Happy Birthday Vicci/FoodFiend

[HomeCulinarian]

Wishing you a fabulous birthday!

[Mare749]

Happy Birthday, Vicci! Hope you stop in for a visit. We would love to hear about your special day. Hope it's fabulous!

Maryann

[cjs]

Have a great day Vicci!

[farnfam]

HAPPY HAPPY BIRTHDAY Vicci!!
Hope it's a great one

[labradors]

Have a fiendish birthday!

[DFen911]

Happy Birthday!!! Eat, Drink be Merry and then do all again!

[Trixxee]

Hope you had (and are still having) a great b-day!!!

[BarbaraS]

Happy, happy Birthday Vicci!!

I hope all your wishes come true today!!

Barbara

[esgunn]

Happy Birthday. Have a wonderful day! And do something very special for yourself.

[foodfiend]

Thanks so much for all of the birthday wishes, guys!!!

I've been more of a lurker lately on these forums, mainly because I was trying to lose some weight and training for a 10k next weekend so I had no wonderful gastronomic topics to add. But on Easter morning I woke with a tickle in my throat, which quickly turned into a rare, very nasty head/chest cold, which then proceeded to send me to the doctor's office with an asthma attack (first one I've had in 6 years!). I thought, last Saturday, that I was getting over it and (very, very stupidly) went out for a run. We went to the lake house for a few days, as planned, but I ended up spending a few hours on my birthday at a Urgent Care Center, having another breathing treatment.

I feel a little better today, but still can't move around much without becoming winded, and this nasty barking cough just has to go!

Now, that all being said, I was still able to go out to dinner with DH last night... We tried a Middle Eastern restaurant that had been recommended (there are not many... any... decent restaurants near the lake house, which is why I'm always cooking when we are there!). Even though I was all set to order one of the regional specialties (Middle Eastern, not West Virginia), I was drawn to the Parmesan-crusted tilapia with mango glaze and could not have made a better choice (although we did indulge in Greek salad and hummus with warm pitas beforehand). It was awesome! And for dessert-- I've found Dessert Nirvana. Bittersweet-chocolate infused baklava which they called Choclava. It was good enough to almost make me cry! And I couldn't even think of touching the almond cheesecake w/ strawberries and champagne which DH had in the refrigerator when we got back to the house.

Did I mention that I ended up losing a few pounds during my cold, but that's probably only a memory now! And, what the heck, I'm no longer "in training" so I indulged. It was [/u]fantastic[/u].

In fact, this reminded me of a question I wanted to ask but I will post it separately.

Again, thanks for the Happy Birthday wishes, everyone! And, at least until I can breathe normally again and find myself spending hours outside in the veggie/ flower gardens, I will be around here more often since this is a nice, quiet place to be...