Birthday Weekend Wrap Up

I would like to share with everyone and remind myself that I can/do embrace what is good and right in life even in the midst of pain. 

Thankfully, I was able to step outside the terrible funk I have been in for months to enjoy my birthday.  Here is the top 10 of my birthday weekend...

1.  The weather.  Friday was a cold, rainy day, so you might be wondering why it would make the top 10.  Wellllll....the weather prevented the young man who was working on our bathroom from doing his regular job, thereby giving him the day to finish his job here.  It may have taken us 15 years, but we now have a beautiful bathroom.

 2.  A relaxing day.  Thanks to a friend, Friday started with a visit to Latteland for a Basket-of-Apples Latte and some time with gardening magazines.  After strolling through some of my favorite stores like Nell Hills, Urban Crafts and Land of Paws, we had lunch at the Cafe.  They serve a coconut crusted chicken salad that is delectable and I was able to try their meatloaf soup.

3.  Happy Birthdays!  Between facebook, email and text message, I received dozens of well wishes from friends.  Since I have spent a good deal of the past four months in isolation, it was a great reminder that I do have friends. 

4.  Dinner with friends.  When I made plans with another couple last week, I had no idea the day we chose was my birthday.  It worked out so perfectly though because I can't imagine having it any other way.  An evening visiting, laughing and eating, how could it not be perfect.  It was a treat to celebrate my birthday was such good friends.

5.  Dinner.  This was deserving of a place all of it's own.  We traveled about 45 minutes north of here to a place called Justus Drugstore.  It was food unlike I have ever tasted and I definitely pushed outside my normal food comfort zone.  While we waited for our table, I had an old-fashioned lemon-lime soda.  It was the best soda I have ever tasted and was just the start of something special.  The pictures do not do justice to the meal we had.

 While we waited for our appetizer, we each got a small, one bite complimentary starter.  It was a piece of sausage on a crustini, covered in a raspberry foam with pine needles.  Our appetizer was called the Farmer's Platter.  Clockwise, goose, pork tongue and beef carpaccio, persimmon seed spiced rabbit terrine, herbed cheese with celery and sauteed onions, crispy lattice potato chips, pickled onions and green beans, crustini with sauteed kale and herbs with roasted marrow, sauteed mushrooms, sausage and asparagus wrapped in bacon. Everything but the rabbit was very flavorful.

I ordered the Nestled Egg salad.  It is curled endive leaves sprinkled with carrot caviar and chunks of fried pork tongue dressed with honey Dijon and a lightly crusted parboiled egg.  Each course came with instructions, where I was told to cut up the egg and mix into the salad.  It was amazing.  The flavors worked so well together.  My husband had the Maytag Blue cheese salad that came with a blue cheese, black pepper ice cream.  It was equally interesting.

The top picture is mine.  I had the short ribs.  There were several pieces of melt-in-your-mouth short ribs laying on a bed of smoked honey sweet potato puree and a mix of pear chunks, pickled brussel sprout leaves, orange pickled cherries and broccoli rabe. A M A Z I N G!  The lower picture is what my husband had, Pork 2 ways.  It was also delicious.

Since I love rice pudding, I chose the green tea Jasmine rice pudding for dessert.  The warm pudding was coated in a mildly sweet crispy coating and served on a pear puree with pears, crispy rice and lemongrass ice cream.  Absolutely perfect!  My husband had carrot cake beignets with candied walnuts and carrot caviar.  Before leaving, we received a palate cleanser toast glass of a sparkling ginger mint drink. 

I highly recommend this place if you are wanting to be adventurous and are celebrating a special occasion.  The outside looks like a dive, but the inside is quite unique.  It seats only 40 people in the dining room and the kitchen area is completely open.

6.  Relaxing day with the husband.  Saturday I got to spend the entire day just relaxing with my husband.  We don't get a lot of days like that.  The rain made it a perfect day to stroll through some stores and take a long afternoon nap.  It was the perfect post birthday celebration.

7.  Gift from the husband.  My husband does an awesome job with gifts.  He does his absolute best to get exactly what I want.  He didn't disappoint at all.  I had asked for a potato ricer, odd request I know.  He had such a hard time find the one I wanted and we happened upon one while strolling through stores Saturday.  This bad boy is going to help me get super gourmet in the kitchen now.

8.  Pie.  I told my husband Saturday that I just couldn't end my birthday weekend without having cake or ice cream.  Much to my surprise, he took me out late Saturday evening for dessert.  We had pie.  Lots of yummy chocolate cream pie.  No pictures because I had my fork in it the minute the plate hit the table.

9.  Lunch with friends.  Today I had brunch with three of the most fabulous young ladies I know.  I have been so fortunate to get to know each of them a little better over the past two years by planning events with them.  I have such respect for each of them and cherish their friendship.  I'm thankful to have wrapped up my birthday celebrations with them.

 10.  Projects.  Despite my exhaustion, I found some energy and time to work on some projects.  The big one right now is making over an old card table that was given to me.  It has been so much fun and is going to be super cute when I have it all done.

There you have it, my birthday weekend wrap up.  I had a very blessed three days full of friends, food and rest.