Nashville, TN and 5,000 Pictures

 My trip to the 47th Pillsbury Bake Off started out beautifully! I got a free show on the plane and was able to watch the sunrise. Totally breathtaking! In that moment I felt so grateful to be where I was.

 When I landed and checked my phone I got butterflies when I saw that Pillsbury was wishing me luck!

One thing I love about the Bake-Off is the way they treat the finalists. They really make each and every one of us feel special. These nice ladies were waiting for me at baggage claim and were ready to whisk me away to the Omni Hotel

 I arrived around 8am, so my room wasn't ready yet. I checked my bags and went upstairs to the ballrooms to be nosy and see what was already set up for us. The wall of our recipes was up and I found mine hiding in there

One of the best things about this crazy hobby I have is the friends you make along the way. One of them is named Lauren as well and we met last year in Vegas for the Bake Off. We keep in touch on facebook, support each other in other contests and we each understand the crazy thought process and obsessions that are all a part of the recipe creating process.

I sent her a text as soon as I got there so we could meet for breakfast and we made our way to Kitchen Notes, the hotel restaurant and I was SO excited to try their Biscuit Bar! Three different flavored biscuits, jams, honey and butters galore

 There were beautiful cheese platters, fruit platters and, of course, sausage gravy for the biscuits

We had fun catching up over breakfast and I was so glad to have a friend to share the excitement of the coming weekend with.

I finally got word that my room was ready and it was absolutely beautiful!! The TV was on and welcoming me when I opened the door, the bathroom was nicer than the one at my house, the closet lights come on when you open it and I had a King size bed that was all mine

When you check in with the Bake Off employees you are given a goodie bag loaded with all kinds of things from Pillsbury and their sponsor companies. Included in the bag was the "Big Book of Easy Baking" and guess what I found inside?!

My entry from last year!

I made my way downstairs for the Finalist meeting and Picture

It's always fun to walk into that room and see the Bake Off floor for the first time and I was happy to see so many familiar faces from last year's contest!

They wouldn't tell us the exact number but a fellow finalist did overhear a General Mills employee say that there were 65,000 entries this year. Isn't that crazy?!

I feel so lucky to have made it through the entire screening process and to have gotten a finalist spot two years in a row! After the meeting and pictures I headed to a Cocktail Hour that HEB invited me to

 and then went to the Dinner Reception next door. It was absolutely beautiful! They had a band playing, cute string lights all over, a bar

 a fried pickle station

 the cutest little grilled pimento cheese sandwiches you ever did see

 Shrimp and Grits Cakes

 A gorgeous grilled veggie station

 and the highlight of the night was the dessert drinks! Liquid Nitrogen was poured into mixers to create frozen Irish Cream that you could top with sparkling water, chocolate sauce, caramel and assorted toppings. It was absolutely delicious!!

Not ready for the night to end yet, a few of us headed down to the Hotel Lobby to have a drink and catch up. I got the Champagne Cobbler- a mix of raspberry vodka, muddled strawberries, lemon juice and a splash of Chandon Rose

It was the perfect way to end the night- a delicious drink, hilarious sweet friends and a toast to our big day to come!

47th Pillsbury Bake Off

I can't believe it, but tomorrow I'll be on my way to Nashville, TN to compete in the Pillsbury Bake-Off for the second year in a row! My recipe for Mexican Street Corn Cups got me the coveted finalist spot and I'm over the moon excited to be going again this year!

Last year I was so overwhelmed by the entire experience and I'm happy to be going back a little less nervous this time.
Not that I won't be nervous, but maybe just a little bit less this time around.

If you wouldn't mind, say a prayer for me, send me your happy thoughts and cross your fingers for me...whatever you've got, I'll take it! Four lucky finalists will win $10,000 and a chance to be voted for online to take home the $1 Million Grand prize. I really really really hope it's me this year!

Last year, at the finalist meeting in Vegas, we found out our host for the competition was Padma Lakshmi and I was so disappointed when I didn't get to meet her on the Bake-Off floor. This year, we have been told the host will be Carla Hall, who I adore, and I am bound and determined to get a pic with her!
It will happen.

Pillsbury has named Carla Hall of ABC’s “The Chew” the official host of the 47th Pillsbury Bake-Off Contest, coming up Nov. 3, in Nashville, Hall’s hometown.

She will walk the Contest floor at the Omni Nashville Hotel, visit with the 100 finalists and then emcee the Bake-Off Contest Award Show later that night.
 Hall will announce the four category winning recipes selected by Contest judges to advance to the competition’s final stage – a public online vote which will open following the Award Show on Nov. 3 and run through Dec. 2 – to vie for the $1 million grand prize. It’s the first time in the Contest’s history that an online vote of the four category winning recipes will help determine the winner.

