It's all about the ganache

Yup. It tastes as good as it looks. German chocolate cake. We've still got 3/4 of this delightful confection in the fridge. Be still my heart (be still my waistline)!

Ah, the birthday boy. It takes quite a lungful to blow out 24 candles, but he got 'em all. And when I asked what he wished for he said, "nothing. I've already got everything I want". (Awwwwwwwwwwwww!) Love him, love him!

Sooo, anyway. Today I ventured to Bed Bath & Beyond to take care of some errands and as I was wandering around the hamster-cage layout, I felt a strange, magnetic force pulling me, pulling me towards the kitchen area: it was the wall of gadgets. Hundreds of feet of garlic presses, whisks, lemon zesters, spatulas, potato mashers, meat mallets, flour sifters, avocado slicers...in the immortal words of our favorite fish, Ariel: gadgets and gizmos a-plenty, who's-its and what's-its galore. They've definitely got more than 20 thing-a-mabobs. And I want 'em all. Not really, but really. Where do you store all of these thing-a-majiggers when you get them home? And you use them like once every blue corn moon? Referring to my previous post, necessity is the mother of invention and since I do not own even a noteworthy portion of the doohickies artfully hanging on the BB&B wall, I improvise: meat mallet? Heavy spoon. Lemon zester? Cheese grater. Flour sifter? Wire skimmer. You get the point. My sister-in-law, Melody, forever used an empty wine bottle for a rolling pin until she married my brother (oh, the joys of bridal registries). Even though I can't raid the gadget wall in one trip and forever put my dreams of kitchen utility to rest, I can do one thing. I can make a list. And I can cross things off of that list, little by little, and that's just what I'll do until the gadgeteer within me is satisfied. Mmm.

And just for the record, Jack Bauer is my hero. If you don't watch 24, you should.

Ciao, bellas!