Spaghetti with Ricotta and Baby Artichokes - Bakespace Challenge

There's been a lot going on in Bakespace Land and it's been nothing but fun. I wish I had more time though, because I missed out on one of the challenges but I'll get to it eventually. For this challenge we were each assigned a bakespace member (who is also participating in the challenge) and we had to cook from their bakespace kitchen. If you're not a bakespace member yet (get over there and sign up!), the kitchen is our online recipe box that is filled with recipes that we have upload to the website. I got to cook out of Moni's kitchen. You can check out her kitchen here and check out her blog here. Moni (Monica) is a fabulous baker and is very much into Halloween treats. I was certainly nervous about this challenge and doubted myself the whole time (for no reason!). To help alleviate the stress a bit I decided not to bake and to make one of her savory recipes. The recipe that appealed to me most was her Rice Stuffed Artichokes. I love artichokes and stuffed artichokes often frequent my dinner table but the combination of ingredients in this dish were slightly new to me. I never had ricotta and artichokes together before and I have never stuffed artichokes with rice. It really does look delicious though! I realized that full size artichokes aren't in season right now but I was determinted to make this recipe work for me. So instead I bought the little baby artichokes. The little guys aren't really good for stuffing but I looked at her ingredients and thought that I could make a fabulous pasta dish with them. I feel bad about having to change the recipe so much but we were told we could make the dish our own and I didn't have much choice. I'm really happy with the result and I hope you try this one! My suggestion this time is to use the fresh artichokes. The frozen or canned artichoke hearts will not be able to stand the cooking time necessary for them to actually penetrate the sauce. This sauce has a delicious flavor. You can taste the artichokes even if you don't bite into one.

Spaghetti with Ricotta and Baby Artichokes

Inspired by Monica

Ingredients:

12 baby artichokes, cleaned and trimmed of outer leaves, quartered
1 onion, sliced
1 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes
prepared pasta sauce (I had this leftover)
About 1 cup part skim ricotta
kalamata olives, halved (I had about 1/4 cup but you know how I love them so I would use more)
Approx 2 cups chicken broth
extra virgin olive oil
salt and pepper
1 pound spaghetti

Directions:

1. In a large skillet, saute artichokes in oil with onions olives and crushed red pepper. Lightly season with salt and black pepper.

2. Once onions are cooked add chicken broth to just barely cover the artichokes and let cook. Add more broth as it reduced and cover. Cook until artichokes are tender, about 30 minutes.

3. Add sauce and some more chicken broth to thin out the sauce. Stir to combine. Cover and let artichokes cook in the sauce for another 20-30 minutes.

4. Cook spaghetti in salted boiling water until al dente. While pasta is cooking turn off heat from the sauce and add ricotta until it's a creamy consistency. When pasta is cooked toss with sauce.

Creamed Peas and Southern Style Green Beans

As you already know I made Southern themed dinner for my group The Dinner Diva's on Saturday. I wanted to go traditional with the sides without it being too heavy and hopefully I achieved that. I really liked the peas more than the green beans. The peas are basically cooked in a bechamel sauce which is very tasty. Thank you to my friend Carolyn from bakespace for helping out with this recipe! My issue with the beans are that they are sweet and sour. I like sweet and sour meatballs but not my veggies. I should have remembered that I made spinach this way once before. It just didn't appeal to me but the girls liked it...well, at least they said they did!


Southern Style Green Beans

Courtesy of Rachael Ray

4 servings

Ingredients:

1 1/4 pounds green beans, trimmed and chopped into 1-inch pieces
2 slices bacon, chopped
1 small onion, minced
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
2 teaspoons sugar

Directions:

Cook green beans in 1-inch simmering water, covered, for 6 minutes. Drain and set aside. Return skillet to stove and set burner to medium high. Add bacon and brown. When fat begins to render, add chopped onions to the pan and cook until tender with the bacon. Add cooked green beans to the pan and turn to coat in bacon drippings and onions. When the beans are hot and bacon crisp at edges and onions translucent add vinegar to the pan and season with beans with sugar. Allow the vinegar to evaporate and the sugar to combine with pan drippings, 1 to 2 minutes, then serve.


