Why I love blogging, TERESA, Doggie silhouette cookies, and Seattle, Seattle, Seattle!!!

{Be warned...a very wordy post, with lots of personal pictures. But, there ARE cookies, too!}

I've said it before, and I'll say it again.  My very favorite thing about blogging is not anything I ever expected or anticipated.

My very favorite thing about blogging is that it has brought some really amazing and true friendships into my life. ♥

For Mother's Day two years ago, Mr. E surprised me with a trip to visit my very first blogging friend, Cheryl from TidyMom. It was so much fun that I decided then and there that visiting bloggy friends in real life must be continued.

When we were thinking about a spring break trip, we decided on Seattle. Yes, warm, sunny Seattle.  Neither one of us had really seen the city, and kiddo had never been to that part of the country.  And guess who just happens to live there?!?

TERESA from Blooming on Bainbridge!!!

Now, Teresa and I had gotten to the point of texting each other, oh, about 247,000 times a day.  It was high time we met...and we DID!!!

We had a wonderful dinner together in Seattle and had a groan-worthy, unbutton-the-top-button-of-your-pants dinner at Teresa's home on Bainbridge Island.  (I waited until we were on the ferry back to Seattle to do the unbuttoning...you don't want to be TOO weird when meeting a blog friend.) We were so busy gabbing that we didn't take many pictures.

You know how Teresa is the sunniest, funniest, happiest girl on her blog?  Well, she's that x 1,000 in person.   And her house?  Oh, it's only the cutest place ever.

{Psst...See that handsome man with the cool glasses in the picture with kiddo and & Mr. E?  That's Teresa's husband.  I swear, bloggers have the best husbands.  I just love him.}

Oh, and y'all...Seattle is a foodie town.  Great food is everyWHERE!  Take a look at this salted caramel cupcake from The Yellow Leaf Cupcake Co. 

But, the BEST food we ate all week was at Teresa's house on Bainbridge.  Chicken Pot Pie, Mashed Potatoes, all kinds of appetizers, Ina's Chocolate Pudding.  Mr. E is so spoiled now.
And I'm chubby.

Let's talk about Seattle...or, our home away from home, the Pan Pacific Hotel.
This was our view:

{No, I'm not kidding.  That's the Space Needle.  How cool is that?!?}

I'm pretty much in love with this hotel.  From the location (in a hip little neighborhood where Amazon is making it's new home), to the service (impeccable), to the WHOLE FOODS MARKET downstairs!

Foodies...if you are planning a trip to BlogHer Food in June, you might want to consider the Pan Pacific! {Y'all...they have free wifi.  They know better than to separate a blogger from her wifi.}

{A few more pictures...we didn't stay in the suite pictured up top, but I thought you might want to see it.  I'm going to dream about it. The lobby is also very chic and modern...wonderful seafood restaurant and a Starbucks attached (this is Seattle after all!).  ALL of the rooms come with BIG soaking tubs and sliding doors that open up to the room.  After a long day of walking around Seattle, relax in the tub with a glass of wine, and enjoy your view of the Space Needle.  Of course, I did not do this since kiddo was with us, but I imagined it. ;)}

As far as what to see....I could go back and spend a month or so in Seattle just exploring.  Well, exploring and EATING.  Space Needle, monorail, Pike Place Market, the ferries...there is SO, so much to do!!!

Now to the cookies...

If you know Teresa, and you should, you'll know her ADORABLE Wheaten Terrier doggie, Doogan.

So, I stole a picture of Doogan from Teresa's blog ;), and printed it out.

Then, the day before I made the cookies, I placed the printout on an upside-down cookie sheet and covered it with waxed paper.  I outlined and filled the picture, just like I would on a cookie.

For the cookies, I used Callye's method of turning a scalloped circle cookie into a scalloped oval.  (I love this!)  The cookies were outlined and filled with light turquoise icing.

After the cookies had been drying for about an hour, I peeled the Doogan silhouettes off of the waxed paper and gently placed them on the cookies.  (The cookies are still wet enough to hold the silhouette without disturbing the icing.) Then, the cookies dried uncovered overnight.

Since I was visiting Teresa (the queen of pink and gingham), I had to tie her cookies up in some big pink gingham ribbon. ♥

Seattle Spring Break...I recommend it.

{...especially with your sweethearts.}

I'll leave you with one more (can you stand it?) picture. It's blurry, but I think it's my favorite.

The Traveling Cookbook

Today, I'm sending you over to LoveFeast Table.

