Icy Day, Cookie Monsters, & Baseball Season

It's snowing! Woo hoo! Big fat ice crystals are popping off my window by my desk here at work, jumping and blowing all around. This is probably the last storm of the winter (although I think I wrote that last week!) but all this wintery action isn't unusual for March, I remember writing my big senior paper in college and around March was when it had to be in its almost finished form and we had to have weekly meetings with Professor Baswell to discuss our progress. My paper had to do with Spenser's The Faerie Queen, and there is a particular part of the poem that has a line about a world enclosed in glass. I remember getting up early and walking over to the library to work on my paper and there had been an ice storm during the night. I - coming from the Nevada desert - had never seen an ice storm before, and I remember thinking that this is exactly what a world enclosed in glass would look like because everything - the branches, the leaves, streetlights - were completely encased in a clear layer of ice, completely frozen. Icicles were hanging from everything. It was really strange and beautiful and because of the snow falling, all the typical street noises were hushed and it was very quiet outside. I think later that week it went up to 60 degrees quickly and it melted before you knew it, but for one day, you got to see something unusual and it hasn't happened here since. Anyway,I'm thinking about that today.

So the cookies I made for The Boss for his birthday were such a hit, I’ve been requested to make them on a regular basis. I attribute their absolute goodness to the new baking sheets I got from Santa Claus this Xmas! Quality bake ware does make a difference, I see that now. They came out buttery and baked to perfection. Maybe this will be my new monthly good deed and I can try different recipes but I only want certain people (i.e. people I like) to eat them, so that kind of cancels out the good deed aspect of this task, doesn’t it? Ah but if they are made with love (like they were for The Boss) then my heart is in the right place. Once when going somewhere to study (or perhaps up to the Bronx Botanical Garden), Vron and I stopped at UFM (which sadly NO LONGER EXISTS up in Columbiaville) to get a bagel and coffee, and the guy behind the counter always buttered those bagels to perfection and the coffee was always delicious, just the right amount of milk and sugar in proportion to the coffee - in those days, I put sugar in my café au lait. And Vron commented on this to him and said “it’s because you make it with love, isn’t it?” and the man smiled and said nothing. And that’s how we knew it was true.

And that’s your lesson for the day, kiddies. Whether it’s mixing a gimlet (ha!) or making your bed, do it well and with love, and you shall reap the rewards. Hee hee hee....

On a final note: I have bought my first ticket to a Mets game this week for April 14th and will be buying a second today at lunch - the Cubs will be at Shea in May so me and 2 of my coworkers are going. I've waited since October for baseball to be back and we are almost there ... fingers crossed. Last year was so much fun and I only got to wear my hat once so I plan to go to as many 2$ games (yes 2 bucks, I have connections) as I can get my hands on.