Back to School 2010: Get right back to where it started from

School started in my hometown on Wednesday and  the albums that have been posted on Facebook this week indicate that first days of school are now worthy of no fewer than 78 pictures. Every step to the bus is worthy of its own picture. And while I may have mocked this a few times this week, it is sweet. It is a big big big day in the grand scheme things.

And after a week of digging, I finally came across the picture I have been searching for.  The picture where it all began.  My first day of school!

I think someone mentioned in the comments that they had to wear plaid on first days of school for good luck. That was also the case for me as was mandated by Great Aunt Mabel. And this outfit is awesome! Plaid coolots pulled up a wee bit too high; huge collar; French cuffs, huge bow. And pink Velcro shoes. (The hair is short because when I was little, brushing out the snarls of my uber curly hair was so painful for both my mom and me that shorter hair was just the way to go.)

My older sister Judy is clearly looking down at me thinking, "I wish I had those pink Velcro shoes."  Or more likely, “God, she is soooo annoying.”

And for the record, as a grown-up, I recently declared ruffles have replaced plaid as the first day good luck wardrobe element.

Back to School Fab Find Friday: momAgenda iPad App

Fab Find Fridays  features items that are Rebecca Approved and Beloved. Basically, it is like a weekly Oprah’s Favorite Things without the unlimited disposable income and probably no car giveaways. And hey now that Oprah is retiring or whatever, maybe my Fab Find Fridays can take over!!! For previous Fab Finds, click here.

Every summer before school started, I had to buy a brand new dayplanner for the new school year. I would spend an entire day meticulously writing in vacations and other important events. Then once school started and I had my syllabus in hand, exam dates and major project due dates were written into the dayplanner. My life revolved around those spiral bound calendars.

And little has changed since I finished school: my life still revolves a dayplanner. It took me a awhile to find one I loved but when I bought a myAgenda by momAgenda a while back, I had found the dayplanner that I knew I would use forever.

 

{photos by Erin…thanks!!!}

I love the myAgenda because it allows you to separate your daily events by categories (Moms would likely separate their daily events by kids). Each day has four separate spaces: I use one for appointments, one for workout scheduling, one for blogging tasks, and one for special projects.

{photo from momAgenda}

And I love the sparkly covers. And that it is not spiral-bound.

Unfortunately, this all changed when I became an iPad addict in May. My iPad goes with me everywhere all the time. Carrying my iPad and my myAgenda book was just too much. And in that battle of things I love, the iPad won. I started looking for dayplanner apps for my iPad and found none that I loved or even liked.   I know some people are crazy-go-nuts about Google calendar but I am not one of them.

Therefore, you have no idea how excited I was selected by the wonderful people at momAgenda to test the new iPad app momAgenda has created.

So cool! I love having all of the functionality of the myAgenda right on my iPad. It keeps me sooo organized.

  

I love that the weather forecast is displayed by each day.  (And the fun little inspirational quotes at the top.)

If you are a mom, you can create a special row for each family member. I have altered this function to fit my needs by making my “family members” the categories that I schedule by.

I also love that I can have reminders for events texted to me.

There are a few features I wish the momAgenda iPad app had (and maybe it does and I just have not figured them out yet):

• I wish that I did not have to enter a start/end time for each entry on the calendar. Most of the time, things I need to do or be reminded of do not have a specific time. Like I wanted to put a Labor Day marking on September 6th but had to associate a start time with it.
• Okay, purely superficial but I wish there was a choice to have the myAgenda app instead of the momAgenda. I always feel weird when I open the app in front of someone and the big momAgenda screen pops up and I definitely not a Mom.
• I miss the sparkly cover. A lot.

The momAgenda iPad app is available on iTunes for $4.99. Check it out!  I love love love it!

Back to School Giveaway #5: Classy classes

You know what I sometimes miss most about school? The plotting and planning of making my schedule for the  semester. It was a such a fun time making sure I had all the classes I wanted with the teachers I wanted. In all honestly, I loved all the academic subjects in high school a lot. I liked school; I liked learning; I liked winning, er, getting As.

I have always just loved math. Loved the logic, the puzzles, the manipulation. It is not really surprising that I ended up in a math field. I still love the logic, the puzzles, the manipulation. And to get paid to do it? Well, that’s just icing on a mathematical cupcake.

