A Night of Tropical Intrigue

 

 

Once again, I teamed up with my friend, Bobbie to host a meeting of our Book Club. When it is our turn, we always have  fun creating a party atmosphere for the meeting.

 

The book we selected was a little history, a bit of a mystery and a hint of Hallmark.  A fictional story based on the unsolved murder of Jane Stanford, the founder of Stanford University.

 

It was a fun evening and a lively discussion including which book cover we preferred.  Our friends also appreciated the correspondence that Bobbie exchanged with the author.

Since the story takes place in Hawaii, we decided on a luau theme for the evening. 

We welcomed our guests with Hawaiian music and a lei greeting, then served Mai Tais, pūpūs and coconut gelato with a pineapple cookie and a rainbow spoon.  At the end of the evening we said aloha to each guest with a parting gift that included cookies.

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Since a black cat is a significant character in the story, I wanted to include her in some way, but black icing is something I try to avoid.  ChatGPT helped me with the picture and a tropical cocktail made from a cat cookie cutter sufficed.

 

 

Summer Bake Sale

 

210 cookies. . .

15 designs. . .

10 colors . . .

 

70 bags tied with ribbon. . . 

 

for Leann's youth group bake sale. 

Book Club Cookies

Last night, was the first time I hosted a meeting of a book club that I recently joined.  The book I selected was, Where the Crawdads Sing, by Delia Owens. This book is a beautifully written story that is now on my list of favorite books.  

 

A White Christmas Doesn't Have to Mean Snow

Sand and Surf or Ice and Snow .  .  . 

Which White Christmas do you prefer?

In 2012, beach cookies became a trend.  All shapes and sizes, they were everywhere, but I think I originated the "Merry Beachmas" design.  It is my favorite cookie, the most popular entry on my blog, and the inspiration for the cookies that I will share at our family gathering this year.

For the family members who prefer snow, I made traditional winter designs.

Finally, a tribute to our loved ones who are forever in our hearts and in the stars . . .

Summer Kick-Off

Since my new philosophy is, "it's just a cookie," whenever possible I am trying to keep it simple.

Bright colors, a flower, and a bow are all that's needed for some summer fun.

Happy Birthday Beth

Cookies for a beach loving friend.  The silver and white colors were inspired by plates that I found at a discount home furnishings store, but I had to include a beach cookie in traditional colors because I love making them and it's one of her favorite designs.

Happy birthday friend, I hope you have a wonderful year ahead of you.

Merry "Beach"mas

Twenty years ago I moved into a new home, in a western suburb of Chicago, just three months after the neighbors next door.  Beth and I eventually got to know each other and I am confident we will be friends for life.

Beth (right) and me

Our friendship is an unlikely one, an odd couple of sorts.  When we met I was working full time, she stayed home to raise her children.  She's a Mom, I am not.  I'm a city gal, she's a suburbanite.  Our age gap is 13 years.  The differences go on and on, however, Beth has become the kid sister that I never had.

We were friends and neighbors for 10 years, then we both moved to new locations, again, within three months of each other.  Beth moved further west for better schools for her children and I moved back to Chicago to be closer to my family. The miles between us have not altered the friendship.

One thing we have in common is our love of warm weather, blue skies and beautiful beaches.  My dream would be to live near Keawekapu beach in Maui, Hawaii.  Beth's dream location is Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.  Dreams are wonderful, but if they come true there will be even more miles between us, however, I suspect that travel arrangements could be made.

For Christmas this year, I am sending her a little beach of her own.  I had so much fun making beach cookies  last summer that I decided to fashion it into a tree for the Christmas season.


Merry Christmas friend.  I wish you peace, joy, love and dreams of warm beaches. . .

Happy Anniversary

When it comes to cookies, my husband is my quality control person.  He eats the rejects, gives me honest feedback when I try new recipes and tells me what's good and bad about my decorating.  Even though he gets plenty of cookies through this process, I realized that I have NEVER made cookies just for him.  We don't have children, so no Father's Day cookies,  on Valentine's Day we're usually still counting calories from the overeating during the Christmas holidays. . . so for our anniversary this year I decided it was time I made some cookies just for him.

The little crab cookies are an inside joke because these cute little critters were the only "guests" at the wedding!  Every time we have the opportunity to go back to Hawaii, we visit the beach where we had our wedding and the little crabs always come out to bite Matt's ankles.

              Happy Anniversary!