Creamed Peas

Courtesy of Carolyn - posted on bakespace.com

Ingredients:

2 Tablespoons butter
2 Tablespoons flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1 cup milk*
about 2 cups fresh or frozen peas

DIRECTIONS:

Melt butter in saucepan. Add flour and salt, stir well until combined add milk and bring to a boil. Stir until slightly thickened. Stir in cooked peas. Serve over mashed potatoes if you wish.


*Michele's Note - If the roux becomes too thick when you add in the peas just add a little more milk and it will thicken up again.

4 Step Chicken and Individual Potato Gratins - Coast to Coast Cooking

Do you think YOU could be The Next Food Network Star? Melissa D'Arabian sure did and now she is this seasons winner of her own cooking show. On the final episode of the show the two remainimg contestans, Melissa and Jeffrey had to record an episode of their potential cooking show. I was impressed with both of finalists but I can see myself making Melissa's recipes regularly. This chicken dish is very easy and a method I use (and so does everyone else) all the time. It's funny that Melissa said she invented it but that's okay, I'll let it slide. I was more excited to try the potatoes that she made because they looked so cute when she flipped them out of the muffin tins. She definitely gets pointes for using muffin tins, who doesn't have at least one, right? I love to find new uses for items I already own, it's like getting something new without having to find space for it in my kitchen.

I bet your wondering what the Coast to Coast Cooking is and I'll get to that right now. Every day on Bakespace we discuss what the evening's dinner menu will be. Not only is it fun for us to see what's going on our friends' kitchens but a lot of us use this thread for ideas when we're stuck. Last week my friend Danielle from Cooking for my Peace of Mind was stuck. I told her that I was making Melissa's dish and told her she should make it with me. The idea caught on and Shane of Culinary Alchemy and Spryte of Spryte's Place decided to join in. Dani thought it would be cool to call this Coast to Coast Cooking. She and Shane live in California and Spryte lives in Pittsburgh and of course, I live in New Jersey. We thought it was a great title and a fun idea, so here we are now all blogging about the same thing. We are all putting out own spins on the dish so make sure you check out their blogs to see how theirs turned out!

Spryte's Individual Potato Gratins

Shane's 4 Step Chicken Stroganov

Dani's 4 Step Chicken and Individual Potato Gratins

I pretty much followed Melissa's recipe exactly but I used less lemon juice, a vidalia onion and added artichoke hearts. Melissa was on the money with the red onion. My dish is lacking color with the Vidalia. I should have browned them longer to get more color. The chicken is served on a bed of spinach which she did have a recipe for. I prefer to cook my spinach in garlic and oil so that's what I did. For the potatoes I used a combination of swiss cheese and fontina cheese. I seasoned my potatoes in a bowl before layering them. That was both good and bad. I put in a little too much salt (the cheeses are salty!) but I loved the smoked paprika and Mrs. Dash. They potatoes were very flavorful. I don't know why the potatoes are called 5 Minute Potatoes, according to the recipe the prep and the cooking time are longer than 5 minutes. It doesn't take too long to prepare them though.

Give this a try and see how you can make this different and unique to your own house and your own pantry!



Flexible 4-Step Chicken for Family and Company - Rustic Lemon-Onion Chicken

Recipe courtesy Melissa d'Arabian
Prep Time: 30 min Inactive Prep Time: -- Cook Time: 30 min Level:
Easy Serves:
4 to 6 servings

Ingredients:

4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves, sliced in half crossways (butterflied, cut all the way through)
1 teaspoon dried thyme, plus 1 small bunch fresh thyme, leaves chopped
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
4 tablespoons olive oil
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 red onion, thinly sliced
1/4 cup white wine, optional
1 cup chicken broth
3 lemons, juiced
1 to 2 tablespoons butter

Directions:

Season chicken with dried thyme and salt and pepper. Heat a large saute pan over medium heat and add the oil. Dredge the chicken in flour, add to the hot oil and saute until cooked through. Set chicken aside to rest on plate tented with foil.

