Thanks to everyone!

Yesterday was a tremendous success! Before I start my plan to remove all of the extra weight these yummy cookies/candies/treats are going to add to my kiester, I wanted to send out a quick note of thanks to everyone, and to float some things out for future events.

Extra super special thanks to Taylor and Good Shepherd Church. Taylor, without you we wouldn't have had a location, and I'm so grateful for your help. The facility was simply fantastic. It's a must-use for future days. And the wonderful staff and parishioners at Good Shepherd also receive my gratitude. They were all so welcoming and excited to have us there--and most importantly were willing to have us back in the future!

Thanks to everyone who could make it, and for all of your hard work. Because of your time and effort, I will have to buy new pants by the end of December (but it will totally be worth it.)

Some ideas were floated at yesterday's event, and I figured I'd put them out in the ether for future discussions. If you feel inclined to put your thoughts in the comments, feel free. If you prefer to email me, feel free to do that as well. I'd really like to hear everyone's thoughts on the things that were floated around as we baked like fiends (this goes for those of you who couldn't make it, too.)

One idea that was thrown around was how to better communicate with the group. Evite was mentioned, as was Facebook, Tumbler, Google+, and just plain email. Any thoughts on how best to communicate so we can share information and ideas? I'm open to any and all options. Based on the chats yesterday, it seems like the blog may not be the best option.

Another idea that was floated was setting up a planning dinner or casual event in late summer or early fall to set up the basics of the event. Basically we'd all get together, discuss possible dates and locations, figure out any other necessary details (e.g. game day for the boys), and generally visit over food and drinks. I love this idea, and not just because it would prevent last-minute planning and coordination among all bakers. Thoughts?

Someone asked if it was time to set up a bin/ storage box that hold some of the kitchen essentials for cookie day that may not be needed at other times of the year. For those of us who all camp together, we have these bins already (Ru & I have huge ones, others have smaller supplemental ones). I'm curious to hear what you think about this. I really only bake around the holidays, but I know some of you bake year-round so I don't know if you think it's worthwhile to do something like this. I also don't know what the bin would contain. I don't recall who brought this up, so if the originator of the idea could share their thoughts, that would be helpful.

Finally, Taylor mentioned that the church administrator had asked how often we did this, and she mentioned only once a year. Which begged the question...why? Is there any interest in getting together more than once a year to share yummy goodness? Tina brought up the idea of a pie day in the summer that would use fresh fruits, and I thought maybe a bread day would be fun. Cooking classes and special menus were also mentioned. So should we do this more often? What kinds of events would we want to do? How frequently?

Thanks again to everyone. As I mentioned yesterday, Cookie Day is one of the days I look forward to most, not only at the holidays but all year long. I have such a good time baking and chatting with everyone. Here's to Cookie Day (raising my cookie and milk to the group!)
Diane

Materials to share/ borrow?

I've been monitoring the comments on the previous post to make sure there weren't any questions from our fellow bakers that popped up, and while I was doing so, I thought of something that may make Saturday easier for all of us.

Since there are many of us who are experienced cooks/bakers, we most likely have utensils, kitchen gadgets, or pans that may be needed by one of the other bakers. For instance, I have a lot of cookie cutters, gadgets like Microplanes & citrus presses, and a food processor that may be needed by someone else. However, I could use a mini muffin pan and a rolling pin for my recipes. I am willing to buy these things, but I'd prefer to borrow them if someone else had them because I may not use them again after Saturday.

So if you have any items (gadgets, appliances, pans, etc.) that you think may be helpful to the other bakers, or if you need something that you think one of the other bakers may have, put it in the comments. That way we can all save a bit of money and hassle during the holiday season.

See you all Saturday! I'm ready to get baking!

We have a location!

Taylor has helped us out tremendously this year with getting us a location. Here are the details:

Good Shepherd Lutheran Church

611 Randolph St.

Oak Park, IL 60302

(Corner of East Avenue and Randolph Street)
708-848-4741
Time: 8am - 5pm

Cost per person: $20 per person
Cost covers rental fee to church and pizza/beverages for lunch.

We will need to divide up the staple ingredients. Please select what item you will be bringing (ex: (1) 5# bag of flour) and let us know in the comments. Everyone who is coming will need to bring one of the staple items below:
5# bag of flour - quantity needed 2
4-5# bag of white sugar - quantity needed 2
bag of brown sugar - quantity needed 2
dozen eggs - quantity needed 2
butter - quantity needed 12 pounds (12 boxes or 3 Sams/CostCo packages)

If there are questions, let us know in the comments! See you in a little over a week!

UPDATED: I think we should also have someone bring supplies for dishwashing/cleaning. I'm not sure what the church will have, so it's probably best to plan on bringing something. We'll need towels, dish cloths, and dish soap. It probably is a good idea to bring hot pads too.

So, what'cha baking?

If you've looked at the blog since last weekend, you probably noticed the new list on the right that has the listing of what people are planning on baking. We'd like to start populating that with everyone's recipes so we can divide up the baking staples and figure out if there's any significant overlap. Please put a note in the comments about what you're baking, and we'll add it to the list. If everyone could do it by next weekend, that would be great.

You're probably also wondering where we will be baking this year. We should have the final information on that soon, and when we do, we'll let you know.

Other questions, put them in the comments. We're only a few short weeks away!

Update on the RSVP issue

We've had nothing but problems with the event widget that Blogger has available, so I've removed it. If you're planning on attending, please put a note in the comments to let us know you'll be there. Sorry for all this confusion. Clearly Blogger/Google widgets aren't as functional as I was led to believe.

We should have a location nailed down soon. Many, many thanks to Taylor for helping us (tentatively) find a place. When we know more about it, we'll let you all know.

Having problems RSVPing for the event?

As we sit and finalize plans this afternoon, we've realized that logging into Google/Blogger to RSVP isn't as easy as originally thought. So here are a few tips to get logged in so you can comment, RSVP, and participate in the soon-to-come poll.

1. Click on the link "Sign in to RSVP."
2. A pop-up window will appear, and at the top right is a Google message reading "Click to follow". Click that link and sign in using whatever account you prefer. 
3. A new screen will appear that will ask if you want to follow publicly or privately. Select publicly. 

You should now be able to RSVP. If you still have problem, send us an email.

Baking location currently in flux...

I wanted to provide a quick update on the status of our location. I heard from Ruth earlier this week, and she said that the church where we baked last year is having a wedding on our baking day, so that location is not available to us. We're going to look for other locations this weekend, and I'll update the blog to let everyone know where we'll be as soon as it's finalized.