When you've exhausted the Maine Museum Trail and are looking for a quirky bit of culture closer to home, you may want to check out the Fortune Cookie Museum on permanent display at the Wok-Inn on outer Forest Ave.

I snapped these pics the other night when Adam and I stopped in for a quick bite to eat at this fast-food restaurant. (The food is really tasty. Just ignore the fact you're eating off a Styrofoam plate.) A few weeks before, I'd been tipped off to the existence of this unusual display by local foodie maven Margo Mallar.

According to the info in this mini-exhibition, the earliest Chinese fortunes were discovered in 1899 on fossilized ox and tortoise bones. Markings on these bones were made during the Shang Dynasty (1766-1122 BC). It's pretty common knowledge that fortune cookies are a Western invention, but according to this display they claim a colorful place in history.

While I was in the restaurant, I asked about the source of the display but no one working the counter knew much about it. A call to the Wok-Inn didn't shed any more light on the matter. So with no real, hard facts to pass along, I'll share the love from my fortune cookie: "Good luck bestows upon you. You will get what your heart desires." (Of course, that message is much better when you add the required "in bed.")