Coconut Macaroons and Comfort

I don't like coconut. Never have. I love the smell but I'm very much a texture person and the strange chewy crunch that comes with coconut, I'm not crazy about. I made three variations on these macaroons: plain, chocolate chunk, and chocolate. There are two egg whites in each of these batches and the directions say to mix well using your hands. Uh wha? Eggs and coconut with my hands? Sensory overload! I felt like I was at a haunted house where they make you stick your hands in hidden bowls of questionable material and you have to guess what it is. Peeled grapes? Oh, eyeballs of course. Spaghetti and butter? Brain matter. Egg whites and coconut? Contents of your colon. Back to the gooey matter at hand, this recipe makes quite a few cookies! Wow. I had five trays of cookies at the end. The chocolate chunk didn't stay as together as I think they were supposed to and I think the plains were slightly underdone because they stuck to the foil pretty bad but the all chocolate came out beautifully.

A dear friend of mine was having a rough day yesterday which was also her birthday. We were talking on the phone and I could tell she really needed some words of comfort. *Cue crickets*. I'm terrible at advice/words of comfort! I don't know where it comes from (I'm willing to bet from my dad a.k.a Mr. Awkward or the King of the Social Misfits) but it can be quite debilitating. My cousin has been reading the Anne of Green Gables series and she has inspired me to pick them up. Yes I've seen the movies but as in most stories, movies tend to leave things out. I'm looking at you Harry Potter movie series. I was reading between baking sheets. I would drop dough and stick them in the oven and read for 20 minutes. Then pull them out and do it again. Five times. Books are just not written like they used to be. She describes things so beautifully and clearly that it makes most of today's authors look like 5th graders. Anne Shirley cracks me up/makes me uncomfortable/teaches me lessons. She has something to say about everything. Boy trouble? Anne says "Ruby Gillis says when she grows up, she wants to have a line of beaus on a string and make them crazy for her. I'd rather have ONE in his rightful mind."
Life isn't what you were hoping for? "My life is a perfect graveyard of buried hopes. That's a sentence I read once and I say it over to comfort myself in these times that try the soul."
Bad hair day? "I thought nothing could be as bad as red hair. Green is ten times worse."
And she has such a beautiful outlook on things. She turns everything into a positive, like an overly romantic Pollyanna. I hear problems and I say "Wow, I'm so sorry about that." For someone who can talk as much as I do, solace and advice are very difficult. I am really lucky to have some friends and family who are excellent listeners and advisors. 
I thought about my friend all day long and felt like the words I said were cheap and meaningless. So I took her macaroons. A plate for comfort and a plate as a birthday present. I really was deeply thinking about her while stacking coconut haystacks. I know that doesn't make things better but I am a much better gift giver than I am an advisor. I like to make things for people, hoping that they can read my intentions behind it. So friend, if you are reading this, I meant those cookies from the bottom of my heart. And I tried the chocolate ones and I loved them! I think the strong chocolate makes up for the funky coconut texture. Like my words. Strong cookie filled intentions make up for the funky things I say. I hope.