Birthday Celebration at a Home

It was nice for a change to celebrate my birthday at someone's house.  It was very nice of my partner in crime Sandi, to host a pajama party. The rule was to come in pajamas and not change into pajamas when you got there. Cindy was afraid of getting into an accident and being in her pajamas. I told her it was the best thing because the paramedics usually will just rip your clothes off; well....not really.....they cut them in shreds. (Though she probably wouldn't mind paramedics ripping her clothes off ).

Everyone brought an appetizer. Mertz brought a nice salad, Cindy made a caramelized onion dip with vermouth in it, Sandi had a nice plate with cold cuts and cheese and Ana brought my favorite dessert that she only made once before.

We all chipped in on the catered food. The food was from Gaetano's in Torrance. We had Polenta con Short Ribs which was grilled polenta that was nice and crispy outside but soft inside. On top of it was the Chianti braised short ribs; we all loved it! The Penni Asparagi with grilled chicken, fresh asparagus and mushrooms was delicious. We also had the Rolled Eggplant Parmigiana which everyone loved. We all enjoyed lots of champagne with our wonderful food.

Dessert was furnished by Ana. We call it the BH delight. (inside joke) This was truly a labor of love as it was not easy to make. It is made from croissants which already has a ton of butter, then it is deep fried but ever so carefully so as not to come apart while frying. You won't believe that this delightful dessert has over 100 layers of croissant crust!!!! This is one reason she won't be making it anytime soon plus the fact that she does not want anyone to have a heart attack on account of her.

I want to thank Gaetano's for the wonderful food and Ana for our dessert.  Most of all, I'd like to thank my dearest friends who came to celebrate my 61st birthday. We had a lot of fun and this just proves that age is just a number.