Happy Birthday Andre: September 28

Despite being back in the forest, our haven and sanctuary, this week has been pretty tough.  We’ve both been a little edgy and cranky with one another.  Maybe it’s all the driving we’ve had to do, living in tight quarters, readjusting from city life… whatever the reason, it hasn’t felt good.  Thankfully, we ended a terrific and healing talk last night just in time to start celebrating Andre’s birthday, and I woke up this morning feeling full of love and joy.  After a long and luxurious morning laughing and playing like children, I made his favorite Swiss recipe for carrot cake, fashioned into pancakes, which are mush easier to cook out here in the wilderness than baking an actual cake.  Mix together equal parts carrot, flour, and nuts (hazelnuts, almonds, walnuts, plus, pumpkin and sunflower seeds), with a little baking powder, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, an egg, oil, milk, and don’t forget the splash of grand marnier (that part isn’t in his recipe book).  We topped them with the maple syrup my mom tapped from her friend's tree, wild grapes, and sliced pears from a neighborhood tree.  All but the spices were foraged or gifted.  Happy birthday, beautiful!  Thank you for sharing this journey with me, for being a part of my life and for letting me be a part of yours!