It's Cookie Time!

This morning I read an interesting piece in my new Food Network magazine regarding the annual Girl Scouts of America cookie sale. Every February, just as most Americans are trying to maintain their New Year's resolutions of healthier eating, girl scouts across the country sell literally TONS of Thin Mints, Samoas, Trefoils, Tagalongs, and the like. I think it's a combination of' but I've been so good since January 1st' and 'the girls are so cute and it's a good cause.' Whatever it is, it works. When I told friends and family that I was starting a Brownie troop here in Key West (my girls wanted to get involved but there wasn't an open troop) the first thing everyone said was 'GIRL SCOUT COOKIES!' Years and years of door-to-door sales have made girl scouts and cookies synonymous. And since you can only get them during January and February of each year, they are sort of a hot commodity, especially if you are a fan.

This past Saturday, a truck full of cookies arrived on the island after the three-hour trip through the Florida Keys from Miami. Even though the Keys aren't heavily populated, there are many girl scout troops from Key Largo to Marathon to Big Pine Key to Key West. We formed a 'cookie line,' passing boxes from the truck to our sorting area in a space donated by the local Catholic parish school. We sorted, we stacked, we checked our inventory sheets....the girls all loved it.

Selling cookies isn't mandatory, and each family treats sales as they choose, but it is a great chance for the girls to work together. I look forward to manning booths with my girls and some of their Brownie friends in front of Winn-Dixie, Publix, and NASKW's Commissary in the next few weeks. I'm sure we will have some good 'Key West stories' when we are done. There's a good chance our booth time will include chasing chickens and talking to pirates.....or at least people who THINK they are pirates. The sale at the Commissary should be our troop's best one, since the girls all attend school on base (75% of students there are military) and the snowbirds camping on base are all retired military members.They can even donate their cookies to the troops overseas.

As the adult members of the troop try to get this all in motion this week, I think I can speak for all of us when I say I am envious of those transporting/storing cookies in winter climates. Leave some in the car! Put them on a pallet in the garage! So many more storage options when you aren't worried about the Thin Mints melting. But this Saturday, when we set up for our first sale in front of Winn-Dixie, it's safe to say we will all be in shorts and t-shirts.....not a mitten in sight.