July is for Birthdays

We start with mother, move to Jeff, then comes Maysen, and finally Brian. There is cake around all month. The banner never comes down. Mother enjoys chocolate so this is hers. We turned it into a three-layer majesty. Her frosting was half room temp sour cream, half room temp melted chocolate chips. Don't make me repeat this. Let it be the key to your success in life. You will never regret it, unless your name is Brian. Jeff requested lemon poppyseed so I trusted a tried and true girl and went with this one. Another upside to this recipe was ridding my mother of two cans of rancid poppyseeds. Never buy these in bulk. It will not pay. Donn and Nancy left today. We enjoyed several recipes with them and also for 4th of July. They are potato salad, coleslaw, and apple pie. Brian looks forward to his Albertson's sheet cake: vanilla with vanilla custard.

Dinner on Death Row

Donn and Nancy left today. We love their biannual visit. Here Donny found an empty Red Bull (pun) can in Robin and Duane's yard this morning. Inside, Maysen reported it was his father's. During the week, we interviewed everyone at dinner with the question, what would you eat for your last supper on Death Row. Donny had earlier stated his favorite food which spawned the answers. And, here they are.

Donn: appetizer apple fritter, extra-large pizza, brownies
Nancy: grossly rare steak, sautéed mushrooms, angel food cake
Brian: chicken noodle soup + grilled cheese sandwich, vanilla pudding with a shortbread cookie, hot chocolate
Patti: unknown (she could not decide since we could not tell her what she would have eaten the night prior). I suggested cheese fondue for her last supper and she did not say no.
Father: liver and onions (we divined this)
Jeffy: meat and marinara lasagna (with soft, not al dente, noodles), Italian veggies, lemon meringue pie, cold milk
Karen: a warm brothy bowl of Mulligatawny soup with toasts, cc-pecan-coconut cookie from Cooking for Mr. Latte