A Call To Write: All-American Summer & Lobsters

Lobsters are good any time of the year, but something about them screams summer to me. As today is the summer solstice it is time I finally share my June stationary & stamps giveaway with you. I debated going with something a bit more directly patriotic, but when I saw the lobster stamp at Paper Source earlier this month I was immediately drawn to it. Growing up I was fortunate enough to have a mother who believed in things like lobster and filet mignon and champagne. Lobster has been a favorite food of mine for decades now. Maybe it is because my family goes to Cape Cod in the summer where lobster is always on the menu in a variety of forms, but to me I always think of bright red lobsters in summertime.

So this month I present you with eight lobster note cards, embossed by yours truly, with ocean blue envelopes to bring home that red, white, and blue just in time for an all-American summer. The stamps are also All-American – the Pioneers of American Industrial Design Forever stamps.

The Cookie of the Month Club: A Gift for my Father

My father is a man of simple pleasures. He loves watching the Yankees win, pouts when the Giants lose, and aims to always beat his lowest score on Sundays at the golf course. When it comes to food he enjoys unassuming tastes; hot dogs and hamburgers, a good steak, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. The one food I could call him a connoisseur of is the cookie. He loves cookies. He even has a nightly ritual of eating one or two with a small Tupperware cup of milk either hanging around the kitchen or watching the end of “the game” on the couch.

This past Christmas I wanted to come up with a creative gift for him. It always feels like I’m giving him a Yankees t-shirt or a new box of golf balls (which are surprisingly expensive, by the way!). I searched. I thought. Finally, an idea dawned on me: The Cookie of the Month Club. A homemade batch of cookies delivered directly to my parent’s doorstep with a new flavor every month. An idea that would support his love of cookies and my love of the post office and baking!

Throughout middle and high school I did a lot of baking, almost always with a set purpose: a youth ministry picnic, Key Club bake sale or to be sneaked into a crush’s locker for Valentine’s Day. Eventually I started getting complaints from my dad and my brother that there were never any cookies left for them. Now with me in living in Manhattan, baking more than ever, and my parents a few hours north of the city the situation hasn’t changed much. There’s plenty being made, and little getting to my dad. The Cookie of the Month Club allows me to share what I bake with my dad all year long. I love the excited text message or phone call that comes once my dad receives the monthly shipment and the feedback he gives on flavor and texture.