Say You're Sorry Sour Cream Cake

A barroom reenactment of the Mantis
beseeching the neighbors for midnight
cat retrieval assistance.

Remember that time when you accidentally opened that one window which has no screen, and your boyfriend's cat snuck out and ended 40 feet up the tree in the next door neighbor's back yard at 11:30 PM on a work night? No? Well, then, that must have been me.
Seriously. Forty feet up the neighbor's tree. As midnight approached. Nothing but a pair of iridescent demon eyes reflecting the flashlight. The neighbors were good sports, holding a second flashlight and even letting the Mantis use their ladder, but no. The cat was retrievable at about 20 feet, but there was no way to get to her when she scrambled up twice as high. So, after about 40 minutes or so of keeping the neighbors up way past their bedtimes, and wondering if a real fire department would really rescue a real cat from a real tree, we had no real options except to wait for daylight. We apologized repeatedly and profusely to the neighbors, then waited it out until the alarm went off at 5:30.

Cranberry-Pecan Bourbon Bars

No spray paint was used in the baking of this recipe!

I am all about playing the Pantry Game. You know, the one where you throw open the pantry and see what you can do with whatever you have. I had just a bit of white chocolate leftover from the Thai fudge project. I had pecans and cranberries left from the cornbread Christmas stuffing. And really, when do I not have bourbon?
These bars were baked as dessert for a meal with a few friends on New Year's Eve. Really, the menu was not nearly as memorable as the cocktails. I could have served, oh, I don't know, think of the most revolting thing you have ever been served. I could have served big plates of that, and after half a French 75, you would have never noticed what was on your plate.