How NOT to make Cherries Jubilee

My old college roommate was in town this past weekend. When we met up, I told her about all the taboo foods I wanted to ingest as soon as the baby is born: sushi, wine, lunch meat...

"And don't forget Cherries Jubilee!" my roommate said with a mischievous glint in her eye.


And then I was brought back to last summer...........


My roommate (who shall remain nameless to protect the innocent), had just returned to the U.S. from a missions trip. She was staying at our apartment for a few days while her missions team debriefed and did whatever it is missions teams do. One afternoon, all three of us were free of obligations, so we went out to see the new Pixar movie Up.

This was all innocent enough, UNTIL...


The bad guy mentioned a dish called "Cherries Jubilee." My husband was intrigued (and probably hungry), because all the way home, he talked about how he wanted to try Cherries Jubilee! So, being a good wife, I went straight to Google and found a recipe.

Basically, Cherries Jubilee is a dessert comprised of ice cream and cherry pie filling. You spoon the cherries over the ice cream, and then douse everything in liquor and set it on fire. After the flames go out, you are supposedly left with a delicious, carmelized cherry dessert!


We should have known that three tee-totaling Christian university students plus a liquor recipe would equal trouble.


My roommate and I set off to the local grocery store to buy the ingredients. Unfortunately, the smallest can of cherry pie filling I could find was 20 ounces. The recipe called for twelve. "No matter," I said, "I'll just increase all the other ingredients by a third!"


You can see where this is going.


The next stop was the liquor store, where I marched up to the front and said, "I need some good cooking brandy." Wouldn't want the clerk to think we would actually, you know, drink the stuff. So I bought the smallest bottle they had and zoomed home to try out this new, exciting dessert!


I dished out the ice cream and divided the can of cherries evenly among the three bowls. It was time for the liquor! "Let me see...." I said. "The recipe calls for a half cup, so I guess we now need three-quarters cup of brandy." I divided it accordingly.


Yes, you read that right. I had just put a quarter cup of brandy in every dessert bowl.


Now, it was time for the exciting part! How often do you get to light your food on fire, after all? Adam lit the match, set each bowl aflame...

And watched each bowl go pffffft after about two seconds.

"Well, that's weird," we all said. "That didn't even burn any of the alcohol!" So we tried lighting it on fire a couple more times, but it just wouldn't flame. I'm guessing the sheer amount of alcohol floating in the dishes just overwhelmed that poor flame.


We should have stopped right there. But we couldn't let all that good ice cream go to waste! So we ate it.


Have you ever wondered what cherry Robitussin would taste like if it was a dessert? Unfortunately, I now no longer need to wonder. We bravely choked down our Cherries Jubilee, and after several minutes, it even started to taste... gooooooood.

And that is when my very petite, 5'2" roommate said, "Whew! Is it getting hot in here? *giggle* I think I need to sit down!"


I had just succeeded in intoxicating my roommate.


So we guided her to the couch, and sat with her and listened to her giggle at everything for about twenty minutes, until she said,


"Well, I guess it's about time for me to go my missions team meeting!"


Not only had I gotten her tipsy, but I had gotten her tipsy right before a church meeting! She insisted that she would be okay driving, and since it was right across the street anyways, we reluctantly let her go, giggling all the way.


I guess that's why they call it "Cherries Jubilee"!


After she left, I went back to the internet recipe to see where I had gone wrong. Way down at the bottom of the page, there was this sentence:


Serves 6-8.


Whoops.


We still have that half-used bottle of brandy in the pantry, just waiting for us to gather the courage to once again try... Cherries Jubilee.

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Looking for more embarrassing stories? Head on over to For Love or Funny to read about other calamities!

A Few Practical Marriage Observations

June is the legendary month of weddings. There are more friends getting married and celebrating anniversaries than I can shake a stick at! In the wake of my own recent wedding anniversary in May, my parent's upcoming twenty-fifth anniversary, and the slew of June weddings, I've been thinking a lot lately about what makes a successful marriage.


Since I've been married two whole years now and am now a marriage expert (ha ha), here are a few observational tidbits that I think make a marriage great. This is geared more towards the fairer half of the union, but I guess the guys can read it too, if they want!