But I also loved the subjects that let me be creative. Creative writing and journalism were a nice way for me combine creativity and writing. And my graphic arts class allowed me to combine my math and logic skills with creativity and do some art-y things with it.

The only ‘academic’ class I really did not overly enjoy was Social Problems. It was second semester of my Senior year and I needed one more social science credit to graduate and well, honestly, I think I would have been just fine in life had I not known how to differentiate between pills that look similar to Ecstasy but aren’t. And really, not knowing the street names for heroin probably would not have held me back much in life. I always felt like I was one of the few in the class that actually had to study for this class but I knew none of this stuff...and I was totally okay with that.   I was always terrified of the kids in my class who had encyclopedic knowledge of these topics.

However, gym class was my absolute least favorite class ever. My gym teachers basically scarred me for life and made me think I was incapable of being physically active or fit . Scars that I still struggle to get over today. Oh, and I know this sounds melodramatic but the stories I could tell. People, they are not good. I still shudder when I see my high school gym teacher in my hometown. Maybe I will start writing my gym class memoirs on this blog but with my luck, my gym teachers read my blog. And are probably screaming “Pick it up, {insert my last name}!!!” Because I still hear them yelling that at me  in  me head whenever I work out.

To enter today’s giveaway, tell me what your favorite and least favorite subjects were. And if you want to throw in your favorite teachers too, go for it! They deserve all the praise they have earned.

Giveaway Details

One mega giveaway will be held this week to win a Back to School Prize Package. The Back to School prize package includes:

• A $25 gift card to Staples where you can stock up on your school supply essentials.
• A Back to School snack pack (Hint: If it has been featured in Snack of the Week with a positive review, then it is probably in the snack pack)
• A $30 gift card to CSN stores where you can stock up basically anything you can imagine:bookshelves, shoes, bedroom vanity or even trash cans.
• And last but not least, one dozen of the Whoopie Pies of your choice. Baked by me. It can be a flavor already featured on Whoopie Pie Wednesday or a new one by request.

Total value of the prize package is over $80 but with the homemade Whoopie Pies, it's basically priceless, right?

Each person will have five chances to win. Each day, Monday through Friday, there will be a post with the word "Giveaway" clearly in the title. Just read that post and answer the question in the comments section and that comment is your entry. All entries will be combined at the end and one winner will be drawn on Sunday, September 5th at 6 p.m.

Back to School Craft #5

Given that back-to-school time was always my favorite time of the year, I amreclaiming my participation in it. But with my own crafty twist. Monday kicks off Back to School Week 2010 here on I Wanna Be A Domestic Goddess. Each day Monday through Friday, I will feature one practical "back to school" do-it-yourself craft project that you can use at the office, in your dorm room, or in your home office. All of these crafts are easy (seriously, I did all five of them in under 3 hours) and do not require a ton of supplies if you have a few crafty items on hand. For more on Back to School week, click here.

It’s the weekend! And time to wrap up the series of Back to School craft. Today we make a super simple pen holder. This holder is where I keep all of my pens, pencils, and highlighters at the office. A super easy way to give your desk some personality.

Supplies needed for this project:

• One sheet of 12” x 12” scrapbooking paper
• Three different ribbons (at least ½ inch wide)
• A glass jar
• Double-sided tape

To start, measure how tall your jar is from bottom to the point at the top where it starts to taper. The easiest way to do this is to just place the ruler inside.

Next, cut your paper to be this height. Note as with anything, it is always better to make it too tall rather than too short. You can always trim it later.

To check your measurement, place the loosely rolled-up paper inside the jar. You will want to ends of the paper to overlap about one inch.

Remove paper from jar and trim any excess paper from the height and the width.

Apply double-sided tape to one side of one of the ribbons.

Press the taped ribbon down to the top of your paper rectangle. Trim the extra ribbon off. You could also measure your ribbon first, cut the ribbon, apply the double-sided tape, and then tape to the paper. But I found my way of doing it eliminated the risk of cutting the ribbon too short.

Apply double-sided tape to one side of another one of the ribbons. Press the taped ribbon down to the bottom of your paper rectangle. Trim the extra ribbon off.

Loosely roll the paper and place it back in jar.

Tie the remaining ribbon around the top of the jar.

Perfection in a jar!

