Happy Canada Day everyone :O)

Afternoon Tea at Van Dusen Gardens

61st Annual Rose Show and Craft Sale

at the gorgeous Van Dusen Botanical Gardens, BC

Sunday 20th June, Father's Day, 12:30pm-4:30pm

Father's Day cookie Set

Flower Cookie Pop - 3 cookies

Waffle Ice creams to welcome summer

I'd like to invite you along with the rest of your family to the

Vancouver Rose Society 61st Annual Rose Show and Craft Sale this Sunday,

at the beautiful Van Dusen Botanical Gardens.

Come celebrate Father's Day at Van Dusen Gardens, especially if your dad is an avid gardener, come for a stroll and have afternoon tea or coffee in the perfect setting for a special day.


This year they have taken a “sweet” turn and welcomed some Bakery Market vendors,

and Cookievonster, that'll be ME incase you're wondering who :OP

will be serving up some yummilicious baked goodies for the day,

such as mini donut-muffins, mini cakes and an assortment of fantabulous cookies,

including some Father's Day, Canada Day and Garden themed decorated shortbread cookies.
There will be tables to sit and enjoy a tea party with yummy treats, and still take some home.

We are also looking forward to seeing an array of tables with Garden related products.

The Rose show will also feature a judged Rose show in over 150 classes, 25 awards, expert demonstrations, throughout the show by leading rose experts and judged photography exhibit,
Of course, there will be Roses of every possible kind and size,
Hand tied bouquets and blooms at the end of the show for sale

as well as other perennial plant material.

Vancouver Rose Society Annual Rose Show, in Floral Hall, Cedar Room & Covered Walkway.
12:30 - 4:30 p.m.
Hope to see you this Sunday :O)

Cookievonster's new 'LOADED' cookie

Green Tea Shortbread cookie

I am... first and foremost, an Artist

My biggest love <3

Has any of you ever sat down and thought to yourself, "Am I a right brain person, or am I a left brain person?"

Here's a little test for you to try and see if you are a Righty or a Lefty

http://www.wherecreativitygoestoschool.com/vancouver/left_right/rb_test.htm

I'm a Righty

And am kinda proud of it! Kinda because sometimes I wish I wasn't so absentminded and a little less loonie! But, I like being who I am, I'm also a Libran, which adds to my Looniness

*wink*

To write this blog, I did some reading on what the characteristics of a Righty are, and I giggled all the way through it. It was spot on!

Basically...

Righties are creative, absentminded, philosophical Dreamers!

I am also sure I have a slight case of ADD and OCD. When I was working on projects like clubs and bars and restaurants, we were always nominated to have the cleanest washrooms, so imagine my house. I spend 80% of my life cleaning, and 20% stressing that its not clean enough. Things are never perfect enough for me, I can always do better. And I always wonder off topic, because everything interests me and I bore easily. And I'm starting to wonder what the point of this specific blog was about. HAH! That might be the Libran in me however. Oh, and its also because I am a dreamer and absentminded, and loving it!

Anyway, why this brain topic? I've had a week to sit back and not do any markets or baking or stressing about where Cookievonster was going. To reflect back on what my aim was, and trust me, this is hard for a righty, we don't plan; actually we do, but we most probably might not follow it, and we don't wrote things down, and even if we do... we'd probably make a few more list because we just find it more fun than actually following the list. Righties just do it, like the NIKE ad - DO IT! Set the target and DO IT! DOOOOOOO IT! I love saying that, DOOOOOO IT! heheheheheh

(Oh, any future possible investors/ partners in my business, have no fear... Cookievonster is here, heh heh. I might be absentminded, but I am extremely good at what I do, and everything else I take on. I literally just don't know any other way of doing things. Whatever I do, I only know how to do it at my very best, and I wasn't called the "bulldozer" in one of my past companies for no reason :OP )

oh dear, off track again.... My aim... and for those of you who have read my very first blog entry, my aim is to open up my own cafe in the near future.

Cookievonster just happen to be a stepping stone towards that aim. I have been working hard, putting my very best on all my baking and preparation for Cookievonster that I haven't had time to step back and analyze my journey. Its always best to remember who you are before you continue on your journey in life, because if you forget who you are, you will follow the wrong path and end up at the wrong destination. But if you ideally know who you are, all paths in life, good or bad, will lead you to the right destination. Well, that's what I like to believe anyway. So I try once a while to remember who I am.

