Tasty Treat: Fudgy Brownies

I had the very best intentions to share with you my Horsey Grandma's recipe for brownies. Hers are a bit fluffier and cakier and, while I prefer a chewy brownie, I grew up on these and they're darn good. You might be wondering why I call my dear grandmother Horsey. In an effort to differentiate between our grandparents and because my father's parents lived on a farm, adding the Horsey prefix was only natural. Of course, the other explanation is my father had a penchant for nicknames and his sense of humor always leaned towards sadism. My nickname was Poo Bear as in poo poo not Winnie. He only knew baby girl for nine months, but she was swiftly dubbed Grumpenella due to her colic. I really do miss his way with words.

Tasty Treat: St. Louis Gooey Butter Cake

On Tuesday I wrote to you about friendship and corn bread and the amazing Southern dinner party we attended. Today is all about the dessert I made. Among my friends, I am the dessert maker and I take this honorable role very seriously. I love dessert and I love baking and I especially love a crowd since baking extravagant desserts solely for the hubby and me is a recipe for obesity. Since the dinner was branded a Southern feast, I finally had an excuse to try the St. Louis Gooey Butter Cake Melissa Clark wrote about a few months back in the New York Times food section.

Entertaining: Jelly Cake

Every Christmas Eve, my grandmother, aka Grandmommie, throws a dinner party. My entire family comes as do all of my grandmother's friends. Of course, Grandmommie just celebrated her 96th birthday so, over the years, as the number of grandchildren and great grandchildren have increased, sadly the number of Grandmommie's friends and older family members have passed on. However, at 96, Grandmommie has never been one to act her age. In fact, I'm not even supposed to know her age. None of us are. It's probably a punishable offense that I am plastering the big 96 all over the Internet.