The Case of the Misappropriated Mint M&M's and Other Tales

It has been a momentous week. Many weeks are, really, when you think about it. What with moments being fairly ubiquitous in the passage of time. So, I warrant, yes that was a vapid, empty little statement. One which, ultimately, was a mere transition... a little literary toe-dipping before the full plunge of moment-listing.

As of this week, I am now not only dating but affianced to a 31 year old. While thirty peaks the acme of that long rise before the roller coaster into adulthood, I suspect that 31, or "thirtysomething" officially nails it. Or perhaps I'll find when I reach such an age, that really it's 35. Regardless, I'm still 29 and thus twentysomething, so I suspect Mr. (W)right is privy to all sorts of revelations and responsibilities held from my youthful brain for my own protection. Although we had different places to be this weekend - ironclad responsibilities that drove us apart this weekend - the occasion warranted a trip down for the actual birthday on Friday. I could never resist a celebration of some sort, even if that celebration mostly involved doing a crossword on the couch while Andrew fretted over a broken bicycle part. Never say that we don't know how to party. We did, however, eat. And eating is really what celebrating is all about:

And while i ultimately opted for pie over cake, there was definitely enough birthday cakery to go around:

Seattle Chocolates has a number of cute bars of chocolate that I haven't tasted. I was rather excited about the idea of a birthday cake chocolate bar, but it was disappointingly milk chocolate. Rather emphatically milk chocolate. And there were no sprinkles as seemingly promised. There was a truffle layer of something that did indeed have a reminiscent flavor of vanilla frosting and this alone evoked enough memories of finger scooping heaps of fatty sugar from premade icing. 

Still, bummed about the absence of confetti cake sprinkly confettis. I had wanted to bring the Birthday Cake Oreos as well, but couldn't find any in the few stores I checked after thinking this would be an awesome idea. Of course, this kind of thing I do far more for myself than Andrew, who is far more ambivalent about odd food (he's more of a volume kinda guy with a palate for the simplicity of fat, salt, sugar, and umami, while I am for more into food as an experience and idea with less interest in trifles like the actual consuming of it). At any rate, the pie was a hit. Not literally, fortunately, as marionberry stains like nobody's business! Each plate of pie looked like a miniature crime scene.

But since I've opened the door to more bittersweet topics, the moments of mystery have also abounded, particularly in the case of the missing bag of M&M's. My mom has a drawer in her desk privy to all kinds of magic and wonderment. Inside are unguents and lotions aplenty, as well as a number of different shiny pretty packages of small candies. We eat them sparingly, as I tend to incline more towards my Green & Black 85% chocolate bar, and every one else forgets the treats are there. Most prominent in the pecking order of this desk would have to be the Dove Dark Chocolates. They're not the darkest or most dovelicious of candies, but they do make it to the top of my favorites list by including cute little sayings in the wrapper. The chocolate equivalent of a fortune cookie, if you will. And since food equals experience for me, it's all part of the sapor. 

Not quite "Man with wings not so hot as man with arms"
But it will have to do!

But we also have an abundance of fun-sized Baby Ruths, some heart candies, and a bag of Dark Chocolate Mint M&M's which are even less dark and much mintier than dovelicious, but which are a lovely single serving perk-me-up for the occasional afternoon. I availed myself of one just before leaving work last week. The bag was mostly full. Monday morning, I went to grab another and the entire bag was absent! Putting the query to the office, I found we were equally flummoxed. The only logical explanation being that the cleaning person took our bag of M&Ms(!!!!), but ultimately, this seemed quite of far-fetched in its own right. We all had moments of soul and brain searching, utterly convinced that we personally mislaid the bag somewhere and somehow, but as yet, it remains AWOL.

Could our cleaning person really have the uncanny audacity not merely to snag a candy or two, but to take an entire half-full bag?? It boggles the mind. Are we really all so overworked and insane that we merely forgot our late TGIF bacchanal binge of minty proportions?? Are there really that many hiding places for a bright green bag in this office and did we manage to file the damned M&Ms in one of our thicker client files?

We'll have to wait for the Police Report to know for sure! But if you see any bags of used M&M's on ebay, let me know, because they're probably hot.