Welcome to 27

April 9 was Jason's 27th Birthday.  We're still a little blown away at how quickly our twenties seem to be rushing by, but our good friend Frieda was quick to remind us how young we are, emphatically insisting that Jason is "far too young to be married!"  All musings on age and growing older aside, Jason opted against his usual quiet approach to birthday celebrations and decided to give me a night off from kitchen duty.

Jason with our buddy and Firefly student, Paul, at dinner

We met up with our good friends at our campus's Xinjiang Muslim Restaurant.  Xinjiang food is mostly carbs and protein (so Jason was pretty stoked), and in following with Muslim doctrine, doesn't serve pork or seafood.  Being that beef in China is rather expensive, you're left with lots of chicken and mutton options, which Xinjiang folks do extremely well.  I have to hand it to people in China for serving up some seriously tasty, non-gamey mutton.  Here's a peak at what we feasted on.

Of course, being me, I simply couldn't let Jason go on and have a birthday without a proper dessert to give his big day a good finish.  And of course, Jason simply wouldn't let me spend the 150 RMB (about $23 USD) it would cost to buy a little cake at a local bakery.  He made a special request for chocolate chip cookies and cupcakes.  I went with this recipe for the cookies (lives up to its name) and some awesome Eton Mess Cupcakes, courtesy of Ming Makes Cupcakes.

Eton Mess, for those who may not be in the know, is a British tasty treat hailing from Prince William's alma mater, comprised of meringue, whipped cream, and strawberries.  Not to be confused with Pavlova, which is the only other meringue-based dessert that brings me joy (don't even get me started on meringue-topped pies).

I made little J's out of meringue in honor of the Birthday Boy.  Or is it Birthday Man?

Birthday Boy/Man enjoying his Eton Mess Cupcake

I'm pretty sure that every single time I introduce Jason to anyone in China, they immediately express is their shock and amazement at how handsome he is.  Sometimes, it's hard to not take that personally-- like I'm actually supposed to be married to Sloth from The Goonies instead, and by some crazy turn of events, I completely lucked out and married a good lookin' human being.

Well, all this self-deprecation is healthy for no one, so I simply take the compliments as an excuse to gush about how, yeah, he is really handsome.  Isn't he?  Of course, all the people who remark on how handsome Jason is don't have the great privilege of knowing that his personality outshines his appearance.  They don't know that when his wife stomps around the kitchen throwing things because it's too early on a Saturday and she hasn't had coffee yet, he sits patiently and waits for her to become sane again.  They don't see how hard he works at being better as a teacher, husband, servant of the Kingdom day after day, humbly and without expectations for praise or reward in return.  They don't know what he looks like shuffling about the apartment in his pajamas, singing Musiq Soulchild and checking his email. And they certainly don't know how fun it is being married to him.

But I do.  Happy Birthday, Husband.  I so look forward to finding out all the other things about you that other people won't know.