A Heavenly Birthday

James turned 21!!! Yay! James' birthday was on Tuesday, so I told him he could pick any dessert and we dined at the restaurant of his choice. He mulled over his dessert options for a few days and settled on a cheesecake- a chocolate cheesecake!

His brother, Jason (also my double cousin), drove down to help us celebrate! You only turn 21 once! We really missed Tabitha!

We went to Buddha Tao for sushi and drinks (Jason opted for shrimp and noodles). But the rest of us enjoyed sushi! It was delicious!

To start off the celebrating, we ordered sake bombs.

Sake isn't one of my favorites, so we switched to a drink called a flirtini or something- basically, sugary koolaid with a smidge of alcohol! Yum!

Cheers!

After we finished up our sushi, it was cheesecake time! I had made the cheesecake the day before, so it could set in the fridge. It has been tempting us all day!!!

Heavenly Chocolate Cheesecake

Crust:
1 ¼ cups all purpose flour
2 tablespoons sugar
1/3 cup butter
½ cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Filling:
3 packages (8 oz. each) cream cheese, softened
½ cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 eggs
1 ¼ cups semi-sweet chocolate chips, melted
½ cup whipping cream

Topping:
1 ½ cups whipping cream, whipped (I added a little powdered sugar to this)
Halved strawberries

Heat oven to 375 degrees. In medium bowl, mix flour and 2 tablespoons sugar. In 1 quart saucepan, melt butter and ½ cup chocolate chips, stirring occasionally. Stir into flour mixture. Press evenly in bottom of ungreased 10 inch springform pan. Bake 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, in large bowl, beat cream cheese, ½ cup sugar and vanilla with electric mixer on medium speed. Beat in eggs, one at a time. Beat in 1 ¼ cups melted chocolate chips and ½ cup whipping cream. Poor evenly over crust.

Reduce oven temperature to 325 degrees. Bake 55 to 60 minutes or until center is set. Cool 15 minutes. Run metal spatula around side of cheesecake to loosen. Refrigerate at least 4 hours. Remove side of pan. Top with whipped cream and berries. Store cheesecake in refrigerator.

16 servings.



The cheesecake is really very simple to make and it turned out better than I expected. The large crack isn't exactly aesthetically pleasing, but I think there is some saying about how cracked cheesecakes taste best . . . I don't know. It was good.

I really recommend serving it with the whipped topping. Of course, you could just use cool whip, but it's not quite as tasty as the real deal!

On a side note, Win and Ivy loved Jason! They absolutely loved him. They wanted to be right by him the entire time. Sometimes, we have trouble getting Ivy to come in from outside. I would stand at the door and say- look who's here? It's Jason! Ivy would run inside!

I'm not sure how crazy Jason is about these 2 little white dogs, but they are definitely crazy about him!!!

Happy 21st Birthday, James!!!!

Keep on Scrolling!

I added tons of new posts tonight! Sorry- I know that's now how it's supposed to be done. I promise I will do my best to stay caught up from now on . . .

July 4th Extravaganza!

Cruise Story, Part 1: All for fun and fun for all!

Cruise Story, Part 2: Hot, hot, hot!

Cruise Story, Part 3: Chicken of the Sea

Cruise Story, Part 4: Adios Amigos!

Cruise Story: Outtakes

A Wedding Story

The Arrival of Baby Brinley

Cupcake Pops

The Graduate

July 4th Extravaganza!

Our July 4th was full of fun and visitors. It started off on Thursday night, when Jeremy's Uncle Matt and PawPaw Walker came for a short visit. They had been to California and were driving back to Tennessee.

They were only able to stay for a short while, since they were really ready to be home!

On Friday, Madison came over to play while her mom had something important to do. I thought it would be a perfect time to get started decorating some cupcakes in red, white, and blue!



James is staying with us for a few weeks to do an internship here, so he joined in the cupcake fun!

