I’ve got nothing on Pavlov’s dog

While Eee and I were at the mall last weekend I gave into temptation. It started out in a harmless enough manner. It was really hot outside. We were both severely parched and figured since we’d both only had tiny pieces of toast for breakfast, we could splurge and get a smoothie at Frulatti. Actually she got a smoothie and I got a strawberry peach chiller, but both are not much more than pure sugar conduits, even if most of the sugars are fructose based. Drinks in hand we headed toward the shops.

 

My stomach started to growl a bit about 5 minutes into our wanderings. The smoothie reminded me that it was after noon and my bread and water breakfast had been over four hours ago. The pretzel placed loomed ahead and my resolved weakened. There was no line so mere seconds later I was enjoying a gigantic buttery pretzel coated in salt and dipped in spicy cheddar cheese. It was tasty. We sat on benches, devoured our freshly baked lunches and talked. We haven’t seen each other too much since she started grad school, and a five day separation was far too much after seeing each other just about every day for the last 5 ½ months.

 

Pretzels finished, we headed toward the clothes shops. Eee wanted to get some professional looking clothes. While we both may have graduated from college longer ago than we’d like to admit, she definitely still looks like she could be shopping in the juniors’ section, so she wanted comfy dressy clothes to help ensure her students would take her seriously. Despite her wealth of knowledge, this is her first teaching experience and years of teaching has taught me if you don’t get the students’ respect pretty early on, classes can be miserable. My experience comes from teaching only middle and high school kids, so maybe it won’t be so bad for her. Then again, since her kids may feel more like they are her peers (due to all of them being students), they may be snottier and if she doesn’t look like a prof, they may give her hell.

 

We didn’t get too far down the road when I spotted the cookie place. As I have already acknowledged in several other blogs, I have a weakness for sweets. Mall cookies are no exception, even if they almost always dupe me. See, mall cookies always look really tasty. That day’s batch was no exception. There are always a plethora of cookies to tempt me. Filling the glass cases were snickerdoodles, oatmeal raisin, peanut butter, M & M, triple fudge, chewy pecan, domino, and I’m pretty sure there may have been a chocolate chip or two in there. Mall cookies are deceptive because 99% of the time they look tasty and about 95% of the time they are adequate at best. This batch proved to be barely noteworthy. The one exception was the domino cookie. A chocolate cookie broken up only by some rather large white chocolate squares, it was super yummy. The oatmeal raisin was by far the biggest disappointment as it tasted barely better than the rock hard store brand ones of my childhood. No real flavor to it. I ate only a few bites of it and the snickerdoodle. The rest I packed in my husband’s lunch. He’s the anti-Mikey, he’ll eat anything.

 

The only exception I’ve found to the supreme mediocrity of mall cookies is Blondie’s, but even they have their limits. The oatmeal raisin cookies are phenomenal. Actually anything there containing oatmeal is pretty darn good, even the oatmeal chocolate chippers. The raisin ones are the best though. I’m pretty sure each cookie has about 500 calories thanks to the stick of butter that must go into the production of each and every cookie. I don’t care though, they are worth having to skip dinner for. Eee loves their frosted cookies. While I am not usually a huge fan of sugar topping my already sugar laden cookies, I make an exception for their cookies. Sadly for me (although my waistline is better off because of it), Blondie’s isn’t in the mall I frequent. The only time I step foot in the Blondie’s mall is to see an arty movie (rare since the baby) or to stop by Godiva for a special treat. And although I do love my sweets even I think buying truffles at Godiva and then rushing to the other side of the mall for a stack of cookies is crossing a line.

 

My mediocre cookies are gone as of tonight and I keep telling myself I won’t be tricked again, but I already know it isn’t true. I’ll be lured in by a glance at the giant decorated cookies next time Eee wants to go shopping. I’ll remember my quasi-good experience with the domino and though I’ll know I shouldn’t, I’ll branch out thinking maybe this time I’ll like the others. Unlike Pavlov’s dog, I never learn.