43 Meatballs! (Spaghetti Night, Recipes, Cookies and my Jack)

I spent the afternoon in the kitchen yesterday. I had a pork tenderloin thawed but didn't feel like doing the usual meal of pork tenderloin with green beans. So instead, I pulled out my trusty meat grinder and decided on meatballs. One 1.5 pound tenderloin produced 43 meatballs, about the size if you put your index finger tip on the tip of your thumb, circle-wise! I LOVE the website Simply Recipes and I use a lot of Elise's recipes with a few tweaks. I use her recipe for Italian Meatballs. The only difference is that I only use pork (so I can eat them too) and I use more breadcrumbs to keep them together.

I love making my own food from scratch! The meatballs call for ricotta cheese so I did that first thing in the morning so it would have enough time to set for the recipe. I've experimented a lot with ricotta. I've found a good method:

Ricotta Cheese (makes about 1 cup)

1. Over medium heat, whisking often, heat 1 liter (4 cups) of 2% milk to 200F. (most recipes call for cream, but the way I make it, I can get away with 2%, skim doesn't work for me!)

2. Take pot off the burner and add 1/2 tsp salt (this is optional) and 1/4 cup lemon juice.

3. Stir slightly and let sit partially covered 10-15 minutes.

4. Pour through a sifter lined with cheesecloth and let it sit a few hours.

I'm keeping all of the leftover whey in old yogurt containers in the freezer for the garden. Since I used lemon juice, the whey is acidic so I have to keep that in mind when I'm using it as a fertilizer! No waste!!!

Since it was a spaghetti night, I also made a slow cooked tomato sauce. I use Elise's Basic Tomato Sauce recipe, but I add a tsp of brown sugar and a bay leaf. Also I put mine in the slow cooker for 5 hours on low with half the browned meatballs. The other half went into a 400 degree oven for 20 minutes and are now in the freezer for the next spaghetti night!

We take out the meatballs at the last minute to blend up the sauce and it's so yummy! If we don't have meatballs, I usually add some ground up and browned top sirloin to the sauce for my boyfriend.

One of our favourite cookies is Cherry Icebox Cookies. My boyfriend had a similar upbringing as I did and his childhood memories are best forgotten. But, he keeps fond memories of being at his grandmother's house. She cooked a lot for him! Every time he has a good memory of something she made, I try to make something similar. But she was the type of woman who had all of her recipes in her head, so nothing was written down. The spaghetti sauce is one of them that he says is perfectly like hers (yay!). These cookies are another one. I usually make them only around Christmas so we don't get tired of them, but since it snowed yesterday we felt it was okay to eat them again ;)

Plus I still have a bunch of containers of candied cherries that were on sale last November.

Cherry Icebox Cookies
(makes about 4 dozen thin cookies)

Ingredients:

1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/2 large egg at room temperature (it's half because I halved this recipe years ago)
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/8 tsp salt
1 1/3 all-purpose flour
2/3 cup of candied cherries

Directions:
1. Beat sugar and butter until creamy. Add egg and vanilla.
2. Mix in baking powder and salt.
3. Sift in flour.
4. At this point I put on the gloves and use my hands. I break apart the cherries and mix it all together, to form a log.
5. Place the log in wax paper, wrap and refrigerate minimum 3 hours.
6. Heat oven to 375.
7. Here is where things get hairy. We LOVE our cookies thin and very well cooked so I cut them really thin and cook them 8 minutes on one side, flip then 7 minutes on the other. If you make the recommended 2 dozen, I think it's 5 minutes per side, but don't quote me!

All six pets LOVE those cookies. If they hear the tin opening they come barreling into the kitchen. It's funny to see a cat biting down on a big cookie. We have to be careful to let them have snacks in moderation though, not only for health reasons, but we don't want them getting fat! Speaking of fat...

I wrote a little story about Charlie and Marlene, so it's Jack's turn. He's my heart, really. We got him a year and a half ago, our second dog together. Look at that bootie!!! He weighed 52 pounds when we got him. As you can see in the previous photo, he lost weight. With proper food and exercise, he's now a healthy 28 pounds, where he should be. (Why can't I be as disciplined????)

I call these two the "twins" because they're joined at the hip. Jack was left at the shelter with the excuse that nobody had time to walk him. He was 9 years old and abandoned. It broke my heart. I wanted him! :) So we adopted him and found out pretty quickly that his problems were more than just weight. He was both fear aggressive and also possessive aggressive (meaning if he had a toy/bone, he'd bite you before letting go of it). He did bite both my boyfriend and I a few times because he was so scared, his pupils would dilate, his tail went between his legs and his body got rigid. And the growling...we weren't used to it but refused to give up on him, we really felt he needed us to show him love and trust.

