Ace of Cakes Winners!!

Happy long holiday weekend everyone! And thanks to everyone who chimed in with their favorite cake suggestions...my list of cakes that I need to try is now ten miles long, thank you very much!

As always, I was wishing I had a book for every single one of you and didn't have to narrow it down to two winners, and usually I do this narrowing by using Random.org. But given that this particular post was inspired by my teenager and her amazing guitar cake project, it seemed only right that I let her pick the lucky winners. So I turned things over to the teenager...

Isn't she adorable?

Here are her winners....

First... Calamity Anne! She picked this winner because of the chocolate cake. The teenager likes chocolate just a little bit. (She gets this from her mama.)

Second...Lisa, who talked about the pound cake her mom makes for her, and what great memories that brings back. The teenager thought it was really sweet that Lisa loved this cake because of her mom. And I loved that she loved it because of that! (Lisa, I need an address for you, so please email me at kate@katescasualportraits, okay?)

Thanks to everyone for commenting - you are all Aces to me!!

Ace Of Cakes Book Contest!

I haven't done a cookbook giveaway in AGES, and I apologize about that. And the book that I am giving away today isn't exactly a cookbook, but the behind the scenes look at what happens at that wacky, amazing place called Charm City Cakes. I will get to that giveway eventually, but as usual you are going to have to suffer through the backstory, which I have titled "The Teenager's Sculpture Class Final," otherwise known as "Don't Try This At Home."

So, the teenager has been taking a sculpture class in school this year, which has resulted in a beautiful green bowl that sits on my desk, a life mask that she made by layering plaster all over her face (I'm glad I found out about that one AFTER it happened), and various different incarnations in pottery of the Joker from the Batman movie. The final exam for this class, however, took the cake. Literally. The assignment was this: sculpt something out of food.

The teenager, being the teenager, decided that the very best thing to sculpt out of food would be a life-size electric guitar. I immediately cancelled any plans I had for cooking anything in my kitchen that night.

So, armed with mounds and mounds of cake, frosting, M&Ms and licorice, the sculpting began. First the cake was painstaking carved out according to a pattern she had made, and put on a platform of heavy foam core. Luckily I was not home for this part, because I think it would have given me a nervous breakdown. Then she slowly, methodically, painstakingly began applying the frosting and the M&Ms in sections.



Frosting first, then M&Ms applied in a pattern that matched the look of the guitar she was modeling this thing after.

One M&M by one M&M at a time.

"Pwweeaaase can I have some???"

Then came the Twizzler guitar strings, measured, cut and applied with frosting "glue."

"PUHWEEEEEAAAASE???????"

I have to say, I had my doubts. Big, serious, doubts. But dang if the girl didn't pull it off. She brought it in, got a A on the final, and then became a minor celebrity in school as she carried the thing around for the rest of the day giving away slices.

So in celebration of the end of school, a good report card, and a job well done, I'm giving away two copies of the fabulous book ACE OF CAKES, with my heartfelt advice not to try any of this at home. Enter this giveaway by leaving me a comment telling me your favorite cake. (My wonderful email subscribers - click on the title of this post and it will take you to the website where you can leave your comment.) I will let you know next Saturday who the two lucky winners are.

And if your cake suggestion doesn't involve a thousand M&Ms, I might even try to make it.

Fancy Goodnight Giving Tree Winners

I loved the comments on my Valentine contest SO much. Probably because I love children's books so much. There's just something about a children's book that makes everything right with the world, and reading the comments with all of your favorites just made me feel all warm and fuzzy and happy.

So warm and fuzzy, in fact, that there is no way I can keep this contest to just sending my winners the fabulous Fancy Nancy books alone...there were just too many comments about this one...

and this one...

not to include them as well. So therefore, FANCY NANCY, FANCY NANCY TEA PARTIES, GOODNIGHT MOON and THE GIVING TREE are now on their way to these lucky commenters:

Myrnie, whose four year old is just starting to read. What fun!

Rebecca, whose favorites are THE GIVING TREE and BEAR SNORES ON

and Melissa, whose favorite is THE STORY OF PING (that's my favorite, too!). Melissa, I don't see any contact info for you, so email me here, okay?

Thanks everyone...now click on each of those book covers above for a fun treat, and then go read a story to someone you love, okay?

