Birthday Recounting

Pull up a chair while I recount the past week or so in which I have been unable/unwilling to update.

My birthday. An ungodly hot Thursday, the 28th of June. It began with multiple wakeup calls from my mother. She sweetly sang Happy Birthday to me, which would have been adorable at 10, but was downright infuriating at 6am when I finally answered the phone. I spent the first hour or so of my day fuming in bed as I tried to get back to sleep. I finally gave up and got moving.

Determined to get back on track, I went for a morning massage (gifted by my generous sister), followed by brunch with Joe, Monique and Becky at Nookies, an upscale eatery in Edgewater that I've been meaning to try. Lovely spot, good coffee, average chilaquiles. My favorite meal of the day with three of my favorite people. The stuff of birthday dreams.

Party Animals. 

After brunch, Becky dropped me off at work for a few hours. The twins had been talking about my birthday for weeks, but seemed unimpressed by the lowly birthday hats, sparkler candles and rice crispy treats I had provided. Look, dudes, if you want a swinging party, then you'd better contribute more than construction paper birthday cards with puff balls. Though they did add sparkly stickers. That was a nice touch.






After work, I went home to get ready for birthday drinks. I took my time getting dolled up (if not on your birthday, then when?). Joe said I looked beautiful. Then he made me take a few pictures of him. We headed to The Long Room, a dark and moody bar nearby that lets you bring your own food. We had packed an array of my favorite snacks to share: dolma, dubliner cheese, chocolate-covered bacon, homemade lemon-coconut bars. It was a lovely night of friends stopping by to celebrate and play a round of Cards Against Humanity.

Later at home, however, I found myself feeling a little...well...melancholy. I hate to be that guy, but I couldn't shake it, and I felt like a brat after all the sweetness my loved ones had showed me. I'd like to blame my sour mood on my rude awakening, but surely that can't be it. It's not that I resent getting older. After all, age is just a count of the number of times the earth has circled the sun since you were born. Few other astronomical occurrences get me down. Yet I felt decidedly weepy all day, despite the good times had by all. Is it all the expectations attached to such a day? What am I, seven years old again? My mom gets the birthday blues. She also manages to get Flag Day blues and Mexican Independence Day blues, so maybe that's a different story. But I did feel a little more sympathetic after my own inability to enjoy an otherwise perfect day. Whatever the reason, I sure hope this isn't the beginning of a new birthday tradition.

Brunching

Featured in TimeOut Chicago! 

Yesterday began with a lovely brunch with my sister and some friends.

This is my sister.

Ok, that is her alter ego Monica Barcelona. She is performing at
the Chicago Women's Funny Festival
on June 10th at Stage 773.
It will be good. You should go.

The twins. 

Brunch was yummy, as were the bloody marys. Our friends brought their darling two-year-old who is very good at the Spiderman theme song. Kids are the best. I take care of the most amazing three-year-old twins a couple days a week. The other day, one described to me how orange juice is made by squeezing potatoes. "Hmm, I hadn't heard that," I replied.

"Oh, it's just an expression."

Oh, right, THAT expression.

Mango Salsa-ing

We made this yummy recipe served with El Milagro Chips for brunch yesterday. We added tomato and the optional avocado, and used my homegrown cilantro. It was taaasty. I think it would be even better after the flavors are left to blend overnight. I can't say for sure because we devoured it immediately.

Joe insisted that we flavor it with our "dinosaur salt" (or Himalayan salt, as real grown ups call it). We refer to it as such because it pre-dates the dinosaurs. It is mined by hand and is supposedly purer than other salts. We got it at a Christmas party, we don't actually buy into it, but the idea of eating ancient minerals is appealing. Also it is pretty and pink.