Birthday Post

In a tradition not entirely dissimilar to a condemned man's last meal, our family allowed the birthday boy to select their own menu on their b-day. Being 45 as of today, never married and expecting a few months here and there, I never have cohabited - means every meal, I get to choose my own meal, so having a special b-day meal looses some of its significance.

Fittingly, with my year of eating in, today's meal will be a sandwich, well 2 sandwiches - steak and cheddar with extra horseradish and bacon and egg. I'm excited about both. I'm also excited about my birthday 'cake' - peach tart and almond pastry cream on a cinnamon shortbread crust. I baked it myself, which elicited a couple, "Aw you have to bake your own birthday cake". The baking has nothing to do with living alone. I could have corralled/shamed/enticed any number of people to bake or buy for a cake for my birthday except:

• I like to bake
• I don't like cake
• I am not especially great at accepting things from others.

(The last one does have something to do with living alone). 

So what would I have to eat if it weren't my astrological Year of the Sandwich? Pizza was a big favorite as a child but it isn't such a special occasion food now. I remember Chicken Paprikasch, it was pronounced Pup-er-kash in my youth and maybe it still does now after a couple of beers helps my Midwestern accent rear its nasally head. Birthday or not, chicken braised in a sour cream/paprika sauce, then served over egg noodles, was a a childhood favorite. That was one of the few foods that tie me to a different food culture than middle class, suburban American. Now when I make the dish, it is served over the more traditional nokedli AKA spätzle and probably apples, bacon and cabbage on the side. I still get almost weepy thinking about it but were still a month or so away from cold weather foods in Oregon.

What else have I had on my birthday? Many years there were cookouts - Oregon's summer starts late and lingers on, so having a cookout in a glorious September is right and good. Sausages, a whole roast pig. My larger social circle engage in a decade long tradition of Soup Night, so I know there have been a few soups in there. Notably, Chicken fried eggplant, catfish and green curry and beer, plenty of beer to was it all down with. 

Recently, someone asked me what my favorite cuisine was. Fair enough question from someone who knew I liked food. A commendable way to start conversation, ask a question about another person's interest. I suppose a response like Italian, French or Thai was the type of answer she was expecting. I think most of my adult birthdays have involved red beans & rice with bread pudding for dessert, so even Creole would have been a good answer. Yet the straightforward nature of the question threw me for a loop. I spend so much time in the micro level of food and cooking, even if I try to be aware of the fact that for some people food is a practical issue (a lot of people worry about what to feed the kids in 30 minutes or what to get a low-blood sugared hangry spouse) that I forget about food on the macro level. 

I answered with my new food crush, Vietnamese. The more I thought about it, the more I realized that wasn't quite it. My favorite cuisine is delta foods - give me a cuisine born in the area where land and water meet sometimes confusingly, and I will love the whatever gets put in front of me. Age and perspective don't always go together but I'll chalk this up to insight. 

Must go make some sandwiches and get to work. And yes, I will have a happy birthday.