By now the excitement for Valentine's Day (8 days) and the Virtually Groundbreaking People's Choice Award Show (12 days) should be mounting. We've covered a lot of ground this week, including ideas ranging from mail bags to mail boxes; from cookies to Tafffy Apple Salad and a hundred scrumptious desserts in between; and from Valentine's activities to other award winning (but cost efficient) ways of recognizing your loved ones.
Tomorrow I'll ask you to see red once more as we put put the finishing touches on Valentine's Day and the award show.
Today, a minor departure from the format you've grown used to this week. It's Free For All Friday and, while I do have two topics to get us going this morning, they are not neatly divided - one valentine's day, one award show.
The first topic is an outgrowth of feedback from all of you. Yesterday Brian commented on the countless yummy recipes shared by highlowaha readers and casually mentioned how nice it would be to create a Highlowaha cookbook. Within minutes I received emails from three readers supporting Brian's idea and explaining that they too would like to own a copy.
Tera, a loyal Highlowaha reader, is a woman of action. Not only did she agree a cookbook was a great idea, but she volunteered right there on the spot to coordinate the cookbook for us. That's what I love about this community of ours. We truly are a community - each person, using his/her talents to chip in and make this blog more than it could ever be if I was working alone. Powerful. Very powerful. I hope you
feel it too.
So... the first Free For All topic I'd like to raise, for the good of the order, is Highlowaha's first edition of a cookbook. What should the contents be? Only recipes that have been shared on our blog to date or any and all favorite recipes of Highlowaha readers? Should it include all the Snack Throw Down and Olympic recipes? What about photos? Do we want the cookbook to contain pictures of all the cookies featured on the blog, to date, or is the cookie and icing recipe enough? Tell us what you think!
Second. Valentine's Day is a week from tomorrow. We've given some air time this week to thoughtful treats for friends, teachers, neighbors, and colleagues, but so far little attention has been given to creative gift ideas for our ultimate valentines - husbands, wives, boyfriends, girlfriends, or fiances. Tell us about the best gift you ever gave or received for Valentine's Day or what you've got cooking for this year.
Below is a picture of a remanent of my gift for Richard last year (he kept it, which I think is kind of cool)...
I covered the old paint can with red felt and ribbon. Once decorated, I filled it with all things necessary to, "Paint the Town Red." We had reservations at a hotel Murder Mystery Dinner party, cocktails before, coffee after, and a small serving of chocolate covered strawberries.
That's it for me. Feel free to post a different Free For All topic, of your interest, or comment on one of mine. Oh, wait. One more thing. For added fun, search the graphic at the top of the page for as many valentine-related words as you can find.
Signing off until tomorrow...
Posts
20 comments:
I am not sure of the first question- Only recipes that have been shared on our blog to date or any and all favorite recipes of Highlowaha readers? im thinking more towards recipes shared to date...
Should it include all the Snack Throw Down and Olympic recipes? YES!!!
What about photos? YES!!!
I love today's cookbook idea and a special thanks to Brian for suggesting it and Tera for jumping right on and volunteering to coordinate it!
I'll be back with ideas on some of the questions, but I am in 100% total agreement with Cassie P ... Olympic recipes, snack throw down recipes, and photos are all a must!
Cassie P ... it's good to be the one of the first two posters with you again!
My thoughts on the cookbook:
Yes to ThrowDown foods...that's one section.
Yes to Cookies w/ pics...another section.
Yes to Olympic recipes...a third.
If we stop there I don't think we'll have a lot. I vote YES (I feel like it's election time again) to all HLA fav recipes!
Have a good day everyone.
CHERYL - I baked the Cookie Dough Brownies...DELISH! I just had one for breakfast :)
I love Tera's idea of putting all the Olympic and Superbowl recipes in separate sections. I think it would be a better cookbook if more recipes were shared. All favorites should be included!
When my husband and I were dating, I gave him an empty wooden box for our anniversary (you could do the same for V-day). Inside I wrote one love letter with the promise to eventually fill the box with letters! It was so fun to write letters every week or so and know that he was putting them in the box. He has also used it to store keepsakes from our time dating. I should give him a new box for now that we are married!
Kat... great idea. That is something so sentimental and that will cost very little.
Thanks for posting the first gift idea of the day. Julie and Cassie, I don't think either of you are dating anyone right now, but Tera... what are you cooking up for Treye?
Great idea with the cookbook. I've got pictures of most of the entries for the Super Bowl too.
Let me know what you need from my end.
Also, did you know that you can turn a cookbook into a fund raising effort? I've received some from my mother-in-law (she did hers for cancer support). It's easy to do. If your interested, please let me know.
Also - AZ Lori I still need your shirt size to send you the official Struble Suds shirt.
And, for all those on Facebook, we've started a Struble Suds group on Facebook.
Also... if you haven't turned in Coke points.. they're changing on Feb 16th - no prizes over 2000 points.
Have a great week!