My boyfriend was attacked by a dog when he was younger and he actually was frustrated with himself because he didn't know how to treat Jack. I think a natural reaction to a dog biting you is both fear and you want to punish and dominate the dog so it won't happen again. But not with Jack because it made him worse. With the huskies, you just need to give Marlene a stern look and she knows she did something wrong; with Charlie we give her a quick correction with the collar and make her lie down because she's very VERY STUBBORN lol...We took a different approach to correcting Jack though. All patience and love...lots of calm "No"'s on our parts and lots of reassurance every time he took one itty bitty step forward (we often had to reassure each other too!). It was very challenging. I read a lot online about aggression in dogs and how to help. It took him about a year to "drop" the ball when we asked him. He still growls but he won't bite us. He'll drop his bone willingly now if we "trade up" with a Pupperoni. When we play with him he shows his teeth and growls, but it's not aggressive anymore. I'm so proud of us that we convinced Jack he could trust us and we love him to bits! My boyfriend gives him "kisses" now as Jack is growling and showing his teeth and when he does that Jack wags his tail and licks his face back...it's a great show of trust between them! Who knows the history of shelter pets...but now he's ours and we take amazing care of him. People give up on animals way too easily but with dedication, you build a wonderful bond, he never leaves my side. He's definitely a mamma's boy! He's happy :)

Anyway, the weather is back where it should be -17C this morning, Jack has to wear his little homemade boots or he won't go outside!

One last recipe! Kristina asked me for my Apricot Glaze recipe. This comes from the Williams Sonoma Grilling book. I took a photo of the picture in the cookbook because I have yet to make this, it's on the meal plan for March or April!

Apricot-Brandy Glaze for Pork:

Ingredients:

1/2 cup apricot jam
2 tbsp apricot brandy or brandy
1 tbsp dry mustard
Juice of 1 lemon (or 2 tbsp)

Directions:

1. Heat the apricot jam in a small saucepan over low heat.
2. Add the brandy, mustard and lemon juice.
3. Stir and set aside to let all the flavours combine.
4. Just before using, heat on medium heat, whisking constantly until it simmers. Brush or pour onto pork and reheat the pork in the oven for a few minutes to set the glaze.

This recipe also provided a spice rub for the pork, which I'm going to use so I'll include it as well:

Spice Rub for Pork:

1 tbsp sweet paprika
1 tbsp garlic powder
1 tbsp dried thyme
1.5 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper

Enjoy!! And thanks for reading! :)

Onion Soup and Pretzels

Here is my French onion soup as promised! I found these soup bowls at a bazaar a few years back, I love them! It's a nice easy meal to make and to eat.

French Onion Soup

(makes about 4 servings)

Ingredients

2 tbsp butter or olive oil

8 large onions sliced

1/4 tsp brown sugar

2 cloves minced garlic

8 cups chicken or beef broth (we use chicken)

1/2 cup white wine

1 bay leaf

1/4 tsp dried thyme (I use the mortar and pestle because I find the dried thyme produces hard little bits sometimes)

S&P

Bread slices and Gruyere cheese for melting

Directions

1. In a large pot over medium heat, warm up the butter/olive oil and add the onions, stirring often until they wilt, about 15 minutes.

2. Turn down the heat to medium low and add the sugar. Caramelize the onions to a nice brown colour, between 30-45 minutes.

3. Add the garlic and sauté for a minute.

4. Add stock, wine, bay leaf and thyme.

5. Cover partially and simmer about 30 minutes. Don't forget to remove the bay leaf. (I always forget)

6. If you have flameproof bowls, add a piece of bread or baguette and top with cheese to melt under the broiler.

The original recipe (from Soup by Williams Sonoma) called for leeks as well, but the first time I made it, we really tasted the bitterness of the leeks, it ruined the soup for us. But if you're feeling risky, it's 4 large onions and 4 leeks.

Since it was raining all day yesterday, and I got tired of looking through my cookbooks, I was dreaming about baking. We LOVE these pretzels! They never last more than a few days and with mustard...a triumph! :) I thought I'd post my recipe.

