I recently had the pleasure of taking a break from work and normal life to spend a long weekend at home with a lot of my family for my dad's birthday. My mom and I arranged a sneaky feat and I was a surprise for my dad, as was a big party for him. The weekend was perfect. Red buds, vegetables, and flowers in bloom. Other out of town family in town. A long bike ride with my folks, aunts and uncles on our local rail- to- trail path with a pit stop at a brewery. Seeing friends (and their cute babies, and new houses.) Dinner at favorite cafes. And oh yeah- we threw a surprise party! I planned the menu and did the cooking for 60 people. It started with a long trip to my favorite ethnic grocery store, a few more stores, lies to my dad that I was cooking for a friend's engagement party (sorry dad- and sorry I didn't throw you a party, Courtney and Kevin) and eventually the food was prepped and ready to go. The final menu is below in photos!
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| Uncle Mike, best prep cook ever, assembling tarts. puff pastry squares filled with caramelized onions, greek cheese and ricotta, and roasted vegetables |
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| The beautiful cake that my talented friend Lauren Casper made. If you are in St.Louis check out her food art at Colleen's Cookies . Not only are they beautiful, they taste great too. And all those flowers and hearts around the edge, yup they are cookies too! |
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| Dad came home and was surprised! And he loved the cake and baklava |
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| The spread: puff pastry tarts, chickpea salad, kale salad, pesto pasta salad with pesto from my folks garden, guac, shrimp, vegetable platter with homemade hummus, and yogurt dip, cheese plate (including a Vermont cheese- had to represent, and surprised I can find the grafton cheddar in STL.) |
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| Tarts in the oven! |
