Did the nun smack your hand with a ruler for using the improper form? 
3 Likes
Well, I liked it. I thought it was somewhere between a (knowingly) cliched old-fashioned gothic shocker and a postmodern historical novel. I read it straight after āThe Gargoyleā which I thought had a similar flavour.
1 Like
I understand Charles Chips were once available by home delivery. I guess they didnāt need a special window, but itās amazing to me that a truck decorated to look like the Charles Chips can could regularly be seen touring the neighborhood.
4 Likes
I see your cookies and raise you ācaramelsā made by nuns in Iowa.
They used to raise the cows to get the milk. Iām not sure if they still do.
http://www.mississippiabbey.org/
(the nun in the 2nd row from the back on the far right is a good friend from high school)
and before the internet you could visit and buy them from them. No little lazy susan tho.
3 Likes
Thatās a good raise. Thanks!
You can buy [Assumption Abbey fruitcakes from Trappist Monks][1] here in the US. This place is close to where my dad grew up. One year I bought all my aunts fruitcake for Xmas and they were super happy. They even got a photo of all the ābrothersā along with their cakes.
[1]: http://www.trappistmonks.com/
2 Likes
We have a monastery near our house that does some bread (biscotti, fruitcakes, and fudge) as well as bonsai trees! They also have a green cemetery on their land thatās open to everyone (not just catholics)! [ETA] They also have a monastic program for men (for a month or up to 6 months), thatās open to men of any faithā¦ which is also kind of cool.
2 Likes
Iām reminded of a scene from āIf itās Tuesday It Must be Belgiumā About Americans on a whirlwind tour of Europe in the 60ās.
One man on the group had a mission to find a particular shoe maker his GI friends raved about. He found the shop in a little back allyā¦the shoemaker greeted him and fawned over himā¦traced his feet and measured toes and width.
The customer picked a style and leatherā¦and was told it should be shipped in a month or so. The customer leaves the shop.
Scene II: The shoemaker goes to the back of the shop opens up a Sears Robuck Catalog and orders size 10 1/2 EEās oxfords.
2 Likes
Read up 3 posts! You must live near the Ozarks.
Yup. I donāt think my parents ever got deliveries of Charles Chips when I was a kid (Wilmington Delaware suburbs, early 60s), but we certainly saw the trucks around, as well as milk delivery, laundry pickup, etc. It made sense back when not many families had cars, or later on when not many families had two cars, so if Dad was at work, Mom couldnāt get to the store (my dad carpooled, so once my mom learned to drive, she had the car a few days a week, and she also carpooled with several other local families to haul kids to nursery school and kindergarten.)
Thereās a Persian grocery in Mountain View CA that has a not-particularly-secret window in back where you get shish kebab. You pay for it up front in the grocery along with your other groceries, and pick it up at the grill window in back when itās done and eat on the tables outside. Due to complaints from NIMBYs, the grill window is only open until about 8, and thereās some real estate development plan thatās supposed to nuke the corner of the block theyāre on sometime soon, but my carnivorous friends like it, and thereās good veggie food inside.
Actually she tried to talk to me and I kept handing her Euros and she got super excited and led me by the hand into an ornate chapel and then left. I sat there for a few minutes quietly tried to do the math on how much I had just paid for my box of cookies.
Wow! this sounds so similar to an experience I had in Seville, Spain where some nuns ended up laundering my clothes!
Actually I live in Oregon, weāve got our own cake-baking trappist monks.
Ohā¦nevermind 
2 Likes
Iād be careful eating anything labeled āCorpus Christiā. You might catch a nail.
I hear theyāre made from the flesh of Jesus, although that rumor has not been transubstantiated.
1 Like
One thing I find interesting about their fruitcakes is that similar-but-secular providers in the U.S. ship the fruitcakes but YOU have to supply the brandy (etc.) for soaking, whereas I seem to recall that Assumption Abbey will send you a nicely soused fruitcake all ready to imbibe.
1 Like
I took a walking tour in Madrid last year and the guide brought our group of 20 or so people to this cookie door and explained how to get the cookies. They do a few tours a day and have been doing it for years, so Iām guessing itās not so secret any longer!
1 Like
Sister Theodosia at the Visitation Monastery in Mobile, Alabama makes Heavenly Hash, a ridiculous homemade marshmallow/chocolate/pecan confection in lovely box. (Yes, the only place to buy Heavenly Hash is in a monastery where the nuns have a gift shop so . . . itās nun made but sold at a monastery.) Hereās a petty good article about Sister Theodosia and Heavenly Hash: http://blog.al.com/living-press-register/2011/11/post_7.html.
1 Like
