If you’re like me and LOVE printables, you enjoy these Valentine’s Day themed ones! I have found over 40 printable valentines for kids and adults, whether you’re handing them out at school or your special someone. Happy Valentine’s Day!

• Download pdfs by clicking on printable’s images
• Blog images go directly to the “printable”-related blog posts if you want to check out other printables the blogger shared
• If it’s not a direct PDF it’s because there were multiple images to download

Don’t forget to check out my blog post on Kid’s Valentine’s Day Websites, Printables, and Crafts!

Printable Valentine’s Day Jokes!

http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Tattered-and-Inked/174217669273613

http://twitter.com/30daysblog

http://facebook.com/30daysblog

Pencil Toppers!

Bag Topper

Cute Gift Labels “Open Me At”

page 1 & page 2

https://www.facebook.com/iheartfaces

http://twitter.com/iheartfaces

Download a zip file full of templates displayed below.

https://twitter.com/#!/amyistheparty

http://www.facebook.com/amylouisecluck

Skip to My Lou

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Skip-to-my-Lou/45710348090

http://twitter.com/cindyhopper

http://www.facebook.com/LivingLocurto?sk=app_265208426850693

http://twitter.com/livinglocurto

And cute bag labels here.

http://www.facebook.com/lovevsdesign

http://twitter.com/lovevsdesign

On Thursday, January 26 through Sunday, January 29, San Antonio’s beautiful Riverwalk will be the backdrop for the first ever San Antonio Cocktail Conference!

Over the course of four days, local residents and visitors will have the opportunity to:

• Partake in 27 classes
• Meet with 31 different presenters
• Attend 5 fabulous soirees (visit different cocktail tasting stations, enjoy Riverwalk boat shuttles from one venue to the next)
• Enter in one Original Cocktail Competition
• And say salutations during one Yoga for bartenders class

Stemming from Chef Mark Bohanan, the mastermind behind the critically acclaimed downtown steakhouse Bohanan’s, the San Antonio Cocktail Conference will feature educational seminars, classes, tastings, and more with experts travelling in from across the US and Australia!

Website: http://www.sanantoniococktailconference.com

Become a Fan: https://www.facebook.com/SACocktailConference

Twitter: @SACocktailConf

BUY TICKETS! Schedule: http://www.sanantoniococktailconference.com/schedule

Tasting Schedule: http://www.sanantoniococktailconference.com/schedule/tastings (view the list, tastings are from 10:30am – 4:30pm on Friday and Saturday)

Don’t feel like heading downtown for a cocktail party? Would you do it for a good cause? The San Antonio Cocktail Conference is benefiting
HeartGift, a group of medical professionals and volunteers who give their resources (surgical skills, home, hours) so that children can have access to lifesaving surgery to repair their congenital heart defects:

• 93% of world’s population doesn’t have access to pediatric cardiac surgery
• Surgeons and physicians donate their services, for treatments normally costing $165,000
• Average total expense for each HeartGift patient (includes travel and medical care) is $24,000
• $8.5 million worth of medical care donated to date
• 130 children from 22 countries have benefitted from HeartGift services

Website: http://www.heartgift.org

Become a Fan: https://www.facebook.com/HeartGift

Twitter: @HeartGiftNews

From an interview with Chef Mark Bohanan:

The Cocktail Conference is a four-day event that is modeled after the wildly successful Manhattan Cocktail Classic and New Orleans’ Tales of the Cocktail Event, both of which draw more than 20,000 people…

…Classes will include topics such as ice making, crafting perfect cocktails for home entertaining, an introduction to gin cocktails and many more…

…There will also be a contest with celebrity judges, tastings, seminars and other special events designed to combine cocktail culture education with good old-fashioned fun…

…I want people to come downtown and see why it is the pulse of San Antonio. I want to remind locals of what is available to them right in their own backyards, as well as show tourists why San Antonio is a major destination for both the leisure and business traveler.

On a day off, a friend and I went to the Santikos Palladium to watch the second Sherlock Holmes movie. While were debating which show to see, we noticed that “D-box” seats were available for purchase.

