Why are Chocolate Chip Cookies the default cookie?

Posted by random olio

Ah, what a wonderful weekend I had. It was between 75-80 degrees over the weekend, and we did all we could to be outside most of the weekend. I got a little pink, or maybe a little burnt. I do not mind. As pale as I am, I am used to the first sun of the season to leave me a little crisp around the edges. We had brunch outside, ran errands, decided to stay in Portland and do an early happy hour, I sat in the sun and read, and we extensively cleaned up our back yard. A full, sun filled weekend. It is supposed to be nice again today, but then we go back to rain for the rest of the week. I am just grateful for any amount of sunshine we can get right now!

I was also going to make Chris some of his favorite chocolate chip cookies yesterday, but then I was just wiped out after hours in the sun and hours cleaning up the backyard. Instead while parking my butt on the couch, and letting my mind wander a bit, I came to this random question: Why are chocolate chip cookies the default cookie or usually the cookie of choice? At meetings you usually get a choice of ham, turkey or veggie sandwiches or wraps. When you get a cookie it is usually chocolate chip. Why is that?

When I Googled: “Why are chocolate chip cookies the default cookie” all I got was a list of recipes for chocolate chip cookies. So I decided to look at the history of the chocolate chip cookie. This is what I found on Wikipedia:

“The chocolate chip cookie was accidentally developed by Ruth Graves Wakefield in 1930. She owned the Toll House Inn, in Whitman, Massachusetts, a very popular restaurant that featured home cooking in the 1930s. Her cookbook, Toll House Tried and True Recipes, was published in 1936 by M. Barrows & Company, New York. It included the recipe “Toll House Chocolate Crunch Cookie”, which rapidly became a favorite to be baked in American homes.

Wakefield is said to have been making chocolate cookies and on running out of regular baker’s chocolate, substituted broken pieces of semi-sweet chocolate from Nestlé thinking that they would melt and mix into the batter. They did not and the chocolate chip cookie was born. Wakefield sold the recipe to Nestlé in exchange for a lifetime supply of chocolate chips. Every bag of Nestlé chocolate chips sold in North America has a variation (butter vs. margarine is now a stated option) of her original recipe printed on the back.”

Ah, Nestle Toll House. Just thinking of the yellow bag reminds me of my grandma. She always made the recipe on the back of the bag of chocolate chips, and at the time (I am not sure if it is still the case today) the recipe called for Crisco. I never thought anything of it. Now I am grossed out thinking of all the many batches and batches of cookies I ate that were made with Crisco. I use butter today. My mom used margarine, mostly because I think it was the least expensive. She also made a variation of the chocolate chip cookie in bar form, what she called: “Congo Squares.” It is interesting to think my grandma = Crisco, my mom = margarine, me = butter. I guess you do not always do things they way you were raised.

Massachusetts has even named the chocolate chip cookie the state cookie. I love them, and I eat them, but how did they become the cookie of choice? What is your default cookie?

EmpowHER Blogger Network

Posted by random olio

I recently became affiliated with the EmpowHER Blogger Network. EmpowHER is a Social Health Community for Women. I highly recommend taking a moment to explore their website. You will find many women bloggers writing about women’s issues, health and wellness, exercise, eating, weight, etc. While there are lots of pages of things I might not be as interested about (on diseases, or not so happy topics) I am sure that many folks find the resources on the website helpful to them. I wanted to share their website for those of you that might be interested, as I follow their exercise and eating healthy topics.

Exercise and healthy eating is NOW important to me, but it has not always been. I grew up in Indiana, where I might have mentioned in a past blog post that corn should have been listed as the state vegetable. There is a small amusement park/area in Indiana called: Indiana Beach. They have a tagline of: “There is more than corn in Indiana.” I am not sure I believe them! Well, truth be told, I grew up hating my vegetables. It took at least until I was twenty-five years old and married before I would start to enjoy eating any vegetable (thank you, hubby for making them so yummy). I started to enjoy vegetables because of how he prepared them, and also because living in Oregon there are a vast variety of vegetables that grow local and are fresh and easily accessible to obtain, especially with our many farmers markets.

Lots of things have happened in my life since my vegetable breakthrough, I will not go into those now, but I will tell you that what has resulted from all those things is an excitement for eating healthy and for consistent exercise. Friends that knew me from a younger age are still shocked at my transformation with food. I now willingly ask for vegetables at restaurants, crave them, and know that they are benefiting my health. Changing my diet has changed my mood, my energy level, and driven me to be motivated to stay in shape and be healthy. As I have changed my diet, I have also gotten into running. I try to run at least 6 days a week, it has been a great stress release from the day. The other idea on my list to try is boxing, this article about women boxing workouts on the EmpowHER site has inspired me to see where I can start boxing in my area. Here is another good article from their website on 5 Ways to Exercise Everyday.

