Chocolate Pretzel Crispy Squares

Top tray!

I baked for only one family before Christmas. And actually it was on Christmas Day! So technically, not before at all! No, I wasn't too busy, too booked up with holiday affairs. Not at all. Next year I'll do better, that is my pledge, and I seriously doubt that will be a problem since I love Christmas and love baking for the neighbors.

In the week or two after Christmas I learned about two cookies, two baked goods, two GOODIES (here is one, the other follows) that require no baking and are fantastic to give at Christmas or any time of year at all. It made me wish I'd given that one family both of these things, and so I decided to make them and surprise them with these treats when they came home from their holiday trip.

I learned about Chocolate Pretzel Crispy Squares in a wonderful cookbook my friend Tracy sent me. The book contains food truck recipes. I've made six recipes out of the book so far. The food is so delicious; makes me want to only eat at food trucks from now on!

Chocolate Pretzel Crispy Squares

Adapted from a recipe from The Treats Truck - Kim Ima - New York, NY from Food Truck Road Trip

4 Tablespoons butter, divided
1 10 ounce bag mini marshmallows

6 1/2 cups Rice Crispies cereal

85 mini pretzels, *see prep instructions

1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips

1/4 cup white chocolate chips

*If you have a food scale, measure 125g mini pretzels. If you don't and you don't want to count, just use about 3 handfuls. Place the pretzels in a Ziploc, zip it, and lightly roll a rolling pin across the bag. You are looking for various sized pieces, not pulverized pretzels!

Butter the bottom and walls of a 9 x 13 pan with one tablespoon of butter. Set aside. In a medium pan, over medium heat, melt the remaining 3 tablespoons of butter. When completely melted, reduce heat to medium-low and add the marshmallows and stir until smooth. Remove pan from heat and add Rice Crispies and stir until they are coated with the marshmallow mixture. Add pretzels and both chips and stir until they are well mixed. Pour mixture and press evenly into the 9 x 13 pan. Let set for at least 30 minutes and then cut into squares or bars. 

Love,

Debbie's Lake Travis Peanut Butter Chocolate Ritz Cookies

Making these cookies is so easy and requires no baking. I learned how to make them when we stayed with my parents in Texas over the holidays. I don't think we'd been there ten minutes when my dad walked up to me with one of these cookies, trying to get me to take a bite. Of course, I did, and the whole thing!! I asked him if it was a Girl Scout cookie. He said his friend Debbie made it.

Joe and Debbie are my parent's friends and they live about one minute away in Point Venture, TX, where my parents also live. Point Venture, population 861, is huge compared to what it was when I was a kid. I can't find any published population information before the town was incorporated, but I would guess there might have been 247 people when I was young, probably less. I don't remember much of my life before I remember Point Venture. We used to spend summers there and some weekends in the spring and fall, too. Yes, it's a little more crowded than it used to be, but I still absolutely love it.

I should add that Debbie told me everyone in PV loves these cookies! She has no name for them so I named them myself. I sure hope she approves!

See the middle rack. Click for a close-up!

Debbie's Lake Travis Peanut Butter Chocolate Ritz Cookies

Ritz crackers
Peanut butter
Chocolate flavored coating (this is the brand I used)
(optional - you can mix half chocolate and half vanilla together)

The instructions are so simple. You make peanut butter sandwiches with Ritz crackers. Then you melt the chocolate candy coating and dip the sandwiches in, covering them completely. Set them on a parchment-lined baking sheet and let them cool. That's it. Make as many or as few as you like!

Love,

P.S. Debbie says a man in PV loved these cookies so much, he requested they be served at his funeral when he died. And they were.
P.P.S. My friend Gary is in charge of a large law firm's food and beverage division. Somehow one of his caterer's knows about these cookies (she must be related to Debbie, ha!). Gary says when they hire her they always request a batch.
P.P.P.S. What I'm trying to say is...they're great.

Thanksgiving Roast

Dear Lauren,

I like it that together we've been working on cleaning up our eating habits and trying to figure out if we have any food triggers that might be causing us health problems. You've been a great partner, especially because you seem to have no addiction to sugar. You're a great role model for me! 

