Birthday Dinner Decadence

My birthday is next week but the celebrations have begun early. Michael and I went over to my friend Star’s house for my first birthday dinner. She’s an amazing cook and I’ve bragged about her food many many times. She asked me what I wanted for my birthday dinner and I said pork chops. Pork chops are something Michael and I struggle with and we’ve yet to make a successful pork chop dish. So it was a treat to eat such a good one.

She made a salad with cranberries and walnuts.

Star took the baked sweet potatoes and skinned them then assigned Michael the job of mashing them. In the sweet potato mash was a stick of butter (holy arteries Batman…), salt and pepper, chopped walnuts and a splash of molasses.

By far these were the best mashed potatoes I’ve ever had in my life.

She sauteed the asparagus with a little bit of butter, salt and pepper.

My amazing birthday dinner was perfect. Everything turned out so well (as it always does when Star cooks) and I ate every last morsel on my plate (and got a little bit of seconds too).

While we ate we chatted about food. Star is going to a Naturopath for some things and it’s going really well. After dinner she wanted to take me to La Petite Provence for dessert.  Unfortunately they were closed. What restaurant closes at 8pm? Weird. Papa Haydn’s it is!

WARNING: CHOCOLATE DECADENCE AHEAD!

I picked out a piece of the Marjolaine: Chocolate Mousse and hazelnut-praline cream piped between layers of toasted hazelnut meringue. Topped with creme fraiche and French vanilla-chocolate and a raspberry.

Someone must have mentioned that it was my birthday because the waitress brought out my dessert with a candle in it.

My dessert was out of this world good. The hazelnut toffee syrup was so delicious but the cake itself was light and fluffy–not too rich at all. Michael and I ate half of it and I took the other half home.

I have zero guilt about the amazing meal I ate. 🙂 When I got home I saw that the Whole Foods giftcard I won from Lauren arrived! Just in time for my birthday.

I’m excited to use it. And finally, I’ll leave you with this adorable photo:

Isn’t my baby adorable?? 🙂

QUESTION: What are your weekend plans?