Everyone has a routine before heading to bed. Mine? Mine is milk and cookies. I know how silly that sounds given I write about some of the most famished flesh eaters in Horror—zombies—but my sweet vice is none other than those tempting delicacies some of us have to avoid. Not me, if I’m shopping, it’s one of the first things on my list. And this is why I like Freedom Friday, because I can get away with telling y’all about my culinary temptations without worrying of judgment by the masses.
I don’t know how this addiction started. The earliest memory I have is sitting at the table one bright summer morning eating breakfast only remembering my breakfast was milk and cookies. I love my mom for those happy memories. There’s more to the memory than simply devouring those sugary delights and washing them down with a tall glass of milk. I used to play a game.
How many remember Gilligan’s Island? Oh, you kids will now think I’m an ancient dude with a penchant for nostalgia. Well, yeah, but that’s beside the point. Gilligan’s Island kept me entertained in the early Seventies when coming home from school and I needed some time to wind down. Who am I kidding? I couldn’t wait to dump my books at the door, toss my shoes in the corner, and plant my butt in front of the TV for a good portion of the afternoon before dinner. The show belonged to a long roster of reruns I’d watched almost incessantly including The Beverly Hillbillies, Bewitched, The Brady Bunch, and Hogan’s Heroes. I remember those ones off the top of my head.
Anyway, getting back to Gilligan’s Island—in one episode the castaways had to face the prospect of the island sinking. Of course, being the kid I was, such a scenario fired my imagination to wonder what it’d be like to live on an island that was about to sink. Well, that imagination brought me right back to that early morning memory of my eating cookies for breakfast.
Can you guess what I remembered? If you guessed I learned how to drive, which in turn inspired my Ranger Martin series, you are utterly wrong. I’m just checking to see if you’re keeping up with my story.
I’d have a big glass of milk in front of me, with a tall stack of chocolate chip cookies to the side. I’d grab a cookie and place it gently lying flat on the top of the milk. Then I’d imagine what it’d be like living on that island as the rushing waters penetrated every crevice and crag to engulf everyone on it, reminiscent of Gilligan’s Island.
I was a weird kid.
My sinking island scenario didn’t work very well with Oreo cookies, but I still had fun sucking the contents of the glass down my throat.
Here I am decades later, still eating milk and cookies before going to bed. I haven’t seen that island sink in a while, yet I’m sure one of these evenings I’ll grab a bag of Chips Ahoy! and go nuts.
Who knows, in the meantime, maybe I’ll even save a few lives from the voracious tidal waves swallowing the populace.
Have you done that with cookies? C’mon, admit it. I won’t tell.
Looking to God 
Nostalgia does age you, as well as me. I too had afternoons full of these TV shows.Many a time I pondered scenarios and was sure if I learned to twitch my nose just right magic would happen. You’re milk and cookies were my chocolate ice cream and Doritos. Though double stuffs are still what dreams are made of. i used to be convinced this is what clouds in heaven where made of. That or fluff. And any mother that does dessert for breakfast is simply an angel.
Hi Jack,
Thanks so much for stopping by my blog and the like – I’m off now to explore your pages!!
I like you, human.
Just yesterday as we sat in a booth at Silver Diner picking songs on the table top jukebox, I tried to explain to my son the importance of Gilligan’s Island and its theme song. He said patronizingly that he understood. But he truly gets the importance of milk and cookies.
IT doesn’t seem like an appropriate beverage for a swashbuckler either, but I quite enjoy milk. I started out having to drink it for health purposes, and now I’m really into it. Actually I think milk and cookies are the perfect snack for a tough as nails zombie hunter 😉
Aren’t all kids weird? I know I was.
All I want now is milk and cookies. YUM! But it’s 12am and I should be asleep and it’s just not going to happen.
I love hearing what other people imagined as children. Your sinking island is awesome and I’m sure there’s an epic trilogy in there somewhere. My brother and I used to imagine the floor was lava and we had to jump from rugs to furniture to pillows, etc. I’m sure my mom loved that.
My kids and I watched Gremlins last night. One of the rules in the movie is to never feed a gremlin after midnight. Is there something I should know about you, Kaela? lol
Lave floors–done it!
Love cookies and milk – even grain-free cookies and coconut milk (tastes really good with chocolate chips!).
For me it all happens at 4:00 tea time. Hiding in the freezer is a batch of individual choc. chip cookies. I defrost them as desired and bake them up fresh with a cup of tea or a glass, like you, of milk. Fun to share, thanks for your reminiscences. And congrats on your book!
You brought back many of the shows that I used to watch after school and on Summer vacation. I would add some others like F-Troop, Andy Griffith Show, and on rare occassion, Three Stooges.
I have to admit that as a kid, my cookies wouldn’t last long enough to let them float in milk. I was all about eating them before my brother could steal them away.
Another great Friday post. Now, I need to stop and get some cookies on my way home.
-jb
There is nothing wrong with cookies.
I still eat chocolate chip cookies (the hard kind, not those yucky, mushy chewy kind!) & whole milk a few times a week, in bed, after everyone’s asleep, watching one of MY shows, usually something on IFC, Sundance or TCM.
I weighed 227 when my son was born, & have lost 75 lbs, but I will never give up either of them! You gotta have your own happy, personal rituals just for yourself.
I know the one you mean. My favorite ones are President’s Choice Decadent chocolate chip cookie. Nothing beats them, ever!
Congrats for losing the 75 lbs. That’s an awesome achievement!
Oh that’s fun! Now I am picturing miniature zombies clambering up the side of the biscuit trying to stay afloat.
Ha, I never really thought of it that way before. I’m going to have to try it out!
LOL
I love weird kids. 😉
This post brought back lots of memories, especially the milk and cookies while watching your favorite shows.
Weren’t those shows amazing? I remember them being some of the first color sitcoms to hit the TV screen thinking, wow! why didn’t they always shoot in color?