I'm baaaaaack . . .!

Over, but never forgotten!

And, what a success! The CHOC Follies this year raised over $800,000 for the Childrens Hospital of Orange County. What's more -- it was just a blast.

I got to be the story-teller--almost more fun than I could stand. Here I am with daughter Kathy and my precious granddaughters Aidan, the redhead, and Caitlin, holding the storybook I read from.

My email inbox is still choc full (no apology for the pun) of emails from all the cast members celebrating the wonderful experience we shared.

There were 16 musical numbers--some singing and dancing, some just singing. The music still plays continually in my head.

Here are some of the many stars: (from left)

*Tin Larry (Jim McAleer, President/CEO of the Alzheimer's Association) who wanted to be a fancy race car

*Dorky (Samantha Goldstein) who, with her dog Uh-Oh, was swept away to Orange County on the winds of El Nino,

*Simba (played by former Rockette, Juliet Fischer-Schulein) who wanted to be the star at the Hip Kittie Club, and

*Scarecrow (Thad Schatz) who spoke in rap and did a lot of fancy tapping.

The amount of talent and enthusiasm packed onto that stage was awesome to behold. And one of the best things was that I got to dress up in purple sequins and sing and dance to the song "In His Kiss" (the shoop-shoop song).

The bad witch LaLa (Eve Michaels, a veteran performer and a Beverly Hills makeover coach) wanted to annex all of Orange County and make us all "one big LA" wore a wig almost bigger than she is.

We had a cast of 85, and all their family and friends flocked to see the show, so more than 3500 people were in our audiences over the four-performance run.

The video will arrive soon, and I can't wait to relive the whole thing.

I am counting on it to remind me of the glory to be found in the act of throwing myself into a completely new experience.

A NEW TAKE ON MELTED CHEESE

Not much time to cook with all the rehearsals for the show, so I kept the care and feeding of husband Ted simple with dishes like melted cheese sandwiches, experimenting with new ingredients. This one features a delicious black truffle cheese given to me for my birthday recently by chef Cathy Pavlos at my favorite Lucca Cafe restaurant and market, and sage leaves fried in olive oil (and the sage flower used as a garnish). The cheese from Sardinia, Cathy's new favorite, is called Moliterno with Truffles, or La Rusticella al Tartufo.