40 is Awesome! Thank you so much!

Thank you sooooo much for all the birthday messages!!! Oh my goodness! Lots of messages from lurkers and blogger friends alike close and far. I spent half the day eating with friends, and the other half checking my phone calling out all the places "Ohio, Pennsylvania (them lots of blog readers in the fine state of Pennsylvania!!!), Rhode Island, Texas, UK, Canada..." Every message Made. My. Day. Thanks so much!

Here is a little collage of my day...
JustJenn and I went to Forage in Silverlake and had the best sandwich and sides, then we went to Beverly Hills for the Bouchon Bakery Pop-Up store for to-die-for chocolate bouchon and chocolate chip cookies (posts coming soon). I went to Crate & Barrel, purchased a new cake stand for myself, and had them gift wrap it! Heck yay. When you are 40, you do that sorta thing in Beverly Hills.

Then I donated a pint of blood (starting my 40's with some good karma! :) and headed out to Downtown LA for Pitfire Pizza with my friends Helen, Alison, Rosie, Jessica and Andy. It was delicious and lots of fun!

And to my Northern California friends, I'm coming up in January to celebrate my 40 1/12th birthday! :) Hee hee. Well, I'm not kidding. See you soon! :)

Thanks everyone for an awesome 40th birthday! - mary the food librarian

P.S. And yes, of course, I carried around my "4" and "0" candles in my purse all day and whipped them out at every location. Doesn't everyone?! :)

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Requested Prostitute Refund

Read about Ryan McNames and why he requested a refund from a Prostitute at out new site. CLICK HERE!

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The Food Librarian's 40th Birthday!

I'm 40!
Happy Birthday to Me! :)

Whoo hoo! I'm freaking 40! Now that I'm part of the 40-49 demographic bubble, I'm asking you for a favor...

You know that person in the office or group of friends that loves birthdays? You know, the one who makes cakes and banners for cubicles? The crazy lady who yells out "Happy Birthday" with a huge smile when the birthday boy or girl walks in? Well, if you haven't figured it out yet, that's me. I love birthdays because it is your little special day.

I love when people stop by and yell out Happy Birthday. I've been known to let it slip that it's my birthday when I'm out...(well, I just flat out tell people at the counter ;). I'm not into birthdays for the parties or gifts (not that I turn them down...hee hee), but I seriously love having people say "Happy Birthday" on my birthday.

So, if you are lurker who's read this blog and never, ever comments, now is your time to come out of the woodwork and send me a birthday greeting! Yes, I'm full-on asking for birthday messages to carry me into my 40's! Also, I would love to hear where you are from too! (I was shocked to have so many international Bundt makers...I would love to get birthday greetings from far and wide! Squeal!)

I hit two bakeries this morning, and going out with friends for lunch and dinner. I'll report back on the fun!
  - mary the 40 year old Food Librarian

P.S. The yummies are a mocha cake roll (of course, no frosting!) and strawberry mochi (filled with fresh strawberries and whipped cream) from J&J Bakery.

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Carnival Paradise Cruise - Celebrating Birthdays!

My former co-worker, Helen, and I went on the 3-Day Carnival Paradise Cruise (Long Beach to Ensenada) to celebrate our birthdays! I'm turning 40 tomorrow, and Helen celebrated her 50th-ish on the trip. It was our first cruise for both of us, and we had a great time. Lots of laughs and fun...and we were sober (unlike 90% of this party boat). I brought along Tuxedo Sam (Sanrio's awesome penguin character who is perfect because he is wearing a sailor's hat!) and he, as you can see in the photos, had a good time too. Hee hee!

During the cruise, I didn't have internet access and felt a bit of Twitter withdrawal. So, here is my post...all in 140 or less character Twitter posts that I would have sent had web access not been so bloody expensive.

• Eating on a cruise is like dining and dashing...only legally
• Our safety talk is conducted by a Northerner (England) #helenishomesick
• There ARE adequate lifeboats aboard. #notthetitanic
• It's been an hour and we haven't eaten #letsfixthat
• I need a nap. I need a snack. I need a nap. I need a snack. #cruiseissues
• Prohibition ended Dec 5, 1933. Cruise lines celebrate this day I'm sure.
• Cruising is part Frat party, part Summer camp, and part Las Vegas.

• We're eating at the bar to watch the Chelsea football game, and guys are already drinking. It's 8 am.
• Our excursion was the "Behind the Scene" tour. Met captain & crew, saw the recycling center, laundry and galley. #geekyawesomeness
• Walking the I-95 area on "Behind the Scene" tour was like being in a Discovery Channel show. #socool
• We figured out how to avoid most of the smoking areas.

• We went to the Menorah lighting ceremony. Got a dreidel and had some latkes and challah. #diversityrocks
• I worked out everyday on the jogging track...and ate everything to wipe out that progress. 
• Stairs are getting harder to go up. Must be the weight we are gaining.
• The Friends of Bill W. meeting is held in "America Bar" 8th level. #seriously
• The Captain and Officers are Italian #hothothot 

If you want to see more photos, here is my Carnival Cruise Flickr set.  - mary the food librarian

P.S. I bought myself a new point-and-shoot camera for my birthday. It is the Sony DSC-H55 and I really like it. Easy to use, pretty good in low light, automatic macro setting (when you get close up), and you can easily set the white balance (All these photos are taken with my new camera, and I mostly used the "automatic" setting).

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Coffee With Jeff - 16% New Stuff

More clips, this time for the first three months of season 2. You'll see the travels of Willy, the comedy of the Manchester Gallery and I've got a few announcements. What more could you ask for? A new car, well forget it!

Tags: coffee, jeff, travel, comedy, show, on the road, willy, fun, terrence, mancester gallery

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Cypresal Espresso

Available from today is our single microlot espresso from Finca Vista Hermosa:

Cypresal Espresso

Chocolate, roasted almonds, caramel, toffee and fully ripe oranges are some of the flavours that come to mind. It's totally right for Christmas. A beautifully balanced, sweet and delicious espresso.

This is a limited microlot and we're planning to roast this the year out.

It's available in our coffee shop and webshop from today.

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Do you know the band, Pomplamoose?

Oh sure you do! Their the two piece band that does those holiday Hyundai ads.

Get the New Pomplamoose Album

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