And that wraps up the Back to School crafts! If you made any of the crafts featured here this week, I would love to hear about them! Email me at iwbadg@gmail.com  And send pictures!

Back to School Giveaway #4: Magic School Bus Ride

First, I think yesterday’s giveaway got buried underneath Whoopie Pie Wednesday and maybe you missed it.  Be sure to click over here and enter!  (People, there is a picture of me at 12 years old with a mullet…you know you want to see that!)

All through school, field trips were like a mirage in the dessert. One glorious day where you did not have to sit in a classroom; you could wear shorts that were shorter than the dress code mandated; and you were able to go exotic and fun places!

During my time in the Coleman School District, I think I took 8,273,004 field trips to the Peshtigo Fire Museum. The Peshtigo Fire--which happened on the same day as the Chicago Fire and is much lesser known--happened in the next town over.  After the first six times, I seriously hated this field trip.

The field trip to end all field trips in the Coleman Elementary School was the third grade trip to Heritage Hill. Heritage Hill is one of those living history museums where actors work in each of the buildings and take you back to a different time. Also, the gift shop sold really good candy. Naturally, on the day of this trip, I came down with the chicken pox! For the second time! (And before anyone asks, I had them bad both times, once as an infant, and then that fateful third grade case.)  So I guess my most memorable field trip was the one I didn’t get to go on!

I also remember field trips to Lambeau Field (um, hello, I am from Northern Wisconsin…this is like the holy land), the Milwaukee Zoo, Neville Science Museum, and the NEW Zoo (at least 10 fields here too).

To enter today’s giveaway, tell me about your favorite or most memorable school field trip!

Giveaway Details

One mega giveaway will be held this week to win a Back to School Prize Package. The Back to School prize package includes:

• A $25 gift card to Staples where you can stock up on your school supply essentials.
• A Back to School snack pack (Hint: If it has been featured in Snack of the Week with a positive review, then it is probably in the snack pack)
• A $30 gift card to CSN stores where you can stock up basically anything you can imagine:bookshelves, shoes, bedroom vanity or even trash cans.
• And last but not least, one dozen of the Whoopie Pies of your choice. Baked by me. It can be a flavor already featured on Whoopie Pie Wednesday or a new one by request.

Total value of the prize package is over $80 but with the homemade Whoopie Pies, it's basically priceless, right?

Each person will have five chances to win. Each day, Monday through Friday, there will be a post with the word "Giveaway" clearly in the title. Just read that post and answer the question in the comments section and that comment is your entry. All entries will be combined at the end and one winner will be drawn on Sunday, September 5th at 6 p.m.

Senior Moments…The Fashion Disaster Kind Captured on Film (aka The Pleather Jacket Photo Post)

I believe that 75 percent of the conversations I had during the fourth quarter of junior year of high school involved where everyone in my class was getting his or her senior portraits taken. “Are you going to Bauer or Gregory’s?” “Bauer’s pictures are more classy; Gregory’s are so outdoorsy.” “Oh, you are going to Kallies? Will you get the trademark ‘on a tiny bridge’ shot?” For real, these are real conversations. They got catty. I ended up with Bauer because I was classy like that!

Senior pictures are that oh-so-expensive chance to be a supermodel! Wardrobe changes! Location shots! Color photos in the otherwise black-and-white yearbook! It was a big deal! I loved looking at my portfolio of shots and agonizing over which I would make into wallet shots to exchange with my classmates.

The beauty of senior pictures is that say, 12 years later, you can look back and see just how much you have changed not only in appearance but also in fashion sense. I spent the entire summer leading up to these pictures painstakingly picking out my wardrobe to align with the trends of the time. Yet looking back, oh my God, what was I thinking?!?!

On the banks of Lake Michigan shot.

This shot is my favorite of all them (minus the jean overalls). It projects everything I aspire to but probably never will be: carefree! serene! barefoot! slightest appearance of being outdoorsy without actually having to be outdoorsy! The photographer loved this shot too; he used it in his ad display in Pine Tree Mall for about eight years. Seriously, I was 25 years old and little kids would come up to me in church and say, “I saw your picture at the mall!” Some people can escape their teenage awkwardness; mine was always lurking in a public place in a 20” by 24” frame. But honestly, I do really love this picture (minus the jean overalls).

