Wednesday, August 6, 2008

Happy Birthday - Part Two

Confucius says...(or maybe it was my mother)...that people don't like know-it-alls or braggarts. Words to live by for sure! But I am going to go out on a limb and toot my own horn for just a second.

I MADE DINNER!! Accolades please!!

Now, I know that to most people, preparing a meal like dinner is no big deal. Human beings eat several times a day - everyday. Therefore, most people go about learning how to cook early on in life so that preparing food is as natural as breathing.

I am not most people.

I turned my nose up at learning how to cook as a child. My mom tried luring me into the kitchen by asking me questions like "What are you going to do someday when your husband and children are hungry?" I would haughtily respond that I would hire a personal chef....obviously! Duh!

So when Court's birthday was approaching, I asked him what he wanted to do to celebrate the big day. I thought he would give a typical guy response and say an iPhone or Seahawks tickets. Court is not typical in any sense of the word - which I love - so I should have seen it coming. For his birthday....he wanted....ugh ugh....A HOME COOKED MEAL!

Like my mother predicted would someday happen, my husband was hungry and I had to figure out how to feed him. Unfortunately, my brilliant, rock-solid plan of hiring a private chef as a child did not contemplate living in the middle of no where and it certainly did not factor in the small fortune it would cost to hire a chef - even for just one meal! The pressure was on! I was gonna have to suck it up and personally prepare a fantastic meal for his birthday.

I scheduled Court's birthday dinner to fall on Sunday evening - Court's birthday eve. Now mind you, since I left the career world almost a year ago, I have put in a great deal of effort into learning to cook and have made several marvelous meals for Court and me. So pulling a meal together for the two of us does not send me into a dead panic. It is the thought of cooking for ANYONE besides Court that launches me into a tailspin.

In the almost six years I have known Court and his family, I have never made an entire meal for his parents. How had I escaped that task for so long you ask?? Well, as I noted above, Court is not the typical guy and loves to cook. (Thank God or we would have starved the first two years of our marriage!) When we would have Dave and Priscilla over for dinner (or anyone else for that matter), it was Court who did most of the work. Not to say I didn't help, but Court was definitely the head chef.

So for Court's 31st birthday dinner, I decided to invite his parents and finally prepare a memorable meal, from start to finish, not only for Court, but for his parents as well. I was a bit nervous and being the perfectionist that I am, wanted all to go well.

The following is the menu I chose to prepare:

Herb Crusted Salmon with Roasted Lemons,
Oven Roasted Asparagus,
Caesar Salad
Orzo Pasta Salad with Artichokes, and
Chocolate Torte for dessert!

From a blogging perspective, I wish I could say that something tragic happened like I set my apron on fire, the fire alarm went off and the police and fire department came rushing to the house....but from a real life perspective, I am happy to report that there were no disasters!! I didn't set anything on fire, didn't burn anything and as far as I know, no one got sick! A total success! So toot, toot, there goes my horn!

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