UPDATE: There is no longer a threat of strike with Canada Post and ALL orders began shipping as usual starting Monday, July 11th.

We have been getting a few messages about the Canada Post lock out / strike so I thought I would post about it here. I will cover all the details so that everyone understands what to expect in regards to Mally Designs during this time. Below are a few FAQ's:

What shipping destinations will be affected by this?

All of Canada will be affected. Please note that we have a plan in place for shipping to the United States and internationally and there will be no disruption of orders shipping to these areas. Orders shipping within Canada may result in delayed delivery if ordered after Monday June 27th and Tuesday June 28th for BC. Prior to that we will be working some magic to get your orders out to you prior to the strike. 

Is it possible to pick up mallydesigns.com orders?

Yes, absolutely. For local customers, we are offering pick-ups at our studio in Mission, BC. I understand that this not convenient for everyone in our local area, so here is a complete list of pick up locations we will be offering:

• Mission - Mally Designs Studio (any day / time)
• North Vancouver - Deep Cove (Tuesday evenings and Saturday mornings)
• Vancouver - Jericho Beach (Every other Thursday starting July 7th)
• Chilliwack - Cultus Lake Main Beach (Every other Wednesday starting June 29th)
• Whistler - Farmer's Market, upper village (most Sundays as shown here)

We will be at many of these locations for our own personal events. As a family we participate in paddleboard races at these locations throughout the summer, so we thought we would arrange pick ups at these locations. To pick up, please enter ORDERPICKUP in the coupon code section during checkout. You will save the shipping and we will contact you to determine your best meeting time and place based on the locations mentioned above. This option is also available to our wholesale customers.

What happens if I order during the strike and my shipping destination is in Canada?

We will handle these orders case by case. After you order, we will email you within 24 hours and ask which option you prefer. If you are in our region we will offer pick up at one of our pick up locations. If you are near a border and ship to the United States like many online shoppers do, we can re-direct your order to your US address of choice, or you can choose to upgrade your shipping to a courier shipping price which we can quote. You may also wait for your order until after the strike, or choose to cancel / refund your order. 

Will Mally Designs offer courier service?

At this time we have decided not to offer courier shipping through our website due to the fact that the courier prices are just not feasible for most customers. We are not going to be adjusting our shipping prices to offer this option, however if we have customers that do wish to pay more for courier service, please contact us and we will be happy to send quotes based on your order.

How will the Canada Post lockout affect Mally Designs?

We went through this 5 years ago and honestly, we survived just fine. I know a lot of small shops within my networking circles are panicking right now. It is an inconvenience for sure. As a small business we rely on customers placing orders and our Canada Post postal service to ship our orders to our customers. With the majority of our customer base in Canada, we hope it doesn't last too long for an agreement to be made and shipping service to resume. We have upgraded a few shipments going all the way to the east coast of Canada to xpresspost, at our expense, just to be sure it got there leading up to the strike. We are thankful that this strike is happening now, and not during our holiday sales period of November / December when our sales increase significantly.

What is Mally Designs doing to prepare?

Having been through this before we know that yes, there will be a small dip in sales, but our customers were so amazing and understanding. I don't think we had one single complaint due to the order delays. To our surprise, customers kept ordering and they understood that it would take until the strike was over for their order to ship. That said, we will not be directing our social media and online advertising, etc. to our Canadian customers as much, but we will shift to our US and international customer base. We will be contacting our wholesale customers and stockists in the United States for example to keep our production and sales rolling during this time.

How will Mally Designs make the most of this?

We have decided to focus on some tasks that have been lingering for quite some time. We are always so busy filling and shipping orders, but now we will finally have the chance to refresh our website, work on some design work, product development and collaborations. We are looking forward to taking this slower time to do those things because before we know it, our crazy season will be here! It will be a nice break from the usual hustle, but believe me we will be jumping for joy the moment Canada Post's service resumes, and all orders will be ready and waiting. :) 

I guess, all in all it won't be so bad. We are extremely positive people and we know we will get through it. The worst case scenario is a few less people will get to experience this for the next little while:

Coupon code MOMLOVE gets you free shipping for Mother's Day weekend! Whenever we offer free shipping, our sales increase by 4-5X. While we were already planning a Mother's Day weekend Free Shipping event, we figured it would be the perfect time to also donate to some people in need.

For those who are reading this post in other regions, you may not have heard about the devastating fires that have hit Fort McMurray, a town in our neighbouring province. Like most people in our area, we know people who live there as so many have moved there for work over the past several years, and we have lots of customers there. Thousands of families have lost everything and it breaks our hearts to see what people are going through. It's at times like that that we are especially proud to be Canadian. Seeing so many individuals and businesses care and help out is heart warming. Between now and Sunday, $5 from every online order will go directly to the Canadian Red Cross. Our donation will be sent on Monday. Both the Canadian Federal Government and the Alberta Government will be matching all cash donations, so that would mean that $15 will be donated from each order. I also encourage you, whether ordering or not, to make your own contribution. It really feels good to give! Please DO NOT order in place of a contribution. In other words, if you were planning on donating $40, don't order a bib or mocs instead of that donation. Donating directly to the Canadian Red Cross yourself would be far more valuable. Every little bit helps, and this is a way for us to donate more than we could personally afford to donate ourselves. As a business, we do feel a social responsibility and we are thankful to have this platform to enable us to donate more than we could personally afford. I encourage and challenge other businesses to do the same if they can.

