One of each, please

I just ate 42 foods.

Actually, I ate more than that because I just uploaded 42 pictures, and many of them contained more than one food. I’m also sort of speechless because every single food was out-of-this-world phenomenal.

All of this deliciousness came my way tonight at the David Burke Townhouse, courtesy of a Foodbuzz event to celebrate one million posts.

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Before I arrived at the restaurant, I had taken “townhouse” literally to mean that the party would be taking place in someone’s swanky uptown apartment. In fact, the party took place at this swanky uptown restaurant. With an egg theme (much like my life lately):

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I ran into Ashley immediately upon arriving, and we contented ourselves at the bar with wasabi cracker sticks and thyme lychee martinis:

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Those lychee martinis were teeny, so I had four of them. (Whoops.) I just get so excited about drinks that have real fruit! Plus, my first three did not contain any actual lychees. I had to go back for the fourth when I started to see the whole lychees floating around in other people’s drinks.

As soon as we got the go ahead, Emily and I beelined to the back of the restaurant where food was waiting. Remember, I’m still speechless, so I will let the photos do the talking.

Shellfish (including lobster, crab, mussels, oysters, and jumbo shrimp):

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My plate:

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I had more than you see in that picture, of course. I couldn’t let the chance for fresh lobster and fresh crab to pass me by!

There were tons of sauces for the seafood, along the lines of wasabi crème fraîche, lavender crème fraîche, pineapple-truffle sauce, mango something, and more. I tried all the sauces on the side because I wanted to experience the flavors but I did not want them to mess with the perfection of straight lobster and crab 😛

Sushi:

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Scallops in their shells with a ginger-scallion sauce:

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My plate with two sushi rolls, a scallop, and a pile of picked ginger:

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The carving station had salmon with horseradish sauce, turkey with gravy (I’m making that up because I can’t remember what sauce it really was), and short (?) ribs with red wine sauce. (I’m not a rib expert. Feel free to correct me if I have mis-identified.)

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My plate with a little of everything:

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I actually didn’t finish that plate. It was too meaty for me, and I like my salmon more done.

There were dumplings like this. Some had lobster, some had chicken, some had beef, and several had foie gras in addition to the other meats. I had at least one of each.

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Lobster scramble with caviar:

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Enjoying eating straight out of the mini frying pan:

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Mini raw-ish crackers with beef tartare, smoked salmon-cream cheese, and more foie gras:

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Pineapple shrimp skewers (yes, actually IN the pineapple!):

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Chicken satay with peanut sauce:

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Pretzel-crusted crabcake with poppyseed honey and kumquat-jalapeno jam (YES, it was THAT amazing):

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Lobster flan (served in an EGGSHELL):

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Hamachi with watermelon:

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And then the desserts began to come around. I kept myself to “one of each,” but one of each became far more than I had anticipated as more and more desserts rolled out of the kitchen!

A mini red velvet cake bite with cream cheese frosting:

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Pecan-cinnamon buns arranged on a mini-stove. There was actually a fire flickering inside the stove, but you can’t tell from this picture:

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Apple fritters on a bed of brown sugar:

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Mine:

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Cheesecake lollipop tree!!!!!!

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One of each (clearly the theme of the night): triple chocolate nut, strawberry pistachio, and chocolate with chocolate crunchies:

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Dark chocolate cherry cupcake (literally the size of my thumb — I had two) and butterscotch pannacotta:

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Chocolate-nutella milkshake!

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At around this time, I started to get overwhelmed by too many desserts and not enough hands. I found a narrow ledge and got a collection going:

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(On the right is a chocolate rice crispy-cereal treat.)

A coconut cream puff and a warm custard-filled doughnut ball (the doughnut ball actually had a fancy Italian-ish name that I cannot remember):

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Malted milk and a grapefruit bar with crème fraîche:

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The malted milk had a very familiar flavor. Missy hit the nail on the head when she said it tasted like the milk leftover from a bowl of Fruit Loops. I only had a couple of sips because I can make that myself. I left the milk on the ledge and promptly knocked it over with my big bag about five seconds later. David Burke himself swooped in to clean up the mess.

The grapefruit bar, on the other hand, was insanely good (though Emily wasn’t a fan. I guess you really have to love grapefruit.) It had gold leaf on top:

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And rather than a bowl of mints on the way out, the Townhouse had peanut brittle, of all things! The grab-in-action and my pieces:

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So, this was a scrumptious event that I got to share with several fun ladies who love food almost as much as I do! I hijacked this photo from Missy’s recap (which you should check because she has many more facts about the event and the restaurant): Me, Emily from Super Caloric Chalk Dust, Melanie from MelonCauliflower, Ashley from Healthy Happier Bear, Missy from Missy Maintains, and Diana from Soap and Chocolate.

