A Birthday To Remember...At Least For Some Time

This year, on my 21st birthday, a birthday that I hear is quite important to remember, I thought that I would be completely unoccupied. What began as an unplanned day of quiet aloneness somehow grew into a nearly 2 1/2 day long flurry of excitement with a plethora of dear friends. Here, I will chronicle the most memorable parts.

My birthday fell on a Wednesday.
On Tuesday, I and a family that is close to my heart went to the house of another family that is dear to me and cooked what will probably be forever remembered as one of the best meals of my life. And this is why: we ate Bacon-wrapped Fried Chicken. I will say it again, so I can fully absorb the wonder of this dish: Bacon-wrapped Fried Chicken. It is this dish that struck notes of bliss into that night. Oddly enough, it was in large part inspired by a vegetarian friend of mine, unknown to her at the time. And though she didn't partake of it, I like to think that she appreciated it as well.

About thirty minutes (or less) after my arrival home, my friends that I had spent the evening with called me to ask me if they could celebrate my birthday with me - I like to think that this speaks volumes about how much they care for me - and it was decided that we would cook yet another meal together. So, we did cook another meal together, the next night, my birthday night. Wonderful Spaghetti, the recipe for which I have written of before, with the addition of shrimp, which took it over the top. I was also treated to see the new Sherlock Holmes, and was glad I saw it.

Of course, that event is much too humble for one's 21st date of birth, and over to the house of my friend Morgan I traveled. Dear, thoughtful soul that she is, she had a peice of cake waiting for me with a candle to blow out the moment I walked through the door. It was one of those times where you don't realize you miss someone so much until you see them again. This was a birthday to remember, at least for some time.

However, the next day is when the real excitement began. Of course, none of this would have been complete without the VERY long awaited for trip to the food carts in downtown Portland. There is so much here to write about I would exhaust my fingers and I'll only write of the most important highlights. There was the softshell crab, of course, which nearly caused me to lose the stale popcorn I had eaten for breakfast, and then there was wonderful Thai food, there was Grilled Cheese with Apple, and there was a Maple Bacon Waffle with  Wesley. Who is Wesley, you may wonder. Wesley is the young homeless man who walked up to us and asked us to buy him a meal, which we did, and did not ask us to provide friendly conversation, which we attempted to do, anyway. And that is when I learned that there is a folly to introducing yourself to a homeless gentleman who looks to be about your age while buying him lunch. He looked at me after shaking my hand, and very pointedly asked, "How old are you?" I may have overreacted, but I turned to the side and started laughing very hard, and my kind friend Wade responded for me, "She's older than some, but not as old as most." Thank you, for that.

Later in the day, I went to a dance recital of a friend, and at McMenamins, drank my first bit of legal beer, where of course, I was carded. I would be surprised if anyone believed I was 21. All in all, I would say it was a lovely birthday, much better than originally anticipated. I'm happy to say that I am now 21, and still have not ever been hungover.