Cookies

It’s that time of year again — Girl Scout cookie time. This year, for the first time, we have a Girl Scout in our family. Our daughter Becky is a first time Daisy Scout and I am her troop’s co-leader. I wasn’t a Girl Scout when I was a kid, but instead was a Camp Fire Girl. While there are some similarities — we sold candy instead of cookies — most everything about Girl Scouts is totally new to me. Being a leader, I can see just how large the Girl Scout organization is, and how many women volunteer countless hours for the girls.

An entourage of about 80 Harley-Davidson motorcycle riders clad in leather and denim jackets made their way to the Glendale (2) Freeway on Sunday morning to embark on a trip to Camp Pendleton Marine base. The Ladies of Harley, the women's auxiliary group of the Glendale-based Harley Owners Group, or HOG, kicked-off the third annual Ladies of Harley Veterans Ride by delivering homemade cookies to nearly 15,000 wounded veterans based at Camp Pendleton."Homemade cookies make you feel good," said Tammy Floria, a Ladies of Harley member.

GLENDALE — Enthusiasm for President-elect Barack Obama around the region, where voters helped the Illinois Democrat land a resounding win on election day, did not just extend to the voting booth. At Porto’s Bakery in Burbank and Glendale, where customers were able to purchase cookies adorned in the symbols of their preferred political party, Democratic donkey-shaped cookies outnumbered Republican-style elephant cookies by a more than 2-to-1 margin. The high volume of cookies sold — 8,773 during the nominating process — included 5,048 in Glendale and 3,725 in Burbank.

It is not an easy task to intellectualize profound heart felt sentiment. A writer's only tools are words; you either do it or you don't; there's no middle ground. Throughout the week, I've labored as to how I would frame my thoughts to adequately express my thanks to those who contributed cookies for the troops. Sitting in Penelope's Café and staring blindly at a white computer screen, I clutch a heavy ceramic cup looking for a prompt from a steamy chai late. As I inhale the ambrosial vapors of the chai I am drawn to the simplest of rhetoric.

Piles of homemade cookies on students’ desks created a party-like atmosphere, but they were part of a serious lesson, English teacher Mandy Pankowski said. The Rosemont Middle School eighth-graders made cereal squares, brownies and rice-crispy-treat improvisations, but to make each one they had to start from scratch and follow directions well, or they would have ended up like 13-year-old Amanda Hemingway, who was busy enjoying other people’s cookies. “I was supposed to cook them for eight minutes, but I cooked them for 40,” said Amanda, adding that she forgot about the cookies, and her oven subsequently filled with smoke.

The Glendale News-Press visited an English class at Rosemont Middle School, where students brought homemade cookies to class, and asked students, “What did you like most about your cookie-baking assignment, and why?”   “It was a fun way of leaning, and it taught us how to follow directions, and following directions really helps you in life.” AMIR HAJIMIRSADEGHI, 13 Montrose       “Probably trying the different cookies because it was interesting to see how different cookies tasted.

Destiny Bright had a mission last year to help the troops in Iraq. She wanted to let them know that they were remembered and appreciated. Being 8 years old was not going to deter the spunky Girl Scout. When the ’07 cookie season launched, Destiny set a goal to not only sell cookies to her friends and neighbors, but to send the American favorites to troops serving overseas. She accomplished her goal in stunning style that resulted in her selling 2,114 boxes of cookies and sending 1,000 of them to the troops.

Darleene Barrientos In a hot desert of sand and military tents, a box of Girl Scout cookies will be a welcome reminder of the United States for more than a thousand soldiers. A total of 1,058 boxes will be shipped this week to American soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan, courtesy of Glendale's Girl Scouts Troop 988. The troop collected the cookies during this year's drive, allowing donators to personalize a message to each soldier on labels emblazoned with the American flag.

Lincoln Elementary School kids ran into the cafeteria Friday night for cookies, hot chocolate and Santa. Many of the kids were dressed in their pajamas as the school?s first ever Evening with Santa began. ?We used to do Breakfast with Santa, but many kids missed him early in the morning, so we decided to have an Evening with Santa,? explained the school?s principal, Bill Card. Kids filled up on cookies and ran around the room in anticipation of Santa?s arrival. Others were going over their list, knowing exactly what to tell Santa they wanted for Christmas.

Finally, Glendale makes a decision that I can get behind. Banning the pot convention (which would have taken place on private property) was a wise choice. I do not want all those stoners bothering me, especially during Girl Scout cookie season. Right on, city of Glendale! Can you imagine those munchie-induced lunatics running rampant in the streets? Who needs more pizza deliveries on crowded city streets? And the pull on our cable system with all those video gamers?

