Thanks for asking!
What made me happy today had nothing to do with my gender; I hope it's OK to post it.
A few years ago or so, I discovered a snack called "Kar's Sweet 'n Salty Mix" in a vending machine. It had a very unusual property: after eating a 1.75 oz bag, you felt like you had some missing need that could only be satisfied by eating more. I know that sounds funny, but it was true. I almost always ended up buying at least two when I could.
I never saw this stuff for individual sale anywhere but this one particular vending machine. However, I did find it at Walmart in boxes containing 20 individual 1.75 oz bags. Naturally, I bought a few boxes. Bad idea. On more than one occasion, I sat on the sofa and ate 10 bags or more. So, I quit buying it.
Early on, I got the idea to reverse engineer this mix and make it myself. I made an attempt about a year ago, I guess, but found that a few of the ingredients were non-standard in size. This meant I had to portion by relative weight, and I didn't have a digital scale. So, I shelved the project. Recently, however, I happened to acquire a digital kitchen scale for measuring ingredients for another pet project of mine (pizza); and today I got a wild hair to try again. And I did. The reproduction is almost perfect; the original uses sugared raisins, and mine does not -- couldn't find any at the grocery store -- which may account for the fact that 1.75 oz of my reproduction is 20 calories less than the original. But I'm now the proud owner of 5+ lbs of their mix, which is sitting in my freezer. It may stay in my freezer for some time, because I'm still on a diet. I don't dare touch the stuff. I can resist starting; but once I start eating it I'm afraid I won't be able to stop. A decent-sized ziplock baggie -- sandwich size, about half-full -- is a thousand calories. I don't dare.
Anyway, accomplishing this long-anticipated project made me feel good today. Oh, and it cost me less than half to make what it costs to buy.
