Green Cherries and Redpop

Every Christmas I bake a batch of holiday sugar cookies decorated with red and green maraschino cherries. Not only are they delicious, but they make nice gifts for people to whom you really should give SOMETHING, but you just don't know what it is. It has a personal touch and is a better show of effort than a shrink-wrapped basket of sausages, I think. This year, my Christmas cookies would go to Orrick's parents, with whom I'll be spending the bulk of the holiday.

I started the effort early this year. With my handy-dandy Fannie Farmer cookbook locked a few thousand miles away in Tennessee, I first had to do some culinary investigation. I compared recipes from Alton Brown and Betty Crocker. I scoured the Food Network and Cooks.com websites. From the Joy of Cooking to the I Hate to Cook cookbook, nothing had the ring of perfect buttery-vanilla goodness that Fannie Farmer had always guaranteed. In fact, most of these recipes were meant to be sullied by some concoction of over-sweet icing. Good God, no! After a few weeks' search, I spotted good ol' Fannie at a used book bookshop and hurriedly copied the favored recipe into my trusty notebook.

With recipe and required ingredients at the ready, all I would need were the decorative cherries. Red maraschino cherries were not difficult to find, but this year the green ones were particularly wily. Orrick and I searched nearly every grocery, liquor, and drug store within a 20 mile radius and continually found only the red. Come on, kids, it's Christmas! Show us a little green, eh?

Finally, after shopping specialty and restaurant supply stores without luck, we decided on one final stop before giving up. Entering Bristol Farms, we spotted Orrick's father and soon, his mother too. In no time, we were all involved in the quest. We even enlisted the employees. We were led to an aisle that showcased the cocktail cherries in nearly every color. Yellow lemon. Blue wildberry. Orange something. Red, of course. But no green. I was on the verge of a yellow-and-blue-make-green concoction when Joanan suggested we look for candied or dried cherries. Another clerk led us there and, viola! Green cherries! Had it not been for the proximity of Orrick's folks, I'm sure I would have let out a loud yelp and performed a unique End Zone dance at the discovery. As it was, I left it at a less-than-subtle "You're the MAN!" that earned me a $5 discount coupon from the clerk's chest pocket.

The boon $5 coupon afforded another luxury when I stumbled across the soda aisle. My eyes stopped on the Jolt! and Diet Stewart's colas, but my heart stopped at the sight of Detroit, Michigan's own FAYGO.

Faygo! Faygo! Oh my God, Faygo! Redpop!

Despite the fact that there is (to my knowledge) no Diet Redpop, I couldn't help myself. I had to buy it. It was, after all, essentially free, thanks to my helpful cherry-finding clerk. FAYGO!!!!

I love Bristol Farms.

With the cherries and Faygo in hand, we said our thank yous and goodbyes to Orrick's folks and went home to share the red-poppy goodness over lunch. Ummmm....

This morning, I made the cookies that will be delivered this evening, so glad to have finally found the green cherries. Red-topped cookies alone would hardly have been festive enough.

Of course, there's no doubt that when Joanan sees these cookies, she'll recognize the cherries that she was instrumental in helping to find. With any luck, she'll get a kick out of it. Personal Touch: Advanced Level.

Merry Christmas everyone.
More to come... next year!