Shaking in my boots

Yesterday I was invited to a party at Cookiecrumb's. Words cannot express my love her food photos. The party theme was "Tacky Tiki." Normally this would sound quite innocuous but then I perused that invite list. These were people who take food quite seriously. I think at one point that I nearly vomited in my mouth over the stress. Why? Because the invite said that you should bring a dish. So in my mind I started off with tacky.


Vienna sausages stuffed with cheese and wrapped with bacon.

I must admit that this dish did not hit the table immediately. I was embarrassed. Even though I had promised that I would do something that involved Vienna sausages. But my people-pleasing self had also decided to do something else.


Fig walnut tapenade with goat cheese.

Is it sad that I usually have most of the ingredients on hand for this recipe?
The only things I had to purchase were the thyme and the crackers.

And then I learned that both were deemed good by the party-goers. I can sleep easy. Especially since I called my aunt, the therapist, immediately upon returning home. We've agreed that when she comes out here in a couple of weeks that I will give her lessons in blogging and baking. This, of course, was after we discussed my relationship with my mother -- the reason why my aunt told me at age 12 that I needed therapy. Because I was an anxious, depressed mess back then. It's so nice to have a therapist in the family.

Oh, and Gloria? I got to hold Bean Sprout. If it was not for your love of little white dogs, I may never have found my way to Cookie's. Thank you.