Birthday Photos!

A Cricket selfie! She's so very cuddly. It is said that most dogs don't like hugs. Most tolerate them for our benefit. But Cricket LOVES hugs!

And here is a Very Important Photo of Thistle eating an apple, with her snacky-crazy-eyes:

Last Sunday was my birthday, so on Friday I took the liberty of making a cheesecake. I figured there is nothing wrong with eating leftover cake on your birthday, right?

I had only ever made this recipe before with mango purée and lemon zest, my own modifications. But this time I followed the original recipe, which calls for applesauce, cinnamon, and a caramel and nut topping. I used walnuts:

Here is the recipe. Apparently I printed it out in the halcyon days of 2002, when recipes were on the internet in courier font and without Life Stories. It's actully the only cheesecake recipe I've ever used, and it's very good! The fruit (whichever you choose) lightens the cheese part, which I find too dense in conventional cheesecakes.

Look! My neice (almost 12) drew our dogs in my birthday card! Aren't these drawings great? Thistle, Cricket, and their little maltipoo. I think she did a particularly great job with the ears and eyes!

Fly lice for my birthday breakfast! I added lap cheong. We never had lap cheong when I was growing up. It originates in Southern China, and my mom's people from the North. San Francisco, where I grew up, has a big Cantonese population of immigrants from in and near Hong Kong.

I recently learned that Martin Yan is from Guangzhou, which is the same region. He must have felt very familiar with the food in San Francisco Chinatown. I also learned (all this via a Splendid Table podcast, which I listen to while doing my physical therapy exercises every Saturday morning) that Mr. Yan has a BS and MS degree in food science from UC Davis! It's funny how we tend to think that art is a "passion" that comes 100% from within, but it also requires training! I think a lot of artists are not given due credit for the hard work that developed their raw talent into sparkling brilliance. (Other examples--Toni Morrison has a BA in English and a Master's Degree in American literature, Click and Clack have engineering degrees from MIT, and as for Hollywood superstars that have degrees in drama, there are too many to name!)

After breakfast, we decided that it had been cold enough for long enough that the trail system behind our house, which is a watery swamp during summertime, would be frozen solid enough to walk, and it is! What fun!

Rosie Creek is frozen solid.

There are still overflowy parts on the trail, too. I walked around them, but I had also packed ice cleats just in case!

One single walker had been out before us, and it looked like this person was a bit taller than I, and had a single dog. There were also lots and lots of bunnies!

There is a part of our trail where one company had a license to log each summer, so each winter a new trail always needs to be established. We did NOT establish a new trail on this day. We just climbed over trees. I think we need a good snowfall before a good route can be chosen. The first person to break trail sets it for the year!

The top of the ridge only had a little bit of snow. I don't think I had ever been up there when that much ground and plant life were visible!

And our Old Friend is still standing guard in the pine forest:

For my birthday I made tomato-beef chow mein. My sister's and my favorite when we were kids!

Mmmm!

Well, dear readers, I am officially 44! Look at this lovely greeting that a dear friend emailed from New Brunswick! Isn't it beautiful?