Birthday Celebration for a Foodie


Of course you know you're a Foodie when most of your birthday gifts are food related. Yes, it's true. I got a cookbook: Fran Bigelow's Pure Chocolate, and three culinary inspired books: Letters to a Young Chef by Daniel Boulud, Eating My Words by Mimi Sheraton, and The Herb & Spice Companion by Marcus A. Webb, Richard Craze. I did get some jewelry, a charm necklace from pagliei. The charm? An apple turnover! I discovered the site on Chubby Hubby's food blog.

The highlight of the day was my dinner at Kevin Restaurant, where I'd done a stage for a part-time gig back in November (before I got the job I have now). My friend joined me and I was happy that she was able to join me. The restaurant itself is gorgeous, and the food was executed to perfection. We shared the Tartare of Tuna, and she had the White and Green Asparagus Salad while I had the Corn Chowder. Our entrees were Sauteed Yukon King Salmon for me and Grilled Buffalo Ribeye and Roasted Grass Fed Red Angus Ribeye for her. I got a really nice warm strawberry tart. The rest of the photos are on Flickr.


After dinner we headed to the Ale House, but Dave wasn't there (again), so I left his cake with another guy who covered for him, telling him that if Dave didn't get it in the next day, he could have it! We met up with a few other people and had fun, drinking and talking before heading to a bar closer to home where some of us danced and others sat at the bar and chatted. I think everyone had a good time and I'm happy. It was a pretty mixed crowd and I'm glad that no one was bored or anything.

This is the first year I've celebrated without my family. At the very least, I would be with my mom or my dad. I missed them, but I know they were thinking of me.

Comments

jasmine said…
Happy belated birthday, my dear!

Food prezzies are always appreciated by those of us with elevated taste :)

j
6:45 PM
Anonymous said…
We're so glad that Boo has friends who love her!

Mom, Simon and Minuet
8:34 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

L2O Pain au Lait Rolls

Image
Last year for my birthday, I had the pleasure of dining at L2O, a fine dining restaurant that tastefully uses "molecular gastronomy" here in Chicago. I'd done a stage there, unfortunately it did not work out, but I am still quite impressed with Laurent Gras' food philosophy, how well run and organized the kitchen was, as well as the vibe between the cooks. Anyway, months later I had the pleasure of receiving the recipe for their pain au lait rolls via email from Time Out Chicago . These rolls were so good that I chose them more often than the others that were offered in selection from their bread basket. I'd filed the recipe away, and recently had the pleasure of making some for a dinner party. Initially the recipe was converted from weight in ounces to volume, so when I made it, not only did I double-check the accuracy (I found discrepancies) I converted it to a more accurate gram measure. So, pulling out my measuring cups, I converted it correctly to grams...
Read more

Key Lime Pie

Image
I will admit that I don't like a lot of citrus desserts.  I like my lemons sour-I eat them with salt-and I'm not too keen on key lime pies, though my mother loves them.  Making lemon curd is torture to me.  To stand over the pot, stirring the mix of yolks, lemon juice and sugar while smelling the proteins in the yolks coagulate is not a thing of pleasure.  I honestly think it stinks myself, but to each his/her own.  This doesn't mean I don't make the things I don't like very well.  In the world of pastry, you have to cook for your guests and customers, even if that means making something you don't eat. When changing jobs, going into a new kitchen and executing the previous chef's menu, you're torn between keeping their style, and asserting your own (these events are often booked months in advance, and some have tastings where the expectations are established).  So when I read Deconstructed Key Lime Pie on the menu, like a flip book, the ideas flicker...
Read more

Taste of Chicago

Image
Bear with me. I took photos when I went yesterday, but since those photos include my friend's daughter, I won't post them here. Instead, I'll feature the biggest reason I returned to the Taste this year: the Original Rainbow Cone. I introduced myself to this addicting delight last year. The only day I had off to go to the Taste was on the last Saturday of the event (I believe) and it was the worst day to go. Everyone and their aunt-uncle-cousin-grandma-greatgrandpa-was there. I had to fight to get to the food, fight my way out to Buckingham Fountain to enjoy the view of the lake and to eat my food without an elbow in my face, then fight my way back into the crowd to start all over again. I don't know how I ended up in the monster of a line for the ORC, but I did know that it had to be worth it, seeing as how I practically had to fight to keep my place in line. When I finally got to the counter, I took my cone back out to free space and began to enjoy the best ...
Read more