Rambles In The Brambles

My 30th birthday will occur next year, on July 14. I wonder what my response will be. I wonder if I will even be writing in this blog, given how my writing-frequency has decreased.

Happy birthday to my girlfriend... She blew out her candles, and I hope that her wishes come true.

	Elizabeth establishing the first critical layer of sauce.
	One of the pans is complete.
	Showing off the product. We made three pans, but only cooked two. The other is still sitting in my freezer.
	The table set, with the guests eagerly awaiting dinner.
	The birthday cake was purchased from Cake Collection in Santa Monica. (I would put a link to their website, but apparently they do not yet have one. Here is a list of a number of bakeries in Los Angeles.) I have had two samples of their work, and have found them to be of excellent quality.
	No birthday party is complete without birthday headdress and ribbon of honor.
	We received some nice-looking blue flowers. The flash on my camera makes them look luminous, and maybe unrealistic.

The simple lasagna receipe that my mother gave me:

Ingredients:

• Disposable aluminum foil lasagna pan. Why waste your time cleaning dishes?
• Box of lasagna noodles. I use the kind that do not need to be precooked.
• About two bottles of spaghetti sauce.
• About 2/3 of a bag of spinach.
• Small tub of ricotta cheese.
• About two bags of mozzarella cheese
• Small bag of parmesan cheese

Process

1. Establish a layer of sauce on the bottom.
2. Add a layer of lasagna noodles (wetted), overlapping the noodles a little. The noodles do not have to be pre-cooked if the proper kind are purchased.
3. Dab little spoons of ricotta cheese over the noodles. Smooth these dabs out.
4. Add more sauce
5. Sprinkle mozzarella cheese
6. Add a layer of spinach. Use a lot, as the spinach will cook down.
7. Repeat the previous steps until the layers reach about 0.25 inches from the top
8. On the top, add one more layer of mozzarella cheese and parmesan cheese. At this point the pan is complete, and can be frozen for long-term storage.
9. Cover with aluminum foil and bake for about an hour at 400 deg F. When the cheese is bubbling, take the foil off the top and let the mozzarella on the top brown. (This takes about 10 minutes.