Those Birthday Days

Maybe it's because I'm facing the prospect of moving all the way across the country. Maybe it's because I'm about to no longer be able to see friends and family on a daily basis. Maybe it's because the reality of turning 18 is just slowly starting to sink in. Or maybe it's even because of the unusually estival weather today. These ephemeral days increased my sense of urgency to journal my day-to-day life. Lately I've gained an entirely new perspective of myself and my community, perhaps feeling a bit detached, like a tourist. But it's not a bad thing. This feeling of detachment prompts me to look at everything around me in a far more appreciative manner, knowing that these kinds of days--time, is limited.

The orchids capture the warmth of dawn.

Imagine if every morning started as beautiful as this.

First of all, I was awakened on my birthday by the sounds of mom chopping up vegetables at 3:30am. Nodding back to sleep, I woke up again to the glorious sunshine and the delicious smells of khao swè thohk, or a Burmese-style noodle salad, which I took to school to share with my friends. After enjoying some traditional birthday noodles with the most tender chicken ever and two soft-boiled eggs, I headed off. At school, I enjoyed several choruses of Happy Birthday (I feel so blessed to be adored by my friends!) and realized how great they were in hiding their pained faces as they ate the overly spicy (too much red onion), yet delicious, khao swè thohk. They definitely made both me and my mom happy!

The sunlight fills the kitchen, too.
My mother is enjoying her breakfast after
 toiling over the noodles.

 Khao swè thohk at its finest and spiciest. (Sorry for the excess onions!)

My birthday dish, chow (fermented something...)  and khao swè. 

Tender "running" chicken from the 99 Ranch ran
 straight into the stockpot. Sorry, guys!

I also received a beautiful flower-apple amigurumi creation from Cindey, as well as her pineapple-juiced sourdough starter, which were bubbling away happy almost immediately after being fed once I go home! Most of my friends told me they were going to give me their gifts later, which I actually prefer to having to carry lots of conspicuous gift bags around school for the whole day. I requested pajamas, but I wonder who is actually going to follow through with that... Anyways, the starter made me really happy because I split it into two and  am looking forward to baking some amazing sourdough bread in the upcoming weeks.

My bread flour-fed starter with 100% hydration.

My whole wheat-fed starter with 200% hydration.

Not only did my mom also make one of my all-time favorite Burmese dishes, ka la hin, a sort of broth-based gumbo, or as I like to think of it, inverted vegetable soup (with the proportions of broth to vegetable switched). My day ended with a visit from my best friend who came to my house bearing a gift--an amazingly orange weatherproof jacket, courtesy of the kids' section (that's one advantage to being a shorty). All-in-all, there was no better induction day to adulthood than 4/20/2012. I haven't felt this thankful in a while...

Some of the constituencies of  ka la hin, which usually consists of whatever happened 
to be in our fridge. Here it was zucchini, sweet potatoes, green beans, and more. 

The kitchen table at dinner. The colorful fruits are just a microcosm of my everyday diet.