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Another Year, Another Birthday

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I had a love-and-friend-filled birthday this year!  I got flowers from a student whose father runs a flower shop, four of us with the same birthday exchanged gifts, and I went out to sing karaoke and eat delicious rice flour crepes!  I ate a green tea cheesecake crepe (amazing).  Below, the karaoke group picture.
    
L-R: of course us, Sachiko and Io-chan, Shio, Atsushi, and Kiri.

My birthday present to myself?  A rice cooker cake!  Skeptics: yes, that's it, in the rice cooker just post.  Recipe: 200 grams gluten-free hotcake mix, 1 egg, 1/2 cup maple syrup, 1/2 cup canola oil, 1/2-1 cup plain yogurt.  I added 3 mashed bananas, 1 small package dark chocolate chips, and unsweetened dried coconut (topping).  You simply mix it all together, drop it in a slightly oiled rice cooker, and start the cycle!  My cooker has a cake setting on it, which runs for 45 minutes (in the winter it takes 2 cycles).  If you don't have a cake setting but want to try this, I suggest using a slower cook setting, like brown rice, and checking after about 40 minutes.  If a toothpick comes out clean, it's done!  This cake was seriously the best thing I've made in awhile.  It was moist and flavorful.  Since then, I've made a blueberry one too, also spectacular.  There's something about this rice cooker that makes the finished product perfectly delectable, with no extra moisture but no dryness either.

For another birthday celebration, a few of us January girls got together at the Natural Cafe.  I ate pad Thai, which came in that delightful little fish dish.  It's been some time since I had a good Thai dish (the grocery store has been out of supplies to make it for months now), so I couldn't pass up the opportunity.



Everyone's dishes looked amazing though: Rachael got green curry, Mari got a huge rice omelette, and Saya opted for a lovely salad and bread.  We finished the meal with decadent birthday treats!  Mine is a house crème brûlée, Saya's is a Japanese dessert called annin dofu, and the other two have great cakes.
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