I know how excited you all must be! Congrats....girls aren't easy to get in my family! I'm jealous!! LOL.....boys are great too!

I didn't take any photos, but in honor of ElizPiz and the lovely group I will share my favorite dessert recipe. Eliz gave us all one of her faves! It was adapted from two different recipes. (all art is derivative). Very yummy and impressive. Hope it doesn't get weird when I cut and paste .... Pear Quince Tarts with Salted Caramelized Pistachio Brittle Yield: Serves 12 Ingredients 1 sheet (about 10 by 12 in.) frozen puff pastry (14-oz. package), thawed (I use DuFour) 3-5 ripe yet not mushy pears, I prefer Bartlett About 1/3-1/2 cup quince paste 1 large egg, beaten About 2 tbsp. raw sugar 1/2 pint whipping cream 1 teaspoon vanilla extract Preparation 1. Preheat oven to 375. Lightly butter 2 large baking sheets. On a floured surface with a floured rolling pin, roll out pastry to 16 by 18 in. Cut pastry in thirds lengthwise and in half crosswise. Cut in half again crosswise. With a wide spatula, transfer the 12 rectangles to baking sheets. 2. Core pears and cut into ~1/4" thick slices; do not peel. Arrange, slightly overlapping, on pastry rectangles, leaving a ~1/2" border bare (angle slices if necessary). Use at least 1/4 pear for each tart, or as much as half a pear. Warm the quince paste (carefully and briefly on a low setting) in a microwave oven to melt, then brush over pears. Fold border over edge of pears, stretching slightly and pressing down to hold. Brush edges with egg, then sprinkle sugar over tarts, especially pastry edges. 3. Bake until pastries are browned, 25 to 30 minutes. 4. Whip 1/2 pint of fresh whipping cream and 1t vanilla extract, just until stiff peaks form. 5. Serve tarts warm or room temp with pistachio brittle (see below) on the top, and whipped cream on the side. Salted Caramelized Pistachio Brittle Servings: Yields 2 cups Ingredients 1 cup salted whole roasted shelled pistachios 1 cup granulated sugar 1/4 teaspoon salt (very important to the flavor) Directions 1. Line a baking sheet with foil or waxed paper. Butter the foil or waxed paper. 2. Microwave the nuts on high for 1 minute so they will be warm when you add them to the caramel. 3. Pour 1/2 cup water into a heavy 3-quart saucepan. Pour the sugar and salt in the center of the pan and pat it down just until evenly moistened (there should be clear water all around the sugar). Cover the pan and cook over medium-high heat until the sugar dissolves, 2 to 4 minutes. Uncover and cook without stirring until the syrup begins to color slightly, about 3-5 minutes. Reduce the heat to medium and continue to cook, swirling the pot gently if the syrup colors unevenly. 4. When the caramel is a pale to medium yellow, about 3 minutes more, add the warm nuts. With a heatproof silicone spatula, stir gently and slowly to coat the nuts with caramel. Continue to cook until a bead of caramel dribbled onto a white plate is reddish amber, about 3 minutes more. Immediately scrape the mixture onto the baking sheet and spread it as thin as you can before it hardens. When the caramel is slightly cooled but still warm, slide the foil or wax paper with the caramel nuts into a zip-top plastic bag and seal the bag. Cool completely. Chop or crush. NOTE The the timing to make this varies widely with the btu of your burner, gas vs electric, etc. Hang in there if it takes longer. Watch it like a hawk in case it takes less.

These days, it is easier to be right if you always refrain from the impulse to add an apostrophe! It started about 30 years ago, the adding of the little high comma where it did not belong. It is one of my pet peeves, but I try not to correct people because I know I make a lot of errors myself. It does grind, though! Marys, knowing one of my Internet friends has medical reasons for occasional poor grammar really helps me be forgiving of everybody's errors. It is what you say, not how you type it, that counts in the end. Oh- I highly recommend getting the Google toolbar. It has a spellchecker that works well on our posts here.

I am generally not a big fan of non-stick coatings. Properly seasoned bare metal cookware will get perfectly non-stick as well. But admittedly, that takes both initial and ongoing effort. Not a lot effort. But a few seconds of work each time you clean it (i.e. wipe with a thin coating of oil and never store wet). Also, with non-stick coatings you can get away with poor technique, whereas with metal surfaces you need to pay at least some attention to temperature management. You should always add your ingredients to a hot griddle. If it gets too cold, it won't be non-stick. Takes a while to learn, but will become second nature soon enough. On the upside, metal surfaces can be used with metal tools and won't get damaged by surface scratches. And they also are more versatile. You can cook high-heat foods (e.g. steak) on a metal surface. But Teflon based coatings need to be carefully handled and should never get too hot. Teflon starts degrading at surprisingly low temperatures. It's perfectly okay for making pancakes, but don't use it to fry meat, hashbrowns, vegetables, ... The damage won't be immediately obvious, but it starts as soon as you overheat the griddle. As for the choice of metal, cast iron and carbon steel is a little easier to season. Aluminum does accept seasoning, but it takes a little longer to get there. It handles a little differently from iron when cooking and that might sway your decision. I also hear good things about chrome plating, but I haven't used that myself. The nice thing with overlay griddles is that you can buy more than one. If you find you aren't happy with a particular material, you can always revisit that decision without horribly breaking the bank. A built-in griddle doesn't usually give you that option.