Creature comforts.

Saturday, April 12th, 2003

Lest you think I’ve been sitting around idly and twiddling my thumbs these past few blog-free weeks, let me assure you that this is not the case. Aside from work and music and all the rest of it, I have something tangible to show for my time spent away from the computer, and that something is pictured below. It’s…a hand-knitted sweater!

It is, namely, the first sweater knitted by my hands - and it sure has been a long time coming. I started it at the beginning of February, and by the time I got around to sewing it all together this past week, I was heartily sick of the whole project. I was also initially disappointed with the finished results: a lumpy, bumpy, crooked, puffy thing that I had no intention of wearing out of the house.

But after putting it aside for a day and then engaging in a bit more shaping, I tried it on again and thought that maybe it wasn’t half-bad after all, considering it’s the first sweater I’ve ever made. If nothing else, it’s warm and soft and light, and at least I can say that I finished what I started and I have something presentable to show for all the time I spent with knitting needles in my hands. I think my next few projects are going to have to be short and snappy ones, though. I’m in need of some instant gratification.

Speaking of gratification, today I had what was quite possibly the most fantastically delicious cookie I have ever tasted. I have something of a weakness for cookies, I guess, but I’m almost always disappointed when I break down and buy one from somewhere. Even if they have a nice texture or flavor, they’re generally way too sweet, and I can’t eat more than a few bites without feeling slightly ill.

But today’s cookie - from a new shop in the North Laine called Ben’s Cookies - was exceptional. I went for the double chocolate option, and the minute the cookie was handed to me and I felt the soft warmth of it through the paper bag, I suspected I was in for a treat.

I was not wrong. Biting into this cookie was simply heavenly. I crunched through the light, crisp exterior of it to reveal a moist, chocolatey, cakey interior studded with gooey, melted chunks of even more chocolate. It was a sinful - and remarkably un-sickly-sweet - combination of all the best bits of a cookie, a brownie and a chocolate lava cake. I was mmm-ing and mmm-mmm-ing with every bite I took, and when I finished scarfing the whole thing down, I had to physically restrain myself from going back and buying one more of each kind they had (plain chocolate, triple chocolate, oatmeal raisin, chocolate orange…).

Maybe I was just really in the mood for a cookie today. Whatever it was, those few cookie-eating moments were filled with pure, unadulterated, sensual, chocolatey bliss. Highly, highly recommended.

Comments

1

Bravo!!!! On the sweater and your description of the heavenly cookie it was just what I needed Thanks.

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