A BAKING CLASS FIT FOR A KING..........

And that King would be "King Arthur Flour"......the Famous flour company based in Vermont...

In the Atlanta area this week........if there's some sort of free class in town

You can always find me and neighbor Necie the first to sign up....They brought their traveling baking show to the Marietta County Club for two shows....

We opted for the noon class on "yeast sweet breads"....

The night time class was all about pies and tarts......

These two lovely bakers greeted us at the door with the recipe book

and our door prize coupon.......And alot of door prizes were about to be given out....

A bit blurry as we were sitting about a dozen rows back......but check out all that
flour and boxes of specialty mixes.....a few really great aprons.....some baking tools and one really great cookbook.....And who was the first person to score a door prize.....
No....not me.....neighbor Necie.....


with an overhead screen for good viewing the instructor gave us a full two hours of
wonderful recipes and baking tips using one basic sweet dough....

Here she is making a cherry cheese coffee cake.....

with the same batch of dough she also made a almond ring.....and every one's favorite

Sticky Buns.....

Here are a few simple but very helpful tips she gave us....

1.) if the recipe calls for unsalted butter and you only have salted in the house.....a stick of salted butter contains 1/4 teaspoon of salt....so just subtract that 1/4 teaspoon from the salt the recipe calls for.....

2.) 1 average size lemon yields 1 Tablespoon of zest.....

3.) You can use a cheap plastic shower cap (think the free ones from hotels and motels)

to cover your bowl when bread is rising.....

4.) to test bread to see if it's ready to come out of the oven......Don't tap it to hear if it's hollow....

use an instant read thermometer.......190 degrees....it's done!

5.) Instead of wasting a whole egg for just a bit of an egg wash....keep in the fridge a small container of "Egg Beaters"......I never knew that this is egg white with coloring.....

the egg white gives the bread a good shine and Egg Beaters will stay good in the fridge for

a few weeks.....

and finally.....

6.) When making those sticky buns.....so that they don't loose their round shape when cutting into individual rolls....use "Dental Floss" to cut the un-baked dough.....

Just place the floss under the roll of dough.....bring it around to the top and cross the floss over...

then pull.....it cuts it perfect every time.....

Don't these look fabulous.....and this is the Uncooked version!

Here is the Almond Coffee Cake.....the dough was rolled "jelly roll fashion"

Then formed into a circle....Snipped about 3/4 of the way towards the center of the ring....

Then twisted on it's side to appear that each piece is separate.....

This is Susan Reid....a graduate of the CIA and one great baking instructor....

It was fun.....it was very informative and she made you want to go straight home

and start baking......

She also writes a publication for King Arthur called

"The Baking Sheet"...

We weren't all lucky to go home with a door prize but what a nice surprise for

King Arthur Flour

To give to all the folks in attendance not only a little sampling of recipes.....

Some samples from their Baking Partners.....

Red Star Yeast and Cabot Cheese.......my favorite cheese of all time....If you

have never tried their

Seriously Sharp Cheddar look for it the next time your shopping.....

It makes the best Mac and Cheese.....

We also got a bench scraper.....and the best thing....

A $10.00 gift card to use online or in their catalog....

If you have never checked out their website visit.....

http://www.kingarthurflour.com/

You can also go there and sign up to have their catalogs sent.....

They come about every 6 weeks......and right now they are having a great sale....

Free Shipping on their "secret ingredients"....

I prefer getting the catalog because it's just fun to sit at night and thumb through to see

all the goodies they offer.....and they have everything you could possibly want or need...

And check out their "Traveling Class" schedule online as they have these

classes all over the country....

On our way out......we stopped to take this picture of the

Marietta County Club....

We wanted to have lunch as the smells coming from the dining room were smelling

pretty good....

But it was just open for members.....

So.....we took all our freebies.....including Necie's bag of

Whole Wheat flour.....

and off we went to the Olive Garden......

LET THE BAKING BEGIN!!!!

Where Southern Ladies Lunch.........

Meet the ladies of Atlanta......

