Sandra Denneler’s pinata cookies attract attention from thousands, including Pee-wee Herman and the Huffington Post

WICHITA — She’s not going to quit her day job just yet, but Wichita State University art director Sandra Denneler is getting a lot of attention for some pinata cookies she created.

It was Cinco de Mayo 2011 when she first made the now-famous cookies. The year before, Denneler had made mini taco cookies that co-workers loved. She wanted to top them, so she created three-in-one pinata cookies. The middle cookie is hollow and spills mini M&Ms when broken.

Sometime in the last year, someone pinned Denneler’s recipe on Pinterest, and word spread.

More recently, the SheKnows food blog asked Denneler to create a tutorial on how to make the cookies.

So far, more than 40,000 people have “liked” it on Facebook, and more than 188,000 have pinned it on Pinterest.

“It was kind of weird because all these other blogs started posting it,” Denneler says.

The Huffington Post called this week and wanted to feature the recipe as well.

Even Pee-wee Herman commented on it on Facebook and Twitter.

“Oh, god, I was thrilled and excited and just laughing out loud because I thought of all people in the world, I never thought Pee-wee Herman would be a fan of mine,” Denneler says.

Her favorite comment came from one of his fans, though.

Denneler says the fan wrote, “Martha has finally been upstaged.”

“I was like, ‘Yes!’”

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You don’t say

“Does that mean that by next year someone might be able to pick up a 737 on ‘Storage Wars’? : )”

– Nine-year-old Reylynn Caster’s response on Twitter after seeing the news that Spirit AeroSystems needs temporary warehouse storage

You don’t say

“I said, ‘Oh, no, no, this is too much fun.’ Plus they wouldn’t say what I’ll say.”

Wink Hartman Sr. on having a new Twitter account (@WinkHartmanKS) that he’ll do himself instead of taking an offer from a couple of employees to do it for him

You don’t say

“We had the Dot com bubble ’95-’00, the Housing bubble ’97-’07, & now Wichita has the Frozen yogurt bubble of ’11.”

Byron Watkins, advisor associate with Waddell & Reed, joking on Twitter about all the new yogurt places

You don’t say

“can i picket with a chick fil a sandwich in my mouth?”

— A tweet from Chick-fil-A fan Seymour Mitchell (@seymitch) in response to Twitter talk Tuesday about people picketing the company because of its support of an anti-gay organization

Labor Party to open in Old Town for collaborative creative office space

WICHITA — A lot of independent creative professionals, such as writers, graphic artists and web designers, either work from home or in area coffee shops.

The Labor Party is looking to change that.

“We’re trying to provide kind of another alternative to that,” says Todd Ramsey, a brand strategist.

Ramsey is part of a group that has leased almost 5,000 square feet in a two-story building at 216 N. Mosley, which is north of the Hotel at Old Town’s banquet space, and will sublease space to creative individuals who’d like to share working space.

“The real benefit to people is more than just a desk or office,” Ramsey says.

“It’s more of a collaborative environment that can be created.”

Ramsey will work out of the space along with graphic designer Chris Parks, Jarrett Green of Blink Interactive and Kenton Hansen of Go Banana, who also is Blink’s collective director.

There are five offices left to lease that are $450 a month, which includes Internet and utilities.

For $150 a month, there also are an unlimited number of subleases for a large, open area that includes Wi-Fi and access to desks and other seating.

“It’s kind of like a coffee shop almost,” Ramsey says.

Hansen says the space will allow a lot of sharing of ideas and work.

“This is going to give us the opportunity to be the hub, to facilitate the community,” he says. “That’s really what we’re interested in.”

Ramsey says the definition of creative types will be fairly loose. For instance, he’s talking with an interior designer about subleasing space.

There’s no website yet, but if you’re interested in finding out more, you can reach Ramsey on Twitter (@toddramsey). The space should be ready in January.

You don’t say

“What can I say? It’s like putting on the big boy pants.”

— Wichitan Jonathan George, developer of the Boxcar app that sends iPhone alerts when your name is mentioned on places like Twitter, on incorporating his company

You don’t say

“At least that guy will have something to do now.”

J.D. Patton, director of Internet marketing for Armstrong/Shank, joking on Twitter about what the Maytag repairman will be up to now that Whirlpool is recalling 1.7 million dishwashers

Tweet of the week

“Flying was fun when you were a customer….not a suspect.”

— A tweet on Twitter Monday from Wichita resident and Boeing retiree Charlie Claycomb (@otrunchuck), who just returned from a trip where he chose to drive instead of fly

A Capitol mistake: Is this seat taken?

WICHITA — A good PR executive has to be ready for any situation, but Kansas Masonic Home director of marketing Jill Laffoon was still a little stunned by a call from executive director Shawn Sullivan on Tuesday.

“How do I apologize to the Washington Post?” Sullivan asked.

“I’m like, ‘Oh, my god, what did you do?’ ” Laffoon says.

Sullivan and the Masonic Home’s Matthew Bogner were at the U.S. Capitol with Larksfield Place CEO Valerie McGhee to lobby for health care on behalf of seniors.

During a break from one of their meetings, Laffoon says, they wandered into a hearing where “they quickly realize it’s the Toyota CEO speaking.”

And they were in a press-only area. Specifically, they were in seats designated for the Washington Post.

Laffoon says a security guard informed them of this “in maybe not as friendly of terms as we’re used to hearing in Kansas.”

Laffoon didn’t think a formal apology was necessary. Instead, she used Twitter to tweet on behalf of Sullivan:

Sorry. We didn’t know these seats were taken.