The other day, a lady named Lynne, posted a note and photo in our food group we belong to. She had the idea to combine Brussels sprouts, sweet potatoes, and fresh cranberries. She said she liked it so much, she decided to put it on her Thanksgiving menu. I was immediately intrigued because I love all three of these.

So I decided to play around with veggies today and guess what? Big win. I'm adding this dish to our Thanksgiving this year as well. Thank you, Lynne! 

Thanksgiving Roast

6 Brussels sprouts, cut in half through the stem
1 sweet potato, peeled and cut into 1-inch chunks
1/2 bag fresh cranberries
olive oil or avocado oil
salt and pepper

Preheat the oven to 425. Line two rimmed baking sheets with parchment paper. Put the cranberries on one sheet and both the Brussels sprouts and sweet potatoes on the other. Add a little oil, start with 1-2 tablespoons, to each baking sheet. With your hands, toss the contents of each sheet until well covered with oil. Add salt and pepper and toss again. Turn the cut sides of the Brussels down so they will brown nicely. Add each sheet to the oven. Cook the cranberries for 18 minutes and the Brussels/sweet potato combination for 20 minutes. Your oven may run a little cooler or hotter than mine so watch to make sure nothing burns. Remove from the oven when nicely browned and toss the contents of both baking sheets together and serve.

Love,

P.S. Thank you for taking care of Max and Catarina so often for Dad and I. I left you some Thanksgiving Roast in the fridge as a thank you. Love you!

Celebrating the One Year Anniversary of Donna Currie's Make Ahead Bread!

Cheese Ball Rolls

Dear Lauren, 

As I've told you many times before, Donna Currie is an incredible baker, cook, and all-around person. I have thoroughly enjoyed baking from her book, Make Ahead Bread: 100 Recipes for Melt-in-Your-Mouth Fresh Bread Every Day, which celebrates its one year anniversary Wednesday, November 4. 

Donna breaks down every recipe into baby steps over at least two days so even beginning bread bakers will have success. Take the recipe I've highlighted for you here. I've never made cinnamon rolls before, yet my dough was fantastic! I mean look at it! If I can do this, so can you!   

In addition to these rolls, I just want to tell you about some of my other successes with this book that have now become staples in my kitchen.

Sweet Bubble Loaf - I followed Donna's instructions and I looked at the unbaked results on Day 1. I was concerned. How in the world would these little dough balls turn into something amazing? Yet, they did! I think of this loaf as a cross between cinnamon bread and monkey bread. It's better than either!

Grandma Pizza - I've made this so many times you thinks it's "my" recipe! No, it's Donna's! My favorite toppings are Muir Glen Pizza Sauce, grated Dubliner cheese (untraditional, but so flavorful!), and Boar's Head pepperoni. I go very lightly on the toppings because it's the "bread" that is the real star of this pizza show.

Gluten-Free Seed and Nut Bread - We have a neighbor whose mother must eat a gluten free diet so he is always looking for a good gluten free this or that. This loaf is a wonderful nut bread. It could be used for french toast but we really liked ours buttered and toasted. It's wonderful straight out of the oven too! Had I been served this, I would not have known this was a gluten free bread!

Crisp Sesame Breadsticks - I'm planning a party at my home in November and these breadsticks will provide an edible centerpiece. And bonus - these breadsticks will keep in the pantry for weeks in the unlikely event I have leftovers!

Basic Pizza Dough (not photographed, I am SO SORRY!) - I read and re-read this recipe. Are you kidding me? You literally throw all the ingredients in a ziploc bag, zip it, and then squish and smush the ingredients around for a minute. That's it? No kneading? No mess? I admit, I had low expectations for this. I've put a lot more effort into pizza dough in the past and it never tasted very good to me. But what was there to lose? It's so easy! I will tell you this. I made a pizza with this dough and it was a thing of beauty. Thin crust that holds the ingredients without bending, yet is flavorful and tender to the bite. Keeper.

Cheese Ball Rolls
by Sandra
Adapted from Blueberry and Cream Cheese Buns with Lemon Zest from Make Ahead Bread by Donna Currie

For the Dough:
3 1/2 cups bread flour, plus extra for kneading and rolling
2 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast
1/2 cup instant mashed potato flakes
1/4 cup nonfat dry milk
1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
4 Tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
1 egg, slightly beaten, plus water to equal 1 1/2 cups total

For the Filling:
One recipe of a cheese ball of your choice, I used Nettie's Cheese Ball (see below) but a double recipe of this would be another excellent choice.

