Make it Yourself!
We realize today is Valentine's Day, but we already bombarded you with our thoughts on that a few weeks ago. After all, how much help would it be to get tips and ideas on the day itself? Not at all. And anyway, we've got bigger fish to fry today: Girl Scout Cookies.
One of SFR's delivery drivers came by today with a couple of boxes; namely, Thin Mints and Samoas (are these proper names? Aw, whatever. The copy editor will definitely figure it out. Copy editor's note: Yes, you are correct, Fork)–the two best kinds (don't @us, Tagalong fans; those cookies are wack. Copy editor's note: Shut the hell your mouth, Fork). And so follows our train of thought from that exchange:
-Ohmygod. Samoas!
-Samoas are better than Thin Mints.
-Thin Mints are better than Tagalongs.
-Everything is better than Tagalongs.
-A slap to the mouth is better than Tagalongs.
-It's easy to find cookies like Thin Mints, though … those Keebler Grasshoppers, for example.
-Yet we've never found a good Samoa alternative during the non Girl Scout months.
-How would we make those ourselves? Has anyone else ever had this idea?
-TO THE LIBRARY! … or to the internet, which is much closer.
As it turns out, tons of people have had the same idea. Tons of people who are less lazy than us. This is fine, because we generally use our lab for figuring out how to make gummi (yes, with an "I") candies. Thus, we compiled what we think are some of the best at-home recipes for Girl Scout goodness.
We start, of course, with Samoas, the best of the bunch, and we choose this recipe from Bakers Royale because it makes 50-60 cookies—which is hardly enough, but will have to do. We also like it because the original author plainly states how excited they are, and we appreciate that.
We also wound up on a blog called Sprinkle Some Sunshine, where they've figured out the ancient secrets to the Do-si-Do, a cookie not entirely unlike the Tagalong, but more like a peanut butter Oreo and also not gross. We're putting Sprinkle Some Sunshine into our regular rotation, even if its owner hasn't updates since 2014 (maybe if we help them get a traffic spike, they'll come back?)
And if you absolutely MUST HAVE Thin Mints, this also awesome blog called Katrina's Kitchen not only shows you how, our new hero Katrina has step-by-step photos of what the stuff's supposed to look like while you're doing it.
Just remember that it's also important to support young women by picking up the real thing when you can. But sometimes you've just gotta do what you've gotta do. Don't @us.
As a bonus, here's how to make an Orange Julius at home. Don't act like that's not something you've always thought about.
Also
–Radish & Rye definitely reopened over at Luna recently (just like we said they would), and we're excited to check it out or make our food writer check it out. Looks like it'll be pretty great—though, to be fair, we always thought they were pretty good (especially that whiskey selection).
-Over at Sweetwater Harvest Kitchen, the ownership says they'll donate 2 percent of all cash sales this month to Animal Protection of New Mexico, a nonprofit animal advocacy organization in Albuquerque. The Fork loves animals and The Fork loves when people do things to help animals, especially when they're notable business-folk.
-We've been reminding you about Santa Fe Restaurant Week for some time now (it starts tomorrow), and this week we're also going to remind you about next month's Albuquerque Restaurant Week (March 3-10). Consider yourself reminded. Of what, you ask? Well, of all the special events and menus and such. Go forth and go nuts.
-You may have heard rumblings about a complicated wage bill making its way through the legislature, and while we stand by how it's complicated and aren't going to spell out the whole thing for you here, we did reach out to a local server and bartender to get an idea of how it might affect tipped restaurant workers.
-Lastly, in the local's corner, the Santa Fe School of Cooking continues its mission to keep it local as hell around here with a fundraiser on Thursday Feb. 28. It features a special three-course dinner created to help raise funds for New Mexico School for the Arts students to travel to New York City and spread the message of jazz at the New York City Jazz Festival. Find tickets here.
Food+NYC=Glorious.
More Tidbits
-Things are looking bleak for rural farmers in India as reported by NPR. It's become so bad, in fact, that a 44-year-old farmer sent the profits from an entire crop (roughly $15) to India's prime minister Narendra Modi as a statement.
-Over at bonappetit.com, find seven good reasons for avoiding the V-Day restaurant rush and sticking closer to home.
-Let's talk urban agriculture for a second—y'know, that thing where people who live in cities get sick of eating garbage food so they build community gardens and rooftop veggie, ummm … coops and such. US News has a pretty neat story about how the USA might learn a thing or two from Cuba that we didn't in that Conan O'Brien special.
-We didn't hear about it until today, but popular one-time Top Chef contestant Fatima Ali succumbed to cancer late last month. It's always tragic when someone who brings people together with food dies.
-Popular ice creamery Ben & Jerry's has created a flavor specifically for people who find themselves single on Valentine's Day in conjunction with Huffington Post. On their own site, B&J has broken down reasons why it's cool to be alone.
-Meanwhile, if you INSIST on eating healthy snacks, brit.co has you covered. Get healthy, maybe? We don't know. Live your lives.
DOUNLE-BONUS REVERSE ENGINEERING VID!!!!
Finally
In the print edition of SFR, Zibby Wilder created a map of sorts for singles to track down other hot people.
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A Totally Scientific Breakdown of The Fork’s Correspondence
Number of Letters Received
21
*Get it together, legions of fans!
Most Helpful Tip of the Week
“We’re jazzed!”
*Is it also because it’s 1997 and Friends is on?
Actually Helpful Tip
*Nobody helped us with anything this week! Not even a little bit. Not even at all! That’s twice. TWICE!
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See you later, maybe … if you even care about us anymore
The Fork
