A Culinary Birthday

Today marks the eve of my 27th birthday.   First I would like to thank all of you for your birthday wishes!  Now onto the play by play for those of you who are just dying to know how I spent my birthday.

The celebration started last night with a dinner at Houlihan's Restaurant.  My parents kindly treated me to my favorite... Disco fries! I also shared a plate of Chipotle Chicken Nachos with my mother.  Of course I also imbibed.  I had three varieties of Long Island Iced Tea, including the original.  Needless to say my father drove home.

Today, the partying continued as my co-worker Christine kindly spread the word about my birthday, which made the day much more fun! Thanks Chris!


Then as I left work I received an email from my boss at my second job containing birthday wishes and a prompt to stop in if I could because I had a package there. And, boy did I ever! I have never received a kinder more generous gift from an employer.  As I unwrapped my beautifully packaged box, inside I found four of the best crystal wine glasses in the world. (Well worth upwards of $60).

After I returned home with my steak purchased from Fresh Market and my Riedel Crystal wine glasses I quickly started baking.

I made myself GF brownies from scratch...yum!

Then I went up to my room, threw on some sweats and pulled out the bottle of wine I have been saving for two and a half years (a $35 Cab from Coppola Winery).

While bringing the wine down to drinking temperature, I began preparing my birthday dinner... STEAK FRITES!  This is one of my favorite french dishes of all time, not just because of it's wonderful saltiness and meatiness, but also because it's absolutely one of the fastest and easiest french meals to make.

After my dinner was fully prepared, I settled in for the night watching a fantastic movie.  I watched the extended version of The Fellowship of the Ring, while eating my delicious dinner and drinking my delectable wine.

The only interruption of Aragorn's handsome heroism an studdly sword brandishing was a welcomed birthday phone call from my Big Sister and best friend, Sarah.  Love you, my only regret was that I didn't have you here to watch LOTR and drink wine with me. 

After switching to the second disc of the collection, I started to feel a little hobbitish.  So, I finished the night with a glass of port wine, a couple pipe bowls, and another brownie.  It was the perfectly quiet and lovely weeknight birthday.

Thank you to my family and friends for all your birthday wishes here's to my 28th year on this earth.  Cheers!