PRETTY COOKIES

It finally came!! The Tortola Caribbean Bracelet that my daughter and her husband bought me for my birthday way back in April. I love it! Now whenever I look at it I will be reminded of that beautiful Caribbean Island that I long to go back to. Actually, what am I saying?! As if I need any reminder.

I spent the better part of the last two days at my friend's house, helping her with the huge task of making 160 very special cookies for her daughter's wedding. They will be placed in little clear plastic bags, tied with a white ribbon, and placed at each table setting at the reception.

It's quite the process to make one. First make the dough, roll it out, cut with the heart shaped cutter, and bake. Two kinds of royal icing need to be made; one fairly stiff and one quite runny. Once the cookies are cooled, a thin line is piped around the outside top of the cookie, creating an outline and left to dry. Then the runny icing is drizzled into the center and carefully spread out to the outline in a fairly thick layer and an even surface. Once that is completely dry (overnight) then the icing is brushed with a layer of edible pearl shine, then the first initials of the bride and groom are piped on top. Once they are dry, they go in the freezer on trays and then, once frozen, are placed in the clear bags and returned to the freezer to stay there until a few days before the wedding, when the white bow will be tied to the bag. They make really lovely favours. We made them for my daughter's Vancouver wedding reception last year and they were a big hit with the guests.

















We are toying with the idea of doing it as a business. But, to make it worthwhile, we'd have to charge close to $5 a cookie. I don't know if people would pay that much.

MOTHER'S DAY LATE

Because I was working on Mother's Day, my daughter decided that we would celebrate it at the end of the month. So Shonah drove down from Kelowna after work on Friday night and on Saturday we headed to North Vancouver to meet my son and his girlfriend at the home of Ashleigh and Rob for dinner. The two of them pulled out all the stops and made turkey dinner with roasted potatoes and asparagus, and lemon meringue pie for dessert - both big favourites of mine. From their tiny apartment kitchen they managed to produce a fabulous meal.

We had martinis to start, wine with dinner, and lots of laughs. Once the dishes were cleared we pulled out the Game of Life. The kids like to make up stories as they go along, so if we landed on a square where you sue someone and get a huge settlement, we have to say why we are suing them. That sort of thing. It made it a lot of fun.

Because I am without a place of my own and most all of my belongings are either in storage or gone, knowing what to buy me as a gift for an occasion has become a challenge. I happened to be downtown Langley one day and stopped in to a favourite home decor shop for a look around. I remember back several years ago they started to carry a line of bracelets called Pandora. They had, literally, a small tray of charms and the bracelets to put them on. Stepping into the store now, I see that they have converted a whole section of the store just for Pandora jewelery. I really love the concept and had a good look at all of the charms. I debated whether this would be something I would like to own.

I suggested it to my daughter and she thought it was a great idea. So I went back and purchased the starter bracelet and a couple of charms. There were two women on the set of the doomsday movie who collect the same charms and so were very excited when I showed up wearing mine one day. It seems it can become a bit of an obsession!

For Mother's Day, the kids added 3 more charms to the collection. But they aren't Pandora. There are other companies who make similar charms and most fit the Pandora bracelet. The kid's uncle owns a jewelry store that carries the Amore e Baci line. I had gone in and had a look at theirs and selected six that I liked. So now I own three of them.

I am still waiting on the bracelet my daughter and her hubby bought for me for my birthday - a Caribbean Hook bracelet (the Tortola one) I have been coveting for some time. It is on order and, hopefully, will be here before the end of June.