nosh nook #86 - monday, july 13, 2009

'organic and chic' alternatives to junk food (link)
07.12.09 - npr's weekend edition - by liane hansen

kids say the darndest things. for sarah magid, author of organic and chic, there was a day when her son was all "give me twinkies, mom." kids love twinkies! kids say the darndest things! sarah magid grew up jewish in southern cali, so kosher + health conscious = never tried twinkies. instead of getting them for her son, she decided to come up with an organic version of them..."goldies." they're made with dark chocolate sponge cake, a whipped vanilla butter cream, chocolate glaze & an edible gold powder.

this story's from npr's weekend edition sunday, which has been hosted by liane hansen for the last twenty years. i love her stories & manner. plus, she's married to neil conan (host of npr's all things considered) & gets to do the sunday puzzle with puzzle master will shortz, who's basically the only person with a degree in enigmatology (the study of puzzles). now she gets to meet the inventor of goldies, a cute brooklyn mom who will make you healthy alternatives to junk food. is there anything liane hansen doesn't get to do? she's so lucky.

as for magid, she also makes custom cakes & the book just came out, so she was in chicago for book signings this past weekend & is in l.a. near the end of the month. whirlwind book tour! seriously though, her cakes are friggin nuts! one of them has a bird's nest thingy on top of it! what's also nuts is that that cake's entirely organic, right down to the nest. you can't say that about a lot of cakes. too bad it can't survive a nuclear holocaust like a twinkie can.