My friend M. found her perfect golden-hued dried maple leaf this morning.

She laid it on her desk and smiled with a glint in her eye.

There’s just something splendid about life’s little pleasures.

Sort of like the little glee in my heart when I found the new Marmite snacks.

I’ve told a Marmite story before, I haven’t always liked Marmite – it somewhat grew on me.

It was at the Clapham Junction Asda; whiling away time and waiting to go to dinner.

I saw a lady with a pack of rice cakes; the packaging was black with the visible yellow and red Marmite label.

I had a brief ‘is that…. ?’ moment.

Not sure where she got it from, I started following her.

I find that I’m braver when I’m alone, especially in a place where no one knows me.

I followed the lady for a few seconds, gave in and asked where she got them from.

She very excitedly tells me three aisles down, and asks if I’ve tried them.

I say no and that I’ve never seen them before.

Apparently it’s new, they (Unilever) put out a variety of Marmite snacks, and the rice cakes are her favourite.

She asks me where I’m from; she says I’m lucky when I tell her.

She offers to walk me to where she got them, she may have taken the last one – there’s none left when we get there.

We ask one of the store clerks, the kind man offers to check the back; I’m hopeful and excited again.

He has no luck, they’re sold out.

The lady offers to share hers, before I can protest… she rips the package open and shoves it in my face.

‘Oh my….what are people going to think’ I look around thinking.

I slip one rice cake out of the package, inspect it for a minute and bite into it.

Oh no… it’s salty! I don’t like it, but it’ll be rude to spit it out, not to mention we’re in the middle of a supermarket and I’m not even from this place.

I relax, chew and assess the flavours… it’s not so bad.

After the saltiness, comes a unique savoury flavour – ‘that’s Umami’, I think.

The strong savoury flavour merges well with the blandness of the rice cake. Rice cakes aren’t that exciting to begin with, but it works well with marmite.

There’s that strange aftertaste of wanting more. I decide a like it! I thank the lady profusely for sharing her rice cakes and we part ways.

I hope she remembers of me fondly.

Later that night I make plans to bring several of these rice cakes back home with me and the next day I go out and get my own bag.

I brought three packs home with me; I liked them more and more each time.

There’re serving suggestions on the back, you could eat them with cheese, tomato or ham on top.

I prefer them with no-salt peanut butter; it’s so very delicious.

The savouriness of the marmite enhances the peanut butter taste.

I’m making marmite and peanut butter sandwiches with regular bread now.

The rice cakes are a nutritious snack.

Two cakes has close to 40% of my daily recommended dose of B12 vitamins.

It’s rich in other B Vitamins as well, as a vegetarian this is great for me.

I tried them with Nutella, it’s ok but not sensational.

All too soon, I’m out of them.

I could try marmite on plain rice cakes but then I remembered that I don’t really like rice cakes.