Oh Happy Day

I write this little bloggy for fun and as a creative outlet.  I love to eat and cook, explore and travel to new places and be outside.  It's fun to share all of that with anyone who follows our adventures here, with all of you.

And as true as all of that is, it's still nice to be recognized, and in the last week I've felt the love for sure!

First, thank you to everyone who pulled out last minute votes for The Cyclist's Wife for the Circle of Moms Top 25 NorCal Mom's contest.  I didn't even know I was in the contest until about a day and a half before it ended, but all of your votes got me in the top 25!  I'm happy to now display this badge on the blog!

And then, if that wasn't enough, I awakened to this e-mail from Real Women of Philadelphia this morning:

We have an amazing fruit recipe for you to try, but you’ll have to make it soon! See what recipe we’re obsessing over when you click the link:

http://realwomenofphiladelphia.com/blog/post/are-you-feeling-peachy-keen

--The Real Women of Philadelphia Team 
....and I thought, "that would be cool if they featured my recipe".  

I clicked the link and...

....there was my photo!  

How exciting!  

To see the blog post at Real Women of Philadelphia click here.

To see my recipe on this blog, click here.

Thank you for your votes and recognition, it really does mean so much to me!  

Have a great day!

♥

TCW

Philly Cream Peach Tart with a Shortbread Crust: The tale of a contest entry

Well I entered this little contest yesterday....

The Real Women of Philadelphia Kitchen of Your Dreams Contest

This was my entry...

Philly Cream Peach Tart with a Shortbread Crust

{You can get the full recipe by clicking that ↑ link}

I have never entered a contest like this before and I thought it was fun.  The blog allows me to be creative without any parameters.  The contest, on the other hand, had some specific rules that forced me to be creative in order to follow them.  This was challenging, but I think the end result is a better product for it.

I took two shots at making this.  The first one was good, but didn't look nearly as pretty.  I also made it in a pie pan the first time, which didn't work out nearly as well as the tart pan.  I must say, the addition of the tart pan at our house is quickly making me become the Queen of Tarts - I already have a new tart recipe that I'll share soon.

Due to time constraints (read: I have a real job too), I typically don't make and re-make recipes I post here.  If they're good and they look good, I share them.  This is something I would probably change if I ever get to make blogging and recipe creation my full time job, but for now, what I'm doing works.  Giving myself that time with this recipe though, I was really able to perfect it, which was nice.

Additionally, I spent a lot more time with the photos than I normally would (again, real job = limited time).  I took about 40 photos of this dang tart and spent hours editing the photo I finally chose.

The lesson learned here is, the photo editing and time spent is really worth it.  It does leave me with a bit of dilemma though, because spending more time on photos means less posts per week, but also makes me a better photographer.

And, of course I hope/wish/pray I win this contest (how freaking awesome would that be??), the experience of participating (and eating that tart) was worth it.

And that ends the tale of my contest entry.  Have a nice day!

P.S.  I also shared this on Tasty Kitchen.