sunday was my 32nd birthday – not that i am bragging because i certainly do not want to be or feel like i am, 32 years old. husband and i often ask each other, do you feel like a grown up? fortunately, or unfortunately as you may see it – our answer is always no.
after 32 birthdays i find myself sort of an expert at celebrating one’s life. i think i have figured out how to do it right. here are the rules:
1. do not deny yourself anything you want for your birthday (as long as it harms nobody else)
2. if your birthday falls on a weekend, it is – by right – your birthday weekend and you should take full advantage of it
3. get silly, get funny, get happy – do not ever get sad or tearful on your birthday. there are 364 other days every year for that drama.
so here is what happened, the play by play, if you will.
friday night was the start of the “birthday weekend extravaganza”! we went down town to wake forest for the friday night art open house. we toured open studios, stores, and visited the wine shop. we got to sample some amazing wines from westbend vineyards. they are located west of winston salem, and are a nc winery we had not yet tried. we liked everything they had to offer and ended up buying a bottle of their cabernet franc for later. down town was a buzz. they had hundreds of people crowded out in the street waiting for a band outside the coffee shop. they had live music on the porch at one of the galleries, and people were all over enjoying the wine, art, and weather. after we had all the fun we could have down town, husband asked me where i wanted to go for dinner and i just blurted out waraji, without thinking twice! usually it takes us about an hour to decide where we are going to eat. i must examine all coupons in my coupon binder, check my coupon email account, and verify any specials before presenting him with a list of options to choose from before we can agree on a bargain priced dinner. waraji is not convenient, they never have a coupon, and it was already late – off we went.
waraji was surprisingly not busy for a friday night and we were promptly seated when we arrived. the hostess seated us in a different section of the small dining room than we have ever been seated in before. we were seated next to a group of three guys in their mid twenties to early thirties. (this will be important later.) the server quickly came over and greeted us with warm moist towels to wipe our hands. she returned and suggested some of their new organic sakes. i have never really liked sake until we tried a sampler in the bahamas, so i thought while i am doing things for fun this weekend i would try another type. she made a suggestion and i went with it. i got a cold sake and husband got a hot sake. we compared the two and enjoyed both of them, even though they had very different flavors. we had steamed mussels for an appetizer and were glad we did not order the tempura (i thought i wanted) when our giant platter of sushi came out. we ordered 5 different specialty rolls. we always order “scarry jerry” rolls when we come to waraji, but also ordered some new finds this time. this time we got brave and ordered scarry jerry on a heat scale of 9/10! it did not disappoint! we really liked everything we got, except we both agreed that abalone was not our favorite item, and husband declared it “disgusting”. after we finished our dinners we were entertained by the fellas at the table next door who were attempting to choke down a set of three scallop shooters. one of the fellas had never had such a shooter before and as they yelled “KAMPAI” and he tossed it back about half of it came back out! we found out the shooters were composed of sake, two scallops, a raw quail egg, and spicy sauce. spit it out, good plan! after dinner we always like to “pack around” so we headed to the teeter to get some items for breakfast the next morning. while there i found an unbelievable sale on some wine totes, bottle openers, and wine pourers. after saving $49 with my VIC card, we were on our way!
saturday morning i had to wake up early to be down town for my hair appointment. before i went to the salon (in keeping with the – do not deny yourself of anything theme) i had to go get my favorite dirty chai latte to enjoy during my salon visit. i was missing my stylist who disappeared from the salon i was going to and ended up finding her at another salon down the street. thanks to a poster hanging in the window of the new salon i was able to locate her and set up the appointment. after i sat down in the chair on saturday morning we began to talk. she told me that the other owner of the last salon had fired her for some false claims of negative reviews on the internet. i told her that sounded so odd since i had given her a 5 star review on yelp when she cut my hair the last time. she looked at me kind of shocked, and was like “oh my gosh, i think i just emailed you last night!” she said that she found my review on yelp and sent me an email to tell me that she had moved to the new salon. how bizarre. we laughed about the whole thing and i told her i would give her a new 5 star review at the new salon so other people would be able to find her too. (love her!) husband was supposed to be on his way to run some b-day errands which included picking up a cake and some surprises while i was out at the hairdoodie place. when i returned home and saw him trucking along on his jd in the lawn i thought something was amiss. he came in after he was done cutting the grass and informed me that his car would not start. (bless his heart, he just got the car back from the shop after we got back from the bahamas and now the battery would not start.) we devised a plan that he could use my car to go run his errands if he dropped me off at the nail salon so i could relax with a pedicure. the plan worked perfectly and i vegged out with a pedicure and walked next door and bought myself a new dress to wear to dinner that night, while i waited for him to make his way back up town. after he picked me up we headed down town to the italian festival. again, town was a buzz with stuff going on everywhere you looked! we had lots of fun and ended up getting some delicious gelatto from ala mode. after the italy festival we ended up striking out for some antique stores. i love going antiquing and hardly ever find time for it, so it was a great addition to the no holds barred weekend! we went to suzanne’s antiques and revival antiques. i walked away with some great photos from suzanne’s, but no actual physical treasures. after the hunt we ended up going back home to get ready for our fancy pants surprise dinner!
