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!!

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

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...

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....

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 Case of the Nancy Drew Journal Giveaway Winners

It's a mystery no longer! Who are the two winners of the Nancy Drew journal giveaway? The evidence is in. Let's recap the investigation with dramatic flashbacks.

All entrants left a comment on the original Nancy Drew giveaway post here on The Thrift Shop Romantic, and there were some terrific stories about beloved books-- so I thank you all for sharing them with me.

Then, each of those names was written onto a small folded slip of paper, and put into a Pyrex gooseberry-patterned bowl. Because we did not have a hat handy and believe in improv.

To make sure no evil work was afoot, we had two independent observers to insure the drawing was above board...


They didn't duck out on their duties.

And then the winners were drawn...


Congratulations to Peggy and Caroline on your winning entries! Please email me at thriftshopromantic (at) mac dot com with an address you feel comfortable with sharing, so I can mail you your journals!

And me, I have some actual off-line places to be today, so I'm afraid this will be a quick post today. But never fear-- Wednesday promises a Treasure Box of thrifted goodies to show you. And Next Sunday's post? Well-- that will remain another mystery. For now.

• If you didn't get to see last Wednesday's post on April flowers, click here.

Otherwise, I hope you see you this coming Wednesday! Thanks to everyone who participated this last week!

The Case of the Nancy Drew Journal Giveaway Winners

It's a mystery no longer! Who are the two winners of the Nancy Drew journal giveaway? The evidence is in. Let's recap the investigation with dramatic flashbacks.

All entrants left a comment on the original Nancy Drew giveaway post here on The Thrift Shop Romantic, and there were some terrific stories about beloved books-- so I thank you all for sharing them with me.

Then, each of those names was written onto a small folded slip of paper, and put into a Pyrex gooseberry-patterned bowl. Because we did not have a hat handy and believe in improv.

To make sure no evil work was afoot, we had two independent observers to insure the drawing was above board...


They didn't duck out on their duties.

And then the winners were drawn...


Congratulations to Peggy and Caroline on your winning entries! Please email me at thriftshopromantic (at) mac dot com with an address you feel comfortable with sharing, so I can mail you your journals!

And me, I have some actual off-line places to be today, so I'm afraid this will be a quick post today. But never fear-- Wednesday promises a Treasure Box of thrifted goodies to show you. And Next Sunday's post? Well-- that will remain another mystery. For now.

• If you didn't get to see last Wednesday's post on April flowers, click here.

Otherwise, I hope you see you this coming Wednesday! Thanks to everyone who participated this last week!