The Free Advertising Photo.

These Nike Swoosh jackets were SOOO in style during my last years of high school. I think they are singlehandedly responsible for my grown-up aversion to anything with a dominating logo on it. Seriously, I challenge anyone to find one on anything in my wardrobe. And this pic? I look like I am going to be a cheerleader and do a Herkie. You know, if I could. If you think I am uncoordinated now, well, I am an Olympic gymnast now relative to what I was then.

The “Have you thought about lowering your deductible?" Photo

This photo is actually the one hanging on the wall of Senior pics in my parent’s living room. (The beauty of that is that I am hanging amongst all of my sisters. Who graduated in the 80s. Can you say Farrah Fawcett hair?) I look very regal, grown-up, and insurance agent-y. Seriously, doesn’t this picture look so much like the headshot insurance agents use in newspaper ads?!!? In fact, whenever I won an award during my Senior year, this was the picture the accompanied the news story. And if that story bordered the ad section at the bottom or the side, it was really difficult to tell where the story ended and the ad started. See me for all of your home insurance needs!

And I know you are waiting for it, the pleather jacket shots! These black and white shots were so so so popular in the late 90s (and maybe still are? I am so not up on senior pic trends) but I remember that I absolutely positively needed a shiny black jacket for this sequences of shots. I think I finally found one in a trashy clubbin’ clothing store in California while I was visiting my sister.

Give me anger!

I have no words. Beyond, yeah, I am not a supermodel. So when the photographer said, “Look serious.” This is what he got. WHAT!? This look is actually more of the look I get when I am sitting by someone who is cracking their gum. But seriously how great is that silver streamer background. And I am resting my arms on a ladder. ha

Look happy, you’re wearing pleather!

This one is pretty cute. The personality I display in that picture is probably the most “me” of all of them. I just wish I were popping the collar of the coat, a la Glamour Shots. Because THAT would be awesome.  And note, even though it says “Becky” in the bottom of that pic, do NOT call me that.  I probably won’t answer.  There were four Rebeccas in my tiny graduating class and I had to bite the name bullet on behalf of confused teachers everywhere and take on "Becky.” You will note the initial necklace I am wearing in these pics says “R,”

So that was Senior Year me. Pretty fabulous, right? Honestly, it was fairly therapeutic for me to see these pictures. Because the hours I currently spend fretting in front of the mirror about how chubby my legs or the time I spend wondering if the belt I am wearing works with the cut of my dress or pounding the elliptical for miles on end? Well, looking at these pics, I know that I  have come a long, healthier way. I think I want a Senior Picture do-over! Can I have one, please? So I can mock myself relentlessly 12 years from now.

Not a giveaway question, but did you all have some memorable Senior photos? Tell me about them!!!!

Back to School Craft #4!

Given that back-to-school time was always my favorite time of the year, I am reclaiming my participation in it. But with my own crafty twist. Monday kicks off Back to School Week 2010 here on I Wanna Be A Domestic Goddess. Each day Monday through Friday, I will feature one practical "back to school" do-it-yourself craft project that you can use at the office, in your dorm room, or in your home office. All of these crafts are easy (seriously, I did all five of them in under 3 hours) and do not require a ton of supplies if you have a few crafty items on hand.

I have a serious corkboard addiction. I have tiles of them hanging in my closet where I pin up outfits from magazines that give me fashion inspiration. I have tiles of them hanging in my crafting armoire where I pin up craft projects that I want to try. I have tiles of them in hanging in my kitchen cupboards where I pin up recipes that I want to try. Really, corkboard dominates my world.

But my office cubicle poses a small challenge in that I cannot really hang anything from its cloth walls except with these weird little pin hooks. That probably would not hold up a corkboard. So I began searching for an alternative to hanging up corkboard. I was wandering through Homegoods one day and walked into the picture frame aisle and my brain began a-whirling and a-twirling. What if I made a standing corkboard? And that my friends, it today's craft project.

Supplies you will need:

• Corkboard tiles (these will be cheapest at Wal-Mart and Target. Office supply stores seriously mark these up.)
• Picture frame, any size or shape.
• Piece of ironed fabric at least as big as the picture frame opening
• Hot glue

Remove glass from frame and throw away/recycle/whatever.  Take whatever else filling is inside the picture frame--matting, picture of a faux family, whatever--this will be your stencil for getting the right size of the frame opening. Trace it onto the corkboard with a marker or pen.

