A year older...

Here I am the day after my birthday, a year older, a year wiser....eh, who am I kidding I'm the same. Nothing has changed.

BUT! I had a stupendous birthday! It's so fun being overwhelmed with birthday wishes via phone, text, ecards, and through actual human interaction. There's so many ways to wish someone happy birthday these days! A superb friend, Sarah visited at work over lunch and brought me a schmorgasboard of goodies from Chocolatea. I have blogged about this Charles Village dessert cafe before, but have yet to go. The hot chocolate was phenomenal with a touch of chipotle pepper adding some heat on the way down, several truffles that were immediately devoured AND the proverbial "icing on the cake" was a pastry and baking cook book from San Fransisco Bakery, Tartine. SOOOO excited to start baking! Brioches, galletes, and tarts galore! And I love the Sarah's personal touch on the inside cover- " Life is Short, Eat Dessert First!" This was certainly the anecdote of the day...

I had a lovely visit with some long lost childhood friends...once they found their way and got un-lost... here's Elana molesting my basset. tee hee.

For dinner, Ross and I waffled between a sundry of fancy restaurant options but sprung for Tapas at Tapas Teatro in Mt Vernon. Haven't been there in quite some time and the charm was certainly still there. Portions seemed to have evolved from the "small plate" tapas mentality to legit courses. Where normally Ross and I can split a total of 6 different tapas, I could barely get past two! Everything was lovely and very salty! I like salt so a little extra sea salt is right up my alley. Specials we sampled included asparagus soup, cod fritters, and a lamb shoulder with a tangy sauce adding some extra spunk served on rice. Dessert came later...

A quick trip across town and we made it just before closing to Vaccaro's in Little Italy. We figured we would just get our sugar fest to go which was a good idea because I would have been way embarassed to eat as much as I did in public. Cappucino, a collection of italian biscotti and baked goods, and a hefty portion of tiramisu. Oh and of course we had to try the gelato, Ross settled on a pint of mint chocolate chip. Wow, I'm getting nauseous just typing about it.

Needless to say, this morning was rough...Birthday success.