Entertaining Life Daily


Birthday flowers from SIL, BIL & godson!

If you know me, you know that I am a birthday brat. Plain and simple - I can't help it. I love celebrating my birthday (I mean, most people do right?) The countdown to the birthday month begins St. Paddy's Day - exactly one month before the day of birth. Then, April 1 comes and the birthday celebrations begin.

You may ask, "Angie, why do you feel the need to celebrate all month long?"

Let me explain. David and Chris, my brothers, both celebrate their birthday's in April (1st and 16th respectively) so legit, it always seemed like a month of birthdays. Plus, I had (and still have) many friends who celebrate their birth in April. Prime example - 9 out of about 30 people have an April birthday at my work. Nine.

I guess I never stopped celebrating the whole month - and my hope is that I will continue to do so for a very long time. I'm uber fortunate to have a husband who indulges this celebration and allows me to be the birthday brat I am for the month. And of course, my besties are also very good about it. I like to think of it as being endearing. Just sayin'.

So here we are in birthday week. My actual birthday was Sunday and it began with a delicious breakfast of eggs benedict - my favorite. I love the creamy hollandaise and how the egg yolk pours perfectly over the crisp hash browns and English muffins. My favorite kind of eggs benedict is crab benedict. I order it ever single time I see it on the menu. But something is a little bit more loving when your wonderful hubs makes it for you. No questions of "what would you like?" because he already knows. I gobbled up my breakfast and then we were lazy before heading to Brew Bracket (which I'll be posting a recap very soon) for the afternoon.

Next up, birthday sushi from Naked Tchopstix - for a review, head over to my other blog, City Nom Noms. And to wrap it up, drinks with some great friends.

It was a good birthday, low key but still busy. A good way to end the weekend (which really, wasn't the end since I took Monday off. I'm a firm believer everyone should have their birthday off. And if it falls on the weekend - take off the Monday) and begin the 2nd birthday week.

Yes, I said 2nd. Since birthDAY was on a weekend, I decided to grant myself two weeks.

Birthday. Brat. I know this.

Little celebrations here and there aren't bad. Things like me being able to pick out the movie on Tuesday night or decide where to go out to lunch on Monday. They are all little things - and nothing is wrong with entertaining life daily.

Over the weekend (including Friday,) hubs celebrated day 3, 4 and 5 of his advent calendar. Here is a recap of his holiday cheer:

Day 3 - Holiday Fondue
Friday meant an evening at the delicious Melting Pot on the northside. In the past, hubs and I would frequent often with our two dear friends, the M's, but haven't been in quite a while. The last time we were there was for my birthday - it was time for some fondue!

This big night out had a French theme, and we took advantage of all the featured courses:

Cheese Fondue - consisting of Brie, Fontina, Gruyere and Raclette, the cheese was the best dish. There was this amazing white-truffle cream that contained Nueske's bacon (go Wisco!) and fresh chives. The cheese was creamy, but had a hint of the Brie's rind to it once in a while. However, it was smooth and delicious.
Salad - I tried the featured Salade Nicoise and was disappointed with it. It had many toppings, including a hard-boiled egg, Nicoise olives, tomatoes and beets - but I just wasn't a fan of all the flavors coming together with the vinaigrette. Hubs did comment that his California salad was improving with each visit, slowly getting back to it's original taste as it had been on the decline.
Main Course - Fondue Fusion, but this time, we didn't substitute the Goat Cheese & Ratatouille ravioli for something different. Why? Because goat cheese was involved! Though they were the best ravioli we've received at MP, I would encourage you to still swap it out for something else. The lobster was the usual, as was the Filet Mignon. The peppercorn crusted NY strip was as expected, very peppery, and the Duck a l'Orange had a bold citrus taste. The roasted garlic shrimp were sweeter and the Chicken Provencal was fantastic with the sweet & sour sauce, a sauce I normally do not enjoy.
Chocolate Course - I was very pleased with the caramelized sugar of the White Chocolate Creme Brulee. Once you broke through it, the unexpected sweet crunch worked very well with all the dessert dippers. It really was quite good - a pleasant surprise as we do not normally order white chocolate.

In addition, MP is having a great promotion right now to benefit St. Jude's Children Hospital. We ended up donating some money and received $20 coupons plus a free dessert fondue that evening. I encourage you to give back while you enjoy some great food if possible!

Day 4, A Change of Plans
The theme was originally a "Museum Date," but because it was snowing, plans changed. As I mentioned, hubs can veto a plan if he likes, and the Ahrens' tradition of a the first snowfall breakfast would definitely trump an Advent plan. Whenever the first overnight snow happens, hubs LOVES to get into the car and drive first thing in the morning. This year, we hit up Bub's for some snowy breakfast. I'm a fan of Bub's breakfast, so no complaints here!

Breaking my number one rule of eating out (which is ordering the same thing,) we both ordered a seafood version of Eggs Benedict. Looking heavy upon receipt (I thought it was white gravy!,) I was pleasantly surprised for a light crab sauce. A few chunks of some delicious crab (hubs thought it tasted like a seafood sauce, not crab specific) gave great flavor to the dish. The eggs were over soft rather than poached - I would have preferred the later but was still happy to see egg yolks pour over the toasted English muffin. Great first snow breakfast!

We spent the remainder of the day running a few errands and prepping for the Movember Gala - which I'll post photos from soon.

Day 5, Cookies
Baking cookies is a tradition! And rather than waking hubs up early to bake, he ended up nibbling on the goods throughout the afternoon while watching football with the pup.

This year, I ended up baking some Caramel Blondies and Red Velvet Cookies. I had found the Red Velvet cookie recipe via twitter by following Taste of Home and I was really anxious to try them. Though good, the winner of the cookie battle were the Blondies. The caramel taste was sweet with the buttery brownie - absolutely delicious both still warm or at room temp. If you want that recipe, just let me know! Nom.

How was your weekend? Were you able to celebrate the holidays?

Entertaining Life Daily

Entertaining all aspects of life, one day at a time.

Birthday Celebrations

Weekend Advent Recap