30 December 2007

The "paws" that refreshes

When I read that the University of North Texas' library cafe had devised an exciting new squirrel recipe that became a campus sensation, I thought "here we go again, another fricasee or stew to make my blood boil."

Being a vegetarian doesn't necessarily make me short-tempered, but being a squirrel-lover does, especially when I hear stories about squirrels on a commissary's buffet.

Then I learned that the recipe is actually a cafe drink: a unique blend of coffee with white chocolate mocha flavoring, and it's called The Albino Squirrel, in memory of Baby, the campus' beloved resident white squirrel who, only last spring, was killed by a hawk. The drink honors Baby and, at the same time, calls attention to albino squirrels and indeed, all campus squirrels deserving of attention and protection.

The tribute is not only a creative one but in the best of taste.

Heck, it was all I could do to keep myself from phoning the local Starbucks to ask that they call Texas to get the proper mix, then start serving this immediately.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Maybe you could get Star Bucks to donate a portion of their revenue from their white chocolate mocha coffees!

We Texans don't kill everything you know : - )

Lone Grey Squirrel said...

That's a great story. Wonderful to know that there are so many squirrel lovers out there.

Crafty Green Poet said...

Lovely story! Sad that Baby was killed by a hawk. Albinos are more vulnerable to predators. An albino squirrel made the front page of our local newspaper yesterday, I saw one recently too (may have been the same one of course!)

squirrelmama said...

Glad you appreciate them too, Crafty. White squirrels are such fabulous, elegant creatures - a friend of mine, visiting from London a few years ago, photographed them in Washington, D.C., near the White House. (I think we should have white squirrels in the White House!)