Last September 30th, Rich and I became parents to our amazing daughter Georgina Hille. It has the been the most surreal and incredible journey. People have babies every minute (even two, three or eight at a time!) and honestly, I still can’t believe where babies come from. I have a new found respect for my parents and all good parents in this world. It is not an easy job, but one that pushes all other accomplishments in my life to the sideline (sorry ACD!). Thank you to my family, friends, customers, vendors, colleagues and employees for your patience, enthusiasm, generosity and advice during the last few months. And of course the biggest thank you to Rich for being such a loving, supportive, fun and incredible father to Georgie and husband to me! I’m sure I will be sharing lots of my adventures in parenting on my blog, and I’d love to hear from you too. For example, I used to text my mom when I found an awesome pair of shoes, now I text her when Georgie makes a poop! Oh how times have changed!

Ok now back to business - Free cookies anyone?

FREE ACD Cookie Tasting this Friday & Saturday at The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf! Stop by and try our six signature cookie flavors , a perfect pairing for your favorite CB &TL coffee or tea drink. The Details : This Friday, January 15th at 9 a.m. at the Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf at 1000 East 41st street (Hancock Shopping Center)! This Saturday, January 16th at 11 a.m. at the Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf at 3718 N. Lamar! Just like their first location, “The Bean” will feature ACD Cookies in their bakery case and packaged for “to-go”. Like ACD supports public education in Austin & NYC through the organization DonorsChoose.org, The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf is also committed to helping our local Austin community by partnering with local non-profit organizations, Heart Gift and Blue Dog Rescue as it’s official charitable partners.

Sweetly,

Alexandra

ACD “Sweet Baby” Collection has arrived!… because when you celebrate a new baby, life get sweeter!

ACD is thrilled to announce the newest addition to our cookie family! Festive & delicious cookie gifts and favors for celebrating baby and family in style. Whether it’s a girl, a boy, or a sweet surprise, ACD has the perfect gift for you!

Baby Shower favors, gifts for families of newborns, Baby Naming, Bris and Christening celebration favors, and thank you gifts for those you helped you along the way, Doctors, Nurses, Family & Friends.

We offer a full line of Sweet Baby cookie gifts on “Our Shop” and personalized cookie packets and cookie boxes for “Special Order”.
For our Austin neighbors we offer Sweet Baby Cookie Basket, delivered to local hospitals, residences, or any place you celebrate baby!

Sign up for our e-newsletter, The ACD Cookie Scoop, and receive a 10% discount on any of our cookie gifts in “Our Shop” valid until Sunday August 16th. The sign-up  is on the right side of this blog, where it says “Join Our Mailing List”.  After you sign-up you will receive an email from me with in 24 hours with the exclusive discount promo code. Please note this is the last week to take advantage of  Free Texas Shipping, so enjoy double your savings. Simply purchase a cookie package this week and you can choose a future delivery date.

A special congratulations to my sister Alana and my future brother-in-law Aaron who got engaged last weekend in NYC! Rich and I were there to celebrate with our favorite couple. Here are some pictures from the fabulous weekend!

Sweetly,

Alexandra

The ‘Insatiable’ Cookie Chase

What: A FREE online foodie adventure with delicious prizes! Skill and luck are the tools needed to win. Designed for everyone who seeks, lives and savors the good life of taste.

Who: This contest is sponsored and administered by Gael Greene, Insatiable Critic and Alexandra Bruskoff of Alexandra’s Cookie Dreams.

How: This Monday at 12 PM CST on the Alexandra’s Cookie Dreams blog, Talk Is Sweet will be posted, “Feast Your Eyes On This Life!” an exclusive and amusing interview with Gael Greene, the legendary novelist and restaurant critic, about her life in food. One answer will be missing on the blog posting. For clues leading to the missing answer, participants will be directed to Ms. Greene’s BITE: My Journal on her web site. Participants will then email the response they find to Alexandra@AlexandrasCookieDreams.com

Prizes:All the correct responses will be placed in e a lottery and three winners will be selected. Each winner will receive a personalized, autographed copy of INSATIABLE: Tales from a Life of Delicious Excess, and one of three gourmet cookie prizes. Grand Prize: three-dozen cookies, 2^nd Place: two-dozen cookies and 3^rd Place: one-dozen cookies. The prizes can go to the winner or be sent as a gift to someone else.

When: Contest starts this Monday November 10^th,2008 and ends Saturday December 10^th2008, winner to be announced December 11^th,2008.

Where: “Feast Your Eyes On This Life!” article on Alexandra’s Cookie Dreams blog and www.InsatiableCritic.com for the secret answer.

Why: Why not? Who doesn’t love an adventure, free cookie gifts and the delicious details of an adventurous woman’s life. All prizes must be delivered to recipients in the contiguous Unites States.

A Bit About Gael Greene: For more years than she likes to admit Gael Greene was the Insatiable Critic for New York Magazine where she helped change the way New Yorkers think about food. She continues to writes about restaurants for New York in her weekly column, Insatiable Critic on her website, www.InsatiableCritic.com. She is also the author of two best selling novels, Blue Skies, No Candy and Dr. Love. Her book Delicious Sex was a guide to having more fun in bed. Twenty-eight years ago Ms. Greene and the late James Beard co-founded Citymeals on Wheels which has delivered more than thirty eight million meals to New York City’s needy homebound elderly.(Photo by Steven Richter)

A Bit About Alexandra Bruskoff:
Alexandra Bruskoff is currently founder and owner of Alexandra’s Cookie Dreams, an online nationwide gourmet cookie gifting company. As a former New York City school teacher, Alexandra combined her love of baking and love of teaching by developing a curriculum that included weekly baking classes for her students, and that’s when she realized her dream – to create the ultimate cookie! Now Alexandra happily resides in Austin, Texas. While Alexandra is not presently teaching in a classroom, her love of education continues, by donating a portion of each cookie profit from Alexandra’s Cookie Dreams to Austin and New York City Public Schools through the incredible organization DonorsChoose.org.

