Run to Hear, Inc. is on AmazonSmile!!!

Do you shop on Amazon.com? 

I live in the boonies… I shop on Amazon a LOT.  The nearest big stores are 25 to 30 miles away from my home and the “better” big stores are over 65 miles away .  I quickly became an avid Amazon shopper.  I am a proponent of “shop local” and try to shop at local indie shops regularly, but for much of what I need; it simply is not to be found in a 250 mile radius of my home!  I am a specialty baker and Amazon has a lot of the specialty items I need.  They send most of it right to my door – so I’m a huge fan!  The big Amazon-in-the-sky gets lots of bad press…but here’s some press about the good they are also doing.

Imagine my delight when I found “AmazonSmile” AND found out that Run to Hear, Inc. was a qualified recipient of a percentage of almost everything I buy on Amazon!  All I had to do was sign up and use my regular account (just whatever account you use when you make purchases on Amazon regardless of whether or not it is AmazonPrime) BUT I saved the AmazonSmile portal on my favorites bar so I start my shopping there.  All of my eligible purchases cost the same as the other portal…but, because I designated Run to Hear, Inc. as my charity, they get a percentage of my purchase price as a donation.  No extra cost to me – it’s just Amazon, through their charitable foundation, doing a good deed.  I think it's the right thing for big business to do, don't you?  If so, then take advantage of it without delay!

Here’s a link to the FAQs about the program.  PLEASE sign up today…select Run to Hear, Inc. from their list of qualified charities, and get busy shopping.  Just remember, you must enter through the AmazonSmile portal when you shop… and you will see Run to Hear is listed as your charity at the top of the web page when you are logged in correctly.

It doesn’t cost you a penny…but, as one of the parents of a Run to Hear founder said “Mama told me never to pass up any free money. Golden crumbs....” and that is the absolute truth.  You can help Run to Hear without it costing YOU any extra pennies.  They are indeed golden crumbs for those in need of assistance with cochlear implants, hearing accessories, and assistive technologies…whatever it takes for the hearing impaired, who want to hear better, to access hearing. 

Thanks for helping out in any way you can…be an AmazonSmile contributor today!

R2H group from 2012
Photo courtesy of  Gerald Tow

While you are thinking about Run to Hear....have you signed up for the 2014 5k?  We're at Lake Pflugerville Park again this year and we've moved to a much better (hopefully cooler) day!  MAY 10, 2014 with an 8:00 a.m. start time.  Family friendly, but timed for those more competitive runners (like my granddaughter who won 3rd place in her category last year...yay rah Audrey!).  The sign-up link is on our web site RuntoHear.org - please visit and get yourself registered today.  Can't wait to see you there!

Audrey and her Dad (my son Will), crossing
the finish line with a good time despite arriving and
starting 5 minutes after the start.
Photo courtesy of Alex Labry

Thank you - now I'm back to decorating my Valentine's Day cookies - look for those in an upcoming post!

Run to Hear 2013 Cookies!

I've written in the past about Run to Hear... a charity near and dear to my heart.  It's a wonderful charity focused on raising funds to help support deaf and hard of hearing children who want to hear and speak.  A group of children, calling themselves The Deaf Club since they were pre-teens, are now all entering their late teens and early 20's.  They wanted a way to "pay it forward" because they know how very fortunate they are.  All of them, through the years, have become cochlear implant users and they are very aware of how incredibly expensive their gift of hearing has been for their parents.  They came up with having a benefit 5K to raise funds...and this was their 3rd event.  In past years, most of the work was done by the parents, with the kids in training.  This year... a huge amount of the work was done by the young adults.  Before long, I expect it to be totally in their hands.  We are all very proud parents.

This month's incredibly busy schedule included learning a new cookie decorating technique (actually TWO techniques) and using said techniques in the preparation of 150 cookies for the Run to Hear families and for some excellent volunteer workers!

Technique #1 - Using edible wafer paper, printed with the Run to Hear logo, as the centerpiece of each cookie.

Technique #2 - Finally getting the correct royal icing consistency so that I could learn to pipe a shell border. 

I started by working with our tech support guy and photographer extraordinaire, Alex Labry, on the Run to Hear team.  He provided me with a .jpg of the color logo.  I then sent the logo to an Etsy seller, CookiePixie.  She worked with me to custom design the wafer paper order to make the most cookies possible at the lowest cost.  I received many compliments on the vivid colors...she was great to work with.

