The event was held at Walt Disney World in Orlando, FL, so that meant I needed to fly.  Since I was booking my flight only 5 days before the event, I found the return flights were sold out on my favorite airline (Southwest) and it would cost too much on any other airline.  So, I reluctantly called Julie back and told her I couldn’t go.

Thankfully, Julie talked me out of my nonsensical decision and convinced me to still come for the weekend and fly stand-by on the way home instead.  I had never flown stand-by before, so I was hesitant.  But, I’m so glad I listened to her, because this last weekend was one of the best!  Great food, valuable lessons, and priceless friendships.

When I landed at the Orlando airport, I headed right away to Disney’s Magical Express.  They cheerfully shuttled me to where the event attendee’s were staying, the Polynesian Resort.  It was fun to see the Mickey Mouse shaped towels on my bed upon arrival!

A few hours later, I met up with other food bloggers at the Welcome Reception where Disney served up an amazing spread of food.  Unfortunately, I didn’t snatch enough photos and the one above is the only shot of food I have!  But, I remembered to get a few of the people…

Here are the two beautiful “Julies” and me (right).  The Julie pictured in the middle organized this whole event and did an outstanding job! The Julie on your left blogs at Table for Two and was gracious enough to introduce me to all her friends this weekend and even offered to let me stay in her hotel room Sunday night if a stand-by flight didn’t work!

I hate this picture of me (right) but I had to include it in this round up because I absolutely love these two gals!  Krissy (left) and Tina (middle).  It was a little spooky to hang with Krissy because not only did she look exactly like one of my friends from California, but she also talked exactly like her and had the same mannerisms.  (All great things, Krissy!)  And, Tina? I just loved how easy she was to talk to and get to know.  Her fun personality is certainly catching, too! Only wish we had more time!!

Seriously wish I had a picture WITH Jessica, because she was honestly the blogger I looked forward to meeting most this weekend. <gushing>  And, I wasn’t surprised to find out that she is just as crazy and wonderful as portrayed through her blog.  Super sweet, as well!!

(left to right: me, krissy, julie, jenny, angie, rachel)

One of my favorite photos of the weekend (above).  This was also at the Welcome Reception the first night and this group of gals ended up hanging together during our free time at the Disney parks all weekend.  Amazing ladies, I tell ya!

After the Welcome Reception, the six of us headed for The Magic Kingdom.  As part of the conference package, we were given 4-day park hopper passes!  (It was an amazing deal!)  Right when we walked into the park, we stopped to take shots of the castle…and food.

I love this photo!  Thanks to Krissy!

Rachel, the foodiest of all foodies, just had to gobble down a turkey leg at the park. (Yes, pun intended.)    If they weren’t so messy, I would’ve definitely partook!

After strolling around, riding the Haunted Mansion, Pirates of the Caribbean, and It’s a Small World, we found the infamous Dole Whips before heading to watch the fireworks.

Then, before heading home for the night (it was late!) four of us made our way to Space Mountain.  It was so dark for the pic, but still turned out fun.

The next morning we woke up early for the day’s sessions.  It started with a fabulous breakfast.

Each table was graced with an OXO container full of these addicting caramels! I just now remembered that I snuck two of them in my purse… pause for a minute while I go get them… 

Our morning speakers were very inspirational.  Scott (top left) did an excellent job of hosting the show while his wife, Jaden, served on the panel with Rachel from KitchenAid, Arianna Bastianini from OXO, and Tom Smith from Disney (top right). Todd & Diane, my favorite food photographers, gave a very moving session about using your voice in photography and telling your story.  There were tears all around!  The ever-so-funny David Leite supplied us with a checklist to write better blog posts.  Lastly, I missed my opportunity for a photo of Dawn Viola, as she also spoke to the crowd about taking your blog to a professional level.

Next, we enjoyed lunch with the Disney chefs.  This was my favorite meal time experience during the weekend.  Stations were set up for us to sample (well, more than sample) the different dishes served at Disney.

After lunch, we broke out in smaller round table sessions.  We each signed up for four sessions among four different topics. My personal favorite was the time I got to spend watching Aran (top left) style food and Diane (top right) photograph it. Then, getting a photo with both of them!

(left to right: angie, jenny, krissy, me) Photo by Krissy.

Once the sessions were over on Saturday, we had a few free hours to enjoy the parks and find a place for dinner on our own.  We stuck around Epcot and rode the ever-so-popular ride, Soarin’ then rushed back to our after-party where we had a VIP front-row view to the Illumination fireworks show, along with dessert.

