My sister's birthday was Feb. 19th but we haven't celebrated it yet, since every year she picks somewhere astrology indicates she should go to get good karma (or something) for the next year. In the past it's been New Zealand and Japan,, last year Seattle, but this year she picked Houston since international flights are still a little iffy with Covid. Afterwards she went to a hotel in NJ, then to my aunt's and has been there or NYC ever since, so we still haven't managed to get together. 

Before she left I made her choose what she wanted me to bake for her birthday cake/pie and she chose this Mint Chocolate Cookie Cake. Coincidentally, all of her "organic" demands go out the window when it comes to something she wants. Which means *evil laugh* I get to bake a full-fat, full-sugar recipe for once in this house without hearing someone bitch and moan about it.

Not that I've totally stopped baking - I just do it on the weekends instead. Two weekends ago it was blueberry cornmeal bread (with homemade jam layer), last weekend bran muffins, lemon curd, and coconut macaroons, and now this cake. I refuse to completely give up the hobbies I developed while unemployed just because I'm working 40 hours a week again, and I think that's a wise move. If you're going to put in the time, effort, and brain power to learn something, abandoning it for a year or more usually means you're not going to pick it back up, and over time you do forget.

So Saturday is cake day, and Sunday is belated birthday party. I have a little tin of Bob Ross Happy Little Tree mints to give her and I figure she can use the tin as a travel case for the myriad of vitamins and supplements she takes every day. Since she still has no apartment, and won't have one, gifts have to be small and portable to be useful. Baking is easier than gift giving, lol!