It is a long standing and unquestioned tradition in the Paulsen house that when Charlene is out-of-town, late in the evening, Dave will settle in and watch a movie that Charlene would never select. Never ever ever select. This is why Saturday evening was no surprise. There I was, settled all comfy into the couch. An expensive high quality beer in hand. A movie that Charlene would never select in the DVD player. Planet of the Apes. The most recent edition of the rebooted series. The one I had yet to see. Plus, monkeys give me the creepy crawlies. I don’t know why, they just make me uncomfortable. Perhaps, because they all want to kill me. Yep, that’s it. Any who, with a smile on my face, the lights out, and all ready to get scared, I hit play and… disappointment. Massive disappointment. I had seen this one before. Ugh. Sadness. Great primate sadness. I had accidently rented “Rise of the Planet of the Apes” and not “Dawn of the Planet of the Apes.” Hey, a guy can be forgiven, they both have monkeys on the cover. Mean looking monkeys.
Ugh. I needed to carryon, so I turned to my trusted hobby baking. Finding a new recipe, I realized that the cookies looked a lot like “Snowballs,” which are yummy little bites that often contain jelly beans inside. Conducting some research, I found myself to be wrong. “Snowballs” contained eggs and my selection, “Shortbread Buttons,” was sans eggs. They did indeed look like a new selection. Taking them into work today, a friend complemented me on my Russian Tea Cakes. Oh dear, it dawned on me. I had blundered. Russian Tea Cakes = Polvorones = Mexican Wedding Cookies = Shortbread Buttons. I had conducted another unintended repeat (although technically this one had a small change in the adding of the butter, so based on a technicality, it could be considered a unique cookie in a court of law). I seemed to be in a rut. A rut that only primates can truly appreciate. Man smarter than ape? Not in my case.
PS – Looking to bake tasty Mexican Wedding Cookies? Turn to page 60 of my cookie cookbook, “Today is a Great Day for a Cookie,” and enjoy!
PPS – Turn to page 57 and there you will find “Surprise Snowballs.” Enjoy! Again!