On Prep Day:
1. Butter a 9" x 13" glass baking dish. 

2. Make the cheese ball. Set it aside and keep it at room temperature for easy spreading.

3. Combine all dough ingredients in a mixing bowl and then knead for 10 minutes until dough is elastic. You can use a stand mixer with a dough hook if you like, I didn't. 

4. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap. Let sit until the dough has doubled in size, about one hour in a warm room. (Tip: When you begin making this recipe, preheat your oven to 180°F and as soon as it has preheated, shut the oven off and open the oven door. Set the covered bowl of dough in the oven to rise. If your house is already warm - 70 to 80 degrees - this step is unnecessary.)

5. On a clean, dry work surface, spread a little flour and pat the dough into a rectangular shape. With a rolling pin, roll out the dough until it is approximately 12" x 16". With an offset spatula, spread the cheese ball mixture evenly over the dough, leaving about a 1" edge on the long side free of cheese ball mixture.

6. Starting on the opposite long side from where you left the dough free of cheese ball mixture, loosely roll up the dough, jellyroll style. Cut into 1" rolls. You will end up with 12, but if your end rolls are small you might end up with 13. This is fine.

7. Place the rolls in the baking dish 3 across and 4 down. If you have 13 rolls, place the two smallest side by side as if they are one. Cover the pan and refrigerate overnight or up to 24 hours.

To Bake:
1. Take the rolls out of the refrigerator and preheat the oven to 350°F.

2. Bake the rolls for 40-45 minutes. If the rolls seem to be browning too much, tent the pan with aluminum foil for the rest of the baking period.

3. Cool in the pan for 10 minutes and then serve. Can be served as they are, with sausage and eggs, or with butter and fig spread.*  

4. These rolls are best the day they are baked. Unlike any other bread I know of though, you can reheat these one at a time for 20-30 seconds in the microwave and the roll's texture does not suffer. Try it and see what you think. We refrigerated these rolls and every day for 3 days had another and another, all of them reheated in the microwave. 

Nettie's Cheese Ball
by Sandra
Adapted from Nettie's recipe that my friend Tamela shared with me

2 8-ounce cream cheese, softened
2 cups sharp cheddar, shredded
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
1/4 cup beer
2 - 3 Tablespoons green bell pepper, minced
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
4 dashes cayenne pepper
2 Tablespoons pimentos, minced
2 green onions (both white and green parts), minced
1/2 cup nuts of your choice, finely chopped (optional)

Mix all ingredients together in a bowl until well-combined. Set aside.

If you are making a cheese ball with this recipe, rather than the Cheese Ball Rolls, mix all ingredients except the nuts together and form a ball. Roll in the nuts. Refrigerate from several hours to overnight before serving.

Love,

P.S. I now consider my obsession with this fig spread to be lifelong. You've seen it, I know you have. It's in the cheese section of many grocery stores. You can try to substitute fig preserves or fig jam, but it's not even close to the same. This goes very well with these delicious Cheeseball Rolls or with the Sweet Bubble Bread. Or in a spoon. Yum yum.

Bourbon-Pickled Jalapeños (and Serranos)

Dear Lauren,

I really didn't know what to think about this recipe because I'm not a pickler. I'm not a canner. I wish I was! I've tried maybe one or two quick pickling recipes and they didn't really work out. I nearly talked myself out of this one, but then I thought about Missy's Famous Pickles* and I thought, hmmmm, I better give this bourbon pickling recipe a try. So glad I did! These were a real hit! I used mostly Serrano peppers because that's what we had the most of in our garden but, unless you can really take the heat, I would suggest using jalapenos as the original recipe author suggests. And by the way, the book "Smoke & Pickles" is excellent. I made ten recipes within about two weeks out of this book. Edward Lee is my new sweetheart and I plan to stalk him on the Internet. For recipes! 

Bourbon-Pickled Jalapeños (and Serranos)
adapted from Smoke & Pickles by Edward Lee
(Thank you to my friend, Woo Brower, for sharing her book with me!)

