running, eating, & living in the real world

Ahhhhh!!! I can’t believe I just spent the afternoon decorating cakes with Kelly Ripa and Buddy from Cake Boss! Seriously BEST BIRTHDAY ever!!

All the fun began early this afternoon when we were ushered from our hotel to Chelsea Market for the main event.

We were asked to wait in the second story lobby and were provided with an assortment of finger sandwiches and sweets to nibble on for lunch.

My first plate included a couple of finger sandwiches and a carrot cake cupcake.

I went back for a few more finger sandwiches.

I finally had a chance to take a photo with Ryan from Foodbuzz! Big thanks to Ryan for bringing all of the bloggers together!

Stepping into the main room was a madhouse!

The press was there covering the event and their energy just brought our excitement level to a whole other level!

Once everyone was settled Kelly and Buddy were able to get to business and explain why we were here.

Kelly’s Cake Off for a Cause is an event produced by both Electrolux and Kelly Ripa in an effort to raise both awareness and support for the Ovarian Cancer Research Fund (ORCF), an organization that funds research to find a method of early detection and, ultimately, a cure for ovarian cancer.

The fifteen bloggers were to be split into 5 groups of three and with the help of Buddy and his team of decoration specialists were to try and replicate different styles of cake. Once the cakes were completed, an online ‘cake off’ would go live on Kelly-Confidential.com. Everyone would then have a chance to vote for their favorite cake. For every vote cast in Kelly’ Cake Off, Electrolux is donating $1 to OCRF.

Pretty cool, right?

This event is ultimately raising money for a great cause and I could not have been happier to be a part of it! I think meeting Kelly Ripa and Buddy was just icing on the cake.

Both Buddy and Kelly gave a quick cake decorating demo, which included a sales pitch for the new Electrolux Induction Built -In Range. I have to say after hearing about the range’s ability to melt chocolate without the need for a double boiler, I was sold!

Another fun fact: for each vote in the cake-off not only will Electrolux be donating a dollar to OCRF on your behalf, but they will also automatically enter your name in a drawing to win a new Induction Built-In Range!

I had missed out on the chocolate covered strawberries this morning, but I was not going to let that happen again this afternoon. When Kelly came out to the crowd I immediately stuck my hand out and had a strawberry.

It was delicious!

Finally the time came to decorate!

My cake-off team consisted of Linda from Salty Seattle and Katharine from Smokey Mountain Cafe.

We were team Here Comes The Sun and had to replicate a cake of Sunflowers.

Apparently our cake was the most difficult to recreate and no one on my team really considered themselves bakers. We had no idea what we were doing, but still had a great time learning the techniques from Buddy and his staff.

I wish I had more photos of the actual decorating, but I was too busy piping out flowers to remember to take photos. I did get a shot of the final masterpiece.

(They took a lot of of professional photos that I should be able to post tomorrow of the finished product and details on where to vote! Stay tuned!)

Once the cake was finished Remy from Cake Boss was kind enough to teach me how to make a rose out of royal icing.

It took some time, but I got the hang of it eventually.

Look Mom! I did it!

Check out our pile of discarded roses.

Kelly decided to get in on the icing fun too.

Unfortunately our cake wasn’t digging our icing skills.

Oh well.

The time eventually came to cut the cake and enjoy our master pieces! The cakes were actually all fresh from Carlos Bakery of Cake Boss. I was very excited about this fact.

The cake was very moist and delicious! The piece was so BIG though and I could only finish about half before I was on sugar overload.

We all ate our cake while discussing blogs, cake methods, and other cool things with Buddy.

Buddy is seriously A-MA-ZING! I told him he had to do a vegan cake on the show! He liked the challenge of the idea and said he would think about it.

He even signed my apron.

We had one final group shot before calling it a day.

All the bloggers involved:

• Diana (Spain in Iowa)
• Jen (My Kitchen Addiction)
• Bridget (Bake at 350)
• Lindsay (Salty Seattle)
• Katherine (Smoky Mountain Cafe)
• Megan (Megan’s Munchies)
• Sandy (Iron Cupcake Milwaukee)
• Laura (The Cooking Photographer)
• Erika (In Erika’s Kitchen)
• Kelly (Evil Shenanigans)
• Jessie (Cake Spy)
• Tina (Carrots ‘n’ Cake)
• Sabrina (Rhodey Girl Tests)
• Joseline (Day Dreamer Desserts)

It was great getting to know each and everyone of these girls!

I promise as soon as the Kelly’s Cake-Off For a Cause voting goes live I will post the details!

Right now I need to sleep of this sugar coma before dinner tonight.

Seriously, Best Birthday Ever!!!

I’m not going to lie – after two glasses of wine and one fabulous mojito last night it took every bit of energy inside of me to crawl out of bed this morning. My body was not happy with me and I believe the phrase “I’m never drinking again” may have escaped my mouth a couple of times. I guess that just goes to show I celebrated my 25th birthday up right last night.

After a little damage control on the blog (friends should not let friends drink and blog), all I really wanted was a big healthy breakfast to counteract the effects of last night.

