Joy the Baker

I have treats for you.  Morning Glory Confections is some of my favorite candy, and I wanted to share it with some of you.  

Amanda.  Nicole.  Mackenzie.  It’s your lucky day.  I want to send you sweets!

Winners selected by random.org. 

Three things I love:

Bacon.

Candy.

People that make special things with special ingredients.

aaaand bonus.  You.  I think you’re awful swell.

Because I love all of these things, I thought I’d share a little something with you.

Morning Glory Confections is a Los Angeles based artisan brittle and candy company.  We’re talking handmade, small batch candy with amazing flavor combinations.  

The best part?  I want to send you some!

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You are just the most lovely people ever.  I’m so glad you’re out there in the world!  

Reading through your best holiday gift comments totally put a smile on my face.  Who knew you all were so charming and touching and genuine and humble and all around rad!?  I knew… I totally knew that. 

Those of you that said that your husbands and children were your best gift ever… you’re tender and I’m going to have to punch you now.  Don’t worry.  It’s a punch in a good way.  Seriously. 

Winners.  Four of you darling people win.  Thanks for letting me regift upon you. 

Millie.  Hi!  Sweet.  You win!  Merry Christmas!

Doreen!  Holy heck!  You’re number two!

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I’m a regifter.  

Yep.

Please reserve your judgement.  This is about to get interesting.

See… I’ve been given all sorts of gifts this year.  From two blogger conferences, I’ve amassed enough kitchen supplies to equip a small army of chefs.  

The good news is that I want to share all of this loot with you.  It’s not that I don’t love these things, it’s just that I love regifting more.  It’s like the most fun recycling… ever.  That’s where you come in. 

I’ve got silly whisks.  I’ve got gorgeous cookbooks.  I’ve got coffee and milk frothers.  I’ve got choppers and tenderizers.  Cuisinart, people.  I’ve got fancy sporks and way cool forks… all sorts of little gems.  

I’m regifting four little bundles of kitchen goodies to four of you.  Keep the goodies as a gift to yourself or regift them this holiday season.  I won’t tell a soul!

To enter this (both humble and perhaps ethically questionable) giveaway, just leave a comment in this post sharing the best holiday gift you’ve ever received.  Comments are accepted until Sunday at noon.  

I have really great news friends!  

Number One: I had chicken and waffles for dinner last night.  Hot dang!  Roscoe’s House of Chicken and Waffles… you were great news for my belly.

Number Two:  Remember a few days ago when I was telling you how lovely the people at Minted.com are?  Turns out… I was totally spot on!  I love when that happens.  I was right about their intrinsic awesomeness, which leads right into my third bit of great news…

Number Three:  Minted.com is offering every single one  of you a 15% discount on any holiday card order you place between now and Wednesday November 11th. Coupon code is: JOYTHEBAKER  Whaaaat!?  Yea.  Awesome.  So. Super. Sweet.  

Now here’s the deal.  I totally think you should hop on over to Minted.com and make up some super cute holiday cards.  Make sure you order enough so that you can send me on.  Seriously.  I want your smiling face in my mailbox.  It’ll make my insides happy.  Order them.  Email me.  I’ll send you my address.  I want a card.  If you think I’m kidding, think again.  

Aaaaand!  One last and very exciting bit of great news for one lucky reader…

Number Four (on the list of really great news):  Melissa Anizor.  You have some seriously lucky birthday mojo because Random.org chose shining number 657.  That’s you!  You win holiday cards!  Also… Happy freakin’ Birthday!

Here we are, staring November right in the eye.  Am I the only one giving November dirty looks?  I mean seriously November… how did you sneak up on me like this?  Did you just trample over September and October to rub your impending holiday spirit in my face?

I’m not sure I’m ready to dive into the season… but you know what?  I’ve gone and pushed myself into that pool.  Ok… not really.  I had some help.  Minted.com gave me a shove… a friendly shove.. but still a shove.

See, Minted.com wanted to share something with you.  They also wanted to me look super organized in my holiday spiriting.  Thanks for that Minted. Well played.  

So!  Here’s the situation.  Minted.com makes awesome, cute, rad ,modern, hip, tasteful, bodacious, colorful and fun holiday cards.  Remember the long photo holiday cards your Mom would send out in 1983?  They were decorated with some sort of pixelated wreath and an unflattering picture of you and your sister  pretending to decorate a Christmas tree?  Yea… that doesn’t have to happen anymore.  Thank you Minted.com.  Thank you.  

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Let’s make this quick and dirty, shall we?

From a cool 1,123 comments, Random.org has selected lucky winners 555 and 836.  That means Miss Andrea Cox and Stephanie from Hawaii… Holy Heck!  You win win win!  

But… there’s goodness for all of us.  The lovely folks at Green Kitchen Tools would like to offer each and every one of you 10% off whatever fancypants products you might like to treat yourself too.  Everyone likes a sale right!?  Consider this your own personal Green Kitchen Tools sale.  Simply type: GKT10P into the coupon code and… taadaaa!  Money saving magic.  

