The Way to a Man's (or Woman's) Heart

I admit, I don't cook much anymore; my version of cooking in my Wood Ranch town home is to bake a couple of pieces of chicken, freeze them, microwave them at a later time, throw a baked potato in the microwave, tear up some lettuce and VOILA! An easy dinner.

I bake very little anymore...except....

Once a month I bake dozens of cookies for my vendor referrals who live in Simi Valley properties. I decided four years ago to thank them for their referrals with a dozen cookies every now and then. You should see the assembly line...

After I have the batter ready, I have four cookie sheets going at one time, dropping chocolate chip batter, throwing two cookie sheets in the oven, taking the cooled cookies off the sheets onto a large platter, and then stacking them into two cookie cans that are over 35 years old! They were brought from back East by my family and I've used them for many years.

I have the assembly line like a manufacturing facility...it takes only two hours to bake about 16 dozen cookies...it's fun and very rewarding when I deliver them. Back to the second assembly at the office...

My assistant, Allyson, takes up the job of packaging them with my special trademark packaging and off we go in the car then to deliver them in and around Wood Ranch and Simi Valley...Allyson is really good...we have a chart of the stops in order from East to West back to the office and we mark off who we saw and what date...she drives, I jump out... it really is fun when I say hi to the business owner. It could be the locksmith, the vet, the florist, my hair stylist or 10 or 12 other vendors who I like to thank for referrals over the years.

The most rewarding is their thanks for a simple act like a dozen cookies every month or so...this is only one of the reasons I bring them cookies...the other is their stellar service to my clients to whom I refer them.

By the way, Allyson just told me last week that about every batch I bring in for packaging (remember, for about four years) has a heart-shaped cookie like the one in the picture... I never realized it!!!

So, how can you be a recipient of these fine, Jo Ann Poole cookies...you can be a vendor, or be a Jo Ann Poole buyer or seller working with me on a Wood Ranch luxury home or Simi Valley home and be sure to refer someone to me and I'll be sure to deliver you some too!!!