1. Treat your spouse just as courteously as you'd treat other people that you don't have to live with. My parents are awesome examples of this. I've never heard them raise their voices at each other or do the Name Game thing. What I did hear growing up were a lot of Please and Thank you and Let me help with that! They'll be celebrating their 25th anniversary in September, and I think that continuing this pattern has done a world of good in my own marriage.


2. Always greet the hubby with a big smile! I've noticed that how my hubby and I greet each other largely sets the tone for the rest of our interaction. So why not make it positive? Don't worry; there will be plenty of time for him to find out what a lousy day you had. :-P


3. Nags are old horses. Don't be one. Usually what I do for, um, a problematic request is ask on two or three occasions, and then do the darn thing myself. Most of the time, when DH sees me doing his job, he'll take over.


4. There are a bazillion excuses we wives give in order to not make love: we're tired, we're not in the mood, we don't want to deal with the mess, we don't have time, our big toe hurts, we just did our hair, and the list goes on and on and on and on. Ninety-nine percent of the time, though, it all boils down to one thing: inconvenience. Getting past my excuses and getting it on because I love my husband, even when all the stars are not aligned and I'm not particularly in the mood, and then choosing to participate- CHEERFULLY!- (notice that both words are emphasized!)-- is a great marriage builder. Hubby feels loved, and I usually end up having a great time, too!


5. Try to refrain from constantly pointing out everything he's doing wrong. ESPECIALLY if it's a household chore he's doing just for you. Unless, of course, you don't want him ever doing it again. :-P This also applies to conversations with other people. A wife is supposed to be her man's biggest cheerleader!

So there you have all my sage advice. What would you add to the list?

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This post is a participating entry in We Are THAT Family's Works for Me Wednesday blog carnival.

How We Celebrated Father's Day

Adam is just like a little kid sometimes. He doesn't need fast cars, cool gadgets, or the latest video game to enjoy life. Instead, he relishes the simple things: riding his bike around town, drawing in coloring books with me, and experimenting with stop-motion, among other things. He eagerly anticipates a new Pixar film as much as the latest action film (Toy Story 3 was really good, by the way!). I just love him for being such a kid at heart!

So, it's no surprise that ever since Mother's Day, Adam has been counting the days until Father's Day, when he was planning on going to one of his favorite places in town-- the zoo!!!

Unfortunately, one thing he didn't plan on was having horrible insomnia the night before. He finally got to sleep so late, that I didn't have the heart to wake him up bright and early for the zoo. We spent Sunday pretty lazily.

So today, we had our rendezvous with the zoo. Was the 98-degree weather going to stop Adam? No way, Hosea! I was expecting all the animals to be hiding inside their caves to escape the heat, but I was pleasantly surprised by one the best animal showings I've ever had at this zoo! All the African animals were enjoying the sun, and even all the big cats were out and about!

Before we left the house, I had the brilliant idea of bringing an empty water bottle along and filling it up from the water fountain once we were in the zoo. This was a VERY good idea. I'll never go to zoo without it again!

Well, enough talking! On to the pictures!

Okay, let's get the worst photo out of the way. :-P When we first arrived, Adam really wanted to buy me a hat to keep me cool. Obviously, the hat did not also grant me photogenic powers, but the gift was very sweet!

What a handsome guy I married! We are going to have some gorgeous kids. :-)

Adam playing with the world's largest marble. Or whatever the heck that thing is supposed to be.

One of the stranger exhibits at the zoo.

An Andean Bear enjoying a swim!

This cracked me up! When Adam sat down in front of this tank to take a breather, this fish swam up to check him out...

...And all his fishy buddies got curious, as well!

About to be devoured by the dangerous lion fountain!

This statue at the Amazon exhibit was kind enough to hold my effects while I took pictures.

A giant Amazon catfish!

Cooling off in the polar room. Poor Adam was quite warm!

So that was our day at the zoo. I sure hope it's a lot cooler the next time we go!

Fluffy Bottoms Giveaway Event!

If you could see me at night, when I'm checking up on the bloggy world, you'd hear me muttering, "Fluffy Bottoms, tee hee hee. Fluffy. Bottoms. Heh heh." So mature, I know.





What is "Fluffy Bottoms", you may ask? Across cyberspace, My New Life As Mom has been hosting a month-long cloth diaper review and giveaway event. As someone who is planning on using cloth diapers, but has yet to actually have a baby to try them on, I have found her reviews and informational posts to be very enlightening! And I haven't even mentioned all the quality items that are being given away right now. If you are a cloth-diapering mama, this is one event you do not want to miss!