I’m so glad that Foodbuzz decided to celebrate one million posts and invite me. I just wish they could have invited the starving population of NYC as well since there was more food than anyone there actually needed. I always feel torn at events like this — awed and thrilled that I got to attend, yet overwhelmed and distressed at the excess! The thought of trying to comandeer all these leftovers was too much to handle at this particular stress-pinnacle of the semester, but I hope they went somewhere useful. And I hope thinking about it doesn’t keep me up tonight!

What makes you feel torn?

Dessert again?

Since I had cupcakes for dinner at work yesterday, I only had room for dessert last night.

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Wait is that some cupcake in there? How did that happen?! 😛

The platter (aka teacup saucer) included a slice of healthy cheese cake and two itty bitty pieces of cupcake that “didn’t fit” in the freezer container last night, along with a Newman’s prune and dried apricot and 1/3 cup of fresh pineapple.

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(Ugh, I hate the lighting in my apartment at night. Yellow always ends up looking so yellow.)

This also happened:

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Those are strawberries stuffed with cashew-almond butter and not chocolate. I’m aware that I’ve started to make this distinction every time the butter makes its appearance. I think it’s probably more to remind myself that, while I may have eaten an entire tub of chocolate frosting yesterday, these strawberries played no part in the incident.

img_75931I also mixed up today’s breakfast last night (and licked the bowl several times along the way). I’ve been wanting to try the Bob’s Red Mill extra thick rolled oats for ages since I love “bite and texture” in my food … and this package promised to deliver both of those critical elements. (I usually opt for steel-cut or whole oat groats because I know they’ll give me the right chew.) Would this extra thick variety would be any different from regular old-fashioned rolled oats?

Into the mix went 1/4 cup extra thick rolled oats, 1/4 cup  yogurt of the week, 1/4 cup unsweetened soymilk, 2 tbsp PB2, 1 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder, and 1 tbsp Newman’s dried berry blend. After a quiet night in the fridge and a quick stir, my overnight oats definitely passed the visual thickness test:

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They were so thick, in fact, that I actually added another splash of soymilk this morning (along with chopped strawberries and unsweetened coconut):

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And they were chewy, thank goodness! I can tell right now that they will be ideal breakfast cookie material. I’ll have to experiment further to see how the “extra-thickness” holds up on the stovetop.

On the side, I had a seven-legged creature made out of an oven-toasted slice of pumpkin muffin (from my freezer’s bread bag) with a melty tbsp of cashew-almond butter and more sliced strawberry:

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With soymilked mexican sweet chili tea:

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I’m enjoying my leisurely mini-break so far — no class today because of Passover and no work tomorrow because of Good Friday. There’s quite a bit on my list, but I’m fine with that since most of it is enjoyable!

Next on the agenda is my triumphant return to outside running! The sun is shining, my leg is feeling strong, and so am I 😀 I’m going to digest for a few, and then I will be gone with the wind. Just kidding. Slow and steady wins the race, right?

Are you slow and steady or fast and furious?

(Do you like nuts? Go enter my Pistachi-YES giveaway!)

Bits ‘n’ pieces

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I’ve got to say that I’m feeling the lack of exercise this week. The regular cheery Sarah keeps disappearing! Maybe there really is something to that whole endorphins thing 😛

I got up at 7:30 this morning (because Thursday is my leisurely class day) and worked for two straight hours on some work homework that was supposed to be done yesterday, ack! At 9:30, I realized I had to leave for class in 30 minutes, so I heated breakfast and got ready fast fast fast.

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Breakfast today was the same protein porridge mix I had on Monday, with apples and bananas mixed in, yogurt on the side, and PB2 poured over the top:

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Mmmmm:

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Since I ate that around 10, moments before I walked out the door, I didn’t bother bringing a full lunch to class — just a couple snackies to get me through.

Chopped apple and spices on the bottom with lemon curd + healthy cream cheese icing and golean crunch on the top:

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And a chocolate chip Z-bar:

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I also finished a sleeve of my Newman’s Ginger Mints when I was bored during class. They set my mouth on fire, but I liked it!

On my way home from the subway station, I stopped into Ladybird for a sample of carrot muffin:

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(It was so sunny out!)

Lunch main course was an entire plate full of the fancy apps from last night’s re-enactment:

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(That’s a lot of tuna I think. I don’t mess around.)

