Are you one of those people who associates food with certain people or experiences?...me too...I remember details of many things based on what I was eating at the time...
I especially make associations with firsts...the first time I ate an oyster...the first time I tasted fiddleheads...the first time I was served a flaming cocktail...
As I was organizing my recipe collection today, I recalled in vivid detail the first time I ate "Bob's Balls"...I put that in quotes to deliberately make it less shocking when used in a sentence...
As I'm sure you may have suspected, "Bob's Balls" is the name of a recipe I have in my collection...a cookie...named after its perfecter...the now departed Bob...and today I am remembering both the first time I met Bob and the first time I tasted his delectable balls...
I have fond memories of standing in front of a counter...in Bob's kitchen...having been invited for the first time to the family's annual Super Bowl party...I remember seeing the cookies piled high on a plate, covered in powdered sugar...thinking I shouldn't have one because I might embarrass myself and get sugar all over my clothes...eventually caving into the desire...taking that first bite...trying to maintain my composure, and keep from choking on the cookie in mouth...as his daughter...my close friend...announced...albeit in a modest voice...with the slightest upturned corner of her mouth...that I was eating one of Bob's Balls...
Yes, Bob had a great sense of humor...one that he had passed on to his children...he named those cookies precisely that to be deliberately shocking...and to elicit raucous laughter whenever anyone in the family said it aloud to the uninitiated...he would subtly smile with that knowing look only he could get...
Bob was a special guy...a man's man...a loving and devoted father...and he was kind enough to share his recipe with me...a recipe he had honed to perfection...somewhat like a Mexican Wedding or Russian Tea cookie...also known as a Snowball...except his balls are truly delectable...buttery...melt in your mouth tender...and round...and I'd share the recipe with you today...except Bob can't give me his express permission...
Bob's spirit lives on through his family in many important ways...and in my family through a holiday tradition created the very day we met...I now make these cookies each Christmas...and remember with great fondness my very first bite...
