Two weeks ago a message appeared in my Facebook inbox. It was from my cousin-in-law, Rob, telling me they had a birthday present for me that they were holding hostage until I came down to see them.

This probably doesn’t sound all that unusual, except that we don’t really buy gifts for each other. And if someone had told me that their family had bought a gift for my birthday, I would have bet money that it was Britt {my cousin and Rob’s wife} who had actually been the purchaser, not Rob himself. I thought it must be a joke but since it really was high time we saw their new house and new neighborhood, we made plans for last Sunday.

Rob promised both bacon-wrapped venison and Leinenkugel’s, which for someone from Wisconsin, is really all that was needed. Still, I thought I’d bring along something to munch on while we were waiting for the grill to heat up. You know that I adore all things jalapeno, so a jalapeno popper dip made perfect sense. And since there’s nothing better than bacon wrapped jalapeno poppers, I decided to add a crunchy bacon breadcrumb topping. I love these bacon breadcrumbs and use them often. They’re perfect to garnish a hot soup or sprinkle on the top of pasta to give it that something special. Trust me, you need to make them!

So there we were just hanging out, eating our dip & catching up, when Rob pulled out a wrapped birthday gift. He and Britt were giggling so I immediately knew that something was up. Britt claimed she “had nothing to do with it” and said that Rob had bought it himself over 8 months ago. I could not, for the life of me, imagine what this thing was. Until Rob said,

“Do you remember a conversation we had on Facebook?”

omg….he didn’t…he couldn’t have…HE DID!

Here’s the thing about me: nothing makes me happier than being able to stay home in my pajama’s for an entire day. If we’re snowed in, that’s even better. I guess it’s that nesting thing, I don’t know. But that’s why I’d actually posted the link to Forever Lazy on Facebook and joked that it had me all teary-eyed. Here’s our conversation from my personal Facebook page, from January 2012:

So, obviously, I was kidding about the club. I’m not really the strip club type but, as Rob quickly pointed out, I did promise that if he bought me the pajamas I would take him to a strip club. And so I find myself in a bit of a pickle!

Rob’s birthday is coming up on November 3rd. Which gives me exactly 8 days to come up with a retaliation return gift that will be as outrageous as a trip to the club but something that Alan will not divorce me over. I need suggestions, and I need them fast!

Might I suggest making this jalapeno popper dip with bacon breadcrumbs, grabbing a bag of tortilla chips and relaxing awhile? This may help clear your head so you can offer a helpful solution. It’s also possible you may just enter a food coma and go to sleep, but I’ll understand completely if that happens. You may want to serve it in individual serving dishes, as I did here, so you can still eat an entire dish-full while still saving some for later.