This fall, the L.A. Times asked readers to share their special cookie recipes for the third annual Holiday Cookie Bake-Off, and then to help narrow down their favorites to the top 50. And this year, Glendale and Burbank staked out a strong showing in the top 10. The Times received close to 200 submissions, and more than 2,500 votes were cast. The top vote-getters were taken to Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts in Pasadena, where students spent one Saturday morning baking batches of cookies.

Thirteen years after I was graduated from Rosemont Middle School, I returned for lunch this week to sample the school's lunch options as mandated by new federal rules. I joined seventh-graders Isabelle Avanosian, Ian Dankowski and Anna Shim, and eighth-grader Nina Kim. For $2.50 we each had whole-grain pasta, chicken or meatballs, salad, grapes, peaches and, for some, sliced cucumbers. The lunch was one of the most balanced school cafeteria meals I may ever have eaten, and everyone cleaned their plates.

The rumors are true: The Girl Scouts of the USA are pairing up with Nestle to create candy bars flavored like the famous cookies -- and they'll be available this week. The bars will come in three options: Thin Mints, Caramel & Coconut and Peanut Butter Creme, all based on cookies that the Girl Scouts have sold for years to raise money. Nestle USA is based in Glendale. On Wednesday, customers can start buying the bars online in a limited-edition pre-sale on the Nestle Crunch Facebook page . Then, from June through September, the bars are to be sold at retailers nationwide.

Did you survive the storm last week? I'm not talking about a meteorological event, but a saccharine-sweet cultural tempest that just swept through not only our community, but the nation. I'm talking about Girl Scout cookie time. Though the eye of the storm has passed, you can still find them in front of Pavilions and Virgil's Hardware, Ralph's and CVS. After that frenzied first week cookies are released, things have settled down to a Tagalong-induced self-loathing lull. Thankfully, we only have a few spare boxes of Thin Mints left in our house.

It’s that time of year again — Girl Scout cookie time. This year, for the first time, we have a Girl Scout in our family. Our daughter Becky is a first time Daisy Scout and I am her troop’s co-leader. I wasn’t a Girl Scout when I was a kid, but instead was a Camp Fire Girl. While there are some similarities — we sold candy instead of cookies — most everything about Girl Scouts is totally new to me. Being a leader, I can see just how large the Girl Scout organization is, and how many women volunteer countless hours for the girls.

I?m a mom. I?ve held that title since our twins were born six years ago. Though I always thought I?d have kids, I didn?t think I would be in my 40s when it happened. With Mother?s Day coming up Sunday, I?ve been thinking about my own mom, who passed away a little more than 10 years ago. It makes me sad that my kids will never know her, or she them. Ever since the day that my husband and I were married in 1995, my mom talked a lot about our future children and even called them by the names we already had picked out. One year for Christmas, I made her a life-sized toddler boy doll to hold the place of her grandson-to-be.

Piles of homemade cookies on students’ desks created a party-like atmosphere, but they were part of a serious lesson, English teacher Mandy Pankowski said. The Rosemont Middle School eighth-graders made cereal squares, brownies and rice-crispy-treat improvisations, but to make each one they had to start from scratch and follow directions well, or they would have ended up like 13-year-old Amanda Hemingway, who was busy enjoying other people’s cookies. “I was supposed to cook them for eight minutes, but I cooked them for 40,” said Amanda, adding that she forgot about the cookies, and her oven subsequently filled with smoke.

The Glendale News-Press visited an English class at Rosemont Middle School, where students brought homemade cookies to class, and asked students, “What did you like most about your cookie-baking assignment, and why?”   “It was a fun way of leaning, and it taught us how to follow directions, and following directions really helps you in life.” AMIR HAJIMIRSADEGHI, 13 Montrose       “Probably trying the different cookies because it was interesting to see how different cookies tasted.

Two weeks ago I wrote about my enthusiasm for outdoor Christmas lighting. The truth is, my obsession goes ridiculously beyond mere lighting. I?m equally ? if not even more so ? enamored of pretty much any and all Christmas decorations and traditions. Maybe I was raised by elves, but this affliction is why my attic is all but inaccessible 11 months out of the year, crammed joists-to-rafters as it is with aging corrugated boxes and large plastic bins filled to overflowing with Christmas tchotchkes and doodads, ornaments and garland and more.