once upon a time two young women searched 5 grocery stores in portland for one of the girl's sisters, who wanted good vanilla. some time later, the young women found themselves stuck in suburban hell, where decently priced good vanilla was not to be found......a sad tale, indeed.

Blog poll:

I want to make something interesting for the picnic tomorrow. Any ideas?

I'm shocked you didn't list Christmas Vacation!!!

i can't pick one genre of movie and list 10 movies in it. i can hardly list 10 movies i've seen.

princess bride would be in there though

good god will i ever catch up. well first of all, i would like to proclaim that for 3 days in a row, i have gotten up at 7 am and gone to the gym. two of those days, i have gone BACK to the gym at 8pm. yeah, i know. the world is a crazy place. don't worry, i'm not losing weight. sunday night i made "chicken with 40 cloves of garlic" for dinner with couscous and brocoli, yum. mila's been cooking the rest of the week..yummy stuff. i'm moving into my TINY basement apartment around the 15th--thanks rk in advance for the jeep and the driving and etc. and thanks in advance to ellen or dad for letting us borrow the xm. i think tomorrow night we're going to the mall and for seafood (to celebrate mila's getting some progress made). i cannot WAIT to have my cat back.

Babette's is one of my standards. That and Tampopo. I really need both of those.

Last night we had one of my very favorite dinners. Fresh beet greens, new potatoes boiled with pesto on them and steak with fried onions. YUMMY. The kids made dessert. Isaiah dug out the kids cookbook and decided he'd make a cake. They did a great job and did it entirely on their own.

Food Movies

I don't know if I can either but I'll try.
1. Tampopo
2. Babette's Feast
3. Big Night
4. Eat Drink, Man Woman
5. Like Water for Chocolate
6. La Grande Buffet
7. Willy Wonka and the chocolate Factory
8. Eating Rhaul
9. Chocolat
10. The Godfather (yes I know it's not a food movie - but that guy making sauce for the boys always makes me crave pasta so it counts)

Blog Poll: LIst your favorite genre of movie and 10 picks in that genre.

Blog Review Continued....: Cinema Paradiso

I reviewed it too soon. I should have waited until I finished it. Because, while the first hour was very entertaining the second was very dull. It is 50 years of this man's life IN REAL TIME. So you've been warned. Still, I enjoyed it to some extent, but JK HATED it....and your second warning...It's a bit of a tear jerker.

Blog Review: Cinema Paradiso

What a wonderful half of a movie! We could only watch the first hour because we were exhausted but this is a BEAUTIFUL story with great acting and production - so far I HIGHLY recommend it and this means you BW and WW (and the rest of you too).

Blog Announcement

Poker is scheduled for Saturday evening after the bday partay.

In case you need to know the alien's name is fred. I'll take a pic of him for you tomorrow.

So, Saturday the kids and I spent the day at the Lincoln homecoming. We watched the parade and got hot dogs and cotton candy. Isaiah bought a 5ft tall inflatable alien. When we got home he decided it didn't look spooky enough and drew fangs and scales on it so it DOES look a lot better now. We came home for the afternoon and I cleaned a bit. Then Leigh took us all back to Lincoln for the fireworks. Isn't it great that you can get a Mocha Latte in Lincoln now? We both enjoyed ours.

I was beat when we got home and went instantly to bed and sleep. This morning I got up early and went to bangor for groceries. I was home by 10 and made everyone pancakes and bacon. That's my weekend. How was yours?

The Weekend in Review

Friday:

JK and I went to Bangor, picked up chicken feed, hay and a snack (dumplings and eggrolls from China wall) and headed to Bucksport for the Small Gauge/Big Laughs
Screening by George Kuchar and Andrew Lampert unfortunately George was unable to make it but Mr. Lampert did an impersonation of him so it was almost like he was there. http://www.oldfilm.org/nhfWeb/alamotheatre/index.cfm It was a VERY fun time and NO i had no idea who these people were before we went but now I know all about them so I am very cool.

Blog review: The Alamo Theater

The Alamo Theater is AWESOME and I hope you go sometime. It seats 120 and doesn't smell of sweat and popcorn with a little urine thrown in for atmosphere like the bangor mall cinema does. The staff is friendly and helpful and the popcorn is very cheap (plus they use real butter - not that plastic stuff). It is DEFINITELY worth the extra 20 minutes drive to go there. I contributed to the fund to save drive in movie advertising clips.

