It's Nice To Be Recognized

I don't consider myself a writer at all. I started this blog as a way to keep a record of my hobby as a baker and an amateur cookie/cake decorator. Through this blog I have met many talented, kind and wonderful people, who I can only hope to meet in person some day.
The other day I was very surprised to get an email from Teri at The Freshman Cook  telling me she had given me an award- The Versatile Blogger- on her blog.

 How fun is that? Just to know that someone else besides my family and close friends are reading this is really amazing.

The award works like this:

• Thank the person who awarded you by linking back to their post
• Pass the award on to 15 other new or newly discovered blogs
• List 7 interesting things about yourself 

OK- here are 7 things about myself- how interesting they are is another story but  here goes:

1. I was born and brought up in Syracuse , N.Y.

2. I was a theater major in college( thought I was going to be the next Barbra Streisand- uh,right!).

3. I ended up graduating with a degree in Exceptional Education ( suppose that's not too far off!).

4. I have lived in Israel for the past 33 years (how time flies!).

5. I have three gorgeous grown daughters and one beautiful granddaughter who is the light of my life.

6. I am divorced ( after 19 years of marriage) and remarried 10 years ago to a wonderful man.

7. I hate hot, humid weather ( so why does she live in Israel, they ask?!).

I am passing the award on to the following blogs that are more than likely not new- just new to ME!

1.Annie's Eats
2.Dessarts
3.Culinary in the Desert
4. BraveTart
5.The Royal Cook
6. Not So Humble Pie ( this is not new to me , but I love her blog so much, I just had to include it!)
7. The Little Kitchen
8. Bakingdom
9. How Sweet It Is
10.Sweet Tooth Desserts
11. The Partiologist
12. Crazy for Crust
13.My Little Bakery
14.The Kitchen Adventures
15.Baked Perfection


Give them all a visit and hope you visit me again soon!

Playing Around

I've had a box full of frozen cookies for the past few months now and I figured it was about time I used them before they became inedible. It was a perfect opportunity to practice some techniques and ideas I've had on my "to do" list ( which is so long- I'll never be able to complete it in this lifetime!) I love using Pinterest for collecting ideas and saving my own creations. These flower cookies are on my "Cookie Inspirations" board. To be honest, my cookies were originally from Thanksgiving cutters- a leaf and a Pilgrim's hat, so I decided to look for other uses since waiting for next Thanksgiving was out of the question!

The Pilgrim's hat was turned upside down and and the leaf- well I just improvised. The garden of flowers (on the leaf) was inspired by a picture from Cake Girl's Cakes on Cake Central.com. The bouquet was inspired by The Hungry Hippopotamus.( Both originals far surpass anything I did but it was fun working on them).

Thinking out of the box is something one needs to learn and exercise. So many of the outstanding cookie decorators can do this with seeming ease. That's what make their work so amazing. I have tried in the past and still find it hard, but this time I was determined to come up something for the acorn cookie. After a lot of twisting and turning and moving it around, I finally had my ah!ha! moment( remember, we're talking about a COOKIE here!) The top looked like a beret( to me) and then I came up with the idea of the Frenchman wearing a red beret. It was almost too simple since I just piped on the red beret and sketched the face in with edible food markers. Sorta cute I think! The last two are just designs I came up with playing around with whatever colors I had. I'm pretty pleased with the way they came out too.

They all ended up being thrown away (I know, I know- terrible) but they really weren't fresh anymore and I didn't feel right about letting anyone eat them. Next time they will be for consumption only!