Hallelujah, indulgences and the good book

Well, first of all, shout Hallelujah! I finally figured out how to turn the flash off of my camera, so at least now my crappy photos won't have a big shiny spot in the middle.

Okay, so I saw this book called "Meat" at Jessica's Biscuit (a discount cookbook website) and it just looked so perfect for Ms. Chops that I had to get it. Then it turned out that I only had to spend three dollars more to get free shipping, so I allowed myself this little indulgence:

I'm not necessarily big on making chocolates and confections, but the fact that it was a field guide intrigued me. So this is the part where I give you my review, right?

Wrong. Because from the moment I took it out of the box, the Sugar Baby hasn't let it leave his side. Here I was, thinking he wanted to read "Goodnight Moon" and "Fun Dog, Sun Dog," when all along he just wanted a cookbook. Forget Legos. Forget Play-Doh. Those wickedly expensive Thomas trains? Nope. It's all about "the book." That's what he calls it. "The book," as if it's the only one in the whole world.

Believe me when I tell you, this thing has kept him entertained for hours on end. He goes through each page saying, "What's that?" and then he goes through the book again repeating all the names. The guide is organized by the calendar, so the first page is Star-Shaped Marshmallows for New Year's Eve. Then it's on to truffles and heart-shaped lollipops for Valentine's Day, Sweet Wine Chocolate Apricot Balls for Purim, Mint Jelly Leaves for the vernal equinox, and then these:
Kitty Crunchies for April Fool's Day. Yep, they sure do look like the deposits that Bud makes every day down in the basement. But, ho ho! As the book says, "These may look disgusting, but they taste great as they are a combination of cocoa crisped rice cereal, melted marshmallows and Grape-Nuts."

That's all fine and good, but how does one explain this to a 2 1/2 year old? "We don't eat cat poop!" is the best I could do. So here he thinks he has a book filled with delicious, yummy, candy treats-- and one random page of cat poop.

What can I say? The Sugar Baby gives this book a big thumb's up. So the next time you're looking for a gift for a 2 year old, you might want to consider it.