How to take care of your sweet tooth

My aunt and I were at Costco today so she could do some shopping. She buys chicken breasts in bulk, where I prefer the 4 pack. We may disagree on how to obtain the food, but we are pretty much in tune as far as what we like to eat.

After Costco she took me to lunch at NYPD Pizza at Camelback and 20th Street. She had mussels in red sauce with linguini and I had spaghetti and meatballs with marinara sauce. We both had a glass of red wine and shared a salad. Their vinaigrette is quite tasty. Char was very pleased with the large portion of mussels and I inhaled the meatballs (just a few strands of spaghetti were left). Afterwards somehow we managed to share a tiramisu. Now this is a good way to take care of a nagging sweet tooth. I could taste the Kahlua and the dessert itself is very creamy but not overly sweet. It is new to their menu, and I wholeheartedly recommend it.

Speaking of sweets, at Costco we spotted a cannoli kit - I kid you not. It comes with the shells and the filling. It's less than $8.00 and I think the price is right. You get 24 small cannoli so if you are having a party or celebrating at Thanksgiving or Christmas and don't want to bake, this might be a nice option.

My aunt usually makes cannoli at Christmas and she reminded me today that she doesn't want to make them this year since they are so much work. Instead she and I are going to make a big batch of apricot and prune kolochkis (spelling?). The cookie part is like a shortbread that is not too sweet, it also uses cream cheese in the dough and you roll the dough like you would for sugar cookies and then cut them in squares, putting some filling in the middle and then folding opposite sides together to form sort of an envelope. Then after baking you sprinkle them with powdered sugar. You can also use other fillings like raspberry. These are very tasty and quite addictive. I will take pictures when my aunt and I make them before Christmas, and share the recipe with you.

One more thing worth mentioning...I also spied chocolate covered caramel apples today at Costco and they are $5.99. They look enormous and they are a bit less expensive than the ones I have seen elsewhere here in town. Would make a nice hostess gift if someone you love is making you dinner.