Category Archives: Opinion

The Empty Cookie Tin: A foodlogy for my aunt

aunt-dolly

I’ve never done anything like this before, and especially not here. But my Aunt Dolly, who passed away in fall 2008, had such a profound effect on my life – and my love of food – that I feel public respects should be paid. So I will pay them.

As feisty as they come, my aunt (really, great aunt) was a lover of classic Italian food and sweets of any kind. Back in the day, she made all of the standards – sauce, meatballs, braciole – but as far as I’m concerned, she only had two specialties: roasted red peppers and Toll House chocolate chip cookies.

I don’t know what, if anything, she did to make the peppers so good, but they were certainly the best among the cooks in my family. I’m fairly sure she marinated them with olive oil and garlic slices in the refrigerator before serving. Each sliver was a simple delicacy in itself, but even more potent when paired with a slice of fresh mozzarella.

However good the peppers were, however, Aunt Dolly will always be remembered for her perfectly addictive chocolate chip cookies. She never told us her secret, but for some reason, her cookies had a better consistency (not too cakey, not too flat) than virtually any Toll House I’ve eaten or made since. I suspect a good amount of love did the trick.

Her cookie packaging was also memorable. She would line an old cookie tin (like the one above) with aluminum foil, place the treats within and cover it back up with foil. This made it excruciatingly difficult to sneak cookies out, as the crinkling of the foil would always give you away. Even my dad, nowhere near the connoisseur of sweets that my mom and I are, could not keep his hands off. They were magic.

I could go on and on about the cookies, but really, it was the baker that made them special. If I could live up to even half of the warmth or generosity of her spirit, I will be happier than if I ever achieve a comparative batch of Toll House.

She was a great cook, a great aunt and a great lady. I miss her tons.

RIP

$1 Fruit

I bought an apple today. It cost $1.00.

That is way too much to pay for a piece of fruit.

Guest Post: Peanut Butter Jelly Time

Since I’ve never gotten around to writing about my history and fascination with peanut butter & jelly sandwiches, it’s good to know that Peter Timony, a man of similar PBJ tastes and convictions, has.

For those who don’t know Peter, he is one half of the sibling team currently dominating Zuda Comics with their excellent Night Owls comic strip. I highly recommend checking out this nifty comedy-adventure series, along with all the other online goodies Zuda has to offer.

Take it away, Peter!

PEANUT BUTTER JELLY TIME

When I was a kid, I would go to school with a brown paper bag that had my lunch in it. Most of the time it was Peanut Butter and Jelly sandwiches, and I HATED them.

For one thing, my mother, though an excellent cook, made terrible sandwiches. When we didn’t have Peanut Butter and Jelly, we could look forward to a solitary slice of stinky wet liverwurst, one measly slice of processed cheese-like-food, and a squirt of yellow mustard, often thrown haphazardly between two slices of gritty whole wheat bread. You would think that with this as the alternative, opening the lunch bag to find Peanut Butter and Jelly would be GREAT!

However, Mom made the worst PB&J ever.

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Top 5 things I’d rather be eating than these cookies

My sweet tooth usually kicks into overdrive sometime in the afternoon, but all I could find in the vending machine today were these Famous Amos cookies.

When I go for the Famous Amos, you know I’m scraping the bottom of the barrel. These things taste like cardboard and have just about the same level of sweetness. If I had my choice, I’d rather be enjoying:

1. M&Ms

Isn’t it against the vending machine rules not to have these? It’s simply unconscionable.

2. A Hershey’s bar

Yes, I’ll settle for any milk chocolate, as long as there’s some semblance of sweet. The Famous Amos chips don’t count.

3. Hot fudge

Served in a classy silver sundae dish with just a dash of ice cream.

4. Pie

Preferably a cream pie. A la mode.

5. Cake

Big and flourless.

Yes, I’m turning into Cathy.

On Pancakes

Fluffy, subtly sweet and always delicious, pancakes are one of life’s simplest pleasures.

But lately, it seems that everywhere I turn, some ambitious chef or restaurant is trying to overly complicate the already-perfect-as-is pancake.

It started innocently, as these things do, with a few berries, some unique syrup flavors and maybe a chocolate chip or two. And then, all of a sudden – bam! – we’ve got nuts in the batter, mountains of powdered sugar, and not a dollop of good old fashioned butter in sight!

This madness must end.

Of course, I’m too much of a hypocrite to lead the charge, what with my eyes glazing at every mention of a “pancake special” at brunch. In fact, it was my saying “yes” to two such specials in recent weeks that instigated this post in the first place.

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