Right now Santikos Theatres have D-box seats in three San Antonio locations and 1 Houston location:

San Antonio Silverado - $17.50
11505 W Loop 1604 N, San Antonio, TX 78250
Map & Directions

Houston Silverado 19 IMAX - $17.75
24720 State Hwy 249, Tomball, TX 77375
Map & Directions

San Antonio Palladium IMAX - $18.00
17703 W IH-10, San Antonio, TX 78257
Map & Directions

San Antonio Mayan 14 - $16.00
1918 SW Military Dr., San Antonio, TX 78221
Map & Directions

You’ll know which movie has DBOX seating option in the showtimes section.

By clicking on the movie time (NOT movie name) you’ll be taken to another site to purchase the tickets online with a credit card.

During the online ticket checkout, we were able to select our own seats or best available.

Selecting your own seats shows how many seats are still free and which ones are not.

FAVORITE SEATS: WE got F5 and F4 which had a bar in front of us to rest our feet on but did not obstruct the view in any way.

*NOTE: If you do not purchase a ticket don’t think you can catch a free ride in an unoccupied seat. The seats that were not purchased before the movie sat as still as the old fashioned kind. No ticket, no ride!

Once we got to the Palladium we were able to swipe our card at the self-service kiosk (HINT!! There’s one inside the building by customer service that NEVER has a line…compared to the three outside the box office that are always 3 deep…each.)

Then we made it to our seats after stopping for some light, yet incredibly expensive, concession stand snacks.

Actual Review and Thoughts

Once we got into the movie theater, we noticed right away how room and what a great view we had from our seats. In the first two rows of the elevated section, we found our seats and waited to have our worlds rocked. Reviews that I found said that even the previews came to life but none of the trailers we watched were synced with our chairs. A little bored and very curious we played with the buttons underneath the right side arm rest. I believe there were 4 or 5 levels of intensity that were customizable per chair. You even had the option to turn it completely off. Once the movie got going I didn’t remember to play with these.

Types of scenes that were animated:

• Bumping along a road in a car
• Scenic pans of train traveling scenes, as the camera rounded the bend, so did our chair, very subtly, probably the most welcome animation to me, my friend thought it was cheesy.
• Explosion scenes – no surprises here, whenever something exploded on screen our chairs reiterated each crash and fire
• Peering over something – there was a scene in Sherlock Holmes where we were leaned forward a bit in the chair

The chair completely movies, not just the back vibrating, physically moving. We were concerned about our drinks spilling around but it was never that drastic, especially after we had taken some quick gulps during the previews.

Would I do it again? Not for $18! BUT I have had other movie going friends who insist that it is the only way to experience a movie. I found it a little distracting, that instead of just getting caught up in the movie, I was paying attention to the movement of my chair. I think some movements were more subtle than others and I noticed it less…I would’ve preferred movie watching the old fashion way. That said…a scary movie would probably be 100 times more intense (to levels I’m not willing to experience.) I think anyone who considers them self a movie enthusiast should definitely give it a try.

During one review, a whopping 92% (or close to that number) of a test group surveyed responded favorably to the D-Box…so you don’t have to take my word for it.

Additional review from the SA Current here.

Become a fan on Facebook and tweet your opinions to @dboxTech!

Pictures taken from the Santikos Palladium theatre in San Antonio, TX.

So, a couple days before we saw this movie we saw this demo as we were leaving the movie theatre and I hurried us along, saying we didn’t need to sit in the seats. Had we, we would have experienced DBOX first hand without having to risk not liking the experience for an entire movie.

Is your New Year’s resolution to see the world? Are you obsessed with daily deal sites? In no particular order are 15 daily deal travel websites! Many are invitation only…fear not, I have an invite for you! Click on the image or link in the “About” section. About half are dedicated to just traveling deals (including packages, hotels, airfare, etc.) while others are subsets of larger daily deal sites. Definitely keep an eye out on your favorites!

Sign up and become a member of the sites today! I bookmark them all and open all the sites in the same browser window at the same time. I can quickly scan each site’s page for the latest and great deals. Many sites offer significant savings and packages. Always look at the company’s website to make sure you’re getting the best deals possible!!

P.S. And once you know where you’re headed, sign up for all the local daily deals for that city so you can be armed with Groupons once you arrive at your final destination!

P.P.S I have included the Twitter and Facebook pages…you’ll want to start following them to get additional deals and offers made only to those loyal fans!

