HIP HIP HOORAY

Yesterday, my very favourite person in the world celebrated his birthday! I woke up first (normally it's the other way round) and didn't allow poor Possum much time to wake up before excitedly thrusting my card and most of my gifts at him! (One of his presents would arrive later in the day via post). I was very pleased with my "brown paper packaging tied up with string"...

He always, always opens his cards first and carefully unwraps his present without a single tear:

First gift was an intriguing novel of Global Financial Recessions, Ponzi Schemes and other dramatic things. He's not the biggest bookworm but I thought the subject matter might be up his alley and we could share this one ;-)

Next gift was a pair of Desert Boots. I love this style and James will manage very nicely to pull off these with some jeans or chinos and one of his beautiful buttoned shirts. Swoon!

 

The cat needed to finish getting ready for work...

So the mouse could make arrangements for the rest of the day! First up: collecting this little baby...

It's not hard to guess that Siri was inside!

Birthdays are days for dietary deviations, so I cooked up a suitably hearty dinner for my sweetheart. The menu comprised: Steaks stuffed with mushrooms and topped with truffle butter served with green beans and creamy garlic mash:

And as every diner knows, a peek at the dessert menu is not negotiable. We enjoyed slice after slice (it was a small-ish cake!) of the most delicious, dense and chocolat-ey flourless chocolate cake ever:

Served with vanilla bean ice cream, naturally:

Well-stuffed, we settled on the sofa to watch the ridiculously addictive program 'The Voice' and let the chocolate cake shrink away a little more with each ad break...