You haven’t LIVED until you’ve GLAZIED.

Hans and Gitta Eberstark — devout parents of four, grandparents of sixteen, active members of the Miramirth County Choral Ensemble, and founders of the fastest growing franchise, I dare say, the seven realms have ever seen — Sweetery Treatery’s Treats! That’s right, Thunderheads! The Eberstarks are makers of the one and only oven-toasted Glazie!

Now the brainchild of the Eberstarks didn’t just soar from meager beginnings to renowned confectioner and baker of delicious delights overnight. No. Theirs is a journey marked by extremes: years of standing in bread lines and second hand shops, holes in the soles, and pile sleeping on the floor just to keep warm. Toil and sweat and nothing come-by easy – that is the Eberstark rise.

But as Gitta is famous for telling her patrons, “You ever see hope leave a child’s eyes?  THAT is the real mother of invention!”  Spoken like someone who knows the hard road.

Story goes, Hans walked home empty-handed after an all-day affair of waiting at the local missionary for what would have been a small pittance of sugar and chocolate. It was a frivolous thing but it was also Ambrose’s birthday – their oldest – he was five then and St. Muriel’s of the Blessed Sovereigns was a trusty resource for life’s little nice-to-haves. But as it turns out April is a big month for birthdays and St. Muriel’s quickly ran out of their stores way before Hans’ number was called. It was devastating really, so much so that Hans stayed two extra hours; just on the chance that another delivery truck would swing by with more donations. But no such truck ever came. No. Poor Hans had to face his family with the look that overcomes all fathers when they feel they’ve failed.

“It’s alright, daddy,” Ambrose supposedly said. “I’m really not that fond of chocolate.” Of course, if Ambrose did say that, and I’m not suggesting he didn’t, well he was lying. Ambrose loves chocolate almost as much as he relishes the thick icing bakers put on cakes.

But what came out of one child’s attempt to ease his parents of guilt still rumbles through halls of pastry chefs today. Gitta looked at Hans, and Hans looked at Gitta, and the rest is, as they say, history.

• A bit of left-over yeast.
• Water.
• Milk near expiration.
• The last scraps of honey from the bottom of a jar.
• Scattered grounds of salt that Gitta found in the cupboard.
• 1 egg.
• Butter, which Gitta was lucky to still have.
• The last of the family’s weekly allotment of flour.
• And cooking oil.

The exact proportions Gitta used that fateful day even she couldn’t tell you, considering it was more about fighting for her family than it was the process of baking anything worth eating. But magic happened in that bowl that day, let there be no doubt, as accidental as it may have been — enough to produce the batter and glaze for one ring of utter genius: golden brown and melt in the mouth. And thus the first Glazie was born.

“Mother! Father! Queen Erellia hasn’t tasted anything this good!” Ambrose is said to have danced about the room, sharing what he had with his siblings. And Hans and Gitta? — well — they did what you’d imagine parents would do: they looked upon the happiness of their children with tears.

Now the Eberstarks may have stumbled upon the means by which they would forever change their fortunes, but the realization that they had just found their golden ticket took time and much begging and pestering from their children for mother to make more. But it was weeks before Gitta could do so; such is the life of a family bound to the limited generosity of others. However the real turn-around didn’t come until the nuns of St. Muriel’s finally came through, and not with just sugar and chocolate, but two months’ worth, a gift given under one condition –- Gitta had to promise her next batch of Glazies to St. Muriel’s.

Well, one bite by Monsignor Tenoray and all the endorsements the Eberstarks would need to start a chain of stores was all but sealed.  St. Muriel’s gave Gitta use of their kitchen to get things going, word of mouth spread, lines started forming around the block, and eventually three famous words were raised above a storefront door — Sweetery Treatery’s Treats — with 800 stores and counting.

That too was young Ambrose’s doing. “Sweetery Treatery, treats to my teeth! Sweetery Treatery, treats can’t be beat!”  It was like his own personal jingle.   Sweetery Treatery– who would have thought?  It is funny how a name will stick though, especially when it’s sung fifty times a day by a six-year-old with a serious sweet tooth.

Inkling #25:
What is the Seven Thunders? It’s the Glazie: three and a half inches of doughnut deliciousness. The Classic. The Filled. The Iced. The Powdered. Even the A la Mode! -– sixteen varieties in all and each one a Keelaroo favorite. After all, to be a Keelaroo is to never discriminate when it comes to food. Wouldn’t be polite.