Happy Birthday!

Good Morning,

As we embark on a new season, and a very special birthday, I would like to devote a few words to something that brings me enormous pleasure.

The Mallomar. 

Please don’t think me shallow. I am aware I speak of a cookie. I know you feel the same way.

Don’t worry, it’s our secret. Pinky swear.

This delectable treat is celebrating its 100th birthday this year. That’s HUGE!  Did you know the first box was sold in New Jersey? According to Wikipedia, 70% of mallomars are sold in Metropolitan New York.

You’re welcome, Nabisco.

Last night, as I bit into my first mallomar of the season, that perfect graham cracker circle, covered with a puff of fluffy marshmallow, and enrobed in a dark chocolate shell, I closed my eyes, and I was nine years old again; in a sweater vest, corduroy gauchos, and knee socks, sitting on the red, quilted couch in my wall-paneled den, earth shoes on my feet, hanging over the red and black speckled, shag carpet, while I watched Marcia Brady get hit on the nose by a football.

My mom was in the kitchen preparing dinner, (tuna noodle casserole), singing Debbie Boone’s “You Light Up My Life,” while Dad was on the LIRR, on his way home from work.

The image was so clear in my mind; I was that girl again, if just for a moment.

To me, this cookie, which is available from September through April (a brilliant marketing plan by Nabisco), represents happiness, and freedom from worry. It is my childhood. It is hope, and optimism, and sweetness, wrapped up in a beautiful, yellow package.

So, Happy 100th Birthday, Mallomar! I may not be the first to wish you a happy birthday (and if I am, then that’s a little weird), but I am the most sincere.

Every bite brings me home.

Is there anything better than that, I ask you?

Have a wonderful, chocolate-filled day.