Leigh's influence here 

News from the Burlington Bridge Club

Well bridge was hosted by me today. I have to say the cards sucked ROYALly. The cake,however, was quite elegant. The snack was cheese puffs (a bridge favorite) and chocolate covered peanuts. The prizes were FABULOUS coffee cups from the Hannaford half price cart (the sea theme ones). A good time was had by all, but I'm sorry to report to Jennykins that there really wasn't any gossip tonight. I even listened for it. Anyway.....

Blog Review: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

Wow. This movie is NOT Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. The scenery is wonderful, the script and cast are wonderful as well. It's SO different than the other one that you really can't compare it. Go see it for yourself - and if you REALLY want to enjoy it go see it in Montreal on the IMAX. We ALL loved it - including JK and we loved it more than the original.

Well Friday afternoon JK, the kids and I headed for Bangor where we had MANY errands to run. We did all that then went to Mamma Baldacci's for dinner. It wasn't really THAT bad, just disgusting as always. Don't go there. I won't again for 10 years at least, but I DO like to try once per decade because it was good at one time, remember? Anyway, Isaiah had a sub, which he deemed "disgusting", I had "milk fed veal" which was "disgusting"; Maddy had - you guessed it - chicken fingers, "good" and JK had spinach stuffed shells "alright". Perhaps the most interesting thing about Mamma B's is their "renovation" which involves painting the 40 year old paneling red and white. Cool.

Anyway, after that we went to the Movie.

Poker Results

6th Maddy
5th Cheryl
4th Leigh
3rd Becky
2nd RK
1st JK AGAIN!

weekend (contains spoilers)

Ok, I have a ton to write and have no idea where to start. I assume chronological order makes the most sense, but I’m sure I’ll forget things here and there…we’ll see what happens.

So Thursday afternoon at about 1 left work and came home, and took the red top taxi to dulles. Everything went smoothly there. The plane left early. I arrived at nyc at about 4. got a cab to my hotel, the metro, on w35th st. my cabbie was from Pakistan and he was really nice. We listened to Indian music and chatted the whole trip. Cost? $49.50. the metro hotel wouldn’t let me check in under Andrea’s name because it was an online reservation. She called and was still on the train and some distance away. So I left my bag at the desk and went to a coffeeshop. I got an Arizona iced green tea and a new magazine called Radar—It’s pretty funny, liberal, pop culture, stupid stuff. I will probably subscribe. At about 6:30 I went back to the hotel lobby and waited for A to arrive. She did. We checked in, rushed up to the 12th floor (no a/c in elevator or hallways at the metro hotel, fyi), and got ready for our play.

******************SPOILER******************
Spamalot is funny. My favorite part was david hyde pierce singing ‘you can’t make it on broadway if you don’t have any jews.’ Tim curry was very good—but it was weird to see him as king Arthur but think of him as the transvestite in rocky horror. A very good time was had by all. The woman lead was SUCH a good singer…she was amazing. No wonder she won a tony. They cracked each other up on stage all night, which I always enjoy.
************END OF SPOILER****************
after the play we met up with lorie and mike. I hadn’t eaten anything most of the day and so we went to planet Hollywood in times square for drinks and food. I had a turkey club. A had a salad. Mike had potato skins. Lorie had some of my fries. We all had 2 beers. L and I sang along with every song…very loudly. we talked about what to do the next day….a said to l ‘how about the museum of modern art?’ and she said “great I want to go there!” which I thought was weird because I wanted to go there too. Through the night, various things were mentioned such as l wanted to see the cloisters (to which I said ‘that’s not modern art’) and mike said it was near central park (and a said ‘it’s 2 blocks from your hotel) and a said she wanted to see the photo exhibit of mt. st. Helens. We agreed to meet ‘at the place at 11 am’. A treated. I got to sleep after 3 am.

The next morning we had starbucks and walked to the moma. Well, at the place at 11 am we realized that l and m went to the met. They’re crazy folk. And they fundamentally don’t believe in carrying their cell phone unless they’re in the car, then it’s in the ‘off’ position. So a and I enjoyed the moma. We saw this exhibit comparing cezanne to pissaro, and we decided that we like pissaro better. We bitched at the paintings called “blue monochrome” and “black circles” and decided that any sculpture that calls itself “Object” is not art. Also, the black frigging canvas that is titled “Abstract” is not art either. We bitched about pretentious art people. We saw a lot of Picasso and some lichtenstein and Warhol and klimt and monet and dali and all kinds of good stuff, but we also saw whole galleries of absolute shit.