One of the series we watched online was Alton Brown's Good Eats. That was a great show and we learned a lot about cooking techniques. I use his recipe for Homemade Soft Pretzels, except I find they need more time in our oven, so I cook them 18 minutes (he recommends 12-14). I use foil and parchment paper a lot because we have old pans that we don't necessarily want to cook our baked goods on. IF you use foil, GREASE IT...those pretzels STICK like crazy and the first time I made them I had to rip them off the foil! Also he lists "pretzel salt" to top them off with, but I never found such a thing here, so I used Kosher salt.

So the party is over, winter is back and it's snowing today! I have a list of baking I want to do and I have my shopping list to finish. I hope everyone has a nice day!

February Weather Lore and Breakfast For Dinner!

Today is POURING rain, so I'm going to concentrate on yesterday's balmy weather! Do you believe in weather lore? I do, I've seen the reality of it often. 8 degrees on the last day of February is unheard of here. It should be -30C, really, but froggie doesn't lie! We've had a very mild February, like most folks. We've had fog, rain, thunder, lightening and ice storms.

If it thunders in February it will frost in April. Fog in February, frost in May.

There wasn't a cloud in the sky! I spent most of the day out with the huskies. They enjoyed the yard while I bundled up on the porch with a book.

When the cat in February lies in the sun, she will creep behind the stove in March.

This side of the house is where we get all of the sun. But under the snow, it's filled with roots that are so deep, so on either side of the lilac tree is where my container veggies will be. I have to put up another lattice board fence around it to keep it safe.

Warm February, bad hay crop ; 

Cold February, good hay crop.

Every bit of weather lore I read regarding a warm February doesn't bode well for the spring! I'm curious to see what kind of weather we get in the next three months! The birds and squirrels were out chirping all day yesterday.

This is our big girl Charlie. We don't know her age, we were told by the shelter that she was likely a year old when we got her in 2015. But they really had no clue, it's because one of the workers also had a husky like Charlie and based her size on her own dog. We were told she was fixed, but found out 6 months later, she wasn't! She went into heat and we're thinking of maybe breeding her in a few years time when we have our property. Not for sale, all for us! :) But again, it will depend on her because we really don't know how old she is!

The first photo is the day we got her. She weighed only 48 pounds and was so nervous, she didn't want to come too near us. She was found living in a field, no identification at all. She had terrible digestion, worms and also little appetite. She showed depression. She'd been at the shelter nearly 3 months when we came along and we fell in love with her. It took her a while to come around. Since then she's gained 16 pounds and won't leave my boyfriend's side. Our vet says she could be anywhere from 3 to 6 years old according to her teeth. I remember the first night we had her, we were a bit intimidated because she growled a lot and looked rather mean. I never had a big dog before and my boyfriend only had cats. We both were really a little nervous! He said "she's going to eat us in our sleep"...she has turned out to be the gentlest dog I've ever known.

Marlene is another one whose age we don't know. The vet can't judge her by her teeth because they are in such bad shape, but we think she could be between 5 and 7. She'd live outside if we let her. She's also very gentle. She is likely a German Shepherd/Husky mix.

Please allow me to introduce to you Mr. Snowy. He's been our porch mascot since Winter Solstice!

I brought him to life last November! Now I have to think of a spring project for the porch! Mr Snowy will have to retire to the storage room very soon!

Last night's dinner was Breakfast Tacos and "Fart and Dart" beans. 

For Christmas, my boyfriend gave me this cookbook. We are big fans of the Williams Sonoma recipes. In fact most of my cookbooks are from that company. THIS one is the BEST. I've probably used this one more in the last few months than all of the other cookbooks I have combined! The food is awesome. That's where I found the Breakfast Tacos. The original recipe calls for eggs but I had leftover chicken mixed with onions and taco mix, so I used that instead.

Breakfast Tacos (for two):

Ingredients

2 small potatoes

Oil or butter for frying

1 small onion, chopped

4 eggs

2 large tortillas (we use flour-based)

1/2 cup to 1 cup shredded Monteray Jack cheese

Pico de Gallo (this is a homemade salsa with cilantro, but I just used my regular salsa)

Directions

1. Boil potatoes whole for about 25-30 minutes until fork tender. Run under cold water until cooled.

2. Heat up oil or butter on medium in large pan.

3. Add onions.

4. Cube potatoes and add to pan. You want a nice brown colour to them.

5. Scramble up your eggs and add to the pan, mix it all up.

6. Divide mixture onto each tortilla, sprinkle with cheese and salsa.

(I put it all under the broiler with extra cheese so it would be very melty!)

