"We need to make this right now"

Caleb brought in this month's issue of Southern Living, we looked at the cake on the cover and immediately drove to the store to get the ingredients.

Strawberry Swirl Cream Cheese Pound Cake. Yes, please.


Of course the one on the cover looks way more amazing, BUT ours tastes ok, so we're happy. So much for eating healthy this month...

Valentine's Day

Our first love.... PJ Joey. She's smiling for the camera. She really does have such a personality.

This heart-shaped cookie cake was not as tasty as it looks. The issue: the bag of brown sugar probably expired May of '07. It was hard as a rock, but I still thought maybe the boulders would break up when the beaters hit them. Nope. So I picked all the huge chunks out and went on with the recipe, never compensating for the missing sugar. Bleg.

Caleb arranged this himself. Good job, Buddy!

This is the best pizza we've ever made! We LOVE the "Chicken Tuscany" from Old Venice and though we'd try it for our Valentine's Dinner. I pulled up OVPC's menu online and it tells you exactly what's on the pizza. It was SO GOOD! I plan on trying to cook a lot more of their pizzas myself.

Hope everyone is having a great week!

Award, Cheese, and PROM!

It's been a good week!

First, to toot my own horn, I was awarded Teacher of the Week! Students select a teacher that has helped them academically and personally and I along with Mr. Walton (a for REAL fantastic teacher) were awarded this week. To make it even better, this is the first time they've given the award, and also, I got a $10 card to Panera Bread. I have pretty much been walking around on a cloud of happiness. Thanks for letting me brag.

Moving on to even better things... GOUDA! I stirred 7 ounces of the good stuff into grits and served up some really great shrimp and gouda grits. It was excellent! Here's the link to the recipe: www.grouprecipes.com/48870/shrimp-and-grits (blogger isn't letting me link... booo!)

And finally onto this year's Med School Prom. It was fun. Here are some pics:

Caleb with some classmates:

Andrew Vincent, his squirrel tie, and me:

A horrible pic of me, with Goose in full Scottish regalia (yep.... that's a kilt he's wearing, and Caleb (maybe Caleb could wear a kilt next year??? Here's hoping!):

Just a note on Goose: we all go to the same Bible Study and his Bible is in Greek. He translates it for us during discussions. It never ceases to amaze me how SMART some people are. I probably forget people are smart because I'm surrounded by teenagers who can't even remember to bring a pencil to class.

Oh, and this will make the third time I've gotten a wear out of that blue bridesmaid dress! Whoopie!

Cheese of the Month

Despite bodily issues that should make the consumption of cheese a no-no, I love it nonetheless.

At Chris and Susan's wedding a month ago, I was introduced to more types of cheeses than I knew what to do with. I quit socializing, and just stood in a corner of the room, eating cheese cube after cube.

Determined to experience new cheeses on a regular basis, I googled "Cheese of the Month Club" thinking Caleb could get that for me for Valentine's Day. Nope. It's $42.95 a month which if my calculator is correct, $515 a YEAR! For CHEESE!

Instead of joining the club, I will settle for highlighting a cheese each month and buying a wedge at Wal-Mart.

This month..... DRUMROLL....


GOUDA!
My plan is to randomly eat chunks of it whenever I want, like I'm sure the wealthy do. I will also be making shrimp and gouda grits this Wednesday night. I'm sure it will be delish.

If there is any gouda left over, I will make a fantastic sandwhich like so:
If you care to join me on this cheese journey, then please go buy your gouda for the month of February. Be sure to leave a comment about what recipes you use your gouda in!