Happy Birthday To Me!

Happy Birthday Sherene!

Last week was my 43 birthday, and for those who know me, you know I LOVE MY BIRTHDAY!  I think that most July people would agree that they too love love LOVE their birthdays, especially if have been blessed with being both July AND Leo!  Thank you to my family (who live quite far from me) for all the birthday wishes that were emailed, phoned, facebooked, texted, etc...  LOVE IT!   My aunt sent me my birthday horoscope, which I also loved:  Your birthday resolutions will have more power than usual this year, so think hard about what it is you most wish to accomplish then promise yourself that you will make it happen. Do something special every single day.

To celebrate my birthday week, we went camping last week with the kids, and 2 other families as well (both from my hubby's side of the fam).  We camped at Kikomun Creek Provincial Park, which is absolutely one of the most beautiful and clean and well kept campgrounds I have ever been to.  It's just outside of Fernie, BC, and the weather could not have been more spectacular.  It really was a great birthday week!  We had great food, happy hour drinks and happy hour appies, time to relax and visit, spent time reading (for me that was the second instalment of Fifty Shades), swam, visited friends of ours who have a place on Lake Kookanusa, spent a day on their boat (thanks!!), hiked around Surveyors Lake and ate the BEST home-made beef jerky ever, thanks to my fave brother in-law :-)

A beautiful, healthy and delicious
breakfast featuring my new fave
Oikos Yogurt!  Tres Yummy!

For my actual birthday (July 24th), I had an amazing continental breakfast presented to me (thanks to my "cousin-in-law"...who was also intertwined in Fifty Shades!) and got to relax in my gravity chair drinking my coffee and eating my delicious breakie (while my daughter gave me a foot massage!).

Breakfast AND a foot massage!

Cheers sis!! (wish my eyes were open!!)

My fave sister-in-law (also furiously reading Fifty Shades) gave me a beautiful scarf from Switzerland, which I LOVE, and Swiss chocolate!  Yum!!!







My son gave me a Pandora charm (my fave animal....a giraffe) and my daughter gave me some beautiful earrings along with some home-made gifts that included some Spa-coupons (her room for a massage), a home-made jewellery box, and other treasures that she created for me.  Hubby's gift....of course....it was Neil Diamond himself, singing in concert (awesome!).

Happy Birthday To Me!  What a great day
and a terrific family pic!

6 different kinds of jerky,
all meticulously labelled
and incredibly delicious!

My brother-in-law gave me the assortment of beef jerky that he made and it was really the best beef jerky ever (worthy of its own posting once I get all his ingredients and the brand of his food deyhydrator!).  Dinner that night was of course appies:  ribs, wings, and dessert was a delicious chocolate cake (made by my husband) but it was the black-bean cake recipe, which I know does not sound that good but truly, it was DELICIOUS!  It had a full can of black beans, no flour, and was so moist and fantastic and by the way...freezes beautifully!!!    The recipe and link for that is posted below!





I will be posting some of the foodie pics, and other camping pics, but for now, really just wanted to say thank you to everyone who made my day so special and memorable, and also need to say thank you to E. L. James (author of...you guessed it the "Fifty Shades" series), who provided some great entertainment during the camping trip!

Black Bean Brownies

Ingredients

• 1 (15.5 ounce) can black beans, rinsed and drained
• 3 eggs
• 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1/4 cup cocoa powder
• 1 pinch salt
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 3/4 cup white sugar
• 1 teaspoon instant coffee (optional)
• 1/2 cup milk chocolate chips (optional)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease an 8x8 square baking dish.
2. Combine the black beans, eggs, oil, cocoa powder, salt, vanilla extract, sugar, and instant coffee in a blender; blend until smooth; pour the mixture into the prepared baking dish. Sprinkle the chocolate chips over the top of the mixture.
3. Bake in the preheated oven until the top is dry and the edges start to pull away from the sides of the pan, about 30 minutes.

Nutritional Information per serving:  Calories:  126   Total Fat:  5.3 grams  

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/black-bean-brownies/

Wasn't that a Party??

Missing:  Cinderella's shoe and other
miscellaneous items.

What do you see in this picture?  One shoe, a cell phone, a few plates, assorted cutlery, and an empty tequila...I mean coffee mug.   Why do I have such items in my possession?  Easy...its the aftermath of my husbands 40th birthday!  People came from the north and from far south (south Calgary, that is) to see my husband enter The Club.   We partied til almost 3am.  Between the Mai Tai's, the wine, beer, the whiskey....that song is still playing in my head....."mighta been the 2-4-6 pack I dunno....but look at the mess I'm in....."


But seriously, all in all it was an excellent night.   The menu was awesome (of course it was).  I made my legendary (and contest winning) ribs and hot wings (my brother in law's recipe...I think I did a pretty good job too!).  Other menu items included sushi (bought, but still delicious) and cheese and crax (a party must).  We also had yummy sharing plates from our beloved guests:  spinach dip, yummy chocolate squares, Guac chips (tres yummy), a cheese and pepper jelly plate, bacon wrapped water chestnuts (you had me at bacon), and some assorted dips and crackers.  For dessert, I made a frozen lemonade cheesecake, and we lit a mini dolls head on fire and made him blow.  Not the smartest move, but who is thinking of being smart when there is alcohol involved?   Thankfully we did NOT have to call the fire department (although if it was MY birthday I think calling in the firefighters would have been a nice touch).

 If I missed any food, forgive me, as I am just coming out of my fog and its already time for bed and for another day to begin.

Coulda been the whiskey...
thank  goodness there was no gin!

And how's our soon-to-be 40 year old non-virgin?  He had a GREAT party, and enjoyed it from beginning to end.  He loved his "H to the B" cards, he loved the drinks and food, but most of all, he loved that so many people came to wish him well!    We even face-timed with his brother and sister-in-law and their kids, which was awesome!  Thanks to everyone who made it, and for all the birthday messages from those who were unable to attend!  You all made my husband feel very loved (awwwww), and very young at heart.
Though today, he likely felt a bit closer to his REAL age.   After seeing all the empty bottles of blueberry vodka, sambuca, rum, wine, beer and whiskey (note this is not a complete list),   its no wonder he had to nap the day away!