Christine Hudnall

So, I walk into the house this afternoon and smell some good smells coming from the kitchen, well of course I had to go and investigate what it was.

There, on the counter, hanging upside down is an Angel Food cake in its cake pan. Cool, that is my favorite cake - plain, no sauces, no whipped topping, nothing but the cake please!

Hmmm, I know that bottle underneath it - no, she didn’t use that bottle, she wouldn’t dare. If that breaks, I am so not going to be happy!! (She, by the way, is my mom.) I know, you are probably saying “What bottle did she use that could cause such a fuss?!”

Well, it was my bottle of Courvoisier Cognac that I use when I cook certain dishes. Yes, I know, it is just a bottle, but come on, my Cognac?? The olive oil bottle was there, use it!

That really did happen, but in all seriousness, I wasn’t worried as much about the bottle breaking per se, but that my animals would be drunker than Cooter Brown for the next week from the cognac. Okay, maybe I was worried about it being that particular bottle a little bit, I mean, hellooooo, that is some good cognac! :D

So, yes, I am now a year older than I was yesterday, although I don’t feel it, pray that I don’t look it, but according my birth certificate, it says that I am. Isn’t it funny, that when we are growing up, we strive to look and act older than we are, but once you hit a certain birthday, it is a compliment when people tell you “You don’t look or act your age”.

Now that I’ve had my fish and chips with malt vinegar for dinner, a nice slice of delicious angel food cake, I’m ready to relax with hopefully no more phone calls and watch The Secret of Roan Inish, then I get to look forward to part of my present that isn’t even due out until tomorrow, which of course (I know you just are waiting to know) is the newest cookbook by one of my alltime favorite people, Ina Garten, called Barefoot Contessa Back to Basics: Fabulous Flavor from Simple Ingredients. She has class, style, smarts, wit and much more, how can you not love her?

Wishing Ina all the best with the newest book as I head of to get lost on an island off Ireland. :)

May all of your birthdays be as wonderful as mine…