My Birthday!

I woke up at 6:30 AM on Christmas Eve, my birthday. I warmed up yesterday's coffee and had a cup, sitting on the couch and reflecting on this past year. It's been quite the ride. Hell, it's been quite the ride for the past 60 years! Yes, that's right; today I am sixty years old.

I read somewhere a while ago that each of us subconsciously picks an age and, in our mind, we never grow beyond that. I think with me it was 25 years old. I still feel the same as I did then in my mind, with the same hope and dreams and fears. It's just my body that continually tries to remind me that I am 60 years old, not 25.

I blame this on my old philosophy of "Live fast, love hard, die young." Living with wild abandon when you are young works if you do, in fact, die young. But, if you are lucky (or unlucky - hence the reflecting) to live until you are old, your body pays a heavy price for that theory, lol!

Well, enough reflecting, its time for more action! I cleaned up the kitchen from last night late supper. I also threw the tile clothes into the dryer. I noticed how much I'd tracked the tile project onto the kitchen floor, so I swept it and then mopped it.

While it dried, I watched the Today show, a nice treat as I am usually at work when it comes on. Luanne and Sadie called me up to wish me a happy birthday (nice harmony on the Happy Birthday song, BTW). Unbeknownst to me, my daughter's Amy and Melissa called at that very same time to wish me a Happy Birthday. Since I was on the phone, it sent them directly to voicemail and did not record their call on the caller ID. I checked on Christmas morning and found their message (which is why I am updating this on Christmas morning) Thanks, you two. I love you both!

About 10:00 AM, Jake and Carla showed up to make me my traditional Birthday Breakfast. This time it was biscuits and gravy (I'd requested it) and it was delicious! He made his biscuits using heavy cream, rather than butter. They are quick and easy, much easier than the way I do with the little bits of cold butter (mix until the butter is the size of peas, etc.). I asked him where he got the recipe and he said it was in the cookbook from America's Test Kitchen (on PBS) that they gave me a while ago. After tasting them, I swore to myself that the next time I make biscuits, they would be these! They left for home about 11:00 AM, after cleaning up.

So, even though it is sloppy and still raining, it is apparently possible to still get around. So, I seriously thought about heading over to Home Depot. But, I am falling further and further behind in the rest of the Holiday ToDo list. Since I have already missed my deadline, I decide to get the grout Friday morning, when I have to go grocery shopping anyway.

My brother Jim called to wish me a Happy Birthday just after they left.

I decided to lay down and give my back a break. I didn't fall asleep, but I did feel a bit better when I got back up at 12:30. I started making tomorrow's dessert: Maple-pumpkin cheese cake. I used the food processor to grind up the graham crackers for the crust, mixed them with melted butter and brown sugar and pressed that into the springform pan. I baked it on a sheet pan for eight minutes in a 325 degree oven.

While the cream cheese was softening, I started to clean up the downstairs bath. I have houseguests coming, so I want to let them have the main bath (I may still have to shower there for a day or two). So, I need to move my stuff. So, I swept it up and then used the vacuum cleaner attachments to suck up the grout dust. Next I washed both the shower floor and the bathroom floor.

Around 3:00 PM, my son Jeremy called to wish me a happy birthday. He mentioned that on Friday (the day of the big snowfall) it took him three hours to get home. Yikes! Been there, done that. I surely am glad I now live so close to work!

I checked my email and found my friend Canada Cathy sent me a lovely e-card. Thanks!

So, while the downstairs bathroom floor was drying, I mixed together the maple-pumpkin cheese cake filling. Now, I ran into a big problem with this dessert. It calls for maple sugar (for both the crust and the filling) and I just could not find any. Jake suggested I search the Internet using the phrase "maple sugar substitutes" so I did. I found one useful suggestion that said: "If we were faced with your dilemma, we would use a cup of granulated or light brown sugar (or a combination of the two) and half a cup of maple syrup, remembering to reduce some other liquid in the recipe by about 1/4 cup."

