Birthday Reflections

This was a good birthday.

We went for a drive as a family (to use my wife's treasured phrase) down to Lancaster, where we ate lunch at a decent restaurant and then went to a museum of Amish culture that was right across the street, and which was surprisingly good. I would never have expected to see a quilt with the theme of Richard Nixon's resignation, or one about Bill Clinton with, among other things, a McDonalds and the phrase "I never inhaled". Monica was not there.

This evening, we had spaghetti along with those Sicilian Meatballs I made a few days ago, and we had the tiramisu, which wasn't at all bad. I'd like to learn how to make decent chocolate shavings -- which plays right into my birthday gift, a copy of Amendola's Understanding Baking. I was delighted, and started leafing through it again on the way back. My daughter reminded me that I promised to make challah again, and as I have another hunk of dough in the freezer, that should be pretty simple.

So, I'm pleased. No surprise deliveries from Circuit City, but hey, there's always next year.