After the moma we went to a street vendor where I got a hot dog and a got a pretzel that had altogether too much salt for me. I almost gagged—thank blog I had just bought a big water. We decided to go wait in the LONG LONG LONG line for half price tickets, to try to get something for a play called “the pillowman” starring jeff goldblum and billy cudrup. After we waited an hour in line, a flyer girl told us that the line we were in was for musicals, and the ‘play’ line was empty. We were skeptical so a stood in line and I went to investigate. Surely enough, the “plays only” line was 5 people long, and I got our half price tickets in row L in the orchestra, no less! By the time I got the tickets, a had worked up to the front of the line, so we had waited there for nothing. After we got our tickets I was famished and exhausted so we went to this place called maxie’s in time’s square. I had a cheeseburger and a had one of the most giantest salads I’ve ever seen. It was overpriced and the service sucked. I drank 3 cokes and a water. On the trek back to the hotel we stopped at a different starbucks. Oh we also went to a bead store…a is into beading right now. At the hotel I took a COLD shower—nyc was frickin hot and humid. We got ready and went to our play.

********SPOILER*******************
the pillowman is a story about a writer—billy cudrup—who is subjected to this experiment whereby his parents are nice and sweet and nurturing to him, encouraging him to write. Conversely, he has a brother in the next room he doesn’t know about hidden behind a wall who is tortured and beaten his whole life. The writer hears horrible sounds and noises and eventually starts writing some fucked up shit. He discovers his brother near death when he is 14, kills his mom and dad, and takes care of his brother. Well, several years later, his brother conducts a series of murders based on the f-ed up stories, and the writer gets interrogated (by jeff goldblum) for committing the crimes. When the writer finds out his brother is guilty, he murders him as well, of mice and men style. At the end of the play, the writer is killed for killing his mom, dad, and brother.
*********END OF SPOILER***********
the rumor was that Christian slater was in the audience, I thought I saw his hairline. However, because this had to be crazy girl’s weekend in the city, by the end of the night I was saying that Christian and I had met at the play, gotten married, but split up because jeff goldblum had stolen me away.

We met up with l and m at this place called houlihan’s. I had 2 pina coladas, a Smirnoff ice, and we all shared nachos and wings. Everyone else had 3 beers. M treated. L and m walked us back towards our hotel through times square, I think m wanted to protect us, that was sweet. I got to sleep after 3 am.

Saturday was very leisurely. We walked around our neighborhood a little, went to the bead store again, and went to a diner on 7th ave for breakfast…I had poached eggs on corned beef hash with a bagel, and a had a bacon omlette with a bagel. We both ate too much. We checked out of the hotel and walked to penn station, where we parted ways. I got to kennedy at about 2 to find out that my flight was at 5. however, the 2:15 flight hadn’t yet boarded and was delayed until 2:40 so I asked if I could get on that plane and they said yes.

Well when the plane boarded, I got on, buckled, and read my magazine. Well, the ticket lady said there was too much freight on the plane and asked for a volunteer to give up their seat for a 100$ credit. I volunteered, because hey, it wasn’t really my flight anyway. Long story short after that—dulles was closed for 8 hours (thunderstorm), my flight was cancelled, and 12 hours and 4 boarding passes later, I was on a flight to dulles. I got home at 3:15 am. I have done nothing of note today, which you can imagine. That was my weekend. a vvgtwhba.

Weekend plans?

We don't have much on our agenda, working on the house, poker saturday afternoon and hopefully it will rain on Sunday so I can watch the British open. LTL you and Sean obviously have an open invitation to the Saturday poker tournaments.

Orlie and Suzanne are on their way to PA but poker will be held at their house anyway - for those of you who would be interested. Show up 3ish or send me an email if you need to be later. We don't have a hard and fast time to start. I'm going to be serving cake - as I have all this frosting I have to use.

