I thought I would write a little post concerning our profile picture, since it really encompasses the “sugar and shenanigans” portion of our title (maybe a little bit of “shindigs” too, but not really). Jessica and I had decided to drop all responsibilities and head to Houston to see Miniature Tigers, stay there, and then see them again in Austin the next night. I didn’t really drink any water that first day and ended up passing out at the show…twice. I made a fool of myself in front of the band members because I still wasn’t talking coherently. I was determined to redeem myself in Austin!
The next day we were grabbing lunch in Austin with our friend Christy, when we saw a tweet from Charlie Brand (frontman for Miniature Tigers) saying that it was Rick’s birthday, and that people should bring him presents. I said, “It’s too bad we didn’t bring cookies or anything.” Then we gave each other that look - the one that means “we are about to bake some fuckin’ goooooood cookies,” as Jessica puts it. Once we get an idea in our heads, you can’t really stop us. Next thing you know I’m dropping 22 bucks at HEB so we can have everything we need to bake our specialty, s’mores cookies, in an unfamiliar kitchen. We were staying at Sasha’s apartment that night. She’s Jessica’s former roommate. It felt very strange to be baking outside of my kitchen; I didn’t feel like I was in my element at all. In my kitchen I feel very intuitive, I know exactly what I have, what I need and where everything is. We ended up using an expensive decorative bowl because there wasn’t really any other option.
So, about those s’mores cookies - THEY’RE THE BEST COOKIES EVER. It’s a graham cracker cookie with chocolate chips, with Hershey’s bars and mini marshmallows on top. The vast of majority of people we give them to basically start moaning as soon as the cookie enters their mouth. They’re super fun to make and take a little bit of teamwork, which is probably why we enjoy baking them so much.
We whip up the cookies, do a little taste-testing (note to self: don’t buy boxed graham cracker crumbs ever again - it’s much tastier to crush them yourself), tupperware ‘em up, and head to the show.
“Look, there’s Charlie. Let’s give him the cookies now so we don’t have to worry about them during the show.”
“You go up there first.”
“No, you. And you have to talk too since you were the one who tweeted him.”
“I hate you so much.”
“I’m okay with that.”
Yeah, we’re pretty immature. So we give him the cookies and he seemed pretty excited about them. The show ended up being even better than the night before. I got to play the tambourine during Tell it to the Volcano, and Charlie danced around the crowd during Gold Skull. It was definitely one of the most fun, if not THE most fun show I’ve been to.
Afterward, we stood around awkwardly waiting to ask the band if they liked the cookies. Alex passed by and gave us a big thumbs up on them. Then we saw Charlie and asked him, and he just pointed to his mouth where he was obviously chewing on something delicious. We chatted for a bit and he thanked us many times for coming to the show again and for the cookies. We also took another picture with him since I looked like…well, like I had just been unconscious for a while in the previous one.
A few days later I shot an e-mail to Freelance Whales, who were headlining this tour and happened to be playing when I passed out. They had been super nice to me and I really wanted to thank them, and let them know that I’m not always an incoherent mumbling fool. I got this in reply:
Hey jamie.
Thanks so much for taking the time to write for us! We’re so glad that you are ok. We were really concerned, enough to temporarily pause the show, but your friend assured us that you were gonna be fine : ) so glad you could make it out to Austin, too, and after just reading your email to the rest of the band, you’ve been unanimously deified as a cookie goddess! Everyone loooved them, So much in fact that I actually never got to try one. Hope to run into you soon enough.
Be well.
Judah < freelance whales
Cookie goddesses. Ha. :)
Oh yeah, and if you’re curious enough, just search “freelance whales girl faints twice” on YouTube.
