use real butter

Tonight was community night! It was fabulous as usual and we had a great time with Nicole, Andrew, Kellie, Tom, and Beth. There would have been a picture of me and Beth, but I think that martini Jeremy had negated the autofocus feature. I’ll shut up now and just post the pics.

andrew and nicole; tom and kellie

flatbread, hummus, salmon mousse, pate; panzanella (bread salad)

salad greens; roasted eggplant

prosciutto-wrapped melon; mussels with spicy sausage and calamari

creamy polenta with lamb; heavenly roast pork with chestnuts and brussels sprouts

braised greens; salmon on corn and turnips

berries and cream; lemon-polenta cake

Happy Birthday to all my mates born on this day! I know the autumnal equinox bops around a bit, but I love it when the first day of autumn coincides with my birthday. Why? Because it means the ushering in of a favorite season with pumpkin pies, fall colors, cooler weather, Halloween, apple cider, autumn harvest, hearing children at play in the school yard, the smell of smoke from chimneys drifting through the air, and frosts.

But today we managed to skip over all of that and plunge into winter. Okay, to be fair, the forecast calls for warmer temps and sunshine in the coming week. However, today I could pretend it was winter - except it didn’t require much pretending. On our drive to the trailhead this morning, the roads were completely slicked with a sheet of ice. Although I love winter, this punch of winds and then cold temperatures seems to have some aspens going from green to brown. Thankfully, there is still some color to spare.

last year, this expanse was full and brilliant

There was about a foot of snow in the backcountry. Kaweah went insane for the first five minutes - running to the end of her leash, realizing she was on a leash, butt scooting in circles, shoving her nose in the snow, rearing her head back and resuming butt scoots. Luckily (for Jeremy: leashmaster) this didn’t last too long and we all enjoyed our stroll up to Lake Isabelle.

kaweah loves hiking in the snow

winter wonderland

the lake level is less than half what it was last year

We had originally planned to hike to the pass, but visibility was low, it was windy, and we weren’t keen on postholing. We kept thinking we should have brought our skis, but then we’d step on a nice rock and remembered there was no base. Instead, we opted for a longer loop back to the car. It was lovely and good exercise to trudge through all of that fresh snow.

My parents left the funniest and sweetest message on our answering machine. My mom sang a birthday song and sounded so happy. My dad said happy birthday and be good. They called after we got home and were on their way to an oyster party, had to prep the boat for a cruise, and were going to a mahjong party later. All they do is vacation and party now. But that’s good. I think they deserve to have fun after so many years of hard work and rarely taking a vacation (except the occasional roadtrip which made all of us insane). I hope they can have fun for a long time. I haven’t heard my mom laugh like this in a while and that is a birthday gift I cherish.

Of course, another fine birthday gift is that of love and food - from the heart and hands. Jeremy rolled fabulous maki for me today and we rounded it out with handrolls and sashimi. The maki were kalifornia rolls (made with krab instead of crab) and Fumito’s trademark Not-So-Special rolls which are his sushi bar’s Special Roll sans halibut on the outside. It’s made with spicy tuna and scallop and I looooove it. Each time I take a bite, it’s like a kiss from my sweetheart.

components of the not-so-special roll

the masterful spread

And look what it’s doing on the last day of summer!!!

whoooooooop!

[EDIT] as of 10:15 pm

Actually, there are a couple of inches of snow accumulation on our deck as I type. That’s a spankin’ sweet birthday gift and introduction to autumn (for tomorrow)!

I kept the house warm this afternoon with baking. I bought all of those delicious organic carrots for the sole purpose of making carrot cake(s). I made this one for my neighbors (Marcus and the kids):

ingredients minus the oil and vanilla

i like to use these cute 6-inch pans

creamy frosting really makes the ensemble

a small four-layer cake is ideal for a family

frosted and ready to go

Birthdays evolve as you get older. When I was little, for several years, my grandmother would make me an ice cream cake for my birthday. Oh, but this was no ordinary ice cream cake. My parents (in addition to working for NASA) owned and operated a Baskin-Robbins ice cream store. My grandmother managed it. Now that I think of it, my mom practiced discrimination in her hiring - she had an all female staff of young college women. My mom didn’t trust young men (who does?). I’m sure her logic was flawed, but man - you wouldn’t believe the amount of business we did among young twenty-something males! All of my mom’s staff were such sweet, smart, and hard-working women. My parents invited them to our house for dinner sometimes, and Tammy was my favorite. She always gave me presents. Once, she brought me a doll from some tropical location. I hate dolls. But I felt guilty for disliking this one because Tammy gave it to me and I adored Tammy, so I gave it a place among all of my 30+ stuffed animals that lined my bed each night. Anyway, my grandma was an expert cake decorator and she came up with incredibly awesome designs each year for me - like clowns climbing the cake, or a garden of icing flowers, or cute icing animals. My grandma rocks.

Then on my sixteenth birthday, my sister was at college, my mom was away on business, and my dad and I were the only ones home. Kris called after I got home from field hockey practice. Dad forgot. I was so disappointed because as a teenager there’s all this hype about your sixteenth birthday and so far, it was like any other day. My mom called that evening and when my dad talked to her he suddenly said, “Oooh oooh! I forgot!” and I knew she was chewing him out. I wasn’t surprised, because Dad forgets all dates. Since that birthday, I have been pretty lukewarm about birthdays. It’s part protection mechanism and part Jen’s Path to Becoming Practical and Realistic Jen. It’s always a good excuse for getting together with folks you like (everything is a good excuse to get together with folks you like), but otherwise, it’s fairly unremarkable for me.

As long as I get to spend tomorrow with my guy and my pup, I really cannot complain.