An Auction Gift Basket

My very dear friend Fran is a significant force in the universe; with her charm, her kindness, her radiant smile, and -- most importantly -- her profoundly generous heart, when she asks you to do something resistance is futile. Therefore, when she asked me if I would make a contribution to last night's auction to benefit the Jewish Community Center of Ann Arbor (an event that she chaired), you already know what my answer was: but, of course!

Now regular readers know that decisions are not my strong-suit ... frankly, they're not even my weak-suit. I don't make decisions well at all. So, what to offer? What to contribute? How to help the cause???

Because I was in the midst of moving when the request came, I wasn't sure where I was headed or for how long; thus, I wasn't sure what I could commit to. I offered a basket with an assortment of granolas -- that would be easy to make no matter what came along in my life in the 2 months before I actually had to produce anything. But Fran felt that wasn't worthy of me ... awwww. She knew I could do better. She believed in me!

And so, ultimately I offered a 2-fold package:

1. A gift certificate awarding the winner an interview with me, to be posted here on the blog: "Food Floozie has 600+ followers who would love to read about you, your best recipe, your culinary heritage, the most delicious meal you've ever eaten, your favorite restaurant, the strangest item you've been brave enough to taste, or any other mouth-watering topics that strike your fancy. Sit and schmooze with blogger/writer Mary Bilyeu ... and then enjoy fame (sorry, no fortune!) when your interview is posted and you can share it with everyone you know!!!"

2. A basket of goodies. The phrase "trio of treats" kept creeping through my brain, and so I offered that even though I had no idea what the treats would be!

As my deadline approached, I used my woefully inadequate decision-making skills to wade through a variety of options. I'll spare you meandering through my stream of consciousness ... it wasn't pretty as I debated the myriad choices for baked goods, and then made them jump through permutations with different flavorings and toppings ... oy.

Here's what I ultimately made:

Chocolate Streusel Coffee Cake



Double Chip Cookies (containing both chocolate chips and crushed plain potato chips)



Chocolate-Filled Sandwich Cookies

Now, to broaden the pool of potential bidders on my package, each of the baked goods is pareve ([PAHRV] = neither meat nor dairy) so that they could be enjoyed with either a meat or a dairy meal (since Jewish dietary laws forbid mixing the two). They were also made in a kosher kitchen.

With all of that having been considered, the only reason not to bid on a basketful of chocolate baked goods would be if -- God forbid! -- you didn't like chocolate. When I told Fran what I'd ultimately determined to make, she said simply: "I want it, I want it, I want it, I want it." :)

I was thrilled to see that my little package was valued at $150 -- I'd had no clue what to set it at, so this was really exciting! -- and that the minimum starting bid would be $75. Also, when a teaser email was sent featuring some key items designed to tempt potential attendees and bidders, my item was one of the ones showcased!

So, who won my auction package??? I don't know yet. But you'll be introduced to him or her, have no fear, and we'll all get to hear some interesting tales about food ... practically my reason for being!

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