gefilte fish and milano cookies

to my grandmother, a milano cookie was a treat fit for a queen. she kept one bag hidden in the very back of a cabinet behind the playing cards and fancy china. as a child, i didn't understand or care about expiration dates, but looking back, i can guarantee those cookies were way past their prime. one cookie each was all we were allowed. and she knew how many were in the bag.

in order to earn one of the coveted cookies, we were expected to eat a fair amount of whatever was placed in front of us. no arguments.

if we were lucky, she might offer us egg salad, or "onion salad" as she liked to call it.....probably because the ratio of scallions to eggs was about 10 to 1. but if we were unlucky, the offerings would be tongue (cow tongue), white fish, or gefilte fish. in case you don't know, gefilte fish is a poached fish ball made from some kind of disgusting stinky fish - in a jar with some other disgusting fish smelling gelatinous substance. personally, i would rather eat cat vomit.

as a 10 year old with an intense desire for cookies, i devised a plan to obtain said cookie without ingesting even one bite of fish. stealthily, while adults were deep in conversation, i placed fish (or other offensive food) in my napkin and wadded it up.......then, stepped into the kitchen and tossed napkin behind the refrigerator. i repeated this many, many times over the years without any remorse. and, as far as i knew, without discovery. years later, after my grandmother died and my grandfather was moving into a retirement home, i remembered the gefilte fish scam and checked behind the refrigerator. nothing but dust bunnies. is it possible they knew all along?

i think about this just about every time i see gefilte fish in the grocery store.....and i think of my grandmother. and i wonder if she knows there are DOUBLE chocolate milano cookies now?!