After plans getting jostled around a bit because of the temple being closed for maintenance, trouble finding a babysitter, etc., Grant and I ended up spending a relaxing night out at one of our favorite little restaurants in Salem, Word of Mouth. It has a to-die for menu of fresh, mouth-watering food. I went with an old favorite and Grant had the best fish and chips he's ever had. We both can't stop thinking about how delicious his steak and mushroom soup was, though.
Me with the beautiful bunch of hydrangeas from Grant on the day before my birthday (since my birthday was on a Monday, which is a busy day for all of us, we mostly celebrated on Sunday) .
For dinner on Sunday we made homemade "Cafe Rio" (a favorite fresh-Mex grill in Utah) pork barbacoa salads and enchiladas. The only bad part? It was fast Sunday and the crockpot of heavenly smelling pork was self-imposed cruelty!
Here's Grant with his barbacoa, enchilada style.
Eliot was plenty happy with his quesadilla and black beans.
And I could not have been more pleased with my enormous salad, complete with creamy tomatillo dressing. It was a LOT of work to recreate a meal you can pick up in minutes back home, but we were pretty darn proud of ourselves. We were stuffed and so happy by the end of it all!
Me on my actual birthday, with one of my Barefoot Contessa coconut cupcakes. Oh. My. Goodness. Were they good! With a side of Marionberry Pie ice cream, my birthday was complete, and we are now all a few pounds heavier ... a sign of a great weekend!
Wondering about the "4"? We didn't have any candles besides this one in our house, and we figured 3+1 (from 31) = 4, so it worked. Grant could not bear the thought of me not having a candle to blow out, so we improvised. We just couldn't figure out how to get the "4" to face the right direction, obviously. I would have flipped the picture, but then the "Happy Birthday" sign would be backwards ... oh well!
5 comments:
Your birthday celebration looks amazing and so delicious!! Glad you had a great one! :-)
I didn't get a chance to wish you a happy birthday the other day so my apologies!!!! It looks like you had a great weekend. I am bummed that we weren't able to have "Cafe Rio" with you. I hope your week is going well. We loved having Eliot the other day. Loralee and him are such buddies. It will be sad when you leave, but hopefully we will visit Utah more often than just 2 times a year:)
Love the curly hair- you look absolutely fabulous! I think there is a reason celebrations are always centered around food- it caters to so many of our senses which means we remember more. Now any time you see, taste or smell Cafe Rio you will be reminded of this birthday. Or any time you see, taste or smell butter you will think of your most scrumptious cupcakes :)
OH Cafe Rio..I could go for one of those right now!
Happy Birthday to my sweet and dear friend Monica!! I'm so glad that you had a wonderful celebration. Love you!!
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