Chris Ann and Kristin are doing something pretty neat to support their mission of raising $24,000 for Feed My Starving Children.  As part of their efforts, they began The Traveling Cookbook.

The Traveling Cookbook is a cookbook (I bet you guessed that part.) that travels (I bet you guessed that, too.) from blogger to blogger...each one making a few recipes from the same book.  The bloggers add doodles, stories, pictures along the way and ship it on to another blogger.

When the book is full of doodles and love, it will be auctioned off to support Feed My Starving Children.  How cool is that?!?

Well, I was just thrilled to receive the book from my friend Wendy.  You can read all about the book's time at our house by visiting LoveFeast Table.

There's cake. ;)

I got a little facelift...

Well, the blog did, not me personally. 

{Although with each passing year, I find myself more and more entranced by those Lifestyle Lift infomercials.}

The wonderfully creative Sharon from Redbud Designs is the master behind the new look.  I just love the blogs and cards she designs...and she is an absolute pleasure to work with!

One small addition you might notice in the header is the "savory" link in the navigation bar up top.  This is mainly for my benefit as I make things for dinner (no, we usually don't eat cookies for every meal) and then cannot remember where the recipe came from or how exactly I made it.  FEAR NOT, I know you are here for the sugar...so am I...those posts will not show up in your reader. Maybe if you're looking for something for lunch or dinner, you might click on over. (It's a work in progress right now, but a few yummy recipes are there.)

The main blog post area is BIGGER, which means BIGGER pictures...yay!  For right now, those older post pictures will look a little small...in between baking cookies, I'll be trying to update those.  

If you're reading this post in a reader or an email, click on over and take a peek at the new look!  I hope you love it as much as I do! ♥

How (not) to Blog . . . Works for Me Wednesday

{This post is not meant to create controversy or incite a riot. ;)}

Most of the questions in my inbox are about cookie decorating, but I get a good bit of questions about how to start a blog.

Well, let me tell ya, you might not want to ask me, because apparently I've gone about it all the wrong way.

Here's what you are SUPPOSED to do:

1. Your blog should be hosted on WordPress.  Bake at 350 is hosted on Blogger.  And, you know what?  I'm happy here.  Blogger is like my favorite quilt, it may not have all of the bells and whistles of an electric blanket, but it's comforting and familiar.  So far, I think I'm staying.  But, from what I hear, all the *cool* kids are on WordPress and it is the bee's knees.
2. Your blog should have its own domain.  Look up in the address bar.  That ".blogspot.com?"  That's baaaad.  Apparently, people don't think you take your blogging seriously when you're not a .com or .net.  You all think I take my blog seriously, right?!? ;) (How seriously must we take a blog about cookies, anyway?)
3. You MUST have a $1,200 camera and a $800 lens to go with it.  Are you noticing a pattern here?  Yes, I blogged for almost 3 years with a point & shoot camera. *gasp*  All of those pictures in my header?  From the point and shoot.  And last year, when I *did* break down and buy a dSLR, a $1,200 camera was just not in our budget...especially for a camera to take pictures of cookies. So, I did a little research and bought this camera...from WalMart.  And it's great for my needs...I'll leave the real photography to the experts, like my sister and Angie.
4. You should be very, very concerned with SEO.  (That's Search Engine Optimization to you and me...yes, I had to look it up after sitting in an hour long seminar 2 years ago, thinking, "what the heck is SEO?")  For example, your post titles should read something like, "Sugar Cookie Recipe plus Tutorial."  They should not be 25 words long, like this one.

So, as you can see, I've gone about it all wrong.  Maybe marching to the beat of my own drum has to do with growing up a curly-haired, pigeon-toed girl.  As much as I tried in junior high, my hair would never have "wings" or "feathers."  No matter how many ballet classes I took, these turned-in toes were never going into the fifth position.

Maybe being a bit of a rebel has been built-in.

My REAL blogging advice for you...

• Find your voice.  I was so afraid to SAY anything when I first started (and maybe I say too much now).  Let your personality shine through.
• Find a bloggy mentor.  Even if you never actually talk with that person, find a blog you like for inspiration.  See what they do that you like, but don't copy them, make your blog your own.
• Join twitter (or Facebook or Google+).  It's a great way to make friends with other bloggers and twitter is my go-to place when I have a blogging question. Don't feel obligated to join them all.
• Hire a blog designer to personalize your blog a bit.  It doesn't have to cost an arm and a leg and there are plenty of wonderful designers out there.  Take a look at their portfolios (and prices!) and find one that suits your style. 
• Do what feels right to you.  Love WordPress?  Awesome!  Don't let my post change your mind.  Want to post every day?  Do it!  More of a once-a-week-post type gal?  Sounds good, too. 
• Have fun & believe in YOURSELF!  My friend Teresa posted a fabulous piece on comparing.  Do what YOU love, what YOU feel comfortable with, and you'll create a blog that you'll be proud to call your baby. 

