St Paddy’s Choc O’Minty Cookie / Feeling Gumbus

Our new cookie of the week is the Choc O’Minty Cookie in celebration of St Patrick’s Day coming up. We use natural peppermint extract with premium dutch cocoa dough and fill it with delicious Whittakers chocolate chunks. It isn’t as extravagant as some of our other cookies such as Creme Brulee & Lemon Meringue but damn is it good. Definitely one of my new favourites.

I took a while to come up with the name because I wanted something punny to acknowledge that it was a St Paddy’s day cookie. I remember asking my staff “Do you think calling it ‘Choc O’Minty’ is racist? Just like how calling a Chinese New Year cookie ‘Ching Chong Cookie’ is racist?”. I know it sounds ridiculous but sometimes I’m paranoid of unintentionally offending people. But my staff laughed at me and assured me that calling a cookie Choc O’Minty is not quite the same as calling something a Ching Chong cookie hahaha. Great, problem solved (I hope).

I’m exhausted. Yesterday I worked the entire day from 9am-9:30pm and today I had an interview in the morning, work during the day and then two dance classes straight after. It’s my second time going to dance class and I think I can safely say that I am the most gumbus one in class. I wish I wasn’t but sometimes you gotta speak the truth and realise that you just suck at something.

I am consoled by my friend Jake the Dog who once wisely said,

i don’t know why, but I am painfully slow at learning new dance moves. Most of the girls in my class will see a move once or twice and be able to do it right away. While gumbus ol’ me is in the corner three moves behind & not even looking remotely cool. There’s a performance in May that we can choose to participate in. I don’t think I’m really quite good enough but my Bucket List does say “Learn to dance and perform on stage” so I feel I must force myself to step out of my comfort zone and face the music. May is only 2 months away…I feel that is not enough time for my spastic body to learn how to dance in coordination with other human beings.

Tomorrow at 8am I’ve also got my second session at the gym with a personal trainer. Last week I felt so embarrassed I was seriously sweating like a pig while being surrounded by really fit buff people. But as one of my best friends Sonali said to me “It’s the catch 22 of fitness: in order to become fit, you need to expose your weaknesses”.

It’s funny how a lot of people interview me and think I have an inspiring story — but really I am a girl with so many flaws and weaknesses. I barely know what I’m doing, all I know is that I have dreams to fulfill and I’m gonna fulfill them no matter how shit I am to begin with.

So yes, I am currently a spastic dancer, three moves behind everybody else and I’m also the sweaty girl who is terribly unfit from years of sole dedication to Moustache.

But no, this is not going to be me in six months time. You just watch.