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Below is a guest post from the winner of a private baking lesson with Anne Byrn, Cathy Seiple, who won the trip and tutorial as part of a PARADE magazine sweepstakes.
Click here for even more photos from the trip!

My name is Cathy Seiple and I was the lucky winner of the “Winner Bakes the Cake Sweepstakes” featured in PARADE magazine. As the winner, I chose to take my husband, Bob, with me to Nashville, Tennessee to meet Anne Byrn, the author of the Cake Mix Doctor cookbooks. As we had never been to Tennessee, we were excited about my win.

We arrived at The Viking Store located at The Factory in Franklin, TN on Saturday, July 17, and were warmly greeted by Anne and her assistant, Diane, at the Cooking Studio kitchen. We also met the ever charming Rebecca Carlisle, from the Workman Publishing publicity department.

After introductions were complete, we donned our aprons and got to work. Anne had chosen three yummy cake recipes: (1) a Cinnamon Breakfast Bundt Cake which we drizzled with a simple glaze; (2) a Lemon Lover’s Layer Cake with Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting garnished with fresh blueberries and thin lemon slices; and (3) a Chocolate Chip Layer Cake covered with a Bittersweet Chocolate Ganache.

Over the years, I found that baking is a wonderful stress reliever for me. I have now learned that using cake mixes doctored with simple ingredients can be a quicker and less complicated way of achieving an attractive and rather tasty finished product. I was especially thrilled to pick up many simple garnishing ideas from Anne that will prove useful in my future baking projects. Anne is an easy person to work with so preparing and baking the recipes she chose was fun. Making the ganache was simple and I wondered why I had never attempted it before.

The highlight in the kitchen that afternoon was seeing Bob with an apron on, completing tasks that Anne asked him to help with, and enjoying himself. Of course, he could not wait to taste the finished products. He and I both favored the cinnamon cake which would be perfect at any time of day.

Meeting and baking with Anne, being able to benefit from her baking skills, combined with the camaraderie shared by all of us working in the kitchen that afternoon, proved to be a fun time and one that I will remember with fondness. So, a big THANK YOU to everyone involved. I feel fortunate to have won such a great prize.

I recently had the pleasure of going on a “business” trip to Nashville, TN to assist with a private baking lesson taught by the legendary Cake Mix Doctor Anne Byrn. I use quotations because, in reality, it was so much fun that it feels wrong to label it as purely business.

The recipients of the lesson, Cathy and Robert Seiple, won it as part of a PARADE magazine sweepstakes. We spent the afternoon baking and eating three mouthwatering cakes with Anne and her assistant, Diane (both of whom, I might add, have the most beautiful southern accents that make every word uttered sound ever so much more pleasant and polite than lowly New York chatter).

After witnessing firsthand just how easy it is to make Anne’s cakes – with such delicious, made from scratch results – I will put it in writing that I am a complete convert to her method.

With Anne’s new gluten-free book coming out soon, I’m fervently hoping that Workman will need to send an emissary back to Nashville for further dessert-related assistance. And, once that day comes, perhaps this blog post will serve as a not-so-subtle suggestion that I am the woman for the job!

For more photos, visit the Cake Mix Doctor Facebook page.

Rebecca Carlisle is a senior publicist

Babies love books (pictures to look at, pages to flip through, corners to nibble). And babies love the beach (water to splash in, sand to dig in, sand to nibble…blecccch!). But poor babies – until now they’ve been denied the pleasure of a good beach read, since children’s books have a hard time standing up to sand and water (not to mention babies’ mouths).

Problem solved: INDESTRUCTIBLES – bright picture books that are printed on tear-proof, drool-proof, totally washable material – stand up to the beach the same way they stand up to babies’ sticky hands and curious mouths.

Deanna Niles McConnell, is the baby/toddler gear expert at Hawaii’s Examiner.com, and a mom whose geographic location means a lot of personal experience with babies on the beach. She praises INDESTRUCTIBLES as beach-bag favorites: “The pages are completely waterproof and can be wiped clean–beach sand falls off and water repels away.” Of course, palm trees and saltwater are not required: the books hold up just as well at the neighborhood pool, or in the backyard (no need to worry about that sprinkler).

My nephews Haldan and Quinn like these books for the lively pictures – 2-year-old Haldan likes to describe the scenes; Quinn, 6 months, prefers just to suck on the pages – and the fact that their dad will pack them for the beach when other books have to be left at home. Once they get to the beach, there’s no scolding about keeping them out of the sand: Haldan can even build a sandy barnyard for the chickens he finds in Wiggle! March! Now that’s getting into a book!

Click here for all of the books in the Indestructibles series

When the dog days set in, you just don’t feel like standing over a hot stove. Or even if you do, the air conditioning can’t keep up and you pay for it later. In the summertime, the staples of my diet tend to switch to salads and something off the grill (and perhaps a potato chip or two if I’m being honest), so when I saw Andrea Chesman’s Recipes from the Root Cellar, I realized that many of my favorite summer foods (potato salad, coleslaw, chicken salad, baked beans) actually contain what are considered “wintery” vegetables.  And since fish tacos are one of my all-time favorite meals, this is what I’ll be topping them with next time….

Chipotle-Cabbage Salad

Designed to replace the lettuce, tomato, and sour cream topping on tacos, this cabbage salad is creamy and mildly spiced to act as a foil for spicy meat or bean topping. But don’t restrict this delicious salad to a single role; it can be eaten on its own or used as a topping for a turkey or roast beef sandwich. If you’re not using this salad to mitigate the heat of another dish, ramp up the chipotle and lime juice for additional flavor.

