Decisions, Decisions – of the Dessert Variety

My cousin is hosting our family Christmas this year, and I am so excited. Lots of firsts: her first apartment, her first time hosting a big party, and the first family Christmas hosted by someone in our generation. Definite excitement!

For her, though, it’s excitement mixed with nerves. She keeps texting me, alternating between happiness and panic. To help the girl out (and be the good cousin that I am), I offered to make an appetizer, a vegetable, and a dessert.

I think I’m set on appetizers: I’m going to do Greek Salad Bites and Lemon-Pepper Pecorino Dip. Maybe I’ll throw in some cheese and crackers, too – just for kicks. My family likes to eat. And for the vegetable, I’m sticking with a simple classic, roasted broccoli. It’s my own recipe which I’ll try to post soon so you can see it.

But now the big decision: what do I make for dessert? Sam is pulling together apple pie, pecan pie, pumpkin roll, and kiffles. My spidey sense tells me that what is missing from that roundup is chocolate. So my options are:

• Salted Caramel Cheesecake Bars
• Salted Caramel Chocolate Pudding Cake
• No Bake Peanut Butter Pie

Okay, okay, I know none of those is super-chocolatey. Too bad because they all sound delicious. I think I’m leaning toward the Chocolate Pudding Cake or the Peanut Butter Pie. The Chocolate Pudding Cake would be more of an adventure, and could potentially be made ahead of time (that would be helpful). But so could the Peanut Butter Pie – no doubt a family favorite, but the safe choice.

Help! What should I make? Any other suggestions?

Mo Money, Mo Problems, Mo Mustaches, Movember

In case you didn’t already realize it, November is men’s health awareness month – specifically, awareness about prostate and testicular cancer. And someone decided, at some point, for some unknown reason, in Australia (which explains a lot), that in order to raise awareness of this issue, men should grow mustaches. And they call the month: Movember. Men around the world grow mustaches to raise awareness of men’s health issues.

Mo’ mustaches…less problems? I guess that’s the idea.

Awareness is important. And men doing silly stuff like trying (and possibly failing) to grow a mustache is just darn funny sometimes — as my friend Steve can attest to. So I’ll keep this short and simple:

1. If you are male, grow a mustache (for the remaining week of Movember anyway), then go get yourself checked out. Regardless of your age. Young, old, in between, whatever.
2. If you are female, try not to laugh at the men in your life growing mustaches. After trying unsuccessfully not to laugh at their peach fuzz, encourage them to get checked out.
3. Visit Steve’s blog and laugh your butt off. And appreciate the fine things he and his facial hair are doing to raise awareness! Then donate to his Movember team. I just donated and it feels better than his December 1st shave is gonna feel.

This issue is pretty close to my heart: two members of my family had prostate cancer and they beat it through early detection and treatment. Go mustaches!

OBX Pictures

I’m finally back in DC after a week in OBX with my family. It was a great week (it rained a few days but I’m sure I’ll get over the lost tanning time eventually, hah). I’m super exhausted from the drive back, but I wanted to get a quick post in so you didn’t think I’d forgotten about you 🙂

Here are some pictures from the vacation:

 

Stormcloud on our last day.

House on the dune in Kill Devil Hills, where we day-tripped on the first day.

View from dinner on the last night.

 

 

Quarter Century

I turn a quarter century old today, and while it’s been a day similar to many others, it’s also been a day to reflect on my past 25 years and get really excited for the next 25 (and the next 25 after that, and after that…). I want to thank everyone who has made my life wonderful over the past quarter century – in particular my mom and dad, my GENK girls, my NJ girls, my JJs, and my family. I love you all! And a special thanks to those of you who faithfully read my little blog and offer me so much encouragement – it means so much to me.

This morning, my parents were reminiscing about the day that they brought me home from the hospital. They laid me in my crib (to quote my dad, “the crib was this big, and you were only this big!”), stepped back, looked at each other, and said “what do we do now?” Well, I guess I turned out okay so they must have done some things right 🙂 And twenty-five years later, they know exactly what to do with their daughter on her birthday: take her to the shore. The creaky wooden steps of the boardwalk, the creamy taste of ice cream, the cries of the seagulls, the smell of the salt water… I was happy as a clam to spend a day at the shore with my family. It was a great birthday.

Have a great fourth of July!