Nuts about nuts!

It's getting chillier and you should see the piles of leaves everywhere! And fall is also nut season!

So out came the gifted nut cracker, and along with a three-pound bag of mixed nuts from Vancouver, BC (available $6.99 at Canadian Superstore) ... and we plopped ourselves to the task of cracking almonds, filberts (hazelnuts) and walnuts open. Nut craving sated and with a huge pile of nut shells half an hour later.

I personally love cracking open almonds because they are easy to open and adore their mild creamy taste. The filberts were a little harder to open with their impervious shells and more often than not we let Y do the filbert cracking since D and I totally shattered the filberts inside by overcompensating! As for the walnuts, Y loves these, so he had more than his share.

As a child in the Philippines, I remember Christmases when huge bags of nuts - almonds, walnuts and pistachios, mainly - came out of their hiding and the family would gather around and crack open nuts and eat and talk after the huge Christmas feasts. Nuts were always a treat!

I also remember a time when we misplaced out nut cracker and my sister and I would stick walnuts (leftover from fruitcake making) between our door hinges and carefully crack them open ... hmmm! If my mother knew the many uses of doors!

Nuts not only taste great but are really good for you. They are a rich source of calcium, folic acid, magnesium, potassium, Vitamin E and fiber. An ounce of nuts daily can reduce the risk of heart disease!

Crunch up!