A couple of weeks ago, Jane Coaston tweeted out: “if you have a house, a spouse, and a Costco membership, you are more wealthy than actual khans of the ancient past”
An interesting insight but it really went home when I want to Costco the other day and saw this:
Costco had some dates on sale. 2.5 pounds of them for some obscenely low price. Like, I looked and I said “that can’t be right” and I threw the container into my cart. (I don’t remember the price exactly, but instacart has it on sale for $9.99. TEN BUCKS!!! THAT’S NUTS!!!)
I proudly showed it off to Maribou who shrugged. She feels about dates the way that I feel about nectarines, I guess. More for me.
And over the next couple of weeks I ate two and a half pounds of dates. Sometimes I would open them with my fingers and eat them inside-out. Sometimes I would put two or three in my mouth at once. Once I put *FIVE* in my mouth at once. I thought “only the king’s favorite mistress could get away with that a couple hundred years ago”. When I was busy cooking a meal, I’d eat a couple. When I was going into the kitchen for something else entirely, I’d eat a couple.
I ate handfuls of dates. 2.5 pounds in total. For pennies.
And I looked at Jane’s tweet again and I appreciated it in a new light. I ate more dates in a two week period than most khans saw in a lifetime.
As such, I’m going back to Costco this weekend. Gotta pick up some bottled water and some more dates. Maybe some goat cheese.
Maribou’s friends are coming over on Saturday morning and I’ll be making breakfast for them. I have biscuits and fruit but I don’t have enough eggs or bacon and I need to pick some of that up for them. Oh, and I picked up a new game that I will *TOTALLY* be writing about on Saturday. And otherwise enjoying being more wealthy than the khans.
So… what’s on your docket?
(Featured image is “Snow Leopard”. Photo taken by Maribou.)
Allow me to share a date recipe that is absolutely delicious, incredibly easy to make, and will wow your friends if you bring them to parties!
Ingredients
1 lb. Medjool dates
1 lb. bacon
4 oz. goat cheese
4 oz. chorizo
Prep
Preheat your oven to 350°
Pit the dates by slicing lengthwise.
Stir the cheese and chorizo together.
Put a spoonful in the date.
Cut the bacon strips into thirds.
Wrap the dates with the bacon sections and hold in place with a toothpick.
Arrange the dates on a baking sheet with raised edges.
Bake for 20 mins. Remove and put on a plate lined with paper towels. Let cool for 5 minutes before serving.
I first had these at the Destihl Brewery in Normal, IL when my daughter lived there and was absolutely floored by how good they were. This recipe has been my go to hors d’oeuvre ever since.
Dude. I will do this *TONIGHT*.
THANK YOU!!!!
Here’s the process… I thought that the figs were too small so I made “fig sandwiches” with the stuffing (and instead of chorizo, I used something else that was kinda close, I guess). Since they were bigger, I used half a piece of bacon rather than a third.
They wrapped up nice.
They are in the oven now, as I type this.
How did they turn out?
AMAZING.
The lighting in the room was awful so they didn’t look particularly good in the post-cooking picture but they were *WONDERFUL* horsey dovers. The main course was a piccata with chicken thighs and garlic bread and vanilla ice cream and rhubarb sauce for dessert.
Our dinner guest had the week from hell and she said that eating with us was the best part of the week and so… well, mission accomplished.
I’m quite interested in them. I love dates.
Right? The output is definitely greater than the input. I might try using half strips of bacon next time. Sometimes thirds are just a little too short and I end up stretching them. As we all know, cooked bacon is a lot smaller than raw bacon.
I host potluck game night roughly once a month. This is going to be my contribution, at least for when one couple who sometimes comes is not coming over (they keep Kosher, so the bacon, as well as mixing the diary and meat product, would be a problem for them). This looks amazeballs.
And the dates are really cheap. Costco is in my immediate future and not just for gas.
Yep. Went back today and, once again, said “That can’t be right.”