Blake Makes

UPDATE 2: I’m getting e-mails and comments that people are trying to donate using the ChipIn widget, but it’s not working. Click here if you would like to donate. Sorry. Technology. Sometimes it helps…sometime it hurts. TGIF!

UPDATE: Got any ideas for how I can give all you Sooper Heroes more exposure? Let’s all think about it and comment your ideas on this post. Remember, there are no bad (dumb) ideas. You never know when one thing may lead to another. Doing something like this may be a good place to start.

Hello everyone! It’s Friday which for many of you means you’re just a couple of days from getting your PBDDL in the mail! As you know, it’s been an exciting week on Blake Makes, and we’ve gotten a lot of new readers. I suspect this is a trend, so every Friday I’m going to try to holla back and say hello to all our new Sooper Heroes.

“Hello, Sooper Heroes!”

Erica, Erica, Gayle, Michelle, monica, Danielle, Alexis, Steffan, alison, chris, Katie, Amy, Clara, Nikki, Kylee, Jaime, Elly, kandice, Joelen, Ally, Jessica, Ashlee, N, Jen, alisa, Nicole, Meghan, Tiffany, Cheali, Natalie, Brooke, Kat, Chris, Darrell, Bob, Melissa, Rachel, Deborah, Melissa, Sarah, Joy, Mike, whitney, April, Danielle, Carrie, Shari, Emily, Candice, Elyse

To the new peeps listed above: I’ve linked to the site you gave me at sign up. If you’d prefer I didn’t, I completely understand. E-mail me at blakekillian and then the “@” and then “yahoo” and a dot followed by “com”.

I’m adding a field to the sign up form for people to opt in or out at sign up.

“Everyone, meet our new Sooper Heroes. New Sooper Heroes, meet everyone.”

Stay tuned! bk

UPDATE: It’s official! They’re in the mail. Everyone in the U.S. should get them in 3-5 days; 2 are going to Canada and should take 5-7 days; 1 is going to Australia and should take 7-10 days. Thanks to everyone that’s donated! It really helps! If you’d like to help, use the blue “PBDDL Support” widget to the right. Thanks!

Hello Blake Makers and Sooper Heroes. Ugh…my back and neck are a little achy. For the past 3 hours, I’ve been hunched over mini little jars of peanut butter dulce de leche affixing labels, packing them into their little boxes and addressing them. It took some time, but they’re done!

I’m dreading this shipping bill tomorrow. I know each of these little boxes is going to cost me over $3.

All I have to say is thanks to everyone who’s supporting the dulce project. If you’d like to support us (sponsor a jar of dulce), just click on the little PBDDL Support widget to the right.

Donations are by no means required, but completely appreciated!

(Yawn) Sleepy…must go to bed. Blake Makes has been completely over stimulating me the last couple of days.

I do it for you! It’s all for you!

Nighty night. bk

UPDATE: Very good, Blake Makers. I see we have 11 comments on the post on Epicurious.com (as of 2:28pm CST on 2/21). Thanks for the love! If you’d like to show some love, click on the screenshot image below to visit Epicurious and add your two cents.

Hello, Blake Makers and Sooper Heroes. Last night went better than I thought. I mean, I thought all the jars would be claimed, but I didn’t think I would have twice as many requests as I had jars. I’m preparing a micro case study right now to share the numbers with all of you, but you can look at the time stamps on each comment to see how fast the first jars went.

I owe it all to my great community of Blake Makers (and the Sooper Heroes among them). I also owe a big THANKS to my new Nestie friends! I knew my wife (DW) loved the Nest, but I didn’t know there were so many others. Welcome, come back (again and again) and tell your friends!

In all the madness, Epicurious caught wind of us.

Thanks so much to Amy for being a fan of BlakeMakes, and for writing such a great post. Go read her blog, it’s spectacular!

One last thing, you know me, I always love to challenge my community. So, here’s a task:

• Let’s make this Epicurious post mean something!
• Show some BlakeMakes love by commenting on the Epicurious post!
• That’s it!

As always, stay tuned. Tons more on the way!

New Blake Makers (people just discovering me tonight), click the Soopz tab at the top of the page to sign up for Soopz. That way, I’ll have your address and will be able to send you some peanut butter dulce de leche (in Round 3 if not sooner)!..And any other goodies I can dream up. Thanks!

BTW, apparently I got ‘nested’ tonight. Hello Nesters!..or is it Nesties? Hello nonetheless. bk

Some of the 32 comments below are duplicates (excited people shouting out further down the comment stream). I guess they’re as excited as I am!

If you see 32 and think you’re too late, you may not be, keep commenting! (I may have a few, just a few, more than 32). bk

UPDATE: CLAIMED OUT! (But keep commenting and signing up for Soopz because you never know when you’ll get something in the mail…)

Created with Admarket’s flickrSLiDR.

Comment on this post to claim your jar. If you can’t see the slideshow above, sorry. Having a few last minute bugs.

Hello Sooper Heroes. This is just a quick message to let you know that the Sooper Secret E-mail just went out explaining everything you need to know about tomorrow’s giveaway (plus some extra secret stuff). Check your inboxes (and spam folders) for my message.

Comment on this post with any questions.

Until tomorrow at 8pm (CST)! 

Hello Blake Makers and Sooper Heroes. I wanted to do a quick post and let you know who I’ve got down as a Sooper Hero. The free bottles of dulce de leche are going to be posted next Tuesday, February 19, 2008 at 8pm CST.

