What's my age again?

My brother aptly pointed out that I was the ripe age of 8 when the Blink-182 song was released, but that doesn't stop me from quoting a classic on my birthday. Yes, I turned 23 this weekend, and I got to spend my time with my wonderful boyfriend in Walla Walla. 

When I arrived, he was at work, but he had a dozen lavender roses waiting for me and a note reminding me that I'm loved ... and that I'm now two years older than him--it's only for a month but he enjoys calling me a cougar for it. 

Later, he gave me a bigger birthday gift--a black blade ceramic knife by Kyocera. It's really the best. I'm over the moon about it. It will likely be the only knife I ever use now. 

The other part of my birthday gift (yes, he spoils me) was a home-cooked meal. He let me choose everything. I made the salad based on a zesty kale salad I had at a friend's house a few weeks ago, and a mushroom lasagna I'd been wanting to try. I was really proud of him--he did everything with the lasagna without help. I had a fun time explaining how the flour, butter, and milk mixture he was making was called a roux. For dessert, we had lemon sorbet float with grape juice (or alternately with a berry wine). Woah, baby. It was good.

It had been far too long that we'd been apart. It was nice to cuddle in the breeze of the a/c, watching Wes Anderson's The Grand Budapest Hotel, Jean-Pierre Jeunet's Amélie, and talking face-to-face. Amazingly, we only watched one episode of House of Cards. 

image via nypost.com

Sunday morning, we went to Bacon & Eggs. We'd heard great things from all our friends about it and decided to try it out. We made it right between rushes and waited an extra two minutes (gasp!) to sit outside. Had we arrived later, it would have been too hot, but a 10 am brunch did just fine for us. Michael ordered the special for the day, Eggs Benedict with heirloom tomatoes, pesto, hollandaise, and bacon. I ordered chilaquiles with two poached eggs. I'd forgotten how much I love chilaquiles. We both highly recommend Bacon & Eggs if you're ever in the Walla Walla area.