Take a moment to explore their website!

Are you a waker?

Posted by random olio

Gosh, I feel like I know what it must have been like on Noah’s Ark. It will not stop raining in Portland! Yes, I have lived here a long time and I am used to it, but usually it rains, then is gloomy the next day, then it rains, you get the picture. These last few weeks it has been raining non-stop, and my iPhone shows rain for the next week straight. I am starting to think that this year the saying should be March showers bring…sun and flip flops in April? For those of you that have sunshine send some my way!

Yesterday I read the book: “Evil Plans: Having Fun on the Road to World Domination” by Hugh MacLeod. It is a quick read, with short, quick chapters and even has cartoons throughout that break it up a bit. I read it all during yesterday’s run, so you will only need about an hour. I definitely recommend it if you are wanting to get out of your current job and you are needing inspiration and a little kick in the butt to do so, OR if you left your job and are breaking out on your own and need a reminder for why you broke free. Hugh starts the book with this idea:

“Sigmund Freud once said that in order to be truly happy in life, a human being needed to acquire two things: the capacity to work, and the capacity to love.” [His premise of an “Evil Plan” is to be able to do both at the same time]. page 2

He also has a cartoon that says: “the best way to get approval is not to need it.” I love that idea. (I apologize I forgot to note the page number). At the very end of the book he has a chapter called: “Are you a Waker?”

“A waker is someone who is very good at waking other people up from their metaphorical slumber, temporary or otherwise. Some people just have the gift. Being around them or their work just makes you feel more alive, more inspired, more motivated, more awake. The best wakers will make you do crazy-ass things, like quit your boring job and start your own business, write that song, move to Thailand, forgive that someone who once hurt you, or finally tell that girl that you love her. A waker reminds you on a constant basis just how alive you really are. Just how much human potential you really have inside of you. And there’s something about their influence that makes you utterly unable to go back to “sleep” ever again, despite your best efforts.” page 168

I love this idea of being a waker and wanted to share it with you! I want to help others feel more alive and more awake! Just as I want others to help me in that endeavor. What if we all attempted to do that for each other?

You can learn more about Hugh MacLeod on his website/blog.

Happy Friday! Stay dry or enjoy the sunshine…be a waker this weekend for someone else!

Triple C weekend – (Cleaning/Creativity/Cookies)

Posted by random olio

I had a great weekend! Chris and I randomly started cleaning out the garage on Saturday. We purged, took items to Goodwill, organized, found items to sell on eBay, and then headed into the house and thoroughly cleaned. Ah, spring cleaning! It is almost as though spring cleaning should be done spontaneously. We even did all the laundry. It felt great to accomplish so much together. At the end of the night I made Chris’ favorite Chocolate Chip Cookies.

mmm...chocolate chip cookies

I have been making this recipe for years, but rather than type it up, I also found it recently posted here. My notes on how I alter this recipe: I use 2 cups of chocolate chips. I bake both cookies sheets at the same time and switch which rack they are on at about 6 1/2 to 7 minutes in to the baking time. I also make smaller cookies (use 1 Tablespoon) to form each ball. Mine look chewier (and are chewier) than the picture on the recipe link.

Since we worked so hard on Saturday, Sunday felt laid back, AND while we had moments of snow flurries, what we also had is SUN. Gosh how we Portlanders fill with glee when the sun comes out. It was perfect. For most of the afternoon, my studio had sun. It was bright and I was inspired. So, between yummy brunch and my run, I painted for quite a few hours. I finished a painting and have almost finished another.

newly finished painting...

I will post the other painting once I finish it. Happy Monday! Do something creative today!

50 Posts Already!?

Posted by random olio

Yesterday I posted my 50th blog post. I know for many bloggers out there that is not a huge feat, but for me it is exciting! When I started Random Olio I did not know where I was going with it, but each day I have loved putting my random hodgepodge into the world of ideas over the Internet. When I started I know I would never have imagined writing 50 different blog posts. Yet, I have loved every moment of it. There have been times when I felt: “What is the point of this?” or “Why am I even taking the time to do it?” I would get discouraged, and then I would hear from a blog follower, or a friend that said: “Your blog made me think about this idea differently. Thank you for continuing to write.” Those little comments encouraged me to keep going. Often we will be out and about in town, or I will be on the treadmill, or in the shower (where I do my best thinking), and an idea will come to me. I will pause the treadmill, or finish my shower, or send myself an email and come and write for a bit. Just enough to get the idea down and out of my head, then I come back later to expand on the idea.

So, thank you for everyone that has continued to read Random Olio over the last 1-50 posts. I am grateful to you! Feel free to post your comments and feedback anytime. I love hearing from you!

Since it is also Friday, I wanted to share a little fun with you. I watch Ellen and I think her “Dance Dare” is a hoot. Have fun watching her introduction video here: