I don't remember the last time I was with the Deke on my birthday. From looking at my blog posts, I'd say it was 2011, but I didn't post anything for 12/27/2011, but I know we were together for Christmas two days earlier.
So, this morning, we started off my birthday by working out at the Wellness Center, happy that we are upright, have a pulse, and can move our legs and lift some weights.
2. We had some packages come from Amazon, including an Echo Dot. I got it set up to work on its own, but could not get it to connect wirelessly via Bluetooth to the Bose Soundtouch 10 speaker. I'll read support forums and seek out other help and work on this more on Thursday.
The Deke and I went grocery shopping at Yoke's where I also ordered a prime rib for New Year's Eve dinner.
After shopping, we stopped in at Radio Brewing for some Inner Sanctum Strong Ale and a bowl of heavenly, perfectly spiced, creamy mulligatawny soup, a perfect soup to warm up our insides on this snowy, cold afternoon.
I've made mulligatawny soup several times and, back in the really old days, I used to enjoy the occasional bowl at Bagel Bakery, prepared by the lovely woman from England who owned the place with her husband. Neither my mulligatawny nor the Bagel Bakery's was dairy-based. Radio Brewing's mulligatawny had the velvety texture of a fine cream of mushroom soup, a welcome surprise, and finishing my bowl left me warmed, but longing for a refill.
Because it was my birthday, I got to split a creme brulee on the house. Oh, my! That crispy nearly burnt sugar layer atop the vanilla-y egg and cream custard underneath satisfied my never ending craving for brown sugar and vanilla, whether in oatmeal, cookies, or, as today, this creme brulee.
Eating this dessert transported me back to October 17, 2011. I did some beer shopping at Market of Choice. I was just beginning my dive into craft beer and I bought and drank a bomber of Southern Tier's Creme Brulee Stout. This beer is not readily available in the Silver Valley, but I hope I can find it again somewhere in the Inland Empire over the next few months to enjoy as a dessert beer at just the right time. It's a flavor-bomb of custard and brown sugar and vanilla brewed in an Imperial Stout, packing a 10% a.b.v. punch -- you gotta be careful drinkin' this one -- its sweet imperial booziness carries a wallop.
3. I decided that for my birthday dinner that I wanted two things: cornbread and cinnamon. So, knowing that we didn't eat a lot of the Deke's Cuban black bean soup on Christmas Eve and knowing that it would taste perfect with cornbread, I asked the Deke to serve the soup again. She added spinach and sausage to the soup, improving it -- I didn't think that was possible. To compliment the soup, she baked perfect cornbead muffins using Bob's Red Mill cornmeal and whole wheat flour so that were just the way I like them: grainy, a little bit heavy, and full of good corn flavor. I also asked the Deke, who makes awesome salads, to concoct one of her masterpieces for dinner and to work apples into the salad. She did. The salad rocked.
Now how about my request for cinnamon?
Wow!
Christy baked and iced a moist, buttery, sweet and cinnamon-y cinnamon cake. It was such a work of culinary art, so far beyond my meager abilities in the kitchen, that I don't have the proper vocabulary to describe all that Christy did to bring this magnificent cake into being. I can report that I agreed with the Deke when she gushed that it tasted like wedding cake combined with cinnamon rolls. I am really happy that our party of ten didn't eat the entire cake. I look forward to more on Thursday -- possibly with a cup of hot coffee.
My words might fall short, but what I can do is show a picture of my birthday cake and invite you to let the taste buds of your imagination go wild! Oh! You can find the recipe right here.
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