After 90% Pay Cut Still Over Paid?

Yesterday, Monday, the City Council of the tiny blue-collar town, Bell, California, voted to cut their pay 90% and still they are being over-paid?

Four of the five council members were snatching in nearly 100,000 duckets a year for a part-time gig. The pay party came to an end after the LA Times blew the whistle on the city officials with six-figure salaries: The salaries were up until then a closely guarded secret. The then, and now booted, senior town public servants were hauling in the duckets. The chief administrative officer was grabbing 787,637 duckets a year, the assistant city manager, 376,288 duckets a year, the police chief, 457,000. Town citizens demanded, very strongly, using very forceful language, that the council members cut their salaries or boot themselves down the road.

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Oh what devious minds have been at work in the Keebler cookie factory?  Who was it who first proposed "Hey, let's make a cookie out of cheesecake"?  I really hope that person's genius was recognized.  I hope they at least got a nice bonus that following December.  

How is it that I have lived my entire life without cheesecake cookies?  This must be how people felt when air travel was invented.  Every once in a while something so revolutionary comes along that you can't help but wonder how you ever got along without it.  Cheesecake Middles cookies are such an item.

The basics: a dollop of cheesecake inside a graham cracker cookie, with fudge stripes and a fudgy bottom.  The overall visual effect is like that of a thumbprint cookie, but with white creamy cheesecake instead of sticky red jam.  


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Actually the literal name for these, as far as I can tell, is "Newman's Own Organics - The Second Generation - Champion Chip Cookies: Espresso Chocolate Chip."  

Which highlights a problem I have with the Newman's Own packaging in general: way too many words.  

Sometimes using too many words can make things confusing, when you only wanted to clarify the situation.  Such seems to be the case with these cookies and the term "organic."  You will notice that "organic" is in the brand name, but not in the cookie name. 

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"Your Favorites Are Back" proclaimed the package.  And it's true - as I mentioned yesterday, the Mother's cookie company went under in October of 2008 after what Wikipedia describes as "an accounting scandal." 

Luckily for fans, Kellogg purchased the Mother's brand and factory a few months later, and Mother's cookies went back into production in May, 2009.  

Taffy Cookies have what is often referred to as a "small but vocal following."  Taffy fanatics were despondent in the months after Mother's shut down, and before it was announced that Kellogg would be bringing the product back.  The problem is that there is no substitute for Taffy cookies.  


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I'm not actually sure what the "real" name for these is.  They go by many different names, depending on the brand. 

I recently bought a bag made by Mother's Cookies which calls them "Circus Animal Cookies," but my friends bought a bag made by Franz called "Frosted Animal Crackers."  

(Incidentally, my friend and I both accidentally brought said cookies to the same event.  Which was "she's wearing my dress" embarrassing, as well as more than a little weird. Neither of us had eaten these cookies for years, before we picked them up at the store the day before.)


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It seems so obvious in hindsight: Reese's Pieces are little M&M-shaped versions of Reese's Peanut Butter cups.  A realization that was only recently made clear when Hershey trotted out Pieces versions of several other classics, including the beloved and relatively antediluvian Almond Joy candy bar.


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Oatmeal is one of the finest kinds of cookie you can make, and not just because it lends that air of healthfulness.  Although that definitely doesn't hurt!  Oatmeal after all provides dietary fiber, as well as soluble fiber which can help lower cholesterol.  (That is great, because it helps to balance out all the butter.)  Oatmeal gives a cookie body without making it too heavy.  It lends a nutty flavor, and a chewy texture that cannot be reproduced with any other ingredient.  Oatmeal is also really cheap, especially if you buy it in bulk!


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When I was about eight a neighbor invited my older sister and me over a week or so before Christmas to join her and her family in making and decorating gingerbread houses. She made large pans of gingerbread, which she cut into parts to form a small house, glued the parts together with icing, and then decorated the house and "yard" with candy and sugar figurines. It was enormously fun, and Even long after Christmas, I still couldn't bring myself to eat any of the gingerbread house, even though it was all quite edible.

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Oatmeal Raisin CookiesThis is a delicious recipe for oatmeal raisin cookies that I found at Starbucks, which is the actual recipe that they use to make their oh-so-delicious oatmeal raisin cookies.

Ingredients:

1 ½ C old-fashioned rolled oats (not quick-cooking)

½ C all purpose flour

¼ C dark raisins

¼ C golden raisins

¼ C dried cranberries

¼ tsp baking powder

¼ tsp baking soda

½ tsp salt

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Kids love cookies, so it’s only natural that they would want to help make the delicious treats. Parents are often reluctant to let their kids help out in the kitchen, which is a surefire way to make a mess, as well as potentially dangerous. However, cooking teaches kids many valuable lessons—such as math skills, fine motor development, critical thinking and decision-making skills, and life and self-help skills. Creativity and confidence can also develop within the kitchen.

But how should kids participate? Obviously the oven and stove are out, since they are probably the most dangerous aspects of cooking in general; sharp knives and other objects may also be ruled out for younger children. That said, there’s plenty for kids to do in the cookie-making process.

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