Mark sent me a message asking if I wanted to join him at the Daily Grind (our one semi-local wine and coffee shop that we like to visit for wine tastings and such) to hear a band play on Friday.
A night out? Like a date? Are you kidding? Do I get to get gussied up? Yippee.

The band is called the Hot Poker Dots (very classy) and here is their myspace site
http://www.myspace.com/theredhotpokerdots

I particularly like the song "Happy Fuck'in Birthday To You." I'm just a girl who can' t resist country sentiment.

Where, I wonder, was that song when I was scrounging the universe for Birthday Party songs for FLEX ballerina parties.

Today happens to be Mark's mom's birthday. The family is coming over for dinner - I'm making a spectacular Chocolate Marvel cake with raspberries. (I traditionally use Birthday's as an excuse to make something fancy regardless of people's diets or desires to keep things "simple" - yuck, simple is for sissies).  I'll serve it while playing the Hot poker Dots song.... well..... maybe I'll just sing it in my head.

So, I'm off to make a fancy dinner. If it was six weeks from now, I'd be devising this meal all around the pickles. Principal, ya know.  Instead I'm going to make it more in line with Sonia's favorite things - strip steaks and all the trimmings. Fancy side dishes. Lots of chocolate.    

For entertainment, I'll drag everyone into the mud room to see my Pinot Noir percolate as the gaseous fumes eek out of the fermenting pot (makes an exciting bubble action in the release valve). That 5 gallon tank will be sitting there for months, so might as well introduce it to the clan. If everyone begs, I'll even allow them to stir the blackberry wine, which is as dark as oil and kind of scary. Hummmm........... we'll see.

Gee - I hope I don't poison anyone during my Renaissance of new discovery. Might almost put a damper on the creative kitchen fun. . . Almost.
La, la, la. Happy fuck'in birthday, Sonia.