Stevia again

A true story. A couple of weeks ago I invited people to dinner. They had been overseas, and I was interested to hear the details of their trip. They had done some voluntary work with refugees in Austria, on a short term informal arrangement.

It was Sunday lunch and I had planned a tasty traditional lunch, as I didn't know their food preferences. While I was putting the final touches on the meal the lady came into the kitchen area to chat. The conversation got on to the garden, and I told her about my stevia plant. I was about to take her down to show it to her, but it was really cold. Then I remembered that I had a container of Natvia stevia in the cupboard, so I got it out and opened it to let her taste it. Because I was about to serve up lunch, I was a bit distracted, and just handed her a spoon for her to sample the powder. Their son had come with them, and he showed some interest in the product too, so I encouraged him to sample it too. They seemed a bit reluctant, but did sample it, and then my female guest asked if it was cinnamon flavoured. Puzzled, I had a look at the nearly full container. It had bugs crawling all through it!!!

How does a host serve dinner after that? I was so embarrassed! And the product was not out of date (2014 in fact). There was a really good seal on the cylindrical cardboard container, so I assume the offending goobies were in the product in some stage of development when bought. The supermarket exchanged the product without query- but I really wish it had not happened with people on their first visit...

Interesting that food magazines are currently carrying recipes for stevia as a sugar substitute. I hope they taste better than my disgusting meringues did. I wonder if other people have had a similar experience with powdered stevia? Somewhat off-putting I'd have to say.

This cold weather is just right for sitting by the fire knitting. Like the grandmother I am...! Speaking of which I have had the best time lately. Knitting a jacket for G2 - this was before the toggles were finished -it looked nicer with the miniature wooden buttons attached. Baby garments are a breeze to knit. It takes longer to sew them up than it does to knit them.

I have orders for some legwarmers with a couple of options...

These ones look pleasingly simple.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Aren't they angels? The kids not the legwarmers...