Birthdays!

The start of February is always busy with birthdays in the Hansell house. Jon and I began the month with ice cream for breakfast. Because it is a holiday!  Mine was on a slice of Moose is Loose cinnamon bread and Jon put a cutie on vanilla ice cream, then drenched it all in chocolate sauce. He said it wasn't bad, but felt it might have been better with the oranges sliced up. Then, he went off to work and Steve helped me do chores at the house. 

I had to wait til Moses woke up in order to remake the bed! I had a busy, nice day and figured Moses could have a spot of comfort, too!

Daffs were visible everywhere in the yard! These are in back and looking splendid. The ones along the walk are pretty, too!

Moses was entirely interested in the halibut dinner I'd made. He was intent on getting Jon's attention..or his fish!

Sunday, we enjoyed our annual luncheon out between birthdays. Jon's ordered a sandwich made of two patties with ham and roast beef and bacon and cheese! He got the wrong fries, these were mine. We transferred them over to my plate and he got his own separate.

I had a chicken sandwich. With bacon! I only ate half of mine, I had the chicken part later. Jon left part of his fries, he had those warmed in the air fryer on his birthday!

I did pick up a pair of earrings at the restaurant. I like how they sparkle.

On Jon's birthday, I made chocolate moose muffins for him to take to work, he left them in his Bronco! 

 We had planned on pizza for dinner and Jon opted to go with me to get it. It had also started to snow, just like last year! I may not be privileged enough to get snow on my birthday, but Jon is! Jon decided on a festive only for him sort of pizza. The garlic chicken I bought slid in the oven, made a calzone and a mess, and then was spread back out after it was rescued. I was not happy-it was a rather convoluted kitchen day!!

 Jon's birthday cake was a recipe from a Martha Stewart cookbook that I will probably never use again. It was dense and delicious, but used more flour and sugar than I use normally. It also dropped like a rock and took hours to cool. He wanted a layer cake, so between the layers I spread home made Alaskan raspberry jelly with mini chocolate chips. It was delectable! Reminded me of one of those fancy chocolates in a box that have a burst of juice when you bite into them.

The curls were so easy to make. I got a chocolate bar from the cupboard and the tater peeler from the drawer and made shaved chocolate curls! They would have been larger if I had a thicker bar of chocolate.

26 candles does make a bit of a fire!!! I didn't want to spread them all over the top and make holes everywhere, so I grouped them together. Made them easy to blow out, too- 

 Jon staged his cake and ice cream. It looks good enough to eat and it was more than good enough!

So, another pair of birthdays is over. What does the next year hold? We'll take it day at a time and see what happens. 

A tale of two birthdays

I wanted a photo of the two of us, but the last picture like that is from Jon's visit to Alaska in September of 2017. So, I found this and figured it was just as good!!!! 

My birthday was Friday, Feb 1. Steve bought me my favorite flowers and they are looking absolutely GREAT in the kitchen window. Both he and Jon also got me Amazon gift cards, too. The cute noisy card is also from Steve, it has a high enough pitch in the singing meows that Maxwell can hear it! 

We went out for Jon's birthday on Saturday and then on his real birthday we got snow!!!! Moses and Maxwell were absolutely not impressed. I love their footprints, though! 

I had no real plan for Jon's birthday cake. I did know I wanted to make cupcakes and take them to  his work. Other than that, I wasn't sure. So, the snow inspired me to use these molds mum bought me ages past. They didn't work very well with the poppy seed chocolate chip mix I made up. 

 The regular cupcakes DID turn out ok. They, too, have the butter mix with added in bits.

I had envisioned a chocolate cake with white frosting and a chocolate sort of ganache over the top and the snowflake cupcakes on top of that. I even decided I'd pipe the lines on the snowflake cupcakes. It wasn't working. After a lot of powdered sugar and some tub frosting, I realised I had a bit of a mess on my hands and needed a new plan. 

 I finally decided to just marble the thing. It looked ok, tasted good, but it wasn't as spectacular as some of the other cakes I've made.Jon did say it looked like a zebra cake and he had some in his room I could have used.

I, thankfully, used letter candles the guys bought last year for a cookie cake they had bought and taken photos of for my birthday. (I didn't make a cake for me. I made a roast with bread, burned my finger on the gravy, and had a simple dessert! Chocolate pudding with whipped topping) I also didn't have 25, even adding the pink candles I had in the boxes still. So, I just stayed with letters. I must admit, I was a bit confused when I looked at this H. I thought it was backwards. Jon reminded me it is one of those ambidextrous letters! 

 Jon had asked for CS Lewis for his birthday, so that is what he was given. There were 9 books total. it should last him a while. He just finished a selection by Jack London, so Lewis is a good way to shake off those dark, cold stories.. We also had a few visitors, in spite of the almost 4 inches of fluffy powder. Larry and Suzanne, Dorothy, Beverly, Delbert, Kayla, Justin, and Mike L. came to celebrate!!

 The guys also started up the Jukebox, encouraging Larry and Suzanne to spin in their socks for a bar or two! I hadn't planned a 'party', but we had cake and ice cream and presents and music and dancing and so, I reckon it was!

This  month is full of so many good things, the difficult ones are there to add savor to the joy. May you find blessings all around!