In which I admire Labrat's and Stingray's cookies.

It's no secret that I'm a fan of the Atomic Nerds, right? So I was charmed when StingRay told me that he was sending me some "baked goods." What landed on my doorstep last night was a large box from the Big Brown Truck Of Happiness, loaded with two very high-end ziplock bags (seriously-- if there's one place where it's worth paying for quality, it's your ziplock bags. These had double closures, which impressed me.), packed very professionally in bubble wrap and Styrofoam peanuts. In one of the stretched out bags was about eleventy-hundred peanut butter cookies, perfectly formed and striated by a New Mexican fork.

In the other ziplock baggie was a brown powder that was clearly too powdery to be heroin, and smelled.... chocolate. I dug some more and found some instructions: Fill mug a third to half-way full with the mix, top with boiling water, mix, mix, mix until dissolved. Okay, got it. It's just hot chocolate, right?

Wrong. I note that they tried to warn me: "We recommend you don't gulp-- this stuff is a little more aggressive than Swiss Miss."

This stuff has more than just the tiniest hint of cayenne. It will, not maybe, will warm your arse right up.

The verdict from he kids, who got cups before I had even had a sip:
10 year old: aghast and upset.
6 year old: Nursed it right down to an empty cup.
Me: Wow. Knocked back the first one, decided to wait for tomorrow for a second. It's rich. Ring left in coffee mug is auburn.

Thanks, StingRay and LabRat! You're the best!