Next, once I received the wafer papers (30 to a sheet), I began making cookie dough and baking off the cookies - I elected to go with small scalloped edge squares.  It took 4 batches of Vanilla Bean Sugar Cookie Dough rolled 3/8" thick.  Next, I prepped enough white royal icing to outline and flood 160 cookies (extras in case I screwed up).  I needed to make sure it was smooth, so it was a bit looser than usual and they turned out really nice.  One thing I will do if I ever attempt a huge project like this again, is to make a template and draw, with food color markers, an outline on the cookie of what I want to pipe.  My base coat sizes were not consistent.  Anyway, after I got them all flooded, I set them under the fans (I had to buy an extra fan to keep them all going...humidity was HIGH).  I knew I shouldn't be particularly concerned with bubbles because I knew the wafer paper would cover most everything.  However, my need to have things neat made me compulsively try to make each cookie bubble free!  I let them dry thoroughly under the fans for 24 hours.  Applying the wafer paper requires a completely dry base coat.

The next step was to cut the square logo prints.  I had read on the Cookie Pixie blog that she sometimes snipped off her corners to get good adhesion.  I did some without...and most with curved corners.  The ones with straight corners tended to be the most difficult to get to lay down flat.  Since I'd never done this before, I messed up a few.  I tried techniques I had read about on The Cookie Connection web site...and I ended up finding the most success painting the back of the rounded corner squares with corn syrup. 

 

I wiped my hands with a moist dish towel and dried them between every single application.  The deal with wafer paper...water melts them immediately.  The deal with painting with corn syrup...very sticky endeavor.  Impossible to get the edges without getting it on your hands.  I soon got into a rhythm.  Because my cookie surfaces were not consistent I learned quickly to just cut all of the squares and put them in a bowl.  Then, I'd sit three cookies in front of me and my bowl of light corn syrup and artist's paint brush.  I had a pair of tiny, very sharp scissors at my right hand and a cleaning station to my left.  I trimmed each square to fit each cookie and allowed the trim bits to fall into a ramekin.  Flipped the paper, painted the back and carefully turned it onto the cookie, gently smoothing all the way to the edges.  Move the cookie to the rack in front of the fan.  Complete the 3 cookies, re-smooth the edges...repeat 160 times.  Dry another 24 hours.

The next day, I made more royal icing and added just a spritz of water to the thick "concrete" to make the stiff icing to pipe the shell borders.  I had never been successful with making a shell border - either the icing was too loose or I didn't "get" what the motion was supposed to be like.  Then I watched Julia Usher demonstrate it on her Ultimate Cookies DVD.  I had some wax paper to the side and used it, as she instructed, to practice and make sure my tip and icing consistency were just right.  After watching her a few times, it just clicked!  I used a #13 Wilton star tip and I went to town!  I did mess up a few and let my husband eat the mistakes. 

I also wanted to eat one myself to make sure the wafer papers tasted okay.  Truth was, they didn't taste like anything.  They didn't melt as fast as I expected and I could tell there was "something" on the icing...but it tasted just fine!  150 cookies later, under the fans to dry again.  The piped border neatly covered all of the wafer paper edges.  I had every intention of piping colorful dots around the outer edge of the scallops...but I gave up.

OK - I admit by this point, I was T*I*R*E*D of cookies!  I gave myself a break and then got started on bagging each one.  I decided not to tie with little ribbons this time, but did seal each with a happy face stickers.

I boxed them up and prayed they would make it unscathed on the 390 mile journey to my destination.
The prayers were answered and the run, and cookies, were a success.  Whew! 

Deaf Club Members and the young ladies who came up with the idea of
paying it forward with a charity event...
Claire Labry, Bridget Black, and Karlie Franke!
Photograph courtesy of Alex Labry Photographer

Bon Appetit, Y'all!

Where in the World is...the SPI FFF???

I know I keep disappearing.  All I can say is it has been quite a couple of months!  Graduation, Spa Day, parties, and now, Run to Hear.

Regular readers will know my youngest son, "the teen", is deaf and hears with cochlear implants and also has Asperger's Syndrome and a few other issues to contend with.  He has a group of friends...friends since they were toddlers... he maintains contact with, despite our moving 350+ miles away from the closest one.  They call themselves The Deaf Club, and all now have cochlear implants to help them hear. 

In 2010, a few of the girls were hanging out together and decided they wanted to pay it forward.  They wanted to give to others who were, perhaps, less fortunate than themselves.  They wanted to help a child receive a cochlear implant who had no other way to get one.