Last night we worked on the house quite a bit. After that we all showered and had dinner (left over lo mein for the 'rents, pasta, chix nuggets and carrots for the kids). Then we watched the original Willy Wonka - which JK had never seen before! It was awesome.

wanna watch the daily progress of our house?

http://mooresroadhouse.blogspot.com/

I guess I need to refer to that movie as CatCF as WW is already a popular term.....

Was the INXS show on LAST night too? I didn't realize you had to devote every night to it. I thoroughly enjoyed it Monday though. I was really impressed with the talent. Anyway, WE are planning a WW extravaganza. I bought the original and my family is going to watch it tonight with pizza maybe. Friday we're ALL going with Leigh.

Pate - like soda I've never tasted - is one of those foods I'm afraid of. I need to try it someday. I'm SOOOO jealous of you up there in beautiful Montreal with all those great cafe's and bakeries and 24-hour poutine......

Leigh forgot to mention the UTTER CLEANLINESS of the entire scene. NO drunks, NO doped out druggies, NO naked people (even the guys kept the shirts on) NO whiffs of pot smoke NOT EVEN ANY cigarette smoke. NO line at the beer room. I didn't even see any MAJOR groping. The most disgusting thing was bubble gum on the floor. I was pretty upset that neither of us was either puked on or spilled upon. Can you imagine? You know you're old when you think the cops are better looking than the kids - and I'll tell you what. There are a couple of HHHHHOOOOOTTTTT cops in Lewiston.

i used to have a passive aggressive person in my life. i'm sure he has a tally of offenses against me hidden somewhere.

well i have nothing classy or trendy or gay or wine-induced to discuss. my topics all sound so boring now.

My boy pulls that all the time - only his is "I'm having a bad day" and "Nobody lets me do ANYTHING I want". Then you point out the fun stuff they did that day and the things he DID want to do that he got to do, but it still is irrelevant to them....Kids. I'm telling ya.

I'm getting ready to go to piano then going to Bangor where I will meet Leigh and we will go to Weezer. I'm so excited!!!!!

...as if you have to convince ME to get coffee. Ha! You can have that DD crap if you need it. I'm getting starbucks.

I forgot to mention the best thing last night. The kids got out the cd player and disco ball and had a dance party. The danced wildly for 2 hours!!! Anyway, thanks to Auntie Jen for providing the awesome dance mixes.

Saturday I spent a lot of the rainy day in Lincoln. Maddy and I went through every shelf at mardens and bought a little bit of junk then we went to Hannaford and came home. We spent the afternoon with Leigh and Ralph watching live 8. Then we all had a fabulous dinner at chez Thurlow. Ralph bbq'd chicken and leigh made excellen eggplant parmesan. After dinner we played poker. JK won Leigh came in second. AVGWHBA.

Yesterday I had tea with the Wonders and that was pretty much the highlight of my day. I came home and we had leftover pizza for dinner (Bert's special). Watched poker and went to bed.

How was the romantic dinner? Where did you go? Who did you see?

Ah, I didn't see you there LTL. Thanks for the response. Is there any OTHER way to get a tattoo? I'm thinking the person I want to get a tattoo for is not going to want to be in OOB in a string bikini.

but I only have your Penn email address. I can call you if you need me to.

It's on it's way RR.....

Blog Review: Rounders

Directed by
John Dahl

Writing credits (WGA)
David Levien (written by) &
Brian Koppelman (written by)

Add this title to MyMovies Add to MyMovies Photo Gallery Photos IMDbPro Professional Details
Genre: Drama (more)

Tagline: In The Game Of Life... Play The Cards You're Dealt (more)

Plot Outline: A young man (Matt Damon) is a reformed gambler who must return to playing big stakes poker to help a friend pay off loan sharks. (more)

User Comments: Who would have thought a film about Poker would be so good? (more)