The results of the public vote will be combined with the judges’ decisions to determine the grand prize winner, who will be revealed by Hall on ABC’s  “The Chew,” on December

- See more at: http://www.blog.generalmills.com/2014/10/celebrity-chef-carla-hall-will-host-the-pillsbury-bake-off-contest/#sthash.tQEGQAsD.dpuf

How exciting is that?!?!
Be sure to follow me on Instagram @fleurdelectable and twitter @lwyler81 to see updates on the contest throughout the day!
And here is the video interview I did with Real Food Real Kitchens at the New York Wine and Food Festival!

 

 

Central Park, The Met and my first ever Giveaway!!!

Anyone that knows me is fully aware of how I loathe exercise of any kind. I will avoid it at all costs, so I was utterly shocked at how our walk through Central Park on our last morning in New York turned out to be one of the highlights of our trip. It was an absolutely gorgeous day and it actually felt and looked like fall! At my house we're sweating and dealing with drought so it was a really nice change of pace to bundle up in boots and a jacket and stroll along gorgeous walkways of yellow, orange and red leaves!

I personally had never understood why people would tell me to go to Central Park in the first place. Clearly all I am interested in when I am on vacation is eating, not walking. I didn't know what Louis was thinking suggesting we walk through the park on our way to The Met but as soon as you get a few feet in, it's like the busy noise of the city just melts away

and you're left staring at geese and gorgeous trees and fountains and old people doing exercise classes. I was so glad I wasn't doing that!

 So after all that exertion I felt totally justified hitting up Shake Shack for lunch

It was so so good

We both got the smoke shack (I got a single and Louis got the double) and we split an order of fries. The smoke shack is a cheeseburger topped with applewood smoked bacon, chopped cherry peppers and shake sauce. The sauce and cherry peppers totally made the burger and I can't wait until the Austin location opens so I can go and compare them!

 After stuffing ourselves we made our way, in the dirtiest cab to ever grace the face of the earth, to the Met

I was completely floored by just how huge the museum actually is! And, the entrance fee is "optional" so that everyone has access to the museum. I personally thought that was pretty awesome. We stayed the longest time in the Egyptian and Roman areas but quickly realized that we'd need a few days to be able to see everything

Taking a little break on the rooftop was just stunning and the bar up there was a bonus I was excited to see!

 I know this is random, but how cute is the little seating areas that I saw at our hotel?! I totally need to recreate this. Or pay someone to do it, since my crafting gene is broken. Before heading to the airport we stopped at The Common at the hotel and grabbed a quick bite since airport food is the worst excuse for food ever. I got the Lobster Gumbo and Triple Cooked Duck Fat Fries (if you're keeping track, yes, this is my forth order of fries on this trip)

 The fries were fabulous (obviously) and the gumbo was good. It was very thick and the roux was lighter than what I make, but it was still good. We said goodbye to the Hudson and headed home

Every time I come home from a long trip I am reminded that there's no better welcome home than the one from your dogs!

Roux and Beignet missed us way more than the kids did!

 I had such a fabulous trip I wanted to share a little piece of it with you!

I brought back an extra goodie bag from the Wine and Food Festival that I will send to one lucky reader! It's full of a ton of fun things that I hope you love!

To enter the giveaway all you have to do is scroll up to the top right column and "follow by Email" and come back leaving a comment telling me you did! For a bonus entry, share the giveaway on Facebook and come back leaving an additional comment telling me you did that. If you are already following by email, simply leave me a comment saying so. Good Luck!!

 

WooHoo!! Congrats Jenn Tidwell, you won!!

 

Winner must have a U.S. shipping address and will be chosen Saturday November 1, 2014 at 11:59pm.  The winner will be chosen at random using Random.org and announced at the top of this post. The winner will also be notified via email; if the winner does not respond within 48 hours, another winner will be selected.

NYCFWF day 3 and Morimoto

On day 3 of our trip we walked to Morning Star Restaurant a block away from the hotel for breakfast. I was intrigued by the menu since there were a few things I had never heard of before on there. Louis had the Irish Breakfast which included 2 eggs, black and white pudding, bacon, sausage, grilled tomato, baked beans and toast.

Ya know, a light breakfast to start the day.

I tried the white pudding which is an Irish oatmeal sausage and was surprised at how delicious it was! The black pudding I wasn't brave enough to try but Louis swore it was very good. I feel like I'm a pretty adventurous eater but blood sausage is where I draw the line.