Travel Deal Site	About	Twitter	Facebook
	Subscribe for email alerts for the cities you’re travelling to!	@amazonlocal	Become a Fan
	From the people that brought you Groupon local deals, tons of great travel deals, some lasting 24 hours, some for a couple of days!	@GrouponGetaways	None
	Living Social Escapes	@LivingSocialESC	Become a Fan
	Division of the Eversave deal site offering travel and getaway deals! Click on the “Travel Saves” link.	@TravelSaves	Become a Fan
	Click on the “Destinations” tab for additional travel deals!	@kgbdeals_usa	Become a Fan
	In addition to local daily deals, Urban Dealight also offers “Departures” for travel deals!	@urbandealight	Become a Fan
	Check out Jet Setter and check out their flash sales for your dream destination!	@jetsetterdotcom	Become a Fan
	In addition to all the sales at Haute Look, click on the Getaways tab for fabulous vacations!	@hautelook	Become a Fan
	Rue La La also offers “Travel” offers, destination packages, and hotel deals!	@RueLaLa	Become a Fan
	Another private sale site dedicated to travel deals, Snique Away rocks (and looks great too!)	@sniqueAway	Become a Fan
	Another private sale site, use this link to sign up for fabulous travel experiences.	@tabletHotels	Become a Fan
	Trip Alertz offers beautiful destination packages! Sign up and find your dream vacay!	@tripAlertz	Become a Fan
	Vacationist is a partnership if Luxury Link and Travel & Leisure to offer deeply discount trips people actually want to take!	@goVacationist	Become a Fan
	Voyage Prive is another private membership site that you can sign up for with the link!	@VoyagePriveUS	Become a Fan
	Ideeli has their own Travel section where you can check out some more great deals!	@ideeli	Become a Fan

For an entire week, I had the luxury of driving around a 2012 Chevrolet Equinox, courtesy of Chevrolet’s Driving in the Heartland team, dedicated to the heartland of America! You can check out their website or follow their tweets, @ChevyTexan, for their latest adventures, offers, fantastic finds, and more.

As a savvy deal finder, I definitely wanted Chevrolet to get their money’s worth, I tweeted #chevyhaul like crazy and during Black Friday I managed to make it to 20 different stores, starting at midnight with my friend and fellow blogger Gita of the uber-fashion blog, Mimi and Chichi.

Top 10 Black Friday Shopping Tips

In preparation of Black Friday 2012, here are 10 things that every savvy Chevy Haul shopper should know:

1 – Do the math! It is very easy to think you’re getting a good deal on Black Friday. You wait the entire year for sales like these. The only day of the year Apple deems worthy of offering a discount…but to feel good at the end of the day, make sure you’re getting a good deal on quality items!

Walmart was offering an Emerson 32? 720p LCD TV for $188 but who could beat the quality and discounts offered by Best Buy’s Sharp 42” 1080p LCD HDTV for ONLY $199.99. Plus, with the Walmart horror stories on the news and talking with other shoppers in line, I doubt I’ll ever  visit Wallyworld on Black Friday.

2 – Map it out! With many stores opening at midnight (and some even opening on Thanksgiving day — too early if you ask me…) you’ll not only want to make sure you understand where you’re headed but WHEN you need to head there. Before I hit the road in my Chevy Equinox, I made a list of all the stores that opened early, in the order they opened here. There tends to be a gap between the stores that opened at midnight, and the next round that opens at 4-5am…this will keep you busy.

*Another thing to consider, visit stores more out of the way. Although the drive might be longer, the wait will be shorter and more variety will be left untangled. Especially for high demand items, go the extra 20 miles to a remote location that you know won’t be as hectic!

**Many stores open earlier but end the incredible sales before 11am or noon. Get there early if you want to get the best deals!

Click on the Foursquare image below to see the stores that I stopped at and the deals at the time.

3 – Bring a snack! If you’re always snacking like my friend Gita and I you’ll want to bring some holiday leftovers (brusselsprouts and cookies) as well as some water and energy drinks. At every store we visited, people were complaining of hunger pains, impatiently waiting for the food courts and other restaurants to open. Crabby people make impatient shoppers who are more willing to just buy things they don’t want. Give your wallet a fair chance.

4 – Leave the kids at home! We were waiting in line at Old Navy, for 30 minutes outside (so many people showed up for the free digital camera, fire hazards limited the number of shoppers allowed in at one time…) and it was fairly cold for us Texans. In front and behind us were were sobbing toddlers, begging to go home. Finally, seconds before being let into the store, the mothers staggered off with their children. MAKE CHILDCARE ARRANGEMENTS! There are a lot of children friendly daycares, gyms, and play places that offer moms and dads Black Friday shopping drop offs, starting early in the morning until the afternoon.

