Happy Birthday Dad!!!

Well, tonight was fun. It is my Dad’s 53rd birthday, and we have been working on something special for him. He LOVES to cook, and loves to pick recipes from Bon Appetit magazine from time to time. We just got their latest issue in the mail, and he was drooling over a few of the recipes so I decided to make them. Here’s what we served: First of all, he is a part of a “cheese of the month” club (Christmas present from my brother), and had just gotten his latest installment. It was a goat cheese called “Dorothea Cheese.” Goat cheeses are his favorite, so we started out with that as an appetizer. Then I cooked “Thai-Curried Game Hens,” “Butternut Squash, Rosemary and Blue Cheese Risotto,” and a Caesar Salad, and for dessert, I made a “Rich Chocolate Cheesecake,” a recipe I got from my neighbor Julie. All of it was wonderful, and Dad had a great time picking out wines to go with everything. It was a fun celebration and he really enjoyed it. He had just gotten back into town from another business trip, and told us that he was feeling kind of depressed when he woke up in some random hotel room this morning on his birthday. My mom and Grandma were a big help in preparing it all, and between the three of us, we managed to get it all done in time. He was very surprised by all of it. He got some new shirts from my grandparents, a picture of my nephew Patrick in a nice frame for his office from my mom, and from us, a wine coozie traveling thing and an apron that says “Shitake Happens” as featured on “Queer Eye for the Straight Guy.” Happy Birthday Dad!!!