The Big 29

Sorry for the long delay in posting. I suppose we can blame my advancing years for this one.

I don't know why we wait for the beginning of a new decade to call it big. Every birthday should be THE BIG______. I suppose birthdays are a good thing because it makes you take stock of your life thus far and decide what to do with the remainder of it--yes, the remainder is an acknowledgement that life is finite and the older we get the closer to the end we get, but it doesn't have to be a downer. It's a time to be more self-aware, be grateful for blessings, and, of course, eat cake. Which brings me to the highlight of my birthday this year.

I'm talking about 2 layers of luscious chocolate cake embedded with junior mints and mint chocolate wafer cookies lovingly wrapped around a thick layer of chocolate ice cream and completely drenched in my newest obsession: mint chocolate frosting from the Baking Illustrated cookbook. Mmmmmm. Mountains of chocolaty goodness.

With cake like this who wants to take time to look inward in search of one's hidden self or worry about all the things left to be accomplished? I say, dig in and be grateful for a wonderful husband who always takes birthday cake duties seriously.