I got the Cypriot breakfast which was 2 eggs, grilled halloumi, Loukaniko, Lountza, Potatoes and Toast

By the time I remembered to take a pic I had already dug into my plate, so I know it doesn't look great but I promise you it was! Sometimes you just can't beat greasy diner food, and this was a great place to get it! Halloumi is a firm Greek cheese that can be grilled or seared and this was perfectly crisp. I thought it was strange that the potatoes were actually just fries, but I am a French fry addict so it was totally fine with me. The Loukaniko is a Greek sausage flavored with orange peel, fennel seed, and herbs- to me it had a strong wine flavor and I loved it! Lountza is pork tenderloin that's brined, marinated in red wine, dried, smoked and sliced thinly. So so yummy and would be delicious on a sandwich as well!

For two coffees, and two HUGE plates of food our bill was $20 less than the one gross croissant sandwich that room service had delivered the morning before so this was a good pick and we left happy!

After breakfast we headed to the Food and Wine Fest and got there just in time to see Paula and Bobby Deen cooking together. I was really surprised to see them there since I thought she was banned from Food Network?!

Anyway, I love Paula and thought they were really cute together and she kept insisting on going into the crowd to let people sample the things they were making. 

 

A few of the stand out dishes of the day were this cute little ravioli with micro greens and the truffle cream sauce gnocchi. The gnocchi were literally the best I've ever had- pillow-y, light and airy. I could have eaten an entire plate of them....if I hadn't eaten my weight in food at breakfast.

 One thing that stopped me in my tracks was the 3D Systems sugar sculptures! Look at these things!! I sat there staring at them in awe and fully expected Willy Wonka to show up at any moment. They had a printer right there that just created whatever design they inputted into the sugar pieces and then airbrushed flavored colors onto each piece. This was honestly one of the coolest things I've ever seen and it really made me want one for myself. Can you imagine having friends over, giving them a cup of coffee and then a pink sugar hexagon?! Or popping one of these in your kid's lunch box. The teachers I'm sure would not appreciate a kid downing sugar cubes in the middle of the day but my kids would think it was amazing!

As if we hadn't eaten enough already, we headed to Morimoto for dinner. The restaurant is absolutely beautiful, and as weird as it sounds, the bathrooms are a must see!

I don't know how they do it but the infinity wall is amazing to look at! The seat lifts automatically when you walk in, can be heated and there is a long silver bar on the wall that has buttons for options to choose from for your "experience". I don't know who is hanging out in there long enough to need all of these services, but it was funny to see it there!

I started the night with a Sesame Raspberry cocktail that was absolutely divine and now I'm mad at myself that I didn't take a pic of the drink menu because I can't find it online

As a starter we tried the Oyster Foie Gras

Oysters, foie gras, uni and teriyaki sauce

After reading the description I was totally on board with this one and was really disappointed once I tasted it. The oyster, foie and uni were all the same texture and temperature. It was neither hot nor cold. I think I was expecting a cold oyster with seared foie on top but everything was luke warm and for me I need oysters either icy cold or hot- not somewhere in the middle. I had one and let Louis have the other two

My favorite dish of the night was the Toro Tartare with Kaluga caviar, wasabi, sour cream, chives, dashi soy and these delightful little crisps that looked like sprinkles

It was beautiful, interactive and totally delicious. We scraped this one clean!



Miso Glazed Roasted Bone Marrow with sake ikura, mitsuba chimichurri and grilled sourdough was next. While I'm not a huge fan of marrow like Louis is, I loved the sake ikura (salmon roe cured in sake) and the chimichurri which was made with mitsuba (Japanese wild parsley) on the grilled bread



My second favorite dish of the night was the Braised Black Cod with Ginger Soy Reduction. This was one of those dishes that felt like it disappeared off the plate way too soon! We couldn't eat it fast enough. The fish was so flaky, the sauce was sweet and sticky and rich and even the little slivers of pepper on the bottom of the plate were pickled, sweet and crunchy which gave a great contrast to the rich sauce on the fish.

This is the Duck Duck Duck which I thought was yuck yuck yuck. Louis and I both love duck but after eating just some of it we both agreed it just didn't work. At all.

The Roasted duck was ok, but not stellar, the sandwich on a housemade croissant with foie gras butter fell apart when we tried to eat it and the duck egg was just oddly on the side by itself. The two sauces were I think red miso sauce and black bean sauce but, if blindfolded, I would have sworn they were the same. Overall, a fail in my opinion. Do yourself a favor if you go and just go with the Cod!



I adore Brussels sprouts and was very happy when I got to dig into these! They were flash fried till the outer leaves were deliciously crispy and then tossed in a sauce I could have taken shots of, Chinese sausage and cranberries. Yum yum!

I was really happy to go and try Morimoto even though we didn't love a few of the dishes. The ones that shined were good enough to go back for!