How to Spoil Your Girlfriend on Her Birthday

1. Start^[1] the night before with a gourmet dinner of yellow peppers stuffed with quinoa, fresh corn and feta

2. Wake her up with a nice birthday card (with appropriately mushy sentiments) and a little present (in this case, an air horn for her new bike).

3. Take her out to the Little Red Bike Cafe for coffee on the back of the Big Dummy.

4. Be home by noon, for the next present: a two hour massage, courtesy of the other Jessica we love, Jessica Sims, LMT.  (She can make you feel good too, hit me up in comments for her contact info).

5. Spend the afternoon soaking up the sun on your back deck.

6. Make her a home made vegan chocolate cake with home made vegan-optional (she picked non) cream cheese frosting.^[2]

7. Load up girlfriend and cake on the dummy and haul them both to a lovely dinner with friends at Screen Door restaurant.  Have your server bring the cake out after dinner with all two blazing candles (yes, I was kind this year). 

8. Haul girlfriend and remaining cake home and put her to bed nice and early^[3] so she gets a good nights sleep for work the next morning.

Notes:

[1] Actually, start weeks before hand by doing a butt-load of leg work so she can have the custom bike she should have gotten in the first place.

[2] Delicious Vegan Chocolate Cake:

3 c. flour
2 c. sugar
5 tbsp cocoa
1 tsp salt
2 tsp soda

add:

2 tbsp vinegar
2 tsp vanilla
3/4 c. oil
~mix~

add 2 cups water
~mix~
bake at 350 for 30-35 mins.

Frosting:

1/2 c margarine
1/2 c cocoa
1/4 c soy  (or rice) milk
1 lb. powdered sugar
pinch of salt
~mix together (mixer works best)

Non-dairy cream cheese frosting:

Follow directions on C & H Powdered sugar box for cream cheese frosting, but use Toffutti Better Than Cream Cheese & Canola Butter (white tub, green lid).  Experiment with ingredients for desired thickness.

[3]  Or not. :)