Great Dinner, Great Company

The time has finally come! My "baby girl" Rose has turned 21! Yes, the big 21! For a 27-year-old friend of an 18-year-old girl, the 3-year wait seems like forever. Its hard being around under-aged kids, our activities are very limited. 

Rose and I met through the US Army in January 2011. We were roommates in AIT (Advanced Individual Training) in Fort Lee Virginia as Logistical Specialist. I'm proud to say, we both graduated with honors in our class. Even after our training in Virginia, we still became roommates in Stockton until last year. This girl holds a special place in my heart. Not only we became friends, I became her mentor and its quite obvious with the age gap. I've seen her struggle, made mistakes and now finally kicking-ass with just about anything she touches. I am very proud of the woman that she became now along with an endearing husband.

I could not possibly pass-up on a 21st birthday! Unfortunately, we had to celebrate it on a weekday so it wasn't quite as crazy as 21st birthdays usually go. I prepared dinner for Mr & Mrs Pavlushkin and Mr & Mrs Aquino. Nothing too extravagant, just combination of things I knew she liked.

Believe it or not, I only started preparing and cooking an hour an a half before dinner. With my business growing rapidly, finding time to do other things is getting harder. Luckily my mother-in-law's on board and made us deep-fried-battered shrimp as an addition to my main course. It was delicious! Plus, we had leftover sinigang na bangus from lunch.

I made Eggplant Parmesan a.k.a. Eggplant Lasagna. I'm not too fond of Eggplants until this recipe. It is not only healthy but also so flavorful! Delicious! I will post a recipe later on.

For the side dish, I blanched broccolini or baby broccoli. Then sauteed it over butter and minced garlic with lemon zest and splash of lemon and salt. Personally, I prefer broccolini over broccoli, its just much more flavorful.

The couple brought us a loaf of freshly-baked asiago bread.

What birthday dinner does not have alcohol especially that its a 21st birthday? No heavy drinking though, we all still have to stay sober for the following day. Here's frozen pink lemonade with champagne, another one of my pins on Pinterest.

 

The Feast

We finished the night with my super awesome cake! And I'm not exaggerating, maybe a little! Check out my previous blogs for the recipe of the Ice Cream Cake.

Cheers to the birthday girl! Cheers to friendship! Happy 21st birthday baby girl! We love you!