My great grandmother probably hoped her grandchildren would pass along the family tradition of baking to another generation. And they did – or at least my Dad did. We lost him way too soon, but I do have this gift he left me that I use every day, so that’s really cool!!
And I don’t think Grandma Foley could ever have imagined that we’d take that tradition and start a shortbread company on the west coast! Or that we’d re-imagine shortbread the way we have. And that now it is on its way from being Vancouver’s Own Shortbread ™ to becoming Canada’s Own Shortbread ™.
Grandma Foley’s children, grandchildren and great grandchildren have moved far and wide over the years, with many leaving Montreal for places like Toronto, Vancouver, Saskatoon, New York, Kentucky, Texas and as far away as the UK and France. I still love my hometown though.
In that same spirit, it feels like I’ve been on a lifelong journey across this country of ours. Born and raised in Montreal, followed by going to university, getting married and raising a family in Toronto, then shuffling across the country to the West Coast with my husband, 3 teenagers, 2 cats and a whole lot of hopes for our new west coast lifestyle. We spent a few years on Vancouver Island and the last 15 years in the Lower Mainland. I have to say though, that as we go, I know I am going to miss the majesty of the mountains and all that the pacific coast has to offer.
And now, on to our full reversal — steaming across to the other coast to live the east coast lifestyle. Going to sail right past my hometown and keep going until we get to Halifax. Life is unpredictable and you never know where you’re going to end up!! And we can’t wait for this new adventure to begin.
Sable Shortbread has been a journey too and we’re really looking forward to sharing our shortbread joy with a whole new group of people. We aren’t going to forget our shortbread’s west coast roots though; we want to make sure we don’t forget all the wonderful people who have made this journey possible. We plan to return to Vancouver very soon with a Sable Shortbread Shop where people can enjoy our shortbread every day, not just at pop ups and farmers markets. Won’t that be a treat!!
In the meantime, we’ll be setting up online ordering for our shortbread, we’ll be returning to Vancouver for Circle Craft and we’ll be getting our shortbread on store shelves just as soon as we can. There will be lots of opportunities to Share the Joy!!
So please be sure to follow us on Facebook and Instagram and sign up for our mail list so we can keep in touch and keep you updated on our progress. The new location in Kentville, NS is in the planning stages right now and we can’t wait to show it to everyone as soon as it’s ready.
For right now, we have to pack up the house and get ourselves and the dogs across the country to Nova Scotia before we can do anything else. Let the packing begin!!