The Cookie Winners!

Well, my mocha chocolate chip cookie cookbook giveaway contest was my most successful EVER. You guys do love your cookies, and who can blame you? The overwhelming favorite by a country mile was good old chocolate chip. You like them chewy and crunchy and warm and gooey, and so do I. The picture above is from my all-time favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe, which is the one from the classic New York Times article about the best chocolate chip cookie recipes ever. It takes two days, but I promise you -- promise you! -- that it is worth it. Here's the link:

Best Chocolate Chip Cookies Ever!

Meantime, thanks so much for all the comments, and I know you are all dying to know who is going to be the happy owner of this:



Now, originally I had three of these to give away, but I was so blown away by all the comments that I couldn't bear to just stop after three, so I got a couple more of them. Which means that the five lucky folks below are going to find this in their mailbox next week.

Once again, thank goodness for Random.org, which I always use to pick the winners. I could never bear to do it myself. And want to know something really mysterious? The five comments that Random.org picked? Not one said chocolate chip cookies.

Hmmm.

Okay, drumroll please......

Winner #1: Morgan Lee, who loves cornflake cookies. Never heard of them, but I'm up for it!

Winner #2: Topher, who loves snickerdoodles. I love those too. I might have to make some very, very soon.

Winner #3: Elga, who loves chocolate and pistachio biscuits. Tres fancy!

Winner #4: NikiTheo, who loves peanut butter and jelly cookies. Please share that recipe. I'll be waiting anxiously....

Winner #5: Erin, who said "what about cookie dough?" Well, of COURSE! And Erin, there was no contact info for you on your entry, so email me here and tell me how to find you.

As for the rest of you guys, thanks so much for entering, and check out my fun Valentine giveaway, going up on the blog tomorrow night.

xoxox

Bam! And The Winners Are....

Thanks so much to everyone who participated in my Emeril Double Cookbook giveaway! I love these contests so much because they are always such a wealth of information. I am definitely going to have to catch up on my watching of Ina Garten and Paula Deen, for all the great reasons you guys gave in your comments!

In the meantime, before I get to my three lucky winners, I thought you might like to see an "After" picture of that little pigtailed model up there. Look up for "Before"....and here's "After"...

Much more sophisticated, but still loves cupcakes.

OK! Here comes the happy and sad part, because I always wish I had one for everybody. Thank goodness for random.org, because I could never pick winners out on my own.

1. Andrea, who loves Ina Garten. Definitely going to have to check her out more, because I think she was the most-loved chef in the comments.

2. Veronica M who is a fan of both Paula Deen and butter. Right there with you, Veronica.

3. Calamity Anne...who couldn't pick a favorite! And boy can I relate.

So I will be sending you three your copies of the two fabulous Emeril books, and to everyone else, I am starting my next cookbook giveaway tomorrow night, and it involves COOKIES. That's all I'll say for now. Except thanks for playing, and reading Framed. I love you guys.

Victorian Magnet Calendar Giveaway Winners!

Ah... today's the big day! The day I pull the names of three winners for last Treasure Box Wednesday's Victorian magnet calendar drawing.

I want to thank each and everyone for responding, and for sharing what it is you do to decorate for various holidays. It was a lot of fun getting to read how different people celebrate by decorating their homes-- and I hope it offered a whole new bunch of possibilities for you all, too, getting to see what other folks are up to, year-round!

Anyway, I won't hold you in suspense any longer. I took the name of each person who responded to me-- including you folks who emailed me directly-- and wrote it on a slip of paper which I folded equally and put in this hat...


Then, closing my eyes, I drew three names. And they are, in no particular order...

• Lola LaFayette
• Andrea
• and Linda!

Congratulations, ladies! If you email me your addresses and full name at thriftshopromanticAT macDOTcom (replacing the AT with an @ an the DOT with a . ) I will get your calendars out to you.

Thanks so much, everyone, for playing along!

Victorian Magnet Calendar Giveaway Winners!

Ah... today's the big day! The day I pull the names of three winners for last Treasure Box Wednesday's Victorian magnet calendar drawing.

I want to thank each and everyone for responding, and for sharing what it is you do to decorate for various holidays. It was a lot of fun getting to read how different people celebrate by decorating their homes-- and I hope it offered a whole new bunch of possibilities for you all, too, getting to see what other folks are up to, year-round!