Luckily electrolux had a fabulous breakfast spread waiting for us all down stairs before out 7:00am car pick up to Live! with Regis and Kelly.

I couldn’t help, but smile when I saw all the delicious options available.

I went with a big bowl of fruit, granola, yogurt, and a little pastry that was calling my name.

You have no idea how much I missed this combination.

With our bellies full and our headaches depleting it was time to make our way to the ABC studios for the live taping!

We were shoveled through metal detectors and placed in line.

My ticket!

Right before they let the audience file in they did a call out for anyone who wanted to audition to be the Go-Go GIrl for the day. A few other girls and I quickly raised our hands and were ushered backstage to audition.

Unfortunately no one in our group made the cut, but they did give us all preferential seating just for auditioning.

Megan from Megan’s Munchies (love this girl) scored second row seats in in the middle of the audience!

The best part about Live! was their very open camera policy. As long as our flashes were off we could take photos at any point during the show.

Sabrina and Tina filing in.

We were able to save them seats right next to us.

I thought it was cool that during the show some members of the production staff were on the sidelines tweeting away.

5 minutes before 9:00 Gelman came out and spoke with the audience on what our role was to be during the show. We were told to be enthusiastic and to follow his cues for applause and for went to not applause.

At 9:00am the show went live and Regis and Kelly took to the stage.

I bummed I didn’t win the Trivia a Go-Go contest. I was #132 and the winner was #76, I believe?

DUring the commercials Regis and Kelly came and spoke with the audience. They were really nice and just as funny and quarky in person as they are on TV.

The only bummer part was most of the show had been previously recorded that we watched on the in studio screens.

This gave the studio hands a lot of down time it seemed.

Kelly Ripa returned to stage with a bag of All-Bran that she was snacking on right until they went live again.

The show ended with a chocolate segment

I was really bummed that they handed out all of the chocolate covered strawberries to the other side of the audience. However, I was able to catch a hershey kiss Regis and Kelly were throwing into the air.

At the end Regis and Kelly said their good byes and we were guided off of the set.

I had so much being a studio audience member. It was definitely a great opportunity that I was love to experience again and again.

After Live! my Mom and I decided to explore the High Line near our hotel.

The High Line is a raised walkway through the meat packing district that has some amazing views.

I couldn’t stop taking photos!

We are all meeting downstairs at 12:30 and heading to our cake off! My stomach is a ball of nerves! I can’t wait!

I’ll be back later with all the details!!

(Warning: I may have wrote this after one or two many drinks and am now trying to edit a wee bit hunger over. Please excuse any major typos. Thanks!)

Not only was it my birthday this evening, but it was also the kick off for the Electrolux blogger activities. Electrolux will be our hosts for the next couple of days and have arranged a couple of ice breakers as well as the official cake off event..

Electrolux did a fabulous job planning a cocktail hour at The Spotted Pig as our opening ice breaker. The 15 bloggers involved with the event gathered for drinks, food, and were able to get to know each other a little better.

The presentation of food was foodie blogger heaven!

They prepared the food right in front of us and it was amazing to see it all come together.

Along with the food, there was an open bar calling my name. I had two glasses of cab throughout the event in celebration of my birthday.

On the menu:

• Devils on Horseback (prunes wrapped with pear and bacon)
• Onion & Thyme Tarts
• Chicken Liver Parfait with Onion Marmalade
• Cheese Beignets with Smoked Paprika
• Seared Beef Filet with Horseradish & Arugula
• Hummus with Feta, Olives & Flatbread
• Broccoli Rabe & Roast Garlic Fritattta
• Crispy Duck Confit with Cabbage
• Six Root Vegetable Soup   

I am pretty sure I had at least one bite of everything and have nothing negative to say about any of it. It was all delicious and the perfect birthday supper.

April Bloomfield from The Spotted Pig did a FABULOUS job as our chef for the evening.

She was even kind enough to conduct two demos for the ending.

The first was for a vegetable root soup.

The soup was incredible. It was thick and creamy. Amazing.

Next we learned the Crispy Duck Confit with Cabbage.

It was a gorgeous plate of food.

Can you believe this was Sabrina’s first time trying duck?!?!

Afterwards we ate we packed up and headed back to the hotel bar for some drinks and laughs.

I sipped on a Barcardi Chapagne Mojito (AMAZING) and a club soda.

We planned to do a food exchange where each blogger was asked to bring an item from their region of the country and trade it with each other.

I didn’t have time to find something special from Florida, but Ryan (the girl from Foodbuzz ) was kind enough to let me use her gift for the exchange since it was my birthday. Thanks Ryan!

Ironically even though I drew her name from the bucket and ended up with her prize!

Amazing Carmels from Sweet Revolutions in San Francisco! Yum!

I ate two and shared the rest. These are the world’s most perfect carmels. They were sweet and salty and the perfect amount of richness.

I have 15 minutes left in my 25th birthday and a few hours left until Regis and Kelly!

Good Night!!!