Pittsburgh Cookover

The weekend of June 26, 2009, Michael and I went to Pennsylvania to a Bakespace meet-up. Last year a few of us from the Breakfast Club forum got together in Richmond, IN and had a wonderful time. This year Karen was kind enough to offer her home for the weekend for a gathering of BakeSpace members. Members from the Breakfast Club and Happy Hour met at her house on Friday night and Saturday afternoon for good food and conversation. We came from Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Pennsylvania, New York and New Jersey. I saw a few people I had met last year; AnnMarie, her husband Jim, DD, and Jennifer. This year I got to make some new friends, some from the Breakfast Club and some from Happy Hour, Karen and Dan (our hosts), her mother Margaret (we all loved her), Marguerite, Martha, Cara and Michele. Jennifer brought her sister Kathy, DD brought her husband Jim and Michael came with me.

Friday afternoon, after several delays, Michael and I arrived at the Comfort Inn in Washington, PA , unpacked and rested a bit then headed out for Karen's house. After stopping along the way to purchase some Coke and Diet Coke, we easily found Karen and Dan's lovely home. We were supposed to be served pizza but they had gone all out and prepared a delicious meal, including some recipes of BakeSpace members who couldn't join us. Since most of us had to travel such a long distance, we didn't prepare any food but each of us gave Karen a hostess gift. I gave her some Ohio wine, a box of Cheryl & Co. Cookies and a box of Buckeyes....all Ohio companies. Michael and I had a great time seeing my old friends and meeting new. After we ate and visited for a while, we helped clean up and then went back to our hotel.

Correction, most of us didn't make anything. DD out did herself once again and made a beautiful cake for our gathering. It was too lovely for me to describe. For more on her cake and her posts about the Cookover, check out DD's blog - DDPiesSlice

Saturday, before going to Karen's, we went to Cannonsburg, Pa and stopped at Sarris Candies. Ann and Jim had told us about this on Friday so I told Michael that we needed to stop in. Oh my goodness, that place was wonderful! Michael bought a box of chocolates for Karen that were made in shapes of sewing supplies (she had made us all aprons, so he thought she would like this) and before leaving, we had some ice cream.....yummy. We decided that we were coming back before heading home on Sunday.

We arrived at Karen's that afternoon, along with the basket I had prepared for the basket swap. We had decided earlier that we would all bring a basket that was filled with items from our state or something that represented who we were. My basket consisted of food made in Ohio along with a deck of Miami University playing cards. Karen, again had prepared a ton of food, we ate and chatted, even talked to Babette and some of the BakeSpace members online and via web cam. Later we exchanged our baskets...Karen got mine and I got one from Cara, one of the girls from New Jersey. The basket swap was a lot of fun....it was almost like Christmas, going through them and seeing what each of us had received. Another wonderful time, eating and drinking too much....we hated to see it end, but unfortunately it ended all too soon. I can't wait until we get to do another one.

Sunday, we loaded up the car to head back to Ohio, stopping first in Cannonsburg for more ice cream and to purchase some candy. I definitely want to go back to PA. DD posted on her blog about visiting the strip and I feel like I missed a lot by not going there, so plan to see that if I get back that way again.

The Cookover was covered in the local paper
Post-Gazette

PittsburghCookoverPictures