Belated Birthday Celebrations

Sometimes it’s hard to get together with everyone to celebrate birthdays and special occasions. We all lead really busy lives, and life happens. But when we do get together, those special occasions are all that much more special and are greatly appreciated. As usual, I have been extending the birthday celebrations for as long as I can. 🙂

We celebrated with our friends Jonathan, Priscilla and Laura the other day. Priscilla prepared a fabulous feast, and as usual, everything was beautiful and exquisite. Priscilla has a special knack for making everything very elegant and beautiful. She always pays attention to all the small details that make every occasion truly remarkable.

Our first course for the evening was a beautifully delicious charlotte, which was a baked encrusted little savory tart filled with duxelles or chopped and creamed mushrooms.

The main course was lamb cooked to perfection with chimichurri sauce Steak Chimichurri, green beans Video #19 – Green Beans with Caramelized Shallots, and baby roasted potatoes, along with some delicate and flaky Parmigiano twists made from puff pastry. OMG! Everything blended together perfectly and just melted in our mouths. Priscilla is an excellent cook. 🙂

We were all very full, but it was a special celebration after all, so we had to have dessert. We had a snickerdoodle bundt cake topped with a honey ice cream and blackberries, followed by presents.

The best gift is of course the gift of our beautiful, long friendships. Priscilla and I go back over 45+ years. We have known each other almost our whole lives. But both Priscilla and Laura gave me other beautiful presents as well. Priscilla, originally being from Argentina, gave me a gorgeous Argentine cookbook, that I am already salivating over. There are so many fabulous recipes or recetas in that book. I am already planning an Argentine feast, which of course will include Priscilla, Jonathan and Laura as well. Laura gave me a beautiful planter and an air plant to go inside. It is my favorite color too, teal. I just need to get some strong nails or hooks to hang it with, and then it will be proudly displayed in my kitchen.

We went out to dinner with our friends Wendy, Marc, Mike and Lauren on my actual birthday, and are planning on going out with Janet and Bob as well. We were supposed to go out last week, but we all decided since the weather was frightful to postpone until it was a bit more forgiving. So the birthday celebrations continue a bit longer. 🙂 Thank you all for always making me feel so special. I am truly blessed and life is very, very good indeed.

I hope you all have those special people in your lives that love and support you. The gift of friendship is truly one of the best gifts we can give and receive.

Stay safe and stay well Everyone. ‘Til next time.