3/4 cup mayonnaise
3/4 cup sour cream
3 tablespoons lime juice, or more to taste
2 tablespoons minced chipotle canned in adobo sauce, or more to taste
Salt and freshly ground pepper
1 small head green or savoy cabbage, thinly sliced or shredded (6-8 cups)
1 carrot, peeled and shredded
1/8-1/4 red onion, thinly sliced

1. Mix the mayonnaise, sour cream, lime juice, and chipotle in a small bowl. Season with salt and pepper and additional lime juice and chipotle, if desired.

2. Combine the cabbage, carrot, and onion in a large salad bowl. Add the dressing and toss to coat. Taste and adjust the seasoning.

3. Let stand for at least 30 minutes before serving. The salad holds up well in the refrigerator for at least 8 hours.

Kitchen note: Chipotles in adobo sauce are smoke-dried jalapeños in a vinegar sauce, usually found in cans wherever Mexican food is sold. A single can will hold more than this recipe needs, but you can store the leftovers in a glass or plastic container in the refrigerator, where they will keep for months.

Babies love Indestructibles! And why wouldn’t they? They’re easy to hold, impossible to destroy, totally non-toxic, waterproof, and irresistibly chewable.

Since we love a good picture of an adorable baby, um, devouring some of our very favorite books: here’s little Michael, a young fan of Plip-Plop Pond!, taking a very large bite out of his summer reading.

Click here to check out all the titles in the Indestructibles series.

WOW!

This year, thirteen Workman children’s books won 2010 Tillywig Awards!

Thank you, Tillywig. Here’s the list:

BRAIN QUEST WRITE & ERASE SET: ALPHABET Tillywig Brain Child Award Winner, for exciting products that energize the mind while seamlessly blending fun and learning.

BRAIN QUEST WRITE & ERASE SET: SHAPES & COLORS Tillywig Top Fun Award Winner, for products that stand out in terms of exceptional design, construction, and play.

BRAIN QUEST WRITE & ERASE SET: NUMBERS Tillywig Brain Child Award Winner, for exciting products that energize the mind while seamlessly blending fun and learning.

BRAIN QUEST WRITE & ERASE SET: PHONICS Tillywig Brain Child Award Winner, for exciting products that energize the mind while seamlessly blending fun and learning.

BANANAGRAMS FOR KIDS Tillywig Bright Eyes Award Winner, for written and illustrated media that stimulate the imagination and engage the intellect.

CREEP, CRAWL! Tillywig Sterling Fun Award Winner, for distinctive children’s products notable for their exceptional quality and bold originality.

FLUTTER, FLY! Tillywig Sterling Fun Award Winner, for distinctive children’s products notable for their exceptional quality and bold originality.

WIGGLE, MARCH! Tillywig Sterling Fun Award Winner, for distinctive children’s products notable for their exceptional quality and bold originality.

MY SILLY BODY BOOK Tillywig Top Fun Award Winner, for products that stand out in terms of exceptional design, construction, and play.

PERFECT PIGGIES! Tillywig Bright Eyes Award Winner, for written and illustrated media that stimulate the imagination and engage the intellect.

THE BOOK OF POTENTIALLY CATASTROPHIC SCIENCE Tillywig Top Fun Award Winner, for products that stand out in terms of exceptional design, construction, and play.

KIDS MAKE IT BETTER Tillywig Bright Eyes Award Winner, for written and illustrated media that stimulate the imagination and engage the intellect.

WADDLE! Tillywig Top Fun Award Winner, for products that stand out in terms of exceptional design, construction, and play.

Congratulations to all of our winners!

For more information about The Tillywig Awards, please visit their web site.

Recently, our favorite baker, Anne Byrn, The Cake Mix Doctor, was in the office for a photo shoot for her forthcoming book, The Cake Mix Doctor Bakes Gluten- Free. Anne also spent some time talking with her editor, Suzanne Rafer, about the readers who inspired the book, the testing process behind building a recipe using gluten-free mixes, and trying to choose her favorite recipes. We caught their conversation on video. Enjoy.

[flv]http://www.workman.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/VID00026.flv[/flv]

Follow Anne on Twitter (@annebyrn) or Facebook for more behind-the-scenes updates. Anne Byrn’s The Cake Mix Doctor Bakes Gluten-Free will be in stores this November.

Anger can be caused by the big things in life (family rifts) or the small things (you get cut off in traffic), but how it affects you and how you respond is within your control.  Living in a city will give you a quick lesson on how to deal with unprovoked anger from a complete stranger (an un-airconditioned subway car will do that), but what about those confrontations with co-workers, friends, acquaintances or family—the relationships you will lose sleep over? Leonard Scheff and Susan Edmiston’s The Cow in the Parking Lot explains how to take your anger and manage it. And then turn it off.  Who couldn’t use a little extra serenity in their lives?

Try out these steps from from Shosan Victoria Austin of the San Francisco Zen Center when confronted with someone else’s anger:

1. Make space before speaking or responding.  Take some deep breaths.

2. Check the face and body of the person in front of you to understand what’s going on.  Watch for changes in the trust level. When a person becomes more relaxed, their eyes will be open and they will lean slightly toward you.

3. Consider the consequences of not doing anything—whether something that might be helpful in the short run may lead to harm later.

4. Ask yourself: What assumptions am I making? Ask the person what the problem is. Consider your involvement in causing it.

5.  Respect and empathize with both your own boundaries, values, and limitations and those of the other person.

6.  Speak from the right attitude. Check for self-indulgence, ill will, potential harm in one’s own words and actions. Ask yourself not only what must I say, but how must I say it.

7. Deliberately, do not take revenge.

“Obstacles are those frightful things you see when you take your eyes off your goal” –Henry Ford