a VERY happy birthday

Here is Shawn. He is 44 in this picture, which was taken two days ago. Note the four candles on the cake, four in honor of forty-four, and because I did not think forty-four candles would fit on the cake, and even if they did, the first ones I lit would melt down all the way to the icing before I got the last ones lit. Four is good. It is a nice, square number. It is also symbolic of how many delightful children we have. By the way, if you look closely, you can see how nicely his lip has healed up after the dog-bite/stitches ordeal. And, in case you wanted to know, it is a lemon cake with tangy lemon icing and cherry filling.





Shawn wanted shrimp for his birthday dinner. I cook lots of things--I can make roast beef, steak, many styles of chicken, turkey, a plethora of pasta dishes, heck, I can even cook salmon. However, I do not know how to cook shrimp. I thought of just making a reservation at, you know, Red Lobster. But somehow it didn't sit well with me. It's HIS birthday; it's probably not the best gift to ask him to take all six of us out to the Lob. So I pondered and came up with this idea--I would order a platter of cocktail shrimp from Wegman's. Yay! I placed the order on Saturday (feeling rather extravagant) and told them I would like to pick up my platter at 5 p.m. on Monday.

So---Monday rolled around and I shopped and prepared and bustled and did all those wonderful things you do when your husband is having a birthday (and fretted because my internet order for him is LATE, but that is beside the point). Laura and I found ourselves at the seafood counter at Wegmans at precisely 5 p.m., according to their clock, and the young man behind the counter asked if he could help us. "I'm here to pick up a shrimp platter, " I said.

He looked at me, "You'd like to order a shrimp platter?" he asked.

"No," I said, "I would like to pick up the one I ordered. I asked for it to be ready at five." His face turned white and he gulped. he started looking around and trying to find people. It turned out that nobody had checked to see if they had any shrimp platters due on Monday. I don't suppose Monday is a very big day for shrimp platters, generally. Anyway, although our order was clearly written in the book, there was no platter prepared. The good news is that, although there was no platter ready to go, there was plenty of shrimp. The young man and his boss scrambled to assemble our platter while we waited. And here is the BEST thing of all--we got it at NO CHARGE. A $39.99 shrimp platter... for FREE! For a stay at home mom with no income, that makes a dandy present to give to her hard-working husband! Here's the proof:

The young man from the seafood department even walked us out of the store, to be sure there would be no problems.

Earlier in the day I had bought, washed and prepared these fresh vegetables. We enjoyed them with our shrimp. Between the six of us, we ate everything on that platter except for two pieces of cauliflower. Pretty healthy dinner, huh? (Earlier in the day, I also baked and assembled the four layer cake--we won't discuss how healthy that was/wasn't.)

Since it is February in Syracuse, and that means it is cold, we wanted something hot to go with our meal. I made the dough, but Lulu assembled this pizza/foccacia bread thing which was covered in olive oil, garlic, oregano, basil, parmesan, provolone, mozzerella and olives. Mmmmm, mmmmm. It was goo-ood.

Of course , we finished off with the cake (pictured at the top). It was a nice birthday, a yummy birthday, even a frugal birthday. Which is good, because I spent a lot more on his present than I had expected to spend. I had my mind all made up on what to get him, until I saw the price. Then I was flumoxed. Which is part of why I ordered it too late to receive it on time (the other reason being that I had the flu). Also, it was so expensive that I didn't dare to upgrade to expedited shipping--we have to shave expenses where we can--and so it isn't here yet. We are waiting, waiting. I wonder if he will be surprised?