birthday

I had a great birthday, y'all. Thursday was the actual day, and Georg and I went to Nana's for dinner. I'd never been there before. It was great! We had a fabulous raw tuna appetizer, then for the main course I had duck and Georg had rack of lamb. The duck was "poached in olive oil" which made it very tender. I guess that preparation is sort of like confit? Anyway they had gone to the trouble of trimming off the fat, which I greatly appreciated. Most restaurants don't do that. It was served with roasted root vegetables and chestnut/duck ravioli. I never had duck with a side of duck before.

The desserts were equally wonderful. We shared blood orange ice cream (tasted a lot like a creamsicle, only less sweet) and triple chocolate Boston cream pie. I'm a little embarrassed to admit that I didn't know what Boston cream pie was. The only thing I'd ever eaten before by that name are the Boston cream donuts from Dunkin Donuts. So I was expecting a chocolate cream pie. Actually it was an incredibly rich chocolate cake, with chocolate cream in the middle, and instead of frosting, chocolate sauce poured on top. Wow! It was amazing, and very very rich.

Yesterday I was hoping to get some sewing done. I had this outfit picked out to make for my birthday, but was too busy last week to get it done. It has some nice details like underlining, bound buttonholes and piping at the collar and cuffs, so it's taking a lot longer than a typical outfit. But I at least wanted to have some time to sew as my birthday present to myself.

But I ended up having a lot of work to do, so that had to wait. At least I had some time in late afternoon to clean up for the little party Georg threw for me. Nothing fancy, just a few friends. It was fun! At least, I had a great time. My friend David gave me a spectacular painting that he did just for me! On Christa's suggestion we're going to hang it over the mantel and move the piece that's there now.

There was only one mishap -- a glass of red wine spilled on the tablecloth -- but we washed it right away and it's barely noticeable. We're going to try a miracle treatment I read about online (Dawn dish soap mixed with hydrogen peroxide) to see if we can get it the rest of the way out. And the best part is, Georg did all the dishes after the party! What a guy.

Lina had the time of her life. She seemed to think that everyone was here for no other reason than to pay attention to her. Thirteen was terrified, of course, but she was pretty brave about the whole thing. When the door closed on the last guest, Thirteen sighed heavily like she could relax for the first time all night, and went to sleep. Lina collapsed about ten minutes later and is still sleeping it off. We've been protecting her from any excitement for so long, it was really nice for her to have so much fun.

Now I have Stoneline. Wish I could stay home in my PJs! But those taxes have got to be done.