Scenes From a Bake Sale

Wow. Wow, wow, wow! What a day. Guys, if you weren't exactly local enough to make it to the San Francisco location of the National Food Bloggers' Bake Sale on Saturday, then I really hope that you were able to stop by one in your area. For us here in San Francisco, it was just an amazing day all the way around. We had the most beautiful weather and a sea of enthusiastic customers who went crazy over the the impressive array of goodies that our team turned out of our kitchens for the event. It was, in a word, awesome.

At 11:00 a.m., a bunch of crazy food bloggers descended upon a busy intersection in Noe Valley near Omnivore Books on Food and started setting up our delicious wares. As people started showing up with their goodies, it was hard to not start maniacally shoving things in my face, like, immediately. I couldn't believe the display of talent and phenomenal taste of my fellow food bloggers. The air was electric--full of butter, sugar and insane amounts of positive energy. Truly inspiring.

Things got seriously promising when we made our first sales before we even got our wits about us and got everything priced--woo-hoo! Even Anita, our illustrious leader, was pleasantly surprised.

But really, with a selection like ours, who could resist? We had everything from the bake sale standybys like brownies and cookies to modern favorites like adorable cake pops and crack-like caramel corn to the super chic--macarons, people! Ooh, la la.

And see those cute little pies next to the macarons up there? Those are called iPies and they are made by a gem of a lady named Patricia Kline who I sort of want to be when I grow up. Those iPies? To die for. And if I am making requests as to who I might like to grow up to be, then I would also like a smattering of Ms. Penni Wisner, please.

She is jazzy and earthy, writes cookbooks and makes loaves of artisan breads that rival any fancy boulangerie in the Bay Area. She, and her bread, are really something--check it:

I can't even tell you how terrific it was to not only meet so many bloggers and put faces to URLs, but to sell treats to so many lovely San Franciscans (Old! Young! Babies! Dogs!) who were genuinely into supporting the cause and learning more about Share Our Strength. Chills all over and a little misty, more than once, not gonna lie. And then. And THEN!

The pastry goddess that is Rose Levy Beranbaum came by Omnivore to drop some serious knowledge and sign books. There really is nothing like a room full of excited baking geeks. I felt like I was on a high school choir trip all over again. Pretend you didn't hear that. To distract you, look at this adorable picture of Dame Rose and the wonderful Celia, proprietor of Omnivore and gracious host of of our bake sale. Try to ignore the huge shoulder that I couldn't shoot around because the place was packed. And I dare you not to covet the massive display of cookbooks--I could inhale this shop, I swear.

Many, many thanks to Anita for doing such a wonderful job with the heavy lifting of organizing the sale, the warm staff at Omnivore Books for hosting all us wacky food bloggers and getting the word out on a grand scale, and of course the good people of San Francisco who came from all over the city to put delicious baked goods in their faces in the name of an incredible charity. Especially one particularly demanding, wee San Franciscan who refused to leave until she mowed half a package of Kerrie's Meyer Lemon Madeleines. I was so proud.

Update: We raised $1650 for Share Our Strength! Woot, woot!