Who am I?

I am a Righty!

And I am an Artist.

I was redesigning my website and was thinking how my custom decorated cookies were different from the rest. How? I am first and foremost an Artist. That is how I am different. To me everything I do is Art. From designing my house, to my furniture, to painting a mural on my wall, my cooking, my baking, my garden, my previous jobs, I see everything as Art. I see life itself as Art. I see beauty in everything.

My conclusion, I do not just make decorated cookies, I make edible Art. I take cookie orders that excites me, and from people who understands and appreciates it as Art. I make decorated cookies for the love of it, its not a job, its my passion to have a chance to get inspired and create Art for people who understands this. I give my best because I love it and hope others will too :O)

Bacon heaven, in a cookie...

Who loves Bacon? Hands up!

ME! ME! ME!

I LOVE BACON!

Last Christmas a friend gave me a bar of chocolate. Not just any chocolate bar. It was a fancy gourmet BACON chocolate bar. A Vosges Mo's Chocolate Bacon Bar to be exact. I had seen a bunch of desserts made with bacon on TV lately. Its the "IN" thing, that and Matcha. Green tea is vastly promoted as a healthy ingredient, a healthy habit, and Bacon... well, I'd promote it simply as AWESOME! Bacon makes me happy. I have bacon and eggs as often as I can, on Mondays, Tuesdays, Saturdays, Thursdays, Wednesdays, Sundays and Fridays.

After I had a piece of the bacon chocolate, I definitely had to make something chocolate and bacon. How can I not? Two of my absolute favourite foods in the whole world!

I did my research as usual, and went and tested all sorts of bacon from the deli. Picked up some sausages and cold cuts at the same time too, just to keep the bacon company :OP

In the end, I settled on the aromatic Applewood Bacon.

I started making various versions of bacon brownies, because I loved the chocolate bar so much. MMmmmmmmm... they were GOOD.... and rich.... and very very good. I topped my brownies with some home made smoked coffee infused sea salt to intensify the flavours of the bacon and chocolate. Everyone raved about how wickedly good they were. Addictive, sinful and fantabulous! I was very happy with them, bacon makes me happy, bacon and chocolate makes me even happier.

I had planned to add the Bacon brownie to my list of goodies for sale at the market, but I am Cookievonster after all, and at the Baker's Market, I am situated next to Lily (Yaletown Brownies) who specialized in some pretty decadent brownies.

So I decided to switch and make some bacon cookies. It was an easy task, all I really did was mix the applewood bacon into my Chunky Chewy Brown butter Chocolate Chip cookie and sprinkled it with some coffee sea salt.

Why change a good thing? I still loved my chocolate chip cookie, and it made perfect sense to combine the two. Heavenly. So happy!

Well, now my Bacon Chocolate Chip Cookie has taken over the sales of the Chocolate Chip cookie, so I only make the Bacon one these days for the markets.

So calling all bacon lovers out there, drop by the BLIM Market this Sunday 23 May, 2010 @ the Heritage Hall (Main & 15th) and pick up some delicious mouth watering Bacon Chocolate Chip cookies.

Crazy about Marshmellows!

I discovered something new lately... its the ever oh so light and Skooshie fresh homemade Marshmallow!

Yeap!

SKOO-SHIE!

(do you think that's a Skooshie color?)

I never understood the 'fluffy' reference. Fluffy = soft, fuzzy, feathery, downy, fleecy or flossy.

Besides the soft description... fluffy doesn't seem quite fit a marshmallow. Neither does spongy. Its softer than a sponge and its a different kind of spongy. When I get hold of a marshmallow, I can't help but Squash it between my fingers. Its the best fun! Especially those tiny store bought ones, I squash everyone of them before I pop some into my mouth, and I never liked the taste of the store bought ones either, I just like squashing them and watch them in glee while they bounce back, or simply stay squashed!

Since I have been selling my fresh marshmallows, I have noticed that when someone picks up a bag of marshmallow, the first thing they do is to "skoosh" them! They don't Squash them completely, just a little 'Skooshness' test, and fresh marshmallow... wayyyyyy Skooshier than store bought ones. Oh yes, way way wayyyyy TASTIER too!