The next morning, I headed to the airport at the crack of dawn and finally made it home after 3 failed stand-by attempts!  It was great to be home, but I must say the weekend won’t be forgotten!

Much applause and thanks to the following sponsors of the Food Blog Forum Orlando 2012 event: Walt Disney World, Whole Foods Market, Land ‘o Lakes, OXO, LeCreuset, Scharffen Berger, Bob’s Red Mill, KitchenAid, GooGoo Cluster, Spice Islands and King Arthur Flour.  Kudos to all of our speakers!  And, special thanks to Julie, Jaden & Scott, Todd & Diane, and Dawn for organizing such a fabulous weekend!

I’m on my way out of town for the weekend.  Although I wasn’t compelled to make any new St. Patrick’s Day recipes this year, you can always refer to past years’ recipes that I love.

Have a great weekend!  And, don’t forget to wear green tomorrow!

(Thanks to my friend, Rebekah, for the Saint Patrick’s Penny!)

Once you sign up for a free ZipList account, you can start saving recipes from here and other websites, organizing them all in one place.  A virtual recipe box!  To add a recipe from Pennies on a Platter to your personal recipe box, just click the “Save Recipe” button attached to that recipe:

When you click the “Save Recipe” button, you have the option to add the recipe to your collection or to immediately add the ingredients to your shopping list:

Then, you can easily access your saved recipes later by either clicking the “Your Recipe Box” menu tab…

…or by scrolling down and clicking on the new Recipe Box icon in the right sidebar:

This new feature puts all your favorite recipes in one place and easily searchable from blog to blog! In this screen shot, you can see that I already have a few other recipes saved from other ZipList partners like Our Best Bites, RecipeGirl, Buns in My Oven, and Two Peas and Their Pod.  And, I can’t forget to mention that my favorite Cookbook Queen is also a ZipList comrade.

And, yes, it gets even more exciting!  One of my favorite features of ZipList is their free mobile app (iOS and Android) that automatically syncs with your online recipe box so you can access it wherever you and your phone go!

You can view all of your saved recipes:
Or, search for new ones from all of the ZipList partners:

When you view the recipe, you are given the option to add the ingredients to your shopping list…choosing which items to leave out that you might already have in your pantry.  Or you can share it by email, Facebook or Twitter.
Then, when you’re at the store, you can easily check the items off your list with one touch of your fingertip.  I love it!  No longer do I carry a paper and pen with me in both hands.  Now, my phone does it all.  It even sorts your shopping list items by aisle.

New bloggers are signing up every day to allow you to save their recipes to ZipList.  But, ZipList also powers the recipes boxes and shopping lists behind other websites like MarthaStewart.com, Joy of Baking, and WomansDay.com.

I hope you enjoy having this new feature available to you at Pennies on a Platter!  Please be patient with me as I continue to go back through old recipes to update them into the new format.  In the meantime, if you come across an oldie but goodie that you want to save to your box but it’s not yet converted to the new format, please feel free to contact me and I’ll get it done for you asap.

Now, what are you going to add to your recipe box today?

I’ve mentioned before that in the (almost) five years I’ve been blogging, I’ve developed friendships with other bloggers where even though we might not have met in real life, they still are special friends in which I hold a tender place in my heart.  There is an immediate bond with other bloggers about our common love of food and writing/photographing about it.  We’ll also share emails to help one another through the technical side of running a blog.  These little emails and small gestures of helping each other quickly build a trust between one another.

One of these friends of mine woke up Thanksgiving morning to a phone call about the sudden and unexpected death of her father, with whom she was very very close.  Sudden deaths like this hit me hard, especially when they  happen to loved ones of friends, even friends I’ve never met. It’s something I’ve never had to deal, yet, myself.  And it’s definitely something that I know is inevitable, and I dread it.  But, I know there can be hope in it and that hope can be felt when you’re surrounded with support.

Because I do not have her address to send flowers, and I live thousands of miles away so I can’t attend the funeral, I thought all weekend on how to show my support.  That’s why today I am taking a break from my blog and encouraging a moment of silence for all of my readers.  Furthermore, take a moment to genuinely pray for my friend and her family as they grieve this tragic time in their lives while searching for hope through this.  Prayer is big, and I want it to be felt all the way from here (California) to there (Indiana).  In the meantime, tell your friends and family you love them because you never know when it will be your last chance.

