happy birthday to me, and bon voyage dilly!

My friend Dilly is leaving tomorrow to go to Jordan for 2 months, to live with her father and get some experience in sustainable development, maybe teach English, that sort of thing. So of course, we had to have a sushi party to see her off well, and my other friend Shine is the whiz-biz at sushi, no joke - she made uramaki'd (inside outed) california with fuji apple, shitake & sweet potato, avocado & peanut, bunny rolls, some with veggie pâté, some with peanut butter (surprisingly good!), mango cilantro rolls, futomaki, various tiny single-ingredient rolls, caterpillar rolls with mango on the outside.... so amazing. We feasted on the floor and drank yerba teas and inhaled gorgeous little sushi pieces until we couldn't eat anymore.

But then I did have to eat more (poor me, I know!) - they brought out a slice of spelt-crusted chocolate-banana pie with a big sparkler in it, just for my birthday! (it happens to be today but I hadn't breathed a word of it). So incredibly sweet! I have a hard time with undue attention and a whole birthday cake would have probably blown my mind and made me blush enough to pop a gasket, but one slice of beautiful pie and a small round of 'happy birthday'... well, it was perfect.

Here's to 24! :D

(and I'm still making a key lime Pie Of Greatness for my birthday, just probably the next time I go home)