Tuesday, November 16, 2010

TrEaTs!!!

I made a ton of treats yesterday and thought I would share the recipes for a few of them.

Whole-Wheat Brownies http://www.marthastewart.com/recipe/whole-wheat-brownies

Apple Granola Muffins - I substitute apple for pear - http://www.marthastewart.com/recipe/pear-and-granola-muffins

Happy Baking!!!

Jackie

Friday, November 12, 2010

So, I have to apologize...I’ve been ignoring my blog lately, as I am finding that there are too many things to do during the day and night, and I just can’t get to the blog part of the list! My friend Sylvia scolded me on Skype yesterday though, so I thought I had better post something to put you all at ease ;-)

The bakery has started to take off....it is still a slow process as the busy time was during Halloween, and since then things have tapered off. I’m not complaining. I think I needed the break – to sleep, to reorganize supplies, and to think of what was coming next – CHRISTMAS!! I am in the brainstorming part of the process, trying to decide what cookies to make for the upcoming holiday, how to package them, how to market them, etc etc. I’ve been surfing the net for inspiration and finding so much that I can barely take it all in!! Wow there are some really talented people out there, who are so open to share their talents with others who are passionate about baking as well.

I want to show you some of the work I’ve completed lately, in case you are not one of my facebook fans or perhaps not an avid facebook-er.

















As for the other side of my life, Zack, Maggie and my husband Mike are all doing well. We are hoping to have a new addition to the daycare ‘team’ (fingers crossed) so that will round out our numbers to four kiddies each day with possibly maintaining Fridays ‘off.’ We attended Mike's "Pumpkin Carving Party" at his work and Z&M had a blast carving their first pumpkin!

We broke out the IKEA easel that we bought for Z&M at Christmas (and then tucked away in the closet since then b/c it was too big for them) yesterday and they painted a masterpiece, one kid on each side of the easel.



Tonight we bought hockey sticks to play with at the park. The weather has turned colder here in Vancouver, but it rarely snows so nothing will keep us from running around inside the nearby tennis court  We also have started going to ‘school!’ There is a strong start program in the East end and we went for our first trial run two Fridays ago. I was expecting this place to look and feel like a daycare, but it is actually a full on kindergarten classroom, with two teachers, and all the cool ‘stations’ like sandbox, painting, colouring, crafts, books, and a kitchen. They have open play for the first hour, then snack time, then calendar/weather/story and song time. Z&M were SO EXCITED to go to school (just like Clifford they said) and I think they liked the teachers. They made a ghost craft with one of the teachers, and I just watched them from the other side of the room thinking...it is too soon, it is too soon...but with a smile on my face and pride in my heart. They are such amazing kids.

Looking for advice on how to get my name out to bigger clients, the type that would be sending a lot of thank you gifts to clients...cookie boxes will be available and I would love to have a lot of them sent out this year...thank you in advance for any thoughts on this matter.

Love to you all!
Jackie