I wish I could let you try one...

I often check out the new books stand in the library. Generally more than I check out the regular shelves. What can I say? The person who took out every PG Wodehouse book before me left it stinking of thick cigarette smoke and full of mysterious phlegm like stains that only start to appear after you're fully addicted to the plot...

Off topic? I guess. But anyway that is why I love the new books shelf. Some still have the new book smell. And that's where I came across Life is Sweet. Subtitled 'A Collection of Splendid Old-Fashioned Confectionery' and really there isn't a better way to describe it. There are plenty of recipes for things like marshmallows, toffee and fudge. They aren't all vegetarian (gelatine) but most of them are. And the commentary is quirky and old fashioned without being nauseatingly nostalgic. So basically we love it.

Actually I would like to throw in an 'except' here. One of the Marshmallow recipes has quite a few ingredients missing. Quoting from the publishers on Amazon the Fluffy Vanilla Marshmallows should have '1 sachet of powdered gelatine, 2 large egg whites, Seeds from 1 vanilla pod ' as well as everything else.

We have a number of recipes on our to make list and a number of ingredients on our shopping list. To try it out though I went for the Peanut Pretzel Knobblies. The combination of chocolate/nut/salt ticked every box.