If you had ever had a fresh Marshmallow, you will never go back to the funny tasting store bought ones. First of all, fresh marshmallow does not stay fresh for long, so, I can't even imagine what is in the store bought marshmallows that allows it to sit and stay on the shelf for days, weeks or months. A little freaky if you ask me, but I still like to skoosh them whenever I get my hands on some :OP

I gave a marshmallow to a dog once. I think he was all confused and wondered if he should chew it or just swallow the thing whole, and then it got stuck on his teeth. (no animal cruelty here, he loved it! and wanted more, only got one though, sugar + dog= not good) It was funny to watch him try to eat it though... he! he! Ahhh I get entertained so easily... like skooshing mini marshmallows!

I landed on the idea of making marshmallows by accident. I had bought myself 5 new cookie recipe books over Christmas and saw some recipes for squares. I like squares, they seem 'wholesome' and more satisfying than a cookie, they always seem to be rich in flavour and texture.

Then I came across this recipe of a Jello square that had to be refrigerated. It looked so pretty. Selling something that should be refrigerated till served is not a good idea for bake sales, so the first thing that came to my mind when I thought of jello was marshmallow. The picture of the jello square was pink, and I like the pink.

What am I talking about ? I LOVE pink! I wanted to make something similar just because it was pink! A mix here, a mix there, trial here and there and there we have it!

I put together a Fresh Raspberry Marshmallow Lemon Shortbread Square. I combined it with a shortbread base because I kept thinking in my mind how awesome it would be to have a rich buttery and slightly crunchy texture combined with a tangy soft refreshing raspberry marshmallow, and awesome it did turn out to be. This has been one cookie combo that I steal a piece of every time I make them for the markets :O)

I've been hooked on marshmallows ever since. I've made mixed berries marshmellows, chocolate, and green tea ones too!

Yummy... and oh so Skooshie!

Infact, its taken me almost 8 weeks to get a photo of them. I prepare them as fresh as possible for the market, which means I cut them, dust them and run out the door. And since they are always sold out, I never got a chance to take a photo of them. I only got a quick shot of them last week before I ran out of the house to the market. Aren't they cute?

:O)

Two more for Mother's Day

Please drop by the Baker's Market this Saturday 24, April or 1st May to place your order with your 50% deposit.

(Front)

(Back)

'Mom's Garden' BOX Set (Front) - 13 shortbread cookies all together to form a 3D cookie gift set in a clear box

Approximately 5 1/2" high by 5" wide, Base cookie is coated with chocolate.

'Cherry Blossom' Set- 3pc set, 3.5inch each, wrapped in a pretty box with ribbon and homemade tag

Mother's Day cookie Sets

Please drop by the Baker's Market this Saturday 24, April or 1st May to put your order in with your 50% deposit.

'AJ' set - 3pc set, 3.5inch each, wrapped in a pretty box with ribbons and homemade gift tag.

I had spent the last 3 days working on these sets for Mother's Day, and I suddenly realized.... it's HARD work! Lucky for me I try not to think of this as work, but fun, and it is lots of fun!

Many things inspire me when I research for ideas, but for Mother's Day I kept coming back to two designers who ideally represents motherhood in their work. I have always been touched byAnita Jeram's work, and her beautiful art inspired me to create a set of Mother's day cookies just for her. Now if I only knew where to send the cookies to her... anyone? anyone???

'Mom's Tea Party' Set - 5pc set, 3.5inch each, wrapped in a box with ribbon and homemade tag

'Me & Mom' Set - 3pc set, 3.5inch each, wrapped in a pretty box with ribbon and homemade gift tag.

'Birdie' Set - 3pc set, 3.5inch each, wrapped in a box with ribbon and homemade tag.

'Tickled Pink Teapot' Set - 3pc set, 3.5inch each, wrapped in a box with ribbon and homemade tag.

'Peacock' Set- 2pc set, 3.5inch each, wrapped in a pretty box with ribbon and homemade tag.

'Porcelain TeaPot' Set- 3pc set, 3.5inch each, wrapped in a pretty box with ribbon and homemade tag.

'JR' set - 2pc set, 3.5inch each, wrapped in a pretty box with ribbons and homemade gift tag.

Here is the design inspired by jewellery designer Janel Russell. I love the simple message of a mother's love and her relationship with her child. So sweet...

I'm off to finish off my two other designs and will post the photos up tomorrow, so please come back and check it out and maybe you'll find one just right for your mum :O)