Banana Puddin' Pops!

Very important facts about The Cosby Show and my own life.

1.  When I was younger, we always had cats.  My parents never bothered to get our boy cats fixed, and they would always run away after like 6 months.  We named every single one of these boy cats Bill, after Bill Cosby.  So we had like 8 consecutive cats named Bill.  My little brother began to believe that every animal was called a Bill, so he'd do things like point at a squirrel outside and yell out, "Bill!  Bill!

2.  I do a really good Bill Cosby face.  Or  not.

3.  Our fake restaurant waiting for a table name is Huxtable.  Totally stole that from Best Friend, and it makes me giggle every time.

4.  When I was in college, I submitted a picture of myself to Nick at Nite to "Be the Bug."  The "bug" is the tiny little logo in the bottom corner of a TV screen.  For about 15 minutes on one glorious June night in 2003, my mug was the bug--and it was during an episode of The Cosby Show.  

5.  One of the reasons that I think Matt and I should have kids is so that we can make them do song and dance routines on the stairs, a la the Huxtable children.

6.  Theo is my favorite Huxtable kid.  Denise is my least favorite.  And "least favorite" is an understatement because I effing hate Denise.

7.  I LOVE PUDDING POPS!

I mean, is there anything better that the frozen silkiness of a pudding pop?  So last week when I knew my bananas were about to become overripe (WTF? Why can't I ever manage to eat all of the bananas before they go bad?), I was inspired--you know, like by a beam of light and angelic voices--to make myself some banana pudding. . .pops!  (Also, I'd bought these awesome popsicle holders in Target's dollar spot a few weeks back.)

There are probably like seven billion different recipes for banana puddin', and I'm waiting until Back in the Day Bakery Cheryl's cookbook comes out before I commit to just one.  When I make banana puddin', all I do is make vanilla pudding and add some sliced bananas and Nilla Wafers.  And I always add about twice as many Nilla Wafers as I'm supposed to because my love for Nilla Wafers is as intense as my hatred for Denise Huxtable.

For these particular pops, I made this vanilla pudding, added the bananas (like 3) and wafers (like 1/4 of a bag or so), and then froze the pudding in the popsicle holders.  Ridiculously simple.  Come over and help me eat them!

Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go watch the entire series of The Cosby Show on Netflix instant.  

Love and Marriage

[source]

Matt: [talking about The Kids Are All Right] Mark Ruffalo's in it.

Me: Uhhh. . .I don't know who that is.

Matt: He's in a lot of great indie movies.  He's really good.  He was in You Can Count on Me, that movie we watched in college with Best Friend that you really liked with Laura Linney.

Me: [blank stare] I don't know who that is.

Matt:  You remember, he plays Laura Linney's irresponsible brother.  He's kind of like Andy in Weeds.

Me:  Ummmmmm. . . No.

Matt:  You do remember that movie.  We watched it together.  He was in a lot of good movies.  He's a really good actor. . . 

Me: [BLANK STARE]

Matt: He was in that Jennifer Garner movie 13 Going on 30.

Me:  Oh yeah, I know him! 

[Matt closes his eyes, puts his head down, and shakes his head in shame]

Best Friend Portraits

Matt and I first started dating in September of 2002. I spent A LOT of time at Matt's apartment, hanging out, drinking, watching Friends and Jeopardy and The Daily Show. It was my senior year of college, and looking back, it was one of the most fun times of my life. I was surrounded by wonderful friends and roommates and coworkers, I had just started dating the boy I would eventually marry, and the whole world was ahead of me.

Oh, and that was when I became friends with Best Friend. Best Friend (whose real name is Alex Luther--yes--LEX LUTHER!) was one of Matt's roommates. At the beginning of the year he was not on the lease and did not have a bedroom in the apartment; instead he slept in the closet of one of Matt's other roommates. It wasn't a big closet, either. In fact, it was just long enough and wide enough for Best Friend to lie down and sleep. Best Friend doesn't need luxury.

Best Friend and I hit it off immediately. He's my favorite kind of person: cranky, smart, creative, kind of quiet, hilarious, dry sense of humor, mean on the outside but kind on the inside, quirky as can be.

This was during the time of the apartment party at JMU. Neither Best Friend nor I was a big fan of that party scene, so we had to find ways to entertain ourselves other than kegstands or dancing to the latest Nelly song. We decided to lie to people. Although we had only known each other for a week or so, we decided to convince people at the party that we were best friends, and had been best friends since we were children. To make the lie more believable, we began to refer to one another as Best Friend. (An exchange between us would go something like this: "Hey, Best Friend, whatcha doin'?" "Oh, nothing, Best Friend, just working on writing our best friend sitcom." "Cool, Best Friend, can I help?" "Sure, Best Friend. Maybe afterward we'll go get some chocolate milk.")

Best Friend and I would improvise the most elaborate lies about our childhood and the history of our friendship. We convinced so many people that we had been friends since we were nine, that we went on vacation together in Disneyworld and he got poison ivy on his feet and had to ride around in a wheelchair--but it was okay because then we got to go to the front of all of the lines. We convinced people that in the eighth grade we had an "experimental summer," the details of which are not blog appropriate. We played off of each other's lies beautifully, and in the event that somebody didn't believe us, we would go one step farther.

After knowing each other for two weeks, Best Friend and I decided that we needed some proof of our lifelong friendship. We found this proof at Wal-Mart's portrait studio. Best Friend portraits, we decided, would make it undeniable that we'd been friends forever. Plus, they only cost $3.95 for like 1,000 pictures.

Tell me these aren't the best Best Friend portraits you ever did see.

I was donning my newly-purchased jean jacket and nail polish from the Mary Kate and Ashley line, and Best Friend was wearing a tshirt with a dinosaur and a hat with a bald eagle. I believe my great-grandfather had owned a similar hat at one time. You can't see it in the picture, but there is a rope on the bill of the hat. Rope = classy.

And for some reason he had been walking around with an empty cigarette in his mouth for days. He refused to take it out. Quirky.

Best Friend and I were laughing so hard during our portrait session that I was crying. The Wal-Mart photographer was NOT AMUSED. She pulled down the Christmas background (which we did not request), and yelled--seriously, she yelled!--"BE SERIOUS! IT'S CHRISTMAS!" which only made us laugh harder.

Below is my favorite of the Best Friend portraits. We actually made tshirts with this picture on it and would wear them at the same time. There was a minor falling out, though, when Best Friend lost his in a beer pong-related bet.

Our lives have taken us in different directions since, and we don't talk all that often, but Best Friend is and always will be my best childhood Best Friend.

Fizzy Milk?

Apparently Coca-Cola is coming out with a new beverage, fizzy carbonated milk. (You can read more about it here.)

The thought of drinking this makes me want to puke, but I'm neither a fan or milk nor am I an adventurous eater.

Also, it reminds me of the time I was with Best Friend during our flavored-milk phase in college. I bought some banana-flavored Nestle milk, and when I opened it, it started to fizz up and overflow. Without thinking, I started to drink the DISGUSTINGLY SOUR milk to prevent mess.

And I'm gagging now just thinking about that episode and the way my car reeked for weeks. Mmmmm, sour banana milk. Perhaps Yankee should make that a new candle scent?

Anyway, would you drink fizzy carbonated milk?