Dad's 2010 Birthday

It's always so hard to get good presents for people, especially when you're in the mid-20s no-man's-land of money where you are earning enough to get by and even live nicely, but you're not sure how long it's going to last. More often than not, I find that unless you're going to get someone an iPod (or books, knowing my friends) it's often more fun for everyone involved to do 1 of two things:

1. Assemble an awesomely creative gift basket based on something you already know they like and maybe want to learn more about.
2. Design an experience that you know they will love and will be relatively low-cost.

So for my dad's birthday last year, of course I set out to create a painstakingly-crafted themed cookbook for my dad, using my bookmaking skillz (of which I have fewer than I'd like) and zero time to work on it. I willfully ignored the 2 unfailingly-successful types of birthday gifts.

Admitting failure as his birthday came and went (sorry Dad!), I went with Strategy #2 and gave him this cookbook and a certificate entitling him to one dinner, chez moi, cooked from that cookbook with yours truly at the stove.

The date: July 2nd, 2011.

The location: my house (speed-cleaned!)

The menu:

• Roasted garlic with Laura Chenel goat cheese toasts
• Blanched green beans with mustard-cream remoulade
• Herbed polenta with sauteed cherry tomatoes
• Seared ahi tuna
• Rhubarb-raspberry tart

The photographic evidence:

The verdict:

• I may have preferred the dessert to the meal... :P but Dad enjoyed himself thoroughly and a good, yummy time was had by all.
• Limeade is the perfect summer dinner accompaniment.
• Baking with a pyrex pie dish instead of a tart pan at LEAST doubles the cooking time necessary for a custard to set.

What an awesome experience! And I don't even have TOO many dishes to do.. the worst have been scraped and are soaking. I'm tired of being scared off by dirty dishes :)

Yours in deliciousness and (mostly-)successful experiments,

Devora