Cut out the corkboard. Corkboard cuts cleaner than you would expect.

Now trace the cut-out corkboard onto the fabric.

Cut out the fabric shape.

Apply hot glue to the border of the corkboard.

Working from top to bottom, smooth the fabric onto the corkboard.

Place the covered corkboard fabric-side up into the frame.

And now I have a standing corkboard for my desk! Well, currently, it is on my kitchen counter but it will get to my office soon enough.

I also made this little round corkboard that I have hanging above my desk.

So cute, right?

Back to School Whoopie Pie Wednesday: Peanut Butter + Jelly

Over the next year, I will be baking my way through the Whoopie Pies cookbook by Sarah Billingsley and Amy Treadwell. Just like Julie and Julia. Sort of. Except without the weird glazed duck recipes. And just whoopie pies. In every possible flavor combination. I have assembled a fab team of taste testers and they will provide reviews of the recipes.

I have teamed up with Whole Foods Bethesda to make Whoopie Pie Wednesday even more delicious.  The Whoopie Pie featured here each week will now be baked and sold in store for $1.99 each.  To make it an even yummier deal, a free cup of coffee will be included with the purchase of the Whoopie Pie  during the month of September.  For more on Whoopie Pie Wednesday (WPW), click here.

I could not resist infusing Whoopie Pie Wednesday with a little Back to School spirit! The solution was obvious, that staple of most school lunchboxes before the peanut allergy epidemic struck America: Peanut Butter & Jelly! I always loved finding a PB&J in my New Kids on the Block lunchbox! Because I still have the eating habits of a five-year old, I still love PB&J even now, just usually for breakfast on toast but with almond butter instead of peanut butter (AB & J?) . That makes it sort of grown-up, right?

But why not make PB&J a dessert and make it into a Whoopie Pie?!?! Two peanut butter cookies with a whipped jelly filling in between certainly have the possibility to be an A+ combination.

Let the baking begin!

The cookie batter was the runniest batter I have encountered thus far; nothing in the ingredients suggested it would be.

The result of this runniness being that these cookies spread out. A lot. (I wanted to blame this all on the weather but the day I baked was basically a picture perfect weather day.) The recipe yield in the book suggested 24 4-inch cookies; I think I ended up with 52 2-4 inch cookies.  These cookies also took the longest to bake.  A typical pan thus far has taken 10 minutes; the peanut butter cookies took 16-18 minutes per pan.

During the process of baking the peanut butter cookies, I suffered my very first Whoopie Pie Wednesday-related injury. While one sheet of cookies was baking, I stepped into my living room to check my Twitter feed and had, for some reason, carried an empty cookie sheet with me. (Perhaps, I should have set up a Twitter account for it ‘@cookiesheet’.)  As I was carrying that empty cookie sheet into my kitchen, my stellar depth perception worked its magic once again and I rammed the front end of the sheet into my door frame and the other end rammed itself into my upper leg. Huge bruise. That I had totally forgotten about until I was doing the sideline leg series in Pilates on Monday. And then I remembered it quite vividly.

The “jelly” filling for the PB&J whoopie had me pondering my options. As I sometimes do with the fillings in the Whoopie Pies, I came up with a filling recipe that was not included in the book. I wanted something fluffy in the middle and NOT actual jelly. I asked around for advice (and actually, my conversation with the Bakery Team Leader at Whole Foods Bethesda is what inspired the whole Whole Foods/Whoopie Pie Wednesday fun!) and ended up doing a marshmallow icing based filling whipped with strawberry preserves and then a buttercream icing based filling whipped with raspberry preserves.

Whip it up!

A cookie and a dollop.

Whoopie! PB & J! A perfect after school treat! Just be sure to eat your vegetables at dinnertime!

As I always do, I tried one of the Whoopie Pies almost immediately after I assembled them. I found the peanut butter flavor dominated the taste. I liked the fluffiness of the jelly filly but worried that the jelly flavor would not be at all apparent and my reviewers would be writing things "um, where was the jelly?" But you will see in the reviews that that was not really the case. Quite the opposite, in fact.