If you haven’t signed up with Soopz, you might want to before next Tuesday. If the last giveaway is any indication, these jars will go fast.

Why sign-up for Soopz?

1. I’ll have your e-mail and can alert (remind) you of the giveaway.
2. Sooper Heroes get first dibs.
3. Sooper Heroes get secret messages. (????)
4. Sign up for Soopz now.

Here’s who I have already:

Shannon, Brilynn, Cricket, Adam, Laurie, Staci, Erica, Chicken Fried, Sheron, Rachel, Peabody, Carly, Danielle, Liz, Jennifer, Nikki, Dolores, Janis, blair, Erin, Caitlin, Heather, lisa valentine, Karyn, Shawnda, cindy, Miss Bekah, Amanda, Kelly, Jerry, Jason, Natalie, Eric, Ashley, Kim.E, Amy, Becca

How it’s going to go down next Tuesday:

1. Alert (e-mail and Blake Makes post) on Monday announcing Tuesday’s post
2. Post free jars Tuesday night (2/19/2008) at 8 pm CST
   1. I’ll post the number of jars available
   2. You will comment on the post to claim your free jar
      1. Max 2 jars per person (for now)
      2. Jars are first come, first served
3. Round 2 jars will be mailed out either Wednesday or Thursday.

Comment on this post with any questions. Have a great weekend!

This is a very public display of my love and affection for Bridget (my Beez). I whispered my sentiments in her ear this morning when we woke up, but I’m happy to share with all of you that this is our 10th V-Day together.

That’s right, we’ve been together for a decade, and we’re only 26. Bridget is my love and my life. She’s my salvation. I am the person I am today because of her.

My mind is a whirlwind of creativity and chaos, but Bridget always calms me and tells me everything is going to be all right.

It is going to be all right. In fact, it’s going to be better than that. It’s been heaven. It’s been bliss.

To my Beez: The last ten years have been spectacular. Here’s to another 80 or so! (We’re going to Cochon for dinner)

I love sending Bridget flowers, but the flower shop never gets it right. So, for the last few years I’ve been making her flowers myself. I’m not sure why more people don’t do it themselves. Go to Whole Foods, trim the stems, and put them in a vase. Easy! Happy Valentine’s Day everyone!

Created with Admarket’s flickrSLiDR.

Hello Blake Makers (and Sooper Heroes). A lot’s been happening on Blake Makes lately, and it all started with the Peanut Butter Dulce de Leche - it’s amazing what a little jar of caramel can ignite. We’re preparing for Round 2 (which is going to take place next week), but there are some things I wanted to mention and clarify before I post the sweet stuff and you all go crazy over it. (Make sure to read all the way to the end.)

1. How Round 2 Is Going To Work

Last time, I posted 6 jars of dulce with little warning, and it was all claimed in about 60 seconds. This left a lot my readers without dulce. Sad.

This time, I am going to write a post (and send out an e-mail) announcing when I am going to post about the the dulce. It will be something like this:

“Hello all. If you want a jar of peanut butter dulce de leche, I am going to make them available on BlakeMakes.com at 8pm CST on Tuesday, February 19. The jars are free, but are first come, first served. If you want a jar of the good stuff, make sure to be on BlakeMakes.com…”

I would also recommend using Twitter to be notified of when the good stuff goes live. Twitter will enable you to get an e-mail, text message to your phone or instant message when I “tweet.” Find & Follow: blakemakes

2. The Jars Are Different (Smaller)

Last time, I used square jars that were 4.5 ounces. They were great, and I may end up going back to them, but they are expensive to ship (about $5). Since I am still tweaking the recipe; and I just want to give people a taste (so they can write about it on their blogs); and smaller jars cost less to ship, I’m using 1.25 ounce jars (think baby food jars) this time.

I’m willing to send multiple jars (I can fit 2 in each box) for those of you that want to cook something with it, and need (want) more than an ounce. The new, smaller jars cost me about $2.50 to ship (half the price).

3. “Blake, why don’t you just charge for it?”

I’ve gotten this question a lot. I started this little project to have some fun, and I’m happy to report that I’m still having a blast! My wife, Bridget, is an attorney, and she’s advised me to be careful about moving forward without much protection against liability.

Right now, I’m considering everyone who receives a jar of dulce my friend - after all, I would think nothing of giving you a jar for your birthday. However, I want everyone to have an understanding (which I know you all do) that this stuff is made in my (impeccably clean) kitchen (with my own impeccably clean hands).

As we move forward (if we reach a tipping point), I’ll have the jars mass produced in a commercial facility. For now, we’re going to keep things casual. I think it’s actually really exciting that we’re at the point where we’re thinking of mass producing dulce de leche. Is this where big ideas start? Maybe.

This is why I’m not charging (and I can’t charge) for the jars, but that leads me to #4.

4. ChipIn Widget

If you look just to the right, you’ll see a small rectangle that says “PBDDL Support“. If you click the little button that says “ChipIn!” you’ll be directed to a PayPal page where you can donate money to BlakeMakes.com.

It isn’t required (in fact, I feel a little weird about it), but it’s just a way for readers to support the site (and help recoup expenses like ingredients, jars, labels, boxes and [most of all] shipping). A lot of you (I’d say 60-70%) have offered to help me with shipping costs, this is a way to do that if you wish. Again, it’s not required or expected.

The more love and support I get from all of you, the more dulce I get to make. The more dulce I make, the more dulce you get, and the happier we all are!

Up Next (just before the Round 2 posts): Sooper Hero Roll Call