My name is Mason Porter. I am a Professor in the Department of Mathematics at UCLA. Previously I was Professor of Nonlinear and Complex Systems in the Mathematical Institute at University of Oxford. I was also a Tutorial Fellow of Somerville College.
Wednesday, April 02, 2014
Chiiiipwiiiiiiiiiiich!
The clarion call in the title of this entry refers to the delicious dessert known as a Chipwich, which sadly no longer exists in its original form.
I almost bought a Chipwich variant at CVS, but it's just not the same when (1) it is not as good as the original and (2) it isn't thrown in the general direction of your head at a high speed. (Many of the substitutes are really good, and I am sure that this one is just fine --- even though I don't think it had any chocolate chips stuck to the side --- but the mood of the moment was for the original version.) According to the Wikipedia page, the particular variant that I saw today appears to be the reason that the original Chipwich doesn't exist anymore.
For those of you who are unfamiliar with particular bits of Caltech --- or at least Lloyd House --- history from the mid to late 1990s, Chipwiches are also the reason that I sometimes brought a baseball glove with me to Lloyd House dinners on Friday nights (and why I sat with my back to the wall on those nights, if I could possibly help it). Frozen chipwiches chucked at high speed hurt a lot if they manage to hit you. But with a baseball glove and one side protected, I was well prepared.
By the way, the clarion call was sometimes pronounced more like "Chiiiiiiiiiiipwiiich".
Trader Joes sells exactly what you seem to be describing - vanilla ice cream between two chocolate chip cookies, with small chocolate chips covering the exposed edge of the ice cream. "Sublime Ice Cream Sandwiches" is the TJs name, I believe. I eat them all the time when the weather is warm. :-)
ReplyDeletePretty sure that's just a Lloyd tradition; I'd never heard of it until now. Seems like a waste of tasty desserts...
No Chipwiches were harmed or wasted. :)
ReplyDeleteIn fact, when ultra-frozen chipwiches collide with a wall at high speed, I have more concerns about the wall!
I'll have to try that variant...
And, yes, this was only a Lloyd House thing and only during my era (and only on nights when Drew Silberfarb was a waiter).
ReplyDeleteIt was always fun being the one sitting next to Mason on chipwich nights. He was a pretty good catch if he brought the glove though. I remember one night there was some tossed desserts (not specifically aimed at him) and one landed in a huge plate of spaghetti; the wall behind it looked like someone had been shot, and the person sitting there was profoundly unhappy with it (Meredith, I think?).
ReplyDeleteI once brought my glove to such a night on prefrosh weekend (where we were sitting outside, so I couldn't have my back as close to a wall as I would like). They were wondering for a while why I had brought my baseball glove, and then the desserts came...
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