Not “Crazy Susan,” that’s for sure! Did you guys ever hear of or watch “Tough Cookies” on the Food Network over the summer? If not, you can read about it HERE. My daughter Erica and I fell in love with this show immediately. I grew up in southern New Jersey and frequented Ocean City, where the show is based, all the time. I also come from a large Italian family, so when we watched the show, Erica and I felt right at home.
While we were in NJ over the holidays, we decided to venture downed the shore to check out Crazy Susan in person. Turns out she wasn’t there, but that didn’t stop us from talking to her “Mack-Daddy,” (you’ll know who he is if you watch the show…Susan’s nephew is married to his daughter) and buying a tray of the most delicious cookies I have ever tasted.
Mack-Daddy filled us in on all the details about how the show “Tough Cookies” came to be, and let me tell you, it was such a refreshing story to hear. Forget Twitter and Facebook. Forget all social media for that matter. All it took for Susan to make it big was a two second Google search by a production team. Suddenly, her ten years of hard work and perseverance made her an overnight sensation.
Turns out that there was a need for a summer replacement series for “Cake Boss,” and another show about cakes and/or cupcakes was not what was wanted. The producers decided they wanted a clean-cut alternative to “Jersey Shore”; something with a large Italian family working together and cooking. Long story short, the producers Googled “Italian family + Jersey shore + cookies” and that’s how Susan was discovered. What a delight to meet her!
We met up with her the next day at her stores second location in Vorhees, NJ. What a delight she is! She spoke with us at length about her family and her fun life. The most refreshing part about her is that she really has no idea what is in store for her in the months ahead…but I do! She is going to be on QVC in a few months, and she has no clue that once she in on there and 90 million people are exposed to her cookies, she’ll have her own cookbook, bake-ware, talk show….you know how it goes. She doesn’t need a Twitter or Facebook account. Those of us who seem to think we can’t get from here to there without letting everyone know every move we make can spread the word for her. 😉
