Meet The Team / Neil Goldstein

As we last left him, our hero was desperately trying to re-create that fudge cookie madness of his childhood. OK, been watching old cartoons a bit while doing all of this cocoa-based reminiscing, but I digress. I thought I should give a quick update on my last entry on this subject. At Amy and Alec's urging, I tried the Dare Ultimate Fudge Cookies that they had recommended to me from the last post. They were, much to my pleasure (and horror because I CANT STOP EATING THEM), every bit as good as the old Burry Fudgetowns.

Then I had the kids try the new Oreo Fudgees that one of the commenters had recommended last time. They deemed them better than the all-chocolate Oreo, but not as good as the Dares. One plus though: A great shape for the dunkers of the cookie world. (C'mon folks, stand up and be recognized. We know you're out there. Do not be ashamed of your milky-finger habits)

Elsewhere on the fudge cookie front, we have not yet had an all-chocolate EL Fudge sighting since our one commenter claimed to have bought a package. No word from them either. Maybe they were older than we thought? Get well soon fellow cookie addict!

The mallow family contains several plants we see growing wild. Common mallow is the one most easily found, and was growing all over my friends Adirondack farm. It seems to love disturbed soil and likes to grow along fences, barn walls, curbs, and other obstructions. Relatives include cotton, okra, hibiscus, and durian. The original marshmallows were made from a plant actually called marsh mallow by boiling pieces of the root of the plant in water, adding sugar and whipping. Then, the thick, white confection was dropped in spoon fulls onto waxed paper to dry into candy.

The kids and I spent 3 days last week in the Southern Adirondacks. A family friend, who is quite an outdoorsman, and experienced birdwatcher, purchased about 40 acres a couple years ago near Hinckley Reservoir in upstate New York. He has been telling me that I need to come up for a visit, and we finally took him up on the offer. One thing that he mentioned in advance of the visit was that he wanted me to show him what was edible on his property. The next several posts will all be from that visit.

I can remember watching commercials for Burry Fudge Town cookies as a kid. My mother would rarely buy them always telling us that they weren't a good value. I can't really tell you how they compared to the other fudge cookies of the day price wise, but the few times that Waldbaums would have them on sale we would get a box or two, and they were the best of the all-chocolate sandwich cookies.

Funny that the other fudge sandwich cookies of the day are also gone. My next favorite, and a good alternative to the Burry was Keebler's Chocolate Fudge Sandwich Cookie. These were almost as good, and must have been a better value in moms eyes, as they were frequently in the house (along with another cookie from the past, the Keebler Rich-N-Chips). At some point I discovered Sunshine's Bavarian Fingers, an all chocolate version of the Vienna Finger. Last but not least was the all chocolate version of the Keebler El Fudge. Both of these are gone now too! Does the public really loathe chocolate redundancy that much?

My son Alec, who frequently tags along with Amy and me on our foraging hikes, is camping this week in upstate New York, with my wife Marti, and his cousin Colten. I received a picture mail message today around lunchtime which is displayed here. The caption in the text message read: Your son's catch. Complete with butter and garnish!