Cast overview
Matt Damon .... Mike McDermott
Edward Norton .... Lester 'Worm' Murphy
Paul Cicero .... Russian Thug
John Turturro .... Joey Knish
Ray Iannicelli .... Kenny
Gretchen Mol .... Jo
Famke Janssen .... Petra
Merwin Goldsmith .... Sy
John Malkovich .... Teddy KGB
Martin Landau .... Abe Petrovsky
Sonny Zito .... Tony
Michael Rispoli .... Grama
Melina Kanakaredes .... Barbara
Mal Z. Lawrence .... Irving
Josh Mostel .... Zagosh
Lenny Clarke .... Savino
Peter Yoshida .... Henry Lin
Tom Aldredge .... Judge Marinacci
Jay Boryea .... Russian Thug #2
Lenny Venito .... Moogie
Richard Mawe .... Professor Eisen
Michael Lombard .... D.A. Shields
Beeson Carroll .... Judge Kaplan
E. Matthew Yavne .... Professor Green (as Matthew Yavne)
Eric LaRay Harvey .... Roy
Dominic Marcus .... Dowling
Brian Anthony Wilson .... Derald
George Kmeck .... Prison Guard
Joseph Parisi .... Property Guard
Kohl Sudduth .... Wagner
Charlie Matthes .... Birch
Hank Jacobs .... Steiny
Chris Messina .... Higgins
Michael Ryan Segal .... Griggs
Kerry O'Malley .... Kelly
Slava Schoot .... Roman
Goran Visnjic .... Maurice
Michele Zanes .... Taj Dealer
Allan Havey .... Guberman
Joe Vega .... Freddy Face
Neal Hemphill .... Claude
Vernon E. Jordan Jr. .... Judge McKinnon
Jon C. Chan .... Himself
Lisa Gorlitsky .... Sherry
Joe DiBenedetto .... LaRossa
Nicole Brier .... Sunshine
Bill Camp .... Eisenberg
Tony Hoty .... Taki
Mario Mendoza .... Zizzo
Joe Zaloom .... Cronos
Sal Richards .... Johnny Gold
Josh Pais .... Weitz
John Gallagher .... Bartender
Adam LeFevre .... Sean Frye
P.J. Brown .... Vitter
David Zayas .... Osborne
Michael Arkin .... Bear
Murphy Guyer .... Detweiler
Alan Davidson .... Cabbie
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Akiko Ashley .... Hooker (uncredited)
Dar Billingham .... Cocktail Waitress (uncredited)
Marcelline Block .... Law Student (uncredited)
Tim Carr .... Cardsharp (uncredited)
Salvatore Cavaliere .... State Trooper (uncredited)
Nick Chantara .... Chilly Willy (uncredited)
Jeff DeRocker .... (uncredited)
Caroline Domenech .... Girl on Street (uncredited)
Brian Donahue .... State Trooper (uncredited)
Bill Golodner .... Russian Thug (uncredited)
Michael Griffith .... Broke Gambler (uncredited)
Jason Hale .... College Student (uncredited)
George F. Miller .... Prison Guard (uncredited)
Natasha Pavlovich .... Hostess (uncredited)
Maria Soccor .... Atlantic City Call Girl (uncredited)

This movie started out pretty well. I was glad that I've spent the last 4 months studying poker players because I was familiar with EVERY name that was mentioned and when they showed the books I was saying "That's Doyle's book" and JK would say "That's Howard's book isn't it" etc. So that part of it was fun. The story was believable and alright. The acting, however, left MUCH to be desired. Gretchen Mol was like she had never acted before and was in a high school play. John Malkovich, who I love, generally, had such a ridiculous russian accent that that was all I could think about. I mean, it's not as if there aren't REGULAR gangsters in New York. There was no reason for him to be Russian that I could see. And it wasn't as if he was trying to pull some REGULAR russian accent, he was trying some strange slow dialect to make us all more impressed. Anyway...watch it for yourself, and call me if you need to know what they're talking about - poker wise.

Last night I went to Lincoln, came home, made foccacia watched a bit of poker. Delivered foccacia to the Thurlow and had a lovely Budweiser with Uncle Ralph. It kind of WAS lovely too. I haven't had a budweiser since I was a junior in High School I think. We chatted and shot the shit, then I came home played poker for a while and watched Rounders.

Blog Poll: Where does one go for a tattoo and please describe the process.

Oh, I didn't realize I was supposed to READ that recipe after I'd already cooked it. I never paid any attention to who the author was... Sorry for my ignorance. I have NEVER received roses. Jen and Amy did send me flowers once however.

confirmed: There is no "Kathleen Dalmation" on the net.

For god's sake, you keep laying these names out there like we're supposed to know everyone in the world. Who the hell is Kathleen Dalmation?

Happy Anniversary!!!

LTL + CC Forever

...and IMHO you should boil that sauce down to almost nothing.