In same saute pan, over low heat, add onions and fresh thyme and cook until aromatic.

In a measuring cup, measure out wine, if using, and broth, and add the lemon juice. Turn the heat up to high, and deglaze the pan with the broth mixture until starting to reduce.

Remove the pan from the heat and finish the sauce by whisking in butter. Season with salt and pepper, to taste.

Place a bed of cooked spinach on a serving platter, top with the chicken. Spoon the sauce over the chicken and serve.





5-Minute Individual Potato Gratins

Recipe courtesy Melissa d'Arabian
Prep Time: 15 min Inactive Prep Time: -- Cook Time: 40 min
4 to 6 servings

Ingredients:

Vegetable spray
2 large russet potatoes, roughly peeled and thinly sliced
1/2 cup grated Swiss cheese
2 green onions, finely chopped
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
3/4 cup heavy cream

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

Spray 8 muffin tins with vegetable spray. Layer potato slices, cheese, and onions into each muffin cup. Season with salt and pepper and top each gratin with 1 or 2 tablespoons of heavy cream. Cover with foil and bake for 30 to 40 minutes, removing the foil halfway through cooking time. Invert gratins onto plate and serve.

Shane's Blondies with Lowlights

My friend and fellow Bakespace member, Shane, made these wonderful Blondies on his blog Culinary Alchemy. Everyone on bakespace was making them so I had to give them a try. They were fantastic and I've made them many times since. I bet you're wondering why they are called Blondies with Lowlights. When I was making them Steve came over and asked where the chocolate was. I explained to Steve that these were Blondies and not Brownies. Steve said that he would not eat them without chocolate. So in an effort to make Steve (and the chocolate lover in myself) happy I added a small amount of chocolate chips. The chips melted and swirled in the pot. A few days later a few of us were discussing Shane's blondies on the forum. Someone else did the same thing I did and commented on the pretty swirl. Shane popped in with a little joke and called them blondies with lowlights! If you know anything about coloring hair you know that lowlights are when you bring in some strips of darker color into your lighter hair, you know, the opposite of highlights. It was a perfect name and thus Blondies with Lowlights were born. So I guess if you make brownies and swirl in some white chocolate you can call them brownies with highlights!

Blondies with (or without) Lowlights

Cooking Time: 30
Servings: 16
Preparation Time: 15

Ingredients:

3/4 cup Unsalted Butter
1 1/2 cup Light Brown Sugar
1/2 cup Dark brown Sugar
2 Large eggs
1 large Egg Yolk
1 1/2 tsp Vanilla
2 tsp Baking Powder
1 1/4 cups AP Flour
1 tsp Kosher Salt
1 Cup Chopped Pecans
1/4 cup Heath Toffee Chips (optional)
½ cup chocolate chips (for lowlights)


Directions:

Line a 13x9 pan with parchment.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees
In a sauce pan, melt butter.
Stir in the brown sugars, stirring until "melted' and the mixture just begins to bubble (This is similar to making a Pecan pie)
Whisk eggs and yolks together with Vanilla.
Pour in the eggs in a steady stream, while whisking constantly to prevent scrambling.
In a small bowl, whisk flour, baking powder and salt.
Fold Flour into the egg mixture.
Fold in Pecans and toffee chips (if using)
Spread into the pan.
Bake 35-40 minutes (5 minutes less for dark pans)
Remove from oven and cool on a rack.
Lift via parchment and cut when cooled.


Note: I like mine more on the thicker side so I use a pan that's slightly smaller.

Julia Child's Chicken Poached in Butter inspired by the new movie Julie and Julia

Bonjour! Can you hear it? My Julia Child impersonation? Use your imagination people!

