Five Favorites

One

America's Test Kitchen...anything!

This cookbook might be my favorite-ist of favorites on the shelf. Granted, I really haven't given many others a chance. One of my best friends, (who is now a religious sister in France! hooray for religious vocations!) and I cooked our way through much of this book with our college chaplains and some of the other staff at our Alma Mater (we worked there together after graduating). Warning: recipes almost always incorporate heavy cream and/or butter (always unsalted - I guess they've "tested" that the salt content is more easily measured this way? I usually just use my standard salted butter and cut back the salt elsewhere). But hey, both meat and milk from cows are pretty high up there on my favorites list too, so I throw my waistline to the wind and cook on.

Two

Speaking of my Alma Mater, it's pretty awesome. You should check it out. If you live anywhere in or near DC and Norther Virginia, we probably know each other through a Christendom grad. I'm not even kidding. In all seriousness, though, this place has shaped my life in more ways than I can count - an invaluable education in the liberal arts, some of the best friendships I have, my brilliant husband, the opportunity to spend a semester in Rome...the list goes on. It's a BIG favorite.

Three

I'm pretty sure Dubliner Irish Cheddar cheese is made from the gold at the end of an Irish rainbow. If you have ANY inclination to liking sharp cheddar-like cheeses, get thee hence to a Costco (with a friend if you don't have your own membership) and buy yourself a massive block of the stuff. It's really the only cost-effective way to get it, but boy, it's worth it because it will last much longer than the dinky block in the snazzy cheese section of your local grocery. Or not, if you're like me and give it its very own bock in your personal food pyramid.

Four

Rosie got me hooked on this awesome thing. As the package says, "It's smart. It's Swedish. It's maybe a little bit strange." (Hmm, kind of like me, only without the smart part). Moms of infants, this will change your life: no more shoving those bulb snot suckers up your poor tiny baby's nostrils. And I love this even more because, it's kind of gross, but you can actually SEE that you've sucked stuff out of their nose. Totally worth the couple minutes of screaming to get it accomplished.

Five

My grandfather, "Paw-paw", holding Annie for the first time this past weekend. He is a WW2 vet, a gentleman to his back teeth, and truly one of the greatest generation.

Join the linkup fun with Hallie and sing some Julie Andrews as you go: "These are a few of my favor..."