Actually, I posted very late last night, so many may not have seen it. But, in regards to Cristine's comment about turning this into a fundraiser... My grandmother and her high school class used a cookbook of recipes to raise money for her class.
It would be really cool if we could choose a charity and try to sell some cookbooks to benefit this particular charity. This would be particularly great if we can produce the cookbook at a low (or no) cost.
I think we should simplify the idea of the cookbook by having all HLA members contribute their favorite 4-5 recipes and then separate sections by "appetizers", "main dishes", desserts, etc. etc.
P.S. I'm on board to help with this as well... I've got a good eye for desktop publications and making things look neat on paper.
Hold those fundraising thoughts. You all are about two weeks ahead of the HLA schedule.
More on that...
What should the contents be?
I'm not sure how many recipes have been shared on the site but I'm thinking we will probably need more.
Should it include all the Snack Throw Down and Olympic recipes? What about photos? Yes to both.
Do we want the cookbook to contain pictures of all the cookies featured on the blog, to date, or is the cookie and icing recipe enough? I think the photos will be fun but it will depend on cost.
Valentine gifts for/from sweethearts... uh... yeah... okay, next topic.
Tera- I told you they were good. And easy, right?
I'm still thinking about the cookbook. So much of what HLA is about using our creativity to create a sense of occasion (moments of 218). Rather than dividing our cookbook into sections such as appetizers, main courses, etc..., could we divide it up by seasons or holidays?
This way maybe the recipe book can accomplish two things... (1) provide recipes and, (2) serve as a resource for simple ways (meals,treats) to create a sense of occasion with family and friends.
For the short time I have been reading the blog I feel like the topics relate to the seasons, and agree that the cookbook shoudl be divided like that as well- holidays and seasons. I feel everyone on here has learned what recipes are good for families,m especially with children, so I vote to gather all recipes that everyone want to share. I'm looking forward to sharing but also to use some in the newsletter I put out to all my families here in family housing at the University of Montana - and of course I will credit the HLA community if I print any. Maybe recruit more readers!
I think splitting the cookbook into sections by holiday/season could work. It is more creative than simply dividing by appetizer, dessert, etc.
I think we need to wait to see what type of recipes/how many we get before we deicde on section type. Just a thought!
CKB, I'm assuming if you think enough people are in you'll pass along my info to the readers so I can get started.
Brian, I'd LOVE your help. Once things start coming in, we'll chat :)
As far a VDAY...Treye and I aren't really that in to it. We feel like you don't need 1 special day to say I love you. I always tell him I'd rather have flowers or gifts on a random day than on Feb 14...plus the flower are a zillion dollars more than normal. We're on a tight budget, so we may grab lunch at a nice restaurant the weekend after or I may go meet him during the week next week...nothing too fancy.
Hey all-
This sounds like a neat idea, but before you get too big...
Maybe the HLA cookbook can be one of "Troop 218's Hot Spots" you know the part Claudia has at the top right of her blog ( Mr. Helping Hand, Reading Raynbow, Taste of USA) ... so it would be a sub blog, and then within that separate blog you can post the recipes under different catagories.... I don't think you'd want to include too many other things... because isn't that one of the great purposes of the actual HLA blog.... fundraising is a big job, getting cook books printed you need to do a minimum qauntity, and the postage etc...
Not to burst anyone's bubble.... (who am I... )but I think, maybe for a while, if someone is interested in creating a sub blog for HLA Recipes, and 'maintaining' the site for a bit to see how many hits it gets, would probably be the best way to go.
Ooooh... I like that we are thinking about this cookbook idea from a few different angles.
Is the desire to have access to the recipes as a resource or is the interest in owning something physical.
Knowing where people sit on that topic, will help us determine which way we should go.
Peggy, I appreciate you challenging us to think about this a little more before jumping in with two feet.
I'd have to say, personally, half the cookbook interest in me is owning something physical. I have two other cook books that I hold near and dear to my heart: one from my mom entitled "home cooking" that she gave me when I went away to school, and one from a church group that my college group worked side by side with as we worked doing Katrina relief work.
Julie- it is great to have us the first two posters again...will it happen again very soon? probably not!
And dr. b, you are correct, I am not dating anyone...as of this past monday. perfect timing! NO valentines plans for me, and im glad, so i get to babysit and make money instead!
AND i like peggy's idea actually. im not one to cook much, especially while i still live at home. so actually owning a cookbook isnt really that necessary for me.
Love the cook book idea!!! I think we should include anything and everything. Picture? YES! I would love to help with this project.
Speaking of cookbooks...One of the best gifts I ever received for Valentine's day was an aphrodisiac cookbook called "Intercourses". It is a beautiful cookbook!!! They have a updated version out now that I just gave a friend of mine for a wedding present a few months ago.
because it's midnight in AZ and no one commented:
~ adore
~ sweetheart
~ devotion
~ love
~ hug
~ valentine
~ kiss
~ joy
~ darling
~ flame
~ be mine
11 words / phrases
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