Jessica and I met up in Oakland and headed to our hotel with our spectacular view.  (That is, if you think that a tempting view of shopping is spectacular.)

I’ve met so many blogging friends…

…and got to see Joelen again!

This is what happens when you have food bloggers touring the city together.  If you need a group photo, you ask an unlucky passer-by to take it for you and unload all of your cameras.  Line ‘em up!

Oh, and did I mention Martha Stewart just randomly walked by when we were having lunch at the Ferry Building?  She was rocking leather pants (she’s in the grey jacket, along with her entourage).

Paula Dean?  Nope, it’s Ginger, our friend, Jessica’s, mom.

And, I hung out with Jessica Simpson.  For realz!  Okay, maybe not the Jessica Simpson you’re thinking, but that really is her name!

The best celebrity (although she’s in denial about her awesomeness) – Joy the Baker.  LOVE her.  Oh yeah, and she has a book deal.  More awesomeness.

It’s late.  I’m full.  I’m tired.  I’m heading to bed.  I’ll give you more Foodbuzz Festival scoop when I get home. 

To welcome in this festive time of year, I wanted to do a little giveaway for you.  A friend of mine runs an excellent Etsy shop, Lindy’s Delights, where her main products are scone mixes.  I’ve had my fair share of her scones and they.are.amazing.  She keeps it simple for the consumer so that all we need to add to the mix is the cream and vanilla.  Quickly pat it into a circle, cut into wedges then bake in the oven.  Within minutes you can impress your guests with a scrumptious breakfast or tea time treat!

If you’re looking for a gift from your kitchen, Lindy packages her scone mixes in darling paper bags with adorable tags, so they can make the perfect gift or party favor.  In fact, I bought a few packages to give as gifts to some fellow food blogging friends at a conference I’m attending this weekend!

My favorite mix used to be the Orange Chocolate Chip, up until the season changed and now I’m hooked on her Apple Pie a la Mode.   This mix includes chunks of apples, chewy caramel bits and white chocolate chips that all come to life once the liquid ingredients are added.  Because this is the time of year when pies are abundant, I thought giving away one of these Apple Pie a la Mode mixes to a lucky reader is appropriate.  Here are the rules:

To enter the contest, please visit Lindy’s Delights and then come back here and tell me which scone mix could become your favorite.  Only one entry per person, and the contest is open only to readers in the United States.  Please leave your comment by Sunday, November 6th at 9:00 PM PST.  I’ll randomly choose and announce the winner next week.  Good luck and happy November!!

On Walgreens’ online photo center site, you can upload any of your photos then use them to display in a hard-cover book.  There are hundreds of template and design options to choose from.  I chose one that was kitchen-themed.  Even though the layout choices are very limited (how to display your photos and text) you really can’t beat the quality for the price!  Plus, after I was done putting it all together online, it was ready for me to pick up within the hour!

Would you like this recipe book?  Just leave me a comment below with the name of your favorite recipe on Pennies on a Platter, or if you are new here, then tell me which recipe on the blog you can’t wait to make!   Contest closes 10/19 at 10 PM PST. Next week I will announce the winner and will personally send you the recipe book (maybe even autographed… ha!).   Wouldn’t it be cool to have this book that probably includes some of your favorites, too?  You wouldn’t have to print it off my site anymore and save some ink and paper!  See?  Win-win! 

(I’ll be out of town for a few days at a retreat where I’m not sure I’ll have internet access.  So, if you leave a comment and don’t see it right away, I will publish it when I return.)

I practically failed that exam.  But, that doesn’t compare to the bigger tragedy of the day.  Lives lost, bodies permanently injured, families grieving, our country frightened.

I’m grateful to have a faith that allows me the peace that passes all understanding.  One that lets me mourn and weep when tragedy strikes, but picks me back up with a hope that endures.  Many may not understand how even through something like this that God is still Almighty, so good, gracious and loving.  He is my Keeper, and I am forever thankful.

We will never forget that September day.  In the words of country star Alan Jackson, where were you when the world stopped spinning?

I spent some time with Rachelle the last couple of weeks during my trip to the Midwest, and there were so many reflections back to when I was her age.  For one, I had a 3 year old sister running around the house cracking us up with her Barney impersonations, impromptu dance routines, and occasional make up trials.  She would ask me to play “Linus and Lucy” on the piano and would dance her socks off, then continue to ask me to play it over and over and over again (for that reason I’ll never forget how to play that song.)

