ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, January 17, 1997 TAG: 9701170066
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: ALMENA HUGHES FOOD EDITOR
WE ASKED a random sample of Roanokers to rate the new Girl Scout cookies.
In a totally random, totally unscientific sampling, we asked people to compare this year's Girl Scout cookies with their favorites from the past. Here's what they had to say:
* Randy Love, a carpenter with the J.M. Turner Company, who sampled the Caramel deLites:
"They're delicious. They taste better than I remember. The coconut is better."
Love's sisters sold Girl Scout cookies when they were growing up, so he's been eating them for a long time.
* Tracy Hughart, a waitress at The Pancake House in Salem, sampled the Peanut Butter Patties:
"They're different. There's not as much peanut butter and the cookie is harder, crunchier. I still like them, but not as much as I used to."
Hughart said that she used to buy 10 boxes of the cookies - divided among Thin Mints, Shortbreads and the other peanut butter sandwiches - and freeze them. She'll still buy them, she said, to help the Scouts, and because they're still tasty.
* Cindy Downs and Raye Abercrombie, mother and daughter, respectively, out for lunch at the Pancake House in Salem, sampled the Peanut Butter Sandwiches:
"I never had a bad Girl Scout cookie," Downs said. "The Peanut Butter Sandwich is the same. It's good."
Abercrombie said: "They're wonderful. I usually get either the peanut butter or coconut ones.'' The women laughed that following their cookie samples, they might not want anything else for lunch.
* Tennette Sinclair, a volunteer at the Lifestream Center on Brandon Avenue in Roanoke, sampled Caramel deLites and Peanut Butter Patties:
"These [deLites] are tasty. They're no different from the last time I had them. The Peanut Butter Patties are not as rich and sweet as they used to be. But they're still good."
Sinclair wasn't sure when she last had Girl Scout cookies. Her mother bought them when Sinclair lived at home, but no Scouts have approached her since she moved into an apartment.
* Carolyn Bratton, board member and newsletter and advertising coordinator for the Lifestream Center, sampled Caramel deLites and Shortbreads:
"Mmmm; yummy. I think they taste the same. The Shortbreads are good - maybe not as rich."
Bratton observed that Girl Scout cookies once were "something special that you couldn't get anywhere else," but now so many similar cookies are available year-round that "if you didn't know what they were, they'd sort of be just a cookie."
LENGTH: Medium: 60 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: DON PETERSEN/Staff. 1. Tracy Hughart says the Peanutby CNBButter Patties are not as good as the old ones. 2. Cindy Downs says
she has never had a bad Girl Scout cookie. 3. Randy Love says the
Caramel deLites are better than before. color.