We also have contributed items to a wonderful auction on instagram. 100% of the money raised from this auction will be donated to the Red Cross as well. Please, if you're on instagram check it out at @ymmauction

XO

UPDATE: We made our donation to the Canadian Red Cross on Monday, May 9th. Thank you to everyone who contributed.

This is a pretty fast, super healthy, crazy easy recipe that my husband claims he could never get enough of. My kids loved it too and wanted seconds and thirds! Ron has been asking me when I will make it again, so tonight is the night! Since it's been on my mind, I thought I'd share it with you. If your taste buds are anything like ours, your whole family will absolutely love it!

RECIPE: Southwest Beef Quinoa with Cilantro and Sour Cream
Serves: 4
Prep / Cook Time: 45 minutes

INGREDIENTS

• 1 cup TruRoots Sprouted Rice & Quinoa Blend
• 1.5 pounds of your preferred cut of steak, cut in bit size pieces (I used stewing beef here)
• 1 15 oz. can fire-roasted diced tomatoes
• 1 cup whole kernel corn, drained
• 1 15 oz. can black beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 cup of beef broth
• 1/2 tsp. cumin
• 2 tsp. chili powder
• dash of cayenne (it's good for metabolism!)
• dash of salt
• dash of fresh ground pepper
• 1 tablesppon olive oil
• 2 garlic cloves
• 1 lime
• 1/2 cup chopped cilantro
• 1 avocado cut into cubes
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• tortilla chips (optional)

*alternative protein: chicken breast or thighs, or shrimp

Season beef generously with salt and pepper and spritz with juice half a lime. Heat olive oil in a medium - large sauce pan and add beef and garlic. Cook on medium until fragrant and cooked. Add wild rice and quinoa mix, stir. Add 1 cup of beef broth, can of fire roasted tomatoes, corn and black beans. Add cumin and chili powder. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover and simmer on low for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. Simmer for an additional 5 minutes, uncovered if still watery. Serve in bowls. Offer your family any combination or all of these toppings: avocados, sour cream, lime juice, cilantro and tortilla chips. Enjoy!

I have never been one to hide veggies in my meals as I have always felt it was important to teach my kids to love vegetables and to understand the nutritional value behind them. As well, we often discuss the importance of choosing organic, non-GMO, and local whenever possible. They get it. Aside from tomatoes, my Son loves and eats all fruit and veggies, and aside from spicy jalapeño peppers and such, my daughter does as well. Mission accomplished. :)

Over the years, we have definitely nailed down some staples (and through experimentation, many mistakes!) that we have kept to rotate through our family meals. Each week I'm going to try and share one of our favourites here, along with a few tips. My hope is that it will be a resource for other families to prepare healthy, wholesome and delicious meals made (mostly) from scratch that are super easy as well! Now, I'm not a chef, so when I suggest Itallian noodles for a Thai recipe, I know that's 'wrong', but frankly I don't care. This is about making good, easy, healthy family meals, not about following the rules. ;)

This recipe will make enough for a family of 4. We often double it to make enough for lunch the next day.

RECIPE: Vegetarian Noodle Salad with Peanut Satay (not suitable for those with peanut allergies, obviously)
Serves: 4
Prep / Cook Time: 45 mins

INGREDIENTS:

noodles, either:

• ramen (Costco offers a great gluten free ramen option)
• rice noodles (found in asian section of any grocery store)

OR

• regular or whole wheat spaghetti or any other pasta noodles will do. I used spaghetti noodles for this one.

sauce:

• 1/2 cup 100% natural peanut butter < ingredients should just be 'peanuts' - don't get me started about what's in other kinds!
• 1/4 cup soy sauce
• 1/4 cup rice vinegar
• 1/4 cup cold water
• 1 tablespoon fresh ground ginger
• 3-4 cloves fresh pressed garlic
• 1-2 tablespoons sriracha (depending how spicy you want it)
• 1-2 tablesppon sesame oil
• 2 tablespoons of brown sugar

veggies:

• 1/2 red pepper, thinly sliced
• 1/2 yellow pepper, thinly sliced
• 3 medium shredded carrots
• 1/2 thinly sliced cucumbers
• 1/4 cup green onions

optional toppings:

• cilantro
• roasted, unsalted peanuts
• fresh squeezed lime
• extra sriracha

*This is also great with chicken or tofu if you want to add some protein

Directions

Noodles - Cook noodles according to the package. Rinse with cold water, lightly drain and toss with a tablespoon of seasame oil so it doesn't get sticky. Set aside in strainer and allow it to fully drain.

Sauce - Whisk all ingredients and toss half with the noodles and refrigerate

Toppings - Slice up all the veggies as suggested, or how you like, while noodles are chilling.

Assembly - Divide the noodles amongst individual bowl sized servings. Add veggies in sections on top. Ganish with any or all optional toppings. Serve with a side of sauce for each person to add desired amount to the top.

Enjoy! Our whole family loves this recipe, and I hope yours will too!