Anyway, I won't hold you in suspense any longer. I took the name of each person who responded to me-- including you folks who emailed me directly-- and wrote it on a slip of paper which I folded equally and put in this hat...


Then, closing my eyes, I drew three names. And they are, in no particular order...

• Lola LaFayette
• Andrea
• and Linda!

Congratulations, ladies! If you email me your addresses and full name at thriftshopromanticAT macDOTcom (replacing the AT with an @ an the DOT with a . ) I will get your calendars out to you.

Thanks so much, everyone, for playing along!

The Cheaters BBQ winners!

I just KNEW you guys would be with me on the whole cheat the barbeque thing, but what I wasn't prepared for was your AWESOME list of ideas for things to make on the grill when we are being pure and honest and not cheating. It's enough to make a girl relentlessly send her loyal Southern husband out into the frigid chill of winter (right now it is a balmy 19 degrees as I type) to make all of these right this minute. Steak on the grill was the clear favorite, and who could argue with that? But tied for second was veggies and corn (you healthy, healthy people, you!), followed by such delectables as grilled pizza, grilled pineapple (yum!!), grilled tuna, grilled lamb, and of course who could forget the ribs?

First to answer a couple of questions in the comments, both about the liquid smoke. Yes, liquid smoke and bottled smoke are the same thing. As for what it is and the ingredients, it is basically made by capturing actual grill smoke and filtering water through it. There is a much better explanation on Chow - click here -- but that's it in a nutshell. What WILL they think of next??

Now to the part you have all been waiting for...the WINNERS! This part makes me both happy and crazy, because every time I do this I want to send a book to everyone who comments. So thank goodness for Random.org, which takes a teeny bit of the pressure off. The other good news is while I have two definite winners today, there is a chance that I might be getting two more cookbooks in the not so distant future -- so if you are not one of today's two lucky winners you still might be getting a happy email from me at some point sooooon....

So here they are, my two lucky soon-to-be-cheaters:

Andrea, whose favorite thing for the grill is the fixin's for fajitas. Yum, yum, triple yum! Love fajitas. Want some right NOW.

And Georgia, who was one of quite a few folks who love grilled corn on the cob, which she makes in her grill pan. Now there's one I don't make often...but since Georgia and so many of the rest of you do, I am going to step up my grilled-corn-making. So there.

As for the rest of you, you can still get a copy of CHEATER BBQ in all the usual places, including here. Let's get to cheating! And in the meantime, come back and see me soon, because another contest is a-comin...

Cheater's Barbeque Garlic Shrimp and a Cookbook Contest!

Here comes another fun contest, everybody...but first you have to live through the story, because you KNOW there is always a story with me.

Ah, barbeque. It's one of the Southern husband's reasons for living, and to be perfectly honest, he is always absolutely cheerful about going outside in any sort of weather to fire up the old grill. Ten inches of snow on the ground? No problem whatsover...he's out there, and with a big barbeque anticipation smile on his handsome face. However, I myself always feel just slightly guilty for sending him out into the elements, which is why I was so glad to hear about this book.

That's right -- barbeque WITHOUT the barbeque grill. It sounded too good to be true, especially to someone who lives with a man who practically drives off the road every time we pass a sign that has the words "Pit" and BBQ" on it. (BBQ is a word, right? For right now, let's say that it is.) So I started cruising through the book to see what the possibilities were, and along with all the ribs and burgers and pulled pork and chicken and dry rubs, there it was.

Barbeque Garlic Shrimp.

Now for any of you folks who love New Orleans as much as we do, there is a place there called Pascale's Manale. You take the New Orleans streetcars to get there, and it is always jam-packed, so you wait for your table at the bar, eating raw oysters and drinking ice cold Dixie beer until your table is ready...and when you sit down you order their famous barbeque shrimp, which is spicy and tangy and perfect. The Southern husband and I have eaten more than our fair share of BBQ shrimp there (chased by more than our fair share of ice-cold Dixie) and so when I saw this recipe I had to give it a go.

