Well, hello there (and a green tea cake)

It's been a while since I've posted with any regularity, I know. But I'm still here! And look--I'm embarking on a new project this summer, windowsill gardening. For some weird reason I woke up at the ungodly hour of 7 this morning (on a Sunday! on a long weekend! Sheesh) and rather than try to go back to bed, I got up, did yoga (!), took a shower, and went to the farmer's market a few blocks away just as it was opening. Believe me, that is far more productive than most of my weekends. And it was kind of nice, there was hardly anyone out yet so I could chat with some of the folks running the stands, which is how I got talked into getting this awesome strawberry plant. Look it ALREADY HAS STRAWBERRIES. I'm going to repot it into a bigger container and hopefully I'll have yummy strawberries to snack on this summer. I also picked up a geranium and had previously bought a lavender plant...we'll see who's still alive by the end of summer.


But wait, that wasn't the end of my productive spate--I came home to drop off my goods, and went back out for a long walk through the park, then read for a while in the sun (Game of Thrones, if you're interested--I'm loving both the book and the series. That Jon Snow is a cutie.) and when I came back, I made cake! Green tea cake, to be exact, using the last of my stash of good matcha (must get more). I l-o-v-e how this cake turned out and would be happy to eat it by itself, maybe with some iced green tea.


But I wanted something a little fancier, and filled the cake with some whipped cream and some diced alphonso mangoes (this combination being inspired by my new favorite bubble tea flavor, mango green tea). By the way, I have not eaten nearly as many mangoes this year as I did last year, but I'm getting an early start on the watermelon!


And here's my cute little frosted cake. It's just whipped cream, because it is way too hot to be eating buttercream. Also, I'm not really that big a buttercream fan.


And here it is sliced, and about to be eaten! It's not the prettiest cake I've ever made, but I'm very happy with how it tastes. And now I can officially say that I'm done celebrating my birthday (even though it was 2 weeks ago) because it's not a birthday without cake!

Which isn't to say we didn't celebrate it at all, of course--Pyota took me out for a very fancy dinner to Del Posto, where I did not take any photos (and it would have been too dark even if I didn't feel self-conscious) but the food was really good. I especially loved the pansotti and the spaghetti with crab--and the gazpacho! It was quite a trip having such formal service (I lost track of how many people served our table) and although I wouldn't want to make a habit of it, once in a while is nice.

And actually, it is Pyota's birthday tomorrow--we will have to have a delayed celebration in June, but in the meantime, happy birthday :) I promise a bigger sandwich.