Team Cyber Monday!

I have to say that I was astonished by the amount of people I knew that got themselves out of the house and to the stores by 4 AM the day after Thanksgiving. I'm a shopper, I'm a deal hunter, but SLEEP takes precedent over it all. Also, I'm not so much interested in risking my life to save $5 on a Barbie doll. 

I take gift giving very seriously. While the old adage states that it's the "thought that counts," that is only true IF there really is thought put into the gift. We are in a recession, everyone has pulled back and budgeted and is thinking about how much they are spending - but are they actually thinking of WHAT they are spending money on? To me, a good present is one that matches a person perfectly - from personality to color to likes. When you see it, you know that present was meant for that person. Can that really be accomplished at 3 AM when you are bum-rushing a Wal-Mart and trying not to get trampled in the process?

To me shopping is an art. It takes time, patience and you need to know where to go and what to look for. But I guess that doesn't matter when you have kids and all they care about is the Fashion Fairy Tale Barbie and a Fushigi ball.  But I too love a good deal, and that's why I'm planning on hitting up the Internets tomorrow in search of some deals.  

That is, after my TV appearance...

Theresa from RockOnMommies and I are going to be on San Diego Fox 5 sometime between 8:30-9:00 AM talking about where we'll be shopping online tomorrow. Lauren from Buy With Me set it up, and just a hint, if you are looking for the PERFECT gift for me anyone who loves pampering, check out BWM tomorrow for their steal of the day. 

Now, I need to figure out what I'm going to wear. 

Top 5 Reasons why not to attempt to make Bobby Flay's pumpkin bread pudding this Thanksgiving

As many of you know, blogger Ree Drummond (aka Pioneer Woman) was featured last week on Bobby Flay's Throwndown. Many of her fans and jealous fellow bloggers tuned in to watch her kick Bobby Flay's butt at a homestyle Thanksgiving feast at her ranch home in Oklahoma. 

The big talk of the show was the fact that Mr. Flay did not make a traditional pie for dessert, but instead made a pumpkin bread pudding that was apparently SO good, Ree's own daughter told the world she preferred it to her mom's pecan pie. Being housebound and sick for the majority of the week, I went through this "I NEED TO DO SOMETHING" phase on Sunday night and had a great idea: make this delicious treat for my family. With visions of grandeur that included bring this dessert to others' houses and hear them exclaim "Oh, my! The best thing I've ever eaten!", I set out to make this Thanksgiving dessert that tops all desserts.

And. Well. Um. 

Now I bring you my Top 5 Reasons why you should not even bother to attempt to make Bobby Flay's pumpkin bread pudding this Thanksgiving:

1) The Ingredients will cost you about $50

This recipe boasts a wide variety of unique ingredients. Which, in layman's terms means there is a lot of stuff that you don't already have on hand and you have to go out and buy specifically for this recipe. We like to cook around here, and while I did have a $10 bottle of "pure maple syrup," we did not have whole vanilla beans, star anise or even apple schnapps. Ingredients that if you can even find at your local grocery store, will total about $30 for those 3 alone...add to that 2 dozen eggs, whole milk, half and half AND heavy whipping cream, ginger and a bottle of Bourbon because you decided to get all Mad Men this season and have odd 1960's drinks while watching the show every week, and you have a pretty pricey dessert in the making. 

2) Time

According to the actual recipe, the thing takes 5 hours 20 minutes start to finish to make start to finish. Add in the fact that you are not a real chef and you may have to stop and yell at your kids to stop running through the kitchen 10 DIFFERENT TIMES, brings it up to 6+ hours. Yes, you can make parts of it days in advance, but then you just upped your cooking to time to days instead of hours. Quel Bore.

3) Your roasting pan may have other things going on

Now, I've never made bread pudding before, but you have to cook the dish inside a roasting pan filled with water. Now I would venture to guess, and I could be wrong, that the majority of us only have one roasting pan. And it's Thanksgiving. I'm thinking roasting pans will have more important things to cook...like the turkey? And even if you are buying your bird cooked, or you are frying it or smoking it or whatever else, I'm thinking there are other things to be 'a roasting.

4) Space, Bowls and Utensils 

Now if I were a master chef with a giant kitchen, it would be different. I would be able to have things a little more under control, but this was one of those projects that took 6 different bowls, a saucepan, 2 prep areas and a burner to put together. And that was just the actual making of the bread pudding part. I'm not even talking about the making of either sauces or of the pumpkin bread itself. And really, thats just what you need on Thanksgiving - less working counter space and few more bowls to clean. 

5) What if it doesn't really turn out? 

Once again, this was my first attempt at a bread pudding. After someone forgot a few ingredients at the store, I ditched the making of both of the sauces, hoping the actual bread pudding would be enough of a treat. Also, I created just a smidge... I used boxed Trader Joe's pumpkin bread mix. Besides that, I followed the directions to a T. And the result? Eh. Something wasn't right. Now, the flavor was still there, and I see how it probably is mind-blowing amazing tasting, but the rest of it was just *off*. 

Bobby's:

Mine:

Then again, being *off* didn't really stop me...

No matter what you bake, have a very happy Thanksgiving!!

The sun will come out, tomorrow...

Today marks day 3 of the cold/flu that has officially kicked my ass. I say officially because today, I missed brunch at LIPS with my MOMfia girls - something that I've been dying to do for years and that has been on the calendar for a month, and I couldn't rally. Instead, I got in back in bed. I'm a rally girl; I pull it out and make the party. So for me to miss eggs Benedict and Mimosas served by Drag Queens, you know I was really freaking ill.

Surrounded by wadded up tissues and cough drop wrappers, with the rain hitting the slide glass doors, I hunker down for day 2 of old movies and bad TV. Yesterday I had the opportunity to finally watch the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, an abomination in SO many ways, although I am now thinking I should finally take my wedding dress from the closet at my Mom's house and maybe ENCLOSE IT IN MY CLOSET WALL like Adrienne. As I'm flicking through the guide, Zoe walks in and crawls in bed with me. Not sure if it's the rainy weather or if she's not feeling all that hot either, but its decided: It's a movie day. While the boys are downstairs watching Lord of the Rings, I decide it's time for Zoe to see my equivalent of Star Wars - Annie. 

This was the movie I remember shaping my childhood. I remember seeing the movie in the theatre and wishing I was Aileen Quinn. I had the soundtrack that I made my parents play over and over on the record player as I danced around with dishcloths. I listened to that record so many times that I think I wore it out, and to this day I still know all the words to each song. 

Zoe loves movies with singing and dancing. She's been taking ballet and tap for a few months now and loves to watch tap dancing routines. We climbed into bed and started watching. By the time Annie was snuck out of the orphanage in Mr. Bundles laundry basket, I knew she was hooked. She looked at me with her big brown eyes and exclaimed "Oh, no! What happen to Annie?" and I had to assure her Annie was okay. During "We got Annie" she finally caved in and jumped up and started dancing. She sat riveted and clutching my hand when Rooster chased Annie up the raised train track and cheered when Punjab rescued her with the "Orocopter." And when it ended, she looked at me and yelled "Again! Again! We watch Annie AGAIN!"

While I'm not sure the sun will come out for us tomorrow - both literally as it's supposed to rain more - and figuratively with this never end germ-fest that may have been the reason that Zoe puked on the couch tonight, the sunshine of my day was sharing this special piece of my childhood with my baby girl.