Monster Birthday Extravaganza

It was my birthday on Tuesday and now I am 27 - seems a little old, but my husband and most of our friends are markedly older so most of the time I still feel like the baby of the group. I am ready to be 27, it feels right - bring it!

On Saturday night, Dan and I went out to dinner at The Beehive for an early celebration with Chloe and her new beau, Brandon. There was fun live jazz playing but we were so stuffed and it was such a beautiful night out (80 degrees!) that we opted to leave and stroll around the South End for a bit afterwards. From one live jazz venue to another, we ended up at the much more intimate (much more casual) Wally's Cafe on Mass Ave to soak up some tunes and sip another round of drinks. What a fun night! We look forward to getting to know Brandon better (he's a quiet one!), but Chloe has found herself a great match and I'm so happy for her (and him, the lucky guy). A few photos of the evening:

The old married couple.

The newly smitten couple.

The cutest couple of all!

Chloe even tried her very first oyster that night!
This was the "Before" shot, but the verdict was "hmmm, not bad!"

On Monday (the day before my birthday, also my mother's birthday - I was her one-day-late birthday present 27 years ago), I baked red velvet cupcakes. Predictably, I sent them all to work with Dan on my actual birthday. Remember when we were kids and would bring cupcakes to school on our birthday? It was like that only I'm a grown-up now and, also, I don't work there. His fellow associates are totally used to the baked goods I send in nearly every week, but I made sure Dan spread the word that these were extra special cupcakes - not just because of my birthday but because they were homemade, authentic Southern red velvet cake with the original cooked cream frosting.

Let me tell you a little something about red velvet, now that its all the rage in wider America. It hales from the South and is traditionally a wedding cake (think Steel Magnolias, oh what I wouldn't give for an Armadillo shaped pan!). Listen very carefully: its not supposed to have cream cheese frosting! I know, I know, that's absurd, right? But its true, and it drives me completely insane that nowadays everyone assumes that cream cheese goes on red velvet. Not so! Don't get me wrong, I go absolutely crazy for cream cheese frosting - carrot cake with cream cheese is probably my favorite cake of all time. It is a divine miracle, that stuff. But it doesn't belong on red velvet. I'm a purist and won't eat red velvet with cream cheese - I cannot support a lie. Initially, I wanted red velvet for my wedding. But we insisted that the original frosting recipe be used and, after a few attempts, the bakery wasn't able to get my mother's recipe quite right so we scrapped the whole idea (which turned out fine because the Orange Bliss cake that we ended up choosing was perfection).

In honor of my birthday and to help spread the knowledge and deliciousness that is a properly frosted red velvet cake/cupcake, here is my mother's family's original Southern red velvet cake and frosting recipe, in pictorial form:

Red Velvet Cake:
2 - 1oz bottles of red food coloring
3 Tbs cocoa powder
2 eggs
1/2 cup shortening
1 1/2 cup sugar
1 cup buttermilk
1 tsp. salt
2 1/4 cups flour
1 tsp. vanilla
1 tsp almond extract
1 tsp. baking soda
1 Tbs vinegar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix cocoa and food coloring in the bottom of a mixer bowl. Add shortening and eggs; cream well. Sift together flour and salt. Add sifted dry ingredients alternatively with buttermilk; blend in vanilla and almond extract. In a small bowl, stir soda into vinegar and add to cake mixture quickly, mix until blended. Bake in 9" layers or in lined cupcake tins (one tray at a time only) for 25 minutes or until done.

Be sure to stop and lick the beater at the end - a very important last step!

Frosting:

In a medium saucepan, slowly heat 1 cup whole milk and 3 Tbs sifted flour, stirring continuously until thickened enough to coat the back of a spoon (about 10-15 minutes - be patient). Let cool. Cream 1/2 cup shortening and 1/2 cup butter (softened but not too soft) - cream 4 minutes. Add cooled flour/milk mixture and 1 tsp vanilla and cream 4 more minutes, until fluffy and sugar is mostly dissolved.

Let cupcakes cool fully after coming out of the oven, before frosting.

Frost with a knife or pastry bag, then voila!

I implore you all, if you think you love red velvet, to try this frosting. It is difficult to describe because there's no other frosting quite like it: its light, fluffy and just a little sweet but suits the texture and flavor of the cake perfectly. Cream cheese frosting completely overpowers the cake; proper red velvet is pillowy and invitingly flavorful and cream cheese frosting totally steals the show. Sorry to be pushy, but to quote the illustrious KC, "whatever -- its my blog". You are free to disagree, but at least try it the right way first. You just may be converted. If not, go on and enjoy your cream cheese smothered red velvet -- with full disclosure of its bastardization ... alright, stepping off my soap box now.