not until we reached the restaurant was husband ready to divulge where we were going. we both got dressed up and headed to durham. we finally arrived and there we were at “magnolia”, in all its glory. i had been dying to go here ever since we moved to nc, hearing that it was rated as one of the top twenty five restaurants in the us, and the fact that they have won a james beard award. we arrived and went inside and were promptly seated by the host in the perfect little table for two. the waiter quickly came over and offered to get us some cocktails. i asked for a recommendation, like i do anytime i go some place fancy, and i use this as a gauge to see how the rest of the night is going to play out. he gave us really good recommendations and had completely memorized every item on the extensively detailed menu and was able to set us up for home runs at every turn. here is what we ended up with:
sparkling gemlet – my cocktail – sweet and bitter at the same time, sort of like a twisted ginger ale!
bitter elder – husband’s cocktail – grapefruity sour with a hint of sweetness!
pan seared foie gras in a fig coulis – my appetizer – the BEST, hands down, foie gras dish i have ever consumed. previous to this dish the winner was at bin 54. this dish at magnolia was perfectly prepared and amazing when accompanied with the pickled watermelon – unreal!
twice baked grits souffle – husband’s appetizer – this was a house specialty, so we had to try it. it was like grits on air! the grits paired with the herbed sauce and mushrooms were perfect. husband loved every single bite!
herb grilled swordfish in brown butter – my entree – this dish was recommended by the waiter. he was right, that this was a show stopper! the swordfish was perfectly grilled and accompanied by a brown butter sauce and served with pickled sultanas (large caper berries), arugula, and beans – it was really delicious!
grilled new york strip in port wine reduction – husband’s entree – the steak was fork tender and perfectly cooked med rare, no other seasoning was needed and every bite was delish! the steak came with a grilled salad – which was really wonderful. the sauce that it came with was scrumptious!
brown sugar bacon waffles with peaches and sorghum ice cream – my dessert – what can i say? people, if you have never had bacon in a dessert, or bacon with chocolate – put it on your to do list.
hot chocolate chile cake with mexican chile ice cream – husband’s dessert – again, spicy chocolate is like bacon with dessert, if you have never gone there- you really should.
pinot noir- french – bottle of wine – 2005 – auxey-duresses 1er cru – climate du val – light and fruity pinot noir that paired splendidly with both steak and fish!
everything from the service to the art, and especially the food was amazing! we are foodies, no doubt about it and we really enjoyed this gastronomic experience! it was worth the wait and the $. delicious!
after dinner we wormed our way back to wake forest and decided we had better take the doggies out for a midnight stroll, since they’d been caged up all day. we kept on our fancy clothes and walked them around the block. it was fun to enjoy the stars and the solitude of nobody else on the road to make our doggies bark. everyone had a great night.
with a late saturday night and no rest for the weary we missed the church boat and slept in. it was time for pressies! husband got me all set up in the chair to be the daily photographer! he snapped photos of me opening all of the great cards and gifts! we got showered and decided to head to parker & otis for brunch. they serve breakfast all day and had some pancakes that were calling my name. we headed back to durham and enjoyed the car ride with the sun roof open and the sun shine pouring in, definitely a perfect day to be 32! we arrived at the restaurant and made our way to the cashier to place our order. (this place is like cracker barrel gone chic-mod.) i ordered banana blueberry pancakes and a side of eggs with an orangina to drink. husband ordered eggs, bacon, and a cheddar biscuit with orangina and lemon perrier. we headed to the back deck to find an empty seat. we sat under the awning with the ceiling fans just admiring the weather and talking about all the fun we’d had this weekend. a train roared past us and everyone stopped their chatting to watch it hurry down the tracks. breakfast was served shortly thereafter. everything was even better than we could have imagined and we enjoyed every last bite! after eating we headed back inside to check out the store. they have an amazing store filled with everything you could imagine from bacon mints, meyer’s cleaning products, barefoot contessa cookbooks, quality olive oils, a large wine department, to a coffee bar! a good find, for sure! we scooped up a couple of purchases and headed to some other stores in durham. i picked up a few cute things (that i could not resist) and we headed back across town. once we got home i again got the notion that the doggies should go on a walk. we headed down to the pond with the dogs and were surprised when iliana just full forced lunged into the pond! WHOA! she has never gotten near the water, no matter how many times i have tried to entice her! then amelia followed suit, and before we knew it both of them were dragging and rolling around like pigs in the mud and completely tarred and feathered with goose feathers! they were having a blast so we could not even get upset, but the clean up was definitely not fun! after the doggie bath time i had to catch up with many phone messages where people were trying to locate the missing b-day girl! i followed up on my phone calls and rested for a bit and we headed out for thai food for dinner. i definitely think if i had to pick a type of food to be my favorite, thai would be the one. the spicy sweet and sour combos are the best! after dinner we headed home so i could catch the finale of design star and enjoy some birthday cake! husband picked out a mocha chocolate cake with pink candles! he sang me a glorious happy birthday song and carved up the dessert! we loved every bite of it (though we were full to the brim after all the food we’d eaten this weekend!) we stayed up until 12:01 and i can definitely say that i enjoyed every minute of my special day!
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