I interrupt the initial post I had planned in my head for this morning to bring you scenes from yesterday’s random excursion.
My son didn’t go to camp yesterday because the trip scheduled for his group (his camp program this summer involves three days playing in camp and two days where they go on day trips) involved an activity he couldn’t participate in due to his broken thumb.
I wasn’t really sure what we would do but I always come up with something because I don’t know how to sit home unless I am trapped by a snowstorm or a stomach virus.
I never liked the the zoo. I don’t care for museums. Although I always enjoyed taking him to the Children’s Museum since it was hands-on and not boring.
Regardless, I leave the educational and sometimes-smelly animal fun to the grandparents.
I prefer to culture with out-of-the-box places like flagship department stores, sporting events, specialty food establishments and Kardashian nonsense.
Call me crazy but I have been determined all summer to check out in person the DASH store that popped up in Southampton which will appear on the new season of Keeping Up With The Kardashians this fall.
I needed a weekday for the occasion since weekends are way too busy out east not to mention I heard that on Saturdays there is known to be a forty minute wait just to get into the DASH store.
My son is always up for a random excursion with me, especially since he knows I will plan it around somewhere good to eat.
We had no celebrity sightings, no paparazzi, but it was still fun.
It’s a tiny little store but super cute. Blends in with the rest of the town.
I didn’t buy anything. I wanted a Dash long sleeve top but I wasn’t paying sixty dollars for it.
We walked around town and stopped for lunch at The Golden Pear Café.
I ordered The Water Mill sandwich which involved a serious stack of roasted vegetables on a large whole wheat roll and a side salad.
The long roasted carrots inside the sandwich were superb.
My son went with a bagel, lox and vegetable cream cheese.
He clearly knows his roots.
I may not be as entertaining as a day camp or too keen on walking through museum exhibits or animal farms but I think I provide a cultural experience and, without a doubt, always offer dessert.
It was hot outside so I encouraged him to go with ice cream.
Vanilla Fudge Swirl. Not what I would have selected but he let me have some and it was good.
Somehow on the way home he convinced me to let him bake cookies by himself.
By himself as in he cracks the eggs, measures the ingredients and mixes while I handle the oven and cleaning up.
He rattled off a recipe he pulled from a website but we had to make lots of substitutions based upon what I had on hand which created a completely different yet actually really tasty cookie worth quickly sharing with you today.
Whole Wheat Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies
*1 cup brown sugar
*1/2 cup granulated sugar
*1/2 cup Earth Balance (or other butter you have on hand)
*1/2 cup nut butter of choice (we used Crunch Time Peanut Butter)
*Two organic eggs
*1 tsp vanilla
*2 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
*1 tsp baking soda
*Pinch of salt
*1 cup (or more) semi-sweet chocolate chips
Directions:
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Mix butter, peanut butter and sugars together until smooth. Add in eggs one at a time plus the vanilla and mix. Combine flour, baking soda and salt and then mix until combined with your wet ingredients. Add in chocolate chips.
Drop on ungreased cookie sheet and bake for about nine minutes.
I was actually really surprised at how soft, chewy, buttery and delicious these cookies came out.
Sometimes I don’t like baking cookies with whole wheat flour but this recipe really worked well. And I think I really like baking with Earth Balance in place of actual butter.
I may play around with this recipe to see if I can make the cookie totally vegan by replacing the egg and using non-dairy chips.
Better yet, I will let my son attempt it when camp ends in less than two weeks.
We will need what to do in addition to our new end-of-summer-quest to hit every ice cream parlor on the East End of Long Island.
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Do you have a favorite museum?
Favorite reality television show? Do you want to admit you watch Kardashian?
What’s on your end-of-summer bucket list?
The Cookie ChRUNicles 