Joe's Birthday 09-02-09

Today was very warm and rather sultry and it was also Joe's birthday - not that the two facts have any relation to each other. Just the two more important things. I always like to be up here in San Juan Bautista to celebrate my birthday (yesterday) and Joe's today, but that means that Mary has to prepare two special dinners in a row! She is such a fabulous cook that I suppose she doesn't mind and, of course, Joe and I don't mind a bit. Last evening we had salmon, broccoli, fruit salad and See's candy for dessert - I suppose I was too hungry to photograph the plate!

Here is Joe starting on his birthday dinner. One of his favorite things to eat is lamb chops and they are on my list also, but I rarely cook them for myself, so it is a treat. Joe grilled them outside and they were perfectly done.

And Mary explaining something important.

This is my plate - lamb chop, carrots, baked potato w/a chunk of blue cheese, tomato/radish salad w/Mary's special vinaigrette dressing. Fantastic!

For dessert Mary and I stopped at the Grove Market in Pacific Grove for an olallieberry pie. We thought we would have some for dessert after lunch at The Red House, but they didn't have any today. The waiter called over to the market and had them save one for use - it was the last one! If you ask they will top it with very special homemade vanilla ice cream, however we couldn't carry any of that home with us, so we just had Dreyers Double Vanilla

Rich slightly tart berries and a lovely flaky crust, but fresh berries are only available at certain times of year in most areas. I suspect the berries used for this pie were frozen. The olallieberry is a cross between a loganberry and a youngberry and has been around since the late 1930s. http://www.reference.com/browse/Olallieberry