Gold Owl Bakery

Since things have not being going quite as well as I had hoped in the work/career department, I have begun to fantasize about a possible dream job for myself.

I've signed the contract for the new job, they've contacted my references and still I have no idea of a start date. My plan is to give them a call tomorrow to try and find out when training might start. In the meantime, it's back to temp work. This week, its at a marketing company.

When I first moved here and wasn't working at all, I was baking all the time. I gave away little packages of gingerbread cookies at Christmas time as gifts. I have always loved baking. More than once (and many times in recent months) people have tried my cookies or other baked goods and told me that I should have my own business. I did, very briefly, have my own cookie business but it was short lived since I only had one customer who was missing his mom's cookies and wanted someone to make them for him.

When I first began toying with the idea of my own cookie business since moving to England, the most important thing was a name and brand. I love my last name and I love owls so Gold Owl cookies was born. I looked into selling them at a market stall in our town centre. They have a once a month market. This idea fizzled out fairly quickly because my very brief cost-benefit analysis was discouraging. It didn't seem like it could ever be anything more than a hobby. So I tucked the idea away in a mental file of wouldn't it be nice.

Two weeks ago I began a no wheat/no dairy/ no sugar plan. I started this partially for detox purposes and partially for weight loss purposes. Its been pretty effective. I've had less stomach problems and lost 3 pounds. I've also been baking with new ingredients (for me) like spelt flour and soy milk. Matt even enjoyed my spelt pancakes made with soy milk for breakfast this morning!

I was worried that I wouldn't be able to find things to eat since there is no whole foods or major health food store in my town. There are smaller stores and a 1/4 of an aisle at the grocery store but I've been pleasantly surprised overall with what I've been able to find and put together.

Yesterday, Matt and I went to Kingston to go shopping and I found a cool store called Food for Thought which was like a dream (and Matt's nightmare). It was full of different flours and vegan/vegetarian food. It got me thinking about how I can't buy these kinds of things closer to our house (freshly made products). So in the car on the drive home I started brainstorming about how I should expand my fictional business to include not just cookies but a whole assortment of wheat free/gluten free breads and baked goods and Gold Owl Cookies became Gold Owl Bakery.

I might look into the market stall idea again but there' s a good chance that this idea might remain in my head but its fun to think about.