Excessive

Today was my birthday and I'm now 38 years old. I'm sure I could sit and write about the history of my life and where I've been and where I'm at now, but the time doesn't feel right for that right now. Instead, I'll simply write about my day.

I got to sleep in about an hour later than normal, getting up around 8:00 to 8:30 (I don't remember exactly) and coming downstairs. I had my normal breakfast (peanut butter toast and coffee) but Jensen offered to make me a special breakfast. Instead, because I just wanted my normal, he got my toast down and put it in the toaster for me.

Jensen had a "play-date" with his friend Michael at 10am, so shortly after my breakfast, I played Dark Souls 2 for about an hour and then Bekki and Jensen had to leave to go to Michaels, where they would be having lunch and coming home around 1pm. 

It was just Ollie and I for a little while, but my Mom (Nana) had told Ollie that she would take him for a walk around the construction area. I had actually thought I would take him, but I had to make my pavlova, so it kind of worked out. It made me only a tiny bit sad that I wasn't the one who got to spend time with him, but I had things to do, so it's alright. I've included some pictures of the pavlova process (when I first put it down, shaped it, cooked it, then forgot to take a picture of the finished product, dang.

Ollie and I spent some time together. He played some Xbox (Paw Patrol), we spent some time outside, and he watched a bit of TV while I cooked his special unicorn Kraft Dinner (which I also ate, and is absolutely disgusting). At around 1:30pm, Bekki and a grumpy Jensen came home, and Bekki mowed the lawn. I cleaned the kitchen quite thoroughly, and then went and played some more Dark Souls 2 and relaxed from around 2:15 to 3:00. At 3:00pm, I went to the LCBO and bought some wines for my blind tasting that I was holding as part of my birthday event.

I bought an Italian $9 wine, an Austrailian $19 Cabernet Sauvingon, and a California $17 Cab Sauv. I also had a terrible French red wine at home that had been opened for like two weeks. We did a blind taste test and Bekki ended up liking the Australian the best (19 Crimes) and I liked the California the best (Robert Mondavi private reserve) It was overall a fun experience, and I enjoy doing it a lot.

Once we finished the tasting, I started dinner, but took my time. For dinner I made seared beef tenderloin, topped with St. Agur blue cheese. Truffle mashed potatoes, with green beans, zucchini, asparagus and heirloom carrots. I also made a bearnaise sauce for dipping, and put some horseradish on the plate. To go with dinner, I had my choice of any bottle in the cellar, and I chose a 2010 Pilliteri Gold Exclamation Merlot. It was amazing. There is nothing like an aged wine, and it's almost impossible for me to explain exactly what it is that makes it so good, but it's life changing. I've had significantly aged wine a handful of times, and it's always such a good experience. This wine was bursting with fruit, but also high in alchohol. Leather and wood, complexity so deep it's hard to describe. It opened up even more over the course of the dinner, and it's just great. It showed no signs of turning or going bad, and we could've aged it for years more I'm sure. 

After dinner, I asked my Mom to come over and sit with us while we ate the pavlova, and the kids and Bekki loved it. I also, obviously, loved it. It's probably the greatest dessert ever created.

Once we finished dessert, I went and played some Dark Souls 2, eventually stopping to do bedtime. And again, after bedtime, I played some more Dark Soulsl 2.

Overall, a good birthday. I spent quality time with Ollie, I played a good amount of Dark Souls 2, ate a wonderful dinner, and drank an amazing wine. Hopefully I can sleep in slightly tomorrow as a last birthday present, and then I've got to do some things I'd rather not - grocery shop in London, and vacuum the pool, plus any other chores I should do before next week. Never enough time.

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