Fart and Dart Beans
(this recipe makes enough to fill 4-6 of those little ramekins)

Ingredients

2 cans kidney beans (or whichever beans you love the most)

10-12 slices of bacon

1 onion, chopped

1 clove of garlic, chopped

1 tsp yellow mustard

1/8 cup balsamic vinegar

1 cup brown sugar

Directions

1. Boil beans for 30 minutes. Drain.

2. Cook onion for a few minutes, add bacon until nearly cooked, then add garlic for just a minute.

3. Put all of the ingredients into the slow cooker on low for two to three hours. Mix every so often.

I found this recipe online back in 2013 when I was looking for a "cowboy themed" menu. I love to have fun in the kitchen so I do a lot of theme nights. My boyfriend introduced me to the movies of Sergio Leone - an Italian director who made a lot of great "spaghetti westerns" with Clint Eastwood. We'd planned to watch one of his movies one night, and I remember that day finding a "Western Frontier Menu" online (don't have the link). I made steak and eggs, cornbread and these Fart and Dart beans. I served dinner with a shot glass of bourbon and rang a cow bell when it was ready, lol...(computer sound, I don't own a cow bell!)

Usually after dinner we settle down and watch a movie together, but lately my boyfriend has been working really hard on his music. He does guitar-based ambient music and when he feels creative, he is very focused so I don't mind spending some evenings by myself. Well...not quite by myself! I brought up all my cookbooks to bed and the four rescues followed me onto the bed. Our other two cats never leave the downstairs couches but these four are always together!

Fish and Chip Night!

Something my boyfriend and I have agreed on is that we have failed at our attempt to create a good fish and chips dinner! One time I made the most delicious fries...but we both soon realized that the 'fragrance' of cooked oil turns our stomachs! Olive oil is okay, but we've tried Canola, Grape Seed, Safflower, Sunflower and good old Mazola...we can't get used to that smell. So, although my goal is to eliminate processed foods as much as possible, we bend the rules for fish and chips :) These are store-bought. Until we get a deep-fryer that we can let cool off and air out on the porch, we're sticking to frozen stuff. We shared a bottle of "Newkie Broon" too, that's how my Scottish grandfather used to say it! 

But at least I can say I make my own tartar sauce!!! Next step is making my own mayo. I used to put fresh cilantro in my tartar sauce too and it was so good, but I don't have any this time of year!

The last of my seeds arrived! I made a promise to myself to STOP now, lol...I'm obsessed. My boyfriend has trouble with peppers, but we thought we'd try to see if he still has the same issues if they are homegrown. Plus the orange ones are so mild, hopefully he won't get reflux from them. And I really wanted some pretty flowers for the porch too, so I got the Nasturtiums and Marigolds. And that company sent me another free pack of the Canada Day zinnias! I have to plan pots for all of these beauties.

Here's my Speedy Gonzales :) ...I've mentioned that my boyfriend and I have been watching all of the Looney Tunes lately. We got through the 50's and 60's and now we're finishing up the 1940's. The 1930's were a little too "old" for my taste...a lot of whistling and singing, so he can watch those on his own! He just downloaded the Flintstones, so that's the next series we're watching! We love cartoons. I remember coming home for lunch from grade school...as soon as the Flintstones was over, it was time to walk back to school. Anyway, I drew this on a piece of paper with a little reminder that there is leftover taco mix in the freezer for his lunches. I try to make everything a little fun.

It's a nice sunny day today but cold again. The flyers in this area come out on Tuesdays and Wednesday so I'm spending the next few days going over the sales, jotting down what's still in the freezer and cupboards, then planning our meals for the next 4 to 6 weeks. I really enjoy that process a lot! Sam I Am was talking about bullet journaling - if you don't know about it, you'll find lots of pictures on Pinterest. It's an organizational tool that allows you to be creative too. I do this kind of journaling for my meal planning and shopping, for my garden, my daily to-do and also my self-therapy/self-improvement efforts. I have 4 different journals and it's a nice structure to keep me on track. I also paint, lately I've been into watercolours, so I made covers for all of the journals :)

