My Birthday Bash – The Food
A couple of last week’s posts were devoted to the birthday party that Boom Boom threw for me. Even though I knew it was happening, she did manage to throw in a few surprises. One of which was the music, with her renting a karaoke machine. The couple hundred cd’s were mostly filled with both kinds of music – country AND western. But thankfully, this song was on it. Another surprise was that two of my close friends who moved away – The Gunt and Botha – were both able to make it the party. And with Botha came the food.
I’ve talked about Botha in a couple earlier posts. In case you missed it, I’ve known him for a couple of years, dating back to when we both worked in the wine department of a specialty food store. He’s a trained chef that worked in some of the finer restaurants here in Ann Arbor and we’ve cooked together several times. This past summer, he moved to Long Island, which is why it was a surprise that he came to the party. You can go back to that original post to get the story of how he got the nickname. I’d repeat it here, but I’m trying to clean up my language and shit.
We stayed out late the night before, mostly drinking but also doing some menu-planning. Here’s what we came up with:
The usual meats and cheeses.. also shown is the asparagus with shaved parmesan (didn't have a good pic of that)
Poached shrimp with orange-ginger gastrique
Beef Carpaccio with arugula and capers
Sauteed duck confit on toasted baguette
Mini Potatoes
Asian-glazed braised pork belly
The Sicilian brought these mini-tarts
For me, one of the highlights of the evening was the birthday cake, custom-designed by Sweet Heather Anne.
This is the amazing cake company here in Ann Arbor that we used for our girls’ birthday cake. I guess Boom Boom only ordered the bottom part, but Heather added the parmesan part as a gift! They’ve started their own blog, so check ’em out here.
One item that didn’t make it – either because we ran out of time or totally forgot – were the sautéed sweetbreads. We started soaking them in milk, but I didn’t notice them until the next morning. Mmmmmm, sweetbreads and eggs!
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10 comments on “My Birthday Bash – The Food”
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wine century
Doppel Member, Baby!
The food looks absolutely amazing!! I hope you had a wonderful birthday. Happy Belated! Here’s to many many more years and a lifetime of happiness too!
Thank you!!! I think I owe u a belated bday, too!
The food WAS amazing. I copycatted and did the asparagus that way for a dinner a few weeks ago. In boiling water until crisp tender, drain, a litte olive oil, shaved parmesan,and truffle salt.My favorites were the duck confit, beef carpaccio, and that gastrique for the shrimp.
Absolutely gorgeous. Color me jealous.
But you’re missing pigs in a blanket. It’s not a party without pigs in a blanket.
LOL! I second that!
Would’ve done it, but the gas station was out of vienna sausages…
Man oh man! You are blowing my mind. I knew the menu was going to be good, but this is truly impressive!
Wow, that’s great…pork belly, duck, Beef Carpaccio, shrimp – my faves!
How hungry am I now?! WAY too hungry. This all looks so delicious… I AM SO JEALOUS!
Belated birthday!! The food looks delicious by the way 🙂