Featured Seller: Fancythatcookies

Who are you?
My name is Chiu Mei Lee(pronounced like Cho- May)
My ETSY shop’s name is Fancythatcookies

Where are you located?
I have lived in Raleigh, North Carolina for almost 20 years now.

What do you create?
I make delicious baked goods, like cookies, brownies, rugalach, quick bread, cake, torte, etc.

What is your favorite place to visit in the "triangle"?

I love to go to the shopping malls (Crabtree, Briar Creek, Cary Town Center), but I don’t spend much money- more of a window shopper. I like to think I get some exercise walking around to all the stores! I spend time at the library and also love bead shops. My husband loves the outdoors but I let him do his own thing. I am an indoor girl!

When did you start creating?
I started baking in 1999. I went to culinary school for a year after high school and found out that I like baking much more than cooking. Baking was all new to me and I found working with breads and sweets a lot of fun.

What is your most cherished handmade item?
My most cherished item is “The Best Rich Chocolate Torte”.
I started my Fancy That Cookies store because of this torte. When I first made it, I let my husband and family taste it. They told me that I had to find a way to share this with the rest of the world! It really is scrumptious and I have yet to find someone who does not love it.

What inspires you?
My family inspires me to always try new things. My parents owned a restaurant when I was growing up and it was always a large part of our life. My parents were at first not excited about my decision to stay in the food industry because they know it is a hard life. As I have branched out from traditional cooking and taken it to more of a creative level to include baking, they have become excited about my career.

Why did you choose your shop name?
I was challenged with coming up with a name for my shop. I even had a little fight about it with my hubby. We were thinking something related to the torte that was our first product, but figured we should leave it more general to leave room for growing the product line. “Fancy that” is an English term meaning that “I would like that”, while the word fancy still describes the types of desserts I make. Cookies just seemed like a good starting point, although it might make more sense for it now to be Fancythatdesserts.

What are your goals?
I would like to have a little bakery of my own if I can. I don’t want a big one, just a small one that allows people to come to my shop relax, hangout, and taste my fresh baked goods.

What do you do when you are not creating?
I make jewelry when I am not baking. I also sew and knit, but have not gotten very good at that yet. :D