Tuesday, July 22, 2008

26th Birthday!

I wanted to start my birthday post with a couple pictures of the cakes my mom made me for my birthdays as a child, these cakes were amazing! I have never tried to decorate a cake, but I doubt that I would have the ability my mom had to make these:

I'm not sure I was looking so sad, I mean look at that amazing Get Along Gang cake!!

I didn't have an amazing homemade cake today, but I did have a great birthday.

This morning I woke up really hungry and had a blueberry-oat bar that I made last night. These were amazing, I found the recipe last week on FatFree Vegan Kitchen. I made these because I figured that my husband would love them because he is more of a blueberry fan than I am, but I thought these were amazing. Each of these squares has about 100 calories and I had 2 at 6am.
My husband suggested since it was my birthday we should stop and get my favorite morning drink. Today I got something different at Starbucks: a skinny caramel latte. At the office I also had a luna bar around 9am.


I went to the gym for a lunch time spin class. In 40 min of spin I burned about 350 calories, I was really working hard according to my heart rate monitor. It was appropriate that I used this today because it was last year my husband got it for me as a gift on my 25th birthday.

After spin I was starving and didn't want what I packed, but ate it anyway. I packed 1/2 cup of oatmeal with a very very very ripe banana and a sample of udi's granola. I was smart and used water from the water cooler today and not the faucet that is still full of dirty water. I couldn't even finish this because I wasn't really in the mood for it and I think the banana in it was just too ripe for me:.


Here is the little sample that I picked up at the grocery store, it may have been about 1/4 cup. I thought it was good, although being that it was in my oatmeal I may have not got the full effect of the taste.

My afternoon snack was grapes and pineapple.

Dinner tonight was at one of my favorite restaurants, Abay. I think it is the only Ethiopian restaurant in Pittsburgh. This place is BYOB so my husband brought my favorite bottle of wine (I had two large glasses):

I started with a bowl of soup "Vegetarian Shorba Soup prepared with lentils, carrots, potatoes and onions in a vegetable-based broth."

Dinner was a vegetarian combo where I could pick any four of the vegetarian items on the menu; I happened to pick all vegan options. For those who haven't had Ethiopian it is served with a unique bread and you eat with your hands by using the bread to pick up the food.


Here is what I picked from the yellow item up top clockwise:

"Butecha Ground" - chickpeas mixed with olive oil, diced onions and green peppers.
"Kay Sir Dinich" - Potatoes and fresh beets stewed and blended with garlic, ginger and onions.
"Fosolia" - String beans lightly spiced and sautéed with carrots and potatoes.
"Ye' Abesha Gomen" - Kale, peppers, ginger, garlic and onions slow-cooked in a mild sauce.

When we got home Steve and I split a cupcake he had bought yesterday at Whole Foods. He even put a candle in it and sang. Here is a picture pre-candle:

With half of the cupcake we had some Edy's Slow-churned Take the Cake ice cream.


Well this newly turned 26 year old is beat, so off to get ready for bed!

11 comments:

LizNoVeggieGirl said...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, AIMEE!!! :0D

Wow, those cakes are gorgeous!! Your mom is quite the talented cake-decorator!!

Okay, that's the 4th time I've seen those blueberry bars on a blog, just today - I must make them too now!! Especially since they're gluten-free :0)

Cute WF cupcake!!

Unknown said...

Happy Birthday!! I agree with Liz, I'm in AWE of those cakes!~I'm so glad you found the pictures and posted them!! I want to take a stab at a CareBear cake now :0) I've never eaten Ethiopian food before...eating with the bread they give you sounds like fun! Glad you had a great birthday!!

Little Miss Sunshine said...

HAPPY BELATED BIRTHDAY AIMEE!!! BEST WISHES AND HOPE ALL OF YOUR WISHES WILL COME TRUE <333

OH.MY.GOSH! Did your mum really decorated those ADORABLE cakes?! ZOMG - she is ONE talented mum!! They look so realistic, too *amazing*!!

Olalala ... I've seen many people blogging about those blueberry and oat bars! They look scrumptious - excellent nutritional stats too!

Oh man, Ethiopian food looks so DELICIOUS! Eating with your hands must be SO fun ey?!! Mmmm the topping .... *drool*

Awwwww ... your husband is TOO adorable!! How sweet of him ~ Hehehe!

Oops sorry for the LONG comment (I can't help it!) Hope you have a great day!!

Anonymous said...

I just had Ethiopian the other day, and I LOVED the concept of eating with that spongy bread!
Your blueberry bars look great, mine didn't turn out so smooth because I didn't have a blender to blend the oats. As I recall they are also packed with fibre--3g for every 117 cal bar, I think.

Aimee said...

Mad about udon - I had one goof up with the bars that actually made mine under 100 calories, I didn't realize that the cup in my oatmeal was 1/3 cup I thought it was 1/2 cup...so instead of 3 cups of oatmeal, I only used 2 cups. They tasted great, the top layer just didn't cover the blueberries all the way! Also do you have a coffee grinder, while I have a blender and food processor, I used the coffee grinder for the oats.

Thanks girls for all the Birthday wishes and comments on my mom's cakes:)

Susan Voisin said...

Hi Aimee and Happy Birthday! I'm so glad you liked the blueberry bars--it's good to know that they come out okay with less oats. Also, those are the cutest cakes! Your mom is very talented.

ChocolateCoveredVegan said...

Oh my gosh your mom was soooooooo talented!!!!!! Wow!

And Happy Birthday!!!

Anonymous said...

What a FABULOUS birthday! Happy Birthday (One Day Late) Aimee :o)

First of all, your mom's cakes are gorgeous. And that Whole Foods Bee cupcake? WOW!

That Ethiopian restaurant looks like a really great way to celebrate, too. I'm glad you had such a wonderful day - you deserve it!

John J. Kaiser said...

Interesting. I find vegan blogs interesting because although I am not a vegan I have several in my family. All that food looked rather good. I just can't live without chicken breast and some steak. ;-)

http://totaltransformation.wordpress.com

Unknown said...

Happy B-Day! I was super excited to see a little sample pack of Udi's Granola on your blog. Would like to know in which store you got the sample? Since 10 months I am working for Udi's Granola (we bake it here in Denver, Colorado) but before that I already thought that it is the best tasting Granola ever. I would like to send you a free bag as a belated birthday gift so you can taste it better. If you want to, please email me at info@udisgranola.com - attn. Cynthia.

Aimee said...

John - my husband also couldn't live without steak or chicken, but many of the Vegetarian meals I make he really enjoys.