Living Longer

While channel surfing, I caught a few minutes of the Friends episode where Rachel turns 30 and they flashback to everyone else's 30th birthday (i.e. Monica getting drunk before surprise party, Ross and his fancy car that is trapped via parallel parking). This felt a bit surreal knowing that I am fast approaching (a tad more than 16 months away) the age of the Friends characters that I watched a teen and in my early twenties. And it just so happened that this weekend we also helped a good friend celebrate her impending 30th birthday with a surprise party. I was in charge of the cake, chocolate with chocolate mousse filling and mint frosting. The candle set also came with a red "OH NO" which I chose to leave off. Like my top border? It's one I just learned in my second cake decorating class (which wraps up this weekend), so it still needs lots of work.

In addition to cake, I also brought a salad (my favorite roasted fennel with hazelnuts and creamy shallo dressing from V-con) and a vegan main dish. I tried to recreate the lasagna I had recently at the PPK Texas Gathering, since Crystal posted the recipe on her new blog, Vegan Explosion. I really wanted to leave the olives out, since I usually dislike them, but I stayed true to that part of the recipe and I think they really added a great flavor to the tofu ricotta. The only thing I did change was using fresh sauteed mushrooms instead of canned. If you notice my new twittering updates (sidebar), you'll see that I enjoyed leftovers of this for lunch today.
Now I know I've posted about Mighty O's several times before, but I just had to brag one more time. My mom brought these back for me after spending a week in Seattle helping my sister move to her very own condo. One of them was the special seasonal flavor; chocolate oreo. But I didn't hog them all to myself, I brought them along to an art car decorating party. I can't wait to show everyone the car (less than two weeks till the parade!), it is amazing, but here's a sneak peak at one unfinished part.
And finally, while we were driving to the birthday party, I saw this bumper sticker on a Texas-colored Ford truck "Live Longer, Eat Beef". I scrambled so fast to get a photo of this, I just couldn't believe it. I didn't know whether to laugh or scream. I ended up laughing with the birthday girl (a vegetarian) about it. Laughing and not eating animal products is what really helps you live longer.
Here's hoping that none of you are following this bumper sticker's advice....