Dinner tonight

Maybe it's not the BEST thing I ever ate, but it was simple and fine.
I served with those see through thai noodles and sauteed broccoli.]

Chicken with Quick Citrus Pan Gravy
Recipe courtesy Kathleen Daelemans


Recipe Summary
Difficulty: Easy
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 10 minutes
Yield: 4 servings
User Rating: 5 Stars


2 (8-ounce) boneless, skinless chicken breasts, lightly pounded
Coarse salt and cracked black pepper
2 teaspoons olive oil
4 garlic cloves thinly sliced
1/2 cup orange juice
1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves

Season chicken on both sides with salt and pepper. Heat olive oil in a 10-inch non-stick pan over medium high. Add the garlic and cook until the garlic begins to turn golden, about 1 minute. Do not let the garlic burn, keep moving it around. Place the chicken on top of the garlic and cook until golden brown, about 2 minutes. Turn the chicken over and add the orange juice and thyme. Cook until the chicken is cooked through and the orange juice is slightly reduced, about 2 to 3 more minutes. Remove the chicken from the pan and place on a cutting board. Reduce the orange juice more at this time, if necessary.

Slice chicken into thin strips. Pour sauce over chicken. Serve immediately.

I wonder who Courtney Peldon is.....

sure YOU do!

Blog poll: Should my TEN year old daughter be allowed to dress like a hooker for the KC concert? SOMEONE has convinced her she should wear a pink mini skirt, tight black boots, a sparkly pink shirt, pink stripes in her hair, dangly earrings and "maybe some glittery makeup". Am I crazy? or is this to be allowed. I will defer to the opinion of the blog because I AM aware that I am overprotective.

Cakscapades

or...The story of Wonder Wedding cake

It started Saturday when I made the cakes. I say "cakes" because there were two. The first one fell. Dead baking powder I guess. Anyway it tasted really good, but was the consistancy of mattress foam.

The second one came out perfect.

Day 2: Frosting.

I made the frosting and frosted the entire cake. Luckily I didn't assemble it completely. I put it in the fridge to solidify a bit before final assembly (I always do that with real butter cream - you have to). An hour later I look in the fridge and the frosting is a liquid MESS all over the cake plate. I scraped it off and panicked. I had NOTHING to make more frosting out of and it was 10 a.m. before the wedding (I was to be at the hall at 12:30). To make matters a bit more stressful I had not showered or dressed or assembled my foccacia. So I RUSHED to lincoln - about 70 mph over the ridge. Bought a TON of duncan hines frosting. RUSHED back. QUICKLY frosted and decorated, threw the foccacia in the oven and took a shower. I was ALL DONE by 12. I don't have any idea how that happened. I did dress up the frosting with real butter and vanilla so it didn't taste COMPLETELY canned.

When I next have bridge - this is the cake I'm making

Edna Lewis's Famous Coconut Lane Cake

INGREDIENTS
Cake:
16 Tbsp. (2 sticks) butter, room temperature, plus extra for pans
3 1/2 cups cake flour, plus extra for pans
1 Tbsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
1 cup milk, room temperature
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 cups sugar
8 large egg whites, room temperature

Frosting:
12 large egg yolks
1 1/2 cups sugar
12 Tbsp. (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, melted
1 1/2 cups finely chopped pecans
1 1/2 cups finely chopped raisins
1 1/2 cups unsweetened coconut flakes
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 cup bourbon

To make cake: Preheat oven to 325°F. Butter and flour three 9-inch cake pans; line bottoms with parchment paper. In a small bowl, sift together flour, baking powder and salt; set aside. In another small bowl, mix together milk and vanilla; set aside.

In the bowl of an electric mixer on medium speed, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Reduce speed and add the flour and milk mixtures in 2 or 3 batches, beginning and ending with flour.

In a separate bowl, beat egg whites until soft peaks form. Stir 1/3 of egg whites into batter. Fold in remaining egg whites until just incorporated. Pour batter into the prepared pans and bake until cakes are springy and edges slightly pull away from sides of pans, 20 to 25 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool on wire racks 10 minutes. Loosen sides with a knife and invert cakes onto racks; remove parchment paper and cool completely before frosting.

