Coming Soon

I know many of you have come this morning looking for the highly anticipated Big Nanny: True Hollywood Story. It's not here yet.

The truth is I became inspired after receiving some ammo....I mean information....yesterday afternoon from a super secret agent deep within the Big Nanny organization and got to work on it immediately. But then Handiman called and said those two little words that no woman can refuse. Cheesecake Factory.

So, needless to say all my Big Nanny love went out the window and I abandoned my investigation to feast on my anniversary dinner of

Chicken Madeira

and Chocolate Raspberry Truffle.

Let's pause for a moment of reflection, shall we?

Oh, it wasn't all about me and my anniversary dinner. I did think about her while I was there and Handiman offered some suggestions about how my THS should be formatted. So, in many ways I guess I was still working on it. Sorta.

But enough about her. Let's talk about dinner.

It was magnificent and finally put to rest the disturbing memories I have of the last time I was in that particular establishment. In fact, Big Nanny was there too on that fateful evening. But she was not responsible for the disappointment that cast a dark shadow over that night. Let me paint the picture.

It was a girl's night in 2007 and The Fruit Bowl had assembled for a meal we had long since been dreaming about. We rarely venture that far for a get-together but the 30 minute trek to Green Hills is a small sacrifice when a menu of 30 varieties of cream cheese goodness awaits you. At least a week in advance Robyn and I decided that we would be splitting our favorite, Chocolate Raspberry Truffle. We strategically placed ourselves across from each other in the booth for maximum sharing benefits and waited for the moment to arrive. We were downright giddy with anticipation. I can still feel the chill that ran down my spine when the waitress spoke the words that pierced my very soul.

"We're out of Chocolate Raspberry Truffle. Sorry."

Sorry? She was "Sorry"? The fact of the matter was The Cheesecake Factory was out of almost half of their cheesecakes that night. How is that even possible????????? How does a factory of cheesecakes not have cheesecake? Have you ever seen a table full of women being denied their choice of cheesecake? It's not pretty my friends. Not pretty at all.

That's when Robyn, who is an eternal optimist, decided we could order a plain cheesecake and get both chocolate and raspberry sauce on the side to dip it in. "On the side" is very big in her world so I trusted her judgement. I will not be making that mistake again.

I suppose it was the same in the way that boiled, bland, unseasoned chicken dipped in a bowl of raw eggs and white flour if Just!Exactly!Like! fried chicken. In that, it's not at all the same. It's just gross.

And that was the great Cheesecake Factory Tragedy of '07. And that is why when Handiman suggested we go last night, I jumped at that chance to make it all better. And it worked. It wasn't just about our anniversary. It was about redemption. My faith in the Cheesecake Factory has been restored and my love for Chocolate Raspberry Truffle has been solidified.

And my tribute to Big Nanny has been put on hold indefinitely.

It's not just due to my neglect, but also to some technical difficulties and the fact that I have a faculty meeting today. So, hopefully I'll have the post of by the end of the day. In the meantime, you can visit Big Nanny's place to see some great photos and wish her a happy birthday.