It's relaxing for me now to plan our meals. I remember a time when I lived paycheck to paycheck and it was a frenzy going over the flyers on Wednesdays, planning 2 weeks worth of meals in one day and then shopping on Thursdays with all of the crowds. It brought me a lot of stress and we both knew that every two weeks for 2-3 days, I couldn't eat solid food. Crazy how that stress got to me. I used to coin the term "the dreaded shopping day". Now I'm lucky I can shop for a month's time because I was able to set aside a little money each month since last summer so I'd have a pool of money for just this purpose; and go when I want to, Mondays are good days, not as many crazies out there lol. The only downside is in the winter, the produce isn't as fresh, so by weeks 4-5-ish, we have to eat frozen veggies. I try to plan the fresher food for the first few weeks of the meal plan because my goal is not to use the car as much, the grocery stores are just over an hour's drive each way. This month I broke down and drove 15 minutes to an overpriced corner store just to get fresh tomatoes...big no-no! This is one of the goals as well - a winter garden! Does anyone else meal-plan this way? For me it's a lifesaver!

Need Dog Advice; Dog Quirks; Food Stuff

I can't wait until Rain's Garden has posts about Rain's GARDEN...that tease of warm weather really got to me! Yesterday we actually had a thunderstorm. This is unusual for a February in the snowy mountains of the Laurentians. My boyfriend caught this with his phone camera from our bedroom. We lost power for a little while off and on. Today of course, it's back down to -14C (7F-ish).

So here is where I'm seeking any and all advice and suggestions. This is Marlene, one of our rescues. She has lots of issues and one of them is a fear of loud noises. Many dogs have this, but I personally have never seen it THIS bad. She pants very heavily, shakes and jerks, paces the house, ears down, whines, hides, has to constantly pee and poop but won't go outside...and then she has the runs for about 24 hours after. In the photo, she's wrapped up. I did so much research to try and help her. I made this full-body wrap that mimics the "thunder shirt". It's supposed to apply pressure to certain areas on the dog to comfort them. And these are the four products we've tried over the last year as well. If we know a t-storm is on the way, we put the wrap on her early in the day and give her chamomile tea with her meals. Rescue Remedy worked so well when I had my pugs, but not with Marlene.

Save me Mommy!

Poor girl. She hides between my table and my dresser, shaking furiously the whole time. Advice says to ignore them so that they can get used to it...but it's so hard to do that when I see her suffering so much. Has anyone had any luck with anything??? Our other dogs have their quirks...

Jack chews on his ears and he holds one in his mouth like a security blanket...problem is he gets sores on the ears because he really does CHEW them...again with him, I've tried everything. He has plenty of bones and balls and chew toys, lots of exercise and love...I made a "snood" for him (it's like a head wrap but he kept shaking it off). I even tried bitter apple and rubbed it on his ears and he LOVED the taste ha ha...It's hard to break an old habit, we got him when he was 9 years old. Every time I catch him, I tell him "drop your ears" and he does, then goes to hide and chews them again...at this point it's just maintenance to make sure the sores don't get too bad.

And Charlie thinks she's a cat and jumps up everywhere. She's very sneaky and we often just find her on top of things. She's a growing little gal, and she gained 15 pounds in the last year. We're afraid her weight might not hold wherever she's up, I'm afraid she might hurt her legs when she jumps down. Again, every time we catch her, we teach her it's a "NO". We put stuff up to stop her but she barrels right through the barriers. Anyway, I'll take advice for all three if anyone wants to offer it!

Onto my next favourite subject - FOOD!!! I make my own yogurt because it's SO MUCH cheaper than buying it. One batch lasts just under a week and costs less than $2.00. We go through a lot of this, because we both love our morning fruit shakes; and because Marlene is such a nervous dog that she often has trouble with her bowels. We give her probiotic supplements mixed in with the yogurt. It helps to keep her "regular"! My yogurt tastes more like sour cream because I don't add any sweetener, but adding maple syrup makes it so yummy. It's super easy to make to:

Homemade Yogurt

1. Heat a liter (4 cups) of milk to 200F over medium low heat, whisking often so it doesn't burn.

2. When it reaches 200F, take the pot off the heat and put it in a sink of cold water.

3. Whisk often and check the temperature often, you want it to reach 110F.

4. When it reaches 110F, scoop out a bit and mix it with 1/4 cup of yogurt and pour it back into the pot, whisking it all together. (I always have to remind myself to keep a 1/4 cup for the next batch!)

5. Pour into Mason jars and seal.

6. Incubate: there are many methods, the one I like the best is wrapping up the Mason jars in tea towels and placing them on my heating pad on medium for 8 hours. 

It turns out really well! Though I've tried adding vanilla one time to the process and the yogurt never set, so I just don't wake the sleeping yogurt bear anymore and always stick to plain-flavoured!

