Casual Birthday Cookin'

To kick off my birthday weekend, this past Friday, I had the great pleasure of cooking dinner with my best friend, H. Since my apartment is rather small, she graciously hosted me at her family apartment, where the kitchen is substantially larger. We were cooking for ourselves, as well as H's parents and H's boyfriend. Our menu consisted of a springtime risotto with peas and asparagus, baked salmon, tossed kale salad, and homemade blueberry pie with vanilla ice cream. It was a really fun evening and I had such a great time cooking with her! 

Prepping the risotto

Pie filling

The egg washed pie, ready for the oven

Ta da!

Cooking the risotto

Such gorgeous and vibrant colors

Salmon, marinaded and ready for the oven

We were a full house of chefs. I was in charge of the pie and salmon, whilst H was in charge of the risotto. She received assistance from her mother and her boyfriend, whilst her father served us all champagne. What could be better? We were like a finely oiled machine, working together to produce a very special, gourmet, and delicious dinner. 

We broke the dinner up into courses. We started with the risotto, which was light and vibrant. The parmesan, which was hand grated, made the dish wonderfully creamy, whilst the asparagus and peas added a gorgeous color dimension to the dish. The risotto embodied spring. 

Everyone seemed to enjoy my salmon, which is actually a modified version of one of my mother's recipe. Sadly, it is a family secret, so I cannot divulge what my marinade was, but I will say that it was very easy to make. I prepped my salmon the day before, allowing it to marinade for 24 hours. Once ready, it was just a matter of letting it bake in the oven until cooked. The kale salad was H's mom's idea and it was stunning. I don't eat that much kale, and I will confess that I am not a huge kale lover, but this I liked. The salad wasn't bitter, but rather very light. Also, the inclusion of toasted nuts and fruit added textures and flavors that worked well together and enhanced the salad. Loved it! 

And finally, the blueberry pie. I absolutely adore making blueberry pies because they are incredibly delicious and super simple to make. There is practically no prep! I was a little bit worried about this pie because it did not have a long while to cool, but that didn't matter --- it still tasted great! It loved biting into the pie and feeling the soft berries explode in my mouth. Served with a scoop of vanilla ice cream, it was absolute perfection. The heat from the warm blueberries and the cold from the ice cream worked wonders in my mouth. Who needs birthday cake when you have a homemade pie!

In addition to feasting, there was a fair amount of drinking. Champagne, white wine, dessert wine, and whiskey --- to be exact. My kind of party! H's dad carefully paired each course with an appropriate alcohol and his selection was impeccable. Everything was absolutely delicious and I enjoyed every mouthful and every sip.

The night ended with H, H's boyfriend, and I sitting in the living room, sipping our whiskey and just casually chatting. There was a lot of laughter, with smatterings of serious philosophical discussions. It was the perfect way to end my birthday dinner and I am grateful that I was able to spend Friday night with them. So far, my birthday weekend was off to a smashing start!