12 ounces jalapeño peppers, tops cut off, sliced in 1/4" rounds (WEAR GLOVES! Substitute Serranos or other peppers depending upon your heat tolerance.)
1 1/4 cups white vinegar
1 cup Maker's Mark (or whatever bourbon you like)
1/2 cup honey
2 teaspoons coriander seeds
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon yellow mustard seeds
2 bay leaves

Place your pepper slices in a quart-sized mason jar (I like wide-mouth jars and I like this funnel, which is optional). Bring the rest of the ingredients to a boil in a small saucepan and then lower the heat and simmer for 5 minutes. Pour into the mason jar and top with a lid (I like these.) Refrigerate for 5 days. They will last for up to 2 weeks.

Love,

P.S. Missy is known far and wide in her neck of the woods and beyond for her famous pickles. If you make these, put them in mason jars, and give them away as gifts, you will be the most popular person in your town! They are that good!

Missy's Famous Pickles

1 gallon hamburger dill pickles, drained
2 small jars sliced jalapeños, drained (you can use 1/2 jar of the Bourbon-Pickled Peppers above, if you like)
1 small bottle Tabasco
4-5 garlic cloves
5 pounds sugar

Mix all ingredients in a giant plastic Tupperware and seal well. Turn it upside down on its lid. Flip it back over once a day and stir it. Do this for 5 days. On the 6th day, taste and then feel free to add more jalapeños or garlic. Put in mason jars and keep the jars refrigerated.They will keep 2-3 weeks but they won't last that long, trust me. You can serve these on anything or eat them by the fistful all on their lonesome, they are fantastic!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Dear Lauren,

I was going for the four-leaf clover frittata, but a five-leaf clover is even luckier, right? I saw this recipe on Pinterest. I talked about it with Susan Whempner and I then promptly forgot about it. When I noticed that Linda Mire posted it, and I felt like...this is a sign! So I got up this morning and made it for Dad, who is leaving today and will be in Boston for St. Patrick's Day! And he's wearing a green shirt! I'd say the five-leaf clovers are already bringing him luck!

St. Patrick's Day Frittata

2 eggs

2 egg whites

Green pepper slices from the bottom of the pepper for "clovers", Cut "stems" from the remainder of the pepper

Salt and pepper

Preheat the oven to 400°F. Break the whole eggs into a bowl. Separate two more eggs and add the egg whites to the bowl and beat with a fork until well-blended. (Save the remaining two egg yolks for another use, or discard.)

I used an 8" Scanpan*, so no fat or cooking spray was required for my dish. If you are using another kind of skillet, add about 1 teaspoon of butter or olive oil to a pan that has been heated over low to medium-low heat. Add the egg mixture. Add your "clovers". Add salt and pepper. Carefully carry the pan to the oven and bake for about 7-8 minutes, until the frittata is slightly puffed and set in the middle. Cut and serve.

*If you have more people to feed, use a larger pan and add more eggs. :-)

Love,

P.S. This is such an easy, yet special breakfast to make when you are on the go in the morning!

P.P.S. The photo was taken at 6 in the morning with my cell phone. No sunlight available, sorry! Still, I think you get the idea. 

P.P.P.S. My favorite things to add to frittatas are leftover spaghetti and a little Jarlsberg. Frozen peas too! But for breakfast, simple ingredients are sometimes better.  

Shortbread Cookies

This post is from last year and I can tell you right now it is very likely it will be repeated every year! We love these cookies! They are unlike any we've had. Hope you will love them too!

 Dear Lauren,

Shortbread cookies. We can't do Christmas at our house without them. We make these cookies every year. Everyone loves them, and Christmas is not complete unless several dozen are made and consumed by us, several more dozen made and given away to friends and neighbors. They melt in your mouth and they cannot be mailed no matter how carefully they’re wrapped. Too delicate.

Now, I didn't realize this, since I grew up with these cookies, but most people associate shortbread with something that is very different from what our family makes. Yet the ingredients are very similar. In fact, when my friend Louise ate some, she later wrote about them and said, "These are not shortbreads. They are delicate whispers of angels. I've never had a cookie literally dissolve on my tongue like these." 

