We had a lot of fun celebrating Steven’s birthday this weekend!

On Saturday night we went to HuHot and Cold Stone Creamery with Jen and Troy. It’s always so fun to catch up with them!

On Sunday (his birthday) we started the day with presents, then we flew to Janesville, WI for brunch, then we made homemade döner kebabs for dinner.

We’ve been craving vegan döner ever since having it in Germany in April. I’ve tried an American version in Seattle, and we both tried it in Chicago, and both were meh, so Steven decided to make it at home.

First he had to figure out the bread – I won’t get into the technicality of it but it’s a special thick but not dense bread. Something about the water/bread ratio? Who knows. I’m horrible in the kitchen (but will enthusiastically try whatever he makes me!).

Steven researched and combined two recipes and pretty much nailed it after three tries:

He also made homemade seitan, and we got a ton of ingredients (the crappy part of his birthday – grocery shopping) to make all the toppings (all vegan) – garlic sauce, hot sauce, sweet onion with some special spice, shredded lettuce, shredded red cabbage, tomatoes, and cucumbers.

They were delish and the closest to the real thing we’ve had! Obviously we need to go back to Germany (maybe Berlin?) to have more, but this is a good substitute until that happens.

This is such a perfect example of who Steven is – he sees a challenge, figures it out, and makes it happen. Like tackling this complicated bread so we could have homemade doner kebab! He’s like that in every arena of his life. Every day I feel lucky I have a partner who’s always up for a challenge and makes things happen.

And now for the sappy part (ha, no, that last paragraph was not it!)! This has been an incredible year for Steven, and while he’s too humble to brag, I’m not! He got his pilot’s license, grew his small business in amazing ways, and still balanced it all with taking a few trips and making time for us. I’m always proud of him and in awe of everything he accomplishes.

Happy Birthday, Steven!

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Ha, did you think I was not going to share a few details from our flight? THINK AGAIN!

First of all, how lucky are we that the weather was nice enough on December 22nd to fly?! Woo hoo!

It was cold though, and things operate a bit differently when it’s cold.

But first I am going to detour from THAT thought so say things were also operating differently because the school moved kind of back to their old location and was on a different side of the airport. Which we only knew because Steven called the day before to add an hour to our flight. He specifically asked what to do and how to get the plane and got the response of “someone will be there.” Let’s just say it took us a while to find that someone. It’s a good thing we added that extra time!

Okay, back to business.

Once we got to the plane I was excited to discover we got to do preflight in the heated hangar!!! Since it’s so cold out, all the planes stay inside unless they are being used. It was my first time experiencing this and me likey. If the plane had been outside, we would have done some of the typical engine off preflight checklist later (flaps and lights) after the plane had warmed up AND I WAS SO READY TO REMIND STEVEN OF THIS AND PRETTY PROUD OF MYSELF FOR REMEMBERING but I didn’t need to. I’d say “next time” but it was lovely to preflight in the hangar so I’m good if I never get to do that reminder.

I also learned while cleaning the window to always clean in the direction of the wind, not in circles. If you clean in circles and the window gets scratched, the way light refracts makes the scratches more noticeable than if you clean with the wind in straight lines. Good to know!

So our plan was to fly to Janesville and have brunch at Bessie’s Diner, an on airport restaurant. I knew they didn’t have any vegan options spelled out, but figured I’d order hashbrowns or toast or something.

The clouds were high and it was a beautiful moody day:

It was my first time seeing patches of snow on a flight!

Our flight there was uneventful. We did have someone on our same path headed straight for us out of Janesville, but everyone followed the rules – we both went to the right and they maintained their lower altitude and we stayed at our higher one. I love it when everyone behaves.

I was very proud of myself when Steven was getting into the pattern at Janesville and asked me what his final (final is the last part of the pattern before landing) altitude was and I told him “13” without missing a beat. I AM TRYING SO HARD TO BE A GOOD UNOFFICIAL COPILOT.

Anyway.

It took us a bit to figure out HOW to get to the restaurant, cause we are us, but then we got in, and…

Santa was there and they had a fixed buffet menu! So Steven ate and I didn’t want to pay $25 for potatoes and fruit so I just chatted with him knowing I would eat my fig bar back in the plane (yes this bit me in butt later and I had a meltdown after grocery shopping that I tried to keep to myself since it was Steven’s birthday and he already deals with me melting down over something every day).

It was a cute little restaurant and I was excited to check out someplace new!

I talked to Santa and told him what I wanted for Christmas. For a sign claiming he “flew in there” he did not seem amused when I told him I wanted a plane. No matter. Ha.

So was it the stopping to talk to Santa or Steven talking to another pilot on the ramp that made us run a bit later for our 12:30 return? We’ll never know but thankfully we had a tailwind, and Steven came in hot at Waukegan and we were on the ramp just a few minutes late! And no one was waiting for us, so alllllll good. I can’t wait for our next flight!