*With the new midnight shopping time, I also noticed a LOT of tweens running loose at the mall. Apparently their parents dropped them off with friends, while waiting for their stores to open, you could see some inappropriate makeout sessions going on. PARENTS – shopping is not the only thing that goes on at the maul…I mean mall.

5 – Go big or go home! Some of the best deals that I saw being offered were in department stores! For all your houseware needs, Macy’s and Sear’s were the way to go!

• KitchenAid Pro 500 Series Mixer for $199.99 at Sears
• Macy’s offered 20% off additional Black Friday sale prices! Gita got amazing sheets, retailed at $600 for less than $250!

6 – Fight the Crowds! With the explosion of online Black Friday sales, who in their right mind would consider fighting the crowds when all of your shopping can be done from the comfort of your own home? I’ll give you one reason why. Every year, without fail, there are significant online outages or slowdowns because of the crazy amounts of traffic generated from the 20 million other people who want to shop from the comfort of their own homes.

I remember one year I spent 3 hours painfully fighting Kohls website, adding things to the shopping cart, trying to checkout with them, being told they were sold out or having my cart emptied prematurely. In 2.5 hours I probably could have fought the masses, tried on clothes, AND checked out! Never again!

7 – Keep it social! Above was a list of all my foursqaure check ins. Make sure you take advantage of all the social and in-store promotions being offered! Many Foursquare venues offered additional discounts to shoppers. At Old Navy, Gita won an additional coupon for being the first to bring up a nail file during a contest. Many retailers on Twitter offered their followers Twitter only coupons AND additional #hashtag contests. With everyone else busy shopping, the chances of your winning is increased greatly!

8 – Chevy-sized vehicle for haul! This year I was blessed to have a 2012 Chevrolet Equinox to haul around all our deals! Buy a new car, borrow a friends, clean out your trunk before hitting the road!

Our Equinox offered:

• great gas mileage so we could go the distance
• plenty of storage space for our shopping haul
• comfy seats when we needed to give our feet a rest
• hiding places so we didn’t get mugged (always be wary of your surroundings, don’t be sitting ducks…)

9 – Additional tips and tricks! Here are some more helpful tips and tricks for making the most out of Black Friday:

• Sign up for email alerts from your favorite stores ahead of time
• Buy the newspaper on Thanksgiving for printed coupons and tons of store ads (nice consolidated view for the last minute shopper)
• Download a Black Friday mobile app like BF Ads that gets updated with new ads all the time, is easy to use, and works without an internet connection (mall 3g can be shady)
• Shop the off hours! Old Navy was CRAZY and had a long line at midnight, but everywhere else we visited between 2am to 7am had virtually no lines! Traffic starts to pick back up around 7am…
• Make sure you get a place in line. If you’re battling it out for the best Best Buy offer, get there early and get the ticket. Ask for one. You need proof you were there at 24 hours before midnight and not some random person who waltzed up when the clock struck 12.

Driving in the Heartland invited me to:

So, what better way to ease some of that holiday shopping stress than by taking a brand new Chevy for a spin to get all of your shopping done in comfort and style? This year, Chevrolet will be giving five fabulous bloggers a Chevy vehicle to drive while they take on their holiday shopping throughout the Heartland. Three bloggers from Texas and two bloggers from St. Louis, Missouri, will be riding comfortably in Chevy cars and crossovers in the next few weeks, and you can follow along as they navigate the madness on Twitter using the hashtag #ChevyHaul.

Check out all the details here.

For people living in Sam Antonio or just visiting, the winter holidays are one of the best times of years. One family tradition we have enjoyed for the past two years is provided by the Westin La Cantera. This luxurious resort paints a beautifully festive backdrop to kick off the yuletide season with plenty for families, couples, and friends to do.

During a complimentary “mommy bloggers” preview, my daughter and I, her best friend’s family, and a couple other families were able to see firsthand all the excitement and Christmas spirit the Westin is returning to the Hill Country.

When: Nov. 18th through Jan. 8

Where: Westin La Cantera | 16641 La Cantera Parkway, San Antonio, TX 78256

Phone: (210) 558-6500

Website: http://www.westinlacantera.com/holidays.html

The fun kicks off with Frost – imagine be able to skate outside on a 1,200-square-foot synthetic outdoor iceless skating rink, whether it’s in the 20s or 80s!

