Birthday Meal and Cake

Okay, this is the last post on our birthdays, at least until tomorrow. We finished off our big day with a big feast made from as many local (and preferably home grown) items as possible. As much as I harp on our garden and how much I dislike gardening, the effort of R and the kids is very fruitful. In fact, if not for that darn woodchuck, we would have a fairly good bounty. Sure, we lost the beets and cabbage, and the green beans never really recovered from the decimation, but for the most part, the other veggies did well.

The corn grew beautifully, which is in contrast to past years, where we got small and emaciated ears. In fact, the corn not only grew tall, but they tasted amazingly good. It might be that we got our seeds through Fedco versus past years when we bought them at Home Depot, a fact I'm not proud to admit. Also, we've had a hot and sunny summer, more so than previous years, so the garden really benefited from all that photosynthesis.

Whatever be the case, I think R and the kids should be proud, they did a stand-up job. Our tomato plants are also on the verge of inundating us with fruit, and they even managed to grow purple potatoes, which are these really cool and delicious spuds that we've had in the past.

Last year we got the blight, which took out all of our potatoes and tomatoes, so this year we were keeping our fingers crossed. The weather last year didn't help, so the warm dry weather was a welcome change.

R also made fresh pesto from the basil in our garden and the garlic we got from CS's farmstand. We got some fresh bread from the HFM, which our good friend made, and with slices of fresh tomato from the garden, coupled with purple tomatoes, we had a killer appetizer.

We barbecued some pork country style ribs with BBQ sauce, and then grilled some asparagus in olive oil and garlic. The food was great, and there was plenty of it. We tried to save room for cake and ice cream, but we were famished from our big kayaking trip.

We were thinking of going out to eat, and it would have been much simpler, with no cooking involved and no clean-up, but we've reached a stage in our lives where it doesn't completely matter (sometimes it does) where we are, as long as we are together having fun. So we enjoyed ourselves even in lieu of the fact that there was a lot of preparation and clean up.

After chowing down, we lit the cake, with our ages scrambled on top for effect (you'll have to decipher what the numbers mean), and along with peanut butter cup ice cream, topped off a great meal with some treats.

So, in closing, though we didn't plan properly to manage our yearly trip to the Franconia Inn, or anywhere for that matter, we had a great birthday, and it really boiled down to hanging out and being together.

And, of course, not dealing with the dumplings, which will inevitably come back to bite us in the you-know-what, but I can't think of such things right now.

Just a quick side-note. I was given a bottle of sparkling apple cider from none other than DC, and I foolishly assumed it was alcohol free. It's apple cider, right? I was saving it for a special occasion and figured a birthday was a good time to pop the cork. I served to everyone at the table, and on the first sip, it became painfully clear that it contained alcohol. You should have seen the look on everyone's face, and the kids gave me constant grief for my slip-up. I guess I should have read the label more closely, especially the part where it says it contains 7.5% alcohol. For the record, the kids hated the taste, and I'm not much of wine drinker, myself... though I play one on TV.

Until the next time, thanks for reading.