Memories in a package of cookies?

Maybe because we don't have a television, I'm not sure, but I think my mind has gone a bit crazy, not in a bad way, in a good way.  it's working...bringing up memories that I have had tucked in there for a long time.  Memories that have been pushed down from Entourage or Grey's Anatomy (oh I sure do miss my 2 favorite shows) or the food network.

Last week we visited our friends Nala and Neerva.  They own Le Roucan, the gite we stayed at last year here in the Aveyron.  At that time Neerva was out of town, so in the 2 weeks we were here we never met her.  We arrived at their home with warm memories.  The live in a hamlet called finneroyls, it consists of about 8 houses, starting with a small farm and ending 1 mile up at the top of a hill where you'll find Nala and Neerva's home and gite.  Nala is french and Neerva is originally from Germany.  The offered us some lovely mint tea (fresh mint from the garden) and she brought out a plate of these biscuits/cookies.  I took one bite and was transferred back to my childhood.  It's funny how a taste or smell can do that to you.  I wasn't sure what the memory was and since I was at a friends house I had to focus on the conversation at put it away until later.  I asked what the name of the biscuits were, because not only did they provide a happy memory, they were extremely good, I knew I had to get some.

"Speculoos de bruges" she said.  They are belgian cookies and she told me I could get them at the Hyper-U (pronounced eeper-oo).  I couldn't wait to go and get some.  We are now huge fans of these tasty little biscuit/cookies, they are my new favorite cookie and we keep a big stock of them on hand.  How do I describe speculoos to you?  Well, I'd say they are a thin spice cookie, not a gingersnap, not a molasses cookie, not a snickerdoodle, but maybe something like a mix of all three.  All I can tell you is that they are amazing and addicting, if you can find them, buy them!

old fashioned windmill cookies

Last night Bruce was drawing and I was reading and eating a few after dinner speculoos when I remembered what reminded me of these tasty treats.  When I was young (the youngest of 4 - all 2 years apart - my poor mom) there was a woman who lived across the street named Toni Brady.  I called her Nana.  She took care of me a lot when I was a baby/toddler.  She had a dachshund named "petie" and he would lay outside the door of the room where I would be taking a nap and growl at anyone except Toni that would try and come in.  I don't remember that, my Mom told me.  But as I was sitting in our little house in rural france, I started to remember what her kitchen looked like.  I could remember the layout and the wallpaper, which was red/while toule and she had some bundt pans hung on the wall, I'm sure she used them, but it was also for decoration.  I also remember that she would give me archway windmill cookies, these cooking taste almost exactly like speculoos, except they have almond slices or some type of sliced nut in them, speculoos doesn't have any nuts.  

So by eating this little belgain biscuit here in rural southwest france I was brought back 40 some odd years to my old nana's house where I would eat windmill cookies.  I can't wait to find some more old memories.