Wednesday, March 25, 2009

C is for...Cookie?

Julie Larios, VCFA faculty member and poet and goddess of the inspiring challenge, recently posted about a blog-challenge going around in which you are assigned a letter of the alphabet and then must post a list of 10 things you love that begin with that letter. She volunteered to assign letters to anyone else who wanted to play, and I was given the letter C. Now that my second packet for school has been sent off and I actually have a few minutes to post something, please allow me to present my C-list:


1. Cats. My cat (Cleo, another C!) in particular and also cats in general. My family always had cats growing up, and while I like dogs too, I am definitely a "cat person." They are cuddly and cute and sure, they can drive you crazy, but don't the ones we love always make us a little nuts? Even when Cleo is contrary to the point where she makes me want to cry, all it takes is a few minutes of her curled up with me on the couch, and all is forgiven.


2. Coffee. A delicious over-sweetened cup while I'm sitting at the computer in the morning: complete contentment.

3. Captain Jean-Luc Picard. Surely this needs no explanation.


4. Creatures, especially of the mythological kind. Dragons, centaurs, unicorns, manticores, hippogriffs, what-have-you.


5. Children. The ones I write for; the ones that belong to nice friends, old and new; and the ones I am lucky enough to be honorary "Aunt Mikki" to (Hi Maddie, Sophie, Emily, Alex, and Evie!).

6. Computer games. Even though I'm on temporary hiatus (trying not to cave and get a new, supercharged video card until after I'm done with my MFA), I have very fond memories of hours and hours and hours spent at my computer playing role-playing fantasy adventure games like Fallout and Neverwinter Nights. I hear I am totally missing out by not playing Fallout 3 right now. I believe it. It is very hard to resist. When I play the D&D-style games, I am usually some sort of combo character, so I can fight and use magic—I can never choose just one specialty, which means I never fully realize any particular set of skills...but choosing just one is hard, when there are so many cool options available.

7. Cereal. I used to have a real problem with cereal—like, I would eat three bowls at a time—but I've got it more under control these days. Still love it, though. I try to eat relatively healthy cereals for breakfast, but I almost always have some Frosted Flakes on hand for emergencies. When absolutely required, I will go to the corner store and get some Lucky Charms. And I have a deep nostalgic love for Smurfberry Crunch.


8. Chinese food. My go-to take-out option and one of my top two comfort foods of choice (the other is Italian food, which is probably my top favorite, but that doesn't begin with C). I especially like chicken chow fun (usually with snow peas but no other vegetables) and fried rice and egg rolls. You know, the classics.

9. Cherry Garcia frozen yogurt, from my good pals Ben & Jerry. Okay, I guess this is really my top comfort food option. I have to make myself stop buying it. I crave it pretty much all the time, though, and get a little thrill every time I see that green-rimmed little container in the freezer section at the store. My favorite way to eat it is with chocolate syrup and chopped walnuts. (Actually, my VERY favorite way to eat it is with oreo cookies smushed up in it, but that way lies madness, and I never go there except when suffering serious illness or broken heart.)


10. And finally...yes, cookies. Oreos are my favorite packaged variety. My favorite bakery variety are the chocolate chip walnut cookies they used to have at the Ithaca Bakery, until one day they told me they were no longer making them. I hope they have since come to their senses. I will check the next time I'm up in Ithaca, which will hopefully be this spring. If I bake cookies, which does not happen very often, my favorite kind to make is cranberry oatmeal. Although you can never go wrong with good old-fashioned Nestle Tollhouse, either.


11. Can't believe I almost forgot one of my favorite C animals - chickens! Plump, cluck-a-licious bundles of white fluffy goodness. Okay, yes, I know not all chickens are the fat white blobs that I love so much, but some of them are, like my favorite children's book chicken, Minerva Louise. Also when I lived in Lansing, NY, there was a house I used to pass sometimes that had bunches of those perfect fat white chickens running around on the lawn. They made me very happy. :)


If anyone out there would like to play, let me know and I'll assign you a letter!

10 comments:

  1. I keep saying cheese over and over again but sadly it's not your friend! :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Excellent list, Mikki, though it's making me hungry - cereal, yummm; cookies, yumm; Cherry Garcia ice cream, yumm (a favorite, after Napoleon Dynamite which is Cherry Garcia twisted with Chocolate Fudge Brownie....yummm....yummmm....

    Congratulations on finishing up w/Packet #2!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Yeah, funny how so many of my favorite things happen to be edible! :) And so many dessert items, too... can't help but notice the total absence of vegetables on this list. (I do like vegetables...just not quite as much as I like cookies, Chinese food, etc.)

    ReplyDelete
  4. I did not see chocolate on your list. A serious oversight on your part, to say the least.

    congrats on packet 2!

    Dawn

    ReplyDelete
  5. Great list, Mikki! Your blog title will have me singing Cookie Monster's "C is for Cookie" song the rest of the night... :-)

    ReplyDelete
  6. omg, Mikki - Jean-Luc!! Another Trekkie! (Battlestar, too?? In which case maybe we could add good Cylon to the list?)

    ReplyDelete
  7. Mikki - it would be SO hard to like collards or cabbage or cauliflower as much as cookies.....

    ReplyDelete
  8. I noticed right at the beginning that 6 out of 11 things were food (7 if you count John Luc Picard.)

    On the cereal front, I'll add two to the list to check out:

    1) Apple cinnamon cheerios. Totally new and awesome.

    2) I've been recently eating what I call Cheerios surprise. Take a small amount of Rasin Bran in a bowl, then cover with Cheerios. It's an amazing combo. Trust me.

    And if you give me a letter, I'll do one on my blog!

    ReplyDelete
  9. i just wanted to drop by & say hello
    my youngest daughter, caroline, just read the library lion to me & we both loved it!!
    you should have seen her face light up when she saw your name...we are knudsen's too!
    best wishes
    paige

    ReplyDelete
  10. So glad you guys have been enjoying the list! :)

    Dawn - I do love chocolate, but actually probably not as much as I love the other things on this list.

    Janet - yes, trekkie! Not BSG, though. I tried watching for a while but just couldn't get into it.

    Julie - if this had been a B list, Brussels sprouts would have made it on here. I do love those!

    David - I will have to try the Apple Cinnamon Cheerios! But, um, maybe not the Cheerios surprise. :) Your letter is...T!

    Paige - Hooray for Knudsens! :) Very glad you and your daughter liked Library Lion!!

    ReplyDelete