Oh yes. Just as wonderful as I remember. Use big shrimp, fresh lemon juice and the best butter you can find. I like Kate's Homemade Butter, which you can get at Whole Foods, and no, not just because of the name, although that is probably why I picked it up in the first place. Don't be frightened by the liquid smoke - you can find it right next to the barbeque sauce in your supermarket, or if you want to get really fancy you can also get it at Williams Sonoma. Make sure you have some really nice fresh crusty bread to mop up the sauce. And if you have any Dixie beer on hand, not only should you drink it with dinner, but you should call me up right now and invite me over.

So now I have your attention, right? Good, because I have a couple of these awesome cookbooks to give away to any of you interested in doing a little barbeque cheating on your own. Just leave me a comment below telling me your own favorite thing to make on the grill and you will be automatically entered in a random drawing for your very own copy. (For my email subscribers -- click on the title of this post and it will take you to the website where you can leave your comment.) I'll announce the very lucky barbeque-loving winners on Saturday, January 9. Until then, here's another look at the deliciousness, and then the recipe. YUM!!

BBQ GARLIC SHRIMP, adapted from CHEATER BBQ

Makes 6 servings

• 1/4 cup bottled smoke
• 1/4 cup kosher salt
• 2 pounds large shrimp, peeled and deveined

• 1 stick melted butter
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
• 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
• 2 tablespoons hot pepper sauce
• 6 garlic cloves,, minced
• Black pepper to taste

• Fresh bread for serving

1. Combine 1 quart cold water, the bottled smoke and the salt in large bowl. Stir to dissolve the salt.

2. Add shrimp to the bowl, cover and chill for 30 minutes. Drain, pat the shrimp dry and discard the brine.

3. While brining the shrimp, combine all the remaining ingredients except the bread in a small bowl.

4. Toss the shrimp with the sauce.

5. Heat a large skillet or Dutch oven over high heat until piping hot. Add shrimp and sauce to pot at cook until pink and opaque, about 3-5 minutes. Be careful not to overcook. Serve at once with sauce and fresh bread on the side.

Click here for printable recipe

The Locavore Winner

I'm sure lots of you are doing what I am doing today...The Big Clean-Up! I actually love the day after Christmas, when things are a little calmer and quieter and you can actually sit down with a cup of tea and revel in the goodies and the quiet and the general happiness of it all.

Contented sigh!

And here is a latebreaking holiday gift for Anu, whose favorite local food is green chilis from New Mexico! Random.org chose Anu as the lucky winner of Amy Cotler's wonderful new book, THE LOCAVORE WAY. Congrats, Anu!

Hope you are all having a wonderful holiday weekend, and I'll be back tomorrow. As soon as I finish cleaning up....

Favorite Food Blogs and the Steamy Kitchen Winner!

Thanks to all of you who entered the contest to win my giveaway copy of the awesome STEAMY KITCHEN COOKBOOK by the equally awesome Jaden Hair. I will name the very lucky winner in a second, but we all get a really great runner-up prize, because this contest produced a fabulous list of food blogs that we can all try! I've assembled a clickable list below, which you should all try out, so long as you solemnly swear to come back to THIS food blog.

But first...the lucky winner, randomly selected by random.org because I cannot bear to pick out just one person myself, is Elaine, who suggested Dinner with Julie as her favorite blog. Congrats, Elaine -- you are the owner of this fabulous cookbook!!

Now for the list of blogs that we can all try!

1. Steamy Kitchen. Well, of course. When you get there, look up her pork dumplings (pictured above) -- they are out of this world.

2. Pioneer Woman. Natch. If there is anyone left on earth who hasn't visited her site...go now, and search the apple dumpling recipe. It involves Mountain Dew and is unbelievably good.

3. Joy The Baker. One of my very, very favorites, for the recipes, the photos and the smart, smart, smart writing.

4. Bakerella. A dessert paradise, especially all her bite-sized stuff.

5. Our Best Bites: Some great foodie holiday gifts on this one. Check out the peanut brittle. I adore peanut brittle. Hint, hint.

6. Chez Pim: Gorgeous blog, and all you fellow food bloggers, check out their Menu of Hope project going on right now, okay?

