Oh! What a surprising surprise for me on my Natal Day

So yesterday was my wife's natal day, and, like a good husband, I remembered this in plenty of time to buy her everything I wanted.... err, I mean everything she wanted.

There are two things about Emily that you need to know if you want to be her friend (or in my case, husband).

1. Emily loves chocolate.
2. Emily loves cookies.

With those two critical pieces of knowledge in mind, I set out to buy her the absolute pefect natal day gift -- a Kitchenaid 500 watt Professional 6 quart stand mixer (in sunflower yellow)!!

It's awesome! However, the more I thought about it, a Kitchenaid 500 watt Professional 6 quart stand mixer is a not exactly the same thing as chocolate (or cookies). This, coupled with that fact that Emily does not cook (she does bake from time to time, and please don't try to tell me that they are the same thing), made me realize that I needed to buy something else if she were going to have a great natal day.

After a few minutes scouring the net, I found the ideal thing -- Alton Brown's new book: "I'm just here for more food (subtitled: food + mixing x heat = baking)."

So I figured I was all set. I mean, what wife wouldn't absolutely love these gifts? With these gifts, Emily will have the ability to make her own cookies or bake a chocolate cake.

Perfect right? Wrong (apparently) because as a friend pointed out to me, though the Kitchenaid 500 watt Professional 6 quart stand mixer does allow you make cookies or bake a chocolate cake, it is not (in and of itself) cookies or chocolate.

But as luck would have it, a very wise Bog Dweller informed me of a web site called goodfortunes.com. They sell giant fortune cookies (for all occassions) covered in chocolate with personalized messages inside.

"THAT'S PERFECT" I thought to myself (and yes, I actually thought the capitalization in my head). It's a cookie and it's chocolate!

So I had the cookie delivered to her work on her natal day, and she was very happy.

I gave her the other two gifts when she got home from work, and yes, she liked them too. And for those of you who may want to criticize me for getting Emily gifts that might seem like they are more for me than they are for her, I say to you: PLBTH!

I stand by my decisions. Emily does not cook -- not one bit, but she loves her sweets and everyone knows that sweets come from baking. I on the otherhand, do not bake -- I only cook.

So I think you can agree that these were ideal gifts for Em. If you don't believe me, just look at these photos of Emily (notice the excitement on her face):

Here is Emily with Alton Brown's new book. Notice how much she loves it. She is practically clutching the book for dear life, not wanting anyone (or anything) to take it from her.

And here is Emily with her brand new Kitchenaid 500 watt Professional 6 quart stand mixer. Isn't she just beautiful (Emily, not the mixer -- but the mixer is rather attractive as well) as you will see in the next photo.

Ah, there she is... in all her Glory. Something's missing though -- she needs a name. Suggestions? We can't have a nameless Kitchenaid 500 watt Professional 6 quart stand mixer now can we?

And so Emily's natal day came to end, almost as quickly as it began. We had we a lot of fun though. We laughed, we cried, we rejoiced over our beautiful Kitchenaid 500 watt Professional 6 quart stand mixer. What more could you ask for on your natal day?