the food: too fast to photograph

Sorry for not having photos of the food from Paul’s 45th birthday party. After the first course (XL four-cheese ravioli with tomatoes and basil from the garden), things were going too fast and furious for me to whip out the camera each time. Here is what we served that night:

Cocktail hour

Beer, peanuts in the shell, pretzel thins, chocolate-covered peanuts, jalapeno/cilantro hummus with sugar snap pea pods

Three-Course Dinner

Four cheese ravioli with red and yellow cherry tomatoes, fresh basil and basil oil

Meatfest: Fred’s marinated tri-tip, rib-eye and Schaub’s bratwurst (all from Schaub’s in Palo Alto), lightly steamed haricot verts with olive oil – served with 2003 Ridge York Creek Zinfandel

Butter lettuce salad with garden-grown cucumbers and Dijon vinaigrette

Dessert

Cake trio: Red velvet cake with white chocolate mousse filling and cream cheese frosting, dark chocolate cake with milk chocolate mousse filling and vanilla buttercream frosting, and vanilla buttermilk cake with dark chocolate ganache filling and vanilla buttercream frosting (all from Sugar Butter Flour in Sunnyvale – http://sugarbutterflour.com/) – served with 2003 Ridge Dusi Ranch Late-picked Zinfandel.

After dinner, several of the men enjoyed cigars around the firepit; others sampled Paul’s extensive collection of Scottish whisky (and when I say extensive, I mean it… 22 bottles worth!).

It was an amazing night overall and the boys were terrific hosts and servers (along with my sister, Lori, and friend, Shelley). The best part was the ‘plate procession’ where each course was served en masse – it was really cool to see the kids set the plates down and later pick them up! I stayed in the kitchen plating most of the time but got to watch them through the windows. Too cute!