5 minutes to midnight - minutes with consequences

People keep asking, "how did you get the idea of starting a business with chocolate and stroopwafels?" First off, it wasn't something I had planned for. Yes, I was about to leave my job, my country, my family and friends in order to move in with my - then still - girlfriend in New York (not a punishment BTW!). But to say I was looking for an entrepreneurial adventure is an overstatement - in fact I was quite happy having found a temporary job with the UN, just before I would leave the Netherlands. It provided some sense of stability and acceptance I guess.

The last 6 months of my stay in the Netherlands (The Hague, to be precise) my girlfriend Tracey came and lived with me, as a matter of last-battle conditionality I had been able to impose. Truth is I didn't feel like schlepping to New York not knowing when, if I would get back to my country without having her experiencing what sinterklaas, appelstroop and gezelligheid all meant. We were lucky to live in this cute "Hofje", not far from the center of the center. How could I know that would be more space then we would be able to live in for the first three years in New York?

So one night in February '06, not too long before our final departure - it must have been a few minutes to midnight - a last thought crossed my mind before falling into a deep sleep: what would I miss most of my country, foodwise? Stroopwafels, I pondered, and chocolate - good chocolate. Funny, I thought, what would happen if you'd combine these two? That's when I fell asleep.

You have no idea how often I've cursed this last question, but there it was: the start of the Dutch Moon Cookies.

The first cookieblog!

OK, there we go. It's time for a twitter cookie blog, so why not start with a Dutch Moon Cookies blog? From here, we'll tell you how this sustainable cookie business started, why it started, what challenges we faced and what principles we stand for. Oh and yes, we'll try to give you a visual insight as well by posting pics.

Next blog: back to 2006.