Salt or what makes the cookie crumbles

Tasty!

I've never been a fan of cookies. I grew up in a household where my mother gave away store bought cookies to the neighborhood kids. So, we always had a well stocked pantry of cookies.

The kids mainly from my extended family would come, for their cookie fix, almost everyday.

When I was married, I quickly discovered that Richard was a cookie monster. We often bought cookies. Too expensive for the quality. If you want good cookies well their really expensive. So, I started to make cookies for Richard. I explored in making a few varieties: peanut butter, shortbread. But, the favorite so far is the oatmeal. The absolute favorite of Richard.

My recipe has evolved in the last 15 years. I am now satisfied with my new standard, chocolate coconut oatmeal cookie. I would like to share my recipe with you...

Chocolate Chip Coconut Oatmeal Cookies

Makes about 20 cookies.

1/2 C unsalted butter
1 C packed brown sugar
1 large egg
1 t. vanilla
1C whole wheat flour
3/4 t. baking powder
1/4 t sea salt (important)
1/2 C wheat germ
1/2 C unsweetened shredded coconut
1 C dark chocolate chips
2 C quick oats

Preheat oven to 350 F

Mix well (I use my trusty food processor) the butter, sugar, egg, & vanilla until it is whiteish color. In another bowl, mix the flour, baking powder, salt, wheat germ, coconut, & chocolate together. Add the wet mix to it and add the oats 1 cup at a time while stirring. You may need to add more oats to get the proper consistency. The consistency is just before it crumbles and sticky enough you can make balls from it. Roll the mixture into ping pong size balls & flatten on parchment sheet. Bake for 12-14 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on a rack & try hard not to eat them for 10 minutes!

People who eat my cookies say that their delicious. There's no special ingredient here. It's all about the sea salt and balancing it with the sugar. Maybe that IS the secret ingredient!

The first glimpse of Winter...

It's Summer but it's already time for Winter cycling caps!

It maybe August but we're already getting under way for new winter cycling caps. Todays a good day for it, rainy around 16 C and feeling like wet Vancouver. Perfect for Richard to come up with three new names for the new fabrics.

I bought the fabric a few weeks ago, washed and dried it and about to begin cutting. So exciting going to my suppliers and  hunting for fabric/colors for new caps. I have fabric from last year and plan to re-introduce two previous models. There's demand for solid colors and something may come from it.

This is just the beginning...

Going back to ... Scuola!

The new Scuola (Italian for School) Pencil Case.

Today, we're introducing the Scuola Pencil Case.

Made from recycled bicycle inner tubes it's hardy for kid's storing their pens & pencils and anything they can hold in there. It measures 3" X 8". And, if it gets dirty it can be hand cold washed. Each one has a zipper and overstitich on the inner tube matching the interior fun fabric.

Of course, if school is not where you're at, it's versatile capable of holding a multitude of stuff. It can also hold a pair of your favorite sunglasses. Due to demand for something a little longer than our Recycled Piccolo Pouch we've gone longer!

My Coconut Dream Pie

My first homemade coconut cream pie...

and not my last one!

We had a special event last Wednesday. It was Richard's 50th birthday. He's requested a coconut cream pie for a long time and I decided that it was time.

I made it from scratch. After all I have my own handmade business. So, I went online for a few recipes to get ideas and just to get inspired. My favorite coconut cream pie recipe is here. I knew it was a winner, all from scratch with coconut milk for the filling gives the whole pie a freshness. It's deceiving; the look and the taste offsets the huge calories inside. For Richard, he's always looking for carbohydrates and for me I'll have to monitor my intake. Basically, I'll have to take it easy.

The recipe didn't call for real fresh coconut. I decided that; real is the deal. So, Richard helped me break the coconut with a hammer. He smashed it, outside on the cement landing, into little shards. I baked the ginger snap cookies in the morning. While the cookies cooled away from Richard. I dried the grated coconut in the oven. Later, I created the mix and put it into the ginger crust then I let it sit for four hours in the fridge.

