Well, that wasn’t too complicated. I’m pretty happy with the new digs, but if you have any suggestions I’m all ears. You may see a few things change and some odd posts here and there to help me make changes across the web-o-sphere. For example, I have to insert this Technorati code to verify my new domain, 87ASV47DXDXB . Making changes like this always stresses me out to the um-teenth degree. *sigh*

Hello all! It’s funny how inspiration can strike. I really wasn’t looking to change my domain name, but suddenly the electricity to the proverbial light-bulb above my head was powered on. I believe it was the confluence of two tracks of thought: 1. I’m in the mood for something sweet, what should I bake? and 2. General thoughts about my Grandfather echoing the oft heard phrase after dinner, “Where’s dessert?” and Where’s Dessert? was born. And holy cow, what’d ya know, the domain was actually available! So that’s what’s coming kids, a domain name change from http://www.wheresdessert.com/ to http://www.wheresdessert.com/. This is of course after I figure out how to do that with WordPress *gah! coding!* Of course if anyone has any fast and easy recommendations in that regard  I am SERIOUSLY open to them! For now I will be trying to figure out how to do this over the next two weeks, but the change will most definitely be done on October 30th. I already have my new banner all ready *squee* but I am super-intimidated about making this change so please bear with me.

I’ve noticed a glut of giveaways in the last week or so, I thought I might put together a little list. I realize that I’m cutting it down to the wire on some of these, but I figured if someone comes across it you might still get in an entry and get lucky!

The Cupcake Bandits is giving away a package that includes a box of 72 Petits Fours from Swiss Colony as well as the Princess Party Cookbook. It’s been ages since I’ve had anything from Swiss Colony and I have to admit I remember the Petits Fours fondly. While I’m all about BYOBG (bake-your-own-baked-goods), I wouldn’t shun these in the least. Enter to win by December 17th.

Brown Eyed Baker had a couple of giveaways this week. Unfortunately I was too late for the first, but you can still win the DeLallo Italian Feast gift basket if you enter by 11:59pm EST today.

There’s a King Arthur Flour Deliciously Simple Chocolate Cake & Chocolate Fudge Frosting mix pairing from The Chocolate Cult. You’ve got until Firday, 7AM to enter this one.

Stumptown Savoury reported on a Buttoni Tuscan vacation for two – fantastico! This one doesn’t end until December 31st.

Good luck to everybody out there!

Wanted to let everyone know that America’s Test Kitchen has an uber awesome contest you can enter. The prizes are:

ONE $8,000 GRAND PRIZE INCLUDING:
$5,000 in Cash
$1,500 gift certificate to Cooking.com
$1,500 gift certificate to KingArthurFlour.com

FOUR $500 RUNNER-UP PRIZES EACH INCLUDING:
$250 gift certificate to Cooking.com
$250 gift certificate to KingArthurFlour.com

Check it out here for the rules and to enter. Good luck to everyone!

Sorry for the delay! I’ve been out all day, got home, and crashed on my bed. The excitement of being able to annouce the winner in my first giveaway bolted me out of bed though. Without further ado, I’d like to congratulate Saveur from the taste space as our winner! Heartfelt thanks go out to everyone for entering and making this a great first giveaway.

This is just a quick reminder that there is only 5 hours left to enter the spice giveaway. I will announce the winner some time tomorrow night. Thanks go out to everyone who has taken the time to enter and good luck to you all!

I mentioned I was trying to think of ways to make my blog more interesting, and I thought, “Free goodies!” This morsel of brilliance came to me even before reading Predictably Irrational, which speaks of our irrational tendencies to the “Free!”. Not that I’m expecting a sect of Sugared Ellipses worshipers to pop up or anything, but this is just another tool in my arsenal to slowly take over the world…ha, ha, ha, ha, ha *maniacal laugh* Seriously though, I thought it might add a little spice to our lives.

