Still Winners

The newest thing in wedding cake!

Last week, I asked my readers to go vote for my dear friends The Royers as their cafe was nominated for a big honor.

Thank you to all who voted and tweeted to help the cause.  Royers Round Top Cafe did not win the ultimate title of People’s Platelist.  That was most disappointing to me.

Royers caters weddings. This is a lip-smacking menu.

But, they are winners in my book and in my heart.  Entrepreneurial, generous, kind, loyal, bakers of the pies I love and crave.  You are WINNERS in my eyes, Royers.  (Big J, Little J & I got to sell pies in front of the cafe last Sunday, and I’m selling again this Saturday.   It’s crazy time in Round Top, otherwise known as Antique Week. I would never sneak a bite….)

Welcome to Royers Round Top Cafe

I offered to send a reader who helped with the voting a pie, and the winner is:

abitnerdy

If you did not win a pie, I’m sorry.  I wish I could ship a pie to everyone who commented.  But YOU can order a pie and have it shipped to yourself or someone you think needs a pie *and who doesn’t*.

All photos and writing property of LoneStarLifer. 2010.

Royers did not ask to do the pie giveaway and did not provide the pie that is being shipped to the winner.  I am paying for it with my very own money.

Royers = ABC Nightline’s People’s Platelist = possible pie for you

Well, hello there. I’ve been away, having a little nervous breakdown. My virtual eyes were bigger than my virtual tummy. Just substitute Snail Mail Notes, blogging, Facebook, Twitter, work, home, couponing, start of school with sports/homework and photography for a Sunday church potluck of roast, ham, turkey & dressing, mashed potatoes, macaroni and cheese, jello salad, homemade rolls with butter, cherry pie, peach cobbler with ice cream, chocolate cake and cheesecake, and you get the idea of how overwhelmed I was feeling. I think I will still be slow to jump right back in to the blog, but I have missed writing and hearing from you, my readers and commenters.

A Royers spread. NUM NUM!

I hate to jump right back in and ask a favor, but I have some dear friends who need your help. I’ve written about Royers Round Top Cafe (in Texas) on this blog before, and I still love ’em today. They are one of 18 finalists from around the country who are nominated for ABC Nightline’s People’s Platelist. You can vote once a day between now and Sunday. I KNOW, I am so so so behind on this. I would really appreciate you running over to the ABC site and voting for Bud Royer and Royer’s Round Top Cafe.

Royers at night

Now here’s the fun part. One of my lucky readers is going to win a fabulous Royers pie which will be shipped to you. Leave a comment below this post telling me you voted for Royers Round Top Cafe. This is ON THE HONOR SYSTEM since I can’t check, so I am trusting you!

*You can have 3 entries for voting, Friday, Saturday, Sunday.

*You can also leave more comment entries by tweeting about this contest. Be sure to come back here and leave a comment, showing when you tweeted.  Tweet something like:  PLZ Vote for Royers Round Top Cafe for ABC Nightline’s People’s Platelist. Best. Pie. Ever. http://bit.ly/aqjc1K

*One more way to enter: go to Royers website, check out their pies and come back here to comment and tell me what kind of pie you would choose if you win.

I’ll be back early next week to announce a winner, and a WINNER you will be if you get a pie delivered to your front door!
Sorry, this is US residents only.

All writing and photos property of LoneStarLifer. 2010.
I was not compensated in any way for this blog post.  The Royers do not even know I am writing this blog post, and I will pay for the giveaway pie myself.  I’m just doing this ‘cuz I love ’em.

Bud the PieMan

I {Heart} Faces. My Story In Photos: Dessert Recipe Edition

Looking Forward to Week 14 – My Story in Photos

April 5th – “My Story In Photos: Dessert Recipe Edition”

The first week of each month, Angie & Amy give themselves a “vacation” from going through all of the photo entries. This time we will be featuring a “My Story In Photos: Dessert Recipe Edition.” (Please be sure to still stop by daily because we’ll have other great content all week long.)

Well, I hate to tell you this about myself.  I really don’t cook anymore.  (1) Big J is in our home much more than I, so he has supper on the table each evening when I arrive home from work.  I leave the house early and Big J also makes sure Little J has breakfast before he is off to school  (2) We have not had an oven in a year and a half.  Long story….our house is more than 20 years old and our oven is built into the wall.  For alot of reasons, we have had some setbacks in replacing the oven; finding an oven that fits into the current space has been a major obstacle, and there are others I won’t go into here.  Anyway, I can’t tell you the last time I actually made a full meal on my own.

As you can see from the I ♥ Faces quote above, this week’s assignment was to photograph ourselves or someone creating a dessert.  Since that’s not going to happen at my house, I’m just going to post a picture I took of a favorite dessert of mine.

My friends, The Royer Family, own and operate Royers Round Top Cafe in Round Top, TX.  They run a swingin’ business at their cafe (I just ran my feet off working in the cafe not long ago) and also cater.  This adorable wedding pie is often featured as the groom’s cake at wedding receptions.  (Dear Northern readers: do you have a groom’s cake at your weddings?  I have read it is more of a Southern tradition.)  The pies are a dense chocolate chip pie (like a toll house pie) with chocolate-dipped strawberries placed on the edges of each layer.  This was an outdoor country wedding, it was lots of fun to work with the Royers as they catered the event.

At this wedding, the pie/cake was the actual wedding cake.  Extra pies in many different flavors were also served – pecan, buttermilk, chess, cherry, apple, strawberry-rhubarb.

As I wrote a couple of weeks ago, my version of heaven includes lots of pie, with ice cream on top.  So you can guess that working with the Royers is a real treat for me!  And since I don’t plan on getting married any time soon, maybe I’ll ask for a pie/cake for my next birthday.

Go over to I ♥ Faces to see people who really cook, and take pictures of such.

All writing and photos property of LoneStarLifer. 2010

Wooooo-Hooooo!

 

Look what showed up on our doorstep late this afternoon!  A Royers pie.  Yeah!

This delicious selection is the Buttermilk Delight.  Start with a flaky, very flavorful crust, of which I eat every bite.  The crust is filled with buttermilk pie filling simply concocted with butter, eggs, sugar, flour and buttermilk.  At least the buttermilk pie I make has those ingredients.  Then Bud the Pieman throws some chocolate chips, coconut and pecans into the mix before baking to perfection.   The pie is UPS’d to your door in a made-to-fit box with packaging that delivers the pie to you fresh and in one piece.

If you are racking your brain trying to figure out what to send Aunt Hilda in Ohio for the holidays, send her one of these.  You could sign her up for the pie-a-month-for-life club.  If you don’t like her that much, just send the pie-of-the-month for a year club.  Or how about sending Christmas pies to your business clients?  My company sent client Christmas gifts from Royers for several years and got many compliments from the recepients.  My co-worker and I handwrote thank you notes, shipped them up to the cafe, and had them inserted into the pie boxes so each gift had a personal touch.  

I didn’t get to participate this past Sunday (since I worked a wedding for them on Saturday), but CBS Sunday Morning was in Round Top to film a piece on Royers.  It is scheduled to air in November, probably close to Thanksgiving.  I’ll let you know when I know for sure.  So order your pies now, before the whole country finds out and Royers gets really busy.

I’ll leave you with pics of the weekend wedding I worked for Royers.

appetizer wagon

 

the cafe's delicious lemonade/raspberry tea mixture, called the Arnold Palmer

chicken strips with honey-mustard dipping sauce

corn salad

announcing the menu

rolls with herbed butter, salad with cilantro ranch dressing

All photos and writing property of LoneStarLifer. 2009.