Sweet husband Tim's birthday was last week. He turned 52. A couple of years ago, I was afraid he would never see 52.
Sweet husband had a heart attack.
He's fine now.
But now I celebrate his birthday by having a big party every year. And, I'll continue celebrating his birthday every year. The alternative is too terrible to contemplate.
As you can probably guess, when I throw a party I cook for days! I planned the menu a couple of weeks ago, spent a day and a half shopping and three days cooking.
Here's Chris O'Brien WGRR 103.5FMhalf of the morning team of Married with Microphones trying to convince everyone he's the one responsible for everything on this table. Uh huh. According to Janeen, Chris's idea of haute cuisine is a birthday dinner at Cracker Barrel.
While I'm not one to typically twirl my own whisk (too much), the menu was pretty awesome.
Date Relish (this is sooooo good! The recipe is at the end of this post)
Dilled Caviar Dip (with my favorite Tobikko salmon roe)
Creamy Spicy Sun~Dried Tomato Spread
Crostini with Feta~Chili Spread (this is an awesome spread with roasted poblano and jalapeno peppers mixed with feta)
Three Onion Dip
Double Truffle Beef Tenderloin (we went through 9 pounds of beef!)
Roasted Tomato~Olive Bruschetta
Spicy Cashew Crunch with Ginger
Sweet and Spicy Roasted Pecans
Jumbo Marinated Shrimp with homemade spicy cocktail sauce
Black Truffle Pate and 5~Peppercorn Pate with cornichons and Dijon mustard
Nah Owlans Style Crab Dip
A 5~pound side of salmon fixed two ways: Roasted Sweet and Spicy Salmon and Roasted Sesame and Dill Salmon
Mediterranean Baklava with walnuts, cashews and pine nuts
Brownie bites with my world famous Kahlua dipping sauce
Mini Chocolate Brickle Cream Cakes
And libations. Lots and lots of libations.
Notice all of the champagne bottles in the sink next to Kristy and Ryan? That's because we ran out of space on the recycling counter and started piling bottles in the sink. Heaven forbid I actually carry the bottles downstairs during a party! The recycling guy who does our pick up on Mondays has to really wonder about us. There are weeks, like this party week, where I can easily have 3 cases of wine bottles out for recycle. And I can't even count that high for the beer bottles!
And, speaking of downstairs. The blackjack table was in full swing and Luigi was the big winner. At the end of the night he had at least five $5,000 chips.
But, when I went down to play a bit I hit 21 in the first 5 out of 6 hands. When you're lucky, you're lucky.
So to our wonderful friends, thank you.
Thank you for coming to our party.
Thank you for your love, friendship and support.
And save the date for Tim's next birthday party ~ Friday, February 13, 2009.
Date Relish
Adapted From: Sunday Suppers At Lucques, Suzanne Goin with Teri Gelber
Makes 8 appetizer servings
1/2c fresh dates
2T olive oil
2T lemon juice
2T Italian flat leaf parsley, chopped
2T cilantro, chopped
Kosher salt
Pit the dates and chop into small pieces. Toss the dates with the remaining ingrdients. Taste and adjust salt as needed.
1 comment:
Happy birthday to Tim! We need to save-the-date for next year's party...we can help you with all the empties!
Your food sounds fab, as usual, Chef! Tobiko....what colordid you get? If it was tiny it was probably flying fish roe....one of MY favorites, too! I'll post a pick on my blog. :-)
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