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Wednesday, December 16, 2009

It Ends Up Balanced

Give a little. Take a little. Win some. Lose some. Sometimes you get it. Sometimes it gets you.

Howdy boys & girls. Yer ol pal Scrubbie here on a wintery, snowy and really frackin' cold afternoon. How are ya?

Balance. Everything seems to end up balanced.

Here - take this for example:

Scrub was giddy. Scrub was jumpin' with excitement. Scrub's tastebuds were tickled pink. Let me explain.

Just t'other day, Scrub dragged out the flour and sugar, eggs and vanilla and a bowl or two. A measure of this. A dash of that. Scrub stoked up the fire and before ya knew it... there, in front of me - biscotti. Ya know - those crunchy, delish cookie thingies that just are swell with a cuppa coffee. Timmies coffee. (whoops - there's that Timmies reference again. HI Kristine!)

Anyway - biscotti. Glorious to behold. Even more-so to taste. Cranberry Pistachio biscotti to be exact. Flavoured with vanilla and almond extract. With just a hint of the olive oil used in the preparation. Oh kids... magnificent!

Then, Scrub went ahead with a second batch. Just cause I had more dried cranberries and nuts left over. This time however - DRIZZLED IN WHITE CHOCOLATE they were! The ONLY thing better than this culinary treat is cuddles with the wife or dreams involving pudding.

Heaven. Simply heaven.

So - inspired, Scrub, last night, drugged out more flour and sugar and other baking goodies. The igloo was positively filled with the smells of Christmas! Chocolate-Orange Biscotti! Banana-Walnut mini loaves! Coconut Macaroons! Lord... Take me now! My mouth was positively dripping with anticipation!

The Biscotti - dutch cocoa and the zest of the quintessential Christmas treat 'round here... Clementines. Oh... they were all chocolately-dark with that signature crackly crust on the top of the cookies!

The smell of the banana loaves were enough to attract the attention of the Kid's punk pals from miles around. They all came wanderin' over through the cold night air just to have a sniff and ask "Scrubbie - what is that wonderful smell?"

And the macaroons. Let me ask you - is there anything more perfect... is there anything that speaks to the soul more than little golden mounds of sugary goodness that just nukes your tastebuds with the taste of coconut than a macaroon? 48 of the little buggers came outa the hot box last night!

Now - here is where the whole Yin-Yang of it all comes in.

The Cranberry-Nut Biscotti - a gift from the gods. The chocolate-orange Biscotti - bitter horrid little shards that could be perfectly good tent-peg substitutes. My delectable banana-walnut mini loaves - gawddamnd bricks. And the macaroons - i don't even know how to describe the disaster.

So, you see... over the course of 24 hours, Scrubbie went from bein' all high and mighty over his screamin' success in the kitchen of the igloo, to being completely and utterly put back in my place by it.

Ah well.

It's off to the trading post where I'll simply swap a few skins and furs for a collection of sweeties that I will simply pass off as my own. Huh? Oh, ya, right... like you've never done that before.