Another memory of that age were long days away from home whether it was due to a sporting event, band trip or another school activity of sorts.  I tried to remember how I kept myself fed aside from the frequent Subway outing for lunch and just couldn’t remember.  Did I buy from the vending machine for a snack to hold me over?  Did I pack a Little Debbie treat?  Maybe I just never got hungry?  I know my mom made sure I was taken care of, but for the life of me I just can’t remember what I ate.

Now that your kids are back in school and probably as busy as ever with activities, consider sending them off with these grab-and-go organic dried fruit treats from Peeled Snacks to keep them energized through the day.  They are even a great option for toddlers, as Judah can testify just from the photo below.    With the variety of flavors they offer, from Cherry-go-round to Apricot-a-lot, your kids will not easily bore of these.  But, don’t just limit this snack to your kids! Adults (myself included) love these dried fruits just as much!

Peeled Snacks are all-natural and gluten-free, providing a perfect snack for pretty much anyone.  They are currently available at Costco stores in the Midwest, as well as at Starbucks and a variety of grocery and convenience stores across the country.  Our wonderful friends at Peeled Snacks would like to give one of my readers (one of YOU!) a chance to sample their snacks for FREE.  One lucky reader will win an Organic Fruit Picks Variety Pack just by leaving a comment on this post below with your favorite school time snack.  Even if I can’t remember what I snacked on way back when, maybe you can??

A few particulars about this contest:

1. The contest is open to residents of the United States.
2. Only one entry per person.  Failure to comply will result in disqualification.
3. Contest closes on Saturday, 9/10/11 at 9:00 PM PST.
4. Winner will be announced on Sunday, 9/11/11.

While you’re at it, check out Peeled Snacks’ Facebook page and Twitter accounts to stay updated on new flavors and shopping locations.  Good luck!!

This Week on Pennies on a Platter
This section highlights the recipes posted this week on Pennies on a Platter and other updates to the blog, if any.

Grilled Peaches and Plums – A quick and healthy summer dessert or side dish.

Homemade Flour Tortillas – DIY tortillas and no tortilla press needed!

Vanilla Bean Ice Cream, French-Style – My favorite of two basic methods to make ice cream.

Dug Out from the Archives

Let’s dig into the archives and reconsider some of the older recipes on Pennies on a Platter that we ate this week. (Some of which I plan to re-post with new photos and better directions in the near future.)

Chocolate Chip and Butterscotch Scones – One of my favorite scone recipes.

Chocolate Chip Banana Bread – Making this for Ben this week so he can have it for breakfast while I’m out of town.

Caught My Eye
I love reading other blogs and websites, and often bookmark their recipes, products or reviews. These are a few that top my list from the week.

My Milk Toof – I might be a little late in the game for this one.  But, I just stumbled across this blog the other day and about flipped at how cute it is.  Sort of a strange concept, but very cool at the same time.  Basically, an artist in California decided to create cute little teeth characters and stories for them.  Seriously, take a look and make sure you read her clever captions.

My Life as a Pastor’s Wife and Food Blogger
Want more insight into my life as a Pastor’s wife, mom, friend, relative and food blogger? Then, read on! If not, ignore this section. This is a place for me to write what’s on my mind and journal some of the crowning moments of my week.

(Judah’s first corn dog.)

This week we visited the Orange County Fair with my cousin who lives in the area.  I love fairs more for the food than anything.  In fact, the main reason we went was to check the infamous gourmet food trucks.  We waited for almost an hour in one of the lines, and later found out that this particular truck (Grill ‘Em All) was the winner of Tyler Florence’s show “The Great Food Truck Race“.  I’ve only seen part of one episode before and thought I recognized the truck, but didn’t put it together until I got home and looked it up on the internet.  The guy who took my order was Chef Ryan Harkins.  Pretty cool!  He was super friendly, even after putting up with all of my questions about the menu.  I’m really glad I didn’t know he was even semi-famous at that time, or I probably would have made a fool of myself even more.    (Those of you that know me, and know my stories of encountering famous people and the strange things that come out of my mouth when I do, well, you know what I’m talking about.)

Placing my order at the Grill ‘Em All food truck.

Not a great pic, but the hamburger (Behemoth) was delicious.  Yes, the burger is sandwiched between two grill cheese sandwiches!!  No worries, Ben and I split this.

Judah sharing a rootbeer snow cone with daddy.

Me, my cousin and our boys. (I can’t tell if I’m even looking at the camera!)

Judah was exhausted by the end of the day.  We had a great day and wish we had time to go back again!  Do you have a local fair that you love?