A Loaded Question

I've been thinking about this blog a lot lately, specifically how my current schedule keeps me from it. I'd like that to change. So I'm looking into making a major adjustment in my life. Stay tuned.
Image found here.

The Life I Should Have Had

The latest edition of Southern Living arrived in my mailbox today. The cover was adorned with a gorgeous Thanksgiving spread; inside were testimonials of the life I should be leading back in my homeland. Married women, dressed in their Sunday best even though it’s only Tuesday, smile alongside their delicate mantle displays and open-planned kitchens. In another room, two perfectly groomed children do whatever perfectly groomed children do. Upstairs, The Catch watches football.

I probably should have worked a little harder to earn that life. To land The Catch and push out two perfectly groomed children. I should have a smaller waist and bigger diamonds in my life. My mother should live down the street—close enough to babysit but far away enough so as not to annoy The Catch. But I daydreamed through high school, and I focused more on planning for a career than planning for a wedding all through my college years.

So, this is the life I lead instead. In lieu of breezy porches gracefully extending from brick homes, I live in apartments without central heat or air. I’ve forgone streets lined with scrappy pine trees always dripping sap and chosen manicured streets accented with sycamores and coral trees. The air smells more of sage and that powdery sigh roses let out than of barbeques and freshly cut grass. The men here are too busy dating models to worry about finding a mother for an heir. This is the life I lead. And while it’s not gracing any slick magazine covers in my mailbox, this life is all mine.

Image found here. It's a really good issue with some very delish recipes.

A Twist.

Sometimes change just sneaks up on you!

Found here via here.

This One's For Bryan

Found here via here.

That Time of Year

32 years ago today, I discovered my love for cake.

The Tale of the Thirteen Piece Fry

An Ulster Fry is the stuff of breakfast legend. As you would in England, Scotland or Ireland, you get eggs alongside ham, sausages, and mushrooms with an Ulster Fry. But the Ulster Fry goes a step further by adding fried soda bread and potato farls, oftentimes both black and white puddings, and sometimes a grilled tomato. It's kind of a must for any visit to this corner of the world. The idea of a 13 piece fry, proposed by Anna and Luke's grandfather, sounded heavenly. We decided we would tackle the fry on Monday morning, before I had to depart for Dublin.

And so begins the tale of the 13 piece fry.


We set out for Newcastle (Northern Ireland not England, mind you) and drove through countryside sort of like this. The build up for the fry was massive. This breakfast was becoming the event.


Newcastle is by the sea, though you can't tell from this photo. Do these people know how lucky they are to live in a town with a 13 piece fry?


We park and start off in search of the restaurant genius enough to offer a fry this big. What? The 13 piece fry has been downsized? Never mind. A fry's a fry.


The list of items: eggs, ham, sausage, mushrooms, black pudding, white pudding, potato bread, soda bread, tomato, pancake, and beans.


The tea arrived. Apparently tea is the most appropriate drink with a fry.


And then the blessed moment: the arrival of the fry.


Post-fry.


Payment for the fry(s).


Then we did what any self-respecting person would do; we went for coffee and ice cream. I thought this row of school children we passed was kind of artsy.


The possibilities for ice cream cake personalization are endless.


The sundaes. One was chocolate madness or something-or-other and the second was called pooh bear something-or-other.


My sundae view.


A hard day's work.

And so ends my short tale of the delicious 11 not 13 piece fry.

Re-Gift Prevention

Here's a clever idea for personalizing a book. And bonus! It should aid in preventing your gift from ever seeing a garage sale or the musty inside of a thrift shop.

Idea came from where else? Martha Stewart.