Birthday Bites

As some of you may know, yesterday was my birthday. Kind soul that she is, the Spoonstress made sure it was filled with fun, food and fun food.

I awoke to the spoils of a Foster's Market run. Our special birthday plate held a chocolate chip scone, a slice of apple bread and a slice of pumpkin gingerbread, which the Spoonstress admitted she couldn't resist after my the pumpkin rant in my last column. Served on our special birthday plate, it looked something like the picture above.

To wash it all down, there was a steaming cuppa joe and a yummy blueberry banana juice thingy. Topping it all off, a new discsang from the CD player (remember those, you iPodders?).

Throughout the day, the Spoonstress kept e-mailing me with the location of hidden treats. My favorite store-bought cookie, Foster's Chocolate Whoppers, was in a cupboard. A serial saver, I promptly ate half, leaving the rest for today. Sigh.

Then, the Spoonstress alerted me that my favorite candies--raspberry and blackberry gumdrops--were inches away in a desk drawer. Sneaky.

I've always liked these berries, perhaps because they remind me of past checkers glory. Yet, I've never been clear on what to call them. Some ignore the blackberry factor altogether.

That may make sense because there doesn't seem to be much attention given to the blackberry flavor. The only taste distinction is that the black ones aren't as sweet as the red.

Smoke before fire. Works in both checkers and candy.

Crepefast

Today marked the first day of the Spoonstress' mini vacation. She's now officially between jobs and loving it. At least I'm pretty sure she is, given that she got to sleep until 9 and is currently reading while patting the Spooch.

Earlier, I said we should go out for breakfast to celebrate. But she had a better idea: making crepes! The Spoonstress is a veteran crepe-maker and I'm fast becoming a crepe fan.

After whipping together a simple dough--she used an online recipe--the Spoonstress was a Francophile force. The crepes came fast and furious.

We had a variety of fillings for our sweet crepes: pear wedges, banana slices, cinnamon and sugar, chocolate bits and nectarine jam. My favorite combo, surprisingly, was nectarine jam and banana.

Sorry I was too busy scarfing the crepes down to take pictures (no, that's not mine up top). In hindsight, all that nectarine jam made the meal a bit sticky for my good ol' Rebel XT, anyway.

Then again, maybe I'll get another chance--we may have crepes for lunch. Life's pretty good with the Spoonstress home all day. If this continues, we may have to upgrade from frying pan to full-on crepe apparatus.