The thing about birthdays is that everyone you encounter that day that either knows or hears it’s your birthday wants to shower you with good wishes and treats.  Having a weekend birthday coupled with your husband being gone makes for an entire weekend of flat out spoiling by almost everyone in your path, especially when they hear your husband is gone for the weekend.  Turns out your husband having an immovable work trip scheduled on your birthday is actually a key to weekend full of celebration.

I worked a most delightfully low key bridal luncheon Friday at the restaurant, where not only did my friend Mark make sure everyone knew it was my birthday (which may have been slightly inspired by the fact that I wrote it on every calendar and reservation book in the house), he fed me little treats throughout the day, most notably, his pumpkin panna cotta with apples foster.  Okay, I may have had two servings of that delightfully inspired dessert.

Before I left, Josh gave me a little something to help me celebrate – tequila! – as well as a box of cupcakes from Sweethaus.  I came home to discover Pat & Edie had gone to Pearl’s and gotten me a box of cupcakes too.  It would appear everyone around me was slightly aghast that I would even consider baking myself my own birthday treats.

With all those cupcakes sitting around, I most certainly did not bake this weekend.  Edie & Audrey did a taste test, pitting the two cupcake shops on Main Street against each other and declared Pearl’s the winner.  They cited more of a  balance between butter and sugar in the frosting and well as a more perfect ratio of cake to frosting in their criteria for victory.

Do other 11 year olds note these things or just the ones that have had to taste test all my recipes over the years?

Just after the dinner hour Friday evening was when my girlfriends started streaming in.  Friends old & new popped in & out all evening long, coming by to have a glass of wine (or three) to help me celebrate and avoid sitting home alone on a Friday.   I had told them no gifts but they could feel free to bring wine, which they did, as well as homebrew.  There will most certainly be at least one Wines (and beer) I Drank Birthday Edition post to come.

I was given lots of lovely sweet treats – including these Chocolate Toffee Pistachios from Feast!.  You are definitely going to want to get your own bag. They are delightful.

Edie noted I received quite a bit of good, dark chocolate for my birthday as well.  Bless her heart, she insisted I try some for breakfast Sunday morning.

As a most welcome counterpoint to all the sweet, Dahlia brought me a bowl of her Cholent – which does not photograph well, so you’ll have to trust me that when you come to the realization that you no longer can eat gobs of buttercream frosting like you used to, it’s good to have a nice, warm, savory bowl of cholent to soothe you while you stare at boxes of cupcakes.  Good thing 11 year old girls and their friends can still eat gobs of buttercream.

The entire weekend was topped off Sunday night with a date with my favorite guy to see my favorite singer – Neko Case.  All in all, it was an absolutely delightful birthday weekend, with lots of treats and wishes making a girl feel awfully special.  Thank you to so many of you for your kind words on the significance of this birthday for me.  I’d been walking around contemplating this year for some time and hearing from so many how it’s sort of common to be thrown for a loop when you reach the age your parents were when they passed away, especially when they were young – it’s as comforting as a bowl of cholent on a chilly day.