March 27, 2004
O Brownie Ultima
I ate the last brownie today. "O brownie ultima?" I asked, pointing. This is the last brownie?
"Da, brownie ultima," said the girl behind the counter.
"De ce... uh... nu sunt numai brownies?"
"Cine stiu." Who knows. A very useful phrase, that.
-- It was at the Snack Attack, a little local store that sells sandwiches and soda and, until today, brownies. The Snack Attack is on Piata Dorobant', just four minutes from the house and six or eight from the office. So Claudia and I have been regular customers.
The Snack Attack serves pretty good sandwiches and salads, wrapped to go. It gets a lot of lunch-time office business. But for me, the brownies were definitely the high point.
See, Eastern Europe doesn't do brownies. And, I have to be frank, these weren't great brownies. They were pretty crumbly, and perhaps a bit too sweet. But they weren't bad; and hell, even an OK brownie was something to look forward to, in a country that knows not the chocolate chip cookie and has only the vaguest concept of "muffin".
I would eat them with yogurt. Drinking yogurt, yogurt de baut as they say here. I really got to like that, actually. Brownies with thin yogurt are even better than brownies with milk -- the sourness of the yogurt sets off the sweetness of the brownie.
Brownie plus yogurt became my standard snack. At least twice per week, I'd take a short break from the office and walk briskly up to the Snack Attack to get a brownie and a yogurt. The brownies were a good size, and the yogurt was something like 300 ml (12 ounces), so it was substantial -- enough to replace lunch if I was in a hurry, and willing to be hungry at the end of the day.
But then the Snack Attack announced that it was cancelling the line of brownies. Why? Cine stiu. Not enough people were buying them, I suppose.
It just happened that, by complete accident, I was in the Snack Attack today with Alan. (I had him in the backpack. A group of university age girls came out as I was going in, and surrounded me for a minute to coo and wiggle their fingers. Apparently something about that little blond head peeking over my shoulder turns him into Mr. Chick Magnet. Nothing to do with me, of course.) And there, under the glass, I saw... one last, solitary brownie.
I bought it and took it home, and Alan and I ate it.
And that's all.
:)
We have brownies, but we don't call them like that.. the name is "negrese". I am 80% sure you can find them at Cofetaria Ana, cross the Dorobanti street. If I have time today I'll go and check.
Take care!
Anca & Misha
I am reminded of the fleeting delight I enjoyed with Keebler Toffee Sandies. Released briefly in the mid-90's, the cookie was a Keebler sandy with bits of toffee. It was amazingly good, and for the bulk of 1995 by barracks room was often littered with empty packages of sandies. Unfortunately, though, I seem to have been the only person to have taken such a liking to them, for as quickly as they had arrived in grocery stores, they vanished.
I understand your sense of loss.
Posted by: Andrew Reeves at March 28, 2004 09:00 PM