I'd forgotten...this is a photo of my birthday dinner in 2016...FONDUE lol...that was the first time I'd tried the Italian fondue. My boyfriend made a pot of that and a pot of Swiss cheese fondue (I don't have the recipe for the Swiss though). Susan asked me for the recipe for the Italian fondue, it couldn't be easier:

Italian Fondue

Ingredients

1 can whole tomatoes (we use my canned tomatoes, but we used to use the Aylmers 28 oz can)

1 red pepper, chopped

1 clove garlic, chopped

1 block Mozzarella, shredded (the block is 450g which I think is 15 oz)

Directions

In a pot, heat up the tomatoes (with juice), pepper and garlic. Using a hand blender, mash it up to your favourite consistency.

Add the cheese and let it all melt and blend. We never transfer it to the fondue pot because it's just easier clean up in the pot we made it in. But it's always just the two of us, so we don't have to get too fancy! The first time, we put the fondue warmers underneath, but we eat it so fast that we don't need to anymore ha ha.

I LOVE being creative in the kitchen. My boyfriend came downstairs from his office at about 2pm yesterday and said he was starving. Our fridge is getting bare...shopping day is next week! But I did have eggs and all the fixins' for Deviled Eggs! The filling is just some mayo, fig vinegar, fresh chives, Dijon and S&P...oh and the egg yolks. I usually wing it so I don't have an exact recipe. He made himself some toast and I heated up the leftover fondue for me. 

For dinner, I used the last of the fresh lettuce and made a Chicken Cesar Salad with roasted chicken, bacon, Parmesan petals and croutons...mmmm! Can't wait to make this with my homegrown lettuce!! I had some pizza dough in the freezer that I defrosted so I made a Mozzarella/garlic bianca pizza topped with basil. I have a week's worth of food left for meals, and missing most of the fresh ingredients...so I have to start getting creative!

Aging: Can't Believe How Quickly Time Flies!

My birthday was last week but I was too sick to even think about it. Yesterday though, I felt better, so my boyfriend made the day pretty special. He got me a bottle of Maple and Canadian Whisky liqueur. I'm a huge fan of Canadian Whisky and I love maple syrup...this is like an adult dessert in a bottle! Yum!

He made these special coffees for us. He is quite the bartender and loves to try new things. For Christmas, "Santa" brought us a bottle of brandy cream liqueur, so he made us these layered coffees with milk/liqueur on the bottom, coffee in the middle and a sweetened foam on the top. Boy were they good!

My other prezzie was a subscription to Martha! And it's funny, because I laughed about our ripped couch together while I saw the nice one on the cover of the magazine. I don't think Martha lets her dogs up on this couch lol! 

We spent the whole day together watching movies, taking the dogs out and listening to the old Jack Benny radio show on You Tube. I can't believe I'm 49 years old, I have to say I DO NOT feel it. I really did have a rough time growing up and I have to say that I feel like my life started being joyful only about six or seven years ago. I've been through a lot and sometimes feel like three decades of my life were taken from me. I think that's why I have such a zest for life now, I don't want to waste a moment in the past. Not many people know this, but there is quite an age difference between my boyfriend and me...20 years to be exact! I'm the older woman and sometimes (especially on my birthdays), I get a little sad about it. And really, there is no reason to be because he never makes me feel old at all. But you know, sometimes I think about how we'll look together when I'm in my 60's and he's in his 40's! He knows I think about that once in a while, though I'm getting better at it! So he always reassures me and makes me feel so loved, I feel quite lucky I met him. And honestly, for the rest of the year, I really do feel like it's just a number. I feel young, and I am enjoying my life. Though I do have more aches and pains than I used to, I try to stay limber and strong with yoga and exercise. So...he made the day very special. I even got a glass of champagne before dinner!

My birthday dinner is one of my favourite dishes. Italian Cheese Fondue. This was a BIG test on my insides...all that cheese and a day of cocktails...but I fared well! I never tried Italian fondue before I met my boyfriend. His family made it all of the time; I was always used to Swiss cheese fondue. This one is made with tomatoes, red peppers, Mozzarella and garlic. It's all melted up and served with bread. The cheese never melts completely but that's part of the gooey yumminess :)

And for dessert, he bought a Ferrero Rocher cake. We cut it in half and froze the other half because it's so rich, even half a cake will take us a few days to eat! I feel I have gained a good 5 pounds from yesterday but it was worth it! :)