A Star Is Born - and later - Ranger Cookies!

Last week Mr. Bobo and Mr. Beers had a fine time enjoying the Uptown Art Walk in the Olmos Park Terrace neighborhood. The residents showed and sold everything from potholders to paintings - and everything in between. The highlight of the day for Mr. Bobo happened in a spot that looked like this:

There was a canopy that sheltered a portable projection screen (the kind your relatives used to show their home movies on) and a wooden chair. As we perused the wares that these particular artists were showing, a young lady approached us. "If you have just five minutes to spare, I’m working on an experimental film project. I’d love for you to participate." "What would you like me to do?" I asked. She held out a bottle that contained some blue liquid and a model of a ship. "Just sit in this chair and hold this ship in a bottle and say this one sentence: ‘I am the captain of my own ship.’" I shrugged and said, "Okay." I took my seat in the chair in front of the white screen and the young lady stationed herself directly in front of me. She placed the bottled ship in my hands and asked me to hold it out away from my body, as previous participants had had the unpleasant experience of having the blue liquid leak out on to their clothes. As she whipped out her trusty Flip video camera, I waited. When she was ready, she said, "Okay. Say it." "I am the captain of my own ship," I dutifully said. She moved closer and said, "Okay. Now say it again." I repeated the sentence. She moved backward and asked a third time, and again I recited, "I am the captain of my own ship." "Okay. Thanks."

She approached me and took the ship in a bottle from my hands and thanked me again. Then she rolled her eyes and said, "You were quite theatrical." Theatrical? Had she not just provided me with a set and a prop and a line? The dear girl had provided me with everything but direction, so I provided my own interpretation. In my mind I looked like this:

Or this:

Anyway. It was fun. And different. And here’s something different I’d like to share with you. It’s our recipe for W. D. Deli Ranger Cookies. I’m sharing it to you just the way we make it here, so the quantities are quite large. But we have confidence in your ability to do the math and make it work for you. Or just come by the deli and enjoy one or two or three of ours.

Ranger Cookies
 INGREDIENTS:

4 Pounds of Margarine (* We prefer margarine to butter for its stabilizing property.)
8 Cups of brown sugar
8 Cups of Sugar
9 Eggs
4 Teaspoons of Baking Soda
4 Teaspoons of Baking Powder
2 Tablespoons of Vanilla
16 Cups of Cornflakes
13 Cups of Flour
2 ½ Pounds of Shredded Coconut
12 oz of Walnuts

Put margarine and sugars in Hobart mixer. Cream mixture until fluffy. Add eggs slowly until incorporated, Add vanilla and mix , stopping periodically to scrape bottom of bowl. (Turn Hobart off before scraping sides and bottom of bowl) Whip until fluffy. In a separate bowl mix all dry ingredients except for the cornflakes and walnuts. While mixer is on speed 1 slowly add dry ingredients until well mixed. Add cornflakes and walnuts until evenly dispersed.   Refrigerate dough.  Scoop the cookies out (the size is your choice) onto a parchement lined cookie sheet.  Bake is a preheated oven at 350 degrees for  about 15 minutes (Some folks like them soft and some prefer crunchy).