Happy 1st Birthday Moderate Epicurean! (What, you say? I thought the old gal was 40 today? 'Tis true, so read on...) Happy 1st Birthday to this blog! Yes, I birthed "the moderate epicurean" one year ago today. (Much less painful than 8.8 lb. Nathan, I highly recommend the experience.) What a year! What a ride! What a hell of a lot of writing, photographing, cooking, eating, drinking, gossiping, and laughing! Downsides too - namely the rather immoderate weight I gained after starting this blog and putting my total focus on food. Hey, live and learn! (It wasn't quite that breezy of a realization, to say the least, but I digress...) With my focus firmly back on my health, my weight is steadily normalizing, and I'm reclaiming my usual self, albeit more slowly than I would like. Then again, most things go more slowly than I would like - patience is a hard-won virtue for this girl; mulling that very flaw spurred the creation of this blog in the first place. If I put a positive spin on it all, perhaps I could say that in this year, I did indeed learn how to live like a moderate epicurean. Hey, I like that!

So oh, yes, Happy 40th Birthday! To. Me. Sigh... I have very mixed feelings about being 40 (as you can see by the mixed-feelings look I attempted here, ha; and for further evidence of my feelings, check out Suz's blog; I love the pic, but I didn't have the guts to put it on my own blog...). Yeah, yeah, yeah, it's just a number, several people have reminded me. But it's a number packed with lots of meaning - most of it none-too-good, frankly. Don't worry, in the end I'll have a good attitude about it (as if I have a choice, ha.) I always, eventually drag my bad attitude out of the gutter, I know how to handle myself. But first, allow me a bit of a sulk. I'm now Officially Middle-Aged - and that matters to a woman in this culture, hell yes it does. HELL YES IT DOES! Saying you're 39 is not the same as saying you're 40, I don't care what sort of positive spin you (attempt to) put on it. You know, "you look good...(for 40)" is nice and not-so-nice. It's not a full-on compliment the way compliments used to be - you know, yesterday, when I wasn't 40. As I said, I'm not idiotic enough to defer the compliment. But it catches in the throat a bit, it does. I'm Fucking 40 (there, I said the f-bomb, it's been a long while, but today I happily, grumpily pull it out again). I feel great, I look OK - for 40! - but I will never be, or appear to be, truly young again. Duh. Damn. And wow, what a HUGE bummer.

What to do? Paint my nails black (seemed fitting, felt great, even if it's a bit Hollywood and not terribly rebellious anymore), don some serious bling, and make the best of it all, of course, which is what I did last night with John, my minxes, Kim and Suz, and their hubbies, Brian and Cory! We dined at the tres chic Asian-fusion Chamber's Kitchen, in the tres chic Chamber's Hotel. BLAST! Of the many things we tasted, I'd name the chicken samosa appetizer and John's walleye tempura as my favs. The crunchy tuna appetizer and Brian and Cory's striped sea bass entrees were delicious - and beautiful! - as well. I had a lovely slice of banana birthday cake for dessert, also fabulous. And opened a gorgeous, very minxish Chinese mirrored compact from Kim - I love it! Such personal, unique, and feminine gifts from my friends - I'm very lucky, obviously. Yay! On our way out we stopped by the outdoor firepit/ice-bar, hoppin' cuz it's toasty-warm, even in January, even in Minnesota (granted, this is not a typical Minnesota January, but still, it is winter!). Waaay cool, watching the stylie crowd sip icy fireside martinis. Ahh, a perfect evening with my amazing friends. Thanks guys, for ringing in the big 4-0 with me! I wouldn't have had it any other way...

And so. Here I am, by the light of the day, truly 40. My plan? More cooking and blogging about it - and about my other sensual pursuits, to boot. Life (and epicureanism) is obviously about many more pleasures than just food and drink - and if not, then one gets fat and ends up in treatment. OK! None of that! Moderation in all things is good, my friends, it really is so (sometimes boringly) true. So again, thank you for reading along with me this past year as I tested this truism (er, to the max, unfortunately) and, of course, as always, stay tuned...