Sandi's Umpteen Birthday Party

We had to pick a date when most of the group could come and celebrate Sandi's birthday. We had to pass along the birthday balloon we all agreed to do for every birthday. It started when I bought it for Mertz's birthday, then she passed it to me on my birthday so this balloon kept some of it's helium since April and has been parked in my dining room all this time. It has now found it's new home till Cindy's birthday in July.

Shortly after my mom and I got to her house, Tony, the owner of Bonello's Pizza in Lomita hand delivered a gigantic box.  There were only going to be 8 of us (all women).  We were shocked when we saw the size of this pizza which had a combination of Margarita, pepperoni and sausage.

When everyone arrived by 4:00 p.m. Cindy took over the job of opening the champagne. We also started to examine all the food on the table. Sandi made the best crab and shrimp cakes which was served with an asparagus sweet pea relish that looked odd to accompany the crab cakes but was incredibly edible. It had asparagus, peas, lemon zest, pepper, onion, fresh dill and olive oil. The funny thing about the crab cakes was Sandi thought it was a disaster as it she didn't think it cooked right. She didn't even try them as she does not like crab; another reason to re-evaluate my friendship with her. We all loved them. I picked the ones that were a bit burnt outside but inside was nice and moist.  I had at least 3 of them. I would have had more but I had to think of the other 7 people. Cindy made made an appetizer of gigantic grapes rolled in cream cheese, Roquefort cheese and pecans. That was my healthy input for the day. Mertz brought Raspberry Chipotle Brie served warm, another healthy dish with the raspberries also delicious.  I didn't get to take a picture of Sujata's Tiki Masala with garlic naan. I was busy stuffing everything down so I only had enough time to take some of the masala chicken. The naan was a perfect partner as it swept all the wonderful sauce of the masala. Sue baked some Spanakopita, the Greek spinach pies. Of course there were chips and dips in case there was not enough food. The pizza was good and there were a lot of left overs. We all ended up taking some home.

The birthday girl had to have a birthday cake. I know Sandi likes the Coffee Crunch Cake from Red Ribbon. Yes this is the woman that hates coffee of any kind but somehow she loves this cake since you don't really taste the coffee. The other cake I got was a Mango Cake, which was equally as light as the coffee crunch.

Ana brought her famous Chocolate Mousse. That was great but the greater part of this party was I got to take home the left over since everyone knows my husband loves chocolate mousse.

When women get together, time flies. It was 9:30 p.m. before someone asked for the time. We were all shocked to find out how late it was.  That was 5-1/2 hours! We all had a blast. The only one missing was Amy....we missed her.