A few things they don’t teach you in college but they really should:

1.  Be charitable.  Give yourself: your time, your money, your thoughts, your prayers to someone in need.  The more you give, the more you will receive, but try not to think about that part too much.  I have a few friends (Seth and Lynn), that are seeking donations these days.

2. Don’t be so defensive.  I’m always wanting to ‘set the record straight’ or ‘get my side of the story out there.’  Don’t do it.  It doesn’t benefit you in the way you think it will.

3. Before making a big decision, get advice from as many people as possible.  You don’t have to take everyone’s advice, but it’s good to understand everyone’s perspective.  If, however, the person is your elder by quite a few years, you probably should take their advice.

4.  Buy whole life insurance (not term).  Just look into it, even if you think you’re too young.

5. If you ever find yourself in Waco, Texas, buy enough Dr Pepper made with real sugar to last you a lifetime.  I had no idea the post-college cravings I would have for this stuff.

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Hold onto your hats, folks, because I’m about to confess something:

I used to not like pie.

I used to think that fruit was best enjoyed fresh, not cooked.  And then I met Esther.

I’ve told y’all a little bit about how I met Esther the first day I lived in California.  I said I would tell you the rest of the story, so here goes:

I moved to California in July of 2006, just months after graduating college.  Since apartment leases didn’t start until September, I had to sub-lease a room in the interim.  I rented a room in a 3-bedroom apartment with two other girls.

My parents drove me to California with everything I owned in my Honda Accord.  (I wish I still owned so few things!)  Three days later, I pulled up to apartment #106 and knocked on the door.  Esther opened the door with a big smile, an apron around her neck and flour on her hands.  I said “nice to meet you” and walked inside.  She was baking an apple pie and watching Paula Deen on TV.  Was it written in the stars that we would be best friends or what?  Any doubts my parents had about leaving me in a strange state disappeared because of Esther’s friendliness.

Esther and I were instant best friends, and we have been ever since.  Actually, everyone who lived in that apartment (including the girl whose room I rented and another girl who took the 3rd roommate’s room a month later) is still good friends.  Over bottles of wine, we laugh about how apartment #106 brought us all together.  Here we are today, in each other’s weddings.

Esther’s pies made me love pie.  Her pies are the kind that drip butter when they are pulled from the oven.  They are the kind of pies that taste even better with ice cream, but you still sneak a few bites without it so you can taste the crust and juicy fruit.  The pie that made me a believer was her mixed berry pie.  It tastes like a triumph.  I asked for her recipe and she replied “oh, I just use a bag of frozen mixed berries and make my own all-butter dough.”  Like that was an easy task!

I did just like she said, though.  I took part of a bag of frozen mixed berries, stirred in some flour and sugar and tucked it into the pie crust.  I dolloped sour cream on top, and crimped the edges of the dough closed.  I put Paula Deen on the TV just to make sure everything turned out right.

And it did.

I used a 5″ mini deep-dish pie pan that Esther gave me for Christmas last year.  Isn’t it darling?  You can use a regular 6 or 7″ pie pan, too.
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I’ve made three batches of pudding this past week.

I churned out a vanilla bean pudding (I subbed an equal amount of vanilla bean paste for extract) a cheesecake pudding for lovely friends, and this butterscotch pudding.

Pudding is comforting, and it’s the sort of thing that we’ve needed lately.  Mr. Dessert For Two left for Kansas bright and early yesterday morning.  I’m staying behind in California until I get a job all lined up out there.  Also, I’m staying behind because he’ll be living in a hotel room until we find a house, and I just couldn’t run this website from an extended-stay hotel room.  It would be nothing but microwave mug cakes, no-bake delights, and other things that could be made in a kitchen the size of a postage stamp with minimal appliances.  My devotion to desserts is far too strong to live like that for more than one week.

The good news is that we can delay our big move until we find a house.  This means that I won’t be sleeping on a twin mattress on the floor of an empty house snuggling with my stand mixer instead of him.

I want to say THANK YOU for all the sweet words and kind messages y’all offered when I shared my news.  I called the Mr to share my gratitude and he said “you sure do have some nice readers.”  And I couldn’t agree more.  I read each comment several times, and I even emailed a few of you who had connections in Kansas.  You guys are the best, and I can’t thank you enough.

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