Hubby's Birthday Cake, Lemon cake with lemon mascarpone filling and vanilla bean butter cream frosting

Check out the awesome cake I made for Matt. Funny story, it's not really the one he wanted, but I chose to exercise my better judgement (meaning better than his) and make it anyway. He wanted the cake his mom makes. Chocolate with white frosting. But I wanted to make this, so I did. What kind of a person does that make me?

The meal my Dad said was the best food he'd had in all of 2011

Courtesy of Paula Dean...y'all. (that girl is COUNTRY!)

Paula serves the oysters on the steak with the hollandaise drizzled over the top of it all. It was so fabulous, I will probably double the hollandaise next time.

Ribeyes with Hollandaise, fried oysters, and garlic mashed potatoes.

Hollandaise sauce:
½ stick butter
4 egg yolks, whisked
Tasso ham (lean cut of cured pork with Cajun seasoning), chopped
½ cup heavy cream
Pinch sugar & salt
Juice of 1 large lemon
1 Tbsp white vinegar

Melt butter in double boiler. Add egg yolks, cream, sugar, salt and lemon juice. Whisk until thickened, then add ham. Remove from heat; add vinegar.
**don't be scared of the tasso. I couldn't find any, so I used 4oz of packaged cured pork with some kind of seasoning. Next to the prosciutto in a similar package.

Big Pete

Big Pete arrived in the mail! I feel everyone's judging eyes when I talk about him, but he makes me so happy. I love how heavy the glass is, and how I can hold it with one hand, but it feels so much more comfortable using 2 hands. I can cup it like a chalice, or a goblet. I can drink 8oz and not see a dent.

50th Anniversary Cakeballs

I baked and rolled up 2 batches of cake balls today for my grandparents' 50th anniversary party next weekend.  I'm making 25 centerpieces with them.  I bought clay flower pots and dowel rods with bases, and round styrofoam balls.  I'm going to make cakeball topiaries!  From what I measured, I'll need 400 cakeballs for all 25 centerpieces.  I'm just going to make as many as I can, and make do.  I can't promise 400.  I made rainbow sprinkle and butter pecan today.  I still have to bake and roll chocolate, lemon, carrot, and red velvet.  That will get me almost half of what I  need, and I'll see which ones I like best for the rest.

I am keeping them in the freezer until I'm ready to dip them in chocolate, but I don't want to dip them too early or they'll go bad. You can't refrigerate them once you've dipped them.  We're leaving for San Antonio next Friday, so I have to have them all done by the end of the night Thursday night.  I'm hoping I can get them all dipped and decorated Wed and Thurs.  It is going to be a LOT of work for just 2 nights.

Matt has his Fantasy Football draft today/tonight.  I think he's spending the night there, so that means I get to watch some chick flicks tonight and catch up on my reading.

Sharon Price

My parents had me at a young age, so I have always been lucky to have young grandparents. Most of the memories of my grandparents put them right around the same age as my parents are now, perhaps a touch older. As I've grown older, I haven't expected them to age with me. It was a rude awakening when my grandmother passed away 6 years ago today. I've never lost anyone so close to me before, which I suppose makes me both very lucky and in the minority. How is it possible that 6 years later, memories of her bring a tear to my eye?

She passed away 7 months before I met my husband, and it will always disappoint me that she never got to know him or my kids. I wish I could convey through stories what a completely wonderful person Sharon Price was. But I know that no story will be enough for my kids to feel what I feel for her. I am so thankful that my parents make such an effort to be an active part in my kids lives, and I hope Kaylen and Jenson realize how lucky they are.