Celebration

As my Grandmother would say, “If you don’t have your health, you don’t have much.”  Thankfully I do have ‘my health’ and I’ve been hard at work making that health the highest and best I possibly can.   Got phone calls from my sister’s and my mom as well as some good friends.  Then sat down to a wonderful brunch.

Brunch, two gluten free pancakes made from Pamela’s baking mix, one egg, two sausages, 1/2 cup of yogurt and 1/2 cup strawberries and of course, coffee 🙂
what a celebration breakfast! I do not normally eat pancakes for breakfast, not even gluten free one, these were nice and small…that is a salad plate they’re served on.

The best birthday card I got was made by my daughter.

The other cards are also nice, but this special one is a “keeper” for certain.

We had a 4H event to attend in the evening, so we decided on an early dinner.  New World Home Cooking was where we chose to eat for several reasons. One: It’s a bit far from home so we don’t eat there that often, but, it was close to the event we were attending.  Two: Ric does amazing things with food AND he is a pioneer in  sourcing local goods, something I very much appreciate.  True, living in this area, it is pretty easy to find amazing food…there are tons of farms producing every imaginable type of food.  That does not always guarantee fine results, unless you dine at NWHC!  It’s a delight to be eating your dinner and have Ric slide up and check in to make sure everything is as wonderful and you expect, which, it was!

Dinner:  Starters were the (now) famous spicy green beans, incendiary and amazing…who would have thought a humble green bean could be SO amazing!?  Also long stem baby artichokes with a saffron aioli.  This was an unbelievably delicious sauce, spoon licking, garnish gobbling…you name it.  Everything that had a speck of this silken saffron infused sumptuousness was consumed.

Instead of a traditional entree I decided on two appetizers for dinner.  First, the local arugala salad with grilled peaches, blue cheese, and toasted pumpkin seeds.  It was huge!  And it was fantastic.  Super fresh and the spiciness of the arugala was kept in check by the sweetness of the grilled peaches…and the char of the peaches set off by the creamy blue cheese…heaven 🙂  Next up coconut crusted crab cakes served with a lemon/tomato salsa.  Just the right bit of crunchy crispy outside and creamy tender crabmeat inside.  The salsa was particularly good.

Originally, I planned to eschew the dessert…however, NWHC has a tradition of giving the birthday gal/guy FREE dessert.  Now that is one of my favorite prices!  However, I did not want a full dessert.  I decided there are two excellent things about any dessert…the first bite and the (bittersweet) last bite.  With that in mind, I conspired with my husband to eat the first bite of the housemade tiramisu, then while I sipped my iced coffee and he and dd ate their desserts (hers, a vanilla bourbon creme brullee).  The tiramisu arrived with a lovely rainbow candle glowing and it was a silken treasure of a mouthful.  The last bite was equally as scrumptious as the first.  All in all, the meal was still within the calorie range for the day, and although I planned to have my celebration day top out at my TDEE’s (which is currently 2048 calories!!)  I managed to close out the day at just above 1900!  Pretty sweet indeed. The rainbow candle was a wonderful touch and it seems the rainbow is a recurrent theme these days as this Spring I saw more rainbows than perhaps in all my years heretofore.

All that good food was tempered with a full shoulder/back/tricep/ab workout and a 30 minute lap swim as well as an apres dinner stroll.  Forty-nine is off to a terrific start!

How about the other summer birthday out there…how do you plan to party?  What’s your favorite meal on your birthday?  It changes year to year, but it seems inevitable that each one turns out to be ‘my favorite’.  Have a great day!

*anna