Because We All Love A Good Fortune Cookie...

This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replying the story in its archived form does not constitute a re-publiccation of the story.

They taste like Styrofoam and they smell like paste, but you can't with good conscious end a meal without cracking open a fortune cookie. Even in your worst mood the an after-dinner fortune puts at least a crack of a smile on your face.

Like horoscopes and palm-readers these little cookies have rituals behind them, too. Some people make a habit of keeping every paper strip they get, and other people (like me) selectively preserve their food foretold destinies. I still have my favorite "prophecy" in the clear plastic window of my wallet, "If you are a lover of words, you should write a book." There are even rituals associated with selecting your cookie, such as if you aren't picking up the tab you had best not be picking up that first cookie.

There is an online site that shuns all of these rituals and lets you just enjoy the sheer fun and randomness that is a fortune cookie. Meiwah Restaurant in D.C. has a page where you can get your fortune on their website. This little eco-friendly time waster let's you run through a list of fortunes to your heart's content or until you find the perfect phrase to tack "in bed" to the end of... kind of like this little gem I found today:

The fun of a fortune without the mouth caking and after-taste.

If you, or someone you love is as big of a fortune cookie fan as I am, you might like the customizable, giant fortune cookies that actually look delicious from St. Louis based company Presentville.com. The football sized fortune cookies have a one foot message inside that is ripe for just about anything you want to say.

Looking for a 100% calorie-free fortune cookie? St. Louis ceramics maker Lindsay Brenner makes life-sized ceramic fortune cookies that you can have glazed in you favorite color and customized with a message inside...

... because we all love a good fortune cookie.