Today I hit the big 50. Holy moly how did that happen? 2024 is definitely going to be a year of big things, one that kicks off with this birthday, reaching the 13 year mark next week since my love and I first met, and continuing on with our 10th wedding anniversary in late Spring...and who knows where the rest of the year will lead!
To celebrate, my husband went all out to make the day special, starting out with snagging some super cool retro vibe "coupe" glasses and making Horsefeather cocktails the evening prior, making truly amazing Croissant French Toast for my bday brekkie, and after a trip to the nursery to buy a few plants for the garden, a delicious charcuterie board he put together for lunch with my favorite wine (valpolicella). I also got treated to a spa day at home complete with a long luxurious massage and a gorgeous antique locket I'd been lusting after on Etsy :)
While I didn't photograph it, I then got treated to my favorite dinner - homemade spaghetti carbonara made with my husband's fresh-made pasta, followed by a homemade ice cream cake. The latter was a creation of mine - I'd always wanted one for my birthday and decided to combine several recipes to make a unique version (I even drew a picture so I could remember how I wanted to do it):
The ice cream was actually made from two layers of my favorite homemade vegan banana 'ice cream' (a total of 8 organic bananas, blended with organic cocoa and my homemade vanilla extract, then frozen) that I stirred organic chocolate chips into one layer and peanut butter to the other - my two favorite kinds of real ice cream, at a fraction of the calories and way, way less processed.
The fillings were inspired by three different recipes, but modified to be a bit healthier:
the base I made from a peanut graham cracker combo, riffing from a recipe on Also The Crumbs Please (subbing vegan butter and unsalted peanuts)
the middle was the sweetest bit - a thin layer of crushed chocolate covered oreos (easy-peasy, just toss 10 or 12 into the food processor with a tidbit of melted coconut oil
the top layer was a chocolate peanut butter ganache inspired by Lovely Little Kitchen (subbing goat milk for cream, organic granola for rice krispies, and using locally made Theo's organic extra bittersweet chocolate).
Even with the healthier ingredients than those processed fast food dessert cakes, it was still super sweet from the banana base and obviously sweeter fillings, and VERY filling! Altogether a totally rad birthday, from the kitchen to the garden to the big love and the effort that my husband put into making my half-century mark a beautiful one.
It's SO my year, y'all. Bring it.
1999 to 2024...quite a difference!
"The face you have at age twenty-five is the face God gave you, but the face you have after fifty is the face you earned." ~ Cindy Crawford
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