By Spreading the word about The ‘Insatiable’ Cookie Chase to your friends, family & colleagues you will be introducing an “icon”, of food and restaurant writing whose experiences will inspire and philosophically stimulate a new generation of food lovers. And as far as indulging palates, the opportunity for free gourmet cookies is always a welcomed treat!

Thank You! We are grateful for your effort in spreading the word about this contest. If you know someone who may be interested in promoting The ‘Insatiable’ Cookie Chase to his/her readers,  please feel free to forward this information along and let us know so we can send her/him some sweet cookies of appreciation. If you have any questions, please feel free to email Alexandra at Alexandra@AlexandrasCookieDreams.com or call me at 512.482.8210.

Look At This Support! Below is a current list of outstanding award-winning international Food Writers, Authors, Editors and Bloggers who are graciously promoting The ‘Insatiable” Cookie Chase on their blogs. Check out their sites, and indulge in their gourmet journeys!

Sylvie Bigar: Food & travel writer, ”who’s many articles have appeared in a wide array of publications including the New York Times, Food Arts, Town & Country, Time Out New York, The Southampton Press, Gayot.com, and New York Resident of which she is Food Editor. She also writes in French for Le Temps, her hometown newspaper in Geneva.”  WWW.SBigar.com

Karen Page & Andrew Donenburg: Authors of “ground-breaking books chronicling and celebrating American’s Culinary Revolution” including, James Beard Award Winning Becoming A Chef, What To Drink With What You Eat, The New American Chef. WWW.BecomingAChef.com

Sweetly,
Alexandra

Fall Is Here When…

1. World Series is on. Philly is in the World Series for the first time in 15 years. Rich, being from Philly, is ecstatic, as am I. Not because I’m a baseball fan, but because it guarantees me at least 20 hours of chick flick movie watching while Rich is in his Phillies T-shirt on the couch, clapping and cheering on his boys.

2. I  wore my thin leather jacket last night. The weather has finally cooled down in Austin! The temperature is actually hovering around the 50-degree mark at night. Next, I’ll take out my boots!

3. Halloween is around the corner. I love any holiday that involves sweet treats, children and a reason to have fun. Halloween falling on a Friday this year only exponentially increases its’ fun factor. Earlier this week, our ACD Cookie Scoop Subscribers received a new upgraded and prettier version of our enewletter, which included an exclusive Halloween Cookie and Packaging that is not sold on our website. If you would like to learn more about “Chocolate Fright Night” just sign up here for The ACD Cookie Scoop, and we will send you all the details.

Just hurry up because after Halloween this cookie will disappear.

Also November 2^nd is the last day to receive the Early Order Discount for Corporate and Large Order Holiday gifting. Check out ACD Holiday Collection 2008 for decadent, memorable and easy holiday gifting.

Austin Film Festival 2008
Last week was the Austin Film Festival, which is a fun time in Austin as the “Stars” of Hollywood come out (and I don’t mean Lance Armstrong, Sandra Bullock and Mathew McConaughey who get more mentions in Austin than Bush does in Washington). Last year I saw “Juno“, (before it was released in theaters) and I raved about it to anyone who would listen, I thought I had this clever eye for indie talent. Of course, ”Juno” when on to win an Oscar and I guess all of mainstream America shares my talent. This past Thursday we waited in line for two hours see “W.” at the Paramount Theater as part of opening Austin Film Festival festivities. This was a ‘red carpet’ event, ok more like red scrap of fabric event but it was guaranteeing attendance by Oliver Stone and several of the cast members. Rich and I were non-badge and non pass holders, basically lowest man on the festival totem poll, which meant we would get in after everyone else in the city who had a ticket to anything got in. Still always the optimist, Rich was convinced we’d make the cut. To make the line waiting tolerable, Rich bought a bottle of wine from the liquor store near the theater and poured into two paper coffee cups, stealth and class –that’s my man! Needless to say, as I predicted, when there were only two people left ahead of us, the festival usher  broke the news that we were boxed out of  “W.” In retrospect, after finally seeing “W.”  on Sunday night, I can honestly say I was annoyed that I spent two hours in line on Thursday and another 2 in the theater on Sunday. I waisted by $8.75 (yes, movie tickets are cheaper in Texas) and 4 hours of my life that I want back Mr. Stone- but again what do I know about movies?

ACD In 3D!

Onto a sweeter topic, Anne who is the head of The ACD Dream Team is also an incredible artist as well as cookie expert. Several weeks ago for my birthday, she built this dynamic “wonder box” that looks like what I envision the set of Alexandra’s Cookie Dreams, The Show would look like. I think she should sell them. Here is a photo, awesome right!

To see more of Anne’s work click here.

Be a Star!

Want to be part of Alexandra’s Cookie Dreams Comments page? You can! Last week we added “Comments” as an exciting way to share all the sweet words you have said about ACD. If you would like your thoughts to be added to this page just email us at customerservice@alexandrascookiedreams.com. If you have a website, please include it, so we can link your comments to your site. Thanks!
To share The ACD Cookie Scoop with your friends and family, have them sign up here.

Sweetly,
Alexandra