My Birthday Dinner

My birthday was last week. I won’t pontificate on how old I am. And I definitely won’t get into how I feel like half my life is gone, and that my real life is finally here and just beginning. We all know that life goes on. We grow old and eventually die. So I strive to enjoy the fun stuff, like cooking!

The best part of my birthday is that I didn’t actually have to cook, and I was oddly relieved to come home from work to a little feast warmly prepared by my husband. He hit our favorite Italian butcher on the way home and prepared his version of surf and turf. He seared the Delmonico steaks and then finished them off in the broiler. With a pinch of red pepper flakes, he finished off his own version of shrimp scampi (sans butter). They were sauteed in olive oil, garlic, salt, pepper and those red pepper flakes for a few minutes, then gently placed atop those Delmonico steaks.

Surf and turf really doesn’t need much else, but the husband knows how much I adore brussels sprouts and couldn’t resist cooking up a few. Or a lot. He sprinkled them with olive oil, salt and pepper and then put them in a 350 degree oven for about 25-30 minutes. I look at these photos and want to just return to that night, and swim in those brussels sprouts. The bright green mixed with the crusty caramelized parts just call to me. We have more in the fridge and I may to have whip up a few right now.

Dessert was made up of six glorious cupcakes, all for me, and pictured above. But I could barely make it through one due to all that sugary frosting. These cupcakes were purchased at Baker’s Best, an independent catering business in Newton and Needham, Massachusetts. These treats lasted three days.

We had a great bottle of wine with dinner – a Malbec from Argentina. I just loved that label. Can you see the cat in the ancient drawings used on the label?