I bet all you foodies out there are psyched about the upcoming movie Julie and Julia. Well I'm not going to brag but.....ISAWITALREADYOHMYGODITWASAWESOME!!!! Okay, Okay, I'll calm down. Well you all know about bakespace already, geez, I tell you about it all the time and if you're new here or if you don't remember, bakespace is a social networking site for foodies like you and me! Well thanks to Sony and our fearless leader, Babette (the founder of bakespace), I won tickets to see the premier of Julie and Julia! There was a contest and I posted about it on facebook and twitter so everyone could participate in the giveaway. So on Tuesday me and a couple of other bakespace members who won tickets headed over to Garden State Plaza in Paramus to watch the movie.

Here's the trailer if you haven't seen it yet.


If you don't have time to watch trailer I'll briefly tell you what the movie is about (without giving anything away of course!). Julie and Julia is a story about Julie Powell, a food blogger who spends a year making every single recipe in Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking. To read Julie Powell's blog, the Julie/Julia Project click here. Intertwined with Julie's story is the story of Julia Child and how she came to live in France and how she became a chef. Obviously, you all know who Julia Child is (except my father who thought I was going to meet someone from the food network when I told him I won tickets to see Julie and Julia...that's a post for another day!) but the story of Julie Powell is real. She started off without any readers and before you know it she was contacted by publishers, magazine editors and television network producers. It's amazing how that happened. Being a food blogger myself I can certainly relate to everything (well, except the being published part!) and this movie just pulled at my heartstrings. It was fantastic!!!! I loved it!!! Merryl Streep and Amy Adams were fantastic! Have I convinced you yet that this movie was fabulous? Okay, so again, Thank YOU Babette for making this possible! I don't know how I would have held out for two more weeks!



I came out of the theater and I knew I just had to make a recipe from Julia Child's cookbook. I don't own her cookbook and I didn't grow up watching her on television. I've seen an episode here and there but never was interested in french cooking. Good thing because I would certainly be double my size if I was. Yesterday I did a search on the internet for a Julia Child recipe using chicken breasts and I found the following recipe on HGTV's website. Click here to see the article. The dish was delicious and decadent, I really enjoyed it (even though I overcooked the rice - oops) but unfortunately, this will not become part of my regular rotation. It's just way too fattening...almost one stick of butter. The sauce was amazing, I could eat it with a spoon! I used marsala because I forgot to buy madeira but I don't think it made much of a difference. I also forgot the mushrooms! Hopefully Julia Child isn't rolling around in her grave (yes Dad, Julia Child is no longer with us so I couldn't possibly meet her and get some advice like you suggested)! Okay, enough of my babbling...here's the recipe!



Supremes de Volaille a Blanc (Chicken breasts poached in butter)

From Mastering the Art of French Cooking, by Julia Child, Simone Beck and Louisette Bertholle. Knopf, 1961.

Ingredients:

Rice:
1/3 cup finely minced onions
2 tbsp. butter
1 cup raw, unwashed white rice
2 cups chicken stock or broth
salt and pepper
small herb bouquet: 2 parsley sprigs, 1 bay leaf, and a sprig of thyme tied together with white string.

Chicken:
4 thin boneless, skinless chicken cutlets
salt, pepper and lemon juice
4 tbsp. butter
1/4 cup chopped celery
1/4 cup diced onions
1/4 cup diced carrots
1/4 sliced mushrooms

Wine Sauce:
1/4 cup white or brown stock
1/4 cup port, Madeira or dry white vermouth
1 cup heavy cream
salt, pepper, lemon juice
2 tbsp. minced parsley

Preparation:

For the rice, cook the onions slowly in the butter until soft. Add the rice and stir over moderate heat for 2 to 3 minutes until rice, which first turns translucent, becomes a milky white color. Then stir in the chicken stock, season lightly with salt and pepper, and add the herb bouquet. Stir briefly until simmer is reached, then cover closely and cook at a moderate simmer, about 18 minutes or until all liquid is absorbed. Do not stir rice at all until this has happened. Then fluff lightly with a fork, adding more salt and pepper if necessary. This can be cooked ahead of time and reheated.

