a ramble about syrup

I drank the most glorious toffee-flavoured frappuccino when I was overseas. I also bought a bag of Starbucks house blend coffee beans, anticipating delicious summer drinks that I would prepare at home - since Dinky Durban doesn't have a proper Starbucks.

The problem (as I should've expected): limited supermarket aisles. There were two choices: chocolate, and Golden syrup. Gloria Jean's had a few different syrups, but none come close to Starbucks in taste. I gave up the hunt for good syrup. Even the maple syrup was inauthentic - thick and gooey. Real maple syrup has a thin and runny consistency.

A few days ago, I was strolling in Woolworths, staring at their jars of syrups because I had nothing pressing to attend to. And there it was, a beautiful bottle of maple syrup - produced in Quebec, Canada. I must have walked past this section a hundred times without giving it a glance. Have I been missing out!

My mum used to make a savoury French toast, so I had only ever eaten 'sweet' French toast at restaurants, sweetened with the inferior Golden syrup.

I used three large slices of Woolworth's sandwich brown bread, as it was the only bread I had on hand. But Moby (Mr Max aka the husband) gave this his seal of approval - this is what he had to say. "I can't believe this is brown bread. It tastes so good." And that is the proof of Woolworths Maple Syrup, it makes ordinary brown bread taste like waffles.

Basic French Toast (for about 5 slices)
3 large eggs
1/2 cup cream or milk
1/2 a teaspoon cinnamon powder
a good pump of vanilla paste or 1/2 a teaspoon vanilla extract
a pinch of salt

Whisk the above together in a mixing bowl. Pour the mixture into a shallow dish - to dip each slice of bread, ensuring both sides are we coated. In a non-stick frying pan, heat some butter and fry the slices of bread on each side on medium-high heat until nicely browned. I like mine a little crispy on the edges. Transfer to a serving plate and dust with icing sugar, (and the moment we've been waiting for:) and drizzle generously with maple syrup. The minute we smelled that authentic maple syrup, I couldn't put down my fork to take another picture. Today is a grey, wet day in Durban, I think I'll go whip up some French toast to go with Woolworths organic coffee. Yes, I'm a whore to Woolies.
Bon appetit!