The Cookie Press

Organic Cookies off your waistline.

Posted by Mark:

One of my favorite questions is... "What if?"  I tried to register that domain name, but ahhh... it's taken.  Rarely can you snatch up a good .com name anymore... they're all taken.  What if... we weren't an overweight nation?  Define overweight.  In my opinion, there are several different types of being overweight... there is the grossly overweight, the middle overweight, and a little overweight.  Knowing that we can't eliminate all in one shot... what if... you eliminated the "grossly."  This category alone can save millions.  So... What if instead of eating fast food breakfast sandwiches in the morning, you ate a Breakfast Cookie?  Like the ones at Bella's Cookies.  High in fiber, protein, vegan, etc.  Eating right... eating healthy... staying active.  The rewards far outnumber the risks.  Read the article below, it's eye opening.  Then pass this article on... 

Link: What if no one were fat? - MSN Money.

Gas Prices Hit Record High

Posted by Mark:

Yesterday I filled up my little Chevy HHR.  $51.00 to fill it up.  I used to cringe at that number at every fillup in my wife's Suburban... now, WaWa cuts off the pump at $75.00.  $51 to fill a little 14 gallon tank.  The Suburban is 26 gallons... yikes!  Living at the beach is great during times of economic strain... lost of people around the DC, Baltimore, Wilmington, Philly, NY market will come here instead of a more "distance travelled" vacation because in the total cost of travel... $100 for fillup is less than $700 in roundtrip tickets somewhere.  But how much longer will that last?  If a fillup costs $120 one way... that's $240 round trip.  Not to mention the little trips here and there than my push your total driving cost up near $300 -- just to drive to the beach.  I think you might see more people deciding to take trips more, around their own homes... exploring places they've known about and lived near for a long time... and now deciding to take those trips.  Day trips... Weekenders, etc.  If that happens, businesses here (who rely on tourism money) will have a challenge.  It looks to be an interesting summer of 2008... my prediction though... vactioners will still come to the beach.  They'll pay close to $4 a gallon for gas... they'll limit what they buy, they'll splurge less on things they don't really need, and summer will be over.  We'll see what heppens.  I'll report back to you in early October.  In the meantime... read the article below, it'll shed some light on some things.

Link: Why oil could hit $180 a barrel - MSN Money.

Bella's Cookies on the cover of Delaware Today

Posted by Mark:

Well, not Bella or the cookies... but the president of the company & my wife, Kelly is.  The piece is called "People to Watch: 40 under 40."  What a great piece.  Check it out by clicking here.

Organic Cookies might be a nice dessert!

Posted by Mark:

As a vegetarian, but former carnivore, I don't quite know how to read this... but it's interesting, very interesting. There's part of me that says... alright, then another part that says... just switch your diet. I mean, Quorn is one of my favorite foods. Quorn is the leading meat-free alternative in Europe... big in Europe (like David Hasselhoff). They make foods in lab dishes, out of mycoprotein (mushrooms). Looks like a naked chicken cutlet, made out of mushroom. Looks like steak strips, made out of mushroom. Looks like chicken nuggets, made from mushroom. I just don't know... it's one thing to make something taste like meat, that has no way shape or form of meat... it's another to grow meat, real meat. Kind of like those stories about a certain fast food chicken chain that grows only the chicken breasts through a process of scientific achievements. Hmmm, sounds like the article you're about to read. Cue the Twilight Zone music...

Link: Growing meat without growing animals. - By William Saletan - Slate Magazine.

Crushed up cookies could result in higher MPG's

Posted by Mark:

If the title above were the title of a press release Bella's Cookies was sending out, we might become instant multi-kazillionaires!  Crushed up organic, vegan, gluten-free, agave cookies... fed into your fuel tank and gettin you 50 mpg.  Alright, enough of the nonsense. 

Isn't it appropriate that on Earth Day, this release made it's way into mainstream news.  We all knew this was coming, but it's still such a long ways away.  2015... that's 7 more years of 15, 18, 20, 22, 24 mpg vehicles... and they're killing my wallet!  I drive a little HHR... (sharp too I must add) and I'm currently getting 24.1 mpg... and $50 to fill it up.  Recently my wife test drove a new Tahoe Hybrid around...very nice.  Too $$cey though... "Any rebates" I asked.  "These are in high demand" said the dealership.  "How many have you sold?" I asked.  "None yet!" was the reply.  "They are definitely in high demand!" 

Link: Fuel economy standard will be 31.6 mpg - Going Green- msnbc.com.

No cookies for Wolf Hunters!

Posted by Mark:

Not too long ago, Ross Perot decided to run for president.  Remember that?  Remember when we would catch television clips of his interviews and he'd say... "See, now that's just sad (in that famous Ross Perot voice)."  Dana Carvey on SNL used to imitate him perfectly on this. 