For the chicken: Preheat oven to 400. Cook the vegetables in the butter in a fireproof casserole before adding the chicken. Season meat with salt, pepper and drops of lemon juice. Lay over vegetables in one layer in the casserole, making sure the chicken is coated in the butter. Cover the surface of the casserole with wax paper. Place in oven for 6 to 7 minutes, or until the meat feels springy when you push on it. Remove from oven and set casserole aside while you prepare the sauce.

For the sauce: Pour stock and wine into a saucepan and boil rapidly until liquid is syrupy. Then pour in the cream and boil rapidly until lightly thickened. Season with salt, pepper and drops of lemon juice. Pour the sauce over the casserole and serve with the warm rice.

Bon Apetit!












For a web companion to Mastering the Art of French Cooking, check out Whisk: a food blog.

Easy Blueberry Muffins

I had some leftover blueberries from when I made cupcakes so when I heard my friend Joy mention that she had blueberry muffins in the oven on facebook, I knew I had to make some. I headed over to bakespace and did a search for blueberry muffins. I found one from my friend Danielle of Cooking for my Peace of Mind. I swear, I have friends that aren't from bakespace but these are my cooking buddies! I chose this recipe because it seemed easy, called for the amount of blueberries I have and I had all the ingredients. That was it, I was sold.

I experimented and sprinkled some sugar on top of some of the cupcakes before they went in the oven and I really liked the way they came out. They looked so pretty. Next time I make them, I'm going to use DD's vanilla sugar and put a nice coating on top.

Blueberry Muffins from Spokane (Um...Dani..where is that????)

Ingredients:

2 cups unbleached flour
1/2 cup sugar
3 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 egg, well beaten
2/3 cup milk
1/3 cup oil or melted shortening
1 cup fresh blueberries


Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line or grease 12 muffin cups.

Lightly spoon flour into measuring cup.

In bowl combine flour, sugar, baking powder and salt.

Stir in egg, milk, and oil just until moistened (will be lumpy).

Gently fold in berries.

Spoon into muffin cups (2/3 full)

Bake for 20 - 25 minutes. Loosen, remove immediately.

Bakespace Gift Basket Exchange

I already told you about the Bakespace Cookover in Pittsburgh but I didn't tell you about our gift basket exchange. Sorry that it took so long to get back to this! When discussing our trip to Pittsburgh on bakespace, we thought it would be a fun idea if everyone made up a gift basket with items from their state and/or items that represented the person. The idea was to then swap them so we all had something fun to come home with and so we could learn a little more about our online friends.

I'm originally from Brooklyn, New York, lived in Staten Island, New York for 7 years and have lived in New Jersey for the past 2 1/2 years. I wanted to represent the locations but more importantly I wanted to represent myself and my Italian heritage. I wish I could have included a nice ball of fresh mozzarella and some beautiful prosciutto di parma but I didn't think it would make the trip. I even looked into dry ice but I'll be honest, it scared the hell out of me. I read that it could explode at certain temperatures and I didn't want to take any chances. I'm really happy with how my basket turned out and I think the recipient, Jen, was happy as well.

Here's what I included in the basket and why.



A can of Tuttoroso tomatoes - This is the brand of crushed tomatoes that I keep in my pantry all the time. My mom and sister use it as well. We stock up twice a year when Shoprite has their can-can sale. We buy cases and cases!

1 lb spaghetti - Well, I'm Italian and I love pasta! I can't think of a better way to represent that!

2 small cans of DelMonte - It's funny, growing up my mom would say "go downstairs and get me a can of Del Monte" even if it wasn't DelMonte. You see we like to add tomato sauce to a lot of dishes to add color and flavor. This isn't a tomato sauce in a jar like prego or ragu (gasp! The sacrilege!) but almost like a tomato puree. It comes in little 8 oz cans. Sometimes I use other brands but we still call it DelMonte. I don't know why. Sort of like calling tissues kleenex.


