Happy Half-Birthday to Me

It wound up being a fairly small gathering for my half-birthday. I had hoped a few more people would show up, but we had a good time, and there are plenty of leftovers without there being a burdensome amount. And the cake was a success!

It was really tasty and perfect — in fact, if I were to have one complaint about it, it’s that it’s too close to tasting like something shop-bought. But it’s really good, and none of the flavours are overwhelming, just satisfying. It would be perfect with a cup of coffee in the morning. Although with homemade yogurt in the fridge, who really wants cake for breakfast? Weird, I know.
All the food I made turned out well, and although it feels like it took the better part of the weekend (I made the labour-intensive dishes yesterday and reheated them today), there was no feeling of being frazzled the entire time. I made vegan mac’n'cheese (I think S put his vote in for that one), BBQ tofu and veg, salad, fruit, guacamole with corn chips. . . and there were some other odds and ends.
I had some leftovers for dinner, when I finally felt hungry again:

I was surprised that everybody enjoyed the fake mac’n'cheese. I did brace them as to what to expect from it, and I think it’s really very good providing you’re not expecting real cheese flavour (I use the Veganomicon recipe, in case you were wondering).
This isn’t really half-birthday related, but I love these flowers in the tiny vase:

Can you believe I got the vase from the thrift store? . . . for sixty cents! Crazy.
So, I would recommend half-birthday celebrations, even if they seem a bit silly. My garden gave me the first broccoli of 2008, and S did all the dishes and cleaned the kitchen after everybody went home, while I took a nap. Those are some pretty fine gifts.