Score!

Yesterday while K and I were out working off our Saturday "to do" list I realized we were just a block from REI and my car, as it's wont to do, went on auto-pilot straight into their parking lot.  Fortunately for me as I discovered they were having a store-wide "garage sale".  Some of it was returned items on sale for cents on the dollar, but they also had tons of new stuff marked down 50%, too.

I found this $180 Primaloft-insulated mid-weight REI jacket for $83.  Now I just have to fight Luke for it.  (He looks "ready to rumble."  Grrrrr!)

I don't understand clothes merchandising.  Here it is barely a week into winter, there is still snow on the ground from last Tuesday's storm, and already stores are clearing out their winter stuff and making room for....what....summer shorts and t-shirts?  It seems like they start earlier and earlier every year trying to sell us the upcoming season's styles.  I'm thinking someday they'll actually get ahead of themselves a full 12 months and put next winter's stuff on sale at the start of this winter.

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My banana pudding is in demand again....by ME!  I took a huge bowl of BP I made to the in-laws for (part of) our Christmas dinner dessert, and as we left K said, "Y'all just keep the rest and enjoy it."  DOH!  I got one modest-size bowl for all my effort.

This afternoon we're going to have Christmas with two of my daughters who live in the area and grandkids Parker and Blakely, plus grand-daughter Reese still "in the oven".  I made another banana pudding to share with the family, with the understanding I'm bringing back at least some of what's left over.  I mean, one serving is just a teaser!

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'Tis the best of times....it's college football bowl season....and the worst of times....after January 7th I won't have any more NCAA football for eight months.  Oh, the horror!

So far we've only had some of the minor bowl games like the Boudreaux's Butt Paste* Bowl (or something like that) where my Texas Tech Red Raiders lucked out and beat Minnesota as the clock ran out.   Hey, it's still a "W"....I'll take it.

Now I'm gonna go check the newspaper to see which NFL players added to their police rap sheets over the weekend.

Y'all have a nice Sunday.

S

*Yes, there really is such a product.  (I don't make this stuff up, folks.  Well, not most of it.)

"If you want something done right....

....do it yourself."  I don't know who first came up with that one, but it's as appropriate today as it was when I first heard my dad say it when I was a kid.

For me it describes perfectly the saga of the holiday banana pudding I'm still waiting for.  This past Thanksgiving I mentioned how much I wanted some banana pudding and my SIL said she would make some for our family get-together.  Bless her heart, she tried, and what she served wasn't bad at all, but it wasn't Classic Banana Pudding.  If she'd called it Banana Delight or something we wouldn't have thought anything about it.  But as we were expecting banana pudding, we were disappointed.

So, in the spirit of that old idiom, I'm gonna do it myself.  We're going to my in-laws house on Christmas day and K and I are bringing dessert.  On Monday I'll be in the kitchen with my cookbook acting like I'm Emeril Lagasse.  (Fair disclosure....my "cookbook" is actually the side of a box of 'Nilla Wafers.  Close enough.)

Fancy cooks have a habit of taking a very simple recipe and jazzing it up, thinking it's an improvement.  I wouldn't mind it if they did that and labeled it "New Improved ______" and served it alongside "Classic _____".  Then we would know we had a choice and could decide for ourselves.  I just don't like surprises when it comes to my food.  Truth in advertising.

Don't promise me Santa Claus, then send me Billy Bob Thornton.  ;)

S

It's deja vu all over again...again

A little Thanksgiving story from my past:

I love banana pudding....always have, ever since I was a little kid.  My grandmother was an awesome cook, and every Thanksgiving she would make a banana pudding for "us", although I knew it was really for me. Unfortunately, after my grandmother passed on, banana pudding was rare non-existent around our house as my mom didn't inherit her mother's talent for cooking.  

Fast forward a few years.  While my ex-wife was a pretty good an average cook, she wasn't as enamored with banana pudding as I was.  On our first Thanksgiving together we traveled out of town to spend the holiday with her family.  When we got there my new MIL told me she had a surprise for me....she made me a banana pudding.

YEA!  Finally, a banana pudding.  I purposely went easy on the turkey and dressing in order to leave plenty of room in my belly for dessert.  "Mom" dished me up a healthy portion of BP, and I dived in.

*What's with these little chewy bits in my banana pudding?  Coconut.  She put coconut in my banana pudding!  WHY??  Vanilla pudding, bananas, vanilla wafers....that's ALL that goes into banana pudding.  It's a classic, for God's sake!  Don't mess with a sure thing.*

"I saw this new recipe in Southern Living magazine and it sounded soooo good.  I just knew you'd love it."

Mmmmm....thanks "Mom".  *ACK*

Thanksgiving, 2012.  K said she was going to bake something for dessert to take with us to her family's for Turkey Day, and I suggested a pecan pie. 

I love pecan pie....always have, ever since I was a little kid.  Last night K told me she had a surprise for me.  She saw a new recipe on Pintrest she was going to try for "pecan pie....cake".  Cake?  CAKE??  

Ummm, Sweetheart?  Pecan PIE is a classic.  Remember the other Golden Rule?  "If it ain't broke, don't fix it."

I'm sure I'll love it.  

I'm hoping the swelling goes down by Thursday.  ;)

S