Chocolate Crunchies and Other Details

Hello Friend,

It’s a lovely day, and I think we can manage our visit on the patio today. Come on around back. The Cowboy has finished all of his yard work back here, and see? Don’t you love the colour of these chairs? Don’t they just invite you to sit down and breathe?

The colours: Mint Liquor, Glass Bead, and Yellow Pansy. I think the blue (glass bead) is my favourite. Please, have a seat in your favourite colour.

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I made Chocolate Crunchie cookies earlier this week. I haven’t been able to find a recipe online to match mine, which got me to thinking they aren’t really called chocolate crunchies at all. But that’s what we called them growing up.

They are quite chocolatey. After you roll the dough into balls, and just before popping them into the oven, you dip one rounded side into water and then into granulated sugar. When they are done, their sugary tops are all cracked. Very yummy. Did you ever have them? What did you call them?

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Now, I’m offering Orange Pekoe or Lady Grey tea today. Which would you prefer? I’ve been doing a little reading on pairing tea with desserts. There are many opinions on the topic, but almost all of them suggest to try different pairings for yourself and see what fits best. That takes paying attention to each sip and each bite, much like what Lu Ann Pannunzio explains on her blog, The Cup of Life:  

Begin by drinking a sip of your tea, letting it spread entirely across the tongue before swallowing. This simple step is important because it will warm your tongue and prepare your taste buds for the melting chocolate that is to come their way.

Then, take a bite of your chocolate and see how it accompanies the flavours that are now on your tongue.

Lu Ann Pannunzio

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If you know a different name to these cookies than Chocolate Crunchies please let me know. Calling things by their correct name is important to me. Always has been. I guess that’s just one of my quirks.

Another quirk of mine is that I need things explained exactly. I’m the one interrupting a really good story with questions no one else is interested in. Which direction was he going when the car smashed into his bike? Was the bridge a suspension bridge or cantilever? What colour was the car? 

Yes, I need the details. Which is why it often takes me a long time to catch on to a joke. I’m always looking for the details first. And that generally diminishes the punch-line, so I’ve come to realize.

Many’s the time The Cowboy will be telling a great joke when I’ve broken in to correct the details, only to have him give me his version of a withering look, and just when the whole endeavour is about to fall flat because of me, he manages to save it. He’s great at punch-lines.

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Because I’m so literal, my mind quickly and regularly breaks things down to the most simple, but not always the most logical, conclusion first.

Like, when we were dating and even into our marriage, The Cowboy would always say to me, “You are the most beautiful woman in the world.”

While most rational women would be utterly flattered with that comment, my first thought was always, “Well … that can’t be right. He’s never even seen all the women in the world.”

Of course, I would never say this. I’d just get a perplexed look on my face that communicated … who knows what, to him. Whatever my reaction, I’m sure it made him more than a little bewildered himself.

Now, as we come up to our 37^th anniversary, I understand that he meant all the women in his world, and I can appreciate the sentiment. Poor young cowboy all those years ago.  

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Which brings me back to the Chocolate Crunchies. Perhaps you noticed that they’re a bit flat in shape, and spread out. That’s because I accidentally used a cup and a half of margarine instead of three-quarters of a cup.

For some reason, my distracted mind thought that one of those small blocks of margarine was a quarter-cup size instead of a half-cup size, and I mixed in three of them instead of one and a half. It really didn’t change the taste, but they would have been much prettier if I’d paid attention to the details. See? Details are important.

Thanks for visiting today, it’s been lovely to enjoy The Cowboy’s hard work together. His work for our relaxation.

Take care out there, and see you next time.

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P.S. I welcome your comments, and try to answer each one within a week.