My love affair with Girl Scout cookies started out when I was 6 and became a Brownie. How I loved wearing that little uniform to school on troop meeting days, especially the little orange elastic "flashers" that held the knee socks up. I LOVED being a girl scout. I actually stuck with it until tenth grade, although by that time, I had sworn everyone who knew about it to secrecy, for fear word would get out at school that I was still a "girdle sprout." How humiliating that would have been!
I had tons of badges on my uniform sash, but the one that always, always eluded me was the "100 boxes" patch. I could never manage to sell that many cookies. I blamed my parents...my dad was the only father who refused to take the order form to work. My parents patiently explained that someone in my dad's position (he happened to be CEO at the time) couldn't be asking his employees to buy cookies from his daughters. I said to hell with decorum, I NEED that patch! But, alas, it was never meant to be.
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I will give my parents credit for always buying several boxes themselves, at least. Dad's favorites were Samoas, which mom hated...she couldn't stand anything with coconut. She was more a Thin Mint girl herself. They always bought a box or two of the Trefoils/Shortbread, because, for whatever reason, that box actually contained 48 cookies instead of the average 15 that $2.50 got you in most other varieties. My favorites were the Tagalongs, also known as Peanut Butter Patties, depending on where you were from. A vanilla cookie topped with a layer of peanut butter and then draped in chocolate. Ahhhh... what could be better?
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Fast forward to my freshman year of college. I met my husband the very first day I set foot on campus. But, I was still stuck on an old boyfriend back home, a year younger than me and left behind to finish high school (and later, come out, but that's another story for another day). So, I met Chris the first day of college, back in September. We didn't start dating until March, though, when he had all but given up on me. My roommate finally shook some sense into me and encouraged me to give him a chance. So, she talked to me, and she talked to Chris, and miracle of miracles, we finally went on that first date. I trusted him because he had nice hands.
After going out to dinner, we ended up back in his dorm room to watch a movie. He offered me a snack, so I said something along the lines of "Sure, what do you have?" He was a college boy living in a dorm, so I didn't have high hopes for anything gourmet. Maybe some chips and some warm soda...possibly, if I was lucky, some microwave popcorn. But, no, it was the first of what was to be many surprises from my future spouse. He pulled a sleeve of Girl Scout Thin Mint cookies out of his tiny freezer. Swoon! What a precious commodity, and he was sharing with ME!
I was never one to kiss on the first date, and I'm also not really one to kiss and tell, but let me tell you this: cold thin mints in your mouth right before a smooch make for some mighty fine kissing indeed. So fine that I married that boy 3 1/2 years later, and we always, ALWAYS, keep Girl Scout Thin Mints in our freezer.
(c) 2010 Lisa Kuebler
*Originally published as part of the Salon Kitchen Challenge, OpenSalon.com, February 2010.
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