I liked the PB & J. But I think I liked its peanut butter Whoopie pal, the chocolate chip and peanut butter combination known affectionately as Chip 'n Dale a little bit better.  So PB&J?  I give you a B+. 

Official Whoopie Pie Wednesday PB & J Reviews

Did you try the PB&J Whoopie Pie at Whole Foods Bethesda? Be sure to add your reviews in the comments or send them to me (iwbadg@gmail.com)  and I will post them!

First, while they are not official taste testers, my landlord and his plumber were over while I was packaging up the samples. Hoping to bribe them to resolve my malfunctioning dishwasher situation, I gave them Whoopie Pies. They LOVED them and I am getting a new dishwasher. Win-win!

This week we welcome a new Official Taste Tester to the team who reviews under the pen name "Charlie Kelly", a character on the television show It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia. Our WPW "Charlie Kelly" writes his reviews in character so if you do not understand the review, um, join the club. My office is obsessed with the show and I have no clue what they are ever talking about. I need to find a reviewer who will write in a character from Gossip Girl or the Big Bang Theory.

Carmen Sandiego 

Back-to-school whoopie pie. Hard to improve on a classic. The sandwich part is kind of flat to evoke bread? The filling squirted strawberry/butter jelly. I wanted pb&j all in the filling, not a segregated sandwich. I had to chew a lot to taste the peanut butter in the sandwich part. This is a whoopie pie I'd swap with a friend for dinosaur-shaped fruit chews. I'd even make a swap for carrot sticks.

Rebecca's Note: Anything dinosaur shaped just tastes better.

Erin 

as soon as i heard the flavor of this week's pie, i knew i wouldn't like it. i really really don't like peanut butter and jelly (or jam, or preserves). i always had a plain peanut butter sandwich in my lunch growing up. oddly enough, bologna and salami were also contenders (i'm now a vegetarian. but those seem like the weird choices of the lunch meats. no turkey* or ham?). before i get back to the point, fun fact! i had to make my own lunch starting in second grade because i complained about what my mom packed. maybe she put jelly on my sandwiches?

anyway, my suspicions were confirmed. i didn't like it. too jelly-y. my cookies were ok but i would have preferred more peanut butter flavor. the fluffiness of the filling was awesome though!

*sidenote: it was like the WORST THING EVER when my sister and i accidentally got our lunches switched. she packed turkey and BUTTER sandwiches. isn't that disgusting?

extra sidenote: i apologize that this review is not actually a review. Rebecca has full editing power to just delete it.

Rebecca's Note: Bologna grosses me out. Big time. Just even the word itself. Ew. But I also used to eat turkey and butter sandwiches. So I hope we can still be friends. But I have graduated to turkey and avocado sandwiches now! Because I am fancy like that.

Joe 

These were the best whoopie pies yet! The cookies didn't have a whole lot of peanut butter flavor to them, but they had the perfect chewy texture. Add in the berry flavored cream, and it was almost like an awesome, slightly peanut buttery, little jelly doughnut. I got to try half of a strawberry one, and half a raspberry one. I couldn't pick a favorite! I guess I am slightly curious as to why the flavors weren't strawberry and grape (the most prevalent flavors of jelly on store shelves), but I am not about to complain. Great whoopie pies!

Rebecca Note: Fact: I love peanut butter and grape jelly sandwiches. Fact: I only eat them when someone else makes them. Fact: The way grape jelly is one big glob in the jar seriously freaks me out. Fact: There was no way I could deal with putting a jar of grape jelly into this icing.

Shirin

I wanted to like this week’s WP…I really really tried. I gave it a few bites, then took a break, and then gave it a few more bites. I took the pie apart and tried it as individual pieces. I tried. I really did. This WP was just not for me. I know I ranted and raved last time about how much I hate peanut butter, but I’ll argue that this week, the peanut butter was the best part of the pie. It was subtle, which was good. I think the texture of the pie part was also really nice this week. I usually love buttercream, but this one was too tangy and sweet in all the wrong ways. It was way mushier than normal too. Sorry, Rebecca! I just couldn’t get into this week’s pie(which is not a reflection of your cooking, rather a reflection of the flavor of the pie!) I think I would’ve preferred the cookie part with a different part of buttercream. In any case, I’m looking forward to next week! I’m ALSO looking forward to hearing how the WPs work out at the Whole Foods in Bethesda! I might have to drop by there next week and taste test it. Congratulations on such an awesome adventure!