I have no idea who these ladies are but you will learn more about them later

on in the post.....

I have lived in Atlanta for 26 years and have driven past the

Swan Coach House on Paces Ferry Road

hundreds of time......so when Flour Power Joyce e-mailed me earlier in the week

and asked if I wanted to go to lunch she suggested the

Swan Coach House....Now you all know when me and Joyce get together we cause havoc but since we were going

to a Southern "ladies who lunch" Landmark

We were on our best behavior.......

Plus Rose the Santamaker wasn't with us so there was no one to embarrass......

After valet parking and Joyce giving the parking guy the business about

not knowing how the fancy gadgets on her new car worked....

He assured us that this was not his first BMW that he was parking and she

reluctantly turned over the keys.....

We got inside just in time for our 1:00 reservation.....

And nothing says a classy place for lunch like a reservation.....

The dining room was packed......all women.....It looked like a menopause convention ............

We were taken to an adorable little

2 seat table by the window......The table was set with roses....silver....and these cute

plates with their signature Swan logo.....

Okay so there were a few younger ladies in the house.....

We ordered their speciality of the house....
Chicken salad and tuna salad in little heart shaped timbales...
Cheese stix....which were delicious.....and
Frozen Fruit Salad.....


Here she is.....and I'm here to report that Joyce behaved like a true
Southern Lady....
Except for the multiple times she tried to get Manuel our server to divulge the
secret ingredients in the frozen fruit salad....
I ofcourse could not control myself from taking pictures....
And since Joyce can keep me laughing the entire time we are together I managed to keep my
laugh.....which you can normally hear in another state.....under control....


This wallpaper was everywhere.....and the lampshades matched the
backs of the chair seats.....it was all so pretty....very Southern.

We stayed and chit chatted until everyone in the place was gone....

We then hit up the gift shop....

They had such beautiful things.....

there were 4 or 5 different rooms that had all sorts of things for sale from

silver and glass....to jewelry.....children's clothing.....women's clothing

and Swan themed gifts....

Chocolate Swans....

Aren't they cute....

tea towels...... No Swans??

Okay Here are the Swans.........glass swans.....ceramic swan boxes....

A Swan Cookbook.....

I wonder if there's a recipe inside on "How To Cook A Swan".....

Joyce did check for the frozen fruit salad recipe to see if Manuel lied to us when he

told us the ingredients besides the fruit is heavy cream and gelatin

but the recipe was not to be found.....
You would think it's a national secret or better yet how Katherine Zeta Jones

keeps getting younger looking.....

Ofcourse in the bathroom there was a swan.....

What?........No Swan Wallpaper?

Yes....but I did spot a Swan Doorstop...............

Attached to the restaurant is a lovely art gallery........

Did we go through the gallery.....

Ofcourse not.....we were on to bigger and better things.....

Tuesday Morning....

for those of you who don't know what that is.....

Think a disheveled TJMaxx....

Before leaving these lovely Southern Belles that you met earlier asked us.....

"Those Yankees"....

To take their photo....They were celebrating one of their birthdays and they were

having the best time....
The women in the back with her arms up in the air asked the others to strike a

"Crazy pose"....
The cute lady on the left with the checkered jacket did her best to be wild and crazy

The other ladies.....Well...they just stood there as if to say.....

"You in the back row.....you look like a nut if you wish.....We are proper

Southern ladies......we have an image to uphold"......

They asked when they saw my big camera if I was with the

Atlanta Journal Constitution newspaper and if they were going to make the

front page......

"No"......I said.......But you are going to make it into my Blog.....

They looked confused thanked me and walked away.....

And as if I didn't get enough great gifts this holiday.....

Joyce gave me this fabulous bread basket and since she calls me Sandra

after discovering at our last lunch outing that I'm a total baking fraud when I brought everyone

Oatmeal raisin cookies only for her to find out that I pulled a Sandra Lee

by "doctoring up" a package of Pillsbury ready made cookie dough....

Hey....you add a couple of nuts....a little sprinkle of powdered sugar and you have one

great tasting cookie......