Madison absolutely loved Ivy and Win and they loved her! She had a blast playing with them in the backyard!

Later on Friday afternoon, David, Cynthia, Deborah and Delancy came to stay with us and visit OKC. They were pretty tired from their trip, so we hung out and made an amazing 4th of July Feast!

We had steak, chicken, corn on the cob, watermelon, cantaloupe, and pasta salad. Of course, the cupcakes were for dessert!

Here is the pasta salad recipe that I borrowed from this blog.

Sundried Tomato Pasta Salad

adapted from Ina Garten

Dressing (makes more than enough; spoon leftovers over a block of cream cheese and serve with crackers)

1 7-oz jar sundried tomatoes, drained

4 cloves garlic

3 tablespoons red wine vinegar

1 cup extra virgin olive oil

salt

pepper

Salad

16 ounces corkscrew pasta

1 jar Kalamata or assorted olives

1 pint rip cherry tomatoes, halved

Several (10 to 15) basil leaves, chopped or julienne

1 1/2 cups freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Prepare dressing by blending sundried tomatoes, garlic, salt, pepper, and vinegar until tomatoes are chopped. Blend while drizzling in olive oil; continue blending until mixed together.Cook pasta according to package directions, drain, and rinse with cold water until no longer hot. Pour 2/3 of the dressing over the pasta, add olives, and toss together. Add remaining ingredients, tossing together and adding more dressing until the salad is coated to your liking. Serve on a big platter with an extra sprinkling of Parmesan cheese.

What a spread!

Deborah and Delancy also wanted in on the cupcake decorating action!

On Saturday, everyone wanted to see the sites of OKC. Our first stop was the Myriad Botanical Gardens.

They had some very beautiful plants and flowers.

We wanted to kiss the frog . . .

He did not turn into a prince.

We also took the ferry boat ride on the downtown river. It was very pretty and only a little bit hot!

On Saturday night, as we were eating our leftovers that we made into steak and chicken fajitas, a horrible storm came in. It was windy and lightning and thundering. It was crazy.

We played games, the electricity went off and finally, the Walker family decided to head home. We had a great visit with them!

Ivy and Winnie were also sad to see them go!!!

HAPPY JULY 4TH!

Cruise Story, Part 1: All for fun and fun for all!

We boarded our Carnival Fun Ship in Galveston, Texas on June 21st.

We were so ready for a little R&R!!! As soon as we stepped onto the ship, we put the long lines, a little suitcase incident, the Texas heat, work, emails, and cell phones behind us. It was smooth sailing from here on out!



Immediately upon entering the ship, we were offered a cute little drink- you know the ones with the pineapple and cherry with the umbrella. Who could resist that?!?! It was the “Fun Drink!” Then, the guy asked us to sign our room number for these cute little pricey drinks.

Next, we were approached to sign up for our Fun Fountain Card. We needed that to get sodas or juice while we were on the ship. Only one drink per person and you had to pay a flat rate for the whole week.

We were starting to see that FUN meant $$$$!!! But that’s okay, just know that before you go. We were a little annoyed at times, but determined not to let that ruin our “all inclusive” vacation cruise!

The first few days, we were at sea. We laid out by the pool, read some books (I read 6 total on the trip, Jeremy 1 ½), worked out, took naps, ate, ate and ate some more. It was so weird not having our cell phones or checking on emails. But it was NICE!


I'll just go ahead and insert my disclaimer here. Unfortunately, when 2 people go on a cruise, most of the pictures are of the 2 of them and water. We do have the occasional picture when we tracked down a fellow cruise passenger and begged them to take our picture. But most are done by us. Feel free to scroll quickly through all of the standard pics!

This was a pic on the self-timer!

On one of our nights at sea, we chose the option of upgrading to the fancy restaurant. We had fillet and lobster. It was delicious!

Then, we had this chocolate assortment for dessert. Yum!!!

Our cruise was off to a great start as we headed for Jamaica!!!