Tomorrow?  Spiced Diced Apple Cake.  Let me just tell you… it’s a good thing I took pictures of that dang cake already because I’ve already eaten half of it…. by myself… using the “I’ll just have a sliver” method.  It’s good.  It’s really really good.

Can I tell you about my new favorite kitchen tool?  

Nope… not a big ladle… not a fancy spatula, but a mighty fine and beautifully crafted pizza cutter from Green Kitchen Tools.  

Ironically enough, I have not yet used this pizza cutter to slice pizza, but so far it’s worked wonders helping me with the homemade pasta and slices right through the giant kale leaves that I like to eat for dinner.  Soon enough I’ll use the sharp blade and lovely bamboo handle to slice through my favorite pizza.  

Before I get cooking, I wanted to take a minute to give two of you a set of these super sweet bamboo handled kitchen utensils.  

One happy reader will get a full set of Green Kitchen Tools spoons, spatulas and pancake flippers.  

Another giddy reader will get a full set of grill tools.  Sweet deal right?

 All you have to do to enter this giveaway is leave a comment telling me about your favorite kitchen tool.  Come on!  Play along! 

I’ve got a great cure for the Tuesday Blues!

It’s time to give goodies away!

Close to 1,000 of you darling people have so graciously entered for this humble giveaway including Rishi Tea, Morning Glory Confections and Baggu bags.  A cool 15 of you won won won!  Click on through and see if you’re a winner!

What’s going on this week around these parts!?  I’ll tell ya…  coffee, cookies, what looks like the last of my summer tomatoes, and what the heck am I going to grow for Fall?  Have any ideas for me?  I’m going to need some gardening advice.

Ok… winning numbers look like this on random.org.  Oooooh!  Enticing, right?

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What’s the best part of going to a party?  Let me answer that for you…. the Gift Bag!!!

Now… it doesn’t happen very often now that I’m an adult, but the best part about leaving my friends’ birthday parties between the ages of 6 and 10 was the gift bag.  Something about that super bouncy ball, fake lipstick key chain and mini coloring book with crayon just set my world right.

Because there aren’t nearly enough gift bags in my adult world, I knew that my rooftop picnic must… MUST have parting gift bags.

Three companies were generous enough to make these gift bags possible.   Here’s the part where I thank them for their awesomeness and give stuff away to you, and you, and you!

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We have cute bags to talk about!  Can you stand a bit more Baggu talk?  Good… because I’ve got good news. 

There are two Baggu set winners.  Two lucky ladies out of the thousand of you who commented (geeeez!) that win the two colorful sets above.

But really… WE ALL WIN!

Baggu is offering Joy the Baker readers a 15% discount on cute bag purchases made through the weekend.  Yea!  Cool, right?  All you have to do is pick your favorite Baggu colors, checkout and type JOY (all caps) in the coupon area.  Easy as pie!  Thanks Baggu.  We like you.  We think you’re terrific.  We also think that people should use the word ‘terrific’ more often.  

Baggu set winners are Barefoot Rooster (do roosters wear shoes?) and Mindy Harris.  Congratulations!

Ok… well, Baggu loves me.  I love you.  Thus… and without question, Baggu loves you.  

See how that works?

Baggu has graciously decided to make my life easier, greener and fashionably color coordinated.  Thanks Baggu!  

See, instead of wrestling with single Baggu bags at the bottom of my purse, they’re put three matching bags in one pouch.  Clever, right?  

Now, I can walk out of Trader Joe’s looking like my tree saving self, and not feel bad about graciously ignoring the Greenpeace people who heckle me about whether or not I want to save the polar bears.  Obviously I want to save the polar bears…. don’t you see my Baggu bags!?   

Baggu bags.  Three bags in two sets, for two readers.  Leave a comment .  Comments close Tuesday at noon PST.  I’ll choose two comments at random and send those two darling readers a set of Baggu bags.  Success!  Go on… leave a comment and say hey!

Well geeeez!

Remember that Mother’s Day giveaway!?  Yea?  Just barely?

Big warm hugs and a giant thank you to all of you who shared stories about your amazing mothers.  Your stories… phew!  You got me cryin’ a few times… I can’t lie.  Thanks for being so open and lovely about your moms.  I loved reading all of your entries.

The winner of the dreamy Lavender Honey?  Amy of Sing for Your Supper.  Right on Amy!  Way to go being comment 58!  Way to go Random.org for being great at picking random numbers… like 58.  Sweet!

I’ll be the first to admit that I had some pretty ugly teenage years.

Sure. I had awkward limbs, a face full of acne, and was otherwise unfortunate looking, but I’m talking about what an utter brat I was for a solid two (plus) years.

Did you go through some seriously bratty years?  Just say yes.  We’ve all been there, right?  If you try to tell me you were a perfect angel, I just won’t believe you.

I seem to remember the distinct feeling that I knew everything there was to know about the world at the ripe old age of fifteen.  I thought most everything was beyond “annoying”, and I used that word… to death.  If eye rolling were an Olympic sport… gold medal… me.