Well, that makes some sense, but since there is NO liquid in this recipe, it didn't help. So, I decided to use dark brown sugar and, instead of the caramel topping the recipe calls for, I'll use pure maple syrup. I already had to change the fresh currants (not available right now anywhere) to using red raspberries (Michigan hot-hot grown).

So, I used my hand mixer to beat together three (8-ounce) packages of softened cream cheese, one (15-ounce) can of pureed pumpkin, three eggs plus one egg yolk, 1/4 cup of sour cream, 1 1/2 cups of dark brown sugar, 1/2 teaspoon of ground cinnamon, 1/8 teaspoon of ground nutmeg, 1/8 teaspoon of ground cloves, two tablespoons of all-purpose flour and one teaspoon of vanilla extract.

I kept scrapping the sides of the mixing bowl as I mixed it and then spread the finished filling into the pre-baked crust. I put that into a 350 degrees F. oven and set the timer for one hour (or until the center appears nearly set when gently shaken).

Back to work! I took all my stuff downstairs and put it back in the bathroom. My Mom called at a little after 5:00 PM to wish me a happy birthday. She said she got my Blog today as well as a mystery package with no return label. I asked her what was in it and she said it looks like sausage. I laughed and told her the story: My brother Carl told me that Mom really wanted some summer sausage.

Now, for those of you who are unfamiliar with this, it is the general term for any sausage that can be kept without the need of refrigeration. Summer sausage is usually a mixture of pork and other meat such as beef and venison. Summer sausage can be either dried or smoked, and curing ingredients can vary significantly, although some sort of curing salt is almost always used. Seasonings may include mustard seeds, black pepper, garlic salt, or sugar.

In spite of its name, summer sausage actually tends to be made in the autumn, during traditional hunting seasons in North America and Europe. Summer sausage, like all sausages, makes use of leftover scrap meat and organ meat that would otherwise be wasted. Since we are talking about my Mom, we would need some that is low or no-sodium.

So, in every high-end market I have been in recently, I asked if they knew of any summer sausage that was low or no-sodium. In the Holiday market (where I got my knives sharpened), I asked the master butcher. He laughed and said, "There is no way you can make sausage without nitrates [a component of which is salt] so there is no such thing as low sodium sausage!"

Jake, however, suggested I check out the World Wide Web. So, I did and found a farm in Wisconsin, Beltie Beef (http://beltiebeef.com/) that claimed to be the home of the world's best Certified Organic Grass-Fed Beef Summer Sausage and, it is advertised as low sodium! The stats were as follows: Their sausage's sodium (mg) is 94 versus regular summer sausage of 667 or turkey summer sausage of 730. So, since the shipping charges (two nights over air) were the same, I ordered her two pounds of it.

I told her I hoped it tasted good and to enjoy it. I asked about the soup I'd brought and she said they have been having it every night since I dropped it off. I explained I tried to compensate for not using salt by using herbs, spices and garlic and she said it was great. So, that made me feel great!

I checked outside and my mail had come, so I switched my slippers for my Crocs and drove out to get it. No Christmas cards, but I did have a birthday card from my friend, Leon. Long time readers may remember that he is a rancher and cowboy whose spread is in Coldwater, Michigan. The card was a caricature of a cowboy, riding through a forbidding landscape with bones, vultures and bad guys hiding here and there. The card read: "With this birthday, you're crossing into dangerous territory!" Since he turned 60 last February, he should know!

So, after an hour, I checked on the cheesecake. It still seemed "undone" so I set the timer for another 15 minutes. When it went off, I pulled it out and set it on a rack to cool.

I was starting to get hungry, so I dug out the poached chicken breasts. I know I mentioned chicken salad, but I settled instead for chicken sandwiches (just chicken, mayo, salt and white bread.). I ate that, watching TV and waiting the two hours for the cheesecake to cool. My friend B___ call with his birthday wishes during that time.

After the two hours had passed, I set the springform on some cling wrap. I ran a thin bladed knife between the crust and the metal and then released the sides. I wrapped the cheesecake in the first and then another sheet of cling wrap and put it in the refrigerator until tomorrow.

I decided my birthday was complete and I went to bed.