It finally came off! After weeks of rejection by every commercial venue down here you can think of, and acceptance with open arms by Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden, the Miami leg of the National Food Bloggers Great American Bake Sale to benefit Share Our Strength, happened this past Saturday! That is, with a lot of help from my friends.

Sweetness Bake Shop donated dozens of delicious mini-cupcakes (red velvet sold out fast!). Thanks, Stephanie!

Our good friends at Dunkin’ Donuts South Florida (@DDSoFla on Twitter) were kind enough to donate dozens of doughnuts and boxes o’ joe (coffee) for us to sell, and believe me, the coffee was especially appreciated.

Friends Astrid W., Kristin H. (also known as “BooBoo” to my very long-time readers), Lynne (Miz Shoes of Girlyshoes), and Paula (of Mango & Lime), and I, baked into the night, resulting in dozens of cookies, brownies, biscotti, rugelach, healthy muffins, quick breads, and so much more! A couple of my co-workers even contributed baked goods (“Sheila, I need you to bake me about a half-dozen banana breads.” “What?!?”)

I even got a volunteer baker referred to me by Tasha of That’s So Yummy, who was running her own GABS in Orlando! Shana lives about an hour away in Broward county, baked some wonderful cookies and brownies, and then drove them all the way down to us. Thanks go out to both of them, too!

This little ladybug landed on my shoulder and stuck around for nearly an hour – a sign of good luck, right?

And good luck we had, too! After threatening us with rain that never materialized during the day, we had a very good day, indeed. Counting the donations, proceeds from our raffle (see previous post), and food sales, we were able to put $748.00 in the mail to Share Our Strength! If you include online donations, that’s a total of $828.00! Not bad for a week-and-a-half’s notice, eh?

Thanks to Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden, our intrepid volunteers, and wonderful donors! Next year will be even better!

(Photos by Paula Nino, Renée Joslyn, and Lynne Cohen. Additional photos from our day can be found by clicking here.)

For more information, or to donate to my team (and we will happily accept your money, thankyouverymuch!), click here and visit my team page. To find a bake sale near you, click here

Rumors to the contrary, I have not disappeared off the face of the Earth! For the last couple of weeks, I have been immersed in baking and jamming in preparation for the National Food Bloggers Great American Bake Sale to benefit Share Our Strength.

After a few episodes of tearing my hair out to find a location, and being led down the proverbial garden path more than once, guess what? I should have gone down that garden path to start with – Fairchild Tropical Botanical Garden, that is! I should have known that an organization that emphasizes education and children’s programs, would be familiar with SOS and might have a natural affinity for an event such as ours. I am thrilled and honored that Fairchild agreed to host our bake sale!

I’ve personally made strawberry jam, two different types of biscotti, my signature Framboise Brownies, lemon sweet rolls and even some strawberry sweet rolls (using my own jam!). If I get the time, I may even make some marmalade! But it’s not all about me – seven very talented local ladies are baking with me: Miz Shoes (of Girlyshoes), Paula (of Mango & Lime), Stephanie (of the newly-opened Sweetness Bakeshop & Cafe), as well as good friends Kristin H. & Astrid, and two of my co-workers.

We’ll be having a raffle, too! This fabulous full-size quilt, lovingly handmade by Tante Leah Handmades (a/k/a, Miz Shoes):

A beautiful Bromeliad plant, donated by Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden (the Bromeliad Show & Sale is happening that weekend at the Garden, too!); and a basket of my Framboise Brownies, together with a bottle of the elusive secret ingredient – Pacific Rim Framboise Wine – and the recipe, are all items being raffled at our bake sale!

For more information, or to donate to my team (and we will happily accept your money, thankyouverymuch!), click here and visit my team page. To find a bake sale near you, click here.

The PhotoHunt theme this week is “Vertical”

A late entry, but I was shamed into it. But, also, I thought, a good opportunity to promote an excellent cause, Share Our Strength, an organization dedicated to eradicating child hunger in America.

I am organizing a Great American Bake Sale to benefit Share Our Strength. It will take place at one of my favorite spots on the planet, Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden, here in Miami. The Garden has graciously allowed us to piggyback on their annual Bromeliad Show & Sale, next weekend, so next Saturday, I and a few of my cohorts will be “planting” ourselves at Fairchild and selling cookies, brownies, sweet rolls and more, to raise money for this worthy cause.

Fairchild Garden is even donating one of their own Bromeliads for us to raffle off to raise even more money! What’s a Bromeliad?

Isn’t it beautiful? And Vertical!

Have a great weekend, all! And wish us luck!