A perfect day

Thanks again to everyone who sent me such nice birthday wishes yesterday. It turned out to be a great day!

When I got to Ian's house, I saw that he had picked me a bouquet of gorgeous thistles. He told me later that he'd intended to pick me a wildflower bouquet but the field he'd scoped out mere days before was completely wildflower free yesterday. So he picked these thistles without gloves and carried them home on his bike.



He made a loaf of bread and we grilled corn and ate s'mores. The neighbor kids swarmed like flies and nearly cleaned us out of s'mores supplies.



Ian gave me a lovely ceramic shortbread mold. I've wanted one for years but I don't often buy luxuries like that for myself. Instead, I made practical rectangular shortbread cookies with a heavy heart. But now my wedge-shaped shortbread dreams have come true!



After dinner we settled in to watch Life is Beautiful. It's one of my favorite movies and one I've been trying to get Ian to watch for years. It's a movie I think everyone should watch, a recommendation I don't make lightly.

Then we made bananas brulee because one dessert just wasn't enough. Ian came up with this idea one night when he was looking for ways to use his new kitchen torch. Slice bananas, top with sugar, torch, eat immediately.



Everything about the day was perfect, even though we had to babysit kids wielding flaming sticks. At least we managed to save some of the dark chocolate...