Moving to a different platform!

Hello dear friends! Every time I tell my network about a new post on this blog, I receive emails saying it was too complicated to become a follower, or easier to pull teeth than to post a comment (okay, none of those comments were from dentists). I listened to the feedback, got help from my great technically-inclined web guys and just launched a new blog platform at: http://www.thelighterperspective.com/. Hope you will follow along, take the polls and add your two cents to the comments whenever it strikes you. You'll see two recent posts since the last one here about the evolution of snacking and also the beauty of bite-sized treats at special events.

Please check it out and tell me what you think. Thanks for following and I look forward to keeping up with you in the future!

Regards,

Shira

Halloween Hierarchy of Needs

Even as an adult, Halloween remains one of my favorite holidays. I love any excuse to dress up in a costume. Back in the mid’90’s, I splurged on a sexy, long red cocktail dress from Neiman Marcus where the only thing higher than the slit cuts on each leg was the price tag. But you can repurpose it as a cool Halloween costume, I said, convincing my credit card to reluctantly absorb the charge. And that vow has been kept. A couple of times, I added a tiara, a sash that says “Miss America Pageant Loser,” a couple of snarky buttons with bitter phrases like “the winner slept with the judges” and “my baton twirl was better than hers” and was off. Most recently, I added long white gloves to the dress, put my hair up, donned large costume jewelry and walked around a party all night asking people who they thought I was. The answers ranged from Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman to Sandra Bullock in Miss Congeniality, though my distinct lack of resemblance to both actresses did cause everyone to add a cautious “I think” at the end of their guess.

But besides the costumes and parties, Halloween’s big draw has always been the candy. I’ve created a personal ranking system for treats similar to Abraham Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. Those mini Reese’s peanut butter cups and Snicker Bars are at the top. The following tier is the mini Hershey bars with different flavors and M&M packets. Next comes the non-chocolate candy that still tastes rich, like caramel creams. Tart candies like Starbursts and Sweet Tarts appear down one more tier, with the lowest rung going to hard candies like Jolly Ranchers, Nerds and the lot. There’s no room, you can see, for healthier fare. After all, those well-meaning but misguided people who gave us apples and raisin packets growing up probably had their houses toilet papered more than anyone else’s on the block.

Over the years, I have made the mistake of keeping my favorite candies around for potential trick-or-treaters. And if not many kids showed up, they usually went into my mouth as opposed to the garbage can. Like last year, when I moved into my new townhouse. Had those little Hershey bars in a festive bowl, waiting for some kids to show up. It’s a good thing they didn’t, because I methodically tackled the Goodbars, Krackle and Milk Chocolate variety until only the Special Dark flavors were left.

Finally open about the fact that the candy has really been for me, I’ve decide to employ a new trick. Tomorrow, I’m going to buy a bag of my least favorite candies in case sporadic kids in costume show up before I head out for the night. You better believe it will contain 0% chocolate and probably be dyed a neon color within its packet. What isn’t taken will be given away to the cute little girls who live next door on Sunday. Who knew such strategic thinking could go into Halloween?