Happy birthday, John!

Yesterday was John's 25th birthday. We didn't get together with his family until today, so we celebrated at home with my family first in the way my family knows best--with food, and lots of it!

For lunch, John I made him a strange conglomeration of leftover linguine and meat sauce, fresh sweet peppers, and a modified version of egg-in-the-hole. A weird mix of things, but he still probably ate better than his buddies at work:


Mom made an amazing meal full of John's favorite Asian goodies. Appetizers included:

Cucumber Salad


Shrimp Toast

The main course consisted of John's ultimate favorite dish, mom's secret recipe chicken masaman curry:

(the Ginormous Pot was full at one point, this was taken after everyone had gotten a large helping)

I was in charge of dessert, and whipped up a coconut cream pie, per our new tradition (est. last year):

I had to include this picture, for none of us have ever cut a less sloppy piece of cream pie.

Today, festivities continued with John's side of the family. John's parents took all of us out to a fabulous brunch at Brio, where they have the most fantastic lasagna bolognese. We feasted on flavorful bruschetta, beef tenderloin, crab crepes, and eggs benedict. Dessert was a real treat--Brio serves sample sized desserts (at sample sized prices, thank goodness) and they really were a perfect portion after such a decadent meal. I had the chocolate hazelnut brulée and it was AMAZING. Usually when you get chocolate hazelnut anything, it just tastes like pimped up chocolate but you don't really get a feel for the nutty flavor. It was unmistakable in my brulée though--bravo, Brio!

Afterward, we all went to see Get Smart, which was absolutely adorable. I recommend it to anyone who enjoyed the series as a youngster, or anyone who enjoys comedies in general. 99 was a bit sassier in this version, and Maxwell Smart was actually more competent than in the series, but I thought that made it all the better.