be sophisticated food. Tonight my culinary delight of choice consists of green grapes (eaten with the fingers, of course) and animal cookies (drowned in whole milk and eaten with a spoon....like my own private cold cereal). So, I thought I would extoll the virtues of animal cookies and milk. My current favorite brand are the 365 Organic Animal Cookies from Whole Foods Market. I couldn't get an actual photo, but they look something like this <----- Quite delicious when eaten as a cereal, I must say. Some of my favorite animal cookies from my childhood were the frosted ones. (As a kid, I seem to remember calling them animal crackers...was that my subconscious effort to fool my mom into thinking that they didn't actually count as a dessert? Or was it a label that she affixed to assuage her guilt for actually feeding me sugar? I have no idea. Either way, who were we kidding!?!!? These were coated in pure sugar frosting
bliss.) Now those of you who know me well, know I'm a little uptight about my food and that the hydrogenated oils in these frosted badboys just do not measure up to what I put in my body. Typically I don't make exceptions on the hydrogenated oils issue unless we are a guest for dinner in someone's home -- then I eat on a "don't ask, don't tell" basis (unless it's a member of my own family of origin, of course, in which case I ask "Are you still angry about the time I . . . fill in the blank . . . when I was in the first grade, and are you intentionally trying to kill me!?!??"). But when it comes to these frosted animal crackers, there is no need for asking or telling, I know exactly what's in them. And despite my sure knowledge of the specious ingredients that will almost certainly shorten my life expectancy and most definitely reduce my quality of life in the ensuing years, these are at the very least beyond yummy, if not altogether "good food." And while I don't ever purchase them for myself, if you invite me to a picnic or potluck or game night, I have been known to surreptitiously down a Costco sized bag of these approximately once every two years or so. Now you know the truth.
