Thursday Night Snacking

Once in a while you just have to ask yourself, "How long has it been since I've had a good Thursday night snack?"  I mean, not just a good snack and not just a lot of snack food, and not just an any-night-of-the-week fridge raid, but a really quite good snack.  Well you can decide for yourself if the following qualifies in any way, but as one who just finished eating it with satisfaction I give it my Thursday night stamp of approval.

I submit a humble english muffin; half topped with jam, and half with some unrecognizable savory trimmings.  This is my second attempt at making english muffins with our sourdough starter and I have to report they are edible (even pretty good, toasted - but a lot of things are better toasted).  Extrapolating the improvement of the second batch of muffins over the first, I should be winning some culinary awards around batch five. 

On to the exciting part - the toppings, half number one.  Butter and our thimbleberry jam (that's the red one).  Did you know that some people recommend straining the thimbleberries to get the seeds out when you make jam?  I suppose that would be thimbleberry jelly, but what's the point?  It takes long enough to pick those berries and I wouldn't be surprised if the seeds are more than half of what's left after you cook it down.  They're small enough, after all.  And they lend a satisfying, miniscule crunch. 

Half number two was a little more risky in the topping.  I started with goat cheese.  Knowing that goat cheese sometimes reminds me of - ahh, goat - I thought it might be good to dress it up a little.  Enter Olive Grove's 18 yr Traditional Balsamic Vinegar and some sprigs of thyme that we've been keeping in the snack drawer of the fridge.  After all, if they're in the snack drawer, they're fair game for a snack!  It was a total risk mixing these flavors, and I was surprised to find that the flavors blended really well (and didn't make me think of goat).  I'd like clarify that I did not stack these like a sandwich - they were enjoyed sequentially. 

So now we've covered the snack itself and you might be asking, "What else would make a good Thursday night snack?"  For your convenience I've made a cheat sheet.

• Trying new combinations of ingredients = Good!  After all, it's not the weekend and you might have something creative to do on a Thursday night.  A new snack could inspire.
• Large quantities of food = Bad!  Unless you're going to call your dinner a snack you should keep it light.  You might need to do something that requires moving or thinking, which a heavy feeling in the gut could hinder.
• Balancing savory and sweet = Good!  But be aware of the ever lurking salty-sweets - a danger that nearly consumed more than one of my college friends.
• A snack that requires a trip to the store (freezer aisle - shudder!) = Bad!  By the time you get to the store you'll be so hungry that things will be jumping into your cart (you didn't really need a cart, did you?) and your only hope will be that you forgot your wallet.  Make something from random ingredients in your kitchen.  Check for mold first.
• Something tasty that you could turn into a blog post = Good!  In case you were trying to avoid whatever was on your to-do list for a Thursday night, that is.  Speaking of which, it's time for me to go.