Happy Birthday to me!

Hi everyone! Thanks for the kind comments on my quarter-life crisis. I'm feeling a whole lot better with the help of some booze *haha* but I can't be sad on my birthday weekend, can I? Anyway, I find it to be rather impressive that I've been on this Earth for 25 years now. 25 years is a long time in human years but is a mere insignificant blip in the timeline of humankind. So what have I done in the quarter century that I've spent alive?

I have amassed a lot of "useless" knowledge about cooking and baking. I say "useless" only because I'm no pro chef or baker and the knowledge is going to be utilized only for my own pleasure (and the pleasure of the guinea pigs who I feed my concoctions to). I suppose bringing pleasure/joy to the stomachs and taste buds of people isn't THAT "useless". For example, if you're making pretzels from scratch at home, it's imperative to soak the shaped pretzel in a basic bath. Usually some baking soda in water suffices but the hard cores can buy lye (a caustic base that is an ingredient in drain cleaners) at a hardware store instead. The base breaks up the gluten on the surface of the pretzels and pre-cooks them, allowing them to caramelize beautifully in the oven. And how on Earth do I know this? I've made pretzels at home with and without baking soda (yea, I know I'm a geek at heart) and Google happens to be my best online pal. But no, I did not use lye. I'm not THAT crazy.

I have maintained a great relationship with my sister, which I'm oh-so thankful for! Seriously, I cannot imagine life without my sister! I mean, have you met my parents?!? Don't get me wrong, I love my parents to pieces but like a lot of parents, they can get really kooky and they know how to push our buttons without even knowing it! Anyway, my sister is a really awesome sister because besides being a great fellow symapthizer, she's a wonderful friend who listens and is always non-judgmental.

I have fallen in and out of love ... maybe a tad too much. Each time I've learned a lot about myself and I have a better idea of what I want in a life partner. I suppose it's rather greedy of me to want a passionate love affair that at the same time has some stability and peace, but that would be ideal.

My birthday wish?

I would hope that I have made the world a teeny weeny bit better by my being in it. I also hope that I have made some people a teeny weeny bit happier by my presence in their world.

Oh, and an ice cream cake would be divine!