Murder in the Garden

I have always been proud of my Green Thumb. Planting a seed and watching it grow is a spiritual experience for me and I have successfully grown everything from Artichokes to Zucchini. Over the last few years, because of the California water shortage, my gardening days faded like dried out plantings in the fall. However, this year my soul desperately needed reviving so I decided to plant a small garden of tomatoes, eggplants, peppers and basil.

I bought two raised self-watering planters, organic soil and expensive organic plants from our local nursery instead of the big stores thinking I would have reap a larger crop. Exception was the seeds I purchased at the Dollar Tree. I actually bought two, peppers and basil, but the peppers never sprouted. Surprisingly the basil did well and I planted it with the other more expensive greens.

First mistake was that I planted the week of the big summer heat wave. We’re talking close to 110 in the San Fernando Valley. I watered both morning and night but the heat was too much for my seedlings and most perished.  I tried so hard and as I clipped dried up leaves from my brave baby plants, this atheist said a few prayers to the garden goddess.

Wish I could report that prayers worked. Not. The only plant that has thrived is the little basil plant. Go figure. Looks like we are going to have delicious Caprese salad this summer, curtesy of Whole Foods and Dollar Tree.  

The Cookie Monster

Every day, when my sisters and I got home from school, we were greeted with a glass of milk and a plate of store bought cookies. My mother stored the cookies in a large ceramic apple cookie jar that sat on our kitchen counter and I honestly don't remember it ever being empty. Cookies are still my favorite comfort food but are also my nemesis because I cannot be trusted with a bag of cookies. My absolute favorites are crisp ginger cookies, but I’ll eat any named brand bagged cookie. Honestly, if given a choice between a glass of fine wine or a cookie, hands down, I’ll take the cookie every time.

I love watching food videos on Youtube. I especially like Emmymadeinjapan. She is this adorable gal who tastes food for a living. She has amazing taste buds and can describe the experience of tasting food so expertly that you feel as if you are living in her mouth. She has tons of videos eating everything form exotic fruit to army food.

My current number one favorite food flavor is salted caramel. I adore it in/on anything – could honestly eat it on cardboard! When I heard that Oreos had limited edition salted caramel cookies I decided to do my best impression of Emmy.

Four cookies = 140 calories so I figured I could handle eating just 4 cookies a day as long as I went to the gym the day I eat the cookies. Without further ado…

First impression. The cookies are thin, never had or seen the thin version in person and they look a little weird. I miss regular Oreos. But, don’t judge a book or cookie by its cover.

First bite - UMMMMM?? Very disappointing. Barely taste the salted caramel but liked how crisp it is.  It’s very sweet…not impressed…think I might stop now and throw out the remaining cookies. Why waste calories on a cookie I don’t love? On second thought, since I did go to the gym this morning will force myself to try another cookie. UMMMMM, it’s a bit better. Still can’t taste any salt but I ’m getting used to it. Think I need to try another one…they get better the more you eat. Okay, 4 is my limit for the day. I like them but definitely don’t love them.

Was as I good as Emmy? NO! Were the Oreos as good as advertised? NO. Going to give these to the husband so that he can bring them to his co-workers. Me, I’m going to buy a bag of ginger snaps! What’s your favorite cookie?