Sweet and Sour Meatloaf

Dear Lauren, 

I have so much to say! Where to start?! Do you remember I told you I am going to be doing some cooking for Good Cook? Well this is the first post! OMG! I am so excited!!!! They sent me a Sweet Creations Mini Loaf Pan (it's nonstick!) and some White Snow Flake Parchment Paper and right off the bat I had about 16 ideas what to use it all for! Luckily for me, one idea stuck out and so Dad and I made Sweet and Sour Meatloaf.

Before I tell you how to make this recipe, I want to tell you a few other things. 1) This pan is perfect for portion control. 2) It's also a great pan to use to split up your full-size recipe in half, freeze overnight (like I am doing with this recipe) and then pop out the loaves and freeze them. 3) You can make banana bread and other sweet concoctions in with this pan! But I rebelled and went the savory route!

Do you remember Susan Whempner from when we lived in California? Well, she and I have been working together on 37 Cooks and guess what? She started a blog for empty nesters. She is going to LOVE this pan. I sent her one today! Merry Christmas, Susan! Lauren, what Susan does is pare down her favorite recipes for two people, which of course is great for empty nesters. But it's also good for single people like you! Anyway, you might want to follow her blog. I am (on Bloglovin).

When I got this pan, I also thought about our friend Al. Now, because he is a widower and travels for work often and is just learning to cook, I've been trying to think of things he can make and easily freeze the leftovers. He's always on a diet too and the more I think of it, this pan is a must have for him. So I bought one for him too. Merry Christmas, Al!

I hope they aren't reading this post. The element of surprise is now gone.

Oops.

As for the meatloaf, everyone has their own favorite recipe and so do I. It's a recipe my mother used to make when we were growing up and I still love it. It's so easy to make and I am thrilled that it also works well with this Good Cook pan.

Sweet and Sour Meatloaf

1 1/2 pounds ground beef

1 medium onion, chopped

1 cup crackers, crushed (use the food processor or just smash 'em)

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 can tomato soup

1 beaten egg

Mix all ingredients together with your hands. You can either use a dish and make a mound of the meat mixture in the center with all of the meat OR you can divide it - half of the mixture in a baking dish and half in the four openings in the mini loaf pan. The mini loaf openings should not be filled more than 3/4 of the way.

1/2 can tomato soup
2 tablespoons mustard
1 cup water
2 tablespoons white vinegar
4 tablespoons brown sugar

Mix all ingredients and divide and pour over your meat mixture in your one baking dish OR half in your main baking dish and half split between the four openings in the mini loaf pan. Bake at 350 degrees for  about 45 minutes or until a thermometer reaches 160 degrees. 

The higher the fat content in your ground beef the more this meatloaf will fall apart. We ate this growing up and we never knew that meatloaf was sliced until we were adults and tried other recipes! Serve with your favorite veggies. We had some roasted asparagus with ours.

Love,

P.S. I bought a pan for you too. Merry Christmas, Lauren! 
P.S.S. If you or anyone reading this post wants to buy this pan, use the code: SWEETLOAF to get 25% off! Merry Christmas, everyone!
P.P.S. Follow Good Cook on Twitter or Facebook. 

Applesauce

Dear Lauren,

We took the long way home from Knoxville back to Atlanta.

Things I learned that weekend:

1) sleepovers with friends never cease to be fun no matter your age
2) go to a college football game when you get the chance, no matter if it's your favorite team or not
3) never squish a stinkbug
4) for immediate acceptance in Knoxville, TN paint your fingernails orange

The Sexy Kir (Rhymes with Beer)

Dear Lauren,

Sometimes you want a special drink to serve to your girlfriends. I came across one when I was reading a cookbook called Sugar Cube. The gal that wrote this book has a food truck, and then she wrote a cookbook, and now she has a bakery!

Now, I read cookbooks from cover to cover and although I read other types of books, I really, really love reading cookbooks. A library just opened close to the house and I need to get over there one day and hang out and read cookbooks. I wonder if they have wi-fi at the library? I'll check it out and let you know.

So, back to special girl drinks. When I saw this drink in the cookbook I decided I'd bring the ingredients to my friend Julie's house. She'd invited us for dinner and I knew she and one other friend would be there, so I could at least two girls to taste The Sexy Kir since I don't drink. I figured the guys could try the drink, too. I mean, just because the drink is pink doesn't restrict it to girls, right? Julie loved it and so did our friend, Bear. I love that a man named Bear loves a pink drink, don't you?

