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.

Happy Belated Birthday, Yobo

There he is.  The father of my unborn children.  I purposely made this picture smaller to avoid any embarrassment that Jason might face in the future, but this picture is just too good.  I can't decide what's best about it.  The fact that he is clearly unhappy that I'm taking his picture, last season's long johns making an appearance when they badly need to be thrown out, or the fact that he's only wearing one slipper.  What's up with that, anyway?

Anyway, on April 11, 2010, Jason turned 26.  He's not one for huge birthday celebrations, but since we weren't able to spend his birthday together last year, I insisted that we do something a little special.  I asked him what he wanted for his "Birthday Dinner," which consisted of breaded chicken strips dipped in Teriyaki, white rice (because I usually make him eat brown rice), some Shrimp and Veggie Soup, and his favorite pie.

Yes, that is a giant votive candle in the middle of Jason's birthday pie.

Even though I'd offered to make something a little more special for Jason's birthday, he very humbly asked for his chicken strips and rice, to which I gladly obliged.  Overall, it was a very uneventful birthday.  We ate dinner quietly, and I busted out the only candle I could find and some sparklers that I had lying around to sing "Happy Birthday" to him by myself.  We ate a lot of pie, talked a little bit about our days, and 15 minutes in to watching "A Gentleman's Agreement," he was asleep on my couch and we called it a night.

Jason blowing out his giant birthday candle.

And you know what?  It was a great night.  Some of my friends have given me a little flack about getting married so young, and even by the time I was 23, I'd already acquired the moniker "Grandma Grace" for never wanting to go drinking with my buddies and getting stupid at some bar.  Sure, maybe I did spend a few too many lonely nights in my little studio apartment watching weird independent movies and smelling my neighbor's weed smoke wafting through the hallway- I'll fully admit that.  

But Jason's birthday was an example of how I get to be a boring person with another boring person for the rest of my life... and how great is that?  To be completely at ease and content with someone you love, who has no expectations, but lives with great expectancy of what good things are to come.  Someone who is totally cool (okay, maybe compliant is a better word) to you taking a somewhat unflattering picture of them in their long underwear with only one slipper on.  Someone whose only birthday wish is to hang out with his kooky fiance and eat some chicken strips and pie.

Happy Belated Birthday, Jase.  Here's to all the Banana Cream Pie, chicken strips, and rice you could possibly consume in our future long life together!

Oh... and you didn't think I'd leave you hanging without a few more shots of that pie!  Home made, baby!  Look at that crust crimping!  The Oreo topping was Jason's idea.