Birthday Weekend

I am very thankful that my camera battery charger arrived in the mail before this weekend, because it was BIG one.  Jeremiah and his Mom have the same birthday–March 10th–which means that Mrs. Linda’s birthday is usually spent doing something that involves horses, cookouts (that she helps prepare), and camper trailers.  While she is always a good sport and acts as though she is happy with these testostoron-ific celebrations, it was high time she had a more feminine birthday celebration.

I told Jeremiah to plan a weekend with his Dad and brother, Josh, of camping and horseback riding.  When Ashley heard that the guys really were going to be gone for the weekend, she called me and said, “Have you seen the Ladies’ Lunch in the back of Southern Living this month?”

“No, I don’t know when I’ve been able to look at a magazine.” 🙂

“Well, you need to pull it out, because that’s what I want to do for Mom’s birthday.  But I don’t want it to be one of those ladies’ lunches where nobody has enough food. You want to do it with me??”

I’ve learned that when Ashley starts to dream about a party, I’d be a fool to question it or miss out on one minute.  She has such a gift!  So, here are the pictures of Linda’s birthday lunch.  And you’ll see that when Ashley said she wanted there to be enough food…well…

I said I didn’t argue with Ashley about her party ideas, but I actually did argue this point–the congealed salad.  “Ashley, only old ladies like congealed salad,” I said.  She laughed and agreed…but did it anyway.  {MOST of these recipes come from the March issue of Southern Living  pages 114-119.  I’ll tell you if otherwise}  In the above picture you can see our salad course–“Cranberry-Strawberry Salad” (Ashley substituted rhubarb, cooked down a little bit with sugar, for the cranberries) and fresh mixed greens tossed in the “Fast Flourish Lemon Vinaigrette” (pg 115).  I’m telling you right now, this was my favorite course of the whole day–the course I made fun of but Ashley’s gut told her to make anyway.  Something about that soft sweet salad, paired with the tangy greens, was just perfect.  And when you ate it all with these Neiman Marcus Cheddar Cheese Biscuits.  Oh my!!!

Then the soup course… “Tomato Basil Bisque,” it calls for the yummy surprise of buttermilk.

These are not in Southern Living, but they are a party staple of mine.  Mini, open-face BLTs.  You mix mayo (Duke’s) and softened cream cheese with salt, pepper, and diced green onions. Spread it on bread and top with a roma tomato slice and crumbled bacon (You really can’t sub bacon bits here. You’ll have to go ahead and stink up your kitchen and fry the bacon yourself).

There’s the birthday girl at the head of her table!

And with that coffee, we must have DESSERT!

At our Book Club in Birmingham, I used to request that my sweet friend Stephanie make this Strawberry Tart at every event we had.  I actually signed her up for it on the sign-up sheet once, without even asking her 🙂  I L.o.v.e it.  And when I moved from Birmingham, I got her recipe so that I would not have to go without for the rest of my life 🙂  I took her recipe and made it in a mini version for our Ladies’ lunch.  This blog is too long for me to write out the recipe now, but if yall will remind me, I really will write it out for you.

Ashley made “Chocolate Expresso Pots de Creme,” served them in tea cups and topped it with homemade whipping cream and fresh rasberries.  And, since a birthday is not a birthday without birthday cake, there’s a slice from our local restaurant, River Nile.  They put this crunchy sugar on top of the icing, and the cake is a moist pound cake…if you’re local, you’re gonna need to try it!

We had a wonderful time, and I think the birthday girl felt how much we all LOVE her.  It’s fun to do something special for a person who is always serving everybody else.

And I’m going to end this post with some shots from the rest of our weekend, because this blog is my children’s only scrapbook.  The birthday lunch was Friday, and I decided to get up Saturday morning and meet my sister Kendall at the beach.  Why yes, it was her college Spring Break, and YES I brought all three of my children.  SPRING BREAK 2012, BABY!!  I just didn’t want to sit in the house all weekend, wishing I were with Jeremiah on his birthday.  It was a major effort, but I find I’m always thankful I made a trip to the beach…even if it rains the entire time.  There is something wonderfully healing about the site of white sand and endless ocean.

It was Jay Paul’s first time, and for the first 45 minutes or so he could not bring himself to open his eyes and face the Florida sun.

But once he finally did we had some fun.  He has recently discovered that he has a tongue, and he doesn’t mind showing it you.

And he is still melting hearts far and wide with this grin and giggle.

His sisters were up to some she-nanigans in the sand.  This is just after Pace buried Mary Aplin–crucifix style and just before she added sea-shells over her boobies.

Jay Paul wanted none of that action.  He preferred the lull of the waves.

He did not appreciate the sun coming out from behind the clouds, like we did.

But pajama cuddling is always a favorite past-time.

The birthday boy left the Sipsey Wilderness in North Alabama and drove all the way down to us on Sunday afternoon.  The guys cut their trip short…I think it was because they missed we ladies…even though they didn’t say that, that’s how I have decided to interpret it 🙂

It was cloudy and a little chilly, but we had fun anyway…didn’t we Buddy Man?