This activity is open daily from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Cost is $10 for 45 minutes of skating and skate rental.

*A portion of the proceeds will go to the George Gervin Youth Center, Inc.

**Guests who skate will instantly be included in a prize drawing. The grand prize includes: a 2-night stay, daily breakfast for two at Brannon’s Café and a personalized memento from Spurs legend George “Iceman” Gervin

Santa’s Workshop

When: Dec. 13 to Dec. 24

Drop by Santa’s Workshop where guests or locals can take a photo with Santa, make a holiday toy or decorate cookies with the elves.   A portion of the proceeds will go to a local charity.

Legendary Holidays

When: Dec. 13 to Dec. 24

The resort’s 13th annual Legendary Holidays program is sure to dazzle kids of every age. This one-hour resort tradition takes place daily at 5 p.m. Guests are guided around the property by the popular storyteller, Bandera Cowboy ‘Makin’ Dust’, who sings and tells holiday stories.

The program concludes with ‘snow’ magically falling from the sky as the choir begins to sing a holiday song at the top of Plaza San Saba.

Holiday Menu and Cocktails

Celebrate the season with culinary delights, including a special Thanksgiving Day Brunch as well as delectable Christmas and New Year’s Eve menu selections.

The Magik Theatre

San Antonio’s local children theater presents a holiday comedy “The Pirate’s Holiday”!

Cost is $5.00 for adults; children under 3 are free.

Shows start at 7:30 p.m. The kids (ages from 3-8) and the adults (slightly older) in our group all laughed throughout the show, everyone having a TON of fun!

• December: 12/3, 12/10, 12/16, 12/17, 12/19 through 12/23
• December: Special show times on 12/17 at 3:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.

• Arrive 30 minutes early, seating is limited.
• The show is 45 minutes long.

Below are some more pictures from our visit!

Does anyone here like to win free stuff?! (I know I do!!)

Thanks to Eversave San Antonio, one of my fabulous readers is going to walk away with a gift certificate to Dallia’s Hair and Nail Studio ($55 value!!)

Multiple Ways to Enter and Win:

• Simply leave a comment at the end of this blog post on which local San Antonio restaurant or retailer you’d like to see featured on Eversave next!
• Tweet:  I want to win an @EversaveSAT deal on @geekettebits.com! Pls RT! http://bit.ly/tsnVtW #gbcontest
• Follow me on Twitter: http://twitter.com/geekettebits
• Become a Fan on Facebook: http://facebook.com/geekettebitsfan
• Tag “Geekette Bits” in a wall post on Facebook with a link to this blog post!

** All winners must have already signed up for Eversave San Antonio! **

Did you know?? Eversave San Antonio:

• Local deals offered DAILY! National deals offered as well!
• Get $2 off coupon just for signing up today!
• Convince you’re friends to sign up too, you’ll get $10 for EACH friend as soon as they make their first Eversave purchase!

Become a fan on Facebook:

Follow their tweets, @EversaveSAT:

The winner will be selected randomly on Tuesday, November 22! Check back to see if you won!

Don’t forget to check out my 2009 Black Friday post and my 2010 Black Friday posts for my past Black Friday shopping plans and favorite websites. I read through them and both still absolutely apply!

Based on the stores listed by Black Friday 2011, I sorted the stores by open hours (a LOT of stores are opening their doors at midnight this year!!) so that you can strategically forgo sleep and pace yourself like I plan to from midnight to 10am (at which point the major deals are mostly over…)

After spending one year fighting Kohl’s website outages (let’s performance test people!!) I have been paranoid about doing all my shopping online. Where do you plan on shopping?  The list of over 40 stores below link to their Black Friday newspaper ad.

*I’ll update this list the week of Black Friday with more stores and store hours!

Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/BlackFridayFans

Twitter:
https://twitter.com/#!/BlackFridayFans

iPhone App:
http://www.blackfriday2011.com/app

Please consider going through the list below to see how you can donate to help the victims of the massive fires sweeping across Central Texas right now. Already tens of thousands of acres of land with people’s home and personal belongings have felt the wrath of this natural disaster. Although there is so much tragedy engulfing the area right now, neighbors, Texans, and people across the US are banding together in support of the cities. Below are links to the local Red Cross chapters, churches, food banks, shelters, and even baseball teams looking for donations of food, clothing, personal items, and money to help continue to fight the fires and the devastation left in its wake.

