Today was that Markham RR charity event that we had in store. Many toys were collected, and I’m sure they will go to some wonderful people in need in the community. There were a lot of post run treats there donated by a lot of people. I decided to join in by donating cookies. Yes, those glazed lemon shortbread cookies I made the other day were for this event. In addition to those, I made a maple cinnamon version of the cookie last night while doing that bit of work I offered to do last night. When I woke up I made the maple cinnamon glaze. I didn’t have enough icing sugar, so I made a half batch. For these cookies, I dipped the tops in and really made sure to drain any excess back into the bowl. I needed to make it last. Anyway, after it was all dry I put all the cookies back into the fridge to make them all harden. To me, both types of cookies were great, but I wasn’t sure how they’d be received.

I brought them in in a small grey basket that came from that gift basket I won earlier in the month. There were arranged kind of nicely to separate the flavours. After the ride over though they kind of got jumbled up. So, they joined the big table of treats that were there. There sure was a lot of food. Maaaaan. Of course, we weren’t allowed to go near it until our respective runs were done. For my group, we had a night of hill training to contend with. With four hill repeats on the schedule, I knew that it wouldn’t take that long, and that we’d all be pretty hungry when we got back. The actual running wasn’t so bad. I was in a great mood so I paid more attention to the people that were having a rough go at it. All I could do was give encouragement, and unless I was imagining it the encouragement was working well. The roads were covered with a thin layer of snow with icy patches here and there. It was a little bit harder than usual, and I really felt it in my quads. The snow caused my footing to shift by small amounts, but that was enough to really make my muscles work harder to stabilize things. So, long story short, everything went well. By the time we were done, everyone had a smile on their face knowing that they had completed a tough workout. Plus, the thought of all of the treats back in store made us rush back.

So, really, when I made it inside, as much as I wanted to try the things that other people brought, I wanted to get reactions for what I made. The simple truth is that I had nothing to worry about. The reviews were amazingly positive. I had apparently hit the right level of sweetness without it becoming cloying. I’m sure the lemon and maple cinnamon flavouring in both the cookie and glaze created this double impact effect that was maybe unexpected. So yes, I’m really pleased.

I couple of people there were pretty surprised that I had made the cookies myself. The common reaction was “What?! You made these yourself?” Is a guy that cooks/bakes that rare? It shouldn’t be. A couple of people joked that I should be a baker in another life. I can see that. To be honest, if time and money wasn’t an issue I’d probably be doing this more regularly. At this point it’s just not in the cards. Maybe I could start something on the side. Heh. I don’t know. Anyway, the positive reviews are giving me drive to hone my skills more and more. Nothing wrong with gaining more renown, right? This whole food thing is just another hat I wear. Got to keep working at it.