 

Want to read more about starting a blog? Kristan from Confessions of a Cookbook Queen has great tips here. 

Pea Pod Petits Fours

 
You are attending a baby shower right this very minute.  A VIRTUAL baby shower for the adorable Maria and Josh of Two Peas & Their Pod. 

You probably already know this couple and their blog for yummy treats like: Golden Grahams S'Mores Bars, Soft Pretzel Bites, and Cinnamon Streusel Pancakes.  Their latest creation...

...a new pea for their pod...a baby boy, who is almost here!!!

I'll tell you more about the cake part of these petits fours in another post, but let me show you how to make the pea pods.

You'll need:

• fondant (I used homemade)


• leaf green food coloring


• large and small pastry tips


• royal icing (optional)

Tint the fondant.  Roll out on a surface dusted with corn starch to about 1/8 inch.



{Use the bottom of the small tip to cut fondant for the peas.}


Place on the petits fours.  Add vine detail with green royal icing, if desired.


Maria & Josh....we are all so happy for you...and your new little sweet pea!

Can't get enough sweet peas?  Click on over for some Sweet Pea cookies! :)

Be sure to visit the rest of the shower "hosts."  And...pop by the giveaway going on right now.  Hint: it's a lean, green, mixing machine! ;)

Drinks
Simple Bites - Lemon Balm infused Lemonade
Ingredients, Inc. - Healthy Fruit Punch
Food for My Family - Lemongrass Soda
Heather's Dish - Mixed Fruit Punch
She Wears Many Hats - Mini Pistachio Smoothies
Georgia Pellegrini - Watermelon Agua Fresca & a New Pea

Appetizers/Savory Bites
With Style and Grace - Truffle Popcorn
Family Fresh Cooking - Baby Peas & Cheese Frittata
Barbara Bakes - Creamy Orange Fruit Dip and Fruit
Aggie’s Kitchen - Pasta Salad with Balsamic Basil Vinaigrette
Reluctant Entertainer - Nutella Berry Bruschetta

Dessert
TidyMom - Blue and Chocolate Cake Balls
i am baker - Baby Pea Baby Shower Cake
Brown Eyed Baker - Pavlova
Picky Palate - Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookie Sandwich
What’s Gaby Cooking - Coconut Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Icing
Cookin’ Canuck - Nutella & Cream Cheese Swirled Blondies
Kevin and Amanda - Baby Blue Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookie Cups
Sweetopia - Decorated Sugar Cookies
Mountain Mama Cooks - Lavender Shortbread Cookies
Sweetapolita - Decorated Sugar Cookies
RecipeGirl - Baby Button Cookies
RecipeBoy - Mud Cups with Gummy Worms
Add a Pinch - Blackberry Tartlets
Dine and Dish - Oven Baked Cinnamon Apples
Vintage Mixer - Mint Chocolate Pudding Shots
Dorie Greespan - French Lemon Cream Tart 

Crafts
Wenderly - Handmade Sweet Pea Cards
Our Best Bites - How To: Make a Diaper Cake Centerpiece

The Butter, the Wranglers, the Ranch. . . oh my!

 {from top: Flavia, me (hi!), Nina, Amanda, Karen, Sandi, Kristen}

We had a little Pioneer Woman watch party at the Bake at 350 house on Saturday.  You DO know about Ree's new show on Food Network, right?  Right?

What can I say about Ree?  I've been smitten with her blog since the first day I discovered it.  A friend sent me a link, and I started reading, and reading and reading.  Four hours later, I was packing up Mr. E and the kiddo and heading to Oklahoma.  {As Mr. E's job is here in Texas, we decided to stay put.}

So, Ree's show debuted on Saturday and I invited a few friends (and fellow PW fans) over to watch, eat, and cheer Ree on!

It started with food...as it always does around here.

Yes, I got a picture of the menu and not the food.  (psst...those "diet killers" are here.) 
Except for the Nutella Scones...

{More on these later.}


...and a bowl of fruit...ooo, how exciting!

