By Ginger:

Every year humans seem to complain about getting one year older.  This, I don’t understand!  How many of us actually get the chance to grow old?  I feel so lucky today because I have lived yet another year!  I have had 16 years (s i x t e e n  y e a r s!!!) of special salmon dinners and carrot cake.  I have had sixteen years helping Mom taste things in the kitchen, helping Dad have a reason to go clean up the yard and prove to Buffy that she sent the right dog to take her place as guardian of this home.

By calculation, I am old but in fact, I feel very young!  I can run fast, climb stairs quickly, bark loudly with great force and authority;  I may even be getting my driver’s license soon (Dad says I have to practice a little more first).  I have traveled by plane, by train and by automobile; by bike, boat and shopping cart.  I have run freely on the beach with sand softening each blow.  I have entertained at parties.  I have made friends and influenced people (to my way of thinking).

I have embraced the fashions, both classic and trendy.  I have been photographed, published, video taped and listened to.  I have made my mark on the world (or at least the world that surrounds me) and have every intention of making more marks!!!  (Including those that don’t need to be cleaned up!)

I am sweet sixteen and I have always been kissed, loved and hugged (sometimes within an inch of my life)!

I know Buddy has not always been kissed  but he is kissed now, and often, with sometimes even a peck by me.  We are both sixteen now.  I wasn’t so sure at first, but we are both in this together and I want to do my part to keep him well, keep him with us and keep him feeling happy and loved (as I always have been).  Buffy would want it this way.  Happy birthday to us!

By Buddy:

I’m 16 too!  I’m six-teen!   Me, s i x t e e n !  This has been a good year.  I am still here!  I very much enjoyed the summer last year when everyone was more concerned about me than usual.  Ginger and I got a new deck, very comfy new furniture on it to lounge, and so much love I was sometimes bothered, but just a very little.  I like it here.  I have an amazing new menu that is served to me three times a day (and more when I act feisty).  I am bathed every week, whether I like it or not, carried practically everywhere (even when Mom is cooking;  I like that I can get a good view).  I mostly even get enough exercise (because Mom and Dad bought me socks so I don’t slip so much when I can walk), and I get kissed all the time!  They say I am sweet sixteen and boy do I get kissed! (I’m glad I found my way to my true home five years ago).  Buffy was right, this is a great place to live!  I want to live!  I am alive!  Bring on the sunshine!  Oh, and I want to EAT mmore meet !!!

Macaroons (Little Presents: orange-filled + chocolate Bailey’s-filled)

Macaroons are like flavored kisses, dressed up as little birthday gifts .  To our delight, Ellen, the most fabulous person at the place Mommy takes us for her work, brought us a plate full of flavored kisses last week.  We (Buddy & Ginger) think these particular kisses were meant for us.  Why wouldn’t they be?  It was between our birthdays and although Ellen doesn’t kiss us, she takes great care of us at the office and she even tucks us in our beds with a blanket.   Plus, she likes food.  Not in a simple, likes to eat food kind of way but in  a sophisticated picnic and pleasure kind of way.  She gets what it means to enjoy  food; which means, she gets what it means to enjoy life.  We like Ellen; she’s our pal.

These macaroons were quite pretty but not in the macaroon, Paris poodle sort of way; more in the wow, cute, cuddly and scrumptious type of way.  Mom thinks macaroons are too fussy but she sure seemed to like these that Ellen made.  They were the right kind of pretty with pretension left aside.  They were Hobo Buddy kind of good, meaning, they had (almond) grit but lots of character and flavor.

There are a few bits of advise concerning the making of these cookies that Ellen thinks are important to note (also underlined below in her recipe):

1. The eggs need to be room temperature because they will whip better.
2. Use parchment paper and smack the tray to get rid of all the bubbles.
3. Let them sit for 1/2 hour; you should be able to touch them without them feeling sticky anymore.
4. 4.  If you use almond floor, they will be smooth.  If you use almond meal, they will have little speckles (which is what Ellen used).