Happy birthday to Me

I think about cooking

Growing up, birthdays meant we got to decide what we wanted for dinner. So, when my parents weren’t taking me and a friend out to dinner for loaded potato skins before the annual Harlem Globetrotters game, I would generally opt for boiled artichokes with drawn butter and a big steak. If I happened to be near my Grandmas house, she would make me an Angel Food Cake topped with super sweet and syrupy thawed frozen strawberries, and dusted with powdered sugar. The candles were magic and could not be blown out – always good for a laugh despite knowing they couldn’t be blown out. The sight of the tubed baking pan resting upside down on top of a glass Coca-Cola bottle meant it was going to be a good birthday.

Years later, on an internship from the Culinary Institute of America at Mr. B’s Bistro in New Orleans, I was tasked with creating a dessert special during my stint in the pantry. I immediately thought of the cake my grandma had fixed for me, so I called to explain, and I asked for the recipe with pen and paper in hand. There was a brief pause, and with what sounded like a lump in her throat, she tearily replied, “It was from a box mix.” I eventually figured it out and have used Angel Food Cake on my dessert menus for years, including toasting slices, which creates a delicious roasted marshmallow aroma and flavor.

After graduating from the CIA, birthday dinners remained special but became a way to check out new restaurants and celebrate, too. This included some memorable dishes like the Green Pea Potato Risotto with Krispy Puffed Rice at Michel Richard’s Citrus on my 25th, and I am forever thankful to Cynthia for pulling together quite a surprise weekend for my 50th in New Orleans, where we all shared Boudin and Cochon de Lait for Lunch at Cochon Butcher, whole grilled fish and smoked tuna dip for dinner at Pesce, and “The Corbin,” a pumpkin waffle topped with roast turkey, creamed peas & carrots and a perfect fried egg (Thanks to having worked with friend and amazing chef Aron Burgau over the years) for brunch at Patois.

My most recent BIG day was spent at an out-of-the-way place in Oaxaca, Mexico, at Alfonsina. The chef, Jorge Leon, along with his mother, churning out fresh tortillas on the comal, turned out a five-course tasting menu, including a yucca tamale with grilled avocado, a “creamy” chickpea soup with local mushrooms and greens, and black mole with mahi mahi. Sustainable sources and environmentally conscious hospitality created an inspiring experience.

But my all-time favorite birthday dinner, eaten just before witnessing Dr. J and the Philadelphia 76ers battle it out with Larry Bird and the Boston Celtics (which included a pre-game goosebump-inducing Saxophone rendition of The Star-Spangled Banner performed by Grover Washington, Jr), was at Jimmy’s Milan Restaurant. The meal was just a salad of chopped Iceberg lettuce, tomato, cucumber, hard-boiled eggs, crisp bacon, cooked peeled shrimp, and crumbled blue cheese. It was topped with sliced grilled flank steak. The dressing was a modified creamy Thousand Island. You may have seen it on the Specials menu at Oxford Canteen now and then.

It was everything you could want in a salad.