This past week, I attended two very different celebrations.
On Thursday, one of my supervisors at work had a retirement party to celebrate the end of 16 years at our organization and the 40 years (or so) of her nursing career. I can't imagine working in one place for so long, or all the changes in the nursing profession she must have seen over the years. As far as the party goes, I find large group gatherings a bit overwhelming, and tend to be a wallflower at them. I also am prone to overeating at parties out of nervousness. Since the party was hosted by our unit, the food was supplied by our staff and I have never seen so much Indian food (oh, the heaps of pakoras!) or so many crispy Filipino egg rolls! For me personally, the star of the buffet was the mango cake with mango cream frosting. It was light and fluffy, intensely flavored and fragranced with mangoes, and the whipped frosting could just as easily be eaten as a trifle with fresh fruit as on a cake. I am now on a quest to duplicate that cake, and I think I'm going to start by making the cake recipe I found for Eggless Mango Cake, as the cake itself is vegan, and perhaps make a simple frosting by whipping coconut cream with a bit of powdered sugar, Ener-G egg substitute (a starchy, gluten-free powder), and some fresh mango puree. Results to follow in a (delicious) later post.
The second celebration was much more personal--my roommate had a birthday this week! Suzi had already received her two big presents from me--a ticket to a concert in Austin last weekend and part of the price of the duvet cover that my father gifted her as a housewarming present. But to celebrate on her actual birthday, the two of us went out to eat at a fancy restaurant that she had a gift card for, and though the service we received was subpar compared to the prices, the food was decent, and they had a live jazz band and dancing on the patio where we were seated. It was much more relaxed for me than the party earlier in the week. And so fun! By the time we finished our salad, crusty French bread and butter, and shared (huge) entree, we sadly had no more room for dessert, let alone birthday cake. But there was still the fun of seeing Suzi's face when I gave her one last birthday gift--a giraffe print mug with a tiny ceramic giraffe sitting on the inside. Happy birthday, Suzi!
Since Friday night's dinner out, I haven't left the house. I woke up Saturday with a sinus headache, took some medicine that knocked me out, and spent the day napping on and off. My dear roommate was so kind as to get us pizza for dinner Saturday night, and to pick up The Hobbit on dvd, which we followed with the first Lord of the Rings movie. And today, we are continuing our Tolkien marathon with the second and third movies in the Lord of the Rings trilogy, with brief breaks to make breakfast tacos, brew hot tea, and to get ice cream. While Suzi ran to the store for ice cream, I did get off my butt and make two kinds of pesto to eat with brown rice pasta this week--a charred tomato pesto and a fresh arugula pesto, both with raw macadamia nuts. And tonight I will have to study and take a test for my online class. I feel some regret for the to-do list I never got around to, but I love a lazy weekend!
How did you spend your weekend?
--Kelli
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