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There’s still a ton of tuna left, so I bit the bullet and put the whole container in the freezer. It’s half raw anyway, so I figure it will freeze fine, and I can just cook it all the way through when I’m ready to use it again.

I had way more work homework to do, and I comforted myself about that by finishing the bag of white cheddar soy crisps:

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With salsa:

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And then some Newman’s Own Organics dried berries, apricots, and prunes:

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Once again, who knew Newman’s made dried fruit?? I thought it was all salad dressings and Ginger-Os!

I also had half a chocolate rugelach and a piece of oatmeal chocolate chip cookie from the freezer cookie bag:

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Two more hours later, I had finally gotten all my work done. I struck out to do some errands. Obviously, I stopped into Union Market while out to have sample gouda and cheddar cheese cubes and these sample pieces of pecan pie and fudge pie:

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When I got home, I prepped food for tomorrow, which meant more bites of protein porridge, yogurt, cream cheese icing, fruit, baked beans, etc.

Finally, I was able to settle down for a(nother) nice little desserty treat:

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A scoop of healthy cream cheese icing “ice cream,” a scoop of raw chocolate mousse “ice cream,” hot apple topping, a sprinkling of pb2 powder, and graham cracker crumbs.

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Mmmmm. I’m so sleepy. I hope I can go to bed soon!

Does your mood change when you’re not working out?

FYI, Becca’s giving away some SERIOUS goodies from the CIA!!! (Intrigued? Go check it out!)

Re-enactment

So, Kate came over last night for my meal-of-the-year re-enactment, courtesy of the amazing leftovers I was lucky enough to snag at Tuesday night’s Electrolux ICON event. After  sharing the leftovers with my coworkers earlier in the day, I still had about 1/2 cup of risotto and a hefty segment of lamb tenderloin left … not to mention the seared tuna and molten lava cakes hanging out in my fridge. I was worried about the damage I might do if left to my own devices, so Kate popped over to relieve some of the expansion responsibility (because, oh, what a heavy burden it is).

I started us off with fancy apps:

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OK, so my seared tuna atop wasabi-infused guacamole and a white cheddar soy crisp is not exactly on level with the giant-spoon classiness I experienced Tuesday, but I think it is a close approximation … and it tasted delicious. Kate and I had two each.

Kate and I both prefer our meat closer to well-done than to rare, so I fired up the oven to give the lamb a few more minutes. While that was cooking, I worked on the risotto. Since I brought such a small amount of it home from work, I decided it needed (1) bulking and (2) healthing. I sauteed the veggie scraps I salvaged from the event (asparagus peels, mushroom stems, and spinach) with garlic and olive oil and then immersion blended them into a paste (another non-classy variation of the Chef’s method). The paste went into a pot with 1/2 cup cooked brown rice, the remaining 1/2 cup of risotto, and lots and lots of freshly grated parmesan cheese.

The result: enough food for two! Colorado Lamb Roast, Spring Asparagus Risotto, and Carmelized Onions:

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I think I am most excited about those onions!! Thank goodness I still have a bunch more in the fridge 😀

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Can you guess what came after dinner????

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Yes, the chocolate molten cakes!! I tried to keep presentation as true to the original as possible. Sadly, I had no gold dust on hand.

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I heated the lava cakes in their tins for about 10 minutes at 350. When they were warm, I slid a knife around the edges and inverted them onto the plates. In lieu of the magical chocolate disk, I topped each cake with a square of Newman’s Own Organics orange dark chocolate. Ohhh, yum. I daresay this chocolate actually improved the cake (which I didn’t think was possible before I took a bite!). Seriously, look at the melt-action taking place here:

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The “ice cream” was actually about 1/2 cup each of lemon curd-infused healthy cream cheese icing which I iced via the freeze-for-20-stir-freeze-for-20-stir method. It needed color for photography’s sake, so I topped it off with a blueberry sauce I made by simmering a couple tbsp of Brigitte’s homegrown frozen blueberries until the juice thickened.

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One last look at the whole package:

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As much as I could eat molten lava cake every night for the rest of my life, I am relieved that Kate helped me so that I do not have to! Expansion does have its limits, even for me 😛

In case you would like to try your hand at re-enacting this meal from scratch (something I haven’t even attempted yet!), I have created a page of Chef Steelman’s very own recipes right here!

Have you re-enacted anything (food or non-food) lately?

And have you entered my Bob’s Red Mill giveaway?

Whirligig + reviews

Ahhhhhh, I haven’t stopped moving all day. My commenting and replying are temporarily on hiatus as I try to climb over this mountain of work. I will catch up on everything ASAP, I promise!

