It has been 11 days since the above hashtag* in my post title first appeared on Twitter. It was Friday, August 12, 2011 and the food blogging community came out in full force to support one of their own. I was in Florida at the time, but I witnessed a beautiful and quickly growing phenom. When I returned home, my time was all about preparations for, and then posting about, this blog’s 2nd Anniversary Party.  But that hashtag and all it means has not been far from my heart or my thoughts these past days.

I am always on time and hate being late, but for the first time it has been great to be late. Had I made the Pie For Mikey a week ago, I would not have had a chance to see the outpouring of love from all of the amazing food bloggers out there. It reinforces why I so enjoy blogging on an almost daily basis. So today, 11 days later, I want to share it with you.

First, you must leave this site to watch and listen to this beautiful video… right now, please!  Honestly, don’t press “read more” until you’ve seen the video.

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Today I am returning from visiting Kathy and Chris Froggatt, my longtime friends,  in their new home (well it’s been about 18 months since they moved from AZ) in Jupiter, Florida.  Yes, the “crazy lady” comes out again and goes from 110 degrees in AZ to 90+ degrees plus 90% humidity… for a less than refreshing summer reprieve in FL. Whatever, it was a wonderful trip to see great friends, in their gorgeous new home, with their tropical backyard.  Do you know what that is the picture above?  Look closely…

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Fresh Fig Ice Cream

2 pounds fresh figs, ends trimmed and each cut into 6 to 8 pieces
1/2 cup of water
Zest and juice of 1 lemon
3/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream
Purchased caramel sauce, if desired

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I love to go on vacation but what I love even more, is coming home.  Isn’t everyone like that?  Dave and I had another lovely week up in the North Woods of  Wisconsin with our BFF’s Jeff and Jen and their 3 boys; Travis, Blake, and Jack. They (as in the 6 of them, not me) love swimming in the lake, boating, fishing, water skiing, tanning, hiking in the woods, and being outdoors.  I love staying inside their gorgeous log-cabin home, and relaxing. They can have all that sun, water, nature and mosquitoes!  Even though I do everything in my power to avoid those blood-sucking devils, they find me.  Oh well, it’s worth it to live in the beauty of the pines and be with the people I love.  Another thing I love is making meals with Jen. She’s a great cook and she and I are totally in tune with each other in the kitchen.  Can’t wait until next year…

While we were out of town, we missed a big happening in “the Valley of the Sun” – and I’m not talking about the All-Star game (although we did unfortunately miss that too).  We missed the “now famous haboob” that occurred here on July 5th!  I have two links for you to watch it – as I did – from the comfort of my laptop.  Here is the first video and here is another view.  Amazing!  And here is a picture of a damp paper towel that I used to wipe off the center island kitchen counter … mind you, my house was completely and professionally cleaned by Gabby, my “twice-a-month house cleaner” earlier that very same day – July 5th!  And no other living creature has been in the house since.  This is a small sampling of the dirt that came in through our closed and locked windows and doors when the massive wall of dirt rolled over our defenseless little house!

Disgusting!   On to better and more appetizing things…

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I’ve mentioned many times before how much I love all of the Queen Creek Olive Mill’s flavored olive oils. Use any one of them to make light and luscious cupcakes, from Meyer lemon or Mexican lime to vanilla or blood orange. Or be especially adventurous and use their newest creation - chocolate olive oil to create a mild chocolate cupcake that will surprise. It will be light in color with a subtle chocolate flavor.  We made the orange cupcakes during summer classes, although the kids thought that without any frosting, they were a bit more like muffins. Feel free to top with a light frosting or glaze, just be sure it doesn’t overpower the delicate cake.

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Thanks to the numerous “cake” themed cooking shows on TV, one of the hottest desserts around are cake balls or cake pops. They are incredibly easy to make, especially if you begin with cake mix and canned frosting.  Additionally, they are a fun cooking project to get your kids involved in.  Of course, if you want to go the gourmet route, begin with your favorite cake baked from scratch and use homemade buttercream frosting.  Either way, they are pretty darn cute!

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There are two ways to make caramel – with water or without. Caramel is just melted and nearly burnt sugar, how dark you get it determines the intensity of the caramel flavor. Most recipes have you begin with a specific amount of water and a specific amount of sugar. The water acts as a buffer and allows the sugar to melt slowly, when the water has evaporated, the actual caramelizing of the sugar begins.  Professional chefs don’t bother with the water, they just get down to the business at hand.  In the final week of kids’ classes, we did it “the professional” way. If you would prefer to play it safe, just add water to the pan with the sugar.  There isn’t a determined amount of water to add, you can add a 1/2 cup or a quart, eventually it will evaporate and you’ll be on your way.

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After you have this decadent ice cream, you may never want to eat a plain old peanut butter cup all on its own again!

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These grilled peaches are the epitome of easy breezy and oh so delish!  Between this dessert I served on Father’s Day and classes last week, I’ve finally used all the peaches from my tree. But that doens’t mean we’re done with peach recipes, far from it. One of the desserts for the teen graduation lunch on Friday was peach shortcakes, and there are SO many juicy cubed peaches leftover from that… I’ll be making “peach-fill in the blank” all weekend… recipes to follow, of course.  No quantities for this recipe, just make as many or as few as you need.

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Today marks the last day of the forth week of kids’ summer cooking classes. It’s been a great month and there is only one week left. This year I had the great opportunity to partner with Shamrock Farms. The provided me all the dairy I needed and in turn, I created several recipes featuring their products and was also able to give coupons out to my students. Certainly a winning situation for me, especially with the ever increasing food costs!  One dessert we made used up quite a bit of the buttermilk Shamrock provided me.  It always feels good to use up buttermilk, since its expiration date is usually shorter than other dairy products.  This pie was a huge, a really huge, hit with the kids.  Plus, it is super duper easy breezy!

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