Rebecca's Note: I also thought the fillings had a froyo-esque tang to them that I could not quite place. Maybe the way the jelly reacted to the rest of the icing ingredients. I really need to buy a baking science book to start understanding these things better.

Liz

I can't believe how much these whoopie pies actually tasted like a PB&J! I have to admit, I could have used a little more peanut buttery flavor. I did enjoy the strawberry filling though. Strawberry would be my jelly flavor of choice on a PB&J sandwich. Also, I recently discovered that the new safeway over in glover park actually let's your grind your own peanut butter!!! They have all different flavors... from honey peanut, to almond butter. Perhaps it the next peanut butter cookie you bake could be composed of peanut butter you ground yourself!!!!

Rebecca's Note: The grind-your-own-peanut butter stands are the best. The Whole Foods in Friendship Heights has one too. I am fascinated by it!!!!

Charlie Kelly

Precipitation was high as I got my pb&j woopy pie. And I was not letdown when I tryed it. As I ate the pie, I went back to when I was in 6th grade and learning about George Washington fighting the germans and my mom would put a peanut butter and jelly sandwitch in my lunch bag every day. It helped that strawberry is also my favorite jelly. One criteek is I thought it kood’ve used a little more peanut butter flavor. Overall though my favorite woopy pie so far.

All right, later dudes. S you in your A’s, don’t wear a C, and J all over your B’s.

Rebecca's Note: I had to run that last sentence by someone in my office who watches It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia to ensure that it was not something inappropriate. I was informed that it was pretty much just nonsense. I hope.

"Ron Mexico"

Before I even opened the bag this week, the pb&j whoopie pie had its back against the wall. First off, it's not the chip 'n' dale... BOOM - strike 1. Then there's the jelly filling choices... raspberry or strawberry? Uhhhhhhh, grape? BOOM - strike 2. Now, despite my disagreements with the pb&j wp's ideology, I did give it a try. Obviously, by the name of this wp, there needed to be peanut butter and jelly in it somewhere. Since we have peanut butter cookies, they would serve nicely as the cookie part of the wp, leaving the jelly to serve as the filling flavor. I will agree that the motivation behind the pb&j wp's design seemed quite natural, but I'm not sure it yielded the best final product. As I've seen in previous whoopie pies, peanut butter makes an awesome filling ingredient and also seems to add structural integrity to the wp since it serves as a thickener of sorts. The jelly seemed to have the opposite effect... it was very difficult to get a bite with the correct proportions of filling to cookie since the filling would shoot out the sides of the pie. When you could get a bite with a good ratio of cookie to filling this pie was quite good, but those bites were few and far between. I also found that the pb&j wp wasn't really much sweeter than a regular pb&j, which you can eat as a meal... I would certainly think that the dessert version should be way sweeter. In summary, the pb&j wp was no chip 'n' dale so it's in the race for runner up... and the elvis still reigns supreme in that contest.

Rebecca's Note: You just inspired me to make reverse PB&J Whoopie Pie, Strawberry cookies with peanut filling. Thoughts?

Laura 

Ok so there were sort of two whoopie pies to review this week: PB&J - Strawberry and PB&J - Raspberry. Peanut butter and Jelly themed things bring a few childhood memories to mind. First "peanut butter" reminds me of my mom opening a new peanut butter container and making cute shapes (usually hearts) in the PERFECT surface while we watched her make our school lunch sandwiches (yes I still do this myself when I open a new jar). Second, say "strawberry jelly" and I INSTANTLY remember getting super grossed out by the surprise GLOB of strawberry chunk in the sandwich that my mother accidentally put in my lunch box. See, we had PB&J's for lunch a lot, but my sisters and I were...well....particular about the jelly. When all 3 of us were in school (and my mom was still making lunches), she had to make one PB& smooth Grape Jelly (for me), one PB& chunky Strawberry Jelly (for Leslie), and one PB& ABSOLUTELY NO JELLY (for Linda). These sandwiches would sometimes get mixed up...and my poor mother would have to deal with some cranky grade school children who didn't necessarily love their lunch that day haha....

