birthday boy

 today was greg's birthday and we had a fun time preparing for his celebratory dinner.

 while morgana wrapped his gifts, chanda penciled in some finishing touches to her world map (how many weeks has she been working on this???).

these are her new woodless pencils which were originally morgana's but somehow became her's . . hmmmm . . (morgana did receive a new replacement) . . 

the beautifully wrapped gifts . . 

i wrapped the one on the left . . i think the black ribbon is from our christmas panettone . . 

 morgana and i made a flourless chocolate cake. we melted 8 ounces of semi-sweet and unsweetened chocolate with 1 and 3/4 sticks of butter . . 

and separated two eggs . . the yolks were beaten with 1/3 cup of raw sugar and included in the chocolate/butter mix above,

the whites were whipped separately . . 

with another 1/3 cup of sugar,

 and folded in at the end.

 oh, it's so delicious! my favorite part of any cake is before it's baked. i always love licking the spoons and bowls.

 the birthday card which was made at our valentine crafting workshop last friday.

 waiting for greg to come home from work . . we waited a long time. he didn't get home until 9 pm . . such is the work situation these days . . 

 we had asparagus with melted butter, sparking cider and swedish meatballs with mashed potatoes. i mixed onions and egg yolks into ground beef, browned them in a pan with butter and then simmered them in homemade beef broth i had made overnight. i added sour cream before serving.

 he had to open the jar of lingonberries before eating (we went through 3/4 of that jar in one meal!).

 such a scrumptious meal.

afterwards: waiting impatiently to open his presents . . 

 our oven is still kaputt so morgana baked the cake at our friend's house.

he was surprised to have a cake. we teased him and said there was only whipped cream with raspberries because the oven was still broken.

 the beautiful tin with the amazing ginger snaps . . 

 and the cake with whipped cream and raspberries.

a special book about the village which i found at fish's eddy on broadway just a few days ago . . 

"my favorite moments in the village are always with the beautiful sun drifting over the hudson river. and as i look out, i am taking photos in my mind or with one of my cameras. it's always great for me to start the day with a beautiful photo and then three hours of tai chi, all these golden moments in the village." lou reed

 now these socks were started at least five years ago! morgana made the one on the right and chanda knitted 3/4 of the one on the left. i pulled it out of a bin before christmas and morgana heroically finished it just a few weeks ago. if you look closely you can see that their tensions differ significantly so that one sock is bigger than the other.

 he did say that they felt a little funny but he's very happy with them.

 i believe the yarn is from lionbrand.

chanda received a victorian valentine card from morgana that she made last friday.

 greg's and my card . . 

 happy birthday and happy valentine's day . . 

it's been a busy day . . i think we're all very tired.