men and dessert.

so many men seem to say they don't eat dessert. that it's a girl thing. that they don't like "sweets." they like meat and potatoes. blahbeblahblah. maybe a few select members of the other sex really don't enjoy sweets but mostly i'm calling bullshit on this one. sure they won't order a cookie the size of their head after eating eggs and bacon, or justify the purchase of a half-dozen cupcakes because you save $2 or even say, make a cheesecake for no apparent reason or occasion. but they will eat said items if they're in their vicinity. and if they don't, then i'm even more sure that women are the superior sex. i just don't trust people men who don't eat dessert.

 if you're missing a dessert-eating man in your life then have a scoop of pumpkin gingerbread trifle or a few pumpkin whoopie pies as you gaze as these crush-worthy fellows. 

hey, i've got a dessert-eating man and i still took a gander....

courtesy nerd boyfriend. aka maybe the best site ever?

countless photos of handsome, dashing men in photos you probably haven't seen before. they're all sort of impossibly candid and sweet, making the men of course, even more appealing.

btw the how cute are these two? i love the idea that they hung out at some party even though i can't remember one movie they were in together.
i miss the 80s. especially the mustaches and tweed jackets.

i always liked billy joel as a kid, but he sort of fell off my radar a bit in the past few years. until this past holiday weekend. an old friend told me about a billy joel interview in which the interviewer asked about "vienna waits for you" in relation to joel's father abandoning him to move to vienna when he was only nine years old. the connection hadn't even accorded to joel. sometimes we're most unaware of ourselves and our own longings. 

i've of course, been listing to vwfy for three days straight now.

was jimmy stewart ever this young? he can't be more than 25 in this picture, his whole life ahead of him, yet he already knew he could pull off a three-piece suit. amazing.

i'm always ready for it's a wonderful life this time of year, but philadelphia story may be in order this week. please watch it and join my family in the never-ending debate over phildelphia story vs. high society. we all argue both sides, amazed at the likeness of the actresses who play dinah 10 years apart, weigh the impact of the music, but then ultimately decide that anything with stewart, grant and hepburn is gonna beat out bogie and bing, even if they've got grace kelly.

oh and here's the pumpkin desserts i would serve these cuties.

first up: the pumpkin gingerbread trifle.
( i followed gastronomy's recipe almost to a T)

of course this is what it should have looked like.
and the proper thing what have been to take a picture.
before inhaling the trifle.
but my alzheimers must have kicked in. 

or i just couldn't wait any more.

delayed gratification and i are not the best of friends.

here's the real picture.
after we killed about half of it for lee's bday.
thank god we left this at my parents house.
i could have housed it on my own in about 12 hours.
see how i left the spoon in the bowl, all ready for them?
i know how important it is to be prepared.

oh and the pumpkin whoopie pies.

also pretty amazing. and the filling even had pumpkin cream cheese instead of just regular old cream cheese. proving once again that trader joes is the best!

oh did you know, they even make a nice appetizer?
our family had about half of these pre turkey, even the men!

Recipe: Pumpkin Whoopie Pies (adapted allrecipes)

Ingredients:

cookie--

1 3/4 cups  flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon ground vietnamese cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

1/8 teaspoon ground cloves

1/2 teaspoon sea salt

6 tablespoons butter, softened

1 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup vanilla sugar

2 large eggs

1 cup pumpkin

1 tablespoon mexican vanilla extract

frosting--

4 tablespoons pumpkin cream cheese, at room temperature

3 tablespoons butter, softened

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups powdered sugar

Method:

cookies--

Mix butter and sugars for about 2-3 minutes

add egg and vanilla

mix together add dry ingredients

add dry ingredients and pumpkin to wet ingredients, rotating and beginning and ending with pumpkin

drop by rounded teaspoon onto greased cookie sheet

bake 10 minutes at 350

let cool completely

frosting--

mix butter and cream cheese well, 2 minutes

add vanilla and powered sugar, mix another 2 minutes till fluffy and smooth

add about 1-2 teaspoons and sandwich cookies

let cookies set up a bit in the fridge for at least 2 hours

excellent with baileys and coffee