Since we’re speaking of spices I thought I might give away some. I was in need of some fresh cinnamon since according to Nancy Silverton, “Once you’ve tasted freshly ground cinnamon sticks, you’ll never settle for preground cinnamon from a supermarket jar.” In the desire to test Ms. Silverton’s claim I decided to place an order for the cinnamon, as well as a plethora of other fall spices, with the renowned Penzeys spice company. Somewhere along the way in composing my final order I thought what better way to celebrate the warmth of this season than to give away some spices to warm the heart and the belly. Without further ado I am including:  

Whole Allspice
Ground Cinnamon (China Cassia)
Whole Madagascar Cloves
Ground Ginger
Ceylon Softstick Cinnamon (5″ Sticks)
Whole Nutmeg

In addition to that you’ll be the proud owner of a small ceramic loaf pan. The winner will be all “Ooo” and “Aaaah”-stounded by the surprise goodies that I’m sure will find their way into the box. If you’d like to enter to win, just create a link to the giveaway on your blog. Although not a requirement, (because hopefully trackbacks will be working properly!) the best way for me to know for sure that you’ve entered is to comment on this post. (Those of you who do not have a blog, contact me and we’ll work something out.) The last day you can enter will be December 15th at midnight Eastern Standard Time. The winner will be randomly selected and announced on December 16th. If you have any questions feel free to ask.

For those of you unfamiliar with Penzeys, the company has been a purveyor of high quality, fresh spices since 1957. The company’s first incarnation, started by Ruth and Bill Penzey, Sr., was as a spice and coffee store in Milwaukee, WI. With an attentive eye for customer needs, satisfying both the heart and the kitchen, Bill Penzey, Jr., transformed his parents fledgling business from a retail front, to mail order, to multiple retail outlets and mail order, with stores in over 20 states. Regardless of whether you’re endeavors are savory or sweet, Penzeys is bound to aid you in reaching new heights.

You’ve gotta love a company whose perspective on business is, “We have tried to build our business on these feelings of caring that we see every day in our customers. We know that if you want to get people to cook you have to show them the value in it and we are pretty convinced the real value is in the lifetime of relationships it creates.”

Do stay tuned because throughout the coming weeks I will be presenting lots of information on these fall spices and recipes that highlight each of them.

*I felt the need to state that this giveaway is not sponsored by the Penzeys company in any way. I wanted to have an event like this, and decided that their spices would make a nice gift.

I’ve changed my Permalinks. So to all of you (you sweet few) who linked to any individual posts on my blog, I’m humbly ask you to update your links for your readers. Um, weird. It looks like links have magically updated. At least on my Foodgawker and Tastespotting entries. Huzzah! I’ve been meaning to do it, but I just never got around to it until now. Thankfully I only need to do this once. :

Oh, and stay tuned for a fun announcement!

Here we have it folks, the first in what I’m sure will be an orgy of evidence to prove that klutziness is in fact genetic. Many of you may have looked at this picture and thought, “There’s she goes again.” But it wasn’t me! This “Oops!” belongs to my Mom. I guess it runs in the family.

Last week when I was making the tiramisu cake when I lost my beaters. You know, the beaters for my hand mixer. I spent close to half an hour searching the entire kitchen, resisting the urge to look through the rest of the house for them. Don’t ask me why I was compelled to search my bedroom for hand mixer beaters, but when you feel like you’ve looked in every logical place on the planet your mind suddenly jumps to the illogical ones.  

I know I got to a point where I forgot what the heck I was doing in the recipe and finally rechecked the book. The next step was to whip up some cream to make the filling and frosting for the cake…ah-ha! That’s when the light bulb went off.

You see, I had washed the beaters after using them to mix the cake batter. They were hot from the water, and being the good baker I am (HA!) I knew I had to cool them down to properly whip my cream into submission. I put them in the freezer! The lesson is, always know where your beaters are, or at least make a note to self as to where you put them to cool off. In my case this was on top of my Mom’s popsicles, next to the tortellini.