I Want Your…Birthday Cake.

I’ve got the durn song stuck in my head. “Ba-nu-nuh-na-nuh-nuh…you say it’s your birthday!” Except, in my 80′s baby head, it’s being sung by Anthony Michael Hall.

Well, it is my birthday. And I’m going to eat cupcakes and watch baseball, and go to the Nordstrom Half-Yearly Sale. That sounds about right.

Have a great day everyone. Because I’m going to!

I Want Your…Cookies

For those of you that follow me on Twitter, this post will be NO surprise.

Being friends with food bloggers has a lot of perks. Besides all of them being amazing people, fantastic writers, and great friends, you almost always know “Who has the best __________?”

Husband LOVES that the logo is a mustache. More cookies for me.

This time, it’s all about cookies. And cupcakes. And whoopie pies. But mostly, cookies. Believe it or not, I have two answers. The first is The Sweet Stash. I have converted many a Nashville Newbie to Whitney’s delicious treats and will continue to do so until she is so rich, she can make me free cookies for life. If you’re a food blog regular, I’m sure you’ve read about The Sweet Stash’s Oatmeal Cookie Sandwich from the likes of Eat.Drink.Smile, Vivek’s Epicurean Adventures or An Organic Process. Yes, they are mind-blowingly delicious. One bite and you’ll never go near Little Debbie and her little treats again. I love the Oatmeal as much as my friends, but my FAVORITE thing Whitney’s made so far is the Gingersnap Cookie Sandwich. Ugh. Two giant Gingersnap cookies with a little crunch on the outside, but soft and chewy inside sandwiched with lemony-creamy icing. I. Die. She also made some pretty amazing Pumpkin Whoopie Pies around the holidays that were a favorite around our Thanksgiving table. We were fortunate enough to get a special delivery of various cupcakes at Tavern and let me tell you what….if you want to make servers move, give them cupcakes. They’ll clean the entire restaurant for you.

Pumpkin Whoopie PIe

Brittany’s Baby Girl Cake

Oatmeal Cookie Sammie with Cinnamon Buttercream

The Sweet Stash crew is located at the Nashville Farmers Market or you can find them online here. In addition to the things I’ve mentioned, they also do custom cakes, truffles and other yummy confections. Plus, Whitney is from the Pacific Northwest…us Seahawks fans have to stick together!

The second is Sweet Betweens, run by my friend Alexandra. She sells her goodies – usually cookie sandwiches and whoopie pies – at The Green Wagon East in East Nashville. I haven’t had as many yummy treats from Alexandra yet, but I did recently have a Sweet Potato Whoopie Pie with walnuts and orange glaze that was a collaboration with Carlos Davis of Riffs fame. And it was glorious. Alexandra is also occasionally at the West Nashville Farmers Market, so get out to see her when you can.

Hungry for dessert? Yeah, me too. Off to get cookies!

I Want Your…Oscar

No, seriously.

I want your Oscar. I always have. While the rest of you were dreaming about winning a Grammy or a Nobel Peace Prize or a Soapie, I was wishing for my Oscar. This may be as close as I get:

I’ve had many an Oscar party over the years and my friend Cortney and I used to try to see all of the movies that were nominated. That didn’t happen this year, but it didn’t mean that I didn’t enjoy the telecast immensely. Here’s my thoughts.

I wasn’t over-the-moon about anyones red carpet look, although I think the person who looked the BEST (and I include comfortable, classy and age appropriate in this) is Octavia Spencer in Tadashi Shoji. She won Best Supporting Actress and just looking beautiful.

Also, I just love Emma Stone’s look. I would’ve liked to see her with a little more eyeliner to make her eyes pop, but I really thought she looked great.

Equally stunning was Milla Jovovich in this Elie Saab gown. She looked really glamorous and perfect for the red carpet:

And this look on Ellie Kemper I was on the fence about, but the more I looked at it, the more I love this dress. Especially the back (HELLLLLO, Jessica Rabbit!) I DON’T love her super duper bangs, but that is just me.

For those of you that watched E’s coverage of the red carpet, you saw Sacha Baron Cohen arrive as “The Dictator” which is the title and character of his new movie. Anyone who didn’t expect him to be beyond ridiculous must have had a HUGE surprise. This guy is kinda crazy and completely committed to whatever character he is portraying. The Academy allegedly asked him not to attend if he was going to cause a scene, but he of course came. He proceeded to do a nutty interview with Ryan Seacrest carrying an urn with the late Kim Jong-Il’s image on it. He then spilled the contents of that urn all over Ryan Seacrest and tried to sweep up the “ashes.” Personally, I thought this bit was hilarious. But I also love Ricky Gervais as a host too, because I agree with him. Hollywood takes themselves WAY too seriously sometimes. I completely respect that this is THE movie event of the year, it’s a tradition going back years and that it’s a huge night, but it’s also turned into a spectacle. Everyone is always wondering what “The Moment” will be. If you don’t want something like that happening, don’t invite someone like Sacha Baron Cohen. Simple as that.

This also happened:

and I laughed to no end. What the HELLO was Angelina Jolie doing in that dress? WHY was she doing it? She looked silly beyond belief. And the winners of the award she was presenting – Best Adapted Screenplay – Alexander Payne, Jim Rash and Nat Faxon poking a little fun at her expense? PRICELESS.

I loved Billy Crystal, thought the intro was spectacular, screamed through the entire Cirque Du Soleil performance and even the In Memorium was beautiful (thank you, Academy for honoring Elizabeth Taylor last) and the Christopher Guest skit was hilarious. But my FAVORITE MOMENT of the night was this gem right here:

http://a.abc.com/media/_global/swf/embed/2.6.12/SFP_Walt.swf

Brills, Emma. I can’t wait until you win YOUR Oscar!

Another beautiful night, Hollywood! Until next year……