Warm Cookies and Cold Milk

Dear Diary,

There was a time when the smell of cookies baking was pure heaven.  It was a time when things were much simpler.  Warm cookies, preferably Mom's Toll House cookies, and a glass of cold milk was such a delight.  Children seem to delight in the little things whereas we grown-ups ruminated ad nauseum on all the big things.  I thought, at least for today, I would try to focus on the little things.

I loved cooking with my mother and grandmother.  The kitchen seemed such a safe and welcoming place.  There was always something cooking, especially at this time of year.  I've added an old, 1956, photograph of Mom and Me making some sweet treat.  The bottle of vanilla extract is clearly visible on the counter.  Since you need vanilla extract to make Toll House cookies I will imagine that is what we are whipping up.

There was a debate between my Auntie and Mother on whether it was better to "boop" the cookies of not.  Booping was when you took a glass and pressed the dough before baking.  My mother was in the "no boop" camp so our cookies were thicker and lumpy, just how I loved them.  My old friend Dotty always made hers very thin and crispy.  Ours were soft and moist.   Both were delicious in their own way.

No matter how you made them, warm cookies and cold milk were the perfect treat after a day of sledding or snowman building.  Walking into that kitchen and seeing my grandmother in her rocking chair working on a crossword puzzle is one of my favorite memories of her.  I found this quote the other day and I think it really does summarize how I feel about the photographic image now.  "The way we relate to imagery is changing. Our new relationship is less about witness, evidence and document and much more about experience, sharing, moment and streaming - from fixed to fluid." ~ Stephen Mayes