The Glorious Weekend

This looks like the saddest Saturday night ever, right???

It's not. Non. Don't you believe it.

This weekend it's just me and Younger Son. We stayed up till midnight last night, binge watching Fresh Off the Boat. And today Younger worked on his Tree Cupcakes idea. I don't want to brag, but my son watches a lot of cooking shows, and he's dying to impress this French judge on a cupcake contest. His Tree cupcakes are chocolate bottoms and pistachio tops, like a tree, get it?

For a first effort and only a cursory glance at a real pistachio cupcake recipe, they were not bad. He said he would keep working on them, which equals grit and determination. I just finished reading How to Raise an Adult, and these are important ingredients in his growth (cooking metaphor!!!), so in addition to all this weekend goodness, I'm feeling like a pretty good mom.

Tonight we made this bacon mac & cheese for dinner. Yes, I'm eating carbs, just like Oprah. Younger bought this bacon cookbook for his dad last year, but who was the gift really for? Exactly. He's marked about 20 favorite must-try recipes, and was super pleased that we tried one out tonight. (Good mom + Hero = I'm on a roll tonight).

I burned the bacon pretty early on in the cooking. I don't really cook bacon. It's something my husband makes on weekends; I'm more the buyer. So, I went out to buy more, and this nice lady was sampling wine. Vim recommended 19 Crimes a month back, and I really liked it. This 19 Crimes, The Banished is even jammier. And then my favorite candy was on sale. My pre-schoolers all solemnly promised they would share their Halloween take with me, but as is so often the case with newly candied people they are grasping, fearful they won't have enough, and the sharing is not happening. So, I'm on my own.

Still, I'm looking at my stuff in the Kroger check out line, and I have to admit it looks a little depressing. Plus, I didn't think to put on lipstick because I was just running up to the Kroger for bacon, but now Jorge The Cashier is giving me pity eyes, and it will sound like I'm doth protesting too much if I start expounding on my glorious weekend, so I just smile and throw my shoulders back like the proud 40-ish non-lipsticked woman I am.

I am humming the Enjoli perfume commercial an hour later as I have indeed brought home the bacon, successfully fried it up in the pan, and my son is rapturing that this Mac & Cheese is even better than mine. Huh? I made it, it's all mine, all the good recipes I make are mine.

I'm going to sprinkle my Reese's pieces on my new find, Halo Top ice cream. This stuff is low in sugar and high in protein. Because something has to balance my carb fest. I found it at HEB.

See, not a sad Saturday night.