Happy Birthday Andrew!!

Yay! This post is mostly about Andrew (and food) because today is his BIRTHDAY!! Wahoo! It's been fun celebrating him. I often think that your Birthday Eve is much better than your birthday night (kinda like Christmas Eve vs. Christmas night). Anyway, here's what we've been up to:

I know guys really aren't into flowers. But I am. Life is more festive with flowers.

Ok, Andrew is the healthiest eater I know. During his bachelor days this is what he would eat every night for dinner: a spinach salad with carrots, a sweet potato from the microwave (eaten plain), peas and boiled noodles. Well I cannot take such monotony in my cuisine, so the only thing that continues on is the spinach salad. At first I thought it was weird but now it's a staple. See below.

The easiest decoration EVER. I found them on here and they make me so happy hanging from our chandelier. It feels quite festive in our little apartment. (Oh, note the curtains I recently made!)

Balloons hanging from the light fixtures are not uncommon when it's your birthday.

Since Andrew lived in Japan (and is fluent in Japanese and totally throws me off when his friends call him and I have no idea what they're saying) he often requests an Asian fare for dinner. I thought his Birthday Eve would be the perfect night to whip something up. I was recently reading through a cookbook (am I the only newlywed that does this?!) when I found a recipe for Japanese Stuffed Peppers in this cookbook. Well I went all over the Queen City yesterday looking for dark sesame oil, straw mushrooms and dry sherry among a long list of ingredients.

This feels like a really intense picture of me but maybe I was super excited because 1. I don't usually like mushrooms, but I really liked this dish; 2. I finally made a Japanese something for Andrew; and 3. IT'S ANDREW's BIRTHDAY EVE!!

Beer. Of course.

Since we're having a dinner party with two couples on Friday and I'm going to make a surprise cake for Andrew then, I thought he still needed to blow out candles. So I made a chocolate chip cookie cake from this recipe. I loved how petite it is. I put just a little in a 9 inch cake pan (froze the rest) and iced it. Voila. I sent him to work with the rest of it. It will be a perfect snack for all after he gets the Panda Bear Singing Telegram I had sent to his office. ;) That would be so funny!

Wow, what a guy to put up with my cheese. After I made him a breakfast of blueberry ebelskiver pancakes I then had to take a picture of him leaving for work on his birthday, complete with a birthday balloon. I originally had the balloon on our front door for when he came home from work yesterday. However he reminded me that we wouldn't want to give our neighbors the wrong impression. Good thinking.

Happy Birthday my love!!