Turkish Delight.

"It is dull, Son of Adam, to drink without eating," said the Queen presently. "What would you like best to eat?"
"Turkish Delight, please, your Majesty," said Edmund.

The Queen let another drop fall from her bottle on to the snow, and instantly there appeared a round box, tied with green silk ribbon, which, when opened, turned out to contain several pounds of the best Turkish Delight. Each piece was sweet and light to the very center and Edmund had never tasted anything more delicious.

Nerd alert.
If you're like me, when you read (or even watched) The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, by C.S. Lewis, you were intrigued by this Turkish Delight.  Is it candy?  A baked good?  What does it taste like?  Is it real??

Well, friends, I have seen it with my very own eyes.  It is real.  And it's every bit amazing as Edmund said it was.

Now, I know that not everyone is lucky enough to have a friend who sends me goodies on her travels from Cambodia to Canada and this time, to Turkey.  But yes, I am that lucky.  Please refer to this old entry.

You're probably looking at the photo and thinking "Oh this is just like those macadamia nut jelly things that people bring back from Hawaii."  No - these are not just like those macadamia nut jelly things that people bring back from Hawaii.  This is even better.  The consistency is just right so that you don't have pieces of jelly stuck in your teeth for hours.  The sweetness of the pomegranate flavor is subtle so you know this isn't artificial.  And the bites of pistachio in between let you know that this is fancy pants.  

So thanks, E, for making my childhood book nerd dreams come true.  

At the risk of going down that path where I stray from good eats and talk about something a bit more personal, I must say this, not because I want you to take me seriously or because I want to inspire you to engage in some form of soul-searching, but because it's my blog and I can do whatever I want!  I don't want to undermine the literary and theological value of this book by reducing it to a story about nutty, fruity goodness. Because C.S. Lewis tells a beautiful story, in a way that only he can, that alludes to the Crucifixion and the redemption of all believers.  Writing this entry reminds me of that familiar childlike faith that I've been having trouble unearthing for some time now.  What I'm trying to say is this.  At some point, I have started to feel like I'm desperately aiming for nothing and trying to hold together something that is nothing.  

At last the Turkish Delight was all finished and Edmund was looking very hard at the empty box and wishing that she would ask him whether he would like some more. Probably the Queen knew quite well what he was thinking, for she knew, though Edmund did not, that this was enchanted Turkish Delight and that anyone who had once tasted it would want more and more of it, and would even, if they were allowed, go on eating it till they killed themselves. But she did not offer him any more.