Cobbs Cakes – Peppermint Slice

Brand: Cobbs

Found at: University of Glasgow Library

Cost: £1

I’m a girl who can appreciate me a good library. Let me loose in a big building full of books, and I will happily wander around for hours until I find myself a quiet sconce to happily ensconce myself. I like to touch the spines and smell the pages and lose myself in 19th-century etiquette guides that are now wildly out of date. A good library is like a second home.

Which is what makes the betrayal of the University of Glasgow library all the more dreadful. In fact, this poor library is much like me: a total mess. Of the two elevators, one is always broken. Of the dozens of check-out machines, only 3 have ever worked. The door is strictly guarded by a card reader, making it clear that the “rabble” is not welcome to the lofty privilege of books. But in truth, they are not missing much: the study spaces are cramped and crowded, the architecture makes very poor use of the space, and the temperature inevitably 5 degrees below what is comfortable. It is, all in all, a deeply unwelcoming place – with one exception: they have a great café.

And that is where I acquired this peppermint slice, far into the evening and only partway through the paper that I should have already finished. It turns out that this “slice” referred to a long, thin portion of frosted brownie, and after 12 hours of writing, it was just about the best thing that I had ever eaten in my life. The thick peppermint frosting and rich chocolate brownie were sweet and soft and crumbly and even though I somehow managed to get frosting all over my clothes, my face, and several of the articles I had printed, it was completely and totally worth it. I have since tried to find a Cobbs slice and the Tesco or the Sainsbury’s – to take back to my dorm room and indulge myself in the comfort of my own home – but so far it seems that the library is the only place in town that I can get one. So, it looks like I will eventually have to go back to that tall, cramped, ice-box of a building once again. Honestly, if it weren’t for these brownie slices, I would never return my books at all.

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The My Library Project

            I am comfortable admonishing the Glasgow library precisely because I have had so many incredible libraries in my life. From Wheelock to Penrose to the UW library, libraries have always offered me a safe space to learn and grow and explore the world around me. That’s why I wanted to give a shout-out to my friend Kathryn Dobson and the My Library Project, working to build a school library in Gambia. If you want to help out, or if you even just want to feel uplifted by good folks making the world a better place, check out: https://www.facebook.com/donate/754868808272899/777222522704194/