7. Wild Yeast Blog: Yep. All about bread. You can practically smell the bread baking from the beautiful pictures.

8. Orangette: I didn't know this one at all, but I'm glad I do now -- great writing and recipes.

9. Market Manila: Food in the Phillipines! Yum.

10. A Feast for the Eyes, celebrating their one year "blogaversary" - congrats, Debbie!

11. The Food Pornographer. A picture is worth a thousand words, right?

12. Foodgawker. One of my favorites - I love you guys! Thanks for taking all my pictures!!

13. A Hungry Girl's Guide to Taipei. If you are ever in Taipei looking for a good meal. Hey, it could happen!

14. Mark Bittman's Blog. The incomparable Mr. Bittman. I adore him from afar.

15. Dinner and Dessert. They have a rocky road fudge recipe up there that I think I may have to try Right Now.

16. Dinner with Julie. The adorable picture of the little boy with the camera on her homepage is worth the visit all by itself...but some delicious looking food on there, too.

17. Chickens in the Road. Recipes and crafts and gardening and lots of chickens.

18. Rasa Malaysia. Asian recipes, and drop dead gorgeous pictures. Jealous.

19. Cannelle at Vanille. Another site with incredible pictures. I'm getting an inferiority complex.

20. Eating Asia. Pictures and food from Southeast Asia -- beautiful and exotic.

21. Anne's Food. A Swedish food blogger, but her recipes are from everywhere.

22. Wives with Knives. Maybe my favorite blog name EVER???

23. Thought 4 Food. A collection of cooking posts. Hmmm....maybe I will send them something?

24. Culinary Concoctions By Peabody. Looks like mostly sweet stuff....Peabody, I think I like you!

25. Annie's Eats. Love this one, it's been on my blogroll for a while. Hi Annie!

26. Smitten Kitchen. One of the best...and she is now doing it all with a newborn baby!

27. Inuyaki. This means "grilled dog" in Japanese. Hmm. Some cool recipes though.

28. Hungry Cravings. Another one with beautiful, beautiful pictures.

29. La Fuji Mama. Fusion cooking, and she looks like SO much fun!

30. Culinary In The Desert. I would love this one just for the cute dogs on the home page...check it out!

31. 101 Cookbooks: I think this was the first recipe blog I ever visited, and it is still amazing. Very healthy stuff.

32. Chocolate and Zucchini. One of the first food blogs and still one of the best, written and photographed by the amazing Clotilde.

33. Kitchens Are Monkey Business: Don't know this one, but I agree with the general sentiment!

34. The Kitchen Sink: Didn't know this one either, and oh, those pictures! Yum yum.

35. Delicious Wisdom: Whole and healthy foods, and they look great.

37. Design Crush Blog: Not a food blog, although there are often great recipes on here, but a really, really fun site.

Thanks for all of these!! And because I can never leave well enough alone, here are just a few more from ME. Because I love them so much.


Tastespotting. Another place to swoon over amazing food pictures that all have links to the originating blogs. Mouthwatering. (You might find some of my shots there, too!)

Simply Recipes. Simply fabulous. She has maple cookies up there right this minute.

Chocolate Shavings. Another blog I visit for inspiration on both the recipes AND the photography, it's glorious.

The Locavore Way. A new one, all on locally grown food...and she has a brand new cookbook that looks amazing.

Okay, I'm ravenous now, and I know we have barely scratched the surface of all of the amazing food blogs out there, so we will do this again soon, okay? In the meantime, congrats to Elaine on winning the STEAMY KITCHEN COOKBOOK! And everybody check back with me tomorrow night, when I am starting up my next cookbook contest....

Teriyaki Steak and Sesame Noodles

Just in time for the holidays, I have a great recipe and an equally great cookbook to give away! Those of you who read my post on Pork Dumplings with Chili Sauce know that I am a big fan of Jaden Hair and her Steamy Kitchen blog. Jaden is an amazing cook, an incredibly talented photographer, a really nice person, and the author of THE STEAMY KITCHEN COOKBOOK, which is where I got the recipe for the teriyaki steak that you see above. This cookbook is jam-packed with fabulous-looking recipes that I am going to work my way through...just as soon as I get it back from my mom, who took one look at it on my kitchen counter and borrowed it.

But not before I had made this rocking good steak, which is marinated in a balsamic teriyaki sauce that is Out Of This World. Jaden makes it with a skirt steak, but says you can use the steak of your choice, so I took her at her word and used my all-time favorite cut for grilling: the flank steak. The Southern husband and I made the teriyaki sauce the night before and marinated that bad boy overnight until it was good and soaked in that amazing marinade. By the time dinnertime rolled around, there was nothing left to do but grill the steak and heat up some reserved marinade to drizzle over the steak.

