take a stand

This isn't something I do very often. I can see both sides of too many issues to have firm hard opinions on things - not the sort that I am going to go to any great length to defend. I have strong opinions about things, I just prefer not to discuss them most of the time. I'm talking about the larger issues - abortion, immigration, the environment, etc. There are plenty of smaller issues for which I will draw a line in the sand - vodka or gin martini? Hunts or Heinz ketchup? whether you should return your shopping cart to the corral or not. But I think I will tackle today a very important issue.

NUTS DO NOT BELONG IN BAKED GOODS EVER! (except baklava)

Brownies, cake, cookies -all are irrepairably harmed by the addition of nuts. It spoils the texture. You have this nice soft, chewy brownie you are nibbleing at then WHAM your teeth sink into a small rocklike object. Totally ruins the experience, throws you off your brownie eating stride. Cookies are worse because the nuts are the same color as the cookie dough so you can't even pick them out. Brownies at least have a color contrast to work with. They add nothing to the taste of the cookie or browning, in fact, they add a totally foreign element. It is one thing if you are eating pecan pie, nuts are obviously the objective. But chocolate chip cookies are just that - chocolate chip cookies. Not chocolate chip and bits of walnut cookies.

Fortunately I am married to a man who agrees with me on this (and it would have been a deal breaker) so I never have to worry about what my lurking in the baked goods.