Go here to see a list of all the giveaway goodies!

Bringing Out the Krab in Me

Nearly two weeks ago, I hit the big 28-week mark in my pregnancy-- the third trimester.

We're in the home stretch, folks!

Not only did all the third-trimester loveliness such as an achy back and- dare I whisper it- cankles somehow magically appear that first morning of the twenty-eighth week, but I suddenly realized that time was running out for me to get my act together. So what did I do?

I made a list.

I want to be mostly prepared by Week 36. So, I made a week-by-week list of everything I wanted to get done by then. Last week was great! I proactively made another wool diaper soaker and signed up for an online childbirth class that I had my eye on ("What? You're just now starting a childbirth class?" you incredulously ask. Ummm, yeah. Told you I needed to get my act together!). This week, though, I have been procrastinating big-time.

This week is supposed to be diaper week. It's time to buy the diaper sprayer, pail liners, changing pads, lanolin for the wool covers, and a couple pocket diapers/AIOs to supplement the prefolds I'll be using.

But these looming purchases have brought out the Spongebob character, Mr. Krabs, in me.

(Image owned by Nickolodeon)

They're taking all me MONEY!

To be fair, we have not had any money at all for most of this week. But now, we have a paycheck in the bank and too many ways to send it, and I still... must... buy... diapers...

Speaking of Spongebob, here is one diaper I sooooooo want to buy:

I found this at wahmykidz's Etsy shop. Gotta indoctrinate the kids early with quality programming, right? ;-)

So, I have one more day until Week 30 rolls around. Will I actually buy anything between now and Friday? Only time will tell!

Works For Me Wednesday: Baked Goods Topper

I am sucker for cinnamon. I put it on everything! So when I came up with this idea, my life changed. :-D

What you need is an empty shaker (I reused an empty spice container). Add equal amounts cinnamon and sugar, shake to combine, and viola! A very convenient cinnamon-sugar dispenser! This makes for a very easy, mess-free garnish for all your baked goods: muffins, sweet breads, and of course, cinnamon toast. Sprinkle a generous amount on your banana bread before baking, and you will have a delicious, carmelized crust that is to die for!

This is much easier than the method I grew up with, which involved a large container and a spoon. A sprinkle container definitely Works for Me!

Want more helpful hints? Stop by the Works for Me Wednesday Carnival, hosted by We Are THAT Family!

Why I love Tuesday

I *love* Tuesdays! Tuesday and Sunday are my two days off from work. Since Adam is home on Sunday, that day is kind of a "anything can happen" day, because it's all about us being together. But Tuesday, mmmm, delicious Tuesday, is a day that I can count on a few things happening:

*The floor gets picked up and vacuumed

*The house gets a good dusting

*The kitchen gets a little cleaner

*Some laundry gets done

In short, it's the day where I feel a little less like a housewife fail.

I know many women who derive a great deal of satisfaction from going to work. Getting out of the house, doing great things at the office, and earning a livelihood are what make life worth living for them. But for me, little makes me happier than the domestic life. For me, a job is just a way to stay in my castle for another month. :-P I find cooking relaxing, menu planning interesting, and cleaning therapeutic (even though it sometimes takes a lot for me to get off my duff and actually clean. I am human, after all). I hate leaving the house every day and leading a life fragmented between work and home. Perhaps it's because my parents have always worked at home that I love making home my work.

So this is why I love Tuesday, and why, come August, I will be leaving the working world entirely and doing the Stay-At-Home-Mom thing. Sure, finances will be very tight, and I know that I have some very frustrating SAHM days ahead.

But every day will be a Tuesday.

The Midwife Appointment: Round 6

Yesterday's midwife appointment went superbly. It just so happened to be scheduled in a perfect window when Adam was free, so he came along. What a good, supportive husband!

There are two midwives in the practice I'm going to. Yesterday was only the second time that I had my appointment with Tiffany-- all the other times have been with Heather. And let me tell you what, this visit with Tiffany was a whole lot more positive than our last visit with her, when we couldn't find the baby's heartbeat!

Everything looks good. My blood volume has doubled- DOUBLED!!- in the past month, and accordingly, I gained five pounds. What a porker. At one point, Tiffany told me that she needed to stick my finger and get a blood sample to check the hemoglobin. Adam blanched, stammered, "Um, I forgot something in the car!" and beat a hasty retreat.

