Special Occasion

Last night went pretty well. It was difficult not to indulge with the special meal we had, but I purposefully ate very small portions of the salad, a tiny piece of bread and a single ladle of Maryland Crab Soup, since I knew my husband's main course was going to be so special.

This was my plate. It was medallions of Filet Mignon, lobster and roasted sweet potatoes (plus the shrimp for garnish). The sauce on the bottom was a basil Bearnaise, while the sauce on top was a basil creme sauce. On yeah, the whole thing is resting on a toasted piece of artisan bread.

Holy crap was this thing good! It was worth skimping on the other stuff to have enough room to eat every single bite of this incredible dish. Everyone was moaning over this meal -- it's hard to say what the neighbors were thinking!

After the meal my friends did the whole singing "Happy Birthday" and gave me some nice little presents -- a subscription to Paula Deen's magazine, and a little sea stone necklace. Then there was the cake. It was a princess cake, which traditionally has layers of banana and strawberry in between the cake. This one had one layer of bananas and one layer of pineapple, which was very, very good. I had one piece, no ice cream.

That's not to say I didn't do a little "extra" eating. I wound up eating Mabel's piece of bread (another tiny piece similar to mine) and her one shrimp. And later on I had one of the "second dessert" (you'd think we were Hobbits!), one of my all-time favorites, burnt sugar gobs (for those of you new to my blog, gobs are also called Whoopie Pies in some parts, a sandwich looking thing with two small pieces of cake with icing in the middle. The "burnt" sugar is caramelized and both in the cake batter and the icing). I also had two mixed drinks: it's called a "Miami Vice" and is a mixture of strawberry daiquiri and pina colada. Yummy!

I know this sounds like a lot of food, and it was. But in my observation mode I pretty much ate the same, if not even a little less, than some of the other people there. That night I went to bed still a little full, but not stuffed and miserable. This morning I'm a little bloated, but that's okay. It's temporary.

Tonight's another special occasion -- going to see Artie Lange at Heinz Hall, plus dinner at Lidia's of Pittsburgh. I'll let you know how that goes tomorrow.