By OWEN MORRIS

A friendly knock on my door yesterday reminded me that it is already time for Girl Scout Cookies.

According to the Northeast Kansas/Northwest Missouri Girl Scout's Web site, Girl Scouts have been canvassing neighborhoods since the beginning of the month. Call me jaded, but I guess I didn't notice them because of all that other canvassing for a different event that's thankfully over.

Looking over the cookie varieties, I noticed one I hadn't seen: Daisy Go-Rounds are "crispy cinnamon flowers" that come in the ever-popular 100-calorie packs.

The other familiar cookies all remain, and boxes are still $3.50, with more than 70 percent of that money going directly to the Girl Scouts. If you haven't been so lucky as to receive a visit from some plucky, clipboard-carrying girls, you can still get the cookies at one of the hundreds of cookie booths the Girl Scouts are running in the area. A list of locations is here.

For the record, I am a populist and went with the Thin Mints. For a while two years ago, Costco sold its own larger-boxed, cheaper-priced version of Thin Mints, which I hoarded. Since then, though, my Costco hasn't carried boxes of the chocolate mint wafers. Did Costco feel bad competing with Girl Scouts or did the Girl Scout mafia apply some friendly heat to get them to discontinue the product? All I know is that once again the Girl Scouts have a monopoly on Thin Mints so I took no chances and ordered ten boxes.

Cookies will be on sale until November 30 with delivery shortly after the New Year.

By CHARLES FERRUZZA

I have friends who won't touch bread pudding. The idea of a dessert made from old, stale bread offends their sensibilities to the very core, even though the history of the dessert as a clever way of salvaging dried bread dates back to the 13th century.

One of the finest pastry chefs in the city, Megan Garrelts -- who co-owns Bluestem with her husband Colby -- gave me a look of distaste when I asked if she ever offered bread pudding as a dessert. "It's kind of boring," she told me. "And it's made with old, leftover bread."

And what's wrong with that?

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Dolce Bakery's $2 creamcheese brownie on the left and Dean and Deluca's $3.75 one on the right

BY OWEN MORRIS

It’s a little trick of the trade. A restaurant opens and its prices are pretty cheap. Word spreads about the new restaurant with great prices. As the clientele grows and the restaurant becomes established, the prices start coming up to normal.

Dolce Bakery, 6974 Mission Road, has been open several months now. But even though its customer base seems to grow by the day, its prices have remained low. Creme Brule is $3, a big cream cheese brownie only $2, cupcakes $2.25.

Compare that to its cross-Johnson County-rival Dean and Deluca.

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