Picture courtesy of http://www.kvue.com.

EMERGENCY COUNTY BROADCASTERS

Check out information from the local emergency response government sites about the fires, shelters, and more detailed information here:

LOCAL NEWS

Local news channels and radios provide more links and donation facilities here:

DONATIONS

Donation stations accepting food and/or clothing and other supplies this week:

UPDATED (9/14/2011):  Blankets for Bastrop is recruiting crafty people to make blankets for the families once they relocate or get back into their homes:

http://blanketsforbastrop.wordpress.com

And learn about how you can donate supplies or precious quilts to keep them warm in the winter and bring love into their new surroundings.

One of my favorite recent experiences (complimentary, courtesy of the Westin La Cantera) received from our staycation at the Westin La Cantera (more posts to come!!!) was the two intimate hours spent in the kitchen of Francesca’s at Sunset with executive chef John Armstrong and chef de cuisine Ernie Estrada. This restaurant is opened daily from 6pm to 10pm and offers “South Texas cuisine with a Southwestern flair”. The chefs pride themselves on their menu items almost all containing “Farm to Table” ingredients provided by local Central and South Texas farmers and ranchers.

This fabulously romantic restaurant has so much heart behind it in the kitchen. You would not believe how welcomed and gracious Chef Armstrong and Chef Estrada were to our small group. We bombarded them with every question we could come up with and they answered them all in strides and smiles, welcoming us to ask more by emailing them anytime (like other frequent patrons already do!) Everything we ate that afternoon tasted as good as it looked and will definitely remain a top 10 memory in my mind. The chefs offer frequent opportunities to meet with them on a more personal level at the restaurant and we all felt truly welcomed into their world.

*Brunch menu found here (served Sundays from 10:30am-2pm)!

How Francesca’s got her name?

This restaurant has an equally passionate story behind its namesake. There’s a Wild West legend that involves a young man named Ferenor who was preparing to enter into priesthood by taking his final vows when he met and fell in love with a beautiful girl named Francesca’s, who returned his love. Dismissed by the leaders in the church, they ran away together, unfortunately straying from the path and becoming lost. Leaving Francesca to find help from a light in the short distance, Ferenor never found the light or help that eventually diminished. In his hast to return to Francesca, Ferenor lost consciousness when he struck his head on a rock after stumbling in the darkness. Regaining consciousness the next morning, he found the village searching for himself and Francesca. Setting out in search of Francesca again, neither Ferenor nor Francesca was ever found again.

Luckily our love affair with Francesca’s kitchen was more lucky and we started with Peach cider with grill roasted peaches, pecan oil, and a micro arugula salad:

Chef Armstrong patiently explained how to prepare everything:

Including the rub he quickly made:

With the paprika he brought from his home kitchen since they didn’t have any at the restaurant that day:

To how to sear the peaches:

He also explained that micro arugala was just arugula that was harvested when it was in it’s infant stages of growth:

Plating the beautiful salad with a sample of locally made peach cidar.

And happily marched to one of Francesca’s long-time favorite staple menu items: Francesca’s Guajillo Chile Rubbed Filet of Beef

We did a sniff taste in the kitchen to figure out the ingredients below (that included chipotle chiles, corriander, carmelized onions, cipotle, burgundy, and roasted tomato):

The locally grown and butchered filet mignons:

Rubbed down with a few different spices:

And enhanced after being grilled with a veal reduction (that was homemade and reduced for over 18 hours!!!)

Topped with a fabulous southwestern queso fresco and micro cilanotro.

Perfection on a platter.

Brioche French Toast stuffed with blueberries and bananas with pecan maple syrup:

Homemade brioche bread (which I enthusiastically believe makes for the BEST French toast ever!!)

The chef sliced bananas and combined with fresh blueberries in a bowl, mashing them together:

Which would be stuffed into the bread later:

We got to use tasting spoons to sample the batter that included a tasty standard recipe kicked up a notch with heavy cream, egg, sugar, Tahitian vanilla bean, and rum:

The maple syrup also included pecans and bananas:

The bread was sliced thickly so that the chef could slice in half and then stuff the seasonal fruit in:

Pressed down and sealed in once stuffed:

And then submerged in the batter for several minutes:

Cooked on a hot skillet:

And toasted to perfection:

Drizzle and server…voila!!