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Dear Reader,
There's an art to giving something away, especially when you don't know the person you're giving it to. But put a bag of chocolate chip cookies in my hand and I can walk up to a complete stranger, smile, and ten minutes later, I'm probably someone they'll always remember. Homemade chocolate chip cookies are one of those things that's hard to forget. And giving away cookies is a lot of fun for me.
So I bake cookies, and then go on the hunt for someone to give them to. I used to think giving away cookies was my own idea, but apparently it's in my genes. My mother always hated to cook, so I was really surprised last year when I was standing in the receiving line at her wake and almost every other person offered their sympathies and then commented that they'd never forget my mother, because she was always baking cookies and giving them away.
I don't know what my mother used to say when she randomly handed someone a bag of cookies, but here's how I do it. Two weeks ago, I bought a skirt in a neighborhood store and Liz, the store owner, seemed like such a nice person that I decided to put her on my cookie list.
"I absolutely love your store," I told her, "and I sure hope that business is good." Then I handed her a big bag of my chocolate chip cookies. Liz wasn't quite sure what to make of me--a big bag of chocolate chip cookies from a woman she didn't know, but she appeased me, smiled and simply asked, "Cookies? How nice. What are the cookies for?"
"Oh nothing special," I told her, "I know how difficult it is to run a small business and since I love to bake, I thought you might enjoy some of my chocolate chip cookies." And she did, and now Liz is on my "baking list".
My mother would be so proud.
This year, every month, I've been giving away two dozen of my homemade chocolate chip cookies to a book club reader. Today's the day to enter the October Cookie Giveaway! To enter, go to:
http://www.emailbookclub.com/photo/cookie4.html
Thanks for reading with me. It's so good to read with friends.
Suzanne Beecher
[email protected]
http://www.DearReader.com
AUTHORBUZZ: This week make sure you enter to win signed free books from these terrific authors: Don Bruns, South Beach Shakedown; Mark Coggins, Candy From Strangers; Katherine Lanpher, Leap Days; Pamela Samuels-Young, Every Reasonable Doubt; and Paramhansa Yogananda, The Essence of the Bhagavad Gita. Go to: http://authorbuzz.com/dearreader
READ THE CLASSICS: Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, by Harriet Jacobs, and enter the free Penguin Classic's Drawing. Go to:
http://www.supportlibrary.com/nl/path_go.cfm?x=815&site=23
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