Happy birthday, mom!!!!!!!

Today is my mom's birthday. She's the best. I'm glad she's my mom, and I'm glad we're so close. In October I went to Amherst to see her as a surprise. My roommate dates a friend of mine who lives down the street from my mom, I had the right days off and the friend was here visiting and I had a free ride with him back to Mass. We got to Amherst in the middle of the night, I stayed at his house then went to visit my mom at work the next day. She had no idea I was coming, she works at a college and I walked in and she looked up, thought I was a regular colege kid, looked back at her computer, then looked back at me and was so surprised! It was a lot of fun. She and I went to Wholefoods for lunch, then to Cook farm where I had gluten free homemade ice cream and ice cream cones! Then she went back to work and I hung out with some friends, then my friends and I went to my mom's house for dinner. She has a smoker, and we had smoked brisket. It was delicious and a lot of fun. The next day I had to leave, but we went to lunch before my train ride at a great, authentic, French restaurant called Chez Albert. They were really good about checking things to see if they were gluten-free, and we both got the duck confit with black lentils and a balsamic reduction. Look how delicious it looks! Also, I can't stop thinking about making membrillo, the quince paste to eat with cheese. We don't really sell quinces here, the jerks at the other Wholefoods in the city told Alex that it's some weird tropical fruit not grown in America that's hard to get and they can't sell, which is bullshit because look at this whole bowl that came from my mom's boyfriend Richards house:
Now we have them at my Wholefoods, but they're $3 each. That's a little out of my price range. But I smell them every day, they smell like drunk apples.

Anyway, that was the last time I saw my mom, it was fun and I love her, happy birthday mom!!!!!!!!