Thanks for all the tips. I just finished decorating the cheesecake with strawberries -- they are overlapping circles of strawberry halves. I loved the idea of the cut-outs for the pies, but since I don't have any letters (except my kids refrigerator magnets ;-) -- ), I just a heart in the top of a couple of the pies. (The cook-off is at a church with the name "heart" in it ) - a little corny to make the hearts so I only did a few. The pies are in the oven. I also grabbed a couple of bandanas we had in the dress-up box to see what I can do with those. Now, I only have to worry transport ... thanks for all the ideas! I'll let you know how it goes.

This thread, which I didn't catch the first time around, made me think. In general, I cook to eat and feed my family. However, I do enjoy baking for special occasions. I think that if I didn't work outside the home I would cook more...and be more adventurous. But, I work and have a long commute so by the time I get home I have to make fast meals with little time for creativity or major prep work. So, we eat a lot of frozen veggies--as is out of the bag, pre-cooked meats warmed up, pasta, soup, occasionally waffles/pancakes/eggs, potatoes, etc. I.e., for the most part things that I can cook fast. One up side to this is that our meals haven't changed that much w/o a kitchen since we do have a MW, Toaster Oven, and hot plate to cook with! One very big downside to this, though, is that my children are not learning to cook like I did from my mom. Back on topic... After finding this site and reading about zones, I realized that one thing that I really wanted was a baking center. So when my kitchen was being designed I had it in the back of my head that whatever we ended up with had to have an area I could designate my "Baking Zone", preferably near the ovens--with room to roll out dough, spread out cookie sheets, and have cookie cutters spread out all at the same time! The other thing I got from this site was our window...having the window down to the counter (OK, not cooking-related, but a very important design element!) Our very first plan that our KD came up with had input from us...but a very naive/ignorant us! (Before GW...BGW!) Then....I found this site.....and the changes began. Actually, I posted that original plan and asked for help (and also asked my KD to start over w/no island) Many, many people here helped me come up with a plan over several weeks (months?). We finally came up with a plan that has changed little since then. Interestingly, when I took away the island "must have", my KD came up with a plan very similar to what we came up with here. The only 3 differences were (1) no mini peninsula, (2) a 36" pantry cabinet rather than a corner pantry, and (3) no separate Message Center cabinets. My KD wasn't completely happy w/our differences, but she, wisely I thought, told me to go home and mock up what I wanted to see how it would work (same advice I got here!) Well, the mock up was great! It proved that I did indeed want the mini peninsula (I liked it so much I left the mock up in place until demo and used it!) When I told her the results, she didn't argue, she accepted it telling me it's my kitchen, so ultimately it's up to me. So in the end, my design was/is based on what I wanted, not what the KD wanted. [If only someone else had measured my kitchen and she was given more authority, I think a lot of subsequent problems would have been avoided.] Our kitchen isn't done yet, but it's close...so I can't yet tell you how it is going to work for us...but we are so...

Meant to add that I read House in the Sunflowers by Ruth Silvestre a year so so ago. I think she has written 3 books with similar titles. It is worth trying to read them in order (which I'm sure I didn't do). They are about her family finding a run-down old farmhouse in Gascony (?) doing it up and meeting and becoming friends with the 'locals'. Wonderful details of the huge meals cooked by these French women. The last book is rather sad. I didn't get any terrible presents this year; although a while ago I received a hot water bottle two year running from my DH plus those electronic scales that worked out how much stored fat was wobbling off my delicate form. You can guess how pleased I was. Mary/woodnymph, your friend may appreciate your abstemious habits by giving you wine bottle stoppers. She obviously knows you never finish a bottle at one sitting. Or is she trying to tell you something? ;-)

Bacon. My brother brought home the bacon... er, he sent off some frozen foodie bacon my way, prepped with different smoking techniques. Earlier for my birthday (the beginning of the previous month) he'd sent me smoked game birds. So, I took two of the quail, wrapped them in bacon, baked in oven as per the quail directions, then removed the foil and broiled for 3-4 minutes to crispy it all up. Yummy. Kitchen tools this year? None but that's okay. I bought myself a sous vide last spring, and once I get my pantry built, I'm probably going for an Instant Pot. Or, maybe that Ninja Foodie, which also incorporates an air fryer. But I'm still peeved at my (expensive) Ninja coffee maker that died after six months of standard usage. I love the sous vide, although I have yet to test certain things in it. It actually makes chicken breast taste good since you don't have to overcook major portions of it to make sure the deep interior is not undercooked. I haven't used it for making steaks for company as everyone seems to like steaks cooked to drastically different done-ness (and I only have one sous vide, not three). I simply opt out of sharing steaks with others! PS: I'd love 129 F!