Day After My 41st Birthday

I turned 41 yesterday. It was a quiet day which included phone calls from my family wishing me a happy birthday. Gunther had to work and I wanted to have lunch with him so I packed us all up some lunches and the girls and I spent the day in the office boardroom while G worked in his office. Then we hit the library, Harvey's (my birthday tradition) and Loblaws. I love shopping at Loblaws and bought some great ingredients for recipes from the Looney Spoons Compilation cook book I bought myself for Christmas.

I'm excited to have so many wonderful flavourful foods in the house: fresh mint, cilantro, lime, lemon, fresh parsley, cherries, watermelon, etc. Over 80% of my cart was produce which just goes to show how empty my fridge was! We were down to a handful of apples and some cooking onions. Today I'm excited to make spring rolls and a ginger/orange pork stir fry with quinoa. Not sure if the girls will eat the quinoa (at least not without complaining) but it's time to take this family's health back in hand so they're going to get some with or without complaints!

I spent a lovely holiday with my family before my birthday and enjoyed much good food, good company and good port. I'm not generally a booze fan but this stuff is lovely. So good in fact that I plumb forgot about my annual glass of plum brandy. That's big people. My sister Carolyne's plum brandy is to die for!

I'll be going "home" again in February for a big Leap Year celebration. My sisters, who are foodies, put on a big 10 course meal on February 29th every 4 years because it's an extra day and extra days are to be celebrated. This will be the first year I'll be able to attend and I'm sooo excited to eat all the good food and enjoy the great company.

The girls will be home for the next week and a half. They got so spoiled over Christmas that I'm sure they'll have plenty to keep them occupied. I'm trying to spend more time in the real world and less online so I'm hoping that this new year will bring some interesting changes. I started by writing a real letter to my sister Marie. It wasn't long, but it was in ink and on paper and I even mailed it with a stamp and everything. Can't remember the last time I did that! I hope I do it again. I miss her and I adore her so I really do need to take the time to reach out to her more often.

Anyhow, that's some of what's going on in my life. I'm sure if you read this you've likely heard it all before from my FB updates. Still, it's probably a good idea for me to start writing here again -- might actually get those creative juices flowing again.

Be well,

Julie