Along the way, it occurred to me that the perfect accompaniment to this fantastic steak would be the Pioneer Woman's Sesame Noodles, which I have now made about one million times. And they were indeed perfect! Which brought all of this full circle, because those sesame noodles were the topic of my first cookbook giveaway...that one is over, but now I have a copy of Jaden's beautiful cookbook to give away next!

So here's what I need: leave a comment at the bottom of this post telling me your favorite food blog, and that will enter you into a random drawing for a copy of THE STEAMY KITCHEN COOKBOOK. (For my peeps who subscribe on email -- click on the recipe title up top and it will take you to the web page where you can comment. I love you guys!!) It is a perfect holiday gift...if you can bear to part with it, that is! I will announce the lucky winner at 7pm on Saturday, December 5. And in the meantime, give this scrumptious teriyaki steak a try, and visit one of MY favorite food blogs, Steamy Kitchen!

**THANKS EVERYONE -- Contest is now over, but please look for the next cookbook giveaway, coming your way soon!**

GRILLED STEAK WITH BALSAMIC TERIYAKI, from The Steamy Kitchen Cookbook

• 1 pound skirt steak, or steak of your choice
• 2 tablespoons cooking oil
• 1 1/2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1 minced shallot
• 2 minced cloves garlic
• 1 cup balsamic vinegar
• 2 teaspoons sugar
• 1/4 cup beef, chicken or vegetable stock
• 2 tablespoons soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon mirin (sweet rice wine)

1. To make the teriyaki sauce, melt the butter in a saucepot over medium low heat. When it starts to bubble, add the shallots and garlic and cook for 3 minutes or until soft, watching to make sure they don't burn.

2. Pour in the vinegar and bring to a boil. Turn heat down to medium low and simmer uncovered for 15 minutes or until reduced by half. It should be thick, glossy and coat the back of a spoon.

3. Add the sugar, stock, soy sauce and mirin, stir well and bring back to a boil. Then turn the heat down to low and simmer for 5 minutes. Let cool and reserve 1/2 cup sauce for marinating and 1/4 cup for serving.

4. Place the steak and 1/2 cup sauce into a large sealable plastic bag. Marinate 2 hours or overnight in the refrigerator.

5. Thirty minutes before grilling, remove the steak from the fridge and let it sit at room temperature. Discard the marinade and pat the steak very dry with paper towels.

6. Preheat grill to high, or set a large frying pan over high heat on the stove and add oil when very hot.

7. Grill steak for 3-5 minutes on each side for medium rare. Let steak rest for 5 minutes and the slice across the grain. Serve with reserved 1/4 cup marinade to pour over the meat.

Click here for printable recipe

Pecan Pie Winners!

Thank you to every one of you Gaiman-loving, pie-loving, movie-loving folks who entered the Pecan Bestseller Pie giveaway that I posted a few days ago. Before I get to the winners, I wanted to send out one more big THANK YOU to my guest blogger Elise Howard -- editor and pie-baker extraodinaire. And another giant thank you to one of the most amazing writers I know, the incredibly talented Neil Gaiman. If you haven't yet read THE GRAVEYARD BOOK, you need to go get your hands on a copy right this minute. It's simply spectacular.

Okay, on to the lucky winners, who were selected by www.random.org, because if I had to pick them out myself I just...couldn't...do it. The winner of the obviously way too easy question about what movie the line "Pecan Piiiiiiiie" came from is Photogramommy, who (along with everyone else) knew that it came from WHEN HARRY MET SALLY. (And a special thanks to all of you who also reminded me of the paprikash line. I just LOVE that dang movie.) Photogramommy, you win a copy of the very fun book AMERICAN PIE. Email me here to send me your mailing info.

And now for the three incredibly lucky winners of THIS incredible book:

First, Nutmeg Nanny, whose favorite pie is key lime pie. My Southern husband adores that one too, as do a LOT of the commenters on this post. So Nutmeg Nanny, you are winner #1, and I will email you through your own very lovely blog to get your address.

