Closest Friend's Birthday, and A silly Moment (unrelated)

August 4 is my best friend's birthday. Well, let's be straight, I have a lot of best friends. All my bridesmaids are best friends from my various walks of life. But, Audrey, well, she's my best-best-best friend. However, I don't like separating friends into a ranking system because it may make them feel like only one is the ultimate best and they somehow pale in comparison, but you all don't pale at all. The term "best friend" isn't really accurate. I feel like the person that you talk to all the time, or you don't talk to but can start up a conversation on a dime without feeling insecure that you haven't talked to them in a few months, as well as the person who you feel that you have so much in common with plus you've grown together as individuals, taught each others things, comforted each other countless times, been there, and loved  beyond the love possible in your heart is really the closest friend. 

So, I guess what I mean is that Audrey is my closest friend. I love her so much my heart feels like it melts every time I see her. 

Anyway, she’s a beautiful human soul and I wish her the best happy birthday ever and we’ll be playing some party-kind of board- games remotely for her birthday celebration. 

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This aside, just a silly thought to share, a friend of mine pointed out that my computer showed that I had been playing “Risk of Rain 2” for 24+ hours which was completely false. I can assuredly confess that I had forgotten to close out the game before I went to sleep, and then I worked the next day not realizing that my personal computer was still running the game in the intro lobby. You are free to call me an idiot, you won’t be the only one. 

Birthday Month! (Better Than Birthday Day)

 So, back in April, I had been lamenting to my husband that I should plan a "remote-digital-birthday party," because who knows if we'll be able to meet in person. He had said, "We'll prob be good by July." 

Clearly he had too much faith in American society (laughs). Oh, how this mess saunters on. That aside (because we're all tired of talking about being indoors all the time without friends), July is the most magnificent birth month....because it's mine! 

On my birthday, we went over to my mom's house practicing social distancing and quiet talks and we had a lovely dinner with Petit Petit wine which is a favourite of mine, and for dessert, we had mom's classic Mincemeat Pie. 

I stupidly tried to convince my husband to eat some, all the while forgetting the fact that meat does exist within the filling and he's vegetarian. Trust me, my memory is always this bad, but at least I'm genuine all the time.

Mincemeat Pie is my favourite dessert. And mom doesn't even make it in the "traditional" form. We buy None Such's Mincemeat Pie filling which can only be found around November-December in stores. (I stock up 3-4 jars every year.) This is what it looks like:

 Then she uses a regular pie crust + the filling and bakes it to perfection. "But Jenna, what even IS Mincemeat Pie?" 

Well, ladies and gents, and in-betweens, mincemeat pie is comprised of finely ground beef, sweeteners, raisins, dried apples, molasses, dried orange and lemon peel, salt, and aromatic spices (cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, allspice, mace, ginger, and coriander). Some people also add brandy or dark rum, or both. "But, Jenna, this sounds delicious just not the meat part!" 

YOU CAN'T TASTE THE MEAT! Because of the spices and fruits, any meat flavour or texture is impossible to detect. Originally mincemeat pie used mutton, or venison, but modern recipes either exclude the meat entirely or use ground beef. The meat was added to create a filling meal that provided protein as well. 

Trust me on this, everyone. It really is a must-try at least once in your life kind of pie. If you're vegetarian, there are easy alternatives to leaving out the meat by making it from scratch. And I'll probably make my own vegetarian pie eventually so that my husband can enjoy my nostalgic pie experience.