I came across this post on Food Interviews the other day and I wanted to give everyone a last minute alert to a deal that Patric Chocolate is offering through Food Interviews until Wednesday, November 12th. First, there’s a contest to win up to $100 of chocolate. The way it works is every tenth person who orders online using the code 3FLMDE will get their order free. Even if you don’t win, the code will take 10% off your purchase (including sale items) AND two complimentary chocolate bars on any purchase over $50. Please make sure you read the fine print in the Food Interviews post. I love supporting these smaller, artisan businesses when I can, and maybe you can get some free chocolate to boot!

Guess what I just got in the mail. My Good Cook Book Club enrollment shipment. I just joined and check out my booty!

Like I really needed another cookbook. I can’t help myself though. My Amazon wish list is enormous. I should really say wish lists are enormous. I love books in period. What usually happens when I take up a new hobby is I’ll go out and buy 50+ books on the subject. My budget has prohibited this instinctive behavior, so I decided to join the Good Cook Book Club because it’s a cheap way to get a load of books. The way the program works is you get four books for $1 a piece when you sign up to become a member. As a member you agree to buy two more books in the next year. You also are offered the option to buy a fifth book up front for half off the publisher’s price which then lowers your commitment to buy only one book within the next year. If you’re going to join I really suggest that you pick that option.

I picked The Art and Soul of Baking by Sur La Table and Cindy Mushet, Jacques Torres’ A Year in Chocolate, The Modern Baker by Nick Malgieri, and Martha Stewart’s Cooking School by the Domestic Goddess herself. Martha Stewart’s Cooking School hadn’t been shipped because it just got pulished on the 21st, so I’m expecting it sometime in the next week. I also ordered French-Inspired Jewelry by Kaari Meng because I reeeally wanted that book.

One thing to note, if you check out their selection today and find five books you have to have, order them now. I was sitting on the fence for a couple of months about joining and a bunch of books that I had really wanted to get were no longer carried by the Club when I was finally ready to join. The selection of books that is available does change. It all worked out OK because there were some new selections that I am glad to get, but still it’s something to keep in mind.

When it comes to making shopping trips for something specific Murphy’s Law is always in overdrive for me. If my purse strap just broke and I need a new one, I can go to every store in town and find nothing but candidates for the ugliest purse of all time award. Shoes, let’s just say that when I do find a pair that I like and actually fits I buy at least two. Clothes end up getting treated like Holy relics in my closet so they last as long as possible.

Despite Murphy’s predominant power over my shopping life, amazingly enough I went shopping the other day and actually found what I was looking for. I recently acquired Martha Stewart’s Cookies and have been drooling over the pages wondering what I should make. And then my Aunt gave us some oranges. One of the recipes in the book was for Orange-Cardamom Madeleines. Inspiration was ignited and my need for a Madeleine Pan was born.  

Unfortunately or fortunately I had not purchased one I had come across a couple of weeks ago at Home Goods (I LOVE this store! If you are on any kind of budget or just love a great deal you should seriously shop here – I am not affiliated I just freaking love getting stuff cheap). It was silicone and only $5 or $6. I ended up getting a KitchenAid silicone bundt pan instead. Silicone has been hit and miss for me. In this particular case it was a miss and I had to return it. I went back after the planets aligned for the Orange Madeleines hoping I would find the silicone pan I had found before. As luck would have it the silicone version, which I was still willing to give a shot, was no where to be found. I searched high and low through the bakeware aisles to no avail. Just as I was about to mope away with head hung low, Murphy again having his way with me, I saw it. Slipped between some muffin pans was a shiny white box that read “Madeleine Pan” on the side, and yes, I do believe I squealed like a pig with joy.

This was not the only find that day though. I had been watching The Great American Pie Cook-Off on Food Network the other day and saw an awesome pie crust shield and actually shouted, “I need one of those!” when I saw it. I felt like I had just come across some buried treasure when I found one at the store.

Just a question I’m sending into the void (maybe someone is actually reading this), does anyone have any information about this Great American Pie Cook-Off? A lot of the other competitions include recipes from the winners and I was hoping to find some of the amazing looking pies that came out of that competition. If anyone can point me to a website or a phone number I’d really appreciate it.

I also bought a tart pan/flan tin.

I’m not sure why the call it a flan tin. When I think of flan I think of either the flan rings or something that’s more of a dome with edges on the top. I found an 11 inch flan pan on Amazon. Seriously, who makes an 11 inch flan? I also think of flan as more of an individualized dessert. I mean, I never thought of it like a cake, something to be cut into pieces. But maybe I’m a bumpkin when it comes to flan. I don’t know. Anyway, I bought a cute Halloween themed plate that I hope to use in some baking project that you guys can see in the future.

And last but certainly not least I bought the Le Creuset ramekins that I had been drooling over the last two times I went to the store. Le Creuset has some of the most beautiful bakeware in the most alluring colors. Not only does the bakeware look great in your kitchen, it’s not too shabby in the oven either. I dream of one day having a kitchen filled with Le Creuset bakeware. It’s on my list of things to do once I win the lottery.

All that for under $30. Not too bad. These days this is the only way to shop. Who am I kidding, I’d be shopping like this even when I win the lottery. There’s a triumphant-like feeling when you score a needed/wanted baking item for a lower-than-low price. I bet this is how hunters probably feel – ha!