Blogging By Mail, or, Never Give Up

Way back in February, I signed up to participate in the Blogging By Mail event, hosted by Stephanie of Dispensing Happiness. Somewhere along the way, I guess I fell through the cracks, or the ether swallowed up my package, or aliens intercepted it during transit. I hate to say that I gave up hope, but the fact is that I nearly did. Almost.

And, then one day, about two weeks ago, I had a message from an Angel.

This wonderful Angel had volunteered to step in and be my BBM pal. To say I was thrilled is an understatement. Not only was I finally going to receive my surprise package, but it was going to be from one of my favorite bloggers: Breadchick Mary. Oh yeah.

Well, being a fellow bread aficionada, I was eager to see what was coming, and I was not disappointed.

Flour. Oh boy! White whole wheat flour (very useful) and European-style artisan bread flour, which I’ve never used before. Plenty of yeast, of course. A yeast measuring spoon (no more eyeballing that ¼ teaspoon!), and a bread base sample pack with six flavors, all of which sound delicious. A measuring beaker with lots of cool measurement choices – I will feel like Alton Brown with that one. Some mini flexible silicone bowls – I’ve had my eye on those for quite some time, but have never bought any. And, finally, a new cookbook! Can one ever have too many? Nope. I’ve heard about this one before, too, and again, didn’t buy it: Small-Batch Baking. Perfect for one or two people, and it’s loaded with great ideas.

Part of my delay in posting about the goodies was that I wanted to bake something from my new cookbook. So I did. Peach tarts with a toffee crumble. I will be consuming the last one after dinner tonight – I can hardly wait.

So many thanks to Stephanie for having such a cool event.

And a gazillion thanks to Mary, for being my Angel and for choosing all the right goodies.

xoxoxo