I also had this obnoxious habit of assuming that everything that belonged to my mother, somehow also belonged to me.  From her favorite stationary, to her hidden stash of chocolates and the entire contents of her jewelry box, I acted as though it was all up for grabs.  Terrible, right?  Only when I was out in the world trying to save up my pennies to buy myself a nice box of tea, or my favorite rose lotion, did I realize that my mom deserved to have her treats without my mittens all up in them.

While I can take my obnoxious teenage years back, I suppose my real penance will come when my own teenage daughter pillages my valuables.  Until that joyous time, here’s what I’m going to do:  I’m going to give one of you a jar of beautiful French Lavender Honey.

Leave me a comment in this post and tell me this:

Tell me how your mom is spectacular, despite your possible teenage indiscretions.

I know a lot of you are moms, tell me what makes it all worthwhile.

I’d really like for this lovely honey to go to a Mom… it is, after all, Mother’s Day.  Maybe that means you’re a hard working Mom and need a tea and toast break.  Maybe that means you win this honey and give it to your Mom as a “thanks for being awesome” gift.

Comments close Thursday at midnight Pacific Standard Time and the winner will be chosen by the Random Number Generator.  Happy Mother’s Day!

Do you ever have those mornings when the snooze button seems to go off every two minutes, your hair is simply inconsolable, and you discover that your favorite plaid shirt that you’ve had for half your life is  now too ripped to wear and be cool?   Do you have those mornings when you’d just like to go back to bed for another 6 hours, wake up and call it a re-do?  Yea… me too.

On those mornings, believe it or not, I turn to you all for a smile.  You’ve got words of wisdom.  You’ve got jokes.  You’ve got what I need to get through those off kilter mornings.  Thank you.  Really.

I wish I could thank each and every one of you a big batch of my chocolate chip cookies, but because that seems like too daunting a task for a morning like this, I’ll have to put the recipe in your hands and encourage you to bring some chocolate chip love to your kitchen on my behalf.

The winners of the chocolate chip cookie and super cool spatula giveaway are:

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What do puppies with giant paws, foggy mornings, warm chocolate chip cookies and my bright, red spatula have in common?  That’s easy… they’re just some of my favorite things in the world.

If you hadn’t already figured it out, you guys are totally up there on my list of favorite things… right up there with puppies with giant paws.  You and your cute tea cup pictures.  You with your kind comments.  You with your thoughtful recipe questions.  I just think you’re dreamy.  I suppose that’s why it has become one of my new favorite things to give things to you… let’s do it again.

Two of you get two of my favorite things:  an express shipped box of chocolate chip cookies made by Joy the Baker (for someone here in the US), or a brand-spanking-new, colorful spatula (going international, because Customs doesn’t like when I send fresh cookies).

All you have to do to win some of my favorite things is leave me a comment telling me where you’re from, and some of your favorite things.  Seems fitting, right?

You’ve got until this Saturday April 11th at 10:38pm PST to get your comments in.  That’s when I turn back into a pumpkin and pick the winners.

Also… I like you!

Look at you!

No… seriously.  Look at you!  You’re adorable!

I have some seriously cute readers.  Um…. you guys!?  I had no idea you were so cute and sassy.  Yes… even you Rory, with your Tazmanian Devil mug.  You’ve got sass.  You’ve got class.  You’ve got cuteness for days.

I think I’ve got a crush on each and every one of you.

Can we do this every day?  You know… you send me a cute self pic and I giggle at how precious you are?  Yea?  Ok, great.

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My favorite tea cup doesn’t even belong to me.  Sounds crazy, right?  My favorite tea cup belongs to my favorite cafe in Los Angeles.  My favorite cafe in Los Angeles is home to perfect sidewalk tables, breezes, shaded sunshine, loads of people watching, and some seriously good sandwiches and coleslaw.

Now… let’s play a game!

You want an awesome glass tea pot with five fantastic teas from Rishi Tea.

I want to know you more.  Is that creepy?   I just think you all are so dang cool, that I thought a giveaway involving awesome tea, a super sweet tea pot, and your smiling face might be just what we all need.

Here’s the deal:

Bust out your digital camera and send me a picture of you with your favorite tea cup.  I know… I’m totally making your work for this giveaway.  Can you handle it?  Come on… this is totally fun!

Email me a picture of your smiling, cheesy, or coy face with your favorite tea cup.  I’ll randomly pick a winner and send off a lovely Rishi Tea pot with five teas.

Emails and attached pictures should be sent to joy (at) joythebaker (dot) com, by the end of Friday March 20th.

But how will you know if you’ve won?  Well, I’ll post the picture of the wining reader and mug on Saturday morning.

But what if you don’t like my mug?  This isn’t a beauty contest friends.  I’m not judging on photo quality or hair stylings.  Just be the awesome Joy the Baker reader that you are!

You’ve got until the end of Friday to play along, so bust out those cameras and get shootin’.  Thanks to you and Rishi Tea for playing along!