Pastina - Not everyone knows what that is and it's something that I grew up eating a lot and Steve and I like to eat it too. It's sort of like our comfort food. We boil it in chicken broth and it absorbs it, you don't drain it. You want it to be a little liquidy but not exactly like soup. When it's cooked take it off the heat and add a beaten egg to it and stir in some romano cheese. It's delicious. Some people like to just add butter and cheese and that's good too. It's pretty much the first solid food that Italian babies eat.

Nutella- If you haven't heard about my love for this I must be seriously lacking. Nutella is and Italian chocolate and Hazelnut spread. I like to eat it a spoon of it when I'm craving chocolate but it's great spread on a slice of Italian bread, on a croissant, on white bread even! Think of it as the Italian Peanut Butter. Some people even bake with this! DD used it as a filling inside her fabulous Bakespace Cake!

Wine - Steve and his dad make their own wine. This is a cabernet that they made and we all love it. They just started bottling something recently but it's not ready yet.

A Journal - The front of it has a picture of a bottle of wine and it says "You had me at Merlot". I thought that was cute and corny but would be perfect for tasting notes when doing Virtual Wine Tastings over at Bakespace! If you haven't checked that out yet you should give it a shot. Go check out my friend Spryte's blog, Spryte's Place where she posts all of her wine reviews! Click here for her latest wine review.

Mini Rachael Ray Cookbook - You all know how I have to defend Rachael Ray. I have the utmost respect for her and...she's Italian! Great recipes in this book!

Amaretti Cookies - These little cookies are great for eating, dunking in coffee and for baking. Yep, I said baking. Giada uses them all the time. She crumbles them up and uses them as a topping and I leard from Lidia Bastianich that they are a great topping for ice cream! I live in New Jersey and come from New York and the Italian specialty stores are all around but even I still have a hard time finding these cookies so I'm sure it's difficult in other states.

New Jersey Dining Magazine - Just to give a little taste of New Jersey. There are reviews of restaurants and menu samples throught this little magazine.

Taralle - A hard Pretzel like cookie that comes in different flavors, fennel, garlic, plain, etc. Great for teething babies or for anyone!

Roasted Cece (Chick Peas)- Tasty snack. You can get them salted or unsalted.

To DO List- I am the Queen of lists! There is such a great feeling associated with making a big check mark or crossing out something on a list. It makes me feel accomplished.

Salt Water Taffy - This represents New Jersey more than it represents me. You can find this sticky sweet treat all over the boardwalks in New Jersey. New Jersey is known for it.

Devil Dogs - I grew up on Drakes cakes and Devil Dogs were my favorite. When I was a kid I used to scoop out the cream in the middle because I loved the chocolate cake without it. Now that I'm all grown up I eat them normally, oh and sometimes frozen! Yum! I mentioned this once on bakespace and only a handful knew what they were so I thought it would be fun to include them.

I think that's about it. Hopefully I didn't leave anything out!

Oh and I was lucky to receive a basket from DD of DDPie's Slice. She included some of her homemade goods and I was so excited to recieve a bottle of her homemade vanilla extract! I used it over the weekend! What a difference! Check out her step by step instructions and maybe you will be inspired to make some of your own!

The Pittsburgh Cookover

Hey everyone! I'm back from Pittsburgh, actually I've been back since Sunday and I've really been avoiding this blog post. Why you ask? Well I just have sooo much to say that I don't even know where to begin. This trip was such a wonderful experience I can't even explain it but I'm going to try. This may take a few posts so hope you enjoy hearing about it!



As I explained in my last post I belong to Bakespace, a social networking site for people who like to cook and/or bake. I have been part of this community for about a year and a half now and during that time I have met some great people who I am so proud to call friends. We gather in a "room" in the forums which we have named "Happy Hour" and talk to each other every day. We talk about food, cooking and baking, dinner, restaurants and even talk about other things such as life and family. The people that belong to this group have become a part of my extended family and I talk to them every single day.

