October 2nd, 2009

OK, so I’ve never had a birthday cake – well, I’ve never had a traditional birthday cake. For my 29 birthdays, it’s always been ice cream cake, chocolate chip cookie (pizza) pies, even fruit salad, but NEVER cake. Cake is dry and crumbly. Cake is tasteless. Cake is nothing more than a vehicle for icing, and between you and me, there’s too much cake in relation to buttercream!
This is how I felt until I met my husband’s mom, Cheets (I’m still lost on the nickname!). Cheets absolutely adores cake; Actually, the entire family adores cake, making it crucial for me to find something about cake to love. My number of family celebrations where cake is sure to be served has now doubled – It’s sink or swim time!
Back to Momma F. I knew I could trust Cheets to show me the very best that cake has to offer, so I decided to share a slice (baby steps!) when she picked up a cake from The Flour Shop in Bethlehem. The cake was amazing. It was like no other cake I’d ever tasted .. and I’ve tasted a lot of cake over the years. The cake was moist, slightly sticky and tasted like real dark chocolate. The buttercream was velvety and perfectly not-too-sweet. It was true cake perfection.
Since my first Flour Shop experience, I’ve happily indulged in any piece of Flour Shop cake I can get my hands on. Especially the Perfectly Pink Seashell Cake served at our wedding celebration this past Saturday (check out the nice shots my brother-in-law took!). And just to explain how serious I am about this bakery, we dragged this pretty little cake all the way to Cape May, NJ so that I could eat cake at my wedding. Lol! Actually, Cheets dragged it (thanks mom!).
So if you’re one of those people who has sworn of dry, tasteless cake forever, you owe it to yourself to check out The Flour Shop and GIVE CAKE ONE MORE SHOT. I promise you won’t be disappointed.

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Tags: bethlehem, the flour shop
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September 18th, 2009
Its been a while but we got back in action with Big Daddy, Chef Aaron McCargo Jr. Last I saw him, we caught a Phillies game on the first base side with his brother and a friend. Nothing but fun and games and A LOT of laughs. It was my birthday weekend and it was a beautiful August night. Monday, however, it was back to business. We got the call to do some styling for Big Daddy as he rolled into a big day of press centered around the Share Our Strength organization’s “2009 Great American Dine Out” program. For those of you that aren’t familiar, Share our Strength is an organization that raises money to help feed underprivileged children. Big Daddy is the national spokesman for the “Great American Dine Out” program which encompasses many restaurants that have agreed to donate some of the proceeds to Share Our Strength from diners who eat in their restaurants. You can learn more at www.strength.org.
Monday started off in Center City Philadelphia at the Fox 29 Morning Show. Appropriately, the theme was food that kids would enjoy eating. These included the Best Turkey Club Ever and a kid-friendly, fun and funky way of doing vegetable crudite .. with a Smoky Ranch Dip! (There is no denying .. the turkey club rules!) Almost immediately after the appearance, Big Daddy had to role over to City Avenue for the NBC 10! Show. Jill waited there patiently to set this segment up and make sure there was a seamless foundation to the day. We had been at the 10! Show with Aaron before and had made Aaron’s take on Shepherds Pie .. to feed 60 hungry audience members. If I remember correctly, not only did the audience get fed, the NBC staff rolled into the kitchen and had there share as well .. haha! This segment’s food was Grilled Stuffed Veal Chops with Lemon Brocolli Rabe. It was more of a restaurant menu item-approach to help tie in the “Great American Dine Out” and entice people to go out to eat. Rumor has it, the segment was flawless and tasty (I love brocolli rabe and veal chops). Of course it was Big Daddy and Jilly doing there thing.
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Tags: 10! Show, Aaron McCargo Jr., Big Daddy, Fox 29 Morning Show
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