What I loved about the Pioneer Woman show was not only the food...chicken fried steak, decadent mashed potatoes...but the glimpse into ranch life. It looks like a lot of work, but also, a lot of fun....especially if Ree is doing the cooking!

We watched...


And dreamed...


And ate... (did I mention the Nutella?)


Nutella Scones
{slightly modified from the magnificent Baked Explorations}

about 1 cup hazelnuts
2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup dutch-process cocoa powder (such as Hershey's Special Dark)
1 TBSP baking powder
1/2 tsp. coarse salt
6 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into chunks
1 large egg
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup Nutella, divided

Preheat oven to 350.  Place the hazelnuts on a cookie sheet and bake for 15 minutes, or until the papery skins begin to crack and loosen. Rub the hazelnuts with a dish towel to remove most of the skin.  Let cool.  Coarsely chop and set aside.

Increase the oven temp. to 375 and place the rack in the center. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

In a large bowl, whisk the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt until combined. Add the butter. Use a pastry cutter (or your fingers) to cut the butter into the mixture until the butter is pea size and the mixture is coarse.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the egg and cream. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir until the dough just comes together. Gently and briefly knead the dough with your hands. Add the 3/4 cup toasted hazelnuts and knead gently to incorporate.

Dump the dough onto a lightly floured surface. Flatten the dough into a rectangle approximately 6 by 12" (it does not need to be precise) and spread 1/4 cup of the Nutella on top. Roll the dough up and make a cylinder about 6 inches long, turn it on its end, and gently flatten it into a disk about 1 and 3/4 inches high. Do not overwork the dough.

Use a bench scraper to cut the dough into 8 wedges and place them on the prepared baking sheet, about 2 inches apart. Bake the scones for 18 to 20 minutes, rotating the baking sheet halfway through, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of a scone comes out clean.

Transfer the scones to a wire rack to cool completely. Place the baking sheet with the parchment still underneath the rack.

For the topping:
Heat the remaining 1/4 cup Nutella (or add a little more) in a microwave until pourable, about 10-20 seconds on high. Transfer the Nutella to a pastry bag, cut off the tip and drip the warm Nutella in a zigzag pattern over the tops of the scones. The scones are best eaten the day they are made.

 {from top: Flavia, me, Molly (my sister), Nina, Amanda, Sandi, Kristen}

Watch parties with friends?  Highly recommended!
Pioneer Woman's new Food Network show?  My new favorite! I'll be tuning in EVERY week! 

{And I'm pretty sure Mr. E is getting a pair of Wranglers for Christmas.}

Lisa Simpson, Frosting for the Cause & my Obsession with the Color Yellow

I seem to have become obsessed with the color yellow.

Case in point...

...the 100-year-old piano I picked up for $99 at Goodwill.  Had to be painted YELLOW.

{Spike will now pose for you.}


Hubby out-of-town on business, I painted our bathroom grey...and added lots (and lots) of YELLOW.


And these cookies....

{They are supposed to be floral silhouettes, but let's be honest.  They look like a cross between Lisa Simpson and a sea creature.}

The cookies are for a good cause, though...and I'm posting the tutorial over at Frosting for the Cause, sweet Paula's charity bringing bakers together to raise money for women's cancers.  Come on over.

(And if you'd like to sign up to help, you can, too!) 

Babies, Bread & Beautiful Bloggers. . .

Babies:
My *little* sister just had her 3rd baby last month.  Her 3rd boy.  A beautiful, healthy, chunky little boy named Leo. ♥

{So, she now has a 4 year-old, a one-year-old, a newborn and a good case of sleep-deprivation. ;)}

Bread:
It's always been my philosophy that new mothers need a little sugar high to make it through the day.....or at least until naptime. 

Enter Poppy Seed Bread that makes TWO loaves and is perfect to freeze and drop off to a new mommy.

The bread is oh-so-moist....I'm no expert, but it might have something to do with the 1+ cups of oil in the recipe.
 
It is SO good just sliced and served plain for breakfast, or a snack, or for dessert.  It's a multi-tasker.

Beautiful Bloggers:
You may know that we lost my mom to cancer over 10 years ago.  Kiddo was 1 and I feel so lucky that he had her in his life, even if it was only for a year.

Mom made the quilt for kiddo's bed....and she started a small quilt for him to have to carry around.  But she got too sick to finish it.

I'm not good with a needle and thread.  So, this little quilt was in a bag that I've carried from house to house to house.  And a couple months before baby Leo was born, I found it!