She got me Sandra's new magazine......which is actually pretty good...........

The bread basket is a real beauty and it the perfect size for my

homemade bread....

I really do bake my own bread.....

Honest.

LUCKY ME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2009 was a wonderful year for me.....I opened up my horizons in the blog world and have

been so fortunate to meet such wonderful people.......

I think back to the first thing that came in the mail over a year ago and the Boss

was so confused why a perfect stranger was sending me something.....

That perfect stranger was Laura from the Shorehouse Chic and she sent me a

book that she thought I would enjoy reading....

In with the book was a note saying when I was done reading it to just send it

along to someone who I might think would enjoy it too....

And a friendship was born.....Some time after that I met Cheri from Geer Gathering......

Cheri lived right here in Georgia and after meeting for the first time we became the

best of friends........Cheri just moved to Birmingham and I really miss her....

Right before leaving for Jersey for the holidays this beautiful

"Boo" charm arrived in the mail.....

How perfect a gift.....

But her friendship is the real gift.....

But things continued coming.....
When I arrived at daughters a box from Italy was waiting for me.....
You probably all know my dear friend Eli.....Andrea's Mom.....
It was truly Christmas!!

Eli is a fabulous artist and I was so thrilled when I unwrapped this.....

Even more thrilled when I got back to Georgia when I said to the Boss.....

"Oh My look.....it's me!!!!"

I was so taken a back with everything she had sent that I never noticed that she actually

painted me......a much younger me.....but me none the less.....

When I told Eli about this she said....

"Well I'm glad you noticed".......

She also sent along gifts for Miss "B"......

How adorable is this ornament.

and this beautiful sweater with hand painted buttons......

In the box was also some things she painted for my October birthday

And how is this for a gorgeous picture frame.....

I love her Poppies......and both the frame and the picture she sent me

a few months ago have a place of honor on my bookshelf....

A few days later these arrived......

Gee Ellen...you sure know how to make a girl feel good.....

I know I know......I use that term "girl" loosely....

Ellen.....being the extremely talented Ellen from

Nouveau Stitch....

Miss "B" LOVES Miss "E"!!

Here she is with Ellen's version of the popular "Ugly Dolls"

Only her version is very far from being Ugly....

How cute are these letters....

You can go to Ellen's Blog right now and see exactly how she made these......

She has the step by step directions.....

www.nouveaustitch.wordpress.com

Daughter hung these in B's room over her Fireplace Mantel......

Along with tons of other goodies I got this hand painted plate.....

The "Michigan Mints".....which she sent to the Boss are enjoyed nightly by us both!

Since my Blog is named after the area of Paris where I would food shop daily when I spent the summer there with daughter

I thought it be great using the plate to house one of my favorite things that I would buy at the

Parisian Markets................a big hunk of cheese!

This dish towel will never be used......Way Too Cute.

Back at home and continuing to celebrate the holidays......this time with old friends....

My friend Helen who used to live in the cul de sac came for lunch and brought me this....

Miss B's birthstone.

Neighbor Necie came over and brought me this pitcher.....

Ofcourse I thought it was a lobster until she corrected me that it's a shrimp....

Okay...same thing only smaller.....I love it!!

Sandie....."The Chatty Crone" also came and she must have known that

every Italian Cook loves garlic....

She brought me this great gadget that dices it with ease.......

And it all comes back to the beginning.....

Shorehouse Chic Laura....

being a lover of all things Miss Liberty.......Oh Wait....that's me too....

Laura sent me this fabulous frosted glass lady.....

Thank You Laura....

We really have to take a trip together one of these days to see the Lady in the Harbor

and get our picture taken....
Maybe in one of those green foam crowns?

One final thing from a special person.....

Not a blogger and not an old neighbor...

The "SIL"

Thank you for not only the spa gift card but for giving me "special time"

with the daughter...

Whenever we give something to SIL I always sign it...

"From Those People"

When I got home from the trip and unpacked I noticed how he had signed the card....

"That Son In Law".....

He's one of us...