Friday, June 5, 2009

This is a very big update that I was too tired to finish last night. Dustin’s birthday was yesterday (June 4th), but being on a weird schedule means that we celebrated half of it on the 5th.

As usual, I had a lot of last minute stuff to do; pick up the cake, a few last minute presents, cook, etc. Mom finished decorating the bar in the morning and picked up a grocery list for dinner before we even woke up; she’s the best! She and I were going to pick the cake up in Kingston, which is at least 45 minutes from our house depending on traffic (we always seem to get behind one car going under the speed limit ). I woke up around 2:00PM and I had just enough time to go potty and take a shower. We had to get there before the bakery closed and I didn’t want to go out on a completely empty stomach and risk eating something while we were out that would totally spoil my appetite for dinner. I threw together a quick mini meal:

1 slice Applegate Farms smoked turkey (30 cal) on 1 slice Martin’s 100% whole wheat potato bread (70 cal) with a little spicy mustard, 1 medium-ish nectarine (60-70 cal) and a Health Valley Cinnamon Danish pastry bar (130 cal) that I ate in the car. I picked those up in Hannaford the other day. OMG, they are delicious! They taste exactly like a cheese danish, only the bar part tastes more like soft graham cracker. Yum! For about 300 calories, this held me through picking up the cake and shopping. Walking around the mall and stuff made me really thirsty and I didn’t drink anything all day! I don’t like to drink a lot before going on a long car ride. So we stopped at Starbucks. I was going to get an iced latte, but I ended up getting a tall caramel frappuccino. I drank all of it, minus the whipped cream on top. What can I say? Shopping is hard work!

I also made a quick stop at Bed, Bath & Beyond for new place mats and napkin rings. We didn’t get home until after 8:00PM and there were still gifts to be wrapped, food to be cooked and cake to be eaten. While we were out, Dustin checked the mail at the post office and even though it was his birthday, I got presents, too!

Special thanks to Janny from POM Wonderful for sending me a box of 100% Pomegranate juice.

Dustin took them out of the box for me and put them in the fridge right away. I was still thirsty when we got home and wanted to drink one right away, but I took some pics first:

The condensation made the pics come out a little fuzzy and I’m not the best photographer lol.

If you’ve never had 100% pomegranate juice, I would describe it as tasting almost identical to cranberry juice, only naturally sweeter and with more nutrients.

Cute little army of antioxidants, huh?

About POM Wonderful

• Patients who participated in the published clinical studies experienced significant improvement in heart, prostate & erectile health after drinking 8 ounces of POM Wonderful 100% Pomegranate Juice daily.
• All-natural and contains no added sugars, preservatives, colors or cheap filler juices. The only ingredient listed on the bottle is: 100% Pomegranate juice.
• Hundreds of scientific tests also show POM to be a superior source of antioxidants, with more and better antioxidants than red wine, grape juice, blueberry juice, cranberry juice, green tea, vitamin C and vitamin E.

An 8 ounce serving has just 150 calories and would be the perfect replacement for your daily orange juice or red wine. I’m not a big fan of red wine, but I am a fan of concord grape juice and this definitely seems like the better alternative to me. I’m also going to try mixing it in a post-workout smoothie or by itself, delicious! I highly recommend you try it if you haven’t already. If you love a sweet but not too sweet, crisp and refreshing beverage, you won’t be disappointed!

By then it was getting dark outside, but the party just started cooking — literally. Red potatoes were boiling on the stove, garlic was roasting in the oven, and a pot of water was on standby for the crab legs. Mom was preheating the grill outside and Dustin was pacing back and forth anxiously awaiting the feast.

The Birthday Menu

• Grilled filet mignon
• Grilled lobster tails
• Snow crab legs
• Roasted garlic and chive mashed potatoes
• Steamed asparagus drizzled with EVOO and a splash of balsamic vinegar
• Salad with red onion, plum tomatoes, fresh avocado, and goat cheese crumbles with red wine vinegar, balsamic vinegar, and extra virgin olive oil
• Tuscan bread grilled and brushed with EVOO

I made a POM spritzer with seltzer and about 4oz of POM — so good!

The beef tenderloin was cooked perfectly pink and juicy and the roasted garlic mashed potatoes were awesome! Unfortunately, the asparagus was a little overcooked but that’s ok, I actually like it that way.

The bread plate is always strategically placed by me

I split a lobster tail with mom. It was our first time grilling them and they turned out GREAT! We rubbed them with EVOO before grilling them, by the way.

I was getting FULL just a few bites into everything!! I ended up eating: half of my steak, half of my asparagus, all of my mashed potatoes, 2 halves of bread, half a bowl of salad, 3 crab legs, and just about 1/2 TBSP of the melted butter. Those dipping cups hold exactly 2 TBSP and I used just a little bit of it. Dustin used ALL of his lol. A little goes a long way for me. I was never much of a butter person unless it’s with bread, then I could eat half a stick at a time if I let myself get carried away lol.

With the exception of the asparagus, everything turned out wonderfully! YAY! And even though we didn’t sit down to eat dinner until 11:00PM, we still enjoyed it very much. Dustin loved it and that’s what matters the most. Then we went down to the bar to open presents. We were WAY too full for cake, so we spent a good amount of time on presents + pictures.

Here are some of us from the party…

Dustin and me in our funny party helmets. I picked up a military party theme at the party store. Dustin likes all that stuff, his nickname is actually Napoleon that stuck since a high school French class. hehe When we’re not watching House Hunters, we’re watching the History channel, Military channel or the news lol. We’re major nerds! Can you tell?

The vampires were at our party, too!

Then we went upstairs to have cake.

“I can haz cakez?” lol

I ordered the cake from Deising’s Bakery, same place we got my birthday cake and my mom’s this year. Dustin LOVES Gir from Invader Zim, so I asked if they could do it. They said they didn’t know who that was but they would Google it and airbrush it on. It turned out FANTASTIC! The side got a little smooshed taking it out of the box, but other than that, we were so pleased with the way it looked. It was exactly what I was hoping for and Dustin, who didn’t know about it, really liked it.

Dustin turned 26, so I got a two and a six number candle, but TOTALLY forgot about them! So, he put 2 candles on one side and 6 on the other to make “26.” lol Good idea! We found the other candles in the car the next day. Now we have to wait until one of us turns 62 to use them LOL.

I had a small sliver. The inside had hazelnut mousse and chocolate custard and the outside was fresh whipped cream. It was HEAVENLY! Despite being extremely full, I seemed to have just enough room to squeeze it in. haha Deeeeeelicious!!

A sweet ending, to a sweet day (or night lol). Dustin got a whole bunch of DVDs, so we have lots of cool stuff to watch. Oh, and as if I didn’t have enough sugar, I ate a piece of peanut butter fudge that I got for him from Gertrude Hawk. Wow, that was amazing, too!

We just ate dinner (or breakfast, I don’t know lol). I need to get a workout in. I don’t even want to go near the scale for a week. Totally worth it though.

Happy Birthday, Dustin!! I love you <3

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