Here's what it looked like (the top was put together, batting and back attached with pins and bits of thread.):

On a whim, I tweeted something like, "Anyone interested in finishing a baby quilt in exchange for cookies.....or cash?"  

I'm not kidding, 5 seconds later, sweet Robyn from Earthbound Chronicles offered to finish it.....FOR THE COOKIES!!!  I think I offered her a few chances to back out....or to take the cash instead.  She wouldn't even let me pay her for shipping.

Here's how the quilt looks now:
 
Absolutely gorgeous!!!  And take a gander at this adorable, darling, perfect trim that Robyn added...

 

{Oh, I love it!}

So, now baby Leo has a little piece of something his Gigi made.....with a BIG dash of love from a sweet blogger we've never even met.

{Y'all....I never expected blogging to bring me to tears, but it does. What I love the most about blogging & tweeting is what I never expected.....meeting the most amazing, creative, generous souls on earth.}

Thank you SO MUCH, Robyn.  {I still think you should have taken the cash.} ;)

Poppy Seed Bread
{adapted from Mary Engelbreit's Fan Fare}

1 & 1/2 cups milk
3 eggs
1 & 1/2 tsp. pure vanilla extract
1 & 1/2 tsp. pure almond extract
1 cup + 2 TBSP vegetable oil
2 & 1/2 cup sugar
3 cups unbleached, all-purpose flour
1 & 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 & 1/2 tsp. coarse salt
1 & 1/2 TBSP poppy seeds

Preheat oven to 350.  Grease sides and bottoms of two 9x5" loaf pans.

In a large bowl on low speed, beat together the milk, eggs, vanilla, extracts and oil.

Add in the sugar, flour, baking powder and salt.  Beat for 2 minutes.  Stir in the poppy seeds.

Divide the batter between the two loaf pans and bake 50-60 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean.

Cool in wire racks in the pans 10 minutes, then remove from pans and let cool completely.

To freeze, wrap cooled loaf in heavy-duty foil.  Thaw at room temperature several hours or overnight.

Somebody Pinch Me . . .

I'm sitting at my kitchen table looking at these pictures and I still can't quite believe I was actually there.

There, meaning at the Pioneer Woman's Lodge, teaching a cookie decorating class on Saturday.  I was so nervous that I have no recollection of saying much of anything.  But, there are pictures and I had icing under my fingernails, so it must have happened.

Here's the deal, Ree held a contest on her blog, and 4 readers (and their friends) won a trip to the Lodge for a weekend and some holiday baking.  Click on over and meet them....they are such a GREAT group of ladies; I LOVED getting to know them!!!

By some stroke of good luck, Ree (the blogger who makes me laugh, cry and hungry every day) asked me to come teach the cookie decorating class to the winners and a few of her friends.  ACK!!!  Me? 

{I have to admit that when I saw her email, I screamed a little.}

Let me say this....you know how on her blog, Ree is funny and genuine and down-to-earth?  Well, in person, she's all that and more....gracious, warm and welcoming....and FUN!  (Was that gushing?  I'm sorry, but it's true...every word!)

I arrived at the lodge and met the winners of the trip...and lots of friends who had come in for the afternoon.  Wanna see?

 

 

We had the most delicious lunch, prepared by Chefs Tiffany & Lia.  I love them.

Then, we decorated cookies.  And, I learned something.  I learned that showing how royal icing takes 5-10 minutes to come to a peak isn't all that entertaining.  Next time I will work up a juggling act or something for while the mixer is spinning around.

 

 

There is a great recap of the class and step-by-step cookie pictures over at PW's.

I also learned that thinning royal icing with water a half teaspoon at a time takes an eternity when 24 pairs of eyes are watching. As the old saying goes, "A watched icing never thins."  Or something like that.

This is a little handout for the ladies with cookie and icing recipes and some cookie making tips.  The wonderful and talented Amy of Living Locurto (up above in the red sweater) designed the border!  (I'm hoping to have copies that you can download available later this week.)

After the cookies, there was a chocolate class taught by pastry chef Lia. She was AMAZING!!!

Even though I spent the majority of my time making goofy faces like this...

....they let me stay for dinner, too!  Beef tenderloin, seafood pasta....absolute heaven.

OH!  One more thing, the question I've been asked most since the trip....

Yes, I met Charlie. ♥

So, to recap....  
Cookies + PW + amazing ladies + chocolate + dinner at the Lodge = one amazing trip!
Thank you so much, Ree!!!  It was so FUN!

{PS...cookies I brought along for the trip coming up tomorrow.}