Just before serving I whipped the cream and served it. It's an easy pie but planning is the key. You have to start in the morning. This pie is everything I expected it to be, it's wonderful. Two things I will change for next time; cut down on the ginger snap crust to half & make more coconut filling!

Discovering wine tasting.

Wine anyone?

I won!

I usually don't participate in contests. Well, I did and I put my name to win a free wine tasting evening. I receive an email from the Francophone College stating... I won! It's the first time I won anything from a contest. In fact, I plainly forgot all about.

It's not a huge win, worth 25 dollars. I would never go myself but why not? It turned out to be interesting. And it is the first time that I participated in a wine tasting. I'm a fan of Gary Vaynerchuk. I watch him with his blind wine tasting and I felt bad that he has to spit out all that wine. I've tasted some bad wine but the French Pinot Noir ($18) was the worse. It tasted like strawberry syrup with alcohol. Just to be nice I gave it 1/10. I thought of Gary and thought about spitting it out, too. I didn't have the heart.
After this experiment, I'm more aware or I'll take notice as to what I'd buy.

It was a fun experiment trying so many kinds of reds. The biggest surprise was the last glass of wine; Avalon from California ($25). Usually I don't like  Cabernet Sauvignon, in fact I loved it! It was full, bold and fills your mouth. You can taste the ripe fruit in it. It's only three years young but it tasted older. I gave this wine a 9/10.

Let's don't forget the bread and cheese. Everything I could live on. Not just any cheese. A special selection of Quebec cheese. A rare treat.

Now, I want to take wine classes. The more you learn the more you want to learn about it. It's so addictive. What would be fun is to grab six friends, six bottles of wine and have a blind test.

Cheers!

Kicking out of bed

For me to get up early is unnatural. I like to linger in bed, but my partner, has the bad habit of getting up early. And he knows, to get me out of bed is to have a cup of my favorite coffee made.

It's the transition of leaving my warm & comfortable bed that is the challenge. I'm a sleeper. I remember when I was in kindergarden, mom ask me to choose if I wanted to go in the morning or afternoon. I said, "I cannot go in the morning, I'm sleeping." I was practical back then. As a kid I use to sleep in until 11 AM. Most of the time I was eating cereal while mom was serving lunch.

I always found a way to get my first cup of coffee. When I moved into a new apartment (my younger days), I couldn't find my French press. I consider using a Turkish coffee technique leaving the grain at the bottom of the cup. It's not my prefer method as the coffee taste is too bitter. I used a corner of one of my t-shirts as a filter. It worked but the t-shirt did not survive!

I love my coffee strong, preferably French roast. Trying out a new coffee brand is one of my favorite activities. It's essential. One of my favorite coffee's is Kicking Horse Coffee from Invermere, BC. I love the blend called Kick Ass which kicks my ass out of bed. I'll always love sleeping in but knowing a good kick ass coffee is waiting gets me out of bed earlier!

Going old school.

My old school technical manual.

I'm back into pattern making ...for me. My time, I'm finding there's very little of, is divided between our business and my pursuit of designing my own clothes. I don't buy anymore socks. Now, my next challenge is not to buy clothes. I graduated from fashion school and I'm finally using techniques I've learned twenty years ago.

I have a mandatory book on Pattern Drafting. During my time in fashion design in Quebec City, the book is in English yet no one could read it. They gave us a cheat sheet to decipher the important directions. Funny, we were made to buy this English book and it never came in French. I suppose there wasn't a book in French and I feel that we were being groomed in the predominately English fashion industry. That's what it was in Quebec. If you wanted to go through the big fashion industry door it was in English.

My first attempt was taking an old pair of pants dismantling it and using it for a pattern. It did seem to be a good idea at the time. I learned that it's better to have a proper pattern to start with. Because I carried over the problem of how bad the pants fitted. But you know it's not that bad. Having a proper pattern is easier to work from. I worked hard to make adjustments to make it fit properly. I still have a lot to learn, so I'll go back to using the pattern book on my next project... making a t-shirt. I'll be using organic bamboo cotton.

I'm going old school again!