Gimme Cookie

While all those landing on this blog while searching for bits of GQ's spoof on Bush's lost years might not be interested in something this wholesome, I have a yen to visit to John Kerry's former cookie shop. Named Kilvert&Forbes, after the maiden names of his and his partner's mothers, the shop still features his chocolate chunk recipe. Fortune Magazine's Grainger David writes:

The shop is still in business today, in Boston's Faneuil Hall. In fact, sales are up 18% since the Iowa primary, and the new owners, Carol Troxell and Sara Youngelson, have applied for the title of Official Cookie of the Democratic National Convention. (Should they get the nod, they plan to commandeer the pretzel shop next door to help.) Little else has changed since 1976: Kerry's mom's chocolate-chip recipe still accounts for more than half of all sales. Staunch Kerry supporters, the new owners are quick to defend the candidate's résumé: "You have to manage and do the banking, and it's a lot of work," Troxell says. "After being in the cookie business you can definitely call yourself a small-business expert."

In tracing the candidate's Bostonion roots, The New York Time's Pam Belluck quotes Kerry on the shop:

"I will never be able to explain fully how I ended up in the cookie business," Mr. Kerry said. "I was a lawyer with time on my hands — and a serious sweet tooth."

To me this sounds like ample reason for a future presidential visit to the set of Sesame Street for some reading with Cookie Monster.