Let us now praise the elastic waistband

OK guys, I just took one for the team. It’s 3:00 pm and I’ve already broken my post-Christmas, “absolutely no booze for the next 48 hours,” rule because I ate the photo subject. The cherries and sauce are vodka-laced. That, combined with a stiff Americano and cake and ice cream, means Houston, I am ready for blast off. My hands are shaking and I can’t decide if it’s the caffeine/sugar OD or holiday martini DTs. One of those acronyms.

The dessert in the photo was served after our family Christmas dinner. The very rich and decadent cake was a new recipe for my mom (made with a cake mix—an unexpected yet well-played move from my all-things-homemade fairer parent). The cake was merely a vehicle, however, for my parents’ sugared vodka-cherry elixir, made with pucker inducing Evan’s cherries harvested from their back yard tree. To serve, dense and moist chocolaty slices were piled with boozy sweet and sour cherry sauce; creamy vanilla ice cream rounded out the post-turkey calorie bonanza. What resulted was rather bacchanalian. The food joy moans were enough to make the Virgin Mary blush and Joseph run in the other direction. (I like to think the wise men would have stuck around for the party.) This all was a surprise considering my kin are generally of the savoury rather than sweet palette persuasion. I am not a sweets gal and I hit that business twice. Most went for thirds. By the end of it I am pretty sure I looked like Üter from The Simpsons.

But back to the photo shoot. It’s not a practice of mine, midday imbibing. In a loose way though today’s sweet indulgence speaks to the 2012 I hope to cultivate. I’d like to say yes a little more, be more open to possibility, and embrace the unexpected. These things accompanied by the usual suspects: health, a kind and generous heart, and the cojones for life in general. All of it, hopefully, with a cherry on top.

May your 2012 be wonderful and delicious! Thanks so much for taking the time to read this blog.

- LT