Top Things I Will (and Will Not) Miss in D.C. #1: Local Treats

In my spare time I often think about the things I will miss when we eventually leave D.C. As much as Jesse and I are eager to move on, there are a lot of things that will make it hard to say goodbye. Of course the obvious comes to mind, like close friends and all of the connections we've made over the course of our 5 1/2 years, but what will really hit home are the little things that have made our stay so unique - both good and bad. As they come to mind, I'm trying to write them all down!

Today was the first day since I started my blog that I was reminded of something I will miss. I was at Safeway this afternoon picking up a few things for lunch (and plenty of snacks to get me through the day) when I spotted something that I hadn't seen in a while. Way down at the bottom shelf in the cookie aisle, there they were, Murray’s Cookie Jar Classics Chocolatey Chip Cookies.

These cookies are probably the one item that I most associate with visiting my grandparents in Louisiana as a kid – that and the Mardi Gras beads and doubloons I would get to take home. My grandmother would always have an avocado green Tupperware container full of these little flower-shaped cookies (appropriately placed on a low shelf so my sister and I would always have access).

My favorite part about the cookies was that they were not only shaped like flowers, but they had a little hole in the center that was just big enough for your finger. I would stretch out my hand, put a cookie on each, and nibble the petals one by one. Or, I would slide them down past the knuckle and admire my lovely, buttery (and sometimes chocolatey) jewels. Apparently, my fingers were much smaller back then.

The package doesn’t lie when it says “Southern Favorite since 1941," because when we moved to New Jersey they were impossible to find. Murray's cookies are just one of many regional brands or types of foods that are only found in grocery stores in the South. Occasionally, my Mom would get my grandmother to send over a package or two for a treat.

It made me sad standing there in Safeway to think that they have probably been here all this time and I never took advantage. True, they aren't terribly good cookies (as punctuated by the ARTIFICIALLY FLAVORED declaration below Chocolatey), but they haven't changed in 28 years and somehow that makes me smile.