Birthday Bites

As some of you may know, yesterday was my birthday. Kind soul that she is, the Spoonstress made sure it was filled with fun, food and fun food.

I awoke to the spoils of a Foster's Market run. Our special birthday plate held a chocolate chip scone, a slice of apple bread and a slice of pumpkin gingerbread, which the Spoonstress admitted she couldn't resist after my the pumpkin rant in my last column. Served on our special birthday plate, it looked something like the picture above.

To wash it all down, there was a steaming cuppa joe and a yummy blueberry banana juice thingy. Topping it all off, a new discsang from the CD player (remember those, you iPodders?).

Throughout the day, the Spoonstress kept e-mailing me with the location of hidden treats. My favorite store-bought cookie, Foster's Chocolate Whoppers, was in a cupboard. A serial saver, I promptly ate half, leaving the rest for today. Sigh.

Then, the Spoonstress alerted me that my favorite candies--raspberry and blackberry gumdrops--were inches away in a desk drawer. Sneaky.

I've always liked these berries, perhaps because they remind me of past checkers glory. Yet, I've never been clear on what to call them. Some ignore the blackberry factor altogether.

That may make sense because there doesn't seem to be much attention given to the blackberry flavor. The only taste distinction is that the black ones aren't as sweet as the red.

Smoke before fire. Works in both checkers and candy.

Cookie Conundrum

It's been a week and I've been thinking about ice cream sandwiches day and night. Well, mostly day.

The good news: I've come up with a laundry list of versions I'd like to try. The bad news: There hasn't really been much testing. I better get on it, because a week from now (hopefully), you'll be reading my column on the topic.

In all honesty, I've been slowed by ambition. I want to use fresh-baked chocolate chip cookies to try out my Cookies and Cookie Dough Ice Cream Sandwich. I had imagined trying it with those little Entenmann's cookies I adore, but they're not available here.

So unless I get lazy and use those bake and break versions, I'm off to Toll House land. Then the testing can begin. As for the extras, I'm sure we'll put them to good use...