Indian cook-off and birthday week begins

Wow, what a great weekend, and what a great kick-off to birthday week. In my family you don't just have a birthday, oh no, that would be too simple. Instead, you have an entire week to celebrate. My actual birthday is not until Friday, but that didn't slow down the festivities.

On Friday, my Grandma and I went shopping for my birthday present, a garden bench, and we came home with one I had picked out earlier, and love. That night E and I joined my Grandma for cocktails at her house and dinner at a fancy restaurant of my choice. We went to Tiburon and had a wonderful time. I ordered the filet mignon, which I had decided on weeks earlier. E surprised us and ordered elk (he said it was great), and my grandma ordered lamb. We talked about spring, gardening, Ben and Jo's wedding, and E's fantastic job. The three of us had a wonderful evening.

On Saturday I attended Brooke's bridal shower. Brooke is getting married to my good friend Logan at the end of May, and so attending her shower was a fun excuse to get to know Brooke's family and friends. After the shower Mike, Justin and Becky decided to use our kitchen again for another famous dinner. Mike made fantastic fish tacos and rice, and afterwards we played some poker.

On Sunday E and I went over to my mom's house late in the afternoon to help prep some food for a Indian cook-off birthday party. We sliced potatoes, tomatoes, onions and everything else. Soon Yagnesh arrived and we began to cook. My grandma showed up with appetizers, and because I was the birthday girl she brought a baked brie wheel, my favorite. Laura, Mike, Kendra and my siblings showed up and the party really began. Yag was cooking up a storm, adding onions and specially mixed spices to everything. I was prepping carrots, more tomatoes and spinach and Yag even brought out his homemade cheese, called paneer.

After quite a lot of cooking, getting to know Brandon’s new girlfriend Kathleen, chatting with Kendra and Laura, and playing with my mom's cats, finally dinner was served. The food was fantastic, better than fantastic. Yag used to be a chef, so his food is almost always better than what can be found in the restaurants. We ate and enjoyed and ate some more. And once everyone was too full to eat other bite, we got out the bunny shaped birthday cake (what I've had almost every year since I was little) and sliced into it. Everyone enjoyed the fantastic carrot cake and soon the evening came to a close. E and I headed home happy, tired and extremely full.

Chuck and my Grandma enjoy chatting near the bar.
Baked brie wheel, my favorite. Not a single bite of any of this was left by the end of the night.
Yagnesh, master at work. Notice all the jars above his hand, they are all custom mixed spices from Yag's pantry.
Yag teaches me to make raita, the Indian yogurt and cucumber dip.
After dinner we enjoy cake.