I am fortunate to be a part of a book club of fabulous, fascinating women.  We gather monthly to share our thoughts about a chosen novel over delicious hors d'oeuvres and wine.  For our final meeting before we break for summer, I created a platter of cookies to reflect the novel of the month, Still Alice by Lisa Genova.  As you can see, butterflies were a recurring image throughout the novel, and so what better compliment than blue cookie butterflies to match?  I love this idea (hatched by the host of this month's meeting) of making a book club meeting extra special by adding a personalized touch.  There are millions of possibilities for novel/cookie collaborations.  Here are a few I can imagine would work well:

Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen

The Diving Bell and the Butterfly by Jean-Dominique Bauby

The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd

-Mika



 

As the real estate market in Vancouver slowly starts to recover, and as people take advantage of record-low interest rates, you may find yourself invited to some housewarming parties!  Although the host would definitely appreciate the standard bottle of wine that each guest often brings along, these new cookies, a Steveston Cookie Company original design, will surely delight any proud new home-owner.  Packaged individually, and adorable in a carton (house-shaped!) carrying-box, one dozen housewarming cookies can be customized in colour and greeting.  Additionally, you could work with us to create your own housewarming design... and we definitely have a few more ideas up our sleeve! 

-Mika

Beautifully decorated sugar cookies are not a new idea.  I imagine most people have a childhood memory or two of decorating cookies around the holidays.  Back then we used buttery icing and slathered it on with knives... more concerned with maximizing icing ingestion rather than style.  Then Martha Stewart entered our lives and showed us how delicious treats could be made exquisitely into "good things."  I for one, was enthralled. 

Since then, sugar cookies have become just about as ubiquitous as the cupcake and are, I hope, here to stay.  Even Obama seems to be a fan as evidenced by his choice of Canadian souvenir at Byward Market in Ottawa(see our version above!).

As a teen I worked in a bakery and when faced with a blank birthday cake for the first time and strict instructions from my manager to write "Happy Birthday Billy," I handled a piping bag for the first time and humiliated myself with a barely legible squiggle.  I followed up that experience with endless practice, until piping birthday messages in icing became my favourite task at the bakery.  Piping cake messages soon turned into piping designs on gingerbread houses and just about every other cookie I could get my hands on.

At the Steveston Cookie Company, I hope to combine the memories we have of childhood sugar cookies with the beauty and whimsy of exquisite icing designs.  What started out as an idea during a dry university lecture has blossomed into the little cookie company that the SCC is today :) Stay tuned, and watch us grow!

-Mika Livingston