BLOGIVERSARY DEDICATION #4: READERS AND HAUSMITTEL

My first blogiversary was last Saturday. I wrote the first three dedications for Dash, Bella, and my husband in the middle of the night. That was not sustainable. I was so tired last week that I kept mixing up my words. "Bella, why don't you put the plate on the scone so you can watch it." I actually said that.

I took a week off but I'm back with the next dedication. It goes out to the readers and the myriad ways they have supported this blog. I'm so grateful for the quiet readers. I know they're out there (at least sitemeter tells me so). I also love reading in the blog comments or on twitter that a reader has tried a recipe and I'm shocked by how quickly some facebook fans click the "like" button. I've gotten several personal emails about typos and recipe errors and I'm relieved because these details are so important to me. And I've even had people comment the old-fashioned way by coming up to me on the street and saying things like, "Do you write that blog about cooking with kids? You've inspired me to cook with my OWN kids." Holy shit, that's cool.

There's a whole lot of linking, commenting, referring, and shouting-out going on out there in the blogisphere. And this leads me to two of my readers: Penny and Rachel. They sell mighty cool vintage kitchen tools on their Etsy site called hausmittel. These two fabulous women went from being my acquaintances to my friends thanks to this blog. Penny kept commenting on posts and making my recipes. Then I learned what she and Rachel were up to over at  hausmittel. I thought that my kids cooking with their products would make for a cool post. They agreed. So I lugged a box of their stuff up to Healdsburg and decided to make Tart Dough Cookies and Homemade Ginger Ale.

It was like playing dress up but with kitchen stuff.  Rachel finds all these items (she won't tell me where) and Penny takes the photos and runs the site. They lent us a great collection of cookie cutters.

I piled fruit, nuts, and sugar into the hausmittel melamine bowls and measuring cups. I rolled out a disc of my tart dough and then stepped back.

Dash and Bella went crazy cutting and decorating. Dash wanted to keep the moon cookie cutter. I explained that he couldn't afford it.

Dash walked all the way across the lawn and into the kitchen with the tray of cookies. He had to concentrate so hard.

We baked them until they were lightly browned and the edges were crisp. Then we kept the flies away by covering the baked cookies with a cake dome. This was my favorite hausmittel item. I just might buy it if you don't.

It's too bad my bartender buddy, Michael Cecconi, was travelling in Spain and unreachable. We improvised the ginger ale recipe and it SUCKED!  Whatever you do, don't infuse simple syrup with ginger, add seltzer, and then stir in some raspberries. It tasted like medicine. Both kids pretended they liked it just to be nice to me but later admitted later that it was nasty. But I LOVED photographing Bella in action with the daisy pitcher and glasses from hausmittel.

 

You can't trust me when it comes to ginger ale recipes. Instead, here's a roundup of summer drink recipes from some of my favorite bloggers.

1. Homemade Ginger Ale Two Ways:  Crumpets and Cakes 
2. Watermelon Punch with Fresh Lime and Crushed Mint: Yummy Supper
3. Ginger Beer: InnBrooklyn

P.S.: Check out Haumittel's sister site if you're looking for adorable vintage clothes (modeled by the one and only Rachel):  the bees knees vintage.