Negative Cancels Positive

Today I ventured into the Allwood Bakery in Clifton. Its reputation precedes it. My friend from Rutgers, Ruthie, who grew up here in Clifton, brought me some butter cookies from there when we first moved to Montclair [in 1994] and told me about the place.

Every year at Pumpkin Day, a big realtor in Montclair serves hot cider and huge platters of dainty butter cookies from the Allwood. They are unbelievably delicious, the quintessential bakery butter cookie.

But somehow, I had never been to the bakery until today. Now I live much closer to it. I waited five whole days to get there.

Goody Bag
I got 1/4 pound of the cookies and shared them. I also got four Red Velvet Cupcakes for $2.25 each. The young lady packed them in the classic white bakery box and tied it with the red and white twine.

"These are my favorites," she said. "He was making a big batch of the icing back there and I was like, 'Hold me back.'"

A Teen's Sweet Honesty
Figgy's friend A. was eating dinner over, and I knew the girls would like the Red Velvets [even though H., a health writer, said "You're poisoning us" when I brought the box into the condo]. The frosting was a perfect swirly mountain cap of what I assume was cream cheese, butter and sugar, with a little red decoration in the middle.

But they were big cupcakes. "Eating a whole one is like eating an elephant," said A. as I drove her back to Montclair. She took half of hers home, wrapped in foil.

Oh, to be young again, with that clear perspective on life. No holds barred, no vision clouded by a lifetime of wear and tear.

One Step Forward, Five Steps Back
About an hour before that, I panted and sweated on the treadmill for 20 minutes at the gym here. The machine said I burned 240 calories. A fraction of the calories in one of those cupcakes.

One day I will decide which is more important: the negative indulgences or the positive improvements. I hope I can find a healthy balance in my life.

Tonight I bought the book Food Rules by Michael Pollan. I am about to read it now. Just flipped the book open to Rule 16:

Buy your snacks at the farmers' market.
You'll find yourself snacking on fresh or dried fruits--real food--rather than chips and sweets.

Food for thought.