To make frosting: In a medium saucepan over medium heat, whisk egg yolks and sugar together until sugar dissolves. Add melted butter, stirring constantly until thick enough to coat the back of a spoon, 1 to 3 minutes; do not let mixture simmer or boil. Add pecans, raisins and coconut; cook 1 minute. Remove from heat and add vanilla and bourbon; cool to room temperature before using. Spread 3/4 cup frosting between each layer of cake; use the rest for the sides and top.

Regarding dogs:

I also have a GENERAL dislike of dogs. This is basically because dog owners think EVERYONE should love their dog as much as they do. I hate strange dogs intruding in my space, smelling, slobbering all over everyone and everything. Keep your dog on a leash and under control - especially around other people. Even if you know me well. I do NOT like to be jumped on. I do NOT like to be lapped. I don't let my cats and kids get all over everyone, usually even if they're invited. My other MAJOR problem with dogs is that everyone around here has some kind of killer breed and they have no problem letting them run loose in their yards. Of course the dog doesn't STAY in the yard - especially if someone is walking on the road. I wish I weren't so afraid. I'd make one bite me then sue.

I STILL KNOW IT JENN!!!

Isaiah's phrase of the day:

"I call this....a redo."

!

That is precious and sweet. Emily, I wish you and Jen and Ashley and Leigh could sequester my children for a week so you guys could teach them how to write silly poetry, plays and songs.

Summer has been this way for 3-4 years. It kind of makes you miss winter, because then at least you have the optimisitc dream of WISHING you had something to do instead of the summer panicked frenzy of not having enough time to do everything at once.

No you can't have a mini dachshund. Not until you have a house. THE KC tshirt is perfect and speaking of that here is the much requested "Maddy's birthday wish list" 2005 edition...


New head – phones
Clothes
Portable CD player
Earrings

She wants some kind of special headphones, so if you want to get those for her you better give her a ring cause I don't know what they are.

And YES of course i emailed you cake recipes...um TODAY that is, sorry I forgot.

well i am back from my weekend in fla. the weather was disgustingly hot. if you want details of my trip, email me and i'll give them to you on a need-to-know basis.

i am ready to get my own apt now, i miss my cat terribly. i want a mini datshund, can i have one?

today my boss told me that i didn't have to come in until noon, but i woke up at 8:30 and had nothing better to do so i went to work, got there at 10 and had a highly productive day.

also, ltl, i cannot grow my nails, and just fyi, i don't spend much time thinking about those who do, so you don't have to feel like continuing that public service.

i was very sad to have missed the wonder wedding and all the crazy burgoynes. kisses to all of you!

todd and i decided NOT to face the crowds of the capital fireworks, so we watched them on tv like retired people.

you people and your crazy poker.

what new cds should i be buying ltl?

i think i'll get maddy's kelly clarkson t-shirt for her for her birthday. a check is so much easier than wrapping a box and getting it to the po to mail.

rk--did you email me cake recipes?

awww - they looked so fabulous too.

take a bulkie roll, put a slice of boiled ham on it with a light spread of hellman's mayo that's it.

How I got Liam to eat a sandwich:

I told him to race around the room and every time he did he came back to me and I said "freeze" then "open up" then "take a giant bite" or "take a TINY bite" and he did it then he ran again and we repeated until the sandwich was gone.

...and I wasn't sure how the chocolate/strawberry combo would fly with you...

Thanks Emily. That means a lot coming from you. Someday I'll tell you the wild adventures of that wedding cake, but I don't have it in me right now.

RR - please email me when you get settled in Montreal, with all the pertinant information.

Major Highlights in Child Rearing:

My kids ate tomato sauce yesterday!!!! They actually liked it!!!!

Congrats to Maddy for coming in SECOND at poker. Congrats to the Wonder's on your wedding. Congrats to Emily on really looking fabulous. Congrats to Orlie and Suzanne for cranking out excellent doughnuts. Congrats to Leigh for being such a gracious runner, never bitching or complainging.

I've had WAYYY too much coffee today.

Trim them JUST A BIT. Your nails never grow better than when you're preggers. You better enjoy them while they last, and you'll have to trim them down to nothing when baby comes.

This morning Leigh and I watched 80's videos we were struck by the AWESOME amount of hair. You forget over time, but featured were Heart and White Lion among others. We also noticed all the computers everywhere. The worst song was definitely "Pure" by Seeds of Lightning or something. Look up the words. YOu will definitely laugh.