So on to the meetup. When Karen from Pittsburgh mentioned that she would like to host a weekend meetup I just knew that I had to be a part of it. I got in touch with my friend Carolyn and fellow bakespacer and asked her if she wanted to do the drive together, she immediately agreed. We decided that we were going to rent a car for the 6 1/2 hour drive and document it on film. We were psyched! Early Friday afternoon we got into our rented Dodge Charger and were off to start our road trip adventure. We had so much fun talking, video taping, chatting with strangers while in traffic and anticipating what the weekend and our friends would be like in person.

When we arrived at Karen's house Jen and Spryte (from Spryte's Place) were waiting for us outside. I'm a horrible parallel parker and having an audience was pretty funny. When we got into Karen's gorgeous house I was totally overwhelmed with excitement. I didn't know what to do first, who to say hello to, what to look at, etc. It was a great feeling though! There were 10 bakespacers and some of them even brought their husbands. DD of DDPie's Slice was there and she made a fabulous cake that was decorated with all of our avatars on it! Look at me in the purple shirt! It was spectacular and you can read all about it on her blog right here.



Isn't that amazing? I'm telling you there are so many talented people on bakespace!


Since we got there late on Friday night Karen the hostess with the mostess was filling our glasses with wine, pouring us limoncello, cutting me pieces of cake and pointing out things that I had to try. She wasn't kidding! Those dishes were incredible and I'll talk about them in another post. It was just so cool that she (with Spryte's help) made dishes from bakespace members that couldn't be there with us. What a great way to represent the absentees! Well we stayed there talking, laughing and eating until about 2 am! We all just instantly clicked the way we knew we would. There was no awkwardness or silences at all. I felt like I was at a family reunion and was getting reaquainted with family that I haven't seen in years! I hope I'm getting across how awesome this really was! Now let me tell you this, we are a diverse group, all ages, backgrounds and walks of life. We have those that are single, married with little kids, married with big kids, etc. It was just so nice that despite all of that we all connected anyway. This is what friendship is all about!

So day two Carolyn and I did a little shopping at the Tanger Outlets and then headed over to Karen's house. Oops! I forgot to mention that our hotel was nasty and I was totally obsessing about it and Karen and her husband Dan were so sweet to let us stay there the second night. It reminded me of my own parents and what they would do in that situation. You see, it's like family! It was so kind of them to let us stay over so we could get some sleep before the drive back. I could not sleep at all in that stinky smoky hotel room and my body was running on empty. So, we headed over to Karen's after the outlets and helped her finish up the cooking. It was so much fun cooking in her fabulous kitchen and so much fun cooking with the bakespacers when they all arrived and dove in to help. After eating and drinking and talking (okay well, we never actually stopped doing any of those things) we had a web cam and chat room set up by Babette, the founder and owner of bakespace. Our beeps, aka bakespace peeps (word coined by Shane of Culinary Alchemy)who couldn't be with us were able to participate and chat with us. I thought that was sooo cool! I bet they all had fun watching and laughing at our silliness. They even got to watch our basket exchange...I'll have to talk about that in another post. Oh wow! I also forgot to mention that Karen who is also an awesome seamstress made us each a cupcake apron and gave us all a cookbook! Is she not a fabulous hostess or what?!?! She hosts a get together like this and she's giving US gifts!!! It was just too nice of her but very much appreciated!

The weekend was the best I've had in a long time and I can't wait until next year so we can do it again. If you haven't joined bakespace or signed up for the forums you should do so and join in the fun. Maybe we'll meet at the next cookover!

Here are some more pics if you want to see!


Me and Karen our lovely hostess!


Me chopping


Me and DD


Jen


Kathy


Spryte cooking!


AnnMarie


Martha


Sheryle


Me and My Roommate Carolyn (aka Cara)


Kathy, Jen, Carolyn, AnnMarie and Me


Sheryle, DD and Martha




A toast to friends, to bakespace and to cookovers! Salute!