That being said, I when I saw that there was no "grape" jelly option in the whoopie pies this week...I was a bit disappointed, but I was fairly confident that they at least wouldn't be "chunky"...and I've also become fonder of strawberries in general now that I'm older so I think I was able to give these a fair shot. I have to say, I'm not sure I loved the icing in these whoopie pies. Something about the berry flavor was a bit too strong for me. I didn't necessarily dislike it, but I just wish it was a bit more subtle. It easily overpowered the peanut butter cookie. It was also really easy to squeeze out of the pie while trying to eat it (I won't be a super dork and use "viscosity" again...but I thought about it). I liked the strawberry icing more than the raspberry, but they were pretty similar in WOAH BERRY-ness. The cookie of this week's pie lacked a bit of volume, but I did like its flavoring and softness. If anything I think the peanut butter flavor could have been stronger, only for the purposes of balancing out the strong flavors in the icing. Overall PB&J was alright, but definitely isn't my favorite pie. I'll give the raspberry an 8.1 and the strawberry and 8.3.

Rebecca's Note: One, large globs of fruit in jelly scare me. (Could I be any pickier about jelly consistency?!?!)  Two, after trying this week's pie, I think the key to the perfect whoopie pie is a cookie with volume.

Jacki

When you posted that this week's whoopie pie was school related, I just *knew* it had to be pb&j! And not just any j -- my favorite j. These were quite good. I loved the filling -- this probably ranks as my 2nd favorite filling. My only complaint was that the peanut butter flavor was very understated. Kim's reaction was the same as mine (dang these are good! and PB understated). He said you could just have easily called these Strawberry Fields Forever. But even with the comment that the PB was barely there - these are still only beat by the Chip-n-Dale ones :)!

Rebecca's Note: Perhaps I could do a month of Whoopie Pies inspired by Beatles songs. I am thinking something banana-y for We All Live in a Yellow Submarine.

Thanks for stopping by Whoopie Pie Wednesday!   We will be back next week with a new Whoopie Pie and I will have a new dishwasher!!!! So excited!

Back to School Giveaway #3 – I Saw Your Picture Today

Was there ever day more fraught with primping and personal appearance woes than school picture day? Panic over a zit that magically appeared minutes before the flash went off; hair that was shellacked in place by 12 ounces of Aqua Net; clothes that were meticulously chosen weeks in advance. The weird backgrounds.  Did anyone else’s school make the big change to the neon blue backgrounds at some point? 

And yet after all of that, we all ended up with pictures like this:

Yes, somewhere under those pudgy cheeks, humongous pink glasses, what I believe can be classified as a mullet (and my frizz is so out of control that it does not even fit in the picture!) is sixth grade me. And horizontal stripes? Always a brilliant idea.  My skin, however, is amazing in that picture!  I am guessing the huge glasses provided some sort of protective barrier between all possible acne-causing contaminants and my skin.

The worst part? I actually remember my fifth grade picture being a thousand times worse. I just couldn't find it in my picture stash.

Oh, school picture day, you immortalize our most awkward days.

To enter today’s giveaway, describe your most awful, awkward, mortifying school picture. Do not spare any of the gory details! If you want, scan them and email them to me. I won’t post them; they will just make me feel better about my photographic debacle.

And if you are really really good with your replies, I will possibly share my senior pictures in my post tomorrow. People, there is a pleather jacket involved. You KNOW you want to see it.

Giveaway Details

One mega giveaway will be held this week to win a Back to School Prize Package. The Back to School prize package includes:

• A $25 gift card to Staples where you can stock up on your school supply essentials.
• A Back to School snack pack (Hint: If it has been featured in Snack of the Week with a positive review, then it is probably in the snack pack)
• A $30 gift card to CSN stores where you can stock up basically anything you can imagine:bookshelves, shoes, bedroom vanity or even trash cans.
• And last but not least, one dozen of the Whoopie Pies of your choice. Baked by me. It can be a flavor already featured on Whoopie Pie Wednesday or a new one by request.

Total value of the prize package is over $80 but with the homemade Whoopie Pies, it's basically priceless, right?

Each person will have five chances to win. Each day, Monday through Friday, there will be a post with the word "Giveaway" clearly in the title. Just read that post and answer the question in the comments section and that comment is your entry. All entries will be combined at the end and one winner will be drawn on Sunday, September 5th at 6 p.m.