Winner # 2 is Seeks, who loves a good shoofly pie, and even included a link so that we would know what shoofly pie actually IS. Seeks, please email me here to tell me where to send your copy of the book.

And winner #3 is Mike, who couldn't decide between chocolate peanut butter pie and pumpkin. Mike, I totally understand your dilemma. While you are figuring it out, email me here with your address.

In the meantime, here's how all the many fabulous pie nominations broke out..

Who knew that there were so many strawberry rhubarb fans out there?

And last but not least, I have one surprise extra copy of THE GRAVEYARD BOOK to send to Alexis, who was kind enough to include an actual recipe in her comments, so that this post will not be recipe-less. Thanks for the Key Lime Pie recipe, Alexis, and please email me here with your address as well.

Alexis's Favorite Key Lime Pie recipe (from a postcard she got in Florida)

• 4 tsp key lime zest
• 5 egg yolks
• 1 - 14 oz can sweetened condensed milk
• 1/2 cup fresh key lime juice
• 5 tbsp unsalted butter, melted.

Beat together in order until well blended, then pour into into a prepared pie crust. (i use a regular baked pie crust, you could use graham crackers) Bake at 325 for 15 min (until set), remove, cool & chill. I prefer to serve with a dollop of whipped cream, but if you like meringue, use the egg whites left over from the 5 egg whites above.

The $10 Thrifting Challenge

What kind of outfit can you get from a thrift store on just a little amount of money? And just how far will that money go? Let’s find out together. And if you’d like to play along, too, and share your findings, I think we could all have quite a lot of fun with this!

So here’s the deal. I’m always talking about the great sorts of things you can get at thrift stores. Now I’m going to put my money where my big ol’ mouth is. I’m going to set aside a whopping $10 and I’m going to go thrift a complete outfit with it, and see what I can find-- then report back here. This is a teensy bit risky, of course, because thrifting has a certain amount of serendipity to it-- and that gal Serendipity has one dilly of a sense of humor. The main donation coming into the thrifts lately might just be surplus sleeveless novelty T’s supporting Huey’s Hog Haulin’ and Embroidery. White patent leather loafers mebbe. Or fluorescent green bicycle shorts from 1990...

And frankly, I just wouldn’t want you to have to look at that.

So okay, risk is part of the challenge. But really, the outfit SHOULD be something one would actually want to wear. Outside. Without, say, making small children weep. Or folks call the cops. (Unless, of course, that’s your usual goal in choosing attire, in which case, cool-- Go for it. Just know The Thrift Shop Romantic is not responsible for making amends with your boss, neighbors or, say, sending bail).

Now by way of rules. when I say complete outfit, I mean either:

• A dress

or

• A top (shirt/sweater)
• Bottom (slacks, jeans or skirt)

Plus:

• Footwear
• Purse/jacket/hat/scarf /jewelry (optional, depending on how far the ol’ money goes)
  

Other guidelines:

• Items must actually look like they go together. The Baglady Chic look, while entertaining, is not valid at this time unless-- again, you’re a bit eclectic normally. Be yourself.

• No previously thrifted items may be used. Just because it was thrifted last week, or five years ago, does not count.

• And please, don’t ask me about thrifted undergarments. I have no plans to thrift socks and unmentionables so, please folks, let’s keep them unmentioned, ‘kay?

Now-- what date is it currently? The week of February 26-- okay. In case anybody else wants to try this for themselves, let’s say I report back here by March 19. This means anybody who wants to submit stories or photos of their finds to me, please do it by Saturday, March 17 (St. Paddy’s Day) so I have time to include it. (Those who are late to the table do not get fruitcup.) You can email me a description of what you uncovered, the total cost, even a low-res JPG file. And I’ll do the same with my finds.

Can’t ya just hear the metaphorical Mission:Impossible music playing in the background?

This article will self-destruct in...

BLAM!

