I was happy with Juan's Google Reader Picks, but I am not a huge fan of a  massive amount of javascript (removal of faviconizing is nearing).  So I went about creating a server side version.

Although I could have used the Twitter widget's code (didn't notice until I was done), I decided to try out XML to Linq.  Therefore, you will need to update your Web.Config to .Net 3.5.  However, future updates will remove that requirement due to BlogEngine.Net's current dependency on .Net 2.0.  Read on to find out how to install my widget.

1. Download Google Reader Faves
2. Extract the folder into the widgets directory
3. Add the widget to your website
4. When the widget loads, you will see the following error message: Enter a Valid Session ID
5. Click edit
6. You need to get a valid Google Reader User Session ID, which can be found in a variety of places (it is unique to each user) and is bold and italized below:
   • When you open Google Reader: http://www.google.com/reader/view/#stream/user%2F10686295758043638840%2Fstate%2Fcom.google%2Freading-list
   • Your Shared Page: http://www.google.com/reader/view/#stream/user%2F10686295758043638840%2Fstate%2Fcom.google%2Fbroadcast
   • Your Notes Page: http://www.google.com/reader/view/#stream/user%2F10686295758043638840%2Fstate%2Fcom.google%2Fcreated
7. Either way, just copy the bold and italized session id from one of the locations above into the edit window's text box.
8. Select the various defaults and click Save.
9. Your shared items should appear in the widget.
10. If they do not, make sure you have the correct session id then visit this page, but replace [userid] with that session id:

http://www.google.com/reader/public/atom/user%2F[userid]%2Fstate%2Fcom.google%2Fbroadcast

You should see some items in the feed.  If not, you might need actually share some items in Google Reader.

Let me know if you have any issues or successes.