Dates - luxurious sweets of the gods

This is completely an afterthought. But a lovely one. I was in the health food shop the other day and I saw pitted dates on offer for 99p. And it made me think of siwa and discovering dates with almonds and the pains in my tummy I got from eating too many. I thought at 99p for a pack why not try it, it's a bargain, I would normally go for something more ressemblent of junk like carob chip cookies or a carob covered hemp seed bar (a poor imitation of the godly chocolate covered flapjack - I have a similar relationship with clothes, have you ever heard of asos.com? There is a greek cigarette brand of the same name that made me laugh during my sojourn in the hedonistic island of ios - 'I like asos' I would say and giggle - because of its blatant double entendre - I know sophomoric but I was of the beavis and butthead generation. Anyway this website is as seen on screen where they have a photo of a beautifully attired celeb - a venerable walking advert for a designer, personification of chic, and then they sell shabby knock offs that only look like the genuine article through a myopic squint. Kind of like when you see the brother or sister or child of someone very attractive and you can see the shared family characteristics and on one it looks like perfection and on the other it looks somehow alien or strange or wonky.). Where was I? Right dates. So when I actually bit into it, it was like sweet nectar with the consistency of turkish delight. It was so sweet and rich and reminded me of the desert where it was such a an amazing discovery and a welcome change to the taste of sand. I was just surprised and felt so lucky that a pleasure that had meant so much to me on my travels and I associated with my bedouin apprenticeship!!!