Cookie Monster

I have a new food obsession. Berger Cookies. I met these morsels of orgasmic cookie delight at a SCI cookout over the weekend. I thought they were homemade cookies. Thick, moist, yummy shortbread cookies slathered in chocolate fudge, they lack the perfect uniform look of store-bought cookies, hence the notion of homemade goodies.

As Nedra and I raved over them, someone at the table said they were burger cookies. I blame the Mike’s Hard Lemonade for my blank stare and my parrot-like repetition of “burger cookies, huh?” Finally we (ok, I) got that the cookies had nothing to do with hamburgers and came from an actual bakery. Everyone else at the table seemed to know all about these cookies and that they are a Baltimore specialty.

As soon as I got home, I started Googling. There I found the correct spelling of Berger Cookies and their history. Started in the 1800’s by the Berger brothers from Germany, Berger cookies have quite the following. They can only be found in Baltimore, but Bergercookies.com allows those away from B’more to fulfill the Berger munchies.
At this writing, it has been less than 24 hrs. since my Bergasm, but I am on my way to Mapquest to find the bakery.

Run, hottie, RUN!

There are many reasons that I love living in D.C.: the energy, diversity, culture, shopping and clubbing. But the one thing that makes me love DC and be ever grateful that I moved here is this: Male joggers!

Nothing makes DC traffic enjoyable quite like a half-dressed hottie, sweat glistening off his sculpted upper body as he does the jog-in-place thing waiting for the light to change. So far Georgetown and Connecticut Ave. have provided the best scenery for my commute. While no traffic accidents have been caused by my ogling, I have been the recipient of a few honkings and have been known to stick my head out the window for a better look.

It always saddens me when the weather changes and the joggers layering on the clothing. But as some consider robins prancing in a yard (and the eventual crapping on your car) or flowers blooming as a sign that spring cometh, the first half-dressed hottie sighting means winter is over for me!

The Dip

For those of you at the PBDS 601 therapy session held at Mariela's, here's the recipe for The Dip. If you missed The Dip, you missed a beautiful thing!
This recipe is for a 4qt. casserole dish, so tweak the ingredients accordingly if you want more or less.


3 pkgs. of cream cheese-8oz each
1 jar salsa (Newman's Own Tequila Lime salsa is my fave)
2 bunches of green onions
1 bunch of cilantro
4 cups of shredded cheese

Soften the cream cheese. (Microwave works best, but be careful not to melt it). In a bowl or the casserole dish, mix a few tablespoons of salsa with the cream cheese. Spread cream cheese/salsa mix in casserole dish, covering completely.

Pour remaining salsa on top of cream cheese. Add more salsa if you like. (I only use one jar b/c the lid of the 2nd jar of salsa would not come off! Seriously, 30 mins. of squeezing, twisting, sweating, cursing and gentle whacking on the counter did not work. Stupid jar)

Finely chop green onions. Spread over salsa.
Finely chop the cilantro. Mix 3/4 of the cilantro with the green onions.
Spread shredded cheese on top of greens.
Sprinkle remaining cilantro on top of cheese. I did it in a line across the top.
That's it!

You can add anything else to the dip. Fresh tomatoes have a tendency to make the dip watery, so be careful with that. You will need the Tostito's Gold chips as this is a thick dip.

Enjoy!

ok, maybe not...

So here I am, eating my words. (mmmm...needs salt)

I am blogging of my own free will. After getting the feedback from my fellow 601 inmates, I started thinking about blogging outside of class requirements. Knowing that blog upkeep wasn't something that was on my To-Do list but could now be on my Fun List appealed to me.

This has been the first time I have been able to write for an audience just for the sake of writing. Until now, all my writing had either been academic or for a newspaper; my verbal voice was still there, but slightly hindered.

Here I don't really have any rules to follow. I can write freely without worrying about a grade. I like that. I am still paranoid about some slacker hijacking my work and passing it off as his, but I'm sure I'd catch the brain-dead sycophant that tried. Do you really want to piss off a Colombian who has easy access to a machete, slacker?

I can't promise how often I will post, but quality over quantity!