so...

So, it was my birthday the other day...just another day, Satoshi had to work, so we wouldn't be doing anything special.

Since I didn't want to cook on my birthday, the day before (Monday), I made a batch of hoisin sauce chicken and some cole slaw.

It had been awhile since I had opened the hoisin sauce bottle and...it was "welded" shut, not even that rubber thingy I have to get a firmer grip on it would open it.

To be a housewife, I think you sometimes have to be a handyman a.k.a. McGyver, so to remedy the situation, I took out tools...a hammer, a long screwdriver, the can opener...

Well, the can opener didn't work, and I was about to pound a hole into the cover of the jar with the screwdriver, instead I slipped the screwdriver between the bottle and cap and gave the screwdriver a little jiggle, and heard the air release...whew!

I was able to open the jar. (Will I be able to open it next time?! I'll have to wait and see)

Before dinner on my birthday, I decided to open a bottle of wine which I had bought on Monday too.

Weird, the corkscrew was having a hard time going in...little did I know that the cork was dry...bah!

So dry that it broke the opener...

I again took out the hammer and screwdriver...I also remembered we had a waiter's corkscrew (it is the type that has a knife on it) and took that out as well.

Only problem was I didn't know how to use it because I was used to using the one with the "wings/arms". Thank goodness for the internet, they had video of how to use the waiter type.

So now that I knew how to use the waiter type, I tried it but it was all in vain because the cork was not budging.

So, I took that broken corkscrew and the hammer and used it to push the cork down.

There were splats of wine until the cork finally went all the way into the bottle, but I was at least able to get the bottle open.

As I poured some wine into a glass over a filter, the cork blocked the entrance and then there was a point where I got a flood of wine when the cork moved...eep!

Micro-bits of cork in my glass and much stress later...I was finally able to sit down to dinner.

How was the wine? meh, it was a little light for my liking, for all I know, it oxidized a bit with all that "drama"...

By eight, Satoshi wasn't home yet, so I lit a candle and had cake.

The cake I bought was a roll filled with chocolate ganache by Mior. The cake was a honey chocolate cake that was very moist.

Delicious.

Lots of adventure on my birthday to say the least, hopefully the year will be a happy and healthy one.

We had the other half of the cake for breakfast, with the addition of some fruit for some nutrition (ahem)

Satoshi is off for the next couple of days, so hopefully we'll be able to go out for dinner on one of them (minus any drama).