it was will’s birthday this saturday. i was super excited to reveal all of the secrets i had been keeping about his presents for the past month. (we are not very good at keeping secrets in this house.) he had to work late for maintenance weekend on friday, so i saved the great cake bake off for friday night. he requested a chocolate cake with cream cheese frosting. knowing nothing but the best would do – i reverted to ina garten’s double chocolate espresso cake recipe, with her recipe for cream cheese frosting from another cake. i am not a baker, however i can make a pretty mean cake. i tied on my apron strings and began measuring and adding all items to the mixer. everything was coming together wonderfully. i got the cakes in the oven and will called. he’d be home early! great! but, not great! the cakes were still baking, so there is no way they’d be decorated by the time he got home. he was very forgiving and gave me a back rub as i finally piped the last star on to the cake around 11pm.
will woke up early on saturday, eager to start the festivities. i headed towards the kitchen to make the requested french toast. i put a spin on it and stuffed the french toast with a mixture of ricotta cheese, orange zest, honey, vanilla, and nutmeg. the french toast was then drizzled in a syrup made of blood oranges, cara cara oranges, maple syrup, and cointreau. if that was not decadent enough, i drizzled the entire thing in chocolate! for cocktails we had an orange zinger made with orange juice, perrier, and cointreau. will declared it was the best breakfast ever!
after breakfast we headed out on to the screened in porch to open packages! finally, the moment we’d both been waiting for. i got to reveal the secrets i’d been hiding! voila – ROCKBAND for the wii and a trip to BUSCH GARDENS! will was super excited about all of his gifties!
after present time we headed out for a bit to enjoy the nice weather. we went to an antique garden store, and headed down town to logan’s garden center to get some pots for our herb garden. after a jaunt around town, and learning how much we do not like the oppressive 92 degree heat we decided to head back home and test out our rock-n-roll skills.
we jammed out for a few hours before we headed out to fins for a fantastic seafood dinner. will was in love with the tuna sashimi, his grouper with chorizo, and his wildhorse pinot noir. i also could not get enough of the beef mataki and my red snapper (thai style)! dinner was faboo! the place was ultra modern with lavish lighting fixtures and a water wall that stretched the length of the bar. it was a fantastic evening.
after we returned home we tried out some of that fabulous cake, although we were so stuffed we could only eat a bite! it was amazing (yeah!) and we’ll definately be eating cake for weeks!
today we headed to greensboro to meet up with mom and dad. they were dying to catch up with us and ensure that i was wholly intact from my india trip. we met up with them at print works bistro at the proximity hotel. this place is faboo! it’s the only certified LEED platinum restaurant in the US. (this means it is one of the most energy efficient buildings and restaruants in the us) the place was so french bistro, and ultra chic. we really enjoyed catching up with mom and dad. they had great stories from their two week stint in vegas, and we got to fill them in on all of my trials in india. after lunch we headed out to the patio and lounged in the comfy sofas so i could pass out their india souvenirs.
will says he had a great weekend, and he is just sad it’s over! (at least BUSCH GARDENS is next weekend!)
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