On Tuesday, my actual birthday, I had such a fabulous day! I am usually a bit of a downer on my birthday and don't enjoy it very much, but I was happy to break the curse this year and really soak up a wonderful day. The 90 degree heat was nature's gift and being able to romp around in a skirt and flip flops with an iced latte was present enough. Dan started off my day by taking the dog for his morning walk so I could sleep in (usually that's my chore), making me coffee and bringing it to me in bed with a very sweet card. He's a keeper.

Then I was off to fancy-pants Wellesley (a rich suburb for the non-locals; also known as "Swellesley") for a deluxe mani/pedi at Bella Sante -- this was paid for by a gift certificate that Dan gave me for Christmas that I still hadn't used, so it was "Merry Christmas" and "Happy Birthday" at the same time. And sure felt good not to spend the money right now. Bella Sante is the only place to go for a massage and spa treatments, in my humble opinion - it so beautiful and relaxing and everyone who works there is pleasant and professional. There's a location downtown I could have gone to but, for some reason, taking a day trip to the snooty suburbs sounded like more fun (and a better contingent plan in case of rain). I really enjoyed it out there, except the place was crawling with fancy ladies who lunch in their tennis whites and 3 carat diamond rings. I felt like Liz Lemon in that 30 Rock episode a few weeks back (anyone else know what I'm talking about? Fight Club! Hahaha). That's what I get for going to Swellesley, but it was fun to pretend for a few hours.

This is the most buffed and polished I've been since my wedding.

Then I had lunch at Starbucks - a venti, non-fat iced latte with one pump of peppermint (my summer time indulgence) and a reduced-fat turkey bacon breakfast sandwich. I don't know why but I freakin' love those things. They are a very occasional treat and I hadn't had one in ages. Even though it was cheap and admittedly low-brow, it was the perfect birthday lunch for me. Especially knowing the indulgence that awaited me at dinner, it was good to take it easy for lunch.

I enjoyed lunch outside under the hot, hot heat.

After a quick shopping trip that resulted in a new dress to wear that evening, I headed home to spend some time with Flutie and get ready for dinner. Oh my heavens, what a dinner it was! Again, on the "Merry Christmas"/"Happy Birthday" front, we received an extremely generous gift card at Christmas from Dan's aunt and uncle to one of the best restaurants in Boston, No. 9 Park -- we had been saving it for a special occasion. At first I wasn't too keen on the idea of using it for my birthday but I realized that was silly and we'd end up with a much better dinner at No. 9 Park than anywhere else and at a significant discount (which really helps these days).

It did not disappoint. The entire dinner, from start to finish, lived up to the hype and was a dining experience to remember. Even a slight misstep in service was handled with complete grace and class. I've been to No. 9 Park twice before and each time was one of the best meals of my life (even if the 9 course tasting menu with wine pairings back in the summer of '06 nearly killed me with its excess). To give you an idea, here's what I ordered on my birthday:

To start:
Prune Stuffed Gnocchi with seared fois gras in a Vin Santo glaze
with a Palmyra martini
(usually I'm anti-fois gras but oh well, it was a divine exception)

An intermezzo, sent out complements of the chef:
Risotto in squid ink, topped with crab meat, mussels and calamari

Main course:
Roasted Rib-Eye, deconstructed and served with
braised oxtail, grilled fingerheads
amidst a drizzled parsley and hollandaise sauces

Wine selection:
2006 Tables Creek Cote Du Tables Rouge
(one of the best wines I've ever tasted!)

Cheese Course:
Dallenwiler Geisschäs (Switzerland)
and another runny, pungent from Vermont
(can't remember the name, dangit!)
served with toast, fresh honeycomb and mixed nuts

Dessert:

Grapefruit tart with mint sherbet

By the time dinner was finished, it was way past my bedtime for a Tuesday night, I was uncomfortably full and ready to get home as soon as possible. It was an amazing, memorable dinner but it was almost too much. Not quite, but almost. Good thing we don't do it very often. But of course I'm already wishing and hoping for the next big occasion to justify another dinner like that -- maybe in another year or two. It will be worth the wait.

The whole day, I felt like a queen! I must be one of the most fortunate women alive, truly. It felt extra-special, because I've been so down in the dumps lately - the whole day was a much-needed escape from my usual reality of joblessness and disappointment. I didn't worry about it all for just a few, blissful hours and let myself "take the day off" from my personal recession. I am so grateful for that, and even though I'm back in the real world, I feel more refreshed and ready to forge ahead with whatever "ahead" may have in store.