Birthday & Babka notes

It was my 30th birthday a few days ago. It feels odd, to be in a new decade & a new phase of life. I did get to talk to my parents & text my sister, which was nice. My partner was amazing & gave me a few gifts including a 3d printed fidget that's really nice. Its a 4x4 cube that opens into an 4x2 strip & then closes up again.

I made chocolate babka for my birthday instead of cake. It was my first time baking that but I bake fairly often now. I've made other enriched doughs like challah before too. It turned out well & is super tasty. I made 1 loaf in a loaf pan & 1 loaf I made into a braided knot & baked it on a sheet pan. After they came out I brushed them with vanilla sugar syrup. 
I need to find a better recipe. I was using the dough from 1 recipe & the filling from another. The filling was just the paste, which melted out of the braided loaf. It burned & coated some of the bottom of the loaf. I also wanted to play with the flavors next time. Chocolate was good but it would be great with caramel or apple cinnamon too.  My partner J wants me to try to make conchas, so that is my next new recipe to try. Once we eat all of the babka.