I walked into this newly opened H.E.B. by my house and before you ask, I want to share [first] that I WAS able to find my car in that never-ending parking lot before heading home. But back to the story – I rarely travel down the “cookies aisle”, because I usually know better than to do that sort of thing. But this time I was searching for some Lance or Ritz peanut butter crackers, they’re great to have around the golf course. This time, having no choice in the matter, I took a left turn and began exploring the cookie aisle. I’m perusing the shelves searching for those crackers and ran into these Coconut Gems cookies. I picked up a box wondering what, if anything, these could be about. I’m a sucker for anything with the word “coconut” on the label, I’ve always have been that way even as a kid. Especially when it says coconut combined with dark chocolate, that gets automatically placed into my cart! Coconut “anythings” always get my full attention. I remember my ex once named her car “Coconut” [it was glistening white on the outside with tan seats and brown trim on the inside]. I remember how the name really stuck, endured.

Continuing on the “Crazy for Coconut” theme, I think people in general associate coconut with palm trees which grow on tropical island beaches. But most of us are simply satisfied people watching while sipping on a drink and watching waves hit a beach over and over and over at infinitum, so there’s that. For me it’s more the flavor of coconut and some strong evidence I read once that coconut is good for the human brain function. So if anyone out there is ever stranded on a tropical island you may be able to survive until rescued just living off of coconuts. First understanding that you’ll need to be hungry enough to climb a very tall palm tree to secure even one. [Anything’s possible though once we get hungry enough.] I sometimes even sprinkle large unsweetened coconut flakes over eggs along with unsalted crushed walnuts to make a sort of egg omelet. I found this a healthy way to begin my day [just never add salt as it ruins the flavor]. That’s more than I can say for these Hill Country Fare “Gems”. Now I will confess that the box pictured above here is about empty, so I’ll give them that. I mean it’s hard to eat just one of these but in my defense please let me explain – the reason why I kept eating these is sole evidence that I remained forever optimistic. I continued thinking that the very next one would be better than the last one and the one before that and the one before that, see now where this is going? Take my advice folks, these never get any better [tasting]. It’s kinda like scooping hot sauce with chips thinking you must keep going because the next one is the one that will finally cool down your flaming mouth? Nothing but pure myth, pure speculation, a human condition I refer to now as “The Coconut Chronicles”. LMAO!

Addendum:
Reading the box label whoever makes these Gems doesn’t want to share that information with us – the true manufacturer of these cookies remains in the closet. It only admits to H.E.B. being a “distributor” of the product. I took a flier on something very inexpensive, they got me, they saw me coming, all they had to do is place the word “coconut” prominently on the label. I mean all’s fair in love and war right? However, studying the box I found it fascinating that they place in bold letters on the top of the box the words “No Added Colors” like that’s some kind of draw for a consumer these days? Guess what guys? We never added any artificial color to these cookies, it’s all natural beigey-yellow. As an aside, to my knowledge pleasing colors are added to about every man-made consumable product in existence today except for maybe meat and eggs? I think even some bacon producers add color to their product. Who gives a flying-f(?). I don’t know about you but I’m never going to make a purchase decision based on whether artificial colors were added to something making it look good enough to eat. 🙂 That’s just an interesting mindset, and to place it as a number one attribute on the box tells me there’s not a whole bunch more “good” to say about why anyone would buy these [but me]. There’s a ton of aisles to a grocery store and as it turns out, that’s a good thing! 🙂

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