the lost boys of never-oak-land

last night's promo: danny haren jerseys. ah, but a danny haren jersey in my hands? didn't happen. why? because apparently 10,000 fans were already lined up around the coliseum by the time the gates opened at 5:35PM. we worker bees who actually had to, ahem, WORK and then rush over on BART, arriving at 5:45PM, were told no dice. or no shirt. sadly, many people were disappointed, especially when they saw certain individuals trying to go in several times using multiple tickets or in some cases admitting in line while waiting for veggie/hot dogs how they "brilliantly" placed family members throughout the lines with extra tickets in hand so they could run back into line and get extra shirts. sigh. promos rarely, if ever, run out so quickly at A's games (as was confirmed to me by trusty security guard miguel), and not surprisingly, when the cache creek (they sponsored the shirt giveaway) rep. threw out the ceremonial first pitch, he was booed by 10,000 additional fans.

after the shirt fiasco, my game mate and i thought things could only get better. that's what my mom used to tell me, at least: "honey, there's nowhere to go but up!" right. so i chatted with miguel, the best guest services dude EVER, said hello to shawn, the best security dude EVER, and from where i was sitting later, saw coach fischer display for the people in the first few rows behind the bullpen my box of texas two-step peanut butter cookies that i had delivered before the game. so yes, that was much, much, much better than seeing children under the age of 5 waddling around in danny haren jerseys that looked like giant-sized pajamas on them.

but things didn't get better for long because we lost. badly. 11-4. and there were poor plays. and wild pitches. and sour green apple cotton candy masquerading as sugary spun mint-colored fluff. and really, i just want to forget most or all of the entire evening because it made me feel confused, irritated, and sad; only there's no crying baseball, right?

but onto the cookies. in honor (or lack of honor) for the visiting team hailing from texas, i made peanut butter "thumbprint" cookies. normally, these are made with hershey's kisses on top, but my thought was that's just too commercialized! plus, who really enjoys flavorless chocolate? instead, i used circular chocolate pieces (half milk/half dark chocolate) from whole foods (sold in the fine chocolate section in plastic WF's containers). i offered several coworkers a cookie throughout the day, making sure that they didn't keel over from peanut butter overdose, and thankfully, the cookies passed the test and made it to the bullpen last night.

here's the recipe. note that you have to let the dough settle and firm up in the fridge for 4-8 hours before baking (i left mine in overnight, and they were fine). also, once you place the chocolate circles on the cookies, they will proceed to melt slightly. the best solution for this: once you remove the cookies with circles from the baking sheet, let them cool slightly on a plate for 5 minutes, then refrigerate them for 15 minutes.

ingredients

• 8 oz. chocolate baking circles (milk or dark chocolate)
• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 3/4 cup organic peanut butter, salted
• 1/3 cup organic sugar
• 1/3 cup organic light brown sugar
• 3 tablespoons egg whites
• 2 Tbsp. soy milk
• 1 tsp. vanilla paste
• 1-1/4 cups organic flour
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• more granulated sugar