What?  Idaho Wolf hunts planned just after de-listing them from the endangered species act... "Now that's just sad."  Come on?  As they say in the article... "The world is watching!" Yes, the world is watching... or are they?  What will they do?  What will you do?  Do you live in Idaho?  There are other ways to keep wolves form killing livestock other than killing them... until then, no cookies for Idaho Wolf hunters!

Link: Gray wolf hunts planned after de-listing - Environment- msnbc.com.

The Cookie Crumbles... or Ice!

Posted by Mark:

It's stories like this that should wake everyone up... however it typically doesn't. We say... "that's terrible." Then we proceed with our day... as usual. What are you doing to help combat change? My wife and I recently looked a new Chevrolet Tahoe Hybrid... wanting to make the green leap in a family SUV. At a price tag of $55k... it's a bit out of our range. Which brings us to question... if it takes all of us to really make change in our carbon emissions (especially from the country that drives the most)... we should make alternative vehicles priced so that we can buy them up without hesitation. Just a thought!

Link: Ice shelf on verge of collapse - Environment- msnbc.com.

By Andrea Thompson

I'd blame it on an organic cookie (Bella's Cookies of course)!

Posted by Mark:

If it was just recently, it would have to be Peanut Butter Power... a new organic peanut butter cookie. Since it wasn't me though, you might like to read this. Enjoy!

Link: Driver blames speeding on Oreo error - Vehicular weirdness- msnbc.com.

Easter Cookies & Easter Candy

Posted by Mark:

There's only a few days left until Easter.  It doesn't feel this way.  Again, the holidays are catching up to me (us) quickly and I don't know that we're prepared for them.  Are you ready?  There are tons of things to take care of... biodegradable Easter grass, treats (got them covered), a few suprises (don't have this covered), a fabulous feast (I think this is planned). 

When I was little, I typically spent my Easter break in North Palm Beach, Fla.  It seems that every year, we'd be at my grandparents place & the Easter bunny would somehow make his way to the 3rd floor of their apartment complex and to my delight... he always left his goodies.  There seems to be a period of time between the 60's and the 80's that society took commercial candy produced by the hot "candy" manufacturers for granted.  As a kid, I never heard much about artificial colors (except for the red M&M fiasco) or HFCS, or preservatives... society was trudging forward, enjoying things like TV dinners, the Cadbury Egg & other oddities.  Knowing what I know now about what's in those particular foods... I kind of feel like an old science experiment.  Used up like an old beaker.  For the record... any time you microwave plastic, it's wrong... but we freely participated back in the 80's (some of us still do - you really need to cut that out). 

Fast forward to 2008.  People are watching what they eat, they're reading ingredient labels, they're becoming more educated... good for us!  Still we carry on the tradition of those wonderful holidays like Halloween and Easter where candy and treats end up in the hands of little ones (and big ones) and the bulk of those items... you should either compost or throw away.  I mentioned in a recent newsletter about an idea that one of our customers was implementing this year... and it's fantastic (provided you can get your hands on some of these items).  She visited us at the Health Fair in Lewes and decided that this year her children were going to get Easter eggs filled with "clean treats," specifically all natural & organic cookies/natural & organic candy from Bella's Cookies and Verdi Good.  So, she purchased small items... things that come in abundance like Bon Bons, or Debutantes, or Crocodile Chews, etc.  and she is going to place one piece in each egg.  When her children participate in their family's Easter egg hunt, eggs will be filled with delicious, clean treats instead of flourescent marshmallow birds, artificially flavored chocolate bunnies & gummy ducks.  Now that's an egg hunt I'd like to be invited to!  Hey... Treat yourself right!

Congress needs a cookie break!

They do.  I mean, come on.  What's going on here?  Morale is down, the American spirit that once was the envy of the entire world, the stability and strength of the US Dollar... flailing.  Oil is killing the average consumer.  We are an oil dependant country... everything we do is fueled by this greasy crude.  And we've done nothing to move elsewhere?  Done nothing to experiment with other fuels, other possibilities, until recently?  Come on... did we really think oil would be around forever?  One of my favorite scenes from the classic "Back to the Future" movies (yes the one with Michael J Fox) is at the end of the 1st movie, when Dr Edmund Brown is filling the Mr Fusion piece on the back of the car.  He's rooting through the trash, looking for old beer cans, banana peels, anything he can put in the car... that's what we need!  We need a Mr Fusion on everything we own.  I can cut my lawn... put my grass clippings in the Mr Fusion, and drive around all week.  I can mulch up a pile of leaves... spread some around the yard, the rest go into a Mr Fusion converted for the home HVAC unit.  I think we're fixated on things we shouldn't be fixated on.  America has some of the brightest minds in the world... you can't convince me that in 2 years someone here can't come up with something that can solve some energy problems?  Let's get cracking!  Oooh, better yet... this sounds like a great concept for a new reality tv show.  Heck, we love reality tv here anyway.  They'll come out of the woodwork for this one... you'll see people inventing things you never thought possible.  "Who wants to solve our energy crisis?"  We'll first need some great cookies to ponder some thoughts... I can point us in the right direction here. :)