(See you next week. :-) )

Updated 3/05/07: A Special Word to Those Nifty Folks Participating in the Challenge:

I’ve spoken online to a few folks personally, but for anyone I haven’t gotten a chance to talk to who’s trying The $10 Thrifting Challenge, first of all-- it’s so great to have you aboard-- you guys are so cool! Secondly, as I’ve told everybody else, please don’t stress about this, this is supposed to be fun and not angsty. So while I appreciate everybody’s remarkable conscientiousness about trying to conform perfectly to the rules-- to steal a phrase from the Pirate Code, “they’re more like guidelines, anyway.” So by all means, share whatever you do find, whether it goes over the $10 or not. Whether you’re missing shoes or have no pants (not to get too personal, of course), please tell me about about your successes AND your difficulties. We’re all learning here. It’ll just be interesting for everybody to see what can, and what CAN’T, be done while thrifting on such a low set budget. And do know that I’m challenged, too, on this. I’ve found some great stuff so far, but nothing that quite meets the criteria head-to-toe. So no worries, gang! I’m tickled to death to have you involved, no matter what the result.

And now on to the initial post:

The $10 Thrifting Challenge

What kind of outfit can you get from a thrift store on just a little amount of money? And just how far will that money go? Let’s find out together. And if you’d like to play along, too, and share your findings, I think we could all have quite a lot of fun with this!

So here’s the deal. I’m always talking about the great sorts of things you can get at thrift stores. Now I’m going to put my money where my big ol’ mouth is. I’m going to set aside a whopping $10 and I’m going to go thrift a complete outfit with it, and see what I can find-- then report back here. This is a teensy bit risky, of course, because thrifting has a certain amount of serendipity to it-- and that gal Serendipity has one dilly of a sense of humor. The main donation coming into the thrifts lately might just be surplus sleeveless novelty T’s supporting Huey’s Hog Haulin’ and Embroidery. White patent leather loafers mebbe. Or fluorescent green bicycle shorts from 1990...

And frankly, I just wouldn’t want you to have to look at that.

So okay, risk is part of the challenge. But really, the outfit SHOULD be something one would actually want to wear. Outside. Without, say, making small children weep. Or folks call the cops. (Unless, of course, that’s your usual goal in choosing attire, in which case, cool-- Go for it. Just know The Thrift Shop Romantic is not responsible for making amends with your boss, neighbors or, say, sending bail).

Now by way of rules. when I say complete outfit, I mean either:

• A dress

or

• A top (shirt/sweater)
• Bottom (slacks, jeans or skirt)

Plus:

• Footwear
• Purse/jacket/hat/scarf /jewelry (optional, depending on how far the ol’ money goes)
  

Other guidelines:

• Items must actually look like they go together. The Baglady Chic look, while entertaining, is not valid at this time unless-- again, you’re a bit eclectic normally. Be yourself.

• No previously thrifted items may be used. Just because it was thrifted last week, or five years ago, does not count.

• And please, don’t ask me about thrifted undergarments. I have no plans to thrift socks and unmentionables so, please folks, let’s keep them unmentioned, ‘kay?

Now-- what date is it currently? The week of February 26-- okay. In case anybody else wants to try this for themselves, let’s say I report back here by March 19. This means anybody who wants to submit stories or photos of their finds to me, please do it by Saturday, March 17 (St. Paddy’s Day) so I have time to include it. (Those who are late to the table do not get fruitcup.) You can email me a description of what you uncovered, the total cost, even a low-res JPG file. And I’ll do the same with my finds.

Can’t ya just hear the metaphorical Mission:Impossible music playing in the background?

This article will self-destruct in...

BLAM!

(See you next week. :-) )

Updated 3/05/07: A Special Word to Those Nifty Folks Participating in the Challenge:

I’ve spoken online to a few folks personally, but for anyone I haven’t gotten a chance to talk to who’s trying The $10 Thrifting Challenge, first of all-- it’s so great to have you aboard-- you guys are so cool! Secondly, as I’ve told everybody else, please don’t stress about this, this is supposed to be fun and not angsty. So while I appreciate everybody’s remarkable conscientiousness about trying to conform perfectly to the rules-- to steal a phrase from the Pirate Code, “they’re more like guidelines, anyway.” So by all means, share whatever you do find, whether it goes over the $10 or not. Whether you’re missing shoes or have no pants (not to get too personal, of course), please tell me about about your successes AND your difficulties. We’re all learning here. It’ll just be interesting for everybody to see what can, and what CAN’T, be done while thrifting on such a low set budget. And do know that I’m challenged, too, on this. I’ve found some great stuff so far, but nothing that quite meets the criteria head-to-toe. So no worries, gang! I’m tickled to death to have you involved, no matter what the result.

And now on to the initial post: