprinkle them with coconut and sliced almonds for a desert. It is delicious in Swedish pancakes and crepes. I have even been known to just dip a spoon in the jar and lick it off . . . alright, so I usually forgo the spoon and use my finger, but I swear I only do that if the jar is almost empty (fine, half full) or I know we won't be having guests anytime soon.

Since being pregnant, my Nutella addiction has become much worse. And yes, I would call it and addiction since I think about it multiple times a day. I eat it all the time. Sometimes, Troy comes home from work and asks me how many toasts with Nutella I have had that day. Today I would answer two, since I had one  for breakfast and one for snack. I am really restraining myself because I would love to have another, but I know I will probably end up making one for a bedtime snack. I should really get a gold star for showing such self control. I am pretty sure Baby Carlson is made up of 50% Troy, 25% me and 25% Nutella. If he comes out smelling like chocolatey hazelnut goodness, I cannot promise that I won't lick his head.

The Nutella Mecca at CostCo.

The other night, I actually had a dream that we were out of Nutella. It was terrible. Troy was playing video games and told me that he would take me to the store to get more when he finished his game. I was so hungry that I had a hissy fit in the dream (which isn't the weird part) and so I ditched Troy and went to Kroger myself to get my Nutella for breakfast. Thankfully, I woke up and realized it was a dream. We had a whole jar of Nutella in the cabinet, just waiting for me to drive into! Troy and I went to Costco this weekend, and just to be on the safe side, we bought two packs, so I have four large containers of Nutella. Better to be safe than sorry.