Happy National Ice Cream Sandwich Day!

I asked Dad to tell me his ultimate ice cream sandwich. Ultimate! Right away he said - make your molasses cookies and add pralines & cream ice cream.

Now right about the same time these ice cream sandwiches were being concocted, you showed me a tricky way to make an ice cream sandwich and I loved it!

Click on this website to see it in action!

The Emerald Love Story

Dear Lauren,

I told you these stories would not be in order. Who cares?

Story 2:

As you know, our trip of 11 Hickmans included my parents (Grampa and Cojo to you), my siblings (Aunt Mary and Uncle Matt), my brother's girlfriend (Britt), my sister's two children age 12 (Carson) and 15 (Taylor), Dad and I and you and Shelby, both age 23. Wow, y'all are getting old. We live all over the U.S. and we met up in New York City. It was a very busy week, but really a good one. Carson and Taylor had never been and neither had Britt. It was great to see the city through their eyes and we played tour guide much of the time.

Usually we play a lot of cards on family get togethers, but there was no time. Cojo decided to pack up some of her jewelry because she wanted to see if any of the girls - me, Beth, you, Shelby, Taylor - wanted any of it. We started referring to it as her garage sale but she seemed offended, so I changed it to her trunk show. I think she liked that better.

Here are my prizes! I can't seem to remove the white one from the velvet board. I can't get the clasp open. I think I need new glasses.

Beth (that's Aunt Mary) wanted none of the jewelry, and neither did Taylor. They're not jewelry people. You wanted 90% of it, but settled for 85% so that Shelby could have some and, if you recall, you two decided to share custody of a few items. Now, some of the pieces were "real" and Cojo loves southwestern stuff, and so do you. But, some the the pieces were costume and I was surprised that you and Shelby wanted so much of it. Costume parties, I later learned.

Chick Flick Hummus and Pita Chips

Dear Lauren,

So, we have this wall in our pantry. It's narrow, but it's really tall, I'd say 12 feet. One week when Dad was out of town, I went to Home Depot and I bought some magnetic paint and I bought some chalkboard paint. And I painted the narrow, tall wall. It required a ladder, plastic sheeting and tools (wow, that sounds too much like Dexter, doesn't it?).

Egg and Cress

Dear Lauren,

Let's recap.

You sent me a text that said, "I want an egg and cress sandwich."

I thought, wow, this child cannot spell. And then I went about trying to figure out how I would make sure there were fresh croissants here for Christmas.

I asked all my cooking friends. They had great suggestions. One of my cooking friends actually made croissants from scratch! I decided since Williams Sonoma was offering free shipping, I'd order their croissants. 

Our Family Advent Calendar

This proves I am no longer a perfectionist. 

Dear Lauren,

For many years now, we've had a family advent calendar. I keep the four raggedy sheets of paper that contain it in the box that gets unpacked first every year. Sometimes I can't figure out where I put that box, but that's another matter entirely.

There were a couple years that we actually accomplished every single one of these daily items in a single season. But I was a perfectionist in those years and now that I'm in recovery, I only recommend that you try to achieve all of them if it makes you happy. If it's going to stress you out, just pick a few, or one a week, or just one thing! One of my very favorites, and one I think we've done every year, is tying a Christmas ornament to the rear-view mirror of our cars. I love it! It always makes me happy even when I'm stuck in holiday traffic!

Family Cookbooks and Pizzelles

Dear Lauren,

My friends Sharyl and Mary have this amazing family cookbook. When the cookbook was presented, it had Sharyl in tears. I'm teary just looking at it! Her mother put a lot of time and effort into this project and Sharyl knew that her mother wasn't all that computer literate either. There's just something about this kind of tradition, the compiling of favorite recipes and the handing down of traditions that makes me weepy. Weepy in a good, happy way. Ya know? I wish I had a Three Mom's Cookbook.

It's just one of the reasons I started writing this blog. That and so you would have a way to look up Veggie Fried Rice when you want to cook it!

Let the Christmas Cookie Season Begin

Dear Lauren,

I started a cookbook club several years ago called Cook My Book. Each member chooses a book and then we mail all the books to each other, we all cook out of the books, write notes in the books, and we have a facebook group where we discuss all of it. It's so fun! I know you know all about this!