And by the way, every single one of the selections you’re submitting for the Bob’s Red Mill giveaway is making me drool. If only I could afford the whole line of products …. Keep those wish lists coming!

Breakfast feels like it happened about 10 years ago, but I’m pretty sure it was delicious:

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I hope you can see the striking resemblance to a black and white cookie because that’s what I was going for:

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The “white” contained 1/2 cup Healthy Cream Cheese Icing topped with unsweetened shredded coconut. The “black” contained 1 cup protein porridge mixed with 2 tbsp raw chocolate mousse, 1 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder, and 2 tbsp PB2 powder — topped with Hershey’s Kiss shavings and a hefty spoonful of extra dark cashew-almond butter:

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The cashew-almond butter is delicious, but I keep expecting it to taste like chocolate fudge (even though I’m the one who made it!) because it is SO dark.

Oh, by the way, today is April Fools Day, if you did not get the memo! I clearly hadn’t gotten it at 7am because my dad (of the no-brown-foods and almost-birthed-you-in-the-Dining-Room fame) got me with a trick for, ohh, the 27th year in a row. You’d think I would have caught on by now! This time, he emailed to tell me that something was wrong with the blog because every time he typed in the address, Kristie’s blog popped up instead! I replied that he must be mistaken and maybe he had accidentally clicked on one of her comments? It never even crossed my mind that this could be a trick. He’s so good at getting in there with something subtle and just believable enough!

picture-425Anyway, that breakfast kept me so full all morning (as it should have — holy protein plus no cardio in days!) that I didn’t even need my typical morning snack. Plus, I was racing around crazily what with my visits and work to make up from Monday. My “injury” was kind of giving me a lot of pain today — I think I overdid it with the hobnobbing around town last night plus the nonstop visits today that required loads of traversing East Harlem from end to end on foot.

In lieu of a snack, I opened a pack of Newman’s Own Ginger Mints and maybe ate 4-5 over the course of the day. Again, they’re not sugar-free, but neither are the seven pieces of candy I usually swipe from Belkis’ candy jar on a daily basis. This seems like a healthier alternative … plus I love ginger, and these ginger mints taste like the root itself has been shaved right into the mix!

Lunch was a repeat of what I had yesterday: collard greens and baked beans from Monday and Myrna’s rice and salad from yesterday.

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The whole early childhood department at my office ate lunch together today in honor of April Fools, so I also got to try some coconut water and a big hunk of fresh coconut meat from Jessica:

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Mmm, it was tasty!

Next, I enlisted the captive audience in helping me with more product reviews. First up:

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Rosey said:

I like the chocolate on the outside, but I don’t like the caramel. And I usually like caramel.

I had to try one for myself, obviously:

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I thought it was delicious, but I tend to not be all that picky when it comes to chocolate and caramel!

Next:

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Sarah (the other one) said:

Oh, wow! This is different from Reese’s. It actually tastes like real, creamy peanut butter inside. I like it.

Sarah ran out and gave one to Erik in Environmental to try. He said:

Holy sh**!! This is amazing.

I tried one, too (obviously again):

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I second the other reviewers’ sentiments. I’m not going to judge when it comes to chocolate and peanut butter!

Finally:

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This review needs no words, as Heather and the baby are clearly in ecstasy. Just to bring the point home, Heather said:

These are good. They are a good chocolate-y dessert.

Rosey and Jessica said:

They taste like shortbread cookies with chocolate in them.

Sister Suzanne said:

I like them because they’re not too sweet.

Sarah (the other one) added:

Yes, a good snack treat.

I ate four.

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To me, they tasted like the cookie part of an Oreo. Again, not going to complain!

Immediately following lunch, I raced across el barrio for my 2pm visit. I ended up staying a little late because the mom needed help with something, so I decided to bus it back to the center to make my 3:30. I had to run to catch the bus. OWWWWW. And I was still 10 minutes for the session!

I had my “morning snack” of fruit salad (the end of it), yogurt + ricotta + lemon curd, and granola at 4:30.

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Quickly followed by an orange:

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As I mentioned earlier, I brought in the leftover risotto and lamb from last night to share with everyone at lunch, but there was still quite a bit left at the end of the day. I shot a quick email to Gina and Kate (with whom I had to break dinner plans last night for the event) to see if they’d be interested in an impromptu dinner party of leftovers. Gina couldn’t make it, but Kate was up for the re-enactment challenge which will be coming soon (as in sometime tomorrow) to a blog near you (ummm, this one).

The week is halfway done. Are you running behind, ahead, or right on schedule?

(And you know I’m going to keep reminding you about the Bob’s Red Mill giveaway in every post until Sunday!)