Ice Cream Cake: The Real McCoy

I don't know how the tradition started, but birthday cakes for Erik and Keith, my brothers, have been Heath-topped Dairy Queen Ice Cream Cakes for many years now!

Neither of them like chocolate ice cream so we always order their cakes special just for them--way  ahead of time.  I however, love chocolate ice cream!

I remember when I was 14, my mom and I tried to make an ice cream cake for Erik's birthday.  Bad idea--it was a miserable failure!  We ended up going through downtown Atlanta to get a real Dairy Queen ice cream cake just in time.  That year, Erik ate the top vanilla layer and I ate the bottom chocolate layer.

So word to the wise: always go for the real ice cream cake.  Don't settle for anything but the real McCoy.  So sing it, Frankie, is it the real McCoy, is it "At Long Last Love?"

Super Muffins and Simple Melodies

A super muffin is a muffin that tastes delicious and is pretty, too!  Let me just say that those two characteristics are a rare combination.

And they have nothing to do with the Super Bowl.  I've never even watched the Super Bowl before.

Whoever invented the muffin liner in the picture above is a genius.  It's way better than crumbly, crinkled wrappers that pull the muffin apart, usually resulting in part of the muffin ending up on the floor.

And the concept of the liner is very simple.  It's just a creased square.  Sometimes the most simple things in life are the best.  So sometimes all you need is "Just a Simple Melody" sung by a very young Ella Fitzgerald with Chick Webb and His Orchestra!

Brothers, Presents and Fudge

You know the best thing about brothers?  When they know you have a stress-filled week coming up, they buy you half a pound of your favorite Vanilla Praline fudge.  That's what Erik did for me this week!

No worries, I haven't eaten all of it...not even close...yet!

But aren't thoughtful brothers great?

My older brother, Keith, taught me how to play baseball with a baseball--no tennis balls allowed.  I could catch and throw with the best of them.  Erik taught me math in high school, and he's younger than I am.

And now Erik and I work together everyday on music.  Pretty amazing!  Of course, Erik and I have been best friends from the time we were little since we are only 18 months apart.  People used to think we were twins as teenagers because we kind of look like twins and we were on college campuses attending master classes!

So keep the fudge coming, Erik!

(P.S. Keith, I do still like Betty Jane Candies Gremlins, so you can consider it an idea for a birthday present for me...)

For today, I thought I'd highlight Rush, one of Erik's absolute favorite bands.  So here's "Tom Sawyer" by Rush!

White Chocolate and Sentimental Moods

Today I had a White Chocolate Raspberry Scone from Great Harvest Bread Company.  It was so delicious!

I'll be honest, I usually don't like white chocolate because normally I encounter a waxy texture and bland flavor.  But this was not the case today!

So the above picture, like the chocolate covered strawberries from yesterday, seems to have a bit of "romance" about it.  I mean, it's white chocolate raspberry, after all.

So I thought a great song for today would be "In a Sentimental Mood" sung by Ella Fitzgerald.  And guess what?  "In a Sentimental Mood" will be on my jazz standards album coming out this summer!