Each week I bookmark tons of fascinating recipes, trek to interesting food-related places, find neat kitchen tricks, and make unique little dishes. Willow Bird Weekly is a miscellany of stuff I’ve collected throughout the week that I hope you’ll find entertaining.
Stuff I Can’t Wait to Make:
–Red, White, and Blue Macaroni and Cheese on Taylor Takes a Taste
–Sour Cream Custard Brioche (Gâteau à la Crème Fraîche) on Not Quite Nigella
–Fourth of July Fruit Pops by Bakers Royale
Fourth of July Fruit Pops, photo by Naomi
–Melted Ice Cream Cupcakes by Confessions of a Cookbook Queen
–Bloomin’ Onion Bread by Buns In My Oven
Bloomin’ Onion Bread, photo by Karly
Places I Went and Stuff I Ate:
The Charlotte Food Bloggers had their first weeknight meeting this week at one of the 987,945,2532 local frozen yogurt (a.k.a. froyo) joints that now exist in Charlotte. We went to TCBY, which is pretty old school, but they’ve revitalized their restaurants to be hip and self-serve (with lotsa toppings) to match the new trend.
I was going to forgo the froyo because I usually try not to eat much sugar during the week, but I checked out the nutrition stats on the TCBY website and they were surprisingly reasonable. A half cup of their froyo generally has about 100-120 calories and 15-20 grams soluble carbohydrates. I got about 1/2 cup of no sugar added strawberry froyo topped with strawberries, raspberries, and mochi. It was tasty, and only $3.50.
The Food Blogsters and I had lots of fun talking about how awesome Tom Colicchio is, how not-awesome some other unnamed TV personalities are, and how one might go about getting a date with Cam Newton. Fun times!
Stuff That Rocks:
Barbara over at Barbara Bakes was craving hot dogs, so she did what any rational human being would do and made bacon-wrapped cheese hot dogs.
Bacon Wrapped Cheese Hot Dogs, photo by Barbara
I just have two words for you, Barbara, from me and everyone else heading into this summer holiday weekend: thank you.
You know what else rocks? MY TURTLE. My friend Erin pointed out that Byrd has shown up on WBB a few times now, but Squirt hasn’t made an appearance yet. Well, here’s Byrd’s handsome older brother, Squirt. He’s a 6-7 year old Red Eared Slider and he lives in a 140-gallon tank in my dining room. Love this little guy!
“I AM smiling.”
But also, Byrd is cute. And she loves flowers.
Another thing that rocks is that my lovely friend Jordan from Kitchen Karate just opened a new online shop, I’m With Cupcake! It has lots of adorable items, and from July 2 to 3, you can use the promo code willowbirdbaking to get 10% off a purchase of $30 or more before taxes and shipping. You can only use the promo code once per purchase and it can’t be combined with any other offer.
Congratulations on the grand opening, Jordan!
And Then There’s This:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-sSK_iW6P8Q]
What fantastic recipes have you discovered online this week? What fun food experiences have you had? What ridiculous ways do you procrastinate?
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Lorraine NotQuiteNigella
July 1, 2011 at 4:18 pm (13 years ago)Thanks so much for the shoutout Julie! And squirt is adorable! I always wanted a turtle 🙂
Julie @ Willow Bird Baking
July 1, 2011 at 4:20 pm (13 years ago)Absolutely! That brioche was gorgeous. Can’t wait to make it! 🙂 Thanks, Lorraine (and Squirt says thank you, too!)
Lorraine NotQuiteNigella
July 1, 2011 at 4:19 pm (13 years ago)Oops shoutout I mean, hehe shootout is a silly mistake 😛
Julie @ Willow Bird Baking
July 1, 2011 at 4:20 pm (13 years ago)I fixed it! Though I kind of like the excitement of shootout. haha!
Barbara Bakes
July 1, 2011 at 4:21 pm (13 years ago)What a fun post. Your video cracked me up! Thanks for featuring my dogs! That bread is now calling my name.
Julie @ Willow Bird Baking
July 1, 2011 at 4:25 pm (13 years ago)Thanks, Barbara! Can’t WAIT to make them! What a great idea! 🙂
Lauren at Keep It Sweet
July 1, 2011 at 4:26 pm (13 years ago)Fantastic video, lol! So many delicious recipes and those hot dogs are insane!
Julie @ Willow Bird Baking
July 1, 2011 at 4:27 pm (13 years ago)Thanks, Lauren 😉
Vanessa
July 1, 2011 at 5:13 pm (13 years ago)I’m pretty sure I’m obsessed with hot dogs, between your pretzel dogs and those bacony dogs, I want one. Love your video 🙂 Mmh. Tom Colicchio.. Let’s take a field trip to see him!
Julie @ Willow Bird Baking
July 1, 2011 at 5:16 pm (13 years ago)I’m hungry for hot dogs, too! And corndogs. But not for dogs in general (Byrd looks relieved).
😀 I like the idea of a Tom-spotting field trip!
Maris(In Good Taste)
July 1, 2011 at 5:22 pm (13 years ago)Great group of recipes! Cute video. I bet the students must get a kick out of it!
Julie @ Willow Bird Baking
July 1, 2011 at 5:23 pm (13 years ago)haha, they seem to enjoy it 😉 They’re a fun group of kids! Thanks, Maris!
what katie's baking
July 2, 2011 at 7:50 pm (13 years ago)loved this post!
all of those desserts look awesome and byrd is so cute with that flower!
Julie @ Willow Bird Baking
July 2, 2011 at 7:52 pm (13 years ago)Thanks, Katie!!
The Chocolate Mousse
July 6, 2011 at 10:59 am (13 years ago)I think I just died of awesome related causes after seeing those hot dogs. The only thing I like as much as chocolate is bacon. Yummm! Oh and I have turtles as well! They have yet to make their blogging debut though! Great post
Julie @ Willow Bird Baking
July 6, 2011 at 1:31 pm (13 years ago)Aw, I love finding other turtle mommies 🙂 Aren’t they fun? Are yours aquatic?
The Chocolate Mousse
July 8, 2011 at 11:51 am (13 years ago)Yes, both aquatic. One Red Eared Slider like yours, and the other is a Ouachita Map turtle. Watching them swim is just as entertaining as watching TV!
Julie @ Willow Bird Baking
July 8, 2011 at 11:52 am (13 years ago)Aw, a map turtle! Sweet. I’m with ya on “better than TV” — he is so entertaining. And he has such a little personality, too!
Maranda
July 8, 2011 at 5:35 pm (13 years ago)Oh my goodness you are so stinking cute!! And I’m glad you posted a picture of Squirt. I’ve seen that bloomin’ onion bread around and it looks so good!