"It's a good thing that men don't have the babies!" Tiffany said. :-D

The baby actually behaved for the Doppler this time (no Little Stinker Saga this time!). That is always my favorite part of the appointment. Nothing like hearing that whoo-whoosh whoo-whoosh! I made it a point to ask how many beats per minute it was, because my mom is always hounding me to find out (probably because she's trying to guess the gender). Tiffany gave me the heart rate (147) and said, "...And tell your mom it means absolutely nothing! Did you know you have a better chance at guessing accurately from a Chinese calendar than from the heart rate?" No, I didn't. I guess I'll go get my mom a Chinese calendar. :-P

Since I just started the third trimester, I'm going to need to start going in every two weeks instead of monthly. Good thing I thoroughly enjoy those midwife visits!

Survival of the Kittest-- Er, Fittest

Meow! THE TERROR... it comes around this time every week.

I have a bad feeling about this! I can't let it get me!!

I'll just hide under the dresser.

OH NO! HERE IT COMES! RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!!!

I'm too scared to stay under the dresser, so I'm moving. It'll never find me in the closet.

Uh oh! I've been caught!

I'll hide under the bed with Mel. If luck is with me, THE TERROR will take him first.

Wait.... did someone say dinner?

I guess I'm not so scared after all.

Do you know if you are pregnant?

My supervisor at work yesterday was telling me about a show called, I Didn't Know I Was Pregnant. It's a reality show all about pregnant women who don't know they're pregnant until they are IN the hospital, giving birth. My initial reaction was, "Ummm... how do you NOT know you're pregnant?! ...And they find enough of these clueless women for a whole TV series?!"

But I've been thinking about it. It's hard for me to imagine ignoring the swelling belly and the thrashing baby playing football with my innards. I was able to feel the baby move around 16 weeks, which is considerably earlier than most first-time moms can boast.

But... perhaps it's because I've been watching for it.


It's hard to miss things when you are expecting them and keeping an eye and an ear cocked in that direction at all times. When Adam and I decided to start a family, every little twitch, bubble and feeling in my body was suddenly significant. Surely this must mean I'm pregnant!, I thought of anything that felt different from the norm.

It reminds me of my younger self, a girl who firmly believed that the supernatural happened everywhere, everyday, and that I could see it, if only I looked. And guess what? I saw it. Now I'm a bit older and more preoccupied with bills and grocery lists and laundry. I don't see the supernatural as much anymore...

...but maybe it's because I'm not looking?

Ticks and Torrents: All Part of the Camping Experience

Memorial Weekend has always traditionally been a time for my family to go camping. The past few years, I've missed out because I live half a country away, so I was thrilled when my sister, recently relocated a few hours away from me, enthusiastically agreed to have our own camping trip down here.

We met up Sunday morning at a state park and spent the day swimming, playing frisbee, and eating hotdogs. We looked and looked for the park ranger station so we could pay our tent fee, but this park was weird in that we couldn't find a station. "Oh well," we said, and hoped that no angry campers would show up at our camping spot, having paid for it!

My Sweetie and Me, catching some waves!

The sun went down, and instead the sky was lit up with a neat show of lightning far away. As Adam and I bedded down in our sweltering tent, Adam said, "I hope we get a little of that rain. It'd cool things down a bit!"

The next thing I know, I'm awakened by a CRASH! BANG! CRASH!!! and what appeared to be a strobe light party outside. Rain was coming down in torrents, falling so hard that it was penetrating right through our tent!

Somehow, we had managed to go camping on the one night in the entire week that a massive storm rolled through. Of course.

We huddled together in the tent for about an hour, hoping the storm would pass. The wind was blowing our tent flat, we were progressively getting wetter, and the thunder was crashing close by. Adam was really cute-- he was holding me close and (I found out later) trying to shield me in case a limb fell off the tree we were camped under. That's a comforting thought, for sure!

Finally, the storm let up just enough that we made a run for the van. And there we stayed for the entire night. I'm glad we never paid the tent fee, considering we never actually got to sleep in it!

We didn't stick around too long the next morning. We were beat! We were ready to go home! So we bid my sister adieu and spent the rest of the day sleeping.

A few hours later, I get this text from my sister:

"Ewwwwws, I just found two ticks on me... Make sure you check yourselves!!"

Thank goodness Memorial Day is once a year!