Exactly what a Saturday should be.

Today was a template for what a perfect Saturday should be. I got up and went to the gym for a couple of hours and then spent the rest of the day eating. PERFECT. I did some other stuff too, but the eating was so grand.

Kate and I went to Can Can Brasserie for lunch and I got a giant portion of Moule Frite and we split a carafe of wine while we caught up on the past week's happenings. Then we tottered tipsily around Carytown and had vaguely inappropriate conversations with strangers. I think that's my #1 favorite thing about living in the South- complete strangers will talk to you about ANYTHING. Unfortunately they're often crazy complete strangers, but today that wasn't the case. Conversations that were had:

- charming older women at the next table chatted about their insane giant jewelry.

- woman in the bathroom and I got down about our hair and it's abilities or lack thereof.

- had an eyeopening talk with salespeople in EQ3 about Lance Armstr0ng (unanimously agreed: a doping creep), his relationship with Ashley 0lsen (so so so creepy), and then one of them piped up that they'd been at a party where Miss 0lsen was busy getting snorty with the coke. GOOD STUFF.

Kate and I then did some shopping (beads, Christmas presents, candy) and tottered back to Can Can for coffee and chocolate cream puffs. Was today excellent or what? So nice to have a free Saturday to play.

Now I'm waiting for a couple of butternut squash to get roasty so I can make them into soup for dinner. I can't think of a better way to end a good day than with a bowl of butternut squash soup and a grilled cheese sandwich. Wait, I can. Add a glass of wine to that. And George Clooney. And a pony. Okay, the end.

PS. As promised, here's my friend Marianne's recipe for the savory cookies (click on her link for other fantastic recipes):

cheddar-pecan-cranberry cookies

1/2 cup butter, room temperature
1 1/2 cups very sharp white cheddar, finely grated
1 1/2 cups white flour (I'm considering using half whole wheat next time, though)
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
2-3 pinches cayenne pepper
a few shakes of Tabasco
1 teaspoon baking powder
about 1/2 cup toasted chopped pecans
about 1/3 cup dried cranberries

Cream the butter and cheese together at high speed in your stand mixer. Add baking powder, salt, cayenne, and tabasco. Mix until blended. Slowly add in flour, nuts and cranberries with the butter mixture on high.

Turn dough out onto a large piece of waxed paper or plastic wrap. Shape into a log shape, roll the paper around it and twist the ends shut. Refrigerate for at least an hour. I usually just chuck the dough in the freezer at this point, you can bake it frozen.

Preheat oven to 375F.

Unwrap the dough log and, using a very sharp knife, slice the log into rounds a bit less than 1/2 inch thick. Place rounds on cookie sheets and bake for about 12 minutes, or until the bottoms of the cookies are golden brown. Remove to a cooling rack to cool completely. Store in an airtight container.

Makes 25-30. I usually double the recipe and keep a couple of logs of dough in the freezer for the whole holiday season.