Thus was born the original Run to Hear 5K in June 2011.

Well... we just did it again!  June 23rd, 2012 was the second annual Run to Hear 5K.

I'm not going to go into a ton of detail - but we do have a website and I hope you check it out.
We've even become an incorporated non-profit entity, Run to Hear, Inc. (it's great having an attorney as one of the parents) which allows all of the donations to the organization to be tax deductible.

Just after the race at lovely Lake Pflugerville Park - the teen was
happy another 5K was under his belt!

I wrote a "Morning After" post on our website and hope you might take a moment to read it, and, to read the first page, at least, of our website.  It gives lots of information about our cause and how we use our funds to help "pay it forward".  We are already planning for the 2013 event.  I would love it if any of my running readers...or people interested in deaf individuals having access to sound... would follow our Run to Hear blog posts, either by adding to your RSS feed (upper right side of the Run to Hear main page for that option) or via email (bottom left side of the Run to Hear main page for that option).

My teen coming across the finish line at the
2012 Run to Hear 5K.

Now, while I was in the Austin/Pflugerville/Lago Vista area - I did eat out a lot.  I went to all my favorites while I was around and about for the event and all the preparatory work involved.

We stopped at Schlotzsky's for a sandwich the minute we hit town.  It is one of the things I miss most in the lower Rio Grande Valley.  No Schlotzsky's :-(   We love the location on Brodie Lane in Sunset Valley - our old stomping grounds when we lived in Austin.  I was able to stop at Michael's for a few additions to my Baking and Decorating arsenal while the teen scooted next door to Barnes and Noble for some reading material.  We love that little shopping center!  It's home.

The next day we ran errands and ate at Serrano's at the Lake Line location since we were coming into town from Lago Vista.  Excellent Tex-Mex restaurant.  Another favorite!  I usually try to hit the Texican Cafe at Lake Line...but the teen wanted a burger and the burgers at Serrano's are as good as the Tex-Mex.  It was a win-win.

After packet pick-up we were hot and hungry and thirsty...so we stopped at Pok-e-jo's Arboretum location for some delicious barbeque and big glasses of cold drinks.  I had pork ribs and brisket, green bean casserole, and banana pudding with a huge iced tea.  The teen had a sausage plate with mac and cheese and fries...can you say carb lover?  It was delish...as usual!

After the Saturday morning race, I was so parched all I could think about was getting a Sonic Drive-in Diet Limeade... I love their ice.  After nearly getting lost in Pflugerville (oh my has that town grown!), my friend led me to the closest one.  It was awesome...I REALLY love their ice :-)

We had an after-the-race-party at our friends' home and Sharon made the BEST chicken salad.  I am going to ask her if I can make up a batch and post the recipe on my blog.  It was so fresh and summery tasting.  Keep an eye out for that.  Everyone brought something to share and there was a ton of food - all of it outstanding!

We were so tired that evening, we barely wanted to eat.  My sister and her wife had gone to a party so we opted to eat "locally" at Tug's in Lago Vista.  The teen had an excellent burger and Mr. Flip Flop and I both had barbeque (I think I have mentioned how much I love good barbeque).  He had beef ribs and pork loin with a side of cole slaw and fried okra.  I had a very tasty brisket sandwich with a side of excellent creamy potato salad.  It was a very satisfying meal.  It's attached to a gas station, so one tends to wonder...but, like so many good "local joints".... the locals were, indeed, spot on!  My sister thinks they are some of the best burgers in the lake area...maybe all of Austin. I don't know about that, but the teen said his was very good and we liked the BBQ just fine! 

Our last meal out was in South Austin on our way out of town...we stopped at The Beijing Wok for our regular dose of Crack Chicken.  We've called their Sesame Chicken "crack chicken" since my middle son was a student at Bowie High School.  He and his friends would go off campus for lunch and said Beijing Wok's sesame chicken was as addictive as crack.  It will forever more be called crack chicken in our household.  My middle son joined us there for lunch when he found out we were going to stop on the way out of town.  Everyone except the teen ordered what we expected, and the teen ordered Shrimp LoMein.  He doesn't care for rice, so LoMein is almost always his choice at a Chinese restaurant.

We hit the road for home after 4 days in Austin and it felt so good to sleep in my own bed that night! 

So, THAT is where in the world the SPI Flip Flop Foodie has been.  I can always bring my stories around to food, because no matter where you are, or what you are doing .... you gotta eat!

Bon Appetit, Y'all!!!