Brunch Recap ~ Spoiler Alert

This brunch opens on the Valley of the Dolls conversation in the car with Jenny informing me of the heartbreaking terms that Anne resolved her life to Lyon. From Jenny, I find out Neely is 10 times worse than Old Ironsides ever was and Jennifer had a heartwrenching love-of-her-life affair that left her decimated. By the time we arrived at Nicole's in Oakland I felt heavy, slowly processing the sad conclusion of the three characters that started out in life so blissfully naive. I also felt that entering Nicole's apartment was like drawing down the closing curtain on the acts performed by the characters in Valley of the Dolls.

Only thing to do now was to indulge in the buffet lovingly laid out by Nicole and better looking than any craft service table I've encountered in my lifetime. As we were enjoying brunch and talking about our experiences with the Dolls I couldn't help but feel that we were understudies attending a wrap party celebrating the end of a month of turbulent performances.



Nicole had two heavy hitting performers in this brunch, The Wifesaver featured here to the right, and the Dolls Cupcakes (above) as a surprise, happy ending to the last act.

The Wifesaver exceeded expectations on several counts: appearance, taste and name. The savory smell of the ingredients baking in the oven greeted us as we arrived, the golden delicious appearance of a perfectly baked breakfast casserole beckoned us to dive in, and the complimenting tastes and textures of the fluffy goodness of the eggy bread kept us going back for another bite! The layer of the salty canadian bacon was wonderful and the clencher was the buttery crunchiness of the toasted cornflakes topping.


The name of the Wifesaver brought much cheerful debate and conversation. Nicole said the casserole is called the Wifesaver because it saves the wife time on otherwise busy mornings. But several of us felt that it's called the Wifesaver because it keeps the husband full, content and happy with his domestic life. Something Anne could never quite accomplish with Lyon, no matter how hard she tried. Oh, if only she had this recipe!

Toward the end of brunch we weren't quite settled on a book, we had a general direction inspired by Spring and all the lusty awakenings that comes with Spring. We left with marching orders to suggest/recommend a topic for March.

Quote of the day in the context of choosing a book for March, "I don't think the topics of sleeping around and being a feminist are such a bad thing." ~ Kim


Cocktail of the month for February
